20374	----	Transcriber's Note: 1. Some examples does not make much sense in this text version (e.g., anything to do with small capitals). There is also an HTML version where the examples are formatted to follow the typesetting of the original. 2. Italicized text is rendered as _text_, bold text is rendered as =text=. TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES--PART VI, NO. 34 CAPITALS A PRIMER _of_ INFORMATION ABOUT CAPITALIZATION WITH SOME PRACTICAL TYPOGRAPHIC HINTS AS TO THE USE OF CAPITALS BY FREDERICK W. HAMILTON, LL.D. EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR UNITED TYPOTHETÆ OF AMERICA PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA 1918 COPYRIGHT, 1918 UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA CHICAGO, ILL. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 USE OF FULL CAPITALS 4 SMALL CAPITALS 17 SUGGESTIONS AS TO TYPOGRAPHIC USE OF CAPITALS 22 CAPITALS INTRODUCTION A capital letter is a letter of formal shape. Capitals were originally derived from the stiff and angular letters used in formal inscriptions. Originally all writing was done in capitals. Later the scribes devised less formal shapes for the letters, making use of lines more easily made by brush or pen on papyrus, parchment, or paper. The capitals were retained for certain uses but the less formal shapes were employed to do the greater part of the work. These less formal letters have been known by several names. They will be referred to here by that under which they are known to modern printers, "lower-case." A further modification of the letter came with the introduction of the sloping, or italic letter. This received its name from its place of origin, Italy. It was introduced by Nicholas Jenson, a printer of Venice, and was an imitation of the handwriting of the Italian poet Petrarch. Originally it was used only for the lower-case and was combined with the older form of capital letters, called roman, also from the place of its origin. Later the italic characteristics were given to capitals as well as lower-case letters. An ordinary font of book type contains five series of letters: full capitals, small capitals, italic capitals (full size), roman lower-case, and italic lower-case. The full capital, roman or italic, is larger than the other letters of the font, every letter being as high as the lower-case ascenders. The small capital is only as high as the lower-case round letters. Larger capitals still are sometimes used as chapter initials and the like. It will be observed that the distinction between capital and lower-case letters is one of form, not of size. The full capitals being much more used than the small capitals and being larger than the other letters in the font, the impression is common that the size is the distinguishing mark. This erroneous impression has even crept into dictionary definitions. The full capital, which will hereafter be called in this book simply the capital, is used in combination with lower-case letters or with small capitals in the same word. The small capital is not used in combination with lower-case in the same word. We may print GEORGE WASHINGTON, GEORGE WASHINGTON, GEORGE WASHINGTON, or George Washington, but not George Washington. In manuscript capitals are indicated by three lines under a word or letter, [Symbol: triple line] and small capitals by two lines [Symbol: double line]. A single line [Symbol: single underline] indicates that italics are to be used. Originally the writers of manuscripts used capitals for ornament and variety in the text. They followed no rules but each writer was guided by his own judgment and sense of beauty. As the use of capitals gradually became systematized and reduced to rules, different systems were adopted in different countries. The use of capitals varies greatly in different languages. Attention will be mainly confined in this book to the usages followed in the printing of English. Attempts to point out the various differences to be found in German, French, etc. would only confuse the young apprentice. These rules grow out of a fundamental principle. The purpose of capitals is to emphasize the words in which they are employed. With the exception of the cases of the words _I_ and _O_, which are capitalized for typographical reasons, this idea of calling special attention to a word, or words, for one reason or another will be found to be at the bottom of the variations in usage in different printing offices and by different writers. The same tendency is observable here which is so evident in style and in punctuation. Direct statements, simple sentences as free from involution and complication as possible, are more and more taking the place of the involved, complicated, and obscure sentences of old times. The ideal style of to-day consists of simple words simply arranged. Such a style needs little pointing. The reader is quite able to find his way through the paragraph without constant direction. Punctuation marks are directions at the crossroads of thought. Consequently the punctuation mark is now much more sparingly used than formerly. Just as we have found out that well chosen words can tell their story with very few marks of interpretation so we have found out that they can tell their story with very few marks of emphasis. The use of capitals has decreased greatly during the last two centuries and is constantly decreasing, and this tendency is likely to go still further. The great DeVinne whose books on _The Practice of Typography_, written ten to fifteen years ago, are still of the highest authority was thoroughly up-to-date in his methods and was remarkable for the restrained and refined good taste which characterized all his recommendations, but in some points restraint in the use of capitals has gone even beyond his precepts. It is worth while to remember that the real implement of English speech is the word, not the point nor the letter form. Just to the extent that we rely on marks of punctuation and emphasis to convey our meaning we betray our ignorance of the really significant elements of the language. The schoolgirl says she "had a _perfectly splendid_ time" at the dance, when she tells about it in her letter to her dearest friend. If "perfectly splendid" were a proper term to use in such a connection, which it is not, the words themselves would carry all the emphasis possible. Nothing could really be added to them by any typographical device. In the same way the common use of profanity among ignorant people probably arises mainly from a feeling that the ordinary words with which they are familiar are colorless and do not express their thoughts with sufficient emphasis. Just as emphasis in style is difficult when one habitually uses the strongest words and emphasis in voice is difficult when one habitually shouts, so emphasis in print is difficult when one habitually uses large capitals, display type, and italics. Loud printing is as objectionable as loud talking. USE OF FULL CAPITALS General uses: 1. Use a capital letter to begin every sentence and every word or group of words punctuated as a sentence. _Welcome! We are glad to see you._ This rule does not apply to literal reproductions of matter not originally conforming to it. 2. Use a capital letter to begin every line of poetry. _The Lord hates a quitter, But he doesn't hate him, son, When the quitter's quitting something He shouldn't have begun. [that_ This rule does not apply to turned over lines like the third line in the stanza just preceding. 3. Use a capital letter to begin every quotation consisting of a complete sentence. _Ben Franklin says, "Honesty is the best policy."_ _The campaign was "a punitive expedition for the suppression of brigandage."_ Capitalize: 1. Names of the Deity, of the members of the Trinity, of the Virgin Mary, and of the Devil, when a personal devil is referred to. When the word devil is used as a general term or as an expletive the capital is not used. 2. Nouns and adjectives used to designate the Deity or any member of the Trinity: _the Almighty_, _the Ruler of the Universe_, _the Supreme Architect of the Universe_, _the Creator_, _Providence_ (personified), _Heaven_ (personified, e. g., _Heaven forbid!_), _Father_, _Son_, _Holy Ghost_, _Spirit_, _Messiah_, and the like. The following list of words of this sort to be capitalized, taken from Mr. William Dana Orcutt's _The Writer's Desk Book_ (Frederick A. Stokes, New York) will be found useful: Almighty Authorized Version Common Version Creator Deity Father God Holy Bible Holy Spirit Holy Writ Jehovah Jesus Christ King Logos Lord Messiah Passover Pentecost Redeemer Revised Version Sabbath Saviour Scriptures Son of Man Son Spirit The Trinity The Virgin Mary Word Care needs to be taken with words of this class. Particular attention should be paid to the wording of rule 2, just given. The same words in other senses or other connections are not capitalized. _Heaven_ and _hell_ and derived adjectives are not capitalized in their ordinary uses: Adjectives and other derivatives from these words are not capitalized. We write _Messiah_, but _messianic_ and _messiahship_; _Christology_ but _christological_, _fatherhood_, _sonship_, and the like. Such words as _deity_, _god_, and the like are not capitalized where any but the God of the Bible is referred to. 3. Pronouns referring to God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit in direct address or where there might otherwise be ambiguity. These pronouns are not capitalized in the Bible. They are generally capitalized in hymn books and books of devotion. These pronouns were formerly all capitalized as a mark of respect to God whenever there was any mention of him, even indirect. The tendency is more and more to eliminate them except in the second person (direct address). In view of the change now going on it is best to follow copy if the author appears to have decided preferences. 4. Books, divisions, and versions of the Bible. _Book of Job_, _Twenty-third Psalm_, _New Testament_, _Revised Version_. 5. General biblical terms and titles of parables. _The Law_, _The Prophets_, _Major and Minor Prophets_ (referring to the collections of prophetic books), _Lord's Prayer_, _Lord's Supper_, _Parable of the Prodigal Son_, _the Beatitudes_, _the Priestly Code_ and many other such terms. Use lower-case for _biblical_ and _scriptural_. 6. Capitalize _Holy_ in _Holy place_ and _Holy of holies_. Say _Gospel of John_, but speak of the _gospel message_. 7. The names of religious bodies and their followers. _Catholic_, _Protestant_, _Unitarian_, _Methodist_, _Buddhists_, _Taoists_, _Lamas_. 8. The names of monastic orders and their followers. _Jesuits_, _Brothers of the Common Life_, _Recollets_, _Crutched Friars_, _Cowley Fathers_. 9. The word Church when it stands for the Church universal or is a part of the name of some particular denomination or organization. _For salvation he sought the Church._ _The Church of Rome._ _The First Presbyterian Church._ _I was on my way to church._ _He is a student of church history._ (Note use of lower-case in this sentence.) 10. The names of creeds and professions of faith. _Apostle's Creed_, _Thirty-nine Articles_, _Nicene Creed_. Note that the adjective ante-Nicene is printed as it here appears. 11. The word "father" when used in direct reference to the fathers of the church, and to the Pilgrim leaders of New England, and the word "reformers" when used of the leaders of the Reformation. _The ante-Nicene Fathers._ _Luther, Calvin and the other Reformers._ The word "father" is not capitalized when the reference is general, as in the first sentence of this section. The capitalization of "reformer" is intended to distinguish persons connected with a certain definite historical movement from persons interested in reform. Many persons might consider that the Reformers were not reformers. 12. Names of persons. _John Smith,_ _George V._ But write _John o' Groat_, _Tam o' Shanter_, and the like where _o'_ is an abbreviation of _of_ and not the Gælic _O'_ as _O'Neil_, etc. In writing foreign names which contain particles, capitalize the particles when not preceded by a Christian name or title. _Alfred de Musset_ but _De Musset_, _le Due de Morny_ but _De Morny_, _Prince von Bismarck_ but _Von Bismarck_. By exception the Dutch particle "van" is always capitalized. _Van Hoorn_, _Stephen Van Rensselær_. 13. Epithets appended to proper names or substituted for them. _Frederick the Great_ _Peter the Hermit_ _William Red Head (Rufus)_ _the Conqueror_. 14. Names of races of men. _Aryan_, _Caucasian_, etc., but generally _negro_ and _gypsy_, by exception. 15. Names of places. a. Cities, rivers, oceans, lakes, mountains, etc. _Chicago_ _Mississippi River_ _Atlantic Ocean_ _Lake Superior_ _Pike's Peak_ _Strawberry Hill_. Note that the generic terms ocean, lake, mountain and the like are capitalized only when they are an actual part of the name itself. We would say "_The Atlantic Ocean lies east of the United States_," but we would say "_The states which form the North American republic look out on two great oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific._" The following tables are taken from _A Manual for Writers_ by John Matthews Manley and John Arthur Powell (University of Chicago Press, Chicago). Subject to the rule just stated, they will be found very useful. Capitalize, in singular form only, when immediately following the name Archipelago Borough Branch (stream) Butte Canyon County Crater Creek Delta Forest Fork Gap Glacier Gulch Harbor Head Hollow Mesa Narrows Ocean Parish (La.) Park Plateau Range Reservation Ridge River Run Capitalize in singular or plural form when immediately following the name Hill Island Mountain Spring Capitalize, in singular form, either before or after the name; and in plural form before the name Bay Bayou Camp (military) Cape Dalles Desert Falls Fort Isle Lake Mount Oasis Pass Peak Point Port Sea Strait Valley Volcano b. Names of streets, squares, parks, buildings, etc. _Amsterdam Avenue_ _Van Buren Street_ _Independence Square_ _Lincoln Park_ _Transportation Building_. The same rule as to capitalization of the generic name holds here as in the preceding section. The usual tendency to drop capitals is at work here and newspapers now write _Washington street_ and _Federal building_. It is very probable that the capitals will finally be dropped from the generic terms wherever used. Printers should keep a careful watch on the usage of the best offices so as to keep advised as to the progress of these changes. c. Nouns, and adjectives derived from them designating recognized geographical divisions of a country or of the world. _East_, _West_, _North_, _South_, _Westerner_, _Oriental_. When these words are used in their ordinary significance of mere direction or location they are not capitalized except that in writing of Biblical history we speak of the _Northern Kingdom_ and the _Southern Kingdom_ into which Solomon's territory was split after his death. 16. Generic terms for political divisions. a. When the term is part of the name and directly follows it. _Holy Roman Empire_ _British Empire_ _Northwest Territory_ _Queen's County_. b. When it is used with the preposition of in such phrases as _Borough of the Bronx_, _Department of the Gulf_. c. When part of a nickname, _The Crescent City_, _the Buckeye State_, _the City of Brotherly Love_. Be careful not to capitalize such words when they are not an actual part of the name. _French Republic_ is the name of the county, exactly translating _Republique Francaise_, but _American republic_ is not such a name. You would write _State of New York_ in a legal document in which the state would be considered as a corporate person, but in ordinary references it would be _state of New York_. 17. The days of the week and the months of the year, but not the seasons unless personified. _Monday the fifth of August._ _April is the first month of spring._ _Spring, beautiful Spring._ But write _ten o'clock_, _nine a.m._, _ten p.m._ 18. Festivals and historic or famous days. _Easter Day_ _Fast Day_ _Independence Day_ _Black Friday_. 19. Stars, planets, constellations, and the like, except _sun_, _moon_, _stars_, _earth_. _Mars_, _the Milky Way_, _the Pleiades_. 20. Ordinal numbers used to designate numbered political divisions, sessions of Congress, names of regiments, Egyptian dynasties, and the like. _Second Congressional District_, _First Ward_, _Ninth Precinct_, _Forty-third Congress_, _Sixth Massachusetts Regiment_, _Fifth Dynasty_. 21. Names of genera but not of species: except that in botanical and zoölogical copy the species may be capitalized if derived from a proper name. _Agaricus campestris_ _Parkinsonia Torreyana_ _Pterygomatopus schmidti_, (Medical). The English derivatives from these scientific words are not capitalized. We write of the _agarics_, the _felids_, the _carnivores_, etc. 22. _Father_, _mother_, and other words denoting relationship when used with a proper name or without a personal pronoun. _I saw Aunt Lucy and Cousin Charles._ _I saw my aunt Lucy and my cousin Charles._ _I have received a letter from my mother._ _I have received a letter from Mother._ 23. Names of political parties and of philosophical, literary, and artistic schools, and their adherents. _Republican_, _National Liberal_, _Social Democrats_, _Stoics_ (but _neo-Platonism_, _pseudo-Christianity_, etc.) _the Lake school_, _the Romantic movement_, _the Symbolic school of painters_. 24. Political and historical designations which have been much used and have come to have special significances such as names of leagues, parties, classes, movements, and the like. _Holy Alliance_, _Dreibund_, _Roundheads_, _Independents_, _Reformation_, _Dissenter_. 25. Names of well-known historic epochs, periods in the history of language, and geological ages and strata. The word "age" is not capitalized except when necessary to avoid ambiguity. _Stone age_, _Middle Ages_, _Age of Elizabeth_, _Crusades_, _Commune (of Paris)_, _Middle English_, _Neolithic_. 26. Names of important events. _Hundred Years War_, _Battle of Trenton_, _Louisiana Purchase_, _Norman Conquest_. 27. Names of specific treaties, important laws, and the like. _Peace of Amiens_, _Edict of Nantes_, _Concordat_, _Emancipation Proclamation_, _Fourteenth Amendment_. 28. Names of governmental bodies and departments and their branches when specifically designated. _Congress_, _the Senate_, _the Board of Aldermen_, _the House of Commons_, _the Committee on Education_. Care must be taken to distinguish between these specific references and general uses of the same word. _The state legislature of Massachusetts is officially termed the General Court._ _The matter was referred to the War Department but was sent back on the ground that it belonged to another department._ 29. The official titles of corporations, organizations, and institutions, social, religious, educational, political, business, and the like. _Knights Templars_, _Knights of Columbus_, _Associated Charities_, _Cook County Normal School_, _Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals_, _Chicago_, _Rock Island and Pacific Railroad_. In long titles, like the last example given, the important words are capitalized as in book titles (see Sec. 31). Use capitals when referring to such organizations by initials, _C. R. I. & P. R. R._ Here again it must be remembered that the capitals are used in specific references only. _The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor of the Third Congregational Church._ _The young people's societies connected with the Congregational churches do great good._ 30. The names of conventions, congresses, expositions, etc. _Parliament of Religions_, _International Peace Congress_, _Panama-Pacific Exposition_. 31. The first words, principal words, and last word in English tides of books and other publications; of their divisions (parts, chapters, cantos, etc.); of the topics of speeches, sermons, toasts, and the like; of pictures; of plays; of musical compositions, etc. In long titles nouns and pronouns are capitalized always; verbs, participles, and adverbs usually; articles, prepositions and conjunctions never. _Standard Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases_, _Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures_, _Lincoln's Gettysburg Address_, _Paradise Lost_, _Measure for Measure_, _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_, _The Coronation of Charles VII at Rheims_, _the Moonlight Sonata_. The word "the" is capitalized when it forms an actual part of the title of a book but not otherwise. _The Printer's Dictionary_. _The Life and Times of Charles V._ _the Review of Reviews_, _the Laacoon_, _the Fifth Symphony_. 32. Dedications; headings of parts and chapters; headings of many important minor parts of a book. _To All Who Love Good Printing._ _Chapter Twenty-Seven._ _Part Three._ _The Invention of Movable Types._ _The Practical Value of Gutenberg's Invention._ (These last as sections of a book on the origin of printing). 33. In foreign languages the usage is somewhat different. The following rules will be found useful: a. Always capitalize the first word. b. In Latin capitalize only proper nouns and adjectives derived therefrom. _Commentarii Cæsaris de bello Gallico._ c. In French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, and Norwegian, capitalize proper names but not adjectives derived therefrom. _La vie de Ronsard_; _Histoire de la litterature francaise_, _Novelle e racconti popolari italiani_, _Antologia de poetas liricos castellanos_. d. In German capitalize all nouns and all adjectives derived from the names of persons but not those derived from other proper nouns. _Geschichte des deutsches Reich_ _Die Homerische Frage_. e. In Danish capitalize all nouns. f. In Dutch capitalize all nouns and all adjectives derived from proper nouns. 34. Titles of ancient manuscripts. _Codex Alexandrinus._ 35. In titles of books, etc. all nouns forming parts of hyphenated compounds should be capitalized. 36. In side heads capitalize the first word and proper nouns only. 37. Personal titles as follows: a. Titles preceding a name and so forming part of it. _King George V._ _Pope Benedict XV._ _Duke William of Aquitaine._ But not otherwise. _Woodrow Wilson_, _president of the United States_, _the emperor of Germany_, _the present king of Spain is Alfonso XIII_. b. Titles used in place of the name with reference to a particular person or to the present holder of an office. _I hope when in Rome to see the Pope._ _He hoped some day to become pope._ c. Familiar names applied to a particular person. _the Father of his Country._ _Unser Fritz._ _the Little Corporal._ d. Orders of knighthood and titles attached to them. _Knight of the Garter_, _Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George_. e. Titles used in direct address. _Good morning, Mr. President._ f. Academic degrees in abbreviated form following a name. _David Starr Jordan, Ph. D., LL. D._ So also letters following a name indicating membership of certain scientific and artistic organizations. _F. R. G. S._ (Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society). _R. A._ (Member of the Royal Academy). So also in the United States and Great Britain, _M. C._ (Member of Congress) and _M. P._ (Member of Parliament). Where a person has many titles the following of this rule involves certain difficulties. Such a name as _John Smith, A. M., D. D., Ph. D., L. H. D., D. C. L., LL. D._ is by no means impossible. In such a case the titles become much more prominent than the name and the page is disfigured by the spotty appearance of the text. Small capitals may sometimes be used with good effect in such a case but this should not be done without obtaining proper permission. The difficulty of handling these long and numerous titles in the composition of title pages is sometimes considerable. Three methods of dealing with the difficulty are open. a. The honorary titles may be put in capitals regardless of the unsightly appearance of the line. b. The honorary titles may be put in a small size of the same face and justified in the line. This lessens the undue prominence of the titles, but puts the line out of balance. c. The honorary titles may be put in a separate line, or lines, below the name, set in small type, and spelled out in full. It is not necessary to capitalize _jr._ and _sr._ in lower-case text matter unless so desired by the author. In compound titles capitalize each word if it would be capitalized separately. _Major General Leonard Wood_, _Chief Justice Taney_, _Commander-in-Chief Field_ _Marshal Sir John French_. 38. Names of things personified. _Nature_, _Vice_, _Thrift_, and the like. 39. Adjectives derived from proper nouns. _The Elizabethan age._ _Roman law._ Such adjectives and even proper nouns themselves lose the capital when they are applied as trade or scientific names to articles of common use or reference. _roman type_, _india ink_, _chinese white_, _volt_, _watt_, _boycott_, _platonic_, _bohemian_. 40. The first word of a direct quotation. _As he turned to go he said: "Farewell, we shall never meet again."_ 41. The first word after "Whereas" and "Resolved" in resolutions. _WHEREAS. It has pleased God...._ _therefore be it RESOLVED, That...._ 42. The first word after a colon when the colon introduces a logically complete phrase not very closely connected with what precedes. _My conclusion is: A policy of consistent neutrality is the only proper one for the country._ _As the proverb well says: Beware the anger of a patient man._ 43. _O_ interjection, but not _oh_ unless it begins a sentence. In Latin sentences of exclamation, denunciation or appeal the lower-case _o_ is used. _O tempora, o mores temporum._ 44. The first personal pronoun _I_ wherever it occurs. 45. Emphasized words. _We stand for Liberty and Union._ This use should be avoided except for advertising display, or job work. _We call attention to our Stock of Boots, Shoes, and Furnishings._ SMALL CAPITALS The use of small capitals presents its own peculiar problems to the printer. The small capital has the form of the large capital but without its size and conspicuousness. The small capitals are ordinarily no taller than the round letters of the lower-case. They are usually on a smaller set, with a lighter face and obscured by more connecting lines. In many fonts of type they are really the weakest and least distinguished of all the five series. Wide enough to cover the body of the type fairly thoroughly in most letters and thus to reduce the apparent space between letters, without ascenders and without descenders, they are very monotonous and singularly ineffective when used in any considerable quantity. When used in masses it is at times even difficult to read them. The use of small capitals is quite different from that of large ones. For the reasons just given they are not suited to display. For this purpose they are no better than italics, if as good. Owing to their lack of striking appearance and commanding quality they are not used for emphasis. Display and emphasis it will be remembered are the two principal uses of the full capital. Small capitals are used more for variety than for display. They are commonly used for: Side heads Running titles Catch lines of title pages when particular display is not desired. They are sometimes used for the first word after a blank line, especially for the first word of a new chapter. Long quotations of poetry are often printed with the first word in small capitals. In this, as in the preceding case, the whole word is printed in small capitals except the first letter which is a full capital. Proper names standing at the beginning of a chapter, occasionally even of a paragraph, are sometimes spelled in capitals or small capitals. If small capitals are used the initials of the name are put in full capitals. Until within a comparatively short time tables of contents were often set in small capitals. At the same time it was customary to give a fairly full synopsis of the contents of each chapter under the chapter head. The result was a very monotonous page, dull, dense, hard to read. It is much better and now more common to use small caps for the chapter heads and ordinary text type for abstracts, using dashes or dots to separate the phrases in the synopsis and beginning each phrase with a capital. The following reproduction of a part of a page from the table of contents of DeVinne's _Modern Methods of Book Composition_ shows this method of treatment. CONTENTS Chapter Page I EQUIPMENT 1 Types...Stands...Cases...Case-racks. II EQUIPMENT 39 Galleys and galley-racks...Compositors' implements Brass rules and cases for labor-saving rule and leads Dashes and braces...Leads...Furniture of wood and of metal...Furniture-racks...Quotations and electrotype guards. III COMPOSITION 75 Time-work and piece-work...Customary routine on book-work...Justification...Spacing and leading Distribution...Composition by hand and machine Proper methods of hand work...Recent mannerisms. IV COMPOSITION OF BOOKS 111 Title-page...Preface matter...Chapter headings and synopsis...Subheadings...Extracts...Notes and il- lustrations...Running titles and paging at head or at foot Poetry...Appendix and index...Initials...Headbands, etc. Where chapter synopses are not given, ordinary text type may be used for the table of contents. The following reproduction of the table of contents of DeVinne's _Correct Composition_ shows this method of treatment. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Preface vii I Spelling 5 II Abbreviations 33 III Compound Words 61 IV Figures and Numerals 76 V Italic 94 VI Capital Letters 108 VII Division of Words 128 VIII Small Capitals 145 IX Extracts and Letters 157 X Notes 171 XI Indention 182 XII Spacing 198 XIII Quotation-marks 209 XIV Subheadings 230 XV Punctuation 241 XVI Proof-reading 294 XVII About Copy 327 XVIII Errors of the Press 345 Appendix 359 Index 447 Small capitals are best for subheads when of not more than two lines. If the subheads are longer it is best to use lower-case. Signatures and credits are often put in small capitals. It is usually, however, better to use italics for the purpose. There is no need of a dash to connect the name with the quotation. When two or more quotations from the same author are used as mottoes, with reference to the works from which they are taken or the occasion on which they were said, the name of the author may be put in small capitals in a separate line, the name of the book or speech in italics, and the occasion in smaller roman type. Numerous signatures to a document or petition, such as the _Mayflower Compact_ or the _Declaration of Independence_, are often set in columns using capitals for the initials and small capitals for the rest of the name. Full capitals are too large for the purpose. We therefore, the Commissioners for the Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven, do also, for our several governments, subscribe unto these. JOHN WINTHROP, Governor of the Massachusetts THOMAS DUDLEY THEOPHILUS EATON GEORGE FENWICK EDWARD HOPKINS THOMAS GREGSON Dedications of books are commonly set in small capitals. As these dedicatory formulas are ordinarily brief there should be wide leading, good display, and care as to margins. The author will often give very definite specifications as to the arrangement of his copy in lines, and this will sometimes cause difficulty, occasionally compelling the use of too small type. The author's specifications must be followed if he adheres to them. Small capitals are much favored for running titles of pages. Full capitals are much more effective and are to be preferred where the words are few. Small capitals of 12 or 14 point body are distinct but smaller sizes are crowded and hard to read. This difficulty can sometimes be remedied by hair spacing. Over spacing of such lines is objectionable though it has sometimes prevailed as a temporary fashion. Small capitals used in running titles are exposed to heavy wear and their shallow counters are liable to get choked up with ink. Capitals of the monotint or of a light-faced antique are sometimes selected for books frequently reprinted where the wear on the exposed running titles is very severe. In reprinting letters it is common to use small capitals for the name of the place from which the letter was written, for the name of the addressee, and for the signature. In job and advertising work the name of the month and day and date are generally put in lower-case of the text letter. This rule is not followed, however, in books. When the heading of the letter is very long lower-case letters are preferable to small capitals under the general rules of taste which govern the use of types. The salutation, _Dear Sir_, _Gentlemen_, or the like, does not need small capitals. It is better printed in italic lower-case with a colon (not followed by a dash) at the end. If the matter is double leaded the salutation may go in a line by itself, otherwise conforming to the rules just given. Reprints of formal inscriptions on tablets and the like are often made in small capitals surrounded by a border. There should be a good relief of white space between the type and the border. In the Bible and in hymn books the words LORD and GOD are usually set with full capital initial and the rest of the word in small capitals. This is, of course, a method of showing veneration and at one time it was customary to print all names of spiritual or temporal dignitaries and magnates or even ordinary names in small capitals. This practice still lingers in a few newspapers which print the names of persons, even those of small consequence, in small capitals, especially on the editorial page. The tendency is steady toward the discriminating use of capitals, small capitals, and italics. More and more we restrict the use of marks of emphasis to the really necessary places leaving the words to tell their story without outside aid. SUGGESTIONS AS TO TYPOGRAPHIC USE OF CAPITALS Capitals are too strong to be used with Arabic numerals. This fault of proportion is increased by the custom of casting Arabic numerals on an en body for table work, making them only half as thick as the type. Full capitals may be used with full figures the width of an ordinary letter. Condensed capitals may be used with en body numerals. If old-style capitals and figures are required in the same line use figures about one-half larger in body than the capitals and justify them to the line. It is this difficulty in combining capitals and Arabic numerals in the same line that causes the extensive use of Roman numerals in chapter numbers, numbers of other headings, dates on title pages, and the like. When a large initial three or four lines high is used for the first letter of a new chapter, large capitals are sometimes used, although such usage is not free from the reproach of looking too much like newspaper advertising. When this initial is a two line letter it should be in alignment with the small capitals of the upper line and the base line of the text letter of the lower line. [Illustration: AMONG the earliest methods of communicating ideas to the absent pictures hold the largest place.] [Illustration: THERE comes a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.] Care should be taken not to compact capitals. Use wider leading and broader spacing than for lower-case; for example, where you would use one lead between lower-case lines you should use two or three between lines of capitals. Capitals occupy more of the type-body than lower-case letters and consequently words or lines set entirely with capitals need wider spacing and leading than the lower-case to make composition readable. When lines of roman capitals are set solid or single-leaded the en-quad will usually be enough space between words especially if the words are short; but for wide-leaded lines and head-lines double spaces (two three-to-em) will be needed. A head-line of round, open capitals may even need em-quad spaces. Wide letter words require wide spaces and words of thin or condensed letters require thin spaces. [Illustration: UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA] Words which begin or end with A Y L V W T may need spaces a little less than those with H I M, etc. In small types the inequalities in white space beside or between combinations like L Y A T W and letters with regular shape like H I M N, may not be readily noticed, but in large sizes of capitals these differences are greatly increased and will often make unequal white spaces in a line with uniform metal spaces. In some styles of types a line may need unequal metal spaces in order to space the words evenly. (Marks indicate insertion of spaces.) [Illustration: TEN MAIL TRAINS] This line has en-quads between the words, but the forms of L and T make the white space greater than between the first and second words. [Illustration: TEN MAI'L TRAI'N'S] This line has an en-quad in first space and three-to-em in the second, with hair-spaces between some letters of the words. So, also, it will often be necessary to insert pieces of paper, card, or thin leads between the letters of a word in large display, in order to make them evenly spaced, as shown in these examples: (Marks indicate insertion of spaces.) [Illustration: PLAINLY PLAI'N'LY UNEVENLY SPACED EVE'N'LY S'PA'C'E'D] This differential spacing in a line of capitals will also be required in a line having abbreviations or initials. The following line, spaced with en-quads throughout, has unnecessarily wide spaces between the initials: [Illustration: JOHN ENDICOTT LODGE, A. O. U. W.] Spaced with four-to-em in the last three places, it is improved: [Illustration: JOHN ENDICOTT LODGE, A. O. U. W.] Capitals used as initials of titles and for other abbreviations, with the accompanying periods, should be thin-spaced or set close together, as shown in the second of these examples: [Illustration: GEORGE MARKHAM, D. D., PH. D. GEORGE MARKHAM, D.D., PH.D. JOHN FLINT, M. D. V., BOSTON, U. S. A. JOHN FLINT, M.D.V., BOSTON, U.S.A.] Two or more lines of capitals of the same size should be spaced as nearly alike as possible. These three lines are so disproportionately spaced that they are not pleasing: [Illustration: NORTH END UNION B O S T O N MASSACHUSETTS] The squaring up is arbitrary and strained. The lines are better like this: [Illustration: NORTH END UNION BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS] But if it is necessary to square up lines and no additional words or letters can be inserted the short line may be filled with florets or other characters which should not be bolder than the type itself and should be of a style to harmonize with it as nearly as possible. [Illustration: NORTH END UNION *** BOSTON *** MASSACHUSETTS] The extra wide spacing of words set in capitals, as in head-lines and running-heads, should be avoided by the young compositor; there are places where it may be unobjectionable but it will require good judgment and some experience to prevent such lines making the page look freakish or amateurish. In jobbing, advertisement, and display work, capitals are used more freely than in plain reading matter. In book work the practice is to use capitals more freely than in newspaper composition. A study of the reading columns of daily newspapers will discover that capitals are used very sparingly and words are "kept down" in many cases which in more formal book and pamphlet work would be capitalized. In advertisements, announcements, and circular letters, words are often capitalized for distinction or emphasis, as in these examples: Those who win a Second or First Prize through a monthly or special contest become Honor Members of the Guild, and receive the Guild badge without charge. You are cordially invited to attend the Spring Opening of Suits and Outside Garments for Women, on Wednesday and Thursday, April 28 and 29, in our new Mason Street Annex. Precise rules for the use of capitals cannot be given for work of all kinds. Their insertion or omission will be governed greatly by the subject matter and the style of treatment desired by the proof-reader or the customer and the compositor's duty will not go further than to maintain some consistency in their use in each piece of work. When he has copy in which capitals are used as in the following example he will be expected either to discard all capitals except at the beginning of the sentences or to capitalize the words as in the second example: Fifty styles of the Smartest and nobbiest wheel specialties for ponies and Small horses, Pony carts, light horse novelties, traps, wagons, Harness, Saddles, etc. Fifty Styles of the Smartest and Nobbiest Wheel Specialties for Ponies and Small Horses, Pony Carts, Light Horse Novelties, Traps, Wagons, Harness, Saddles, etc. In lines of large display, like head-lines, set in capitals and lower-case, all the important words should begin with capitals. Unimportant words, such as _of_, _the_, _by_, _for_, _but_, _in_, etc., except when they are at the beginning of the displayed phrase, are not capitalized. Notice to the Public The Best is the Cheapest A Great Bargain in Hats By Right of Conquest For Love and Honor A line of capitals containing an abbreviation or other short word should have capitals throughout when possible, as in the second form of these examples: JOHN SMITH, Jr. JOHN SMITH, JR. ROBINSON & Co. ROBINSON & CO. In advertisement display lines like the following are permissible: The GOLDEN HARVESTER REGAL SHOES _for_ MEN Combinations of different sizes and styles of types are also common and serve their purpose properly, as in this style, often used in billheads, etc. TO THOMAS W. ABBOTT, DR. _In account with_ FRANK ABBOTT Combinations of large and small capitals and lower-case like the following are, however, not approved: WILLIAM BROWN, President The words in small capitals as well as the word in lower-case should begin with large capitals, like this: WILLIAM BROWN, President When lines of capitals are used in books and pamphlets, for headings and display, they should be used consistently--that is, all headings of a similar kind should be alike in any piece of work, and not one heading in capitals and another in lower-case. The composition of a title page is more pleasing when its chief lines are in one style of letters, giving a harmonious effect. When lines of capitals and lines of lower-case are interspersed in a page an appearance of confusion is liable to be the result. SUPPLEMENTARY READING A Manual for Writers. By John Matthews Manley and John Arthur Powell. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. The Writer's Desk Book. By William Dana Orcutt. Frederick Stokes Company, New York. Correct Composition. By Theodore L. DeVinne. The Oswald Publishing Company, New York. A Handbook of Composition. By Edwin D. Woolley. D. C. Heath, Boston. Punctuation. With Chapters on Hyphenization, Capitalization and Spelling. By F. Horace Teale. Appleton & Co., New York. QUESTIONS As the subject matter of this book is such that many of the questions will serve only to bring out the accuracy of the pupil's memory of rules it is very desirable that care should be taken to insure intelligent use and application of the rules. To be able to repeat a rule is of very little importance compared with the ability to apply it intelligently. The instructor should give the pupils constant practice in the application of these rules. This should consist of;-- (a) Study of passages taken from all kinds of printed matter. (b) Rewriting of passages given out without capitalization. In the first case a wide range of material should be used from the most carefully printed books to the most carelessly printed matter that can be found, including newspapers of varying excellence and pure advertising matter. The capitalization found should be studied and explained by the rules and the criticisms or changes suggested justified in the same way. In like manner in the second case every capital used in the rewritten text should be justified by the proper rule. Without such exercises as these, the book will have comparatively little value. 1. What is a capital letter? 2. How many series of letters does an ordinary font of type contain? 3. Name them, and tell what you know about each one. 4. In what does the distinction between capital and lower-case letter consist? 5. What combinations of capitals and lower-case are permissible? 6. In manuscript how do you indicate capitals? Italics? 7. What are capitals used for? 8. What tendencies are observable in style? 9. What is the real implement of English speech? 10. What are the general rules for the use of capitals? 11. Capitalize, _men pray to god, to christ and to the virgin mary that they may be defended by the holy ghost from those assaults of the devil which would make devils of them_. Give the rule for so doing. 12. Capitalize, _the supreme architect of the universe, sometimes called providence, has his own ways of bringing men to heaven_. Give the rule for so doing. 13. Learn the list of words under rule 2. 14. Are these words capitalized in all cases? 15. Are adjectives derived from these words capitalized? 16. When do you not capitalize _God_ and its synonyms? 17. What is the usage as to pronouns referring to God and the other persons of the Trinity? 18. What is the rule regarding the Bible and matter related to it? 19. What is the rule regarding biblical terms? 20. Capitalize, _the holy man entered the holy place at the appointed time_. _The message of the gospel is found in the most spiritual form in the gospel of John._ Give the rule. 21. What is the rule about religious bodies and their members? 22. What is the rule about monastic orders? 23. What is the rule about _church_? Give examples of the different uses. 24. What is the rule about names of creeds? 25. Give different uses of _father_ and _reformer_ and explain them. 26. How do you use capitals in writing names of persons in English and in other languages? 27. What is the usage with regard to epithets and the like? 28. What is the usage with regard to races of men? 29. Give the rule for names of places, and examples of each usage. 30. Learn the tables under rule 15. 31. When do you capitalize generic terms for political divisions and when do you not? 32. What is the rule about words denoting time? 33. What is the rule about festivals, etc.? 34. What is the rule about astronomical terms? 35. When are ordinal numbers capitalized? 36. How are capitals used in scientific names? 37. What is the usage in such words as _father_, _mother_, and other terms denoting relationship? 38. What is the rule regarding names of parties, political, literary, etc.? 39. What is the rule as to historic parties, leagues, etc.? 40. What is the usage in writing of periods, historic, geological, etc.? 41. What is the usage regarding important events? 42. How are treaties, laws, etc., treated? 43. When are the names of governmental bodies, departments, etc., capitalized? 44. How are official titles of corporations and other bodies treated? 45. How are names of conventions, expositions, and the like treated? 46. How are capitals used in book titles and similar copy, including the use of _the_? 47. How are capitals used in dedications and headings? 48. Give the rules for the use of capitals in foreign book titles. 49. Give the rules for the use of capitals in personal titles. 50. What can you do when a name is followed by the initials of a number of titles? 51. What do you do in case of compound titles? 52. How do you write the names of things personified? 53. How are adjectives derived from proper nouns treated? 54. How are capitals used in direct quotations? 55. How are capitals used in resolutions? 56. Are capitals used after colons? 57. How do we write the interjections _O_ and _oh_? 58. How do we write the first personal pronoun? 59. When and where are capitals used for emphasis? 60. Describe the peculiarities of small capitals. 61. Are they used in the same way as full capitals? Why? 62. What is the principal use of small capitals? 63. Give some of the places where small capitals are commonly used. 64. How are small capitals now used in tables of contents, and how were they formerly used? 65. What type would you use for a table of contents when chapter synopses are not given? 66. How are subheads treated? 67. How are signatures and credits treated? 68. How are dedications of books treated? 69. How are running titles treated? 70. What is good usage in reprinting letters? 71. What is a good way to set reprints of formal inscriptions? 72. What is the usage with regard to the names of persons treated with veneration? 73. What is the tendency in the use of capitals and other devices for emphasis? 74. How would you handle combinations of capitals and numerals, and why? 75. How would you treat large initials? 76. How should you space and lead capitals as compared with lower-case? 77. How should lines of capitals be spaced, and why? 78. Would capitals set with even spacing or without spacing appear to be evenly spaced? 79. What is the reason for the appearance just noted? 80. What would you do about it? 81. How should you space capitals used as initials of titles with accompanying periods? 82. How should you space two or more lines of capitals of the same size? 83. If squaring up is necessary, how should it be done? 84. What can you say about wide spacing of words set in capitals? 85. What can you say of the use of capitals in different sorts of matter? 86. How is the compositor guided in these cases? 87. How are capitals used in lines of large display? 88. How would you set a line of capitals containing an abbreviation or other short word? 89. How may capitals be used in lines of advertising display? 90. Under what circumstances are combinations of different sizes and styles of type permissible? 91. Are combinations of large and small capitals and lower-case advisable? 92. What rule should be followed when lines of capitals are used in books and pamphlets for headings and display? GLOSSARY FORMAL--Made in accordance with regular and established forms, or with dignity and impressiveness: stiff. GENERA--Plural of genus, a group for purposes of classification, embracing one or more species. GENERIC--Of or pertaining to a genus (see genera) as distinct from specific, of or pertaining to a species (which see). ORDINAL--That form of the numeral that shows the order of anything in a series. SPECIES--A group for purposes of classification subordinate to a genus and composed of individuals having only minor differences. VERSIONS--(Of the Bible) Different translations of the original into the same or different languages. TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES The following list of publications, comprising the TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES, has been prepared under the supervision of the Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America for use in trade classes, in course of printing instruction, and by individuals. Each publication has been compiled by a competent author or group of authors, and carefully edited, the purpose being to provide the printers of the United States--employers, journeymen, and apprentices--with a comprehensive series of handy and inexpensive compendiums of reliable, up-to-date information upon the various branches and specialties of the printing craft, all arranged in orderly fashion for progressive study. The publications of the series are of uniform size, 5×8 inches. Their general make-up, in typography, illustrations, etc., has been, as far as practicable, kept in harmony throughout. A brief synopsis of the particular contents and other chief features of each volume will be found under each title in the following list. Each topic is treated in a concise manner, the aim being to embody in each publication as completely as possible all the rudimentary information and essential facts necessary to an understanding of the subject. Care has been taken to make all statements accurate and clear, with the purpose of bringing essential information within the understanding of beginners in the different fields of study. Wherever practicable, simple and well-defined drawings and illustrations have been used to assist in giving additional clearness to the text. In order that the pamphlets may be of the greatest possible help for use in trade-school classes and for self-instruction, each title is accompanied by a list of Review Questions covering essential items of the subject matter. A short Glossary of technical terms belonging to the subject or department treated is also added to many of the books. These are the Official Text-books of the United Typothetae of America. Address all orders and inquiries to COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U. S. A. PART I--_Types, Tools, Machines, and Materials_ =1.= =Type: a Primer of Information= By A. A. Stewart Relating to the mechanical features of printing types; their sizes, font schemes, etc., with a brief description of their manufacture. 44 pp.; illustrated; 74 review questions; glossary. =2.= =Compositors' Tools and Materials= By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about composing sticks, galleys, leads, brass rules, cutting and mitering machines, etc. 47 pp.; illustrated; 50 review questions; glossary. =3.= =Type Cases, Composing Room Furniture= By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about type cases, work stands, cabinets, case racks, galley racks, standing galleys, etc. 43 pp.; illustrated; 33 review questions; glossary. =4.= =Imposing Tables and Lock-up Appliances= By A. A. Stewart Describing the tools and materials used in locking up forms for the press, including some modern utilities for special purposes. 59 pp.; illustrated; 70 review questions; glossary. =5.= =Proof Presses= By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about the customary methods and machines for taking printers' proofs. 40 pp.; illustrated; 41 review questions; glossary. =6.= =Platen Printing Presses= By Daniel Baker A primer of information regarding the history and mechanical construction of platen printing presses, from the original hand press to the modern job press, to which is added a chapter on automatic presses of small size. 51 pp.; illustrated; 49 review questions; glossary. =7.= =Cylinder Printing Presses= By Herbert L. Baker Being a study of the mechanism and operation of the principal types of cylinder printing machines. 64 pp.; illustrated; 47 review questions; glossary. =8.= =Mechanical Feeders and Folders= By William E. Spurrier The history and operation of modern feeding and folding machines; with hints on their care and adjustments. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. =9.= =Power for Machinery in Printing Houses= By Carl F. Scott A treatise on the methods of applying power to printing presses and allied machinery with particular reference to electric drive. 53 pp.; illustrated; 69 review questions; glossary. =10.= =Paper Cutting Machines= By Niel Gray, Jr. A primer of information about paper and card trimmers, hand-lever cutters, power cutters, and other automatic machines for cutting paper, 70 pp.; illustrated; 115 review questions; glossary. =11.= =Printers' Rollers= By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about the composition, manufacture, and care of inking rollers. 46 pp.; illustrated; 61 review questions; glossary. =12.= =Printing Inks= By Philip Ruxton Their composition, properties and manufacture (reprinted by permission from Circular No. 53, United States Bureau of Standards); together with some helpful suggestions about the everyday use of printing inks by Philip Ruxton. 80 pp.; 100 review questions; glossary. =13.= =How Paper is Made= By William Bond Wheelwright A primer of information about the materials and processes of manufacturing paper for printing and writing. 68 pp.; illustrated; 62 review questions; glossary. =14.= =Relief Engravings= By Joseph P. Donovan Brief history and non-technical description of modern methods of engraving; woodcut, zinc plate, halftone; kind of copy for reproduction; things to remember when ordering engravings. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. =15.= =Electrotyping and Sterotyping= By Harris B. Hatch and A. A. Stewart A primer of information about the processes of electrotyping and stereotyping. 94 pp.; illustrated; 129 review questions; glossaries. PART II--_Hand and Machine Composition_ =16.= =Typesetting= By A. A. Stewart A handbook for beginners, giving information about justifying, spacing, correcting, and other matters relating to typesetting. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. =17.= =Printers' Proofs= By A. A. Stewart The methods by which they are made, marked, and corrected, with observations on proofreading. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. =18.= =First Steps in Job Composition= By Camille DeVéze Suggestions for the apprentice compositor in setting his first jobs, especially about the important little things which go to make good display in typography. 63 pp.; examples; 55 review questions; glossary. =19.= =General Job Composition= How the job compositor handles business stationery, programs and miscellaneous work. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. =20.= =Book Composition= By J. W. Bothwell Chapters from DeVinne's "Modern Methods of Book Composition," revised and arranged for this series of text-books by J. W. Bothwell of The DeVinne Press, New York. Part I: Composition of pages. Part II: Imposition of pages. 229 pp.; illustrated; 525 review questions; glossary. =21.= =Tabular Composition= By Robert Seaver A study of the elementary forms of table composition, with examples of more difficult composition. 36 pp.; examples; 45 review questions. =22.= =Applied Arithmetic= By E. E. Sheldon Elementary arithmetic applied to problems of the printing trade, calculation of materials, paper weights and sizes, with standard tables and rules for computation, each subject amplified with examples and exercises. 159 pp. =23.= =Typecasting and Composing Machines= A. W. Finlay, Editor Section I--The Linotype By L. A. Hornstein Section II--The Monotype By Joseph Hays Section III--The Intertype By Henry W. Cozzens Section IV--Other Typecasting and Typesetting Machines By Frank H. Smith A brief history of typesetting machines, with descriptions of their mechanical principles and operations. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. PART III--_Imposition and Stonework_ =24.= =Locking Forms for the Job Press= By Frank S. Henry Things the apprentice should know about locking up small forms, and about general work on the stone. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. =25.= =Preparing Forms for the Cylinder Press= By Frank S. Henry Pamphlet and catalog imposition; margins; fold marks, etc. Methods of handling type forms and electrotype forms. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. PART IV--_Presswork_ =26.= =Making Ready on Platen Presses= By T. G. McGrew The essential parts of a press and their functions; distinctive features of commonly used machines. Preparing the tympan, regulating the impression, underlaying and overlaying, setting gauges, and other details explained. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. =27.= =Cylinder Presswork= By T. G. McGrew Preparing the press; adjustment of bed and cylinder, form rollers, ink fountain, grippers and delivery systems. Underlaying and overlaying; modern overlay methods. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. =28.= =Pressroom Hints and Helps= By Charles L. Dunton Describing some practical methods of pressroom work, with directions and useful information relating to a variety of printing-press problems. 87 pp.; 176 review questions. =29.= =Reproductive Processes of the Graphic Arts= By A. W. Elson A primer of information about the distinctive features of the relief, the intaglio, and the planographic processes of printing. 84 pp.; illustrated; 100 review questions; glossary. PART V--_Pamphlet and Book Binding_ =30.= =Pamphlet Binding= By Bancroft L. Goodwin A primer of information about the various operations employed in binding pamphlets and other work in the bindery. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. =31.= =Book Binding= By John J. Pleger Practical information about the usual operations in binding books; folding; gathering, collating, sewing, forwarding, finishing. Case making and cased-in books. Hand work and machine work. Job and blank-book binding. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. PART VI--_Correct Literary Composition_ =32.= =Word Study and English Grammar= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about words, their relations, and their uses. 68 pp.; 84 review questions; glossary. =33.= =Punctuation= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the marks of punctuation and their use, both grammatically and typographically. 56 pp.; 59 review questions; glossary. =34.= =Capitals= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about capitalization, with some practical typographic hints as to the use of capitals. 48 pp.; 92 review questions; glossary. =35.= =Division of Words= By F. W. Hamilton Rules for the division of words at the ends of lines, with remarks on spelling, syllabication and pronunciation. 42 pp.; 70 review questions. =36.= =Compound Words= By F. W. Hamilton A study of the principles of compounding, the components of compounds, and the use of the hyphen. 34 pp.; 62 review questions. =37.= =Abbreviations and Signs= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about abbreviations and signs, with classified lists of those in most common use. 58 pp.; 32 review questions. =38.= =The Uses of Italic= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the history and uses of italic letters. 31 pp.; 37 review questions. =39.= =Proofreading= By Arnold Levitas The technical phases of the proofreader's work; reading, marking, revising, etc.; methods of handling proofs and copy. Illustrated by examples. 59 pp.; 69 review questions; glossary. =40.= =Preparation of Printers' Copy= By F. W. Hamilton Suggestions for authors, editors, and all who are engaged in preparing copy for the composing room. 36 pp.; 67 review questions. =41.= =Printers' Manual of Style= A reference compilation of approved rules, usages, and suggestions relating to uniformity in punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, numerals, and kindred features of composition. =42.= =The Printer's Dictionary= By A. A. Stewart A handbook of definitions and miscellaneous information about various processes of printing, alphabetically arranged. Technical terms explained. Illustrated. PART VII--_Design, Color, and Lettering_ =43.= =Applied Design for Printers= By Harry L. Gage A handbook of the principles of arrangement, with brief comment on the periods of design which have most influenced printing. Treats of harmony, balance, proportion, and rhythm; motion; symmetry and variety; ornament, esthetic and symbolic. 37 illustrations; 46 review questions; glossary; bibliography. =44.= =Elements of Typographic Design= By Harry L. Gage Applications of the principles of decorative design. Building material of typography paper, types, ink, decorations and illustrations. Handling of shapes. Design of complete book, treating each part. Design of commercial forms and single units. Illustrations; review questions; glossary; bibliography. =45.= =Rudiments of Color in Printing= By Harry L. Gage Use of color: for decoration of black and white, for broad poster effect, in combinations of two, three, or more printings with process engravings. Scientific nature of color, physical and chemical. Terms in which color may be discussed: hue, value, intensity. Diagrams in color, scales and combinations. Color theory of process engraving. Experiments with color. Illustrations in full color, and on various papers. Review questions; glossary; bibliography. =46.= =Lettering in Typography= By Harry L. Gage Printer's use of lettering: adaptability and decorative effect. Development of historic writing and lettering and its influence on type design. Classification of general forms in lettering. Application of design to lettering. Drawing for reproduction. Fully illustrated; review questions; glossary; bibliography. =47.= =Typographic Design in Advertising= By Harry L. Gage The printer's function in advertising. Precepts upon which advertising is based. Printer's analysis of his copy. Emphasis, legibility, attention, color. Method of studying advertising typography. Illustrations; review questions; glossary; bibliography. =48.= =Making Dummies and Layouts= By Harry L. Gage A layout: the architectural plan. A dummy: the imitation of a proposed final effect. Use of dummy in sales work. Use of layout. Function of layout man. Binding schemes for dummies. Dummy envelopes. Illustrations; review questions; glossary; bibliography. PART VIII--_History of Printing_ =49.= =Books Before Typography= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the invention of the alphabet and the history of bookmaking up to the invention of movable types. 62 pp.; illustrated; 64 review questions. =50.= =The Invention of Typography= By F. W. Hamilton A brief sketch of the invention of printing and how it came about. 64 pp.; 62 review questions. =51.= =History of Printing--Part I= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the beginnings of printing, the development of the book, the development of printers' materials, and the work of the great pioneers. 63 pp.; 55 review questions. =52.= =History of Printing--Part II= By F. W. Hamilton A brief sketch of the economic conditions of the printing industry from 1450 to 1789, including government regulations, censorship, internal conditions and industrial relations. 94 pp.; 128 review questions. =53.= =Printing in England= By F. W. Hamilton A short history of printing in England from Caxton to the present time. 89 pp.; 65 review questions. =54.= =Printing in America= By F. W. Hamilton A brief sketch of the development of the newspaper, and some notes on publishers who have especially contributed to printing. 98 pp.; 84 review questions. =55.= =Type and Presses in America= By F. W. Hamilton A brief historical sketch of the development of type casting and press building in the United States. 52 pp.; 61 review questions. PART IX--_Cost Finding and Accounting_ =56.= =Elements of Cost in Printing= By Henry P. Porter The Standard Cost-Finding Forms and their uses. What they should show. How to utilize the information they give. Review questions. Glossary. =57.= =Use of a Cost System= By Henry P. Porter The Standard Cost-Finding Forms and their uses. What they should show. How to utilize the information they give. Review questions. Glossary. =58.= =The Printer as a Merchant= By Henry P. Porter The selection and purchase of materials and supplies for printing. The relation of the cost of raw material and the selling price of the finished product. Review questions. Glossary. =59.= =Fundamental Principles of Estimating= By Henry P. Porter The estimator and his work; forms to use; general rules for estimating. Review questions. Glossary. =60.= =Estimating and Selling= By Henry P. Porter An insight into the methods used in making estimates, and their relation to selling. Review questions. Glossary. =61.= =Accounting for Printers= By Henry P. Porter A brief outline of an accounting system for printers; necessary books and accessory records. Review questions. Glossary. PART X--_Miscellaneous_ =62.= =Health, Sanitation, and Safety= By Henry P. Porter Hygiene in the printing trade; a study of conditions old and new; practical suggestions for improvement; protective appliances and rules for safety. =63.= =Topical Index= By F. W. Hamilton A book of reference covering the topics treated in the Typographic Technical Series, alphabetically arranged. =64.= =Courses of Study= By F. W. Hamilton A guidebook for teachers, with outlines and suggestions for classroom and shop work. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This series of Typographic Text-books is the result of the splendid co-operation of a large number of firms and individuals engaged in the printing business and its allied industries in the United States of America. The Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America, under whose auspices the books have been prepared and published, acknowledges its indebtedness for the generous assistance rendered by the many authors, printers, and others identified with this work. While due acknowledgment is made on the title and copyright pages of those contributing to each book, the Committee nevertheless felt that a group list of co-operating firms would be of interest. The following list is not complete, as it includes only those who have co-operated in the production of a portion of the volumes, constituting the first printing. As soon as the entire list of books comprising the Typographic Technical Series has been completed (which the Committee hopes will be at an early date), the full list will be printed in each volume. The Committee also desires to acknowledge its indebtedness to the many subscribers to this Series who have patiently awaited its publication. COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA. HENRY P. PORTER, _Chairman_, E. LAWRENCE FELL, A. M. GLOSSBRENNER, J. CLYDE OSWALD, TOBY RUBOVITS. FREDERICK W. HAMILTON, _Education Director_. CONTRIBUTORS =For Composition and Electrotypes= ISAAC H. BLANCHARD COMPANY, New York, N. Y. S. H. BURBANK & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. J. S. CUSHING & CO., Norwood, Mass. THE DEVINNE PRESS, New York, N. Y. R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS CO., Chicago, Ill. GEO. H. ELLIS CO., Boston, Mass. EVANS-WINTER-HEBB, Detroit, Mich. FRANKLIN PRINTING COMPANY, Philadelphia, Pa. F. H. GILSON COMPANY, Boston, Mass. STEPHEN GREENE & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. W. F. HALL PRINTING CO., Chicago, Ill. J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO., Philadelphia, Pa. MCCALLA & CO. INC., Philadelphia, Pa. THE PATTESON PRESS, New York, New York THE PLIMPTON PRESS, Norwood, Mass. POOLE BROS., Chicago, Ill. EDWARD STERN & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. THE STONE PRINTING & MFG. CO., Roanoke, Va. C. D. TRAPHAGEN, Lincoln, Neb. THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, Cambridge, Mass. =For Composition= BOSTON TYPOTHETAE SCHOOL OF PRINTING, Boston, Mass. WILLIAM F. FELL CO., Philadelphia, Pa. THE KALKHOFF COMPANY, New York, N. Y. OXFORD-PRINT, Boston, Mass. TOBY RUBOVITS, Chicago, Ill. =For Electrotypes= BLOMGREN BROTHERS CO., Chicago, Ill. FLOWER STEEL ELECTROTYPING CO., New York, N. Y. C. J. PETERS & SON CO., Boston, Mass. ROYAL ELECTROTYPE CO., Philadelphia, Pa. H. C. WHITCOMB & CO., Boston, Mass. =For Engravings= AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDERS CO., Boston, Mass. C. B. COTTRELL & SONS CO., Westerly, R. I. GOLDING MANUFACTURING CO., Franklin, Mass. HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass. INLAND PRINTER CO., Chicago, Ill. LANSTON MONOTYPE MACHINE COMPANY, Philadelphia, Pa. MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE COMPANY, New York, N. Y. GEO. H. MORRILL CO., Norwood, Mass. OSWALD PUBLISHING CO., New York, N. Y. THE PRINTING ART, Cambridge, Mass. B. D. RISING PAPER COMPANY, Housatonic, Mass. THE VANDERCOOK PRESS, Chicago, Ill. =For Book Paper= AMERICAN WRITING PAPER CO., Holyoke, Mass. WEST VIRGINIA PULP & PAPER CO., Mechanicville, N. Y. 
20195	----	Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 20195-h.htm or 20195-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/0/1/9/20195/20195-h/20195-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/0/1/9/20195/20195-h.zip) Transcriber's note: Inconsistency in spelling and hyphenation is as in the original. The Artistic Crafts Series of Technical Handbooks Edited By W. R. Lethaby WOOD-BLOCK PRINTING A Description of the Craft of Woodcutting & Colour Printing Based on the Japanese Practice by F. MORLEY FLETCHER With Drawings and Illustrations by the Author and A. W. Seaby. Also Collotype Reproductions of Various Examples of Printing, and an Original Print Designed and Cut by the Author Printed by Hand on Japanese Taper [Illustration: Meadowsweet. Collotype reproduction of a woodblock print by the Author. (_Frontispiece_.)] London Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd. Parker Street, Kingsway, W.C.2 Bath, Melbourne, Toronto, New York Printed By Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd. Bath, England EDITOR'S PREFACE In issuing these volumes of a series of Handbooks on the Artistic Crafts, it will be well to state what are our general aims. In the first place, we wish to provide trustworthy text-books of workshop practice, from the points of view of experts who have critically examined the methods current in the shops, and putting aside vain survivals, are prepared to say what is good workmanship, and to set up a standard of quality in the crafts which are more especially associated with design. Secondly, in doing this, we hope to treat design itself as an essential part of good workmanship. During the last century most of the arts, save painting and sculpture of an academic kind, were little considered, and there was a tendency to look on "design" as a mere matter of _appearance_. Such "ornamentation" as there was was usually obtained by following in a mechanical way a drawing provided by an artist who often knew little of the technical processes involved in production. With the critical attention given to the crafts by Ruskin and Morris, it came to be seen that it was impossible to detach design from craft in this way, and that, in the widest sense, true design is an inseparable element of good quality, involving as it does the selection of good and suitable material, contrivance for special purpose, expert workmanship, proper finish, and so on, far more than mere ornament, and indeed, that ornamentation itself was rather an exuberance of fine workmanship than a matter of merely abstract lines. Workmanship when separated by too wide a gulf from fresh thought--that is, from design--inevitably decays, and, on the other hand, ornamentation, divorced from workmanship, is necessarily unreal, and quickly falls into affectation. Proper ornamentation may be defined as a language addressed to the eye; it is pleasant thought expressed in the speech of the tool. In the third place, we would have this series put artistic craftsmanship before people as furnishing reasonable occupations for those who would gain a livelihood. Although within the bounds of academic art, the competition, of its kind, is so acute that only a very few per cent. can fairly hope to succeed as painters and sculptors; yet, as artistic craftsmen, there is every probability that nearly every one who would pass through a sufficient period of apprenticeship to workmanship and design would reach a measure of success. In the blending of hand-work and thought in such arts as we propose to deal with, happy careers may be found as far removed from the dreary routine of hack labour as from the terrible uncertainty of academic art. It is desirable in every way that men of good education should be brought back into the productive crafts: there are more than enough of us "in the city," and it is probable that more consideration will be given in this century than in the last to Design and Workmanship. * * * * * There are two common ways of studying old and foreign arts--the way of the connoisseur and the way of the craftsman. The collector may value such arts for their strangeness and scarcity, while the artist finds in them stimulus in his own work and hints for new developments. The following account of colour-printing from wood-blocks is based on a study of the methods which were lately only practised in Japan, but which at an earlier time were to some degree in use in Europe also. The main principles of the art, indeed, were well known in the West long before colour prints were produced in Japan, and there is some reason to suppose that the Japanese may have founded their methods in imitating the prints taken from Europe by missionaries. Major Strange says: "The European art of _chiaroscuro_ engraving is in all essentials identical with that of Japanese colour-printing.... It seems, therefore, not vain to point out that the accidental sight of one of the Italian colour-prints may have suggested the process to the Japanese." The Italians aimed more at expressing "relief" and the Japanese at flat colour arrangements; the former used oily colours, and the latter fair distemper tints; these are the chief differences. Both in the West and the East the design was cut on the plank surface of the wood with a knife; not across the grain with a graver, as is done in most modern wood engraving, although large plank woodcuts were produced by Walter Crane and Herkomer, about thirty years ago, as posters. The old woodcuts of the fifteenth century were produced as pictures as well as for the illustration of books; frequently they were of considerable size. Often, too, they were coloured by stencil plates or freely by hand. At the same time the printing in colour of letters and other simple devices in books from wood-blocks was done, and a book printed at St. Albans in 1486 has many coats of arms printed in this way; some of the shields having two or three different colours.[1] About the year 1500 a method of printing woodcuts in several flat tones was invented in Germany and practised by Lucas Cranach and others. A fine print of Adam and Eve by Hans Baldung in the Victoria and Albert Museum has, besides the bold black "drawing," an over-tint printed in warm brown out of which sharp high lights are cut; the print is thus in three tones. [1] See R. M. Burch, _Colour Printing_, 1900. Ugo da Carpo (_c._ 1480-1530) working in Venice, introduced this new type of tone woodcut into Italy; indeed, he claimed to be the inventor of the method. "This was called _chiaroscuro_, a name still given to it, and was, in fact, a simple form of our modern chromo printing." His woodcuts are in a simple, vigorous style; one of them after Raphael's "Death of Ananias," printed in brown, has a depth and brilliancy which may remind us of the mezzo-tints of Turner's _Liber Studiorum_. This is proudly signed, "Per Ugo da Carpo," and some copies are said to be dated 1518. Andrea Andreani (_c._ 1560-1623), a better known but not a better artist, produced a great number of these tone woodcuts. Several prints after Mantegna's "Triumphs of Caesar" have a special charm from the beauty of the originals; they are printed in three tints of grey besides the "drawing"; the palest of these tints covers the surface, except for high lights cut out of it. A fine print of a Holy Family, about 15×18 inches, has a middle tone of fair blue and a shadow tint of full rich green. Copies of two immense woodcuts at the Victoria and Albert Museum, of Biblical subjects, seem to have been seems to cramp the hand and injure the eyes of all but the most gifted draughtsmen. It is desirable to cultivate the ability to seize and record the "map-form" of any object rapidly and correctly. Some practice in elementary colour-printing would certainly be of general usefulness, and simpler exercises may be contrived by cutting out with scissors and laying down shapes in black or coloured papers unaided by any pattern. Finally, the hope may be expressed that the beautiful art of wood-cutting as developed in Western Europe and brought to such perfection only a generation ago is only temporarily in abeyance, and that it too may have another day. W. R. LETHABY. _September 1916._ AUTHOR'S NOTE This little book gives an account of one of the primitive crafts, in the practice of which only the simplest tools and materials are used. Their method of use may serve as a means of expression for artist-craftsmen, or may be studied in preparation for, or as a guide towards, more elaborate work in printing, of which the main principles may be seen most clearly in their application in the primitive craft. In these days the need for reference to primitive handicrafts has not ceased with the advent of the machine. The best achievements of hand-work will always be the standards for reference; and on their study must machine craft be based. The machine can only increase the power and scale of the crafts that have already been perfected by hand-work. Their principles, and the art of their design, do not alter under the machine. If the machine disregards these its work becomes base. And it is under the simple conditions of a handicraft that the principles of an art can be most clearly experienced. The best of all the wonderful and excellent work that is produced to-day by machinery is that which bears evidence in itself of its derivation from arts under the pure conditions of classic craftsmanship, and shows the influence of their study. The series of which this book is a part stands for the principles and the spirit of the classic examples. To be associated with those fellow-craftsmen who have been privileged to work for the Series is itself an honour of high estimation in the mind of the present writer. If the book contributes even a little toward the usefulness of the series the experiments which are recorded here will have been well worth while. To my friend Mr. J. D. Batten is due all the credit of the initial work. He began the search for a pure style of colour-printing, and most generously supported and encouraged my own experiments in the Japanese method. To my old colleague Mr. A. W. Seaby I would also express my indebtedness for his kind help and advice. F. M. F. EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART, _September 1916._ CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE Introduction and Description of the Origins of Wood-block Printing--Its Uses for Personal Artistic Expression, for Reproduction of Decorative Designs, and as a Fundamental Training for Student of Printed Decoration 1 CHAPTER II General Description of the Operation of Printing from a Set of Blocks 9 CHAPTER III Description of the Materials and Tools required for Block Cutting 17 CHAPTER IV Block Cutting and the Planning of Blocks 23 CHAPTER V Preparation of Paper, Ink, Colour, and Paste for Printing 47 CHAPTER VI Detailed Method of Printing--The Printing Tools, Baren and Brushes 61 CHAPTER VII Principles and Main Considerations in Designing Wood-block Prints--Their Application to Modern Colour Printing 81 CHAPTER VIII Co-operative Printing 89 APPENDIX Prints and Collotype Plates 94 Books of Reference 129 INDEX 130 ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. PAGE 1. PLAN OF WORK-TABLE 11 2. BLOCK MOUNTED WITH CROSS ENDS TO PREVENT WARPING 18 3. DRAWING OF THE KNIFE 19 4. SIZES OF CHISELS 20 5. SHORT CHISEL IN SPLIT HANDLE 21 6. MALLET 21 7. POSITION OF THE HANDS IN USING THE KNIFE 30 8. ANOTHER POSITION OF THE HANDS IN USING THE KNIFE 31 9. KNIFE CUTS IN SECTION 33 10. DIAGRAM OF KNIFE CUTS 33 11. METHOD OF HOLDING GOUGE 35 12. CLEARING OF WOOD BETWEEN KNIFE CUTS 35 13. POSITION OF REGISTER MARKS 37 14. REGISTER MARKS 37 15. REGISTER MARKS (SECTION OF) 38 16. SECTION OF COLOUR-BLOCK 42 17. DRAWING OF SIZING OF PAPER 49 18. CORK OF INK-BOTTLE WITH WAD FOR PRESERVATIVE 56 19. METHOD OF RE-COVERING BAREN 64 20. DRAWING OF BRUSHES 66 21. MANNER OF HOLDING THE PAPER 70 22. MANNER OF USING THE BAREN 72 COLLOTYPE PLATES 1. MEADOWSWEET. REPRODUCTION OF A WOOD-BLOCK PRINT BY THE AUTHOR _Frontispiece_ 2. KEY-BLOCK OF A PRINT DRAWN AND CUT BY THE AUTHOR 5 3. THE BAREN, OR PRINTING PAD 12 4. COLOUR-BLOCK OF A PRINT OF WHICH THE KEY-BLOCK IS SHOWN AT P. 5 23 5. IMPRESSION (NEARLY ACTUAL SIZE) OR A PORTION OF A JAPANESE WOOD BLOCK SHOWING GREAT VARIETY IN THE CHARACTER OF THE LINES AND SPOTS SUGGESTING FORM 26 6. REPRODUCTION OF AN IMPRESSION (REDUCED) OF THE KEY-BLOCK OF A JAPANESE PRINT SHOWING ADMIRABLE VARIETY IN THE MEANS USED TO SUGGEST FORM 33 7. PORTION OF DETAIL FROM A JAPANESE WOOD BLOCK 48 APPENDIX PAGE 8. WOOD-BLOCK PRINT BY THE AUTHOR 95 9. FIRST PRINTING (_Collotype reproduction_) 98 10. SECOND PRINTING " " 100 11. THIRD PRINTING " " 102 12. FOURTH PRINTING " " 104 13. FIFTH PRINTING " " 105 14. SIXTH PRINTING " " 107 15. EIGHTH PRINTING " " 109 16. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A COLOUR PRINT BY HIROSHIGÉ 111 17. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A PORTION OF THE PRINT SHOWN ON THE PRECEDING PAGE, ACTUAL SIZE, SHOWING THE TREATMENT OF THE FOLIAGE AND THE EXPRESSIVE DRAWING OF THE TREE-TRUNK AND STEMS 114 18. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF ANOTHER PORTION OF THE PRINT SHOWN ON P. 111 ACTUAL SIZE, SHOWING THE EXPRESSIVE USE OF LINE IN THE DRAWING OF THE DISTANT FORMS 116 19. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A COLOUR PRINT BY HIROSHIGÉ 118 20. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A PORTION (ACTUAL SIZE) OF THE PRINT ON THE PRECEDING PAGE, SHOWING TREATMENT OF TREE FORMS AND DISTANCE 120 21. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A COLOUR PRINT BY HIROSHIGÉ 121 22. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A PORTION, ACTUAL SIZE, OF THE PRINT ON THE PRECEDING PAGE, SHOWING TREATMENT OF TREE AND BLOSSOM 123 23. THE TIGER. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A COLOUR PRINT BY J. D. BATTEN 125 24. LAPWINGS. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A COLOUR PRINT BY A. W. SEABY 127 ERRATA Page 62.--For "bamboo-sheath" read "bamboo leaf". " 63.--In last paragraph, delete "the inside of". " 64.--Third line from bottom, after "occasionally" insert "when printing". WOOD-BLOCK PRINTING BY THE JAPANESE METHOD CHAPTER I _INTRODUCTORY_ Introduction and Description of the Origins of Wood-block Printing; its uses for personal artistic expression, for reproduction of decorative designs, and as a fundamental training for students of printed decoration. The few wood-block prints shown from time to time by the Society of Graver Printers in Colour, and the occasional appearance of a wood-block print in the Graver Section of the International Society's Exhibitions, or in those of the Society of Arts and Crafts, are the outcome of the experiments of a small group of English artists in making prints by the Japanese method, or by methods based on the Japanese practice. My interest was first drawn in 1897 to experiments that were being made by Mr. J. D. Batten, who for two years previously had attempted, and partially succeeded in making, a print from wood and metal blocks with colour mixed with glycerine and dextrine, the glycerine being afterwards removed by washing the prints in alcohol. As the Japanese method seemed to promise greater advantages and simplicity, we began experiments together, using as our text-book the pamphlet by T. Tokuno, published by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and the dextrine and glycerine method was soon abandoned. The edition of prints, however, of Eve and the Serpent designed by J. D. Batten, printed by myself and published at that time, was produced partly by the earlier method and partly in the simpler Japanese way. Familiar as everyone is with Japanese prints, it is not generally known that they are produced by means of an extremely simple craft. No machinery is required, but only a few tools for cutting the designs on the surface of the planks of cherry wood from which the impressions are taken. No press is used, but a round flat pad, which is rubbed on the back of the print as it lies on the blocks. The colours are mixed with water and paste made from rice flour. The details of the craft and photographs of the tools were given in full in the Smithsonian Institution pamphlet already mentioned. It is slow and unsatisfactory work, however, learning manipulation from a book, and several technical difficulties that seemed insurmountable were made clear by the chance discovery in London of a Japanese printseller who, although not a printer, was sufficiently familiar with the work to give some invaluable hints and demonstrations. Further encouragement was given to the work by the institution, a little later, of a class in wood-cuts in colour under my charge, at the L.C.C. Central School of Arts and Crafts, which for several years became the chief centre of the movement. Such are the bare historical facts of the development in our country of this craft imported from the Far East. On a merely superficial acquaintance the Japanese craft of block-printing may appear to be no more than a primitive though delicate form of colour reproduction, which modern mechanical methods have long superseded, even in the land of its invention; and that to study so limited a mode of expression would be hardly of any practical value to an artist. Moreover, the craft is under the disadvantage that all the stages of the work, from making the first design to taking the final impressions, must be done by the artist himself--work which includes the delicate cutting of line and planning of colour blocks, and the preparation of colour and paper. In Japan there were trained craftsmen expert in each of these branches of the craft, and each carried out his part under the supervision of the artist. No part but the design was done by him. So that the very character of the work has an essential difference. Under our present conditions the artist must undertake the whole craft, with all its detail. [Illustration: Plate II.--Key-block of the print shown on the frontispiece. (The portion of wood lying outside the points of the mass of foliage is left standing to support the paper, but is not inked in printing.) (_To face page 5._)] Simple as the process is, there is, from first to last, a long labour involved in planning, cutting and printing, before a satisfactory batch of prints is produced. After several attempts in delegating printing to well-trained pupils I have found it impossible to obtain the best results by that means, but the cutting of the colour-blocks and the clearing of the key-block after the first cutting of the line may well be done by assistant craftsmen. A larger demand for the prints might bring about a commercial development of the work, and the consequent employment of trained craftsmen or craftswomen, but the result would be a different one from that which has been obtained by the artists who are willing to undertake the whole production of their work. The actual value of wood-block prints for use as decoration is a matter of personal taste and experience. In my own opinion there is an element that always remains foreign in the prints of the Japanese masters, yet I know of no other kind of art that has the same telling value on a wall, or the same decorative charm in modern domestic rooms as the wood-block print. A single print well placed in a room of quiet colour will enrich and dominate a whole wall. The modern vogue still favours more expensive although less decorative forms of art, or works of reproduction without colour, yet here is an art available to all who care for expressive design and colour, and within the means of the large public to whom the cost of pictures is prohibitive. In its possibility as a decorative means of expression well suited to our modern needs and uses, and in the particular charm that colour has when printed from wood on a paper that is beautiful already by its own quality, there is no doubt of the scope and opportunity offered by this art. But as with new wine and old bottles, a new condition of simplicity in furniture and of pure colour in decoration must first be established. A wood-block print will not tell well amid a wilderness of bric-à-brac or on a gaudy wall-paper. From another and quite different point of view, the art of block-cutting and colour-printing has, however, a special and important value. To any student of pictorial art, especially to any who may wish to design for modern printed decoration, no work gives such instruction in economy of design, in the resources of line and its expressive development, and in the use and behaviour of colour. This has been the expressed opinion of many who have undertaken a course of wood-block printing for this object alone. The same opinion is emphatically stated by Professor Emil Orlik, whose prints are well known in modern exhibitions. On the occasion of a visit to the Kunstgewerbeschule of Berlin, I found him conducting a class for designers for printed decoration, in which the Japanese craft of block-printing was made the basis of their training. He held to the view that the primitive craft teaches the students the very economy and simplicity upon which the successful use of the great modern resources of colour-printing depend, yet which cannot be learnt except by recourse to simpler conditions and more narrow limitations before dealing with the greater scope of the machine. My own experience also convinces me that whatever may be the ultimate value of the Eastern craft to our artists as a mode of personal expression, there is no doubt of its effect and usefulness in training students to design with economy and simplicity for modern printing processes. CHAPTER II General Description of the Operation of Printing from a Set of Blocks The early stages of any craft are more interesting when we are familiar with the final result. For this reason it is often an advantage to begin at the end. To see a few impressions taken from a set of blocks in colour printing, or to print them oneself, gives the best possible idea of the quality and essential character of print-making. So also in describing the work it will perhaps tend to make the various stages clearer if the final act of printing is first explained. The most striking characteristic of this craft is the primitive simplicity of the act of printing. No press is required, and no machinery. A block is laid flat on the table with its cut surface uppermost, and is kept steady by a small wad of damp paper placed under each corner. A pile of paper slightly damped ready for printing lies within reach just beyond the wood-block, so that the printer may easily lift the paper sheet by sheet on to the block as it is required. It is the practice in Japan to work squatting on the floor, with the blocks and tools also on the floor in front of the craftsman. Our own habit of working at a table is less simple, but has some advantages. One practice or habit of the Japanese is, however, to be followed with particular care. No description can give quite fully the sense of extreme orderliness and careful deliberation of their work. Everything is placed where it will be most convenient for use, and this orderliness is preserved throughout the day's work. Their shapely tools and vessels are handled with a deftness that shames our clumsy ways, and everything that they use is kept quite clean. This skilful orderliness is essential to fine craftmanship, and is a sign of mastery. The arrangement of tools and vessels on a work-table may be as the accompanying plan shows: [Illustration: FIG. 1.--Plan of work-table. A. Block. B. Sheets of damped paper lying on a board. C. Second board lifted from B. D. Brushes lying on a strip of wood. E. White plate or dish containing colour. F. Saucer containing paste of rice-flour. G. Baren, or printing pad, lying on a sheet of paper slightly oiled with sweet oil and tacked to the table. H. Deep bowl of water and brush for moistening the damping sheets. I. Saucer of water for use in printing. J. Sponge.] When printing on a table arranged in this way the board lying on the sheets of damped paper at B is first lifted off and placed at C to receive the sheets as they are done. If the block A is quite dry, it is thoroughly moistened with a damp sponge and wiped. The colour from a saucer, E, is then brushed over the printing surface thinly, and a trace of paste taken from F is also brushed into the colour. (This is best done after the colour is roughly spread on the block.) The brush is laid down in its place, D, and the top sheet of paper from the pile is immediately lifted to its register marks (notches to keep the paper in its place) on the block. The manner of holding the paper is shown on page 70. This must be done deftly, and it is important to waste no time, as the colour would soon dry on the exposed block and print badly. Pressure is then applied to the back of the paper as it lies on the wet block. This is done by a round pad called the _baren_ by the Japanese. It is made of a coil of cord covered by bamboo sheath as shown later on page 62. The pad is rubbed by hand with considerable pressure, moving transversely forwards and backwards across the block, working from the left to the right. Once all over the block should be enough. The paper is then lifted off and laid face upwards on the board at C. The block is then re-charged with colour for another impression, and the whole operation repeated as many times as there are sheets to be printed. [Illustration: Plate III. The Baren, or printing pad. (The pad is actually 5 inches in diameter.) (_To face page 12._)] When this is done all the sheets will have received a single impression, which may be either a patch of colour or an impression in line of part of the design of the print. The block A is then removed, cleaned, and put away; and the block for the second impression put in its place. It is usual to print the line or key-block of a design first, as one is then able to detect faulty registering or imperfect fitting of the blocks and to correct them at once. But there are cases in which a gradated tone, such as a sky, may need to be printed before the line block. The complete design of a print may require several blocks for colour as well as the key block which prints the line. The impressions from all these blocks may be printed one after another without waiting for the colour on the paper to dry. As soon as the batch of damped sheets has been passed over the first block, the sheets are replaced at B between boards, and, if necessary, damped again by means of damping sheets (as described later in Chapter V) ready for the next impression, which may be proceeded with at once without fear of the colour running. It is a remarkable fact that patches of wet colour which touch one another do not run if properly printed. For the second printing fresh colour is prepared and clean paste, and the printing proceeds as already described, care being taken to watch the proper registering or fitting of each impression to its place in the design. There are many niceties and details to be observed in the printing of both line and colour blocks. These are given in special chapters following. This description of the main action of printing will be of use in giving a general idea of the final operation before the details of the preliminary stages are described. CHAPTER III Description of the Materials and Tools required for Block-cutting The wood most commonly used by the Japanese for their printing-blocks is a cherry wood very similar to that grown in England. The Canadian cherry wood, which is more easily obtained than English cherry, is of too open a grain to be of use. The more slowly grown English wood has a closer grain and is the best for all the purposes of block cutting and printing. Well-seasoned planks should be obtained and kept ready for cutting up as may be required. When a set of blocks is to be cut for a given design, the size of the printing surface of each block should be made equal to the size of the design plus 1 inch or, for large prints, 1-1/2 inch in addition long ways, and 1/4 or 1/2 inch crossways. The thickness of the plank need not be more than 5/8 or 3/4 inch. It is best for the protection of the surfaces of the printing blocks and to prevent warping, also for convenience in storing and handling them, to fix across each end a piece of wood slightly thicker than the plank itself. These cross-ends should be mounted as shown in fig. 2. [Illustration: FIG. 2.--Block mounted with cross ends to prevent warping.] Both surfaces of the plank should be planed smooth and then finished with a steel scraper, but not touched with sand-paper. It is understood that the face of the plank is used for the printing surface, and not the end of the grain as in blocks for modern wood engraving. The tools needed for cutting the blocks are the following: 1. THE KNIFE [Illustration: FIG. 3.--Drawing of the knife.] With this knife the most important and delicate work is done. All the lines of the key-block as well as the boundaries of the colour masses are cut with it, before the removal of intervening spaces. The blade lies in a slot and is held tight by the tapered ferrule. This can be pulled off by hand and the blade lengthened by pulling it forward in the slot. 2. CHISELS These are used for removing the wood between the cut lines or colour masses, and should be ordinary carvers' chisels of the following sizes: [Illustration: FIG. 4.--Sizes of chisels.] except those under No. 9, which are short-handled chisels for small work. The Japanese toolmakers fit these small chisels into a split handle as shown in fig. 5. The blade is held tightly in its place by the tapered ferrule when the handle is closed, or can be lengthened by opening the handle and pulling forward the blade in its slot. In this way the blade can be used down to its last inch. 3. MALLET This is needed for driving the larger chisels. [Illustration: FIG. 5.--Short chisel in split handle.] [Illustration: FIG. 6.--Mallet.] These are all the tools that are needed for block cutting. For keeping them in order it is well to have oilstones of three grades: 1. A carborundum stone for rapidly re-covering the shape of a chipped or blunt tool. 2. A good ordinary oil stone. 3. A hard stone for keeping a fine edge on the knife in cutting line blocks. The American "Washita" stone is good for this purpose. [Illustration: Plate IV. Colour block of a print of which the key-block is shown on page 5.] (_To face page 23._) CHAPTER IV Block Cutting and the Planning of Blocks The cutting of a line block needs patience and care and skill, but it is not the most difficult part of print making, nor is it so hopeless an enterprise as it seems at first to one who has not tried to use the block-cutter's knife. In Japan this work is a highly specialised craft, never undertaken by the artist himself, but carried out by skilled craftsmen who only do this part of the work of making colour prints. Even the clearing of the spaces between the cut lines is done by assistant craftsmen or craftswomen. The exquisite perfection of the cutting of the lines in the finest of the Japanese prints, as, for instance, the profile of a face in a design by Outamaro, has required the special training and tradition of generations of craftsmen. The knife, however, is not a difficult weapon to an artist who has hands and a trained sense of form. In carrying out his own work, moreover, he may express a quality that is of greater value even than technical perfection. At present we have no craftsmen ready for this work--nor could our designs be safely trusted to the interpretation of Japanese block-cutters. Until we train craftsmen among ourselves we must therefore continue to cut our own blocks. CUTTING A set of blocks consists of a key-block and several colour blocks. The block that must be cut first is that which prints the line or "key" of the design. By means of impressions from this key-block the various other blocks for printing the coloured portions of the design are cut. The key-block is the most important of the set of blocks and contains the essential part of the design. A drawing of that part of the design which is to be cut on the key-block should first be made. This is done on the thinnest of Japanese tissue paper in black indelible ink. The drawing is then pasted face downward on the prepared first block with good starch paste. It is best to lay the drawing flat on its back upon a pad of a few sheets of paper of about the same size, and to rub the paste on the surface of the block, not on the paper. The block is now laid down firmly with its pasted side on the drawing, which at once adheres to the block. Next turn the block over and lay a dry sheet of paper over the damp drawing so as to protect it, and with the baren, or printing rubber, rub the drawing flat, and well on to the block all over. The drawing should then be allowed to dry thoroughly on the block. With regard to the design of the key block, it is a common mistake to treat this as a drawing only of outlines of the forms of the print. Much modern so-called decorative printing has been weak in this respect. A flat, characterless line, with no more expression than a bent gaspipe, is often printed round the forms of a design, followed by printings of flat colour, the whole resulting in a travesty of "flat" decorative treatment. The key design should be a skeleton of all the forms of a print, expressing much more than mere exterior boundaries. It may so suggest form that although the colour be printed by a flat tint the result is not flat. When one is unconscious of any flatness in the final effect, though the result is obtained by flat printing, then the proper use of flat treatment has been made. The affectation of flatness in inferior colour printing and poster work is due to a misapprehension of the true principle of flat treatment. [Illustration: Plate V. Impression (nearly actual size) of a portion of a Japanese wood block showing great variety in the character of the lines and spots suggesting form.] (_To face page 26._) As an illustration of the great variety of form that may be expressed by the key-block, a reproduction is given (page 33) of an impression from a Japanese key-block. It will be seen that the lines and spots express much more than boundaries of form. In the case of the lighter tree foliage the boundaries are left to be determined entirely by the subsequent colour blocks, and only the interior form or character of the foliage is suggested. The quality or kind of line, too, varies with the thing expressed, whether tree, rock, sea, or the little ship. The design, too, is in itself beautiful and gives the essential form of the entire print. The study of the drawing of any of the key-blocks of the Japanese masters will reveal their wonderful power and resource in the suggestion of essential form by black lines, spots, and masses of one uniform tint of black or grey. The development of this kind of expressive drawing is most important to the designer of printed decoration, whether by wood blocks, or lithography, or any other printing process. Other good types of drawing for the purposes of key-blocks in wood are given on Plate V facing page 26 and Plate XVI p. iii in Appendix. When the key-block with its design pasted upon it is thoroughly dry, a little sweet oil should be rubbed with the finger at that part where the cutting is to begin, so as to make the paper transparent and the black line quite clear. In order to keep the block from moving on the work-table, there should be fixed one or two strips of wood screwed down, to act as stops in case the block tends to slip, but the block should lie freely on the table, so that it may be easily turned round during the cutting when necessary. One should, however, learn to use the cutting knife in all directions, and to move the block as little as possible. The knife is held and guided by the right hand, but is pushed along by the middle finger of the left hand placed at the back of the blade, close down near the point. The left hand should be generally flat on the work-table, palm down, and the nail of the middle finger must be kept short. This position is shown (fig. 7) on p. 30. The flat side of the knife should always be against the line to be cut. Sometimes it is convenient to drive the knife from right to left, but in this case the pressure is given by the right hand, and the left middle finger is used to check and steady the knife, the finger being pressed against the knife just above the cutting edge. A good position for cutting a long straight line towards oneself on the block is shown below (fig. 8). The left hand is on its side, and the middle finger is hooked round and pulls the knife while the right hand guides it. In all cases the middle finger of the left hand pushes or steadies the knife, or acts as a fulcrum. [Illustration: FIG. 7.--Position of the hands in using the knife.] A beginner with the knife usually applies too much pressure or is apt to put the left finger at a point too high up on the blade, where it loses its control. The finger should be as close down to the wood as possible, where its control is most effective. A small piece of india-rubber tubing round the knife blade helps to protect the finger. [Illustration: FIG. 8.--Another position of the hands in using the knife.] With practice the knife soon becomes an easy and a very precise tool, capable of great expressiveness in drawing. Bear in mind that both sides of a line are drawn by the knife. The special power of developing the expressive form of line _on both sides_ is a resource tending to great development of drawing in designs for wood-block prints. The line may be of varying form, changing from silhouette to pure line as may best serve to express the design. It should never be a mere diagram. [Illustration: Plate VI. Reproduction of an impression (reduced) of the key-block of a Japanese print showing admirable variety in the means used to suggest form. (_To face page 33._)] The actual cutting proceeds as follows: Starting at some point where the surface of the key-block design has been oiled and made distinct, a shallow cut is made along one side of any form in the design, with the knife held slanting so that the cut slants away from the edge of the form. A second outer parallel cut is then made with the knife held slanting in the opposite direction from the first, so that the two cuts together make a V-shaped trench all along the line of the form. The little strip of wood cut out should detach itself as the second cut is made, and should not need any picking out or further cutting if the first two cuts are cleanly made. This shallow V-shaped trench is continued all round the masses and along both sides of all the lines of the design. No clearing of the intervening spaces should be attempted until this is done. It will be seen at once that the V-shaped cuts give great strength to the printing lines, so that a quite fine line between two cuts may have a strong, broad base (fig. 9). The depth of the cut would be slightly shallower than that shown in this diagram. In cutting fine line work a cut is first made a little beyond the line, then the cut is made on the line itself (fig. 10). [Illustration: FIG. 9.--Knife cuts in section.] [Illustration: FIG. 10.--Diagram of knife cuts.] Where a very fine line is to be cut, especially if it is on a curve, the outer cut of the V trench should be made first, and then that which touches the line: there is thus less disturbance of the wood, and less danger of injuring the edge of the line. When the V cut has been made outside all the lines, one proceeds to clear the intervening spaces between the lines of the design by taking tool No. 1 (fig. 5). The large spaces should be cleared first. The safest and quickest way is to make a small gouge cut with No. 1 round all the large spaces close up to the first cut, then, with one of the shallower chisels, Nos. 5, 6, or 7 (fig. 5), and the mallet, clear out the wood between the gouge cuts. For all shallow cuts where the mallet is not needed, the Japanese hold the chisels as shown in fig. 11. With practice this will be found a very convenient and steady grip for the right hand. It has also the advantage that the chisel can be held against the centre of the body and exactly under one's eyes. In the diagram (fig. 12), if the wood from A to A1 is to be cleared away, gouge cuts are made at _b_ and _b_1, then the space between _b_ and _b_1 may be quickly cleared without risk to the edge of the form at A. When this rough work is done the little ridge between A and _b_ may be cleared with small round or flat tools, as is most convenient. But this final clearing should not be done until all the large spaces are roughed out. [Illustration: FIG. 11.--Method of holding gouge.] [Illustration: FIG. 12.--Clearing of wood between knife cuts.] The depth to which the spaces must be cleared will depend on their width, as, in printing, the paper will sag more deeply in a wide space than in a narrow one. In spaces of half an inch the depth of the first V-cuts is sufficient, but the proportionate depth is about that of the diagram above. The small spaces are cleared by means of small flat or round chisels without the mallet or the preliminary gouge cut: this is only needed where a large space has to be cleared. There remain now only the placing and cutting of the two register marks or notches for controlling the position of the paper in printing. These are placed relatively to the design as shown in fig. 13. The corner of the print fits into the notch at A, and one edge of the print lies against the straight notch at B. The register marks may be even closer to the space covered by the design, but must not actually touch it, as some margin of paper is necessary in printing: they should also be cut always on the long side of the printing block. It will be seen from the drawing on page 70 that these register marks correspond to the position of the thumb of each hand in laying the paper on the block for printing. [Illustration: FIG. 13.--Position of register marks.] [Illustration: FIG. 14.--Register marks.] The corner mark, ABC, is made by cutting from A to B and B to C, with the knife held perpendicularly, and its flat side against the line, then the shaded portion is cut with a flat chisel, sloping from the surface of the block at AC to a depth of about 1/16 inch along AB and BC. The straight notch, EF, is similarly cut, first with a perpendicular knife along EF, and then the shaded portion is chiselled sloping down to the line EF. [Illustration: FIG. 15.--Register marks (section of).] In section the two register marks would be as above. The register marks must be smoothly and evenly cut so that the paper, in printing, may slide easily home to its exact place. When the design of the key-block and the two register marks have been cut and cleared, the trace of paper and paste on the uncut parts of the wood should be carefully washed off with a piece of sponge and warm water. The block is then finished and ready for use. The key-block, however, is only one of the set of blocks required for a print in colour, but the colour blocks are simpler and require, as a rule, far less labour. The colour blocks are planned and established by means of impressions taken from the key-block. For this purpose the register marks are inked[2] for printing as well as the design on the block, and the impressions must include both. These impressions are taken on thin Japanese paper, but not necessarily the thinnest tissue. If the thinnest is used, it should be pasted at the corners to a sheet of stiffer paper for convenience in handling. [2] The preparation of the ink for printing is described on p. 54. It is then a fairly simple matter to take one of these key-block impressions and to make a plan of the various colour-blocks that will be required. These should obviously be as few as possible. It is not necessary to provide an entire block for each patch of colour, but only the extent of surface required for each coloured portion of the print, as well as for its pair of register marks. Patches of different colour that are not adjacent to one another on the design of the print may be cut on the same block, provided they are not too close for free colouring of the block in printing. Each block also may be cut on both sides, so that there is considerable scope for economy in the arranging and planning of the colour blocks. When the arrangement of the plan of colour has been simplified as far as possible, a new block is prepared as described above, and a sheet of thin Japanese paper (unsized) is cut large enough to cover the print design and its register marks. The clean surface of the new block is covered thinly with starch paste well rubbed into the grain, and while this is still wet an impression on the sheet of thin Japanese paper is taken of the entire key-block, including its register marks in black, and laid before it is dry face downward on the pasted surface of the new block. This should be done as already described on page 25. It should be rubbed flat with the printing pad and left to dry. This operation requires careful handling, but it should be done easily and methodically, without any hurry. Each side of the set of colour planks should be treated in the same way--a thin impression of the key-block and its register marks being laid upon each. It is advisable to paste down a freshly taken impression, each time, while the ink is still moist, for if these are allowed to dry, the shrinking of the paper causes errors of register. When these new blocks are dry, the patch of colour to be cut on each surface should be clearly indicated by a thin wash of diluted ink or colour, but not so as to hide the printed key line. The blocks may then be cut. A V-shaped cut is made round each form, as in the case of the key-block, and the clearing proceeds in the same way, but it is only necessary to clear a space of about an inch round each form: the rest of the wood should be left standing. A section of the printing surface of a colour block would be as follows: [Illustration: FIG. 16.--Section of colour-block. A. Colour mass. B. Depression. C. Surface of Plank.] When the register marks corresponding to these colour forms have also been cut, and the paper washed off the blocks, the clear spaces may be used for pasting down new key impressions for the smaller colour patches and their corresponding register marks. In this way one side of a colour plank may contain several different colour forms and sets of register marks. As a rule the different colour patches would be printed separately, though in some cases two colours may be printed at one impression if they are small and have the same register marks. When the blocks have been cut and cleared it is advisable to smooth with sand-paper the edge of the depression where it meets the uncut surface of the wood, otherwise this edge, if at all sharp, will mark the print. For any particulars about which one may be in doubt, the sets of blocks at South Kensington Museum or in the Print Room at the British Museum are available for examination. In one of the sets at the British Museum it is interesting to see the temporary corrections that have been made in the register marks during printing by means of little wooden plugs stuck into the register notches. In nearly all cases the Japanese blocks were made of cherry wood, but planks of box are said to have been occasionally used for very fine work. ERRORS OF REGISTER However exactly the register marks may be cut in a new set of blocks, very puzzling errors occasionally arise while printing, especially if the planks are of thin wood. Some of the blocks are necessarily printed drier than others. For instance, the key-block is printed with a very small amount of ink and paste. Other blocks may be even drier, such as the blocks which print small forms or details in a design. The blocks, however, which are used for large masses of colour, or for gradated tones, are moistened over the whole or a large part of the surface of the block, and if the wood is thin, and not well mounted across the ends, the block soon expands sufficiently to throw the register out. If the block is not mounted across the ends there will also be a tendency to warp, and this will add to the errors of register. But if the blocks are of fairly thick wood, and well mounted, the register will remain very exact indeed. Usually the key-block is printed first. If the subsequent blocks are not in exact register the error is noticeable at once, and slight adjustments may be made for its correction. But in cases where the key-block is printed last (as sometimes is necessary) each colour block must be tested before a batch of prints is passed over it. For this purpose the first few prints of every batch should receive a faint impression of the key-block, so that the register of the colour impression may be verified before proceeding with the whole batch. If these precautions are taken, and the entire set of blocks kept as nearly as possible in the same conditions of dryness or moisture, all difficulties of register in printing will be easily overcome. When cutting a new set of blocks there is another possible source of error which needs to be carefully guarded against. Most of the work in designing a new print is necessarily spent in planning and cutting the key-block, which may occupy a considerable time, especially if other work has to be carried on as well. If new wood is used, or wood that has not been seasoned long indoors, it will dry and contract considerably across the grain before the work is finished. Then, if newer planks are prepared and cut up for the colour blocks, and impressions from the key-block are pasted down on them for cutting, it will be found that, as the newer wood of the colour-blocks goes on drying, it will shrink out of register, and the colour impressions will not fit the line perfectly. It is easy to fall into this difficulty, but there is no danger of it if the planks from which the key-block and the colour-blocks are cut are all equally seasoned and are in the same condition. CHAPTER V Preparation of Paper, Ink, Colour, and Paste for Printing PAPER The paper made by the Japanese from the inner bark of young shoots of the mulberry and certain other plants of similar fibre is beyond all others the best for wood-block printing. It is in itself a very remarkable material, and is used in Japan for a great variety of purposes, on account of the strength and toughness due to its long silky fibre. Paper of good quality for printing may be obtained directly from Japan, or through trading agents dealing with Japan. A case of five reams would be the smallest quantity obtainable directly, but it is by far the cheapest and most satisfactory way of buying it. In smaller quantities the paper is obtainable through many of the dealers in artists' materials. Several kinds of this paper are made, but unsized sheets of a quality similar to the print on page 95, and a thin Japanese tissue paper are the two kinds required for printing in colour. In its unsized state the paper is too absorbent for use, and it should be sized freshly as needed for work. This is done by brushing a thin solution of gelatine over the smooth surface of the sheets of paper. A drawing-board rather larger than the sheets of paper, placed as shown in fig. 17, with its lower edge resting on a basin of warm size, will be found a convenient arrangement. [Illustration: Plate VII. Impression of a portion of detail from a Japanese woodblock (very nearly actual size). (_To face page 48._)] The sheet gelatine sold by grocers for cooking makes an excellent size. Six of the thin sheets to a pint of water is a good strength.[3] The gelatine is dissolved in hot water, but should not be boiled, as that partially destroys the size. When dissolved, a little powdered alum is also stirred in, about as much as will lie on a shilling to a pint of water. The addition of the alum is important, as it acts as a mordant and helps to make a better colour impression. [3] See also p. 75. [Illustration: FIG. 17.--Drawing of sizing of paper.] In applying the size to the paper a four-inch broad flat paste brush is used. The paper is laid on the slanting board and the size brushed backward and forward across the paper from the upper end downward. Care must be taken not to make creases in the paper, as these become permanent. To avoid this the lower end of the sheet may be held with the left hand and raised when necessary as the brush passes downwards. The waste size will run down to the basin, but the paper need not be flooded, nor should its surface be brushed unnecessarily, but it must be fully and evenly charged with size. The sheet is then picked up by the two upper corners (which may conveniently be kept unsized) and pinned at each corner over a cord stretched across the workroom. The sheets are left hanging until they are dry. The Japanese lay the paper on the cord, letting the two halves of the sheet hang down equally on either side. The process of sizing and drying the sheets of paper is illustrated in a print shown in the collection at the South Kensington Museum. When the paper is quite dry it is taken down, and if required at once for printing should be cut up into sheets of the size required, with sufficient margin allowed to reach the register marks. It is best to cut a gauge or pattern in cardboard for use in cutting the sheets to a uniform size. A few sheets of unsized paper are needed as damping sheets, one being used to every three printing sheets. The damping sheets should be cut at least an inch wider and longer than the printing sheets. Two wooden boards are also required. The sheets of printing paper are kept between these while damping before work. To prepare for work, a damping sheet is taken and brushed over evenly with water with a broad brush (like that used for sizing). The sheet must not be soaked, but made thoroughly moist, evenly all over. It is then laid on one of the two boards, and on it, with the printing side (the smoother side) downward, are laid three of the sized sheets of printing paper. On these another moist damping sheet is laid, and again three dry sheets of printing paper, face downwards, and so on alternately to the number of sheets of the batch to be printed. A board is placed on the top of the pile. The number of prints to be attempted at one printing will vary with the kind of work and with the printer's experience. The printing may be continued during three days, but if the paper is kept damp longer, there is danger of mould and spotting. With work requiring delicate gradation of colour and many separate block impressions twenty or thirty sheets will be found sufficient for three days' hard work. The professional printers of Japan, however, print batches of two hundred and three hundred prints at a time, but in that case the work must become largely mechanical.[4] [4] See Chapter XIII for further experience on this point. The batch of paper and damping sheets should remain between the boards for at least half an hour when new sheets are being damped for the first time. The damping sheets, all but the top and bottom ones, should then be removed and the printing sheets left together between the boards for some time before printing. An hour improves their condition very much, the moisture spreading equally throughout the batch of sheets. Before printing they should be quite flat and soft, but scarcely moist to the touch. If the sheets are new, they may even be left standing all night after the first damping, and will be in perfect condition for printing in the morning without further damping. No weight should be placed on the boards. Although no paper has hitherto been found that will take so perfect an impression from colour-blocks as the long-fibred Japanese paper, yet it should be the aim of all craftsmen to become independent of foreign materials as far as possible. There is no doubt that our paper-makers should be able to produce a paper of good quality sufficiently absorbent to take colour from the wet block and yet tough enough to bear handling when slightly damp. If a short-fibred paper is made without size, it comes to pieces when it is damped for printing. But the amount of absorbency required is not so great as to preclude the use of size altogether. It is a problem which our paper-makers could surely solve. A soft, slightly absorbent, white paper is required. At present nothing has been produced to take the place of the long mulberry fibre of the Japanese, which prints perfectly, but it is far from being pure white in colour. A white paper would have a great advantage in printing high and delicate colour schemes. INK Next in importance is the preparation of the ink for printing the key-block or any black or grey parts of a design. As a rule the key-block is printed black, more or less diluted with paste; indeed the key-block is often printed very faintly by means of paste only just tinged with a trace of black. The use of colour for the key-block is treated in Chapter VII. The ink is prepared as follows. Take a stick of solid Chinese ink of good quality, and break it with a hammer into fragments; put these to soak in a pot with water for three or four days. (The quality of the sticks of Chinese ink varies greatly. The cheap sticks make a coarse and gritty ink which does not print well.) Day by day pour off the water, adding fresh, so that the glue that soaks out of the softened black fragments is removed. Three days is usually long enough for this. If left too long the whole mass goes bad and is spoiled. When the black mass is soft and clean drain off the water and rub the ink smooth in a dish with a bone palette knife. It is then ready for use, but would rapidly go bad if not used up at once, so that a preservative is necessary to keep a stock of ink in good condition. An effective method is to put the ink at once into a well-corked, wide-mouthed bottle. To the under side of the cork is nailed a little wad of unsized paper soaked with creosote. By this means ink can be kept in perfect condition for weeks or months. A drop of fresh creosote should occasionally be put on the wad fixed to the cork. [Illustration: FIG. 18.--Cork of ink-bottle with wad for preservative.] Fresh ink may at any time be obtained rapidly in small quantities by rubbing down a stick of Chinese ink on a slab in the ordinary way, but this is very laborious, and is only worth while if one needs a small quantity of a glossy black, for which the rubbed-down ink containing all its glue is the best. COLOUR Any colour that can be obtained in a fine dry powder may be used in wood-block printing. Some artists have succeeded in using ordinary water colours sold in tubes, by mixing the colour with the rice paste before printing; but the best results are obtained by the use of pure, finely ground dry colour mixed only with water, the rice paste being added actually on the block. Most of the artists' colour merchants supply colour by weight in the form of dry powder: any colour that is commonly used in oil or water-colour painting may be obtained in this state. A stock of useful colours should be kept in wide-necked bottles. A few shallow plates or small dishes are needed to hold colour and a bone or horn palette knife for mixing and rubbing the colour into a smooth paste in the dishes. Small bone paper knives are useful for taking colour from the bottles. When the colour scheme of a print is made certain--and this is best done by printing small experimental batches--it is a good plan to have a number of covered pots equal to the number of the different colour impressions, and to fill these with a quantity of each tint, the colour or colours being mixed smoothly with water to the consistency of stiff cream. Some colours will be found to print more smoothly and easily than others. Yellow ochre, for instance, prints with perfect smoothness and ease, while heavier or more gritty colours tend to separate and are more difficult. In the case of a very heavy colour such as vermilion, a drop of glue solution will keep the colour smooth for printing, and less paste is necessary. But most colours will give good impressions by means of rice paste alone. It is essential, however, that only very finely ground colours of good quality should be used. PASTE A paste must be used with the colour in order to hold it on to the surface of the paper and to give brilliancy. The colour, if printed without paste, would dry to powder again. The paste also preserves the matt quality which is characteristic of the Japanese prints. Finely ground rice flour may be obtained from grocery dealers. An excellent French preparation of rice sold in packets as _Crême de Riz_ is perfect for the purpose of making paste for printing. It should be carefully made as follows: While half a pint of water is put to boil in a saucepan over a small spirit lamp or gas burner, mix in a cup about two teaspoonfuls of rice flour with water, added little by little until a smooth cream is made with no lumps in it. A bone spoon is good for this purpose. Pour this mixture into the boiling water in the saucepan all at once, and stir well till it boils again, after which it should be left simmering over a small flame for five minutes. When the paste has cooled it should be smooth and almost fluid enough to pour: not stiff like a pudding. While printing, a little paste is put out in a saucer and replenished from time to time. Fresh paste should be made every day. CHAPTER VI Detailed Method of Printing Success in printing depends very much on care and orderliness. It is necessary to keep to a fixed arrangement of the position of everything on the work-table and to have all kept as clean as possible. To see the deft and unhurried work of a Japanese craftsman at printing is a great lesson, and a reproach to Western clumsiness. The positions indicated by the diagram on page 11 will be found to be practical and convenient. The special tools used in printing are the "baren" or printing pad, which is the only instrument of pressure used, and the printing brushes. THE BAREN OR PRINTING PAD As made by the Japanese, the baren is about five inches in diameter, and consists of a circular board upon which a flat coil of cord or twisted fibre is laid. This is held in place by a covering made of a strip of bamboo-sheath, the two ends of which are twisted and brought together at the back of the board so as to form a handle. The flat surface of the bamboo-sheath is on the under side of the pad when the handle is uppermost. The ribbed bamboo-sheath is impervious to the dampness of the paper in printing, and the pad may be used to rub and press directly on the back of the damp paper as it lies on the block without any protective backing sheet. The collotype reproduction facing page 12 shows the shape and character of the baren. Japanese printing pads may be obtained from some of the artists' colour-men, or from Japan through various agencies. They are by far the best instrument for the purpose. A pad lasts a considerable time, and when the bamboo sheath wears through may be re-covered as described below. If the new bamboo sheath is unobtainable, the baren may be re-covered by a sheet of vegetable parchment (of the kind used for covering pots of jam), laid on when wet, and twisted and bound at the end like the original bamboo covering. A baren used and re-covered when worn will last for an indefinite time in this way. TO RE-COVER A WORN BAREN WITH BAMBOO SHEATH Damp the new leaf in water with a brush on both sides thoroughly. Wipe dry both sides. Lay it on a flat surface and stretch wider with the fingers on the inside, keeping the leaf flat with the palm of the hand. Rub the inside of the leaf with something hard and smooth across the width on both sides. 1. Cut AG, BG with leaf folded. 2. Place the round pad in position on the flat leaf. 3. Stretch the leaf to lap at sides EF. 4. Turn in EA and BF fold by fold, first one side and then the other. 5. Pull hard before beginning the other end. [Illustration: FIG. 19.--Method of re-covering baren.] 6. Cut away CH, DH, holding down firmly the end done. 7. Twist up the ends tightly, pull over to the centre, and tie tightly together; cut off ends. 8. Polish on board and oil slightly. Twist the inside part of the baren occasionally to save wear by changing its position within the sheath. Several substitutes have been tried in place of the Japanese baren, with coverings of leather, shark's skin, celluloid, and various other materials, but these necessitate the use of a backing sheet to protect the paper from their harsh surfaces. An ingenious rubber of ribbed glass which works directly on the paper has been devised by Mr. William Giles, who has produced beautiful results by its means. If one is using the Japanese baren, its surface needs to be kept very slightly oiled to enable it to run freely over the damp paper. A pad of paper with a drop of sweet oil suffices for this, and may lie on the right of the printing block where the baren is put after each impression is taken. An even simpler method is that of the Japanese craftsman who rubs the baren from time to time on the back of his head. BRUSHES Japanese printing brushes are sold by some artists' colour dealers, but these are not essential, nor have they any practical superiority over well-made Western brushes. [Illustration: FIG. 20.--Drawing of brushes.] An excellent type of brush is that made of black Siberian bear hair for fine varnishing. These can be had from good brush-makers with the hair fixed so that it will stand soaking in water. Drawings of the type of brush are given above. Three or four are sufficient; one broad brush, about three inches, for large spaces, one two-inch, and two one-inch, will do nearly all that is needed. Occasionally a smaller brush may be of use. PRINTING To begin printing, one takes first the key-block, laying it upon a wet sheet of unsized paper, or upon wads of wet paper under each corner of the block, which will keep it quite steady on the work-table. A batch of sheets of printing paper, prepared and damped as described in Chapter V, lies between boards just beyond the block. The pad lies close to the block at the right on oily paper pinned to the table. To the right also are a dish or plate on which a little ink is spread, the printing brush (broad for the key-block), a saucer containing fresh paste, a bowl of water, a small sponge, and a cloth. Nothing else is needed, and it is best to keep the table clear of unnecessary pots or colour bottles. When these things are ready one should see that the paper is in a good state. It should be rather drier for a key-block than for other blocks, as a fine line will print thickly if the paper is too damp and soft. In fact, it can scarcely be too dry for the key-block, provided that it has become perfectly smooth, and is still flexible enough for complete contact with the block. But it must not be either dry or damp in patches. If the paper is all right, one lifts off the upper board and top damping sheet, placing them on the left, ready to receive the sheets when printed. The key-block, if quite dry, must be moistened with a damp sponge and then brushed over with the broad printing brush and ink. If a grey line is wanted the brush should be dipped in a little of the paste and scarcely touched with ink. For a pale grey line the key-block also must be well washed before printing. Even if the line is to be black a little paste should be used. This is best added after one has brushed the black ink on to the block, not mixed with it beforehand. The ink and paste are then broken together smoothly and completely over the whole surface of the block. The last few brush strokes should be of the full length or breadth of the block and be given lightly with the brush held upright. The inking of the block must be thoroughly done, but with no more brushing than is necessary to spread the colour equally. When properly charged with ink the block should not be at all wet, but just covered with a very thin and nearly dry film of ink and paste. No time should be wasted in lifting the top sheet of printing paper on to the block, placing first its right corner in the register notch, and holding it there with the thumb, then the edge of the paper to the other notch, to be held with the left thumb while the right hand is released to take up the baren (fig. 21). Beginning at the left, the baren is rubbed backwards and forwards, a full stroke each time, to the outside limits of the block, with a moderate, even pressure, moving the stroke in a zigzag towards the right end of the block (fig. 22). Once over should be enough. A second rub makes heavy printing of the finer lines. Then the paper is lifted from the block and placed on the board to the left. [Illustration: FIG. 21.--Manner of holding the paper.] Particular attention must be given to the careful placing of the paper home in the register notches, and to holding it there until the rubber has gripped the paper on the block. Sheet by sheet all the printing paper is passed in this way over the key-block, and piled together. There is no fear of the ink offsetting or marking the print placed above it. As the work proceeds the block will give better and better impressions. Spoiled or defective impressions should be put together at the top of the pile when it lies ready for the next printing, for the first few impressions are always uncertain, and it is well to use the defective prints as pioneers, so as not to spoil good ones. [Illustration: FIG. 22.--Manner of using the baren.] When the block has been printed on the whole batch, the sheets should be replaced at once between the boards before one prepares for the colour impressions. Usually the paper will be too dry for colour by this time: if this is so, the damping sheets should be moistened and put in again as before; one to each three printing sheets. In a minute or two they will have damped the paper sufficiently and must be taken out, leaving the printing sheets to stand, between the boards, ready for the first colour-block. PRINTING FROM COLOUR-BLOCKS In printing colour the paper may be slightly damper than it should be for key-block impressions, and a heavier pressure is necessary on the baren if the colour masses are large. If the baren is pressed lightly the colour will not completely cover the paper, but will leave a dry, granular texture. Occasionally this quality may be useful, but as a rule a smooth, evenly printed surface is best. It will be found that smooth, even printing is not obtained by loading the block with colour or paste, but by using the least possible quantity of both, and nearly dry paper. In beginning to print from a colour-block, care should be taken to moisten the block fully before printing, or it will not yield the colour from its surface; but the block must be wiped, and not used while actually wet. The printing proceeds exactly as in the case of the key-block, except for the heavier use of the baren. The paste should be added after the colour has been roughly brushed on to the block, and then the two are smoothly brushed together. The Japanese printers put the paste on to the block by means of a little stick kept in the dish of paste. Experience will soon show the amount of paste needed. It is important neither to add too much nor to stint the paste, as the colour when dry depends on the paste for its quality. Too little paste gives a dead effect. Some of the colours print more easily than others. With a sticky colour it is well to wipe the block with a nearly dry sponge between each impression, so that the wood gives up its colour more readily. In the case of a very heavy colour such as vermilion a drop of glue and water may help; but with practically all the colours that are generally used the rice paste and careful printing are enough. The amount of size in the paper is another important factor in the printing of colour. If the paper is too lightly sized the fibres will detach themselves and stick to the damp block. Or if too heavily sized the paper will not take up the colour cleanly from the block, and will look hard when dry. One very soon feels instinctively the right quality and condition of the block, colour, and paper which are essential to good printing; and to print well one must become sensitive to them. PRINTING OF GRADATIONS Beside the printing of flat masses of colour, one of the great resources of block printing is in the power of delicate gradation in printing. The simplest way of making a gradation from strong to pale colour is to dip one corner of a broad brush into the colour and the other corner into water so that the water just runs into the colour: then, by squeezing the whole width of the brush broadly between the thumb and forefinger so that most of the water is squeezed out, the brush is left charged with a tint gradated from side to side. The brush is then dipped lightly into paste along its whole edge, and brushed a few times to and fro across the block where the gradation is needed. It is easy in this way to print a very delicately gradated tint from full colour to white. If the pale edge of the tint is to disappear, the block should be moistened along the surface with a sponge where the colour is to cease. A soft edge may be given to a tint with a brush ordinarily charged if the block is moistened with a clean sponge at the part where the tint is to cease. This effect is often seen at the top of the sky in a Japanese landscape print where a dark blue band of colour is printed with a soft edge suddenly gradated to white, or sometimes the plumage of birds is printed with sudden gradations. In fact, the method may be developed in all kinds of ways. Often it is an advantage to print a gradation and then a flat tone over the gradation in a second printing. OFFSETTING No care need be taken to prevent "offsetting" of the colour while printing. The prints may be piled on the top of each other immediately as they are lifted from the block, without fear of offsetting or marking each other. Only an excessive use of colour, or the leaving of heavy ridges of colour at the edges of the block by careless brushing, will sometimes mark the next print on the pile. As in printing the key-block, it is well to hold the brush quite upright for the last strokes across the block, and always to give a full stroke across the whole length or width of the form to be coloured. As soon as one colour-block has been printed, the next may be taken and printed at once, without fear of the colour running, even though the fresh colour touches the parts already printed. One by one each colour-block is printed in this way until the batch of paper has been passed over the whole set of blocks composing the design of the print. There may sometimes be an advantage in not printing the key-block first, though as a rule it should come first for the sake of keeping the later blocks in proper register. If the key-block is not printed one cannot see how the colour-blocks are fitting. But in the case of a sky with perhaps two or even three printings--a gradation and a flat tone or two gradations--there is danger of blurring the lines of the key-block, so that in such a case the sky should be printed first, and then the key-block followed by the remaining colour-blocks. At the end of a day's printing the prints may quite safely be left standing together between the boards until the next day. For three days the damp paper comes to no harm, except in hot weather, but on the fourth day little red spots of mould begin to show and spread. It should be remembered that freshly boiled paste is to be used each day. DRYING OF PRINTS When the prints are finished they should be put to dry as soon as possible. If they are spread out and left exposed to the air they will soon dry, but in drying will cockle, and cannot then be easily pressed flat. It is better to have a number of mill-boards or absorbent "pulp" boards rather larger than the prints, and to pile the prints and boards alternately one by one, placing a weight on the top of the pile. The absorbent boards will rapidly dry the prints and keep them quite flat. Finished prints should be numbered for reference, and should, if printed by the artist himself, also bear his signature --or some printed sign to that effect. The number of prints obtainable from a set of blocks is difficult to estimate. The Japanese printers are said to have made editions of several thousands from single sets of blocks. The actual wear in printing even of a fine line block is imperceptible, for the pressure is very slight. Certainly hundreds of prints can be made without any deterioration. But an artist who is both designing and producing his own work will not be inclined to print large editions.[5] [5] Further experience on this point is given in Chapter VIII on Co-operative Printing. CHAPTER VII Principles and Main Considerations in designing Wood-block Prints--Their Application to Modern Colour Printing Until one has become quite familiar with the craft of wood-block printing it is not possible to make a satisfactory design for a print, or to understand either the full resources that are available or the limits that are fixed. In beginning it is well to undertake only a small design, so that no great amount of material or time need be consumed in gaining the first experience, but this small piece of work should be carried through to the end, however defective it may become at any stage. A small key-block and two or three colour patches may all be cut on the two sides of one plank for this purpose. There is great diversity of opinion as to the conventions that are appropriate to the designing of colour prints. In the work of the Japanese masters the convention does not vary. A descriptive black or grey line is used throughout the design, outlining all forms or used as flat spots or patches. The line is not always uniform, but is developed with great subtlety to suggest the character of the form expressed, so that the subsequent flat mass of colour printed within the line appears to be modelled. This treatment of the line is one of the great resources of the work, and is special to this kind of design, in which the line has to be cut with the knife _on both sides_, and is for this reason capable of unusual development in its power of expressing form. Indeed the knife is the final instrument in the drawing of the design. Typical examples of key-block impressions are given on pages 26 and 33: they show the variety of character and quality possible in the lines and black masses of key-blocks. The designing of a print depends most of all upon this development of line and black mass in the key-block. The colour pattern of the print is held together by it, and the form suggested. In the Japanese prints the key-block is invariably printed black or grey. Masses intended to be dense black in the finished print are printed first a flat grey by the key-block, and are then printed a full black from a colour-block like any other patch of colour, the double printing being necessary to give the intensity of the black. Although several modern prints have been designed on other principles, and sometimes a coloured key-block is successfully used, yet the convention adopted by the Japanese is the simplest and most fundamental of all. Outside its safe limitations the technical difficulties are increased, and one is led to make compromises that strain the proper resources of block printing and are of doubtful advantage. The temptation to use colour with the key-block comes when one attempts to use the key-block for rendering light and shadow. Its use by the Japanese masters was generally for the descriptive expression of the contours of objects, ignoring entirely their shadows, or any effects of light and shade, unless a shadow happened occasionally to be an important part of the pattern of the design. Generally, as in nearly all the landscape prints by Hiroshigé, the line is descriptive or suggestive of essential form, not of effects in light and shade. If the key-block is used for light and shade, the question of relative tones and values of shadows arises, and these will be falsified unless a key-block is made for each separate plane or part of the design, and then there is danger of confusion or of compromises that are beyond the true scope of the work. It is generally safest to print the key-block in a tone that blends with the general tone of the print, and not to use it as a part of the colour pattern. It serves mainly to control the form, leaving the colour-blocks to give the colour pattern. There are cases, of course, where no rule holds good, and sometimes a design may successfully omit the key-block altogether, using only a few silhouettes of colour, one of which controls the main form of the print, and serves as key-block. Frequently, also, the key-block may be used to give the interior form or character of part of a design, leaving the shape of a colour-block to express the outside shape or contour; as in the spots suggesting foliage in the print on page 114. The shapes of the tree forms are partly left to the colour-block to complete, the key only giving the suggestion of the general broken character of the foliage, not the outside limits of the branches. The outer shape of a tree or branch is rarely expressed by an enclosing line in any of the Japanese prints. The key-block is often used to describe interior form when a silhouette of colour is all that is needed for the contour. The expressive rendering of the rough surface of tree trunks and of forms of rock, or the articulation of plants and the suggestion of objects in atmospheric distance or mist, should be studied in good prints by the Japanese masters. In printed work by modern masters--as, for example, the work of the great French designers of poster advertisements--much may be learnt in the use and development of expressive line. The Japanese system of training is well described in a book by Henry P. Bowie on "The Laws of Japanese Painting," in which many useful suggestions are given with reference to graphic brush drawing and the suggestive use of line and brush marks. As part of the training of a designer for modern decorative printing, the experience and sense of economy that are to be gained from the study of wood-block printing are very great. Perhaps no work goes so directly to the essentials of the art of decorative designing for printed work of all kinds. The wood blocks not only compel economy of design, but also lead one to it. Even as a means of general training in the elements of decorative pictorial composition the wood blocks have great possibilities as an adjunct to the courses of work followed by art students. The same problems that arise in all decoration may be dealt with by their means on a small scale, but under conditions that are essentially instructive. Colour schemes may be studied and worked out with entire freedom by printing and reprinting until a problem is thoroughly solved. A colour design may be studied and worked out as fully by means of a small set of blocks, and with more freedom for experiment and alteration than is possible by the usual methods of study, such as painting and repainting on paper or canvas or wall; for the form being once established by the blocks, the colour may be reconstructed again and again without limit. The craft has thus not only its special interest as a means of personal expression, but also a more general use as a means of training and preparation for the wider scope and almost unlimited resources of modern printing. The best use of those resources will be made by artists who have been trained under simpler conditions, and have found their way gradually to an understanding of the secrets of æsthetic economy in printing. One of the many paths to that experience is by way of the craft of the wood-block printer. CHAPTER VIII Co-operative Printing A print is shown at the end of this book (page 95) as an example of a first experiment in co-operative printing. An actual print was needed to illustrate the method of block printing, and the number required was too great for a single printer to undertake. So the work was divided between four printers (of whom the writer was one), working together. Each of us had been accustomed to print our own prints in small batches of a dozen or two at a time, giving individual care to each print. The printing of 2000 prints to a fixed type was a very different matter, and proved an instructive and valuable experience. It was found that the printing of a large number of successive impressions gave one an increasingly delicate control of a block, and a high percentage of perfect impressions. After the initial experiments and practice, the failures in the later batches of the print were reduced to only 4 or 5 per cent. of the completed prints. The work was done in batches of 250 prints, each print receiving eight impressions, as shown on pages 98 to 109. Each of the four printers took charge of a particular series of the blocks, which were printed in a regular order. It was found most convenient to print the key-block last of all, as the heavy blacks in it were inclined to offset under the pressure of the baren and slightly soil the colour-blocks, if the key-block was printed first, as is usually the practice. The colour-blocks were printed in the order in which they are placed in the Appendix. The best quality of work was done on nearly dry paper. The damping sheets were placed among the new paper at the end of the day's work and removed after ten or fifteen minutes, the printing paper then was left standing over night between boards, ready for work in the morning, and was not damped again until after receiving several impressions. Then it was very slightly damped again by means of a damping sheet to every ten or twelve prints placed there for a very few minutes. As one printer finished the impressions from one of his blocks, the batch of papers was passed on to the others, each in turn. In this way three batches of 250 were printed without haste in one week, working eight hours a day for five and a half days. The chief difficulty experienced was in keeping to the exact colour and quality of the type print, each printer being inclined to vary according to individual preferences. To counteract this tendency, it is necessary for one individual to watch and control the others in these respects. Otherwise the work proceeded easily and made very clear the possibilities of the craft for the printing of large numbers of prints for special purposes where the qualities required are not obtainable by machine printing. Obviously the best results will always be obtained by the individual printing of his own work by an artist. This can only be done, however, in comparatively small numbers, yet the blocks are capable of printing very large quantities without deterioration. The set of blocks used for the example given here showed very little deterioration after 4000 impressions had been taken. The key-block was less worn than any, the pressure being very slight for this block, and the ink perfectly smooth. The impression of which a reproduction is given on page 109 was taken after 4000 had been printed from the key-block. Block No. 2 was much more worn by the gritty nature of the burnt sienna used in its printing. It would be an easy matter, however, to replace any particular colour-block that might show signs of wear in a long course of printing. Other examples given in the Appendix show qualities and methods of treatment that are instructive or suggestive. No. 6 is the key impression of a Japanese print in which an admirable variety of resource is shown by its design; the character of each kind of form being rendered by such simple yet so expressive indications. It is instructive to study the means by which this is done, and to notice how interior form is sometimes suggested by groups of spots or black marks of varied shape while the indication of the external form is left entirely to the shape of the colour-block subsequently to be printed. Plate XVI is a reproduction of a print by Hiroshigé and shows the suggestive use of the key-block in rendering tree forms. Plates XVII and XVIII show in greater detail this kind of treatment. Plates XXIII-XXIV are key-blocks of modern print designs. APPENDIX An original print in colour, designed and cut by the author and printed by hand on Japanese paper, followed by collotype reproductions showing the separate impressions of the colour blocks used for this print, and other collotype reproductions of various examples of printing and design. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |The particulars given in Chapter VIII on co-operative printing refer | |specially to the original print included in the first edition. In this | |edition an entirely new print is shown, and only 1,000 copies of it are| |being published. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ [Illustration: Plate VIII.--An original Print designed and cut by the Author, printed by hand on Japanese paper.] Plates originally printed in collotype are now produced in half-tone [Illustration: Plate IX.--First printing. Key block. Black.] [Illustration: Plate X.--Second printing. Dull Red. Printed lightly at the top.] [Illustration: Plate XI.--Third printing. Deep Blue. Strong at the bottom, paler at the top.] [Illustration: Plate XII.--Fifth printing. Bright Orange. (The fourth printing, not shown, is a similar small block, printing a faint tone over the road in the foreground.)] [Illustration: Plate XIII.--Sixth printing. Indian Red. Gradation.] [Illustration: Plate XIV.--Seventh printing. Green. Printed flat.] [Illustration: Plate XV.--Eighth printing. Bluish green. Gradation.] [Illustration: Plate XVI.--Reproduction of a colour print by Hiroshigé.] [Illustration: Plate XVII.--Reproduction of a portion of the print shown on the preceding page, actual size, showing the treatment of the foliage and the expressive drawing of the tree trunk and stems.] [Illustration: Plate XVIII.--Reproduction of another portion of the print shown on page 111 (actual size), showing the expressive use of line in the drawing of the distant forms.] [Illustration: Plate XIX.--Reproduction of a colour print by Hiroshigé.] [Illustration: Plate XX.--Reproduction of a portion (actual size) of the print on the preceding page, showing treatment of tree forms and distance.] [Illustration: Plate XXI.--Reproduction of a colour print by Hiroshigé.] [Illustration: Plate XXII.--Reproduction of a portion (actual size) of the print on the preceding page, showing treatment of tree and blossom.] [Illustration: Plate XXIII.--The Tiger. Reproduction of a colour print by J. D. Batten.] [Illustration: Plate XXIV.--Lapwings. Reproduction of a colour print by A. W. Seaby.] BOOKS OF REFERENCE "Tools and Materials illustrating the Japanese Method of Colour Printing." A descriptive catalogue of a collection exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Price Twopence. Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogues. 1913. "The Colour Prints of Japan." By Edward F. Strange. The Langham Series of Art Monographs. London. "Japanese Colour Prints." By Edward F. Strange. (3rd Edition.) Victoria and Albert Museum Handbooks. London. "Japanese Wood Engravings." By William Anderson, F. R. C. S. London, Seeley & Co., Ltd. New York, Macmillan & Co. 1895. "Japanese Wood-cutting and Wood-cut Printing." By T. Tokuno. Edited and annotated by S. R. Kochler. Report of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, for the year ending June 30, 1892. Issued in pamphlet form by the U.S.A. National Museum, Washington. 1893. Other works containing descriptions and references to the craft of wood-block printing in the Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, are the following:-- "The Industries of Japan." By J. J. Rein. (Paper, pp. 389.) London. 1889. "Bungei Ruisan," By Yoshino Sakakibara. Essays on Japanese literature, with additional chapters describing the manufacture of paper and the processes of printing and engraving. (The Museum copy has MS. translations of the portion relating to engraving.) Tokyo. 1878. INDEX Alum, 50 Andreani, Andrea, xi Baldung, Hans, x Bamboo-sheath, 62 Baren, 11, 61, 62 Baren, manner of using, 72 Baren, to re-cover, 63, 64 Baren, to re-cover (diagram), 64 Batches, size of, 89 Batten, J. D., 2 Block cutting, materials, 17 Blocks, cutting of, 17, 23 Blocks, mounting of, 18 Blocks, planning of, 23 Books of reference, 129 Bowie, Henry P., 86 British Museum Print Room, 43 Brushes, 65 Brushes, drawing of, 66 Carborundum stone, 21 Cherry wood, 17 Chiaroscuro, x Chinese ink, 55 Chisel, grip of, 34, 35 Chisels, 20 Clearing of spaces, 33 Clearing of wood between knife cuts, 35 Colour, 56 Colour block, diagram of section, 42 Colour blocks, plan of, 39 Colour blocks, planning, 40, 41 Colour blocks, printing from, 73 Colour design, 87 Commercial development, 5 Conventions of design, 82 Co-operative printing, 89 Craft in Japan, 61 Craftsmen, training of, 24 Cranach, Lucas, x Crane, Walter, ix Creasote, 56 Cutting, 25 Da Carpo, Ugo, x Damping, 14 Damping sheets, 51 Design, 27 Design, conventions in, 82 Designing, 81 Designing wood-block prints, principles of, 81 Design of key-block, 26 Diagram of knife cuts, 33 Drying of colour, 77 Drying of prints, 79 Errors of register, 43 Eve and the Serpent, print of, 2 Flat treatment, 26, 27 Foliage, 85 Gelatine, 48 Giles, William, 65 Glue solution with colour, 58, 75 Gouge, method of holding, 35 Gradations, printing of, 75 Grip of chisel, 34, 35 Hands, position of, in cutting, 30, 31 Herkomer, ix Hiroshigé, 84 Impressions, possible number of, 92 Ink, 54 Inking of block, 69 Ink, preservative for, 56 Italian woodcuts, ix Jackson, T. B., xii Japan, craft in, 4, 23 Japanese blocks, 43 Japanese craftsmen, 61 Japanese drawing, 27 Japanese key-block, 33 "Japanese Painting, The Laws of," 86 Japanese paper, 54 Japanese printers, 52, 80 Japanese prints, 83 Key-block, 25, 27, 84, 85 Key-block impressions, 5, 26, 33 Knife, 19 Knife, drawing of, 19 Knife, use of, 24 Knife cuts, diagram of, 33 "Laws of Japanese Painting," 86 Light and shade, 85 Line block, cutting of, 32 Line, development of, 32 Line of key-block, 26 Mallet, 21 Mallet, drawing of, 21 Mantegna, xi Millboards for drying, 79 Modern prints, 83 Mordant, alum as, 50 Mould, 79 Mulberry fibre, 47 Museums, sets of blocks at, 43 Number of impressions, 92 Offsetting, 71, 77 Oilstones, 21 Orlik, Prof. Emil, 7 Outamaro, 24 Pad, 61 Paper, 47 Paper, damping of, 51 Paper, manner of holding, 70 Paper, mould in, 79 Paper, need of white, 54 Paper, sizing of, 48 Paper, sizing of (drawing), 49 Paste, 58 Paste, amount used in printing, 74 Paste, preparation of, 59 Plank, preparation of, 18 Planning of blocks, 24 Position of hands, 30, 31 Posters, 86, 87 Printing, 67 Printing, co-operative, 89 Printing, detailed method of, 61 Printing from colour blocks, 73 Printing, general description of, 9 Printing of gradations, 75, 76, 77 Printing pad, 62 Prints, designing, 81 Prints, drying of, 79 Register, 71, 78 Register, errors of, 41, 43 Register marks, 36, 37, 42 Register marks, position of, 37 Register marks, section of, 38 Rice flour, 59 Rice paste, 58 Rubber, glass, 65 Rubber, printing, 61 Shadows, treatment of, 85 Shallow cuts, 34 Shrinking of paper, 41 Siberian bear hair brushes, 66 Size, amount of, in paper, 75 Size, excess of, 75 Sizing of paper, 48, 49 Smithsonian Institution pamphlet, 2 South Kensington Museum, 43 Spots in paper, 79 Table, plan of, 11 Tokuno, T., 2 Tools for block-cutting, 19 Training of designers, 86 Treatment of form, 93 Tree-forms, 85, 93 Variety of line, 82, 83 Washita oilstone, 22 Wood, 17 Woodcuts, Italian, ix. Work-table, plan of, 11 * * * * * ARTISTS INTERESTED IN THE :: :: PERMANENCE OF :: :: THEIR WOOD BLOCK PRINTS NOW USE THE CAMBRIDGE COLOURS ONLY, BECAUSE (1) Only Pigments of the HIGHEST ORDER OF PERMANENCE are included in the Cambridge Palette (2) All the Pigments may be SAFELY MIXED TOGETHER without danger of their acting injuriously on each other (3) All the Pigments are PURE and free from injurious impurities SOLE MAKERS MADDERTON & CO., LTD., Loughton, Essex (ESTABLISHED 1891) ENGLAND TELEGRAMS TELEPHONE "MADDERTON, LOUGHTON," ESSEX 63 LOUGHTON * * * * * All Tools and Materials for JAPANESE WOODBLOCK CUTTING AND PRINTING as described in this book are stocked by PENROSE'S including several new forms of Tools and Brushes approved by F. Morley Fletcher, Esq. _LIST FREE ON APPLICATION_ A. W. PENROSE & CO., LTD. 109 Farringdon Road, London, E.C.1. Printed by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., Bath, England 
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26029	----	images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) PRINTING AND THE RENAISSANCE [Illustration] PRINTING AND THE RENAISSANCE: A PAPER READ BEFORE THE FORTNIGHTLY CLUB OF ROCHESTER NEW YORK BY JOHN ROTHWELL SLATER. [Illustration] NEW YORK William Edwin Rudge 1921 PRINTING AND THE RENAISSANCE: A PAPER READ BEFORE THE FORTNIGHTLY CLUB OF ROCHESTER N. Y. PRINTING did not make the Renaissance; the Renaissance made printing. Printing did not begin the publication and dissemination of books. There were libraries of vast extent in ancient Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome. There were universities centuries before Gutenberg where the few instructed the many in the learning treasured up in books, and where both scholars and professional scribes multiplied copies of books both old and new. At the outset of any examination of the influence of printing on the Renaissance it is necessary to remind ourselves that the intellectual life of the ancient and the mediaeval world was built upon the written word. There is a naive view in which ancient literature is conceived as existing chiefly in the autograph manuscripts and original documents of a few great centers to which all ambitious students must have resort. A very little inquiry into the multiplication of books before printing shows us how erroneous is this view. We must pass over entirely the history of publishing and book-selling in ancient times, a subject too vast for adequate summary in a preliminary survey of this sort. With the fall of Rome and the wholesale destruction that accompanied the barbarian invasions a new chapter begins in the history of the dissemination of literature. This chapter opens with the founding of the scriptorium, or monastic copying system, by Cassiodorus and Saint Benedict early in the sixth century. To these two men, Cassiodorus, the ex-chancellor of the Gothic king Theodoric, and Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine order, is due the gratitude of the modern world. It was through their foresight in setting the monks at work copying the scriptures and the secular literature of antiquity that we owe the preservation of most of the books that have survived the ruins of the ancient world. At the monastery of Monte Cassino, founded by Saint Benedict in the year 529, and at that of Viviers, founded by Cassiodorus in 531, the Benedictine rule required of every monk that a fixed portion of each day be spent in the scriptorium. There the more skilled scribes were entrusted with the copying of precious documents rescued from the chaos of the preceding century, while monks not yet sufficiently expert for this high duty were instructed by their superiors. The example thus nobly set was imitated throughout all the centuries that followed, not only in the Benedictine monasteries of Italy, France, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, but in religious houses of all orders. It is to the mediaeval Church, her conservatism in the true sense of the word, her industry, her patience, her disinterested guardianship alike of sacred and of pagan letters, that the world owes most of our knowledge of antiquity. Conceive how great would be our loss if to archaeology alone we could turn for the reconstruction of the civilization, the art, the philosophy, the public and private life of Greece and Rome. If the Church had done no more than this for civilization, it would still have earned some measure of tolerance from its most anti-clerical opponents. It is of course to the Eastern rather than to the Roman Church that we owe the preservation of classical Greek literature, copied during the dark ages in Greek monasteries and introduced into Italy after the fall of Constantinople. A second stage in the multiplication and publication of manuscript books begins with the founding of the great mediaeval universities of Bologna, Paris, Padua, Oxford, and other centers of higher education. Inasmuch as the study of those days was almost entirely book study, the maintenance of a university library with one or two copies of each book studied was inadequate. There grew up in each university city an organized system of supplying the students with textbooks. The authorized book-dealers of a mediaeval university were called =stationarii=, or stationers, a term apparently derived from the fixed post or station assigned in or near the university buildings to each scribe permitted to supply books to the students and professors. A stationer in England has always meant primarily a book-dealer or publisher, as for example in the term Stationers' Hall, the guild or corporation which until 1842 still exercised in London the functions of a copyright bureau. Incidentally a stationer also dealt in writing materials, whence our ordinary American use of the term. Another name for the university book-dealers was the classical Latin word =librarii=, which usually in mediaeval Latin meant not what we call a librarian but a vender of books, like the French =libraire=. These scribes were not allowed at first to sell their manuscripts, but rented them to the students at rates fixed by university statutes. A folded sheet of eight pages, sixteen columns of sixty-two lines each, was the unit on which the rental charges were based. Such a sheet at the beginning of the thirteenth century rented for about twenty cents a term; and since an ordinary textbook of philosophy or theology or canon law contained many sheets, these charges constituted no inconsiderable part of the cost of instruction. The books must be returned before the student left the university; sales were at first surreptitious and illegal, but became common early in the fourteenth century. Reasonable accuracy among the stationers was secured by a system of fines for errors, half of which went to the university, the other half being divided between the supervisor or head proof-reader and the informant who discovered the error. The original regulation which forbade the stationers to sell books was intended to prevent students of a profiteering turn of mind from buying books for resale to their fellow-students at a higher price, thus cornering the market and holding up the work of an entire class. In course of time, however, the book-dealers were permitted not only to sell textbooks, at prices still controlled by official action, but also to buy and sell manuscripts of other books, both those produced by local scribes and those imported from other cities and countries. This broadening of the activities of the university bookstores led naturally to the third and last stage which the publishing business underwent before the invention of printing. This stage was the establishment in Florence, Paris, and other intellectual centers, of bookshops selling manuscripts to the general public rather than to university students. These grew rapidly during the first half of the fifteenth century, receiving a marked impetus from the new interest in Greek studies. Some years before the fall of Constantinople in 1453 Italian book-sellers were accustomed to send their buyers to the centers of Byzantine learning in the near East in quest of manuscripts to be disposed of at fancy prices to the rich collectors and patrons of literature. There is evidence of similar methods in France and Germany during the earlier decades of the Renaissance. This preliminary sketch of the book-publishing business before printing is intended to correct a rather common misapprehension. Manuscript books were indeed relatively costly, but they were not scarce. Any scholar who had not been through a university not only had access to public libraries of hundreds of volumes, but might also possess, at prices not beyond the reach of a moderate purse, his own five-foot shelf of the classics. The more elegant manuscripts, written by experts and adorned with rich illuminations and sumptuous bindings, were of course not for the humble student; but working copies, multiplied on a large scale by a roomful of scribes writing simultaneously from dictation, might always be had. Chaucer, writing of the poor clerk of Oxford at the end of the fourteenth century, tells us that "Him was levere have at his beddes heed Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed, Of Aristotle and his philosophye, Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrye." We are not sure that he had the whole twenty books; that was his ambition, his academic dream of wealth; but we are assured that he spent on books all the money he could borrow from his friends, and that he showed his gratitude by busily praying for the souls of his creditors. When we consider the enormous number of manuscript books that must have existed in Europe in the middle ages, we may well wonder why they have become relatively rare in modern times. Several explanations account for this. In the first place, the practice of erasing old manuscripts and using the same vellum again for other works was extremely common. Secondly, vast numbers of manuscripts in the monasteries and other libraries of Europe were wantonly or accidentally destroyed by fire, especially in times of war and religious fanaticism. In the third place, the early binders, down through the sixteenth century and even later, used sheets of vellum from old manuscripts for the linings and the covers of printed books. Finally, after the invention of printing, as soon as a given work had been adequately and handsomely printed in a standard edition, all but the finest manuscripts of that book would naturally be looked upon as of little value, and would be subject to loss and decay if not to deliberate destruction. Owing to these and perhaps other causes it is almost entirely the religious manuscripts that have survived, except those preserved in royal libraries and museums from the finer collections of the middle ages. The invention of printing was not the work of any one man. Not only were printed pages of text with accompanying pictures produced from woodcut blocks in Holland a quarter of a century before Gutenberg began his work at Mainz, but it is pretty well established that movable types were employed by Laurence Koster, of Haarlem, as early as 1430. But Koster, who died about 1440, did not carry his invention beyond the experimental stages, and produced no really fine printing. Moreover, his work had no immediate successor in Holland. Whether it be true, as sometimes alleged, that Gutenberg first learned of the new art from one of Koster's workmen, we have no means of knowing. At any rate, Gutenberg's contemporaries as well as his successors gave to him the credit of the invention. That he was not the first to conceive the idea of multiplying impressions of type-forms by the use of a screw press is evident; but he was the first to develop the invention to a point where it became capable of indefinite extension. He seems to have worked in secret for some years on the problems involved in type-founding and printing before the year 1450, when he set up his shop in Mainz. The capital for the new business was furnished by a wealthy goldsmith named Johann Fust. Between 1450 and 1455 Gutenberg printed an edition of the Latin Bible, sometimes known as the Mazarin Bible, which is ordinarily regarded as the first printed book. It was a magnificently printed volume, exhibiting at the very foundation of the art a skill in presswork scarcely surpassed by any of Gutenberg's immediate successors. He was a great printer, but not a financially successful one. Fust sued his partner in 1455 for repayment of the loans advanced, and upon Gutenberg's failure to meet these obligations Fust foreclosed the mortgage and took over the printing plant. Although Gutenberg started another publishing house at Mainz, and continued it until his death in 1468, the main development of printing after 1455 was in the original plant as carried on by Fust and his son-in-law, Peter Schoeffer. They printed in 1457 an edition of the Psalms in which for the first time two-color printing was employed, the large initial letters being printed in red and black. This innovation, designed to imitate the rubricated initials of the manuscripts, involved great technical difficulties in the presswork, and was not generally adopted. Most of the early printed books, even down to the end of the fifteenth century, left blanks for the large capitals at the beginnings of the chapters, to be filled in by hand by professional illuminators. From the establishments of Gutenberg and of Fust and Schoeffer in Mainz knowledge of the new art spread rapidly into many German cities. In 1462 Mainz was captured and sacked by Adolph of Nassau in one of the local wars of the period, and printers from the Mainz shops made their way to other cities throughout the empire. Before 1470 there were printing establishments in almost every German city, and hundreds of works, mostly theological, had been issued from their presses. In all these early German books, printed of course in Latin, the type used was the black-letter. Gutenberg, in designing his first font, evidently tried to imitate as closely as possible the angular gothic alphabet employed by the scribes in the best manuscripts. Not only were the letters identical in form with the engrossing hand of the monks, but the innumerable abbreviated forms used in the Latin manuscripts were retained. Thus a stroke over a vowel indicated an omitted =m= or =n=, a =p= with a stroke across it indicated the Latin prefix =per=, a circle above the line stood for the termination =us=, an =r= with a cross meant--=rum=, and so forth. These abbreviations, which make printed books of the earliest period rather hard reading today, were retained not only to save space but to give the printed page as nearly as possible the appearance of a fine manuscript. It was not at first the ambition of the printers and type-founders to make their books more legible or less taxing on the eyes than manuscript; their readers were accustomed to manuscript and felt no need of such improvements. The mechanical advance in the art of writing brought about by printing was at first regarded as consisting in the greater rapidity and lower cost at which printed books could be produced. But the new invention was at first looked upon by some famous scholars and patrons of learning as a detriment rather than a help. The great Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, wrote as late as 1494 in the following terms: "A work written on parchment could be preserved for a thousand years, while it is probable that no volume printed on paper will last for more than two centuries. Many important works have not been printed, and the copies of these must be prepared by scribes. The scribe who ceases his work because of the invention of the printing-press can be no true lover of books, in that, regarding only the present, he gives no due thought to the intellectual cultivation of his successors. The printer has no care for the beauty and the artistic form of books, while with the scribe this is a labor of love." Contrasted with this low estimate of the importance of the new art by some scholars, we note the promptness with which the great churchmen of Italy and of France took measures to import German printers and set up presses of their own. In 1464 the abbot of Subiaco, a monastery near Rome, brought to Italy two German printers, Conrad Schweinheim and Arnold Pannartz, and set them at work printing liturgical books for the use of the monks. Soon afterward, under ecclesiastical patronage, they began to issue, first at Subiaco and then at Rome, a series of Latin classics. During five years this first printing establishment in Italy published the complete works of Cicero, Apuleius, Caesar, Virgil, Livy, Strabo, Lucan, Pliny, Suetonius, Quintilian, Ovid, as well as of such fathers of the Latin Church as Augustine, Jerome and Cyprian, and a complete Latin Bible. This printing establishment came to an end in 1472 for lack of adequate capital, but was soon followed by others both in Rome and especially in Venice. Early Venetian printing forms one of the most distinguished chapters in the whole history of the subject. The most famous of the first generation was Nicolas Jenson, a Frenchman who had learned the art in Germany. Between 1470 and his death in 1480 he printed many fine books, and in most of them he employed what is now called roman type. He was not absolutely the first to use the roman alphabet, but his roman fonts were designed and cast with such artistic taste, such a fine sense of proportion and symmetry of form, that the Jenson roman became the model of later printers for many years after his death. Roman type, unlike the black-letter, had two distinct origins. The capitals were derived from the letters used by the ancient Roman architects for inscriptions on public buildings. The small letters were adapted from the rounded vertical style of writing used in many Italian texts, altogether different in form from the angular gothic alphabet used in ecclesiastical manuscripts. Jenson's roman letters were clear, sharp and easy to read, and constituted the greatest single addition to the art of printing since its beginning. Germany clung obstinately to the black-letter in its Latin books, as it has adhered down to very recent times to a similar heavy type for the printing of German text; but the rest of Europe within a few years came over to the clearer and more beautiful roman. There were many early printers at Venice between Jenson and his greater successor Aldus Manutius, who began business in 1494, but we shall pass over them all in order to devote more careful attention to the noble history of the Aldine press. I propose in the remainder of this paper to select five great printers of the Renaissance, and to examine their work both as a whole and as illustrated in typical examples. These five are: ALDUS MANUTIUS, of Venice. ROBERT ESTIENNE, of Paris, commonly known by the name of =Stephanus=. JOHANN FROBEN, of Basel. ANTON KOBERGER, of Nuremberg. WILLIAM CAXTON, of London. Each stands for a different aspect of the art of printing, both in the mechanical features of book-making and also in the selection of works to be published and the editorial methods employed in making them ready for the press. Taken together, the books issued from their presses at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century form a sort of composite picture of the Renaissance. [Illustration] First of all, in our consideration and in order of greatness, stands the name of Aldus Manutius. The books of the Aldine press, all with the well-known sign of the anchor and dolphin, are familiar to most students of the classics. Aldus was born in 1450, the very year of Gutenberg's invention. For the first forty years of his life he was a scholar, devoting himself to the Latin classics and to the mastery of the newly revived Greek language and literature. His intimate association with Pico della Mirandola and other Italian scholars, as well as with many of the learned Greeks who then frequented Italian courts and cities, led him to conceive the great plan upon which his later career was based. This was nothing less than to issue practically the whole body of classic literature, Greek as well as Latin, in editions distinguished from all that had preceded in two important respects. First, they were to be not reprints of received uncritical texts but new revisions made by competent scholars based upon a comparison of all the best available manuscripts. Secondly, they were to be printed not in ponderous and costly folios but in small octavos of convenient size, small but clear type, and low price. This was not primarily a commercial venture like the cheap texts of the classics issued in the nineteenth century by Teubner and other German publishers, but resembled rather in its broad humanistic spirit such a recent enterprise as the Loeb Classical Library. The purpose in each case was to revive and encourage the reading of the classics not alone by schoolboys but by men of all ages and all professions. But there is this important difference, that Mr. Loeb is a retired millionaire who employs scholars to do all the work and merely foots the bill, while Aldus was a poor man dependent upon such capital as he could borrow from his patrons, and had at the same time to perform for himself a large part of the editorial labors on his books. Mr. Loeb commands the latest and most complete resources of the modern art of printing; Aldus helped to make that art. Mr. Loeb's editors may employ when they choose the style of type known as italic; Aldus invented it. Mr. Loeb's publishers have at their command all the advertising and selling machinery of a great modern business concern, and yet they do not, and probably can not, make the classics pay for themselves, but must meet the deficits out of an endowment. Aldus had to organize his own selling system, his advertising had to be largely by private correspondence with scholars and book-sellers throughout Europe laboriously composed with his own hand; yet it was imperative that the business become as soon as possible self-supporting, or at least that losses in one quarter should be recouped by profits in another. It was in his edition of Virgil, 1501, that Aldus first employed the new cursive or sloping letter which later came to be known in English printing as italic type. According to tradition he copied it closely from the handwriting of the Italian poet Petrarch. The type was very compact, covering many more words on a page than the roman of that day, and was used as a body type, not as in our day for isolated words and phrases set apart for emphasis or other distinction from the rest of the text. Aldus also, though not the first to cast Greek type, gave his Greek fonts an elegance which was soon imitated, like the italic, by other printers. By the introduction of small types which were at the same time legible, and by adopting for his classical texts a small format suitable for pocket-size books, Aldus invented the modern small book. No longer was it necessary for a scholar to rest a heavy folio on a table in order to read; he might carry with him on a journey half a dozen of these beautiful little books in no more space than a single volume of the older printers. Furthermore, his prices were low. The pocket editions or small octavos sold for about two lire, or forty cents in the money of that day, the purchasing power of which in modern money is estimated at not above two dollars. This popularizing of literature and of classical learning did not meet with universal favor amongst his countrymen. We read of one Italian who warned Aldus that if he kept on spreading Italian scholarship beyond the Alps at nominal prices the outer barbarians would no longer come to Italy to study Greek, but would stay at home and read their Aldine editions without adding a penny to the income of Italian cities. Such a fear was not unfounded, for the poorer scholars of Germany and the Netherlands did actually find that they could stay at home and get for a few francs the ripest results of Italian and Greek scholarship. This gave Aldus no concern; if he could render international services to learning, if he could help to set up among the humbler scholars of other lands such a fine rivalry of competitive coöperation as already existed among such leaders as Erasmus and Sir Thomas More, he should be well content to live laborious days and to die poor. Both these he did; but he gathered around him such a company of friends and collaborators as few men have enjoyed; he must have breathed with a rare exhilaration, born of honest and richly productive toil, the very air of Athens in her glory; and he must have realized sometimes amid the dust and heat of the printing shop that it was given to him at much cost of life and grinding toil to stand upon the threshold of the golden age alike of typography and of the revival of learning. In 1514, the year before his death, Aldus wrote to a friend a letter of which I borrow a translation from George Haven Putnam's Books and Their Makers during the Middle Ages. This is the picture Aldus drew of his daily routine: "I am hampered in my work by a thousand interruptions. Nearly every hour comes a letter from some scholar, and if I undertook to reply to them all, I should be obliged to devote day and night to scribbling. Then through the day come calls from all kinds of visitors. Some desire merely to give a word of greeting, others want to know what there is new, while the greater number come to my office because they happen to have nothing else to do. 'Let us look in upon Aldus,' they say to each other. Then they loaf in and sit and chatter to no purpose. Even these people with no business are not so bad as those who have a poem to offer or something in prose (usually very prosy indeed) which they wish to see printed with the name of Aldus. These interruptions are now becoming too serious for me, and I must take steps to lessen them. Many letters I simply leave unanswered, while to others I send very brief replies; and as I do this not from pride or from discourtesy, but simply in order to be able to go on with my task of printing good books, it must not be taken hardly. As a warning to the heedless visitors who use up my office hours to no purpose, I have now put up a big notice on the door of my office to the following effect: Whoever thou art, thou art earnestly requested by Aldus to state thy business briefly and to take thy departure promptly. In this way thou mayest be of service even as was Hercules to the weary Atlas. For this is a place of work for all who enter." What a picture that letter gives us of the half humorous, half pathetic spirit in which the great publisher endured the daily grind. Twenty years of it wore him out, but his dolphin-and-anchor trade-mark still after four centuries preaches patience and hope to all who undertake great burdens for the enlightenment of mankind. The Aldine press did not confine its efforts to the ancient classics, but printed editions of Dante and Petrarch and other Italian poets, and produced the first editions of some of the most important works of Erasmus. But all of its publications belonged in general to the movement known as humanism, the field of ancient and contemporary poetry, drama, philosophy, history, and art. Aldus left to others, especially to the great ecclesiastical printers of Venice and of Rome, the printing of the scriptures, the works of the church fathers, and the innumerable volumes of theological controversy with which the age abounded. In France, on the other hand, the great publishing house of the Estiennes, or Stephani, to whom we next direct our attention, divided its efforts between the secular and sacred literature. Inasmuch as the history of the Stephanus establishment is typical of the influence of printing upon the Renaissance, and of the Renaissance upon printing, which is the subject of this paper, we may well examine some aspects of its career. Printing had been introduced into France in 1469 by the ecclesiastics of the Sorbonne. Like that abbot of Subiaco who set up the first press in Italy five years before, these professors of scholastic philosophy and theology at Paris did not realize that the new art had in it the possibilities of anti-clerical and heretical use. For the first generation the French printers enjoyed a considerable freedom from censorship and burdensome restrictions. They published, like the Venetians, both the Greek and Latin classics and the works of contemporary writers. Both Louis XII. and Francis I. gave their patronage and encouragement to various eminent scholar-printers who flourished between the establishment of the first publishing-houses in Paris and the beginning of the sixteenth century. I pass over all these to select as the typical French printers of the Renaissance the family founded by Henri Estienne the elder. His first book, a Latin translation of Aristotle's Ethica, appeared in 1504. From that date for nearly a hundred years the house of Stephanus and his descendants led the publishing business in France. Both in the artistic advancement of the art of printing and in the intellectual advancement of French thought by their selection of the works to be issued they earned a right to the enduring gratitude of mankind. Henri Estienne, the founder of the house, who died in 1520, had published during these sixteen years at least one hundred separate works. Although they were mostly Latin, many of them revealed Estienne's knowledge of and devotion to the new Greek studies, and this tendency on his part was at once suspected as heretical by the orthodox doctors of the Sorbonne. The favor of King Francis was not at all times sufficient to protect him from persecution, and an increasing severity of censorship arose, the full force of which began to be evident in the time of his son Robert. After Henri's death his business was for a time carried on by his widow's second husband, Simon Colines, a scholar and humanist of brilliant attainments. Both while at the head of the house of Stephanus and later when he had withdrawn from that in favor of Robert Estienne his stepson and set up a separate publishing business, Colines added much to the prestige of French printing. He caused Greek fonts to be cast, not inferior to those of the Venetian printers, and began to publish the Greek classics in beautiful editions. It was Colines, rather than either the elder or the younger Estienne, who elevated the artistic side of French printing by engaging the services of such famous typographical experts as Geofroy Tory, and adding to his books illustrations of the highest excellence, as well as decorative initials and borders. Indeed it may be said that after the death of Aldus supremacy in the fine art of book-making gradually passed from Venice to Paris. [Illustration] The greatest of the Estiennes was Robert, son of Henri Estienne and stepson of Colines, who was in control of the house from 1524 to his death in 1559. The very first book he published was an edition of the Latin Testament. Although following in the main the Vulgate or official Bible of the Roman Church, he introduced certain corrections based on his knowledge of the Greek text. This marked the beginning of a long controversy between Estienne and the orthodox divines of the Sorbonne, which lasted almost throughout his life. In following years he published many editions of the Latin scriptures, each time with additional corrections, and eventually with his own notes and comments, in some cases attacking the received doctrines of the Church. A Hebrew Old Testament, in 1546, was followed in 1550 by the Greek New Testament. The next year he published a new edition of the Testament in which for the first time it was divided into verses, a precedent followed in Bible printing ever since. It was not merely the fact of his printing the scriptures at all that angered the heresy-hunters, but much more Estienne's notes and comments, in which, like Luther in Germany and Tyndale in England, he sided with the views of the Reformers. What distinguishes Robert Estienne from the ordinary Protestant scholars and publishers of his time is the fact that he was not only a Reformer but a humanist of broad and tolerant culture. In all the illustrious group of that age there is scarcely another like him in this union of religious zeal and of scholarly culture. Luther and Calvin and Tyndale had the one; Erasmus is the most eminent example of the other, with such great publishers as Aldus and Froben his worthy supporters. But Robert Estienne, alongside of his controversial works and Biblical texts, labored at such great enterprises as his monumental edition of Terence, in which he corrected by the soundest methods of textual criticism no less than six thousand errors in the received text, and especially his magnificent lexicons of the Latin and Greek languages, which set the standard for all other lexicographers for generations to come. The middle of the sixteenth century in France is thus marked by a curious blend of those two distinct movements in human history which we call the Renaissance and the Reformation, and the blend is nowhere more picturesque than in the life of Robert Estienne. At one moment we find him attacking the abuses of the church, at another we find him consulting with Claude Garamond upon the design of a new Greek type, or reading the final proofs of an edition of Horace or Catullus or Juvenal, or discussing with some wealthy and noble book-collector like the famous Grolier the latest styles in elegant bindings and gold-stamped decoration. For beauty and for truth he had an equal passion. All that romance of the imagination which touches with a golden glamour the recovered treasures of pagan antiquity he loved as intensely as if it were not alien and hostile, as the many thought, to that glow of spiritual piety, that zeal of martyrdom, that white, consuming splendor which for the mystical imagination surrounds the holy cross. Humanism at its best is ordinarily thought to be embodied in the many-sided figure of Erasmus, with his sanity, his balance, his power to see both sides, that of Luther and of the Church, his delicate satire, his saving humor, his avoidance of the zealot's extremes. Perhaps a not less striking figure is that of this much less known French printer, striving in the midst of petty cares and unlovely sectarian strife to maintain the stoical serenity of a Marcus Aurelius side by side with the spiritual exaltation of a Saint Paul. There are two types of great men equally worthy of admiration: those of unmixed and lifelong devotion to a single aim springing from a single source, such as Aldus Manutius, and those in whom that balance of diverse and almost contradictory elements of character which commonly leads to weakness makes instead for strength and for richness, for duty and delight. Such was Robert Estienne. [Illustration] [Illustration: FROBEN] The third printer whom I have selected as typical of the Renaissance is Johann Froben, of Basel. His chief distinction is that he was the closest friend and associate of Erasmus, the principal publisher of Erasmus's works, and the representative in the book trade of the Erasmian attitude toward the Reformation. Although he did print the Greek Testament, years before Estienne published his edition in Paris, he accompanied it with no distinctively Protestant comments. Although at one time he issued some of the earlier works of Luther, he desisted when it became evident that Erasmus opposed any open schism in the Church. It was Froben who gave to the world those three famous works of Erasmus, the Encomium Moriae or Praise of Folly, the Adagia or Proverbs, and the Colloquia or Conversations, which did quite as much as the writings of Luther to arouse independent thinking within the Church, and to bring to an end the last vestiges of the middle ages in church and state. And in this relation of Froben to Erasmus there was not the mere commercial attitude of a shrewd publisher toward a successful author whose works became highly lucrative, but the support by one enlightened scholar who happened to be in a profitable business of another who happened to be out of it. The earlier life of Erasmus exhibits a rather depressing illustration of the humiliations to which professional scholars were exposed in trying to get a living from the pensions and benefactions of the idle rich. Literary patronage, as it existed from the days of Horace and Maecenas down to the death-blow which Dr. Johnson gave it in his famous letter to Lord Chesterfield, has never helped the independence or the self-respect of scholars and poets. It was Froben's peculiar good fortune to be able to employ, on a business basis with a regular salary, the greatest scholar of the age as one of his editors and literary advisers, and at the same time enable him to preserve his independence of thought and of action. Aldus and the French publishers had gathered about them professional scholars and experts for the execution of specific tasks at the market price, supplemented often by generous private hospitality. That was good; but far better was Froben's relation with his friend, his intellectual master, and his profitable client Erasmus. In an age when no copyright laws existed for the author's benefit the works of Erasmus were shamelessly pirated in editions, published in Germany and France, from which the author received not a penny. Yet Froben went right on paying to Erasmus not only the fixed annual salary as a member of his consulting staff but also a generous share of the profits upon his books. In a greedy, unscrupulous, and rapacious age this wise and just, not to say generous, policy stands out as prophetic of a better time. As a printer Froben was distinguished by the singular beauty of his roman type, the perfection of his presswork, and the artistic decoration of his books. In this last respect he was much indebted to the genius of Hans Holbein, whom he discovered as a young wood-engraver seeking work as Basel. With that keen eye for unrecognized genius which marked his career he employed Holbein to design borders and initials for his books. Later, with an equally sagacious and generous spirit, perceiving that the young artist was too great a man to spend his days in a printing office, he procured for him through Sir Thomas More an introduction to the court of Henry VIII, where he won fame and fortune as a portrait painter. I narrate the incident because it illustrates a very attractive and amiable aspect of some of these men of the Renaissance, an uncalculating and generous desire to help gifted men to find their true place in the world where they might do their largest work. This, in an age when competition and jealous rivalry in public and in private life was as common as it is now, may give pause to the cynic and joy to the lover of human kindness. ANTON KOBERGER (=No printer's mark known=) We are in a different world when we turn to the fourth of our five representative printers, Anton Koberger, of Nuremberg. During the forty years of his career as a publisher, between 1473 and 1513, he issued 236 separate works, most of them in several volumes, and of the whole lot none show any taint of reforming zeal. Koberger was a loyal Catholic, and his published books were largely theological and all strictly orthodox in nature. He is distinguished in two respects from the other German printers of his time, the time between the death of Gutenberg and the rise of Martin Luther. In the first place his work showed great typographical excellence, with many fonts of handsome Gothic type and a lavish use of woodcut illustrations. In the second place, his publishing business was far better organized, far more extensive in its selling and distributing machinery, than that of any other printer in Europe. We learn that he had agents not only in every German city, but in the very headquarters of his greatest competitors at Paris, Venice, and Rome, and in such more distant places as Vienna, Buda-Pesth, and Warsaw. The twenty-four presses in his own Nuremberg establishment were not sufficient for his enormous business, and he let out printing jobs on contract or commission to printers at Strasburg, Basel, and elsewhere. The true German spirit of discipline appears in a contemporary account of his printing plant at Nuremberg. He had more than a hundred workmen there, including not only compositors, pressmen, and proof-readers, but binders, engravers, and illuminators. All these were fed by their employer in a common dining-hall apart from the works, and we are told that they marched between the two buildings three times a day with military precision. Koberger employed for a time the services of Albrecht Dürer, the famous engraver, not only for the illustration of books but also for expert oversight of the typographical form. Typography in its golden age was rightly regarded not as a mere mechanical trade but as an art of design, a design in black upon white, in which the just proportion of columns and margins and titles and initials was quite as important as the illustrations. Perhaps Koberger found Dürer too independent or too expensive for his taste, for we find him in his later illustrated works employing engravers more prolific than expert. Such were Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, who drew and engraved the two thousand illustrations in the famous Nuremberg Chronicle published by Koberger in 1493. This remarkable work was compiled by Doctor Hartman Schedel, of Nuremberg. It is a history of the world from the creation down to 1493, with a supplement containing a full illustrated account of the end of the world, the Millennium, and the last judgment. This is by no means all. There is combined with this outline of history, not less ambitious though perhaps not more eccentric than H. G. Wells's latest book, a gazetteer of the world in general and of Europe in particular, a portrait gallery of all distinguished men from Adam and Methuselah down to the reigning emperor, kings, and pope of 1493, with many intimate studies of the devil, and a large variety of rather substantial and Teutonic angels. Every city in Europe is shown in a front elevation in which the perspective reminds one of Japanese art, and the castle-towers and bridges and river-boats all bear a strong family resemblance. The book is full of curious material, quite apart from the quaint illustrations. In the midst of grave affairs of state we run across a plague of locusts, an eclipse of the sun, or a pair of lovers who died for love. Scandalous anecdotes of kings and priests jostle the fiercest denunciations of heretics and reformers. A page is devoted to the heresies of Wyclif and Huss. Anti-Semitism runs rampant through its pages. Various detailed accounts are given of the torture and murder of Christian boys by Jews, followed by the capture and burning alive of the conspirators. Superstition and intolerance stand side by side with a naive mystical piety and engaging stories of the saints and martyrs. Of all the vast transformation in human thought that was then taking form in Italy, of all the forward-looking signs of the times, there is little trace. From 1493 to the last dim ages of the expiring world, the downfall of Antichrist and the setting up of the final kingdom of heaven upon earth, seemed but a little way to Hartman Schedel, when he wrote with much complacence the colophon to this strange volume. He left three blank leaves between 1493 and the Day of Judgment whereon the reader might record what remained of human history. It is indeed rather the last voice of the middle ages than the first voice of the Renaissance that speaks to us out of these clear, black, handsome pages that were pulled damp from the press four hundred and twenty-eight years ago on the fourth of last June. At first reading one is moved to mirth, then to wonder, then perhaps to disgust, but last of all to the haunting melancholy of Omar the tent-maker when he sings "When you and I behind the veil are past, Oh, but the long, long while the world shall last." As to worthy Hartman Schedel, God rest his soul, one wonders whether he has yet learned that Columbus discovered America. He had not yet heard of it when he finished his book, though Columbus had returned to Spain three months before. O most lame and impotent conclusion! But the fifteenth century, though it had an infinite childlike curiosity, had no nose for news. Nuremberg nodded peacefully on while a new world loomed up beyond the seas, and studied Michael Wolgemut's picture of Noah building the ark while Columbus was fitting out the Santa Maria for a second voyage. Such is mankind, blind and deaf to the greatest things. We know not the great hour when it strikes. We are indeed most enthralled by the echoing chimes of the romantic past when the future sounds its faint far-off reveille upon our unheeding ears. The multitude understands noon and night; only the wise man understands the morning. [Illustration] And now finally, what of William Caxton? The father of English printing had been for many years an English merchant residing in Bruges when his increasing attention to literature led him to acquire the new art of printing. He had already translated from the French the Histories of Troy, and was preparing to undertake other editorial labors when he became associated with Colard Mansion, a Bruges printer. From Mansion he learned the art and presumably purchased his first press and type. Six books bearing Caxton's imprint were published at Bruges between 1474 and 1476, though it is possible that the actual printing was done by Mansion rather than by Caxton himself. In 1476 Caxton set up the first printing shop in England, in a house within the precincts of Westminster Abbey. Between that date and his death in 1491 he printed ninety-three separate works, some of these in several editions. His industry and scholarly zeal as a publisher somewhat exceeded his technical skill as a printer. Caxton's books, which are now much rarer than those of many continental printers of the same period, are not so finely and beautifully done as the best of theirs. But the peculiar interest of his work lies in the striking variety of the works he chose for publication, the conscientious zeal with which he conceived and performed his task, and the quiet humor of his prefaces and notes. Let me illustrate briefly these three points. First, his variety. We have observed that Aldus and Froben published chiefly the Latin and Greek classics, Koberger the Latin scriptures and theological works, and Stephanus a combination of classics and theology. Caxton published few of the classics and very little theology. His books consist largely of the works of the early English poets, Chaucer, Gower, and others, of mediaeval romances derived from English, French, and Italian sources, and of chronicles and histories. The two most famous works that came from his press were the first printed editions of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Malory's Morte d'Arthur. His own English translation of the Golden Legend, a mediaeval Latin collection of lives of the saints, is scarcely less in importance. Among many other titles the following may serve to show how unusual and unconventional were his selections: The History of Reynard the Fox. The History of Godfrey of Boloyne, or the Conquest of Jerusalem. The Fables of Aesop. The Book of Good Maners. The Faytes of Armes and of Chyvalrye. The Governayle of Helthe. The Arte and Crafte to Know Well to Dye. This is indeed humanism, but humanism in a different sense from that of Aldus and Erasmus. Human life from the cradle to the grave, human life in war and peace, human life in its gayer and its graver lights and shadows, human life as embodied equally in famous writers and in anonymous popular legends, was Caxton's field. He accounted nothing human alien to his mind or to his great enterprise. Again, Caxton was conscientious. He set great store by accuracy, not only typographical accuracy in matters of detail, but also the general accuracy of the texts or sources from which his own translations and his editions of other works were made. For example, in the second edition of the Canterbury Tales he explains how the first edition was printed from the best manuscript that he could find in 1478, but how after the appearance of that there came to him a scholar who complained of many errors, and spoke of another and more authentic manuscript in his father's possession. Caxton at once agreed to get out a new edition "whereas before by ignorance I erred in hurting and defaming his book in divers places, in setting in some things that he never said nor made and leaving out many things that are made which are requisite to be set in." A great many other examples of such disinterested carefulness are to be found in the history of those busy fifteen years at Westminster. In view of the fact that he was not only editor, printer, and publisher, but also translated twenty-three books totaling more than forty-five hundred printed pages, this scholarly desire for accuracy deserves the highest praise. Unlike Aldus and Froben, who were likewise editors as well as publishers, he was not surrounded by a capable corps of expert scholars, but worked almost alone. His faithful foreman, Wynkyn de Worde, doubtless took over gradually a large share of the purely mechanical side of the business, but Caxton remained till the end of his life the active head as well as the brains of the concern. As for his humor, it comes out even in his very selections of books to be printed, but chiefly in little touches all through his prefaces. For example, in his preface to the Morte d'Arthur he answers with a certain whimsical gravity the allegations of those who maintain that there was no such person as King Arthur, and that "all such books as been made of him be but feigned and fables." He recounts with assumed sincerity the evidence of the chronicles, the existence of Arthur's seal in red wax at Westminster Abbey, of Sir Gawain's skull at Dover Castle, of the Round Table itself at Winchester, and so on. But he goes on to say, in his own quaint way, which there is not space to quote at large, that in his own opinion the stories are worth while for the intrinsic interest and the moral values in them, whether they are literally true or not. He closes thus: "Herein may be seen noble chivalry, courtesy, humanity, friendliness, hardiness, love, friendship, cowardice, murder, hate virtue and sin. Do after the good and leave the evil, and it shall bring you to good fame and renommee. And for to pass the time this book shall be pleasant to read in, but for to give faith and belief that all is true that is contained herein, ye be at your liberty." This wise, sane, gentle apostle of literature in England wrought well in his day, and is justly honored alike by scholars and by printers, who regard him, in England and America, as the father of their craft. Indeed to this day in the printing trade a shop organization is sometimes called a chapel, because according to ancient tradition Caxton's workmen held their meetings in one of the chapels adjoining the abbey of Westminster. * * * * * This survey of printing in its relations to the Renaissance is now not finished but concluded. I have shown that the invention and improvement of printing was not the cause but rather the effect of the revival of learning, while on the other hand the wide dissemination of literature made possible by typography of course accelerated enormously the process of popular enlightenment. I have selected five typical printers of that age: Aldus, with his Homer. Stephanus, with his Greek Testament. Froben, with his Plato. Koberger, with his Nuremberg Chronicle. Caxton, with his Morte d'Arthur. Here we find represented in the Aldus Homer the revival of Greek learning, in the Stephanus Testament the application of this to the free criticism of the scriptures, in the Froben Plato the substitution of Platonic idealism for the scholastic philosophy based on Aristotle, in the Nuremberg book the epitome of mediaeval superstition, credulity, and curiosity on the verge of the new era, and in Morte d'Arthur the fond return of the modern mind, facing an unknown future, upon the naive and beautiful legends of Arthurian romance. An age full of contradictions and strange delusions, but an age of great vitality, great eagerness, great industry, patience, foresight, imagination. And in such an age it was the good fortune of these wise craftsmen who handled so deftly their paper and type to be the instruments of more evangels than angels ever sang, more revolutions than gunpowder ever achieved, more victories than ever won the applause of men or the approval of heaven. In the beginning the creative word was =Fiat lux=--let there be light. In the new creation of the human mind it was =Imprimatur=--let it be printed. If printing had never been invented, it is easy to conceive that the enormous learning and intellectual power of a few men in each generation might have gone on increasing so that the world might to-day possess most of the knowledge that we now enjoy; but it is certain that the masses could never have been enlightened, and that therefore the gulf between the wise few and the ignorant many would have exceeded anything known to the ancient world, and inconceivably dangerous in its appalling social menace. Whoever first printed a page of type is responsible for many crimes committed in the name of literature during the past four centuries; but one great book in a generation or a century, like a grain of radium in a ton of pitchblende, is worth all it has cost; for like the radium it is infinitely powerful to the wise man, deadly to the fool, and its strange, invisible virtue so far as we know may last forever. [Illustration] DESIGNED BY BRUCE ROGERS AND PRINTED FROM MONOTYPE CASLON TYPE BY WILLIAM EDWIN RUDGE AT MOUNT VERNON NEW YORK IN DECEMBER 1921. OF THIS EDITION ONE HUNDRED COPIES ARE ON FRENCH HAND-MADE PAPER AND FIVE HUNDRED ON ANTIQUE WOVE PAPER. * * * * * Transcriber's Note: This text uses both today and to-day. 
31596	----	THE ART AND CRAFT OF PRINTING, BY WILLIAM MORRIS. A NOTE BY WILLIAM MORRIS ON HIS AIMS IN FOUNDING THE KELMSCOTT PRESS, TOGETHER WITH A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESS BY S. C. COCKERELL, AND AN ANNOTATED LIST OF THE BOOKS PRINTED THEREAT. Copyright, 1902 By H. M. O'Kane [Illustration: PSYCHE BORNE OFF BY ZEPHYRUS, DRAWN BY EDWARD BURNE-JONES & ENGRAVED BY WILLIAM MORRIS] [Illustration: NOTE BY WILLIAM MORRIS ON HIS AIMS IN FOUNDING THE KELMSCOTT PRESS] I began printing books with the hope of producing some which would have a definite claim to beauty, while at the same time they should be easy to read and should not dazzle the eye, or trouble the intellect of the reader by eccentricity of form in the letters. I have always been a great admirer of the calligraphy of the Middle Ages, & of the earlier printing which took its place. As to the fifteenth-century books, I had noticed that they were always beautiful by force of the mere typography, even without the added ornament, with which many of them are so lavishly supplied. And it was the essence of my undertaking to produce books which it would be a pleasure to look upon as pieces of printing and arrangement of type. Looking at my adventure from this point of view then, I found I had to consider chiefly the following things: the paper, the form of the type, the relative spacing of the letters, the words, and the lines; and lastly the position of the printed matter on the page. It was a matter of course that I should consider it necessary that the paper should be hand-made, both for the sake of durability and appearance. It would be a very false economy to stint in the quality of the paper as to price: so I had only to think about the kind of hand-made paper. On this head I came to two conclusions: 1st, that the paper must be wholly of linen (most hand-made papers are of cotton today), and must be quite 'hard,' i. e., thoroughly well sized; and 2nd, that, though it must be 'laid' and not 'wove' (i. e., made on a mould made of obvious wires), the lines caused by the wires of the mould must not be too strong, so as to give a ribbed appearance. I found that on these points I was at one with the practice of the paper-makers of the fifteenth century; so I took as my model a Bolognese paper of about 1473. My friend Mr. Batchelor, of Little Chart, Kent, carried out my views very satisfactorily, and produced from the first the excellent paper, which I still use. Next as to type. By instinct rather than by conscious thinking it over, I began by getting myself a fount of Roman type. And here what I wanted was letter pure in form; severe, without needless excrescences; solid, without the thickening and thinning of the line, which is the essential fault of the ordinary modern type, and which makes it difficult to read; and not compressed laterally, as all later type has grown to be owing to commercial exigencies. There was only one source from which to take examples of this perfected Roman type, to wit, the works of the great Venetian printers of the fifteenth century, of whom Nicholas Jenson produced the completest and most Roman characters from 1470 to 1476. This type I studied with much care, getting it photographed to a big scale, and drawing it over many times before I began designing my own letter; so that though I think I mastered the essence of it, I did not copy it servilely; in fact, my Roman type, especially in the lower case, tends rather more to the Gothic than does Jenson's. After a while I felt that I must have a Gothic as well as a Roman fount; and herein the task I set myself was to redeem the Gothic character from the charge of unreadableness which is commonly brought against it. And I felt that this charge could not be reasonably brought against the types of the first two decades of printing: that Schoeffer at Mainz, Mentelin at Strasburg, and Gunther Zainer at Augsburg, avoided the spiky ends and undue compression which lay some of the later type open to the above charge. Only the earlier printers (naturally following therein the practice of their predecessors the scribes) were very liberal of contractions, and used an excess of 'tied' letters, which, by the way, are very useful to the compositor. So I entirely eschewed contractions, except for the '&,' and had very few tied letters, in fact none but the absolutely necessary ones. Keeping my end steadily in view, I designed a black-letter type which I think I may claim to be as readable as a Roman one, and to say the truth I prefer it to the Roman. This type is of the size called Great Primer (the Roman type is of 'English' size); but later on I was driven by the necessities of the Chaucer (a double-columned book) to get a smaller Gothic type of Pica size. The punches for all these types, I may mention, were cut for me with great intelligence and skill by Mr. E. P. Prince, and render my designs most satisfactorily. Now as to the spacing: First, the 'face' of the letter should be as nearly conterminous with the 'body' as possible, so as to avoid undue whites between the letters. Next, the lateral spaces between the words should be (a) no more than is necessary to distinguish clearly the division into words, and (b) should be as nearly equal as possible. Modern printers, even the best, pay very little heed to these two essentials of seemly composition, and the inferior ones run riot in licentious spacing, thereby producing, inter alia, those ugly rivers of lines running about the page which are such a blemish to decent printing. Third, the whites between the lines should not be excessive; the modern practice of 'leading' should be used as little as possible, and never without some definite reason, such as marking some special piece of printing. The only leading I have allowed myself is in some cases a 'thin' lead between the lines of my Gothic pica type: in the Chaucer and the double-columned books I have used a 'hair' lead, and not even this in the 16mo books. Lastly, but by no means least, comes the position of the printed matter on the page. This should always leave the inner margin the narrowest, the top somewhat wider, the outside (fore-edge) wider still, and the bottom widest of all. This rule is never departed from in mediæval books, written or printed. Modern printers systematically transgress against it; thus apparently contradicting the fact that the unit of a book is not one page, but a pair of pages. A friend, the librarian of one of our most important private libraries, tells me that after careful testing he has come to the conclusion that the mediæval rule was to make a difference of 20 per cent. from margin to margin. Now these matters of spacing and position are of the greatest importance in the production of beautiful books; if they are properly considered they will make a book printed in quite ordinary type at least decent and pleasant to the eye. The disregard of them will spoil the effect of the best designed type. It was only natural that I, a decorator by profession, should attempt to ornament my books suitably: about this matter, I will only say that I have always tried to keep in mind the necessity for making my decoration a part of the page of type. I may add that in designing the magnificent and inimitable woodcuts which have adorned several of my books, and will above all adorn the Chaucer which is now drawing near completion, my friend Sir Edward Burne-Jones has never lost sight of this important point, so that his work will not only give us a series of most beautiful and imaginative pictures, but form the most harmonious decoration possible to the printed book. Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith. Nov. 11, 1895 A SHORT HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE KELMSCOTT PRESS. The foregoing article was written at the request of a London bookseller for an American client who was about to read a paper on the Kelmscott Press. As the Press is now closing, and its seven years' existence will soon be a matter of history, it seems fitting to set down some other facts concerning it while they can still be verified; the more so as statements founded on imperfect information have appeared from time to time in newspapers and reviews. As early as 1866 an edition of The Earthly Paradise was projected, which was to have been a folio in double columns, profusely illustrated by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, and typographically superior to the books of that time. The designs for the stories of Cupid and Psyche, Pygmalion and the Image, The Ring given to Venus, and the Hill of Venus, were finished, and forty-four of those for Cupid and Psyche were engraved on wood in line, somewhat in the manner of the early German masters. About thirty-five of the blocks were executed by William Morris himself, and the remainder by George Y. Wardle, G. F. Campfield, C. J. Faulkner, and Miss Elizabeth Burden. Specimen pages were set up in Caslon type, and in the Chiswick Press type afterwards used in The House of the Wolfings, but for various reasons the project went no further. Four or five years later there was a plan for an illustrated edition of Love is Enough, for which two initial L's and seven side ornaments were drawn and engraved by William Morris. Another marginal ornament was engraved by him from a design by Sir E. Burne-Jones, who also drew a picture for the frontispiece, which has now been engraved by W. H. Hooper for the final page of the Kelmscott Press edition of the work. These side ornaments, three of which appear on the opposite page, are more delicate than any that were designed for the Kelmscott Press, but they show that when the Press was started the idea of reviving some of the decorative features of the earliest printed books had been long in its founder's mind. At this same period, in the early seventies, he was much absorbed in the study of ancient manuscripts, and in writing out and illuminating various books, including a Horace and an Omar Khayyám, which may have led his thoughts away from printing. In any case, the plan of an illustrated Love is Enough, like that of the folio Earthly Paradise, was abandoned. Although the books written by William Morris continued to be reasonably printed, it was not until about 1888 that he again paid much attention to typography. He was then, and for the rest of his life, when not away from Hammersmith, in daily communication with his friend and neighbour Emery Walker, whose views on the subject coincided with his own, and who had besides a practical knowledge of the technique of printing. These views were first expressed in an article by Mr. Walker in the catalogue of the exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, held at the New Gallery in the autumn of 1888. As a result of many conversations, The House of the Wolfings was printed at the Chiswick Press at this time, with a special type modelled on an old Basel fount, unleaded, and with due regard to proportion in the margins. The title-page was also carefully arranged. In the following year The Roots of the Mountains was printed with the same type (except the lower case e), but with a differently proportioned page, and with shoulder-notes instead of head-lines. This book was published in November, 1889, and its author declared it to be the best-looking book issued since the seventeenth century. Instead of large paper copies, which had been found unsatisfactory in the case of The House of the Wolfings, two hundred and fifty copies were printed on Whatman paper of about the same size as the paper of the ordinary copies. A small stock of this paper remained over, and in order to dispose of it seventy-five copies of the translation of the Gunnlaug Saga, which first appeared in the Fortnightly Review of January, 1869, and afterwards in Three Northern Love Stories, were printed at the Chiswick Press. The type used was a black-letter copied from one of Caxton's founts, and the initials were left blank to be rubricated by hand. Three copies were printed on vellum. This little book was not however finished until November, 1890. [Illustration: Ornaments designed and engraved for Love is Enough.] Meanwhile William Morris had resolved to design a type of his own. Immediately after The Roots of the Mountains appeared, he set to work upon it, and in December, 1889, he asked Mr. Walker to go into partnership with him as a printer. This offer was declined by Mr. Walker; but, though not concerned with the financial side of the enterprise, he was virtually a partner in the Kelmscott Press from its first beginnings to its end, and no important step was taken without his advice and approval. Indeed, the original intention was to have the books set up in Hammersmith and printed at his office in Clifford's Inn. It was at this time that William Morris began to collect the mediæval books of which he formed so fine a library in the next six years. He had made a small collection of such books years before, but had parted with most of them, to his great regret. He now bought with the definite purpose of studying the type and methods of the early printers. Among the first books so acquired was a copy of Leonard of Arezzo's History of Florence, printed at Venice by Jacobus Rubeus in 1476, in a Roman type very similar to that of Nicholas Jenson. Parts of this book and of Jenson's Pliny of 1476 were enlarged by photography in order to bring out more clearly the characteristics of the various letters; and having mastered both their virtues and defects, William Morris proceeded to design the fount of type which, in the list of December, 1892, he named the Golden type, from The Golden Legend, which was to have been the first book printed with it. This fount consists of eighty-one designs, including stops, figures, and tied letters. The lower case alphabet was finished in a few months. The first letter having been cut in Great Primer size by Mr. Prince, was thought too large, and 'English' was the size resolved upon. By the middle of August, 1890, eleven punches had been cut. At the end of the year the fount was all but complete. On Jan. 12th, 1891, a cottage, No. 16, Upper Mall, was taken. Mr. William Bowden, a retired master-printer, had already been engaged to act as compositor and pressman. Enough type was then cast for a trial page, which was set up and printed on Saturday, Jan. 31st, on a sample of the paper that was being made for the Press by J. Batchelor and Son. About a fortnight later ten reams of paper were delivered. On Feb. 18th a good supply of type followed. Mr. W. H. Bowden, who subsequently became overseer, then joined his father as compositor, and the first chapters of The Glittering Plain were set up. The first sheet appears to have been printed on March 2nd, when the staff was increased to three by the addition of a pressman named Giles, who left as soon as the book was finished. A friend who saw William Morris on the day after the printing of the page above mentioned recalls his elation at the success of his new type. The first volume of the Saga Library, a creditable piece of printing, was brought out and put beside this trial page, which much more than held its own. The poet then declared his intention to set to work immediately on a black-letter fount; illness, however, intervened and it was not begun until June. The lower case alphabet was finished by the beginning of August, with the exception of the tied letters, the designs for which, with those for the capitals, were sent to Mr. Prince on September 11th. Early in November enough type was cast for two trial pages, the one consisting of twenty-six lines of Chaucer's Franklin's Tale and the other of sixteen lines of Sigurd the Volsung. In each of these a capital I is used that was immediately discarded. On the last day of 1891 the full stock of Troy type was despatched from the foundry. Its first appearance was in a paragraph, announcing the book from which it took its name, in the list dated May, 1892. This Troy type, which its designer preferred to either of the others, shows the influence of the beautiful early types of Peter Schoeffer of Mainz, Gunther Zainer of Augsburg, and Anthony Koburger of Nuremberg; but, even more than the Golden type, it has a strong character of its own, which differs largely from that of any mediæval fount. It has recently been pirated abroad, and is advertised by an enterprising German firm as 'Die amerikanische Triumph-Gothisch.' The Golden type has perhaps fared worse in being remodelled in the United States, whence, with much of its character lost, it has found its way back to England under the names 'Venetian,' 'Italian,' and 'Jenson.' It is strange that no one has yet had the good sense to have the actual type of Nicholas Jenson reproduced. The third type used at the Kelmscott Press, called the 'Chaucer,' differs from the Troy type only in size, being Pica instead of Great Primer. It was cut by Mr. Prince between February and May, 1892, and was ready in June. Its first appearance is in the list of chapters and glossary of The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, which was issued on November 24th, 1892. On June 2nd of that year, William Morris wrote to Mr. Prince: 'I believe in about three months' time I shall be ready with a new set of sketches for a fount of type on English body.' These sketches were not forthcoming; but on Nov. 5th, 1892, he bought a copy of Augustinus De Civitate Dei, printed at the Monastery of Subiaco near Rome by Sweynheym and Pannartz, with a rather compressed type, which appears in only three known books. He at once designed a lower case alphabet on this model, but was not satisfied with it and did not have it cut. This was his last actual experiment in the designing of type, though he sometimes talked of designing a new fount, and of having the Golden type cut in a larger size. Next in importance to the type are the initials, borders, and ornaments designed by William Morris. The first book contains a single recto border and twenty different initials. In the next book, Poems by the Way, the number of different initials is fifty-nine. These early initials, many of which were soon discarded, are for the most part suggestive, like the first border, of the ornament in Italian manuscripts of the fifteenth century. In Blunt's Love Lyrics there are seven letters of a new alphabet, with backgrounds of naturalesque grapes and vine leaves, the result of a visit to Beauvais, where the great porches are carved with vines, in August, 1891. From that time onwards fresh designs were constantly added, the tendency being always towards larger foliage and lighter backgrounds, as the early initials were found to be sometimes too dark for the type. The total number of initials of various sizes designed for the Kelmscott Press, including a few that were engraved but never used, is three hundred and eighty-four. Of the letter T alone there are no less than thirty-four varieties. The total number of different borders engraved for the Press, including one that was not used, but excluding the three borders designed for The Earthly Paradise by R. Catterson-Smith, is fifty-seven. The first book to contain a marginal ornament, other than these full borders, was The Defence of Guenevere, which has a half-border on p. 74. There are two others in the preface to The Golden Legend. The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye is the first book in which there is a profusion of such ornament. One hundred and eight different designs for marginal ornaments were engraved. Besides the above-named designs, there are seven frames for the pictures in The Glittering Plain, one frame for those in a projected edition of The House of the Wolfings, nineteen frames for the pictures in the Chaucer (one of which was not used in the book), twenty-eight title-pages and inscriptions, twenty-six large initial words for the Chaucer, seven initial words for The Well at the World's End and The Water of the Wondrous Isles, four line-endings, and three printer's marks, making a total of six hundred and forty-four designs by William Morris, drawn and engraved within seven years. All the initials and ornaments that recur were printed from electrotypes, while most of the title-pages and initial words were printed direct from the wood. The illustrations by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Walter Crane, and C. M. Gere were also, with one or two exceptions, printed from the wood. The original designs by Sir E. Burne-Jones were nearly all in pencil, and were redrawn in ink by R. Catterson-Smith, and in a few cases by C. Fairfax Murray; they were then revised by the artist and transferred to the wood by means of photography. The twelve designs by A. J. Gaskin for Spenser's Shepheardes Calender, the map in The Sundering Flood, and the thirty-five reproductions in Some German Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century, were printed from process blocks. All the wood blocks for initials, ornaments, and illustrations, were engraved by W. H. Hooper, C. E. Keates, and W. Spielmeyer, except the twenty-three blocks for The Glittering Plain, which were engraved by A. Leverett, and a few of the earliest initials, engraved by G. F. Campfield. The whole of these wood blocks have been sent to the British Museum, and have been accepted with a condition that they shall not be reproduced or printed from for the space of a hundred years. The electrotypes have been destroyed. In taking this course, which was sanctioned by William Morris when the matter was talked of shortly before his death, the aim of the trustees has been to keep the series of Kelmscott Press books as a thing apart, and to prevent the designs becoming stale by constant repetition. Many of them have been stolen and parodied in America, but in this country they are fortunately copyright. The type remains in the hands of the trustees, and will be used for the printing of its designer's works, should special editions be called for. Other books of which he would have approved may also be printed with it; the absence of initials and ornament will always distinguish them sufficiently from the books printed at the Kelmscott Press. The nature of the English hand-made paper used at the Press has been described by William Morris in the foregoing article. It was at first supplied in sheets of which the dimensions were sixteen inches by eleven. Each sheet had as a watermark a conventional primrose between the initials W. M. As stated above, The Golden Legend was to have been the first book put in hand, but as only two pages could have been printed at a time, and this would have made it very costly, paper of double the size was ordered for this work, and The Story of the Glittering Plain was begun instead. This book is a small quarto, as are its five immediate successors, each sheet being folded twice. The last ream of the smaller size of paper was used on The Order of Chivalry. All the other volumes of that series are printed in octavo, on paper of the double size. For the Chaucer a stouter and slightly larger paper was needed. This has for its watermark a Perch with a spray in its mouth. Many of the large quarto books were printed on this paper, of which the first two reams were delivered in February, 1893. Only one other size of paper was used at the Kelmscott Press. The watermark of this is an Apple, with the initials W. M., as in the other two watermarks. The books printed on this paper are The Earthly Paradise, The Floure and the Leafe, The Shepheardes Calender, and Sigurd the Volsung. The last-named is a folio, and the open book shows the size of the sheet, which is about eighteen inches by thirteen. The first supply of this Apple paper was delivered on March 15, 1895. Except in the case of Blunt's Love Lyrics, The Nature of Gothic, Biblia Innocentium, The Golden Legend, and The Book of Wisdom and Lies, a few copies of all the books were printed on vellum. The six copies of The Glittering Plain were printed on very fine vellum obtained from Rome, of which it was impossible to get a second supply as it was all required by the Vatican. The vellum for the other books, except for two or three copies of Poems by the Way, which were on the Roman vellum, was supplied by H. Band of Brentford, and by W. J. Turney & Co. of Stourbridge. There are three complete vellum sets in existence, and the extreme difficulty of completing a set after the copies are scattered, makes it unlikely that there will ever be a fourth. The black ink which proved most satisfactory, after that of more than one English firm had been tried, was obtained from Hanover. William Morris often spoke of making his own ink, in order to be certain of the ingredients, but his intention was never carried out. The binding of the books in vellum and in half-holland was from the first done by J. & J. Leighton. Most of the vellum used was white, or nearly so, but William Morris himself preferred it dark, and the skins showing brown hair-marks were reserved for the binding of his own copies of the books. The silk ties of four colours, red, blue, yellow, and green, were specially woven and dyed. In the following section fifty-two works, in sixty-six volumes, are described as having been printed at the Kelmscott Press, besides the two pages of Froissart's Chronicles. It is scarcely necessary to add that only hand presses have been used, of the type known as 'Albion.' In the early days there was only one press on which the books were printed, besides a small press for taking proofs. At the end of May, 1891, larger premises were taken at 14, Upper Mall, next door to the cottage already referred to, which was given up in June. In November, 1891, a second press was bought, as The Golden Legend was not yet half finished, and it seemed as though the last of its 1286 pages would never be reached. Three years later another small house was taken, No. 14 being still retained. This was No. 21, Upper Mall, overlooking the river, which acted as a reflector, so that there was an excellent light for printing. In January, 1895, a third press, specially made for the work, was set up here in order that two presses might be employed on the Chaucer. This press has already passed into other hands, and the little house, with its many associations, and its pleasant outlook towards Chiswick and Mortlake, is now being transformed into a granary. The last sheet printed there was that on which are the frontispiece and title of this book. 14, Upper Mall, Hammersmith, January 4, 1898. AN ANNOTATED LIST OF ALL THE BOOKS PRINTED AT THE KELMSCOTT PRESS IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY WERE ISSUED. Note: The borders are numbered as far as possible in the order of their first appearance, those which appear on a verso or left hand page being distinguished by the addition of the letter 'a' to the numbers of the recto borders of similar design. 1. THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN. WHICH HAS BEEN ALSO CALLED THE LAND OF LIVING MEN OR THE ACRE OF THE UNDYING. WRITTEN BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Small 4to. Golden type. Border 1. 200 paper copies at two guineas, and 6 on vellum. Dated April 4, issued May 8, 1891. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in stiff vellum with washleather ties. This book was set up from Nos. 81-4 of the English Illustrated Magazine, in which it first appeared; some of the chapter headings were re-arranged, and a few small corrections were made in the text. A trial page, the first printed at the Press, was struck off on January 31, 1891, but the first sheet was not printed until about a month later. The border was designed in January of the same year, and engraved by W. H. Hooper. Mr. Morris had four of the vellum copies bound in green vellum, three of which he gave to friends. Only two copies on vellum were sold, at twelve and fifteen guineas. This was the only book with washleather ties. All the other vellum-bound books have silk ties, except Shelley's Poems and Hand and Soul, which have no ties. 2. POEMS BY THE WAY. WRITTEN BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Small 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Border 1. 300 paper copies at two guineas, 13 on vellum at about twelve guineas. Dated Sept. 24, issued Oct. 20, 1891. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in stiff vellum. This was the first book printed at the Kelmscott Press in two colours, and the first book in which the smaller printer's mark appeared. After The Glittering Plain was finished, at the beginning of April, no printing was done until May 11. In the meanwhile the compositors were busy setting up the early sheets of The Golden Legend. The printing of Poems by the Way, which its author first thought of calling Flores Atramenti, was not begun until July. The poems in it were written at various times. In the manuscript, Hafbur and Signy is dated February 4, 1870; Hildebrand and Hillilel, March 1, 1871; and Love's Reward, Kelmscott, April 21, 1871. Meeting in Winter is a song from The Story of Orpheus, an unpublished poem intended for The Earthly Paradise. The last poem in the book, Goldilocks and Goldilocks, was written on May 20, 1891, for the purpose of adding to the bulk of the volume, which was then being prepared. A few of the vellum covers were stained at Merton red, yellow, indigo, and dark green, but the experiment was not successful. 3. THE LOVE-LYRICS AND SONGS OF PROTEUS BY WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT WITH THE LOVE-SONNETS OF PROTEUS BY THE SAME AUTHOR NOW REPRINTED IN THEIR FULL TEXT WITH MANY SONNETS OMITTED FROM THE EARLIER EDITIONS. LONDON MDCCCXCII. Small 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Border 1. 300 paper copies at two guineas, none on vellum. Dated Jan. 26, issued Feb. 27, 1892. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in stiff vellum. This is the only book in which the initials are printed in red. This was done by the author's wish. 4. THE NATURE OF GOTHIC A CHAPTER OF THE STONES OF VENICE. BY JOHN RUSKIN. With a preface by William Morris. Small 4to. Golden type. Border 1. Diagrams in text. 500 paper copies at thirty shillings, none on vellum. Dated in preface February 15, issued March 22, 1892. Published by George Allen. Bound in stiff vellum. This chapter of the Stones of Venice, which Ruskin always considered the most important in the book, was first printed separately in 1854 as a sixpenny pamphlet. Mr. Morris paid more than one tribute to it in Hopes and Fears for Art. Of him Ruskin said in 1887, 'Morris is beaten gold.' 5. THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE, AND OTHER POEMS. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Small 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 2 and 1. 300 paper copies at two guineas, ten on vellum at about twelve guineas. Dated April 2, issued May 19, 1892. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum. This book was set up from a copy of the edition published by Reeves & Turner in 1889, the only alteration, except a few corrections, being in the 11th line of Summer Dawn. It is divided into three parts, the poems suggested by Malory's Morte d'Arthur, the poems inspired by Froissart's Chronicles, and poems on various subjects. The two first sections have borders, and the last has a half-border. The first sheet was printed on February 17, 1892. It was the first book bound in limp vellum, and the only one of which the title was inscribed by hand on the back. 6. A DREAM OF JOHN BALL AND A KING'S LESSON. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Small 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 3a, 4, and 2. With a woodcut designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones. 300 paper copies at thirty shillings, eleven on vellum at ten guineas. Dated May 13, issued Sept. 24, 1892. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum. This was set up with a few alterations from a copy of Reeves & Turner's third edition, and the printing was begun on April 4, 1892. The frontispiece was redrawn from that to the first edition, and engraved on wood by W. H. Hooper, who engraved all Sir E. Burne-Jones' designs for the Kelmscott Press, except those for The Wood beyond the World and The Life and Death of Jason. The inscription below the figures, and the narrow border, were designed by Mr. Morris, and engraved with the picture on one block, which was afterwards used on a leaflet printed for the Ancoats Brotherhood in February, 1894. 7. THE GOLDEN LEGEND. By Jacobus de Voragine. Translated by William Caxton. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 3 vols. Large 4to. Golden type. Borders 5a, 5, 6a, and 7. Woodcut title and two woodcuts designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones. 500 paper copies at five guineas, none on vellum. Dated Sept. 12, issued Nov. 3, 1892. Published by Bernard Quaritch. Bound in half-holland, with paper labels printed in the Troy type. In July, 1890, when only a few letters of the Golden type had been cut, Mr. Morris bought a copy of this book, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1527. He soon afterwards determined to print it, and on Sept. 11 entered into a formal agreement with Mr. Quaritch for its publication. It was only an unforeseen difficulty about the size of the first stock of paper that led to The Golden Legend not being the first book put in hand. It was set up from a transcript of Caxton's first edition, lent by the Syndics of the Cambridge University Library for the purpose. A trial page was got out in March, 1891, and 50 pages were in type by May 11, the day on which the first sheet was printed. The first volume was finished, with the exception of the illustrations and the preliminary matter, in Oct., 1891. The two illustrations and the title (which was the first woodcut title designed by Mr. Morris) were not engraved until June and August, 1892, when the third volume was approaching completion. About half a dozen impressions of the illustrations were pulled on vellum. A slip asking owners of the book not to have it bound with pressure, nor to have the edges cut instead of merely trimmed, was inserted in each copy. 8. THE RECUYELL OF THE HISTORYES OF TROYE. By Raoul Lefevre. Translated by William Caxton. Edited by H. Halliday Sparling. 2 vols. Large 4to. Troy type, with table of chapters and glossary in Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 5a, 5, and 8. Woodcut title. 300 paper copies at nine guineas, five on vellum at eighty pounds. Dated Oct. 14, issued Nov. 24, 1892. Published by Bernard Quaritch. Bound in limp vellum. This book, begun in February, 1892, is the first book printed in Troy type, and the first in which Chaucer type appears. It is a reprint of the first book printed in English. It had long been a favourite with William Morris, who designed a great quantity of initials and ornaments for it, and wrote the following note for Mr. Quaritch's catalogue: 'As to the matter of the book, it makes a thoroughly amusing story, instinct with mediæval thought and manners. For though written at the end of the Middle Ages and dealing with classical mythology, it has in it no token of the coming Renaissance, but is merely mediæval. It is the last issue of that story of Troy which through the whole of the Middle Ages had such a hold on men's imaginations; the story built up from a rumour of the Cyclic Poets, of the heroic City of Troy, defended by Priam and his gallant sons, led by Hector the Preux Chevalier, and beset by the violent and brutal Greeks, who were looked on as the necessary machinery for bringing about the undeniable tragedy of the fall of the city. Surely this is well worth reading, if only as a piece of undiluted mediævalism.' 2000 copies of a 4to announcement, with specimen pages, were printed at the Kelmscott Press in December, 1892, for distribution by the publisher. 9. BIBLIA INNOCENTIUM: BEING THE STORY OF GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE BEFORE THE COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST UPON EARTH, WRITTEN ANEW FOR CHILDREN BY J. W. MACKAIL, SOMETIME FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD. 8vo. Border 2. 200 on paper at a guinea, none on vellum. Dated Oct. 22, issued Dec. 9, 1892. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in stiff vellum. This was the last book issued in stiff vellum except Hand and Soul, and the last with untrimmed edges. It was the first book printed in 8vo. 10. THE HISTORY OF REYNARD THE FOXE BY WILLIAM CAXTON. Reprinted from his edition of 1481. Edited by H. Halliday Sparling. Large 4to. Troy type, with glossary in Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 5a and 7. Woodcut title. 300 on paper at three guineas, 10 on vellum at fifteen guineas. Dated Dec. 15, 1892, issued Jan. 25, 1893. Published by Bernard Quaritch. Bound in limp vellum. About this book, which was first announced as in the press in the list dated July, 1892, William Morris wrote the following note for Mr. Quaritch's catalogue: 'This translation of Caxton's is one of the very best of his works as to style; and being translated from a kindred tongue is delightful as mere language. In its rude joviality, and simple and direct delineation of character, it is a thoroughly good representative of the famous ancient Beast Epic.' The edges of this book, and of all subsequent books, were trimmed in accordance with the invariable practice of the early printers. Mr. Morris much preferred the trimmed edges. 11. THE POEMS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, PRINTED AFTER THE ORIGINAL COPIES OF VENUS AND ADONIS, 1593. THE RAPE OF LUCRECE, 1594. SONNETS, 1609. THE LOVER'S COMPLAINT. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 1 and 2. 500 paper copies at 25 shillings, 10 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated Jan. 17, issued Feb. 13, 1893. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum. A trial page of this book was set up on Nov. 1, 1892. Though the number was large, this has become one of the rarest books issued from the Press. 12. NEWS FROM NOWHERE: OR, AN EPOCH OF REST, BEING SOME CHAPTERS FROM A UTOPIAN ROMANCE, BY WILLIAM MORRIS. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 9a and 4, and a woodcut engraved by W. H. Hooper from a design by C. M. Gere. 300 on paper at two guineas, 10 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated Nov. 22, 1892, issued March 24, 1893. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum. The text of this book was printed before Shakespeare's Poems and Sonnets, but it was kept back for the frontispiece, which is a picture of the old manor-house in the village of Kelmscott by the upper Thames, from which the Press took its name. It was set up from a copy of one of Reeves & Turner's editions, and in reading it for the press the author made a few slight corrections. It was the last except the Savonarola (No. 31) in which he used the old paragraph mark ¶ which was discarded in favour of the leaves, which had already been used in the two large 4to books printed in the Troy type. 13. THE ORDER OF CHIVALRY. Translated from the French by William Caxton and reprinted from his edition of 1484. Edited by F. S. Ellis. And L'ORDENE DE CHEVALERIE, WITH TRANSLATION BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Small 4to. Chaucer type, in black and red. Borders 9a and 4, and a woodcut designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. 225 on paper at thirty shillings, 10 on vellum at ten guineas. The Order of Chivalry dated Nov. 10, 1892, L'Ordene de Chevalerie dated February 24, 1893, issued April 12, 1893. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum. This was the last book printed in small 4to. The last section is in 8vo. It was the first book printed in Chaucer type. The reprint from Caxton was finished while News from Nowhere was in the press, and before Shakespeare's Poems and Sonnets was begun. The French poem and its translation were added as an after-thought, and have a separate colophon. Some of the three-line initials, which were designed for The Well at the World's End, are used in the French poem, and this is their first appearance. The translation was begun on Dec. 3, 1892, and the border round the frontispiece was designed on Feb. 13, 1893. 14. THE LIFE OF THOMAS WOLSEY, CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, WRITTEN BY GEORGE CAVENDISH. Edited by F. S. Ellis from the author's autograph MS. 8vo. Golden type. Border 1. 250 on paper at two guineas, 6 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated March 30, issued May 3, 1893. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum. 15. THE HISTORY OF GODEFREY OF BOLOYNE AND OF THE CONQUEST OF IHERUSALEM. Reprinted from Caxton's edition of 1481. Edited by H. Halliday Sparling. Large 4to. Troy type, with list of chapter headings and glossary in Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 5a and 5, and woodcut title. 300 on paper at six guineas, 6 on vellum at 20 guineas. Dated April 27, issued May 24, 1893. Published by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum. This was the fifth and last of the Caxton reprints, with many new ornaments and initials, and a new printer's mark. It was first announced as in the press in the list dated Dec., 1892. It was the first book published and sold at the Kelmscott Press. An announcement and order form, with two different specimen pages, was printed at the Press, besides a special invoice. A few copies were bound in half holland, not for sale. 16. UTOPIA, WRITTEN BY SIR THOMAS MORE. A reprint of the 2nd edition of Ralph Robinson's translation, with a foreword by William Morris. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Chaucer type, with the reprinted title in Troy type. In black and red. Borders 4 and 2. 300 on paper at thirty shillings, 8 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated August 4, issued September 8, 1893. Sold by Reeves & Turner. Bound in limp vellum. This book was first announced as in the press in the list dated May 20, 1893. 17. MAUD, A MONODRAMA. BY ALFRED LORD TENNYSON. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 10a and 10, and woodcut title. 500 on paper at two guineas, 5 on vellum not for sale. Dated Aug. 11, issued Sept. 30, 1893. Published by Macmillan & Co. Bound in limp vellum. The borders were specially designed for this book. They were both used again in the Keats, and one of them appears in The Sundering Flood. It is the first of the 8vo books with a woodcut title. 18. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE: A LECTURE FOR THE ARTS AND CRAFTS EXHIBITION SOCIETY, BY WILLIAM MORRIS. 16mo. Golden type. In black and red. 1500 on paper at two shillings and sixpence, 45 on vellum at ten and fifteen shillings. Bound in half holland. This lecture was set up at Hammersmith and printed at the New Gallery during the Arts and Crafts Exhibition in October and November, 1893. The first copies were ready on October 21, and the book was twice reprinted before the Exhibition closed. It was the first book printed in 16mo. The four-line initials used in it appear here for the first time. The vellum copies were sold during the Exhibition at ten shillings, and the price was subsequently raised to fifteen shillings. 19. SIDONIA THE SORCERESS, BY WILLIAM MEINHOLD, TRANSLATED BY FRANCESCA SPERANZA LADY WILDE. Large 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Border 8. 300 paper copies at four guineas, 10 on vellum at twenty guineas. Dated Sept. 15, issued November 1, 1893. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. Before the publication of this book a large 4to announcement and order form was issued, with a specimen page and an interesting description of the book and its author, written and signed by William Morris. Some copies were bound in half holland, not for sale. 20. BALLADS AND NARRATIVE POEMS BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 4a and 4, and woodcut title. 310 on paper at two guineas, 6 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated Oct. 14, issued in November, 1893. Published by Ellis & Elvey. Bound in limp vellum. This book was announced as in preparation in the list of August 1, 1893. 21. THE TALE OF KING FLORUS AND THE FAIR JEHANE. Translated by William Morris from the French of the 13th century. 16mo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 11a and 11, and woodcut title. 350 on paper at seven shillings and sixpence, 15 on vellum at thirty shillings. Dated Dec. 16, issued Dec. 28, 1893. Published by William Morris. Bound in half holland. This story, like the three other translations with which it is uniform, was taken from a little volume called Nouvelles Françoises en prose du XIIIe siècle. Paris, Jannet, 1856. They were first announced as in preparation under the heading 'French Tales' in the list dated May 20, 1893. Eighty-five copies of King Florus were bought by J. and M. L. Tregaskis, who had them bound in all parts of the world. These are now in the Rylands Library at Manchester. 22. THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN WHICH HAS BEEN ALSO CALLED THE LAND OF LIVING MEN OR THE ACRE OF THE UNDYING. WRITTEN BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Large 4to. Troy type, with list of chapters in Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 12a and 12, 23 designs by Walter Crane, engraved by A. Leverett, and a woodcut title. 250 on paper at five guineas, 7 on vellum at twenty pounds. Dated Jan. 13, issued Feb. 17, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. Neither the borders in this book nor six out of the seven frames round the illustrations appear in any other book. The seventh is used round the second picture in Love is Enough. A few copies were bound in half holland. 23. OF THE FRIENDSHIP OF AMIS AND AMILE. Done out of the ancient French by William Morris. 16mo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 11a and 11, and woodcut title. 500 on paper at seven shillings and sixpence, 15 on vellum at thirty shillings. Dated March 13, issued April 4, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in half holland. A poem entitled Amys and Amillion, founded on this story, was originally to have appeared in the second volume of The Earthly Paradise, but, like some other poems announced at the same time, it was not included in the book. 20a. SONNETS AND LYRICAL POEMS BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 1a and 1, and woodcut title. 310 on paper at two guineas, 6 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated Feb. 20, issued April 21, 1894. Published by Ellis & Elvey. Bound in limp vellum. This book is uniform with No. 20, to which it forms a sequel. Both volumes were read for the press by Mr. W. M. Rossetti. 24. THE POEMS OF JOHN KEATS. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 10a and 10, and woodcut title. 300 on paper at thirty shillings, 7 on vellum at nine guineas. Dated March 7, issued May 8, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. This is now (Jan., 1898) the most sought after of all the smaller Kelmscott Press books. It was announced as in preparation in the lists of May 27 and August 1, 1893, and as in the press in that of March 31, 1894, when the woodcut title still remained to be printed. 25. ATALANTA IN CALYDON: A TRAGEDY. BY ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. Large 4to. Troy type, with argument and dramatis personæ in Chaucer type; the dedication and quotation from Euripides in Greek type designed by Selwyn Image. In black and red. Borders 5a and 5, and woodcut title. 250 on paper at two guineas, 8 on vellum at twelve guineas. Dated May 4, issued July 24, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. In the vellum copies of this book the colophon is not on the 82nd page as in the paper copies, but on the following page. 26. THE TALE OF THE EMPEROR COUSTANS AND OF OVER SEA. Done out of ancient French by William Morris. 16mo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 11a and 11, both twice, and two woodcut titles. 525 on paper at seven shillings and sixpence, 20 on vellum at two guineas. Dated August 30, issued Sept. 26, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in half holland. The first of these stories, which was the source of The Man born to be King, in The Earthly Paradise, was announced as in preparation in the list of March 31, 1894. 27. THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. 8vo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 13a and 13, and a frontispiece designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones, and engraved on wood by W. Spielmeyer. 350 on paper at two guineas, 8 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated May 30, issued Oct. 16, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. The borders in this book, as well as the ten half-borders, are here used for the first time. It was first announced as in the press in the list of March 31, 1894. Another edition was published by Lawrence & Bullen in 1895. 28. THE BOOK OF WISDOM AND LIES. A book of traditional stories from Georgia in Asia. Translated by Oliver Wardrop from the original of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 4a and 4, and woodcut title. 250 on paper at two guineas, none on vellum. Finished Sept. 29, issued Oct. 29, 1894. Published by Bernard Quaritch. Bound in limp vellum. The arms of Georgia, consisting of the Holy Coat, appear in the woodcut title of this book. 29. THE POETICAL WORKS OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. VOLUME I. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Golden type. Borders 1a and 1, and woodcut title. 250 on paper at twenty-five shillings, 6 on vellum at eight guineas. Not dated, issued Nov. 29, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum without ties. Red ink is not used in this volume, though it is used in the second volume, and more sparingly in the third. Some of the half-borders designed for The Wood beyond the World reappear before the longer poems. The Shelley was first announced as in the press in the list of March 31, 1894. 30. PSALMI PENITENTIALES. An English rhymed version of the Seven Penitential Psalms. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Chaucer type. In black and red. 300 on paper at seven shillings and sixpence, 12 on vellum at three guineas. Dated Nov. 15, issued Dec. 10, 1894. Published by William Morris. Bound in half holland. These verses were taken from a manuscript Book of Hours written at Gloucester in the first half of the fifteenth century, but the Rev. Professor Skeat has pointed out that the scribe must have copied them from an older manuscript, as they are in the Kentish dialect of about a century earlier. The half-border on p. 34 appears for the first time in this book. 31. EPISTOLA DE CONTEMPTU MUNDI DI FRATE HIERONYMO DA FERRARA DELLORDINE DE FRATI PREDICATORI LA QUALE MANDA AD ELENA BUONACCORSI SUA MADRE, PER CONSOLARLA DELLA MORTE DEL FRATELLO, SUO ZIO. Edited by Charles Fairfax Murray from the original autograph letter. 8vo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Border 1. Woodcut on title designed by C. F. Murray and engraved by W. H. Hooper. 150 on paper, and 6 on vellum. Dated Nov. 30, ready Dec. 12, 1894. Bound in half holland. This little book was printed for Mr. C. Fairfax Murray, the owner of the manuscript, and was not for sale in the ordinary way. The colophon is in Italian, and the printer's mark is in red. 32. THE TALE OF BEOWULF. Done out of the Old English tongue by William Morris and A. J. Wyatt. Large 4to. Troy type, with argument, side-notes, list of persons and places, and glossary in Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 14a and 14, and woodcut title. 300 on paper at two guineas, 8 on vellum at ten pounds. Dated Jan. 10, issued Feb. 2, 1895. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. The borders in this book were only used once again, in the Jason. A Note to the Reader printed on a slip in the Golden type was inserted in each copy. Beowulf was first announced as in preparation in the list of May 20, 1893. The verse translation was begun by Mr. Morris, with the aid of Mr. Wyatt's careful paraphrase of the text, on Feb. 21, 1893, and finished on April 10, 1894, but the argument was not written by Mr. Morris until Dec. 10, 1894. 33. SYR PERECYVELLE OF GALES. Overseen by F. S. Ellis, after the edition edited by J. O. Halliwell from the Thornton MS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral. 8vo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 13a and 13, and a woodcut designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones. 350 on paper at fifteen shillings, 8 on vellum at four guineas. Dated Feb. 16, issued May 2, 1895. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. This is the first of the series to which Sire Degrevaunt and Syr Isumbrace belong. They were all reprinted from the Camden Society's volume of 1844, which was a favourite with Mr. Morris from his Oxford days. Syr Perecyvelle was first announced in the list of Dec. 1, 1894. The shoulder-notes were added by Mr. Morris. 34. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JASON, A POEM. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Large 4to. Troy type, with a few words in Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 14a and 14, and two woodcuts designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones and engraved on wood by W. Spielmeyer. 200 on paper at five guineas, 6 on vellum at twenty guineas. Dated May 25, issued July 5, 1895. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. This book, announced as in the press in the list of April 21, 1894, proceeded slowly, as several other books, notably the Chaucer, were being printed at the same time. The text, which had been corrected for the second edition of 1868, and for the edition of 1882, was again revised by the author. The line-fillings on the last page were cut on metal for this book, and cast like type. 29a. THE POETICAL WORKS OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. VOLUME II. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. 250 on paper at twenty-five shillings, 6 on vellum at eight guineas. Not dated, issued March 25, 1895. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum without ties. 35. CHILD CHRISTOPHER AND GOLDILIND THE FAIR. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. 2 vols. 16mo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 15a and 15, and woodcut title. 600 on paper at fifteen shillings, 12 on vellum at four guineas. Dated July 25, issued Sept. 25, 1895. Published by William Morris. Bound in half holland, with labels printed in the Golden type. The borders designed for this book were only used once again, in Hand and Soul. The plot of the story was suggested by that of Havelok the Dane, printed by the Early English Text Society. 29b. THE POETICAL WORKS OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. VOLUME III. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. 250 on paper at twenty-five shillings, 6 on vellum at eight guineas. Dated August 21, issued October 28, 1895. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum without ties. 36. HAND AND SOUL. BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI. Reprinted from The Germ for Messrs. Way & Williams, of Chicago. 16mo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 15a and 15, and woodcut title. 300 paper copies and 11 vellum copies for America. 225 paper copies for sale in England at ten shillings, and 10 on vellum at thirty shillings. Dated Oct. 24, issued Dec. 12, 1895. Bound in stiff vellum without ties. This was the only 16mo book bound in vellum. The English and American copies have a slightly different colophon. The shoulder-notes were added by Mr. Morris. 37. POEMS CHOSEN OUT OF THE WORKS OF ROBERT HERRICK. Edited by F. S. Ellis, 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 4a and 4, and woodcut title. 250 on paper at thirty shillings, 8 on vellum at eight guineas. Dated Nov. 21, 1895, issued Feb. 6, 1896. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. This book was first announced as in preparation in the list of Dec. 1, 1894, and as in the press in that of July 1, 1895. 38. POEMS CHOSEN OUT OF THE WORKS OF SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. Edited by F. S. Ellis. 8vo. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 13a and 13. 300 on paper at a guinea, 8 on vellum at five guineas. Dated Feb. 5, issued April 12, 1896. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. This book contains thirteen poems. It was first announced as in preparation in the list of Dec. 1, 1894, and as in the press in that of Nov. 26, 1895. It is the last of the series to which Tennyson's Maud, and the poems of Rossetti, Keats, Shelley, and Herrick belong. 39. THE WELL AT THE WORLD'S END. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Large 4to. Double columns. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 16a, 16, 17a, 17, 18a, 18, 19a and 19, and 4 woodcuts designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones. 350 on paper at five guineas, 8 on vellum at twenty guineas. Dated March 2, issued June 4, 1896. Sold by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. This book, delayed for various reasons, was longer on hand than any other. It appears in no less than twelve lists, from that of Dec., 1892, to that of Nov. 26, 1895, as 'in the press.' Trial pages, including one in a single column, were ready as early as September, 1892, and the printing began on December 16 of that year. The edition of The Well at the World's End published by Longmans was then being printed from the author's manuscript at the Chiswick Press, and the Kelmscott Press edition was set up from the sheets of that edition, which, though not issued until October, 1896, was finished in 1894. The eight borders and the six different ornaments between the columns, appear here for the first time, but are used again in The Water of the Wondrous Isles, with the exception of two borders. 40. THE WORKS OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER. Edited by F. S. Ellis. Folio. Chaucer type, with headings to the longer poems in Troy type. In black and red. Borders 20a to 26, woodcut title, and 87 woodcut illustrations designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones. 425 on paper at twenty pounds, 13 on vellum at 120 guineas. Dated May 8, issued June 26, 1893. Published by William Morris. Bound in half holland. The history of this book, which is by far the most important achievement of the Kelmscott Press, is as follows. As far back as June 11, 1891, Mr. Morris spoke of printing a Chaucer with a black-letter fount which he hoped to design. Four months later, when most of the Troy type was designed and cut, he expressed his intention to use it first on John Ball, and then on a Chaucer and perhaps a Gesta Romanorum. By January 1, 1892, the Troy type was delivered, and early in that month two trial pages, one from The Cook's Tale and one from Sir Thopas, the latter in double columns, were got out. It then became evident that the type was too large for a Chaucer, and Mr. Morris decided to have it re-cut in the size known as pica. By the end of June he was thus in possession of the type which in the list issued in December, 1892, he named the Chaucer type. In July, 1892, another trial page, a passage from The Knight's Tale in double columns of 58 lines, was got out, and found to be satisfactory. The idea of the Chaucer as it now exists, with illustrations by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, then took definite shape. In a proof of the first list, dated April, 1892, there is an announcement of the book as in preparation, in black-letter, large quarto, but this was struck out, and does not appear in the list as printed in May, nor yet in the July list. In that for Dec., 1892, it is announced for the first time as to be in Chaucer type 'with about sixty designs by E. Burne-Jones.' The next list, dated March 9, 1893, states that it will be a folio and that it is in the press, by which was meant that a few pages were in type. In the list dated Aug. 1, 1893, the probable price is given as twenty pounds. The next four lists contain no fresh information, but on Aug. 17, 1894, nine days after the first sheet was printed, a notice was sent to the trade that there would be 325 copies at twenty pounds and about sixty woodcuts designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. Three months later it was decided to increase the number of illustrations to upwards of seventy, and to print another 100 copies of the book. A circular letter was sent to subscribers on Nov. 14, stating this and giving them an opportunity of cancelling their orders. Orders were not withdrawn, the extra copies were immediately taken up, and the list for Dec. 1, 1894, which is the first containing full particulars, announces that all paper copies are sold. Mr. Morris began designing his first folio border on Feb. 1, 1893, but was dissatisfied with the design and did not finish it. Three days later he began the vine border for the first page, and finished it in about a week, together with the initial word 'Whan,' the two lines of heading, and the frame for the first picture, and Mr. Hooper engraved the whole of these on one block. The first picture was engraved at about the same time. A specimen of the first page (differing slightly from the same page as it appears in the book) was shown at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition in October and November, 1893, and was issued to a few leading booksellers, but it was not until August 8, 1894, that the first sheet was printed at 14, Upper Mall. On Jan. 8, 1895, another press was started at 21, Upper Mall, and from that time two presses were almost exclusively at work on the Chaucer. By Sept. 10 the last page of The Romaunt of the Rose was printed. In the middle of Feb., 1896, Mr. Morris began designing the title. It was finished on the 27th of the same month and engraved by Mr. Hooper in March. On May 8, a year and nine months after the printing of the first sheet, the book was completed. On June 2 the first two copies were delivered to Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Mr. Morris. Mr. Morris's copy is now at Exeter College, Oxford, with other books printed at the Kelmscott Press. Besides the eighty-seven illustrations designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, and engraved by W. H. Hooper, the Chaucer contains a woodcut title, fourteen large borders, eighteen different frames round the illustrations, and twenty-six large initial words designed for the book by William Morris. Many of these were engraved by C. E. Keates, and others by W. H. Hooper and W. Spielmeyer. In Feb., 1896, a notice was issued respecting special bindings, of which Mr. Morris intended to design four. Two of these were to have been executed under Mr. Cobden-Sanderson's direction at the Doves Bindery, and two by Messrs. J. & J. Leighton. But the only design that he was able to complete was for a full white pigskin binding, which has now been carried out at the Doves Bindery on forty-eight copies, including two on vellum. 41. THE EARTHLY PARADISE. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. VOLUME I. PROLOGUE: THE WANDERERS. MARCH: ATALANTA'S RACE. THE MAN BORN TO BE KING. Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 27a, 27, 28a, and 28, and woodcut title. 225 on paper at thirty shillings, 6 on vellum at seven guineas. Dated May 7, issued July 24, 1896. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. This was the first book printed on the paper with the apple watermark. The seven other volumes followed it at intervals of a few months. None of the ten borders used in The Earthly Paradise appear in any other book. The four different half-borders round the poems to the months are also not used elsewhere. The first border was designed in June, 1895. 42. LAUDES BEATAE MARIAE VIRGINIS. Latin poems taken from a Psalter written in England about A. D. 1220. Edited by S. C. Cockerell. Large 4to. Troy type. In black, red, and blue. 250 on paper at ten shillings, 10 on vellum at two guineas. Dated July 7, issued August 7, 1896. Published by William Morris. Bound in half holland. This was the first book printed at the Kelmscott Press in three colours. The manuscript from which the poems were taken was one of the most beautiful of the English books in Mr. Morris's possession, both as regards writing and ornament. No author's name is given to the poems, but after this book was issued the Rev. E. S. Dewick pointed out that they had already been printed at Tegernsee in 1579, in a 16mo volume in which they are ascribed to Stephen Langton. A note to this effect was printed in the Chaucer type in Dec. 28, 1896, and distributed to the subscribers. 41a. THE EARTHLY PARADISE. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. VOLUME II. APRIL: THE DOOM OF KING ACRISIUS. THE PROUD KING. Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 29a, 29, 28a, and 28. 225 on paper at thirty shillings, 6 on vellum at seven guineas. Dated June 24, issued Sept. 17, 1896. Published by William Morris. Bound in limp vellum. 43. THE FLOURE AND THE LEAFE, AND THE BOKE OF CUPIDE, GOD OF LOVE, OR THE CUCKOW AND THE NIGHTINGALE. Edited by F. S. Ellis. Medium 4to. Troy type, with note and colophon in Chaucer type. In black and red. 300 on paper at ten shillings, 10 on vellum at two guineas. Dated Aug. 21, issued Nov. 2, 1896. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland. Two of the initial words from the Chaucer are used in this book, one at the beginning of each poem. These poems were formerly attributed to Chaucer, but recent scholarship has proved that The Floure and the Leafe is much later than Chaucer, and that The Cuckow and the Nightingale was written by Sir Thomas Clanvowe about A. D. 1405-10. 44. THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER: CONTEYNING TWELVE ÆGLOGUES, PROPORTIONABLE TO THE TWELVE MONETHES. By Edmund Spenser. Edited by F. S. Ellis. Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. With twelve full-page illustrations by A. J. Gaskin. 225 on paper at a guinea, 6 on vellum at three guineas. Dated Oct. 14, issued Nov. 26, 1896. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland. The illustrations in this book were printed from process blocks by Walker & Boutall. By an oversight the names of author, editor, and artist were omitted from the colophon. 41b. THE EARTHLY PARADISE. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. VOLUME III. MAY: THE STORY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE. THE WRITING ON THE IMAGE. JUNE: THE LOVE OF ALCESTIS. THE LADY OF THE LAND. Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 30a, 30, 27a, 27, 28a, 28, 29a, and 29. 225 on paper at thirty shillings, 6 on vellum at seven guineas. Dated Aug. 24, issued Dec. 5, 1896. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum. 41c. THE EARTHLY PARADISE. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. VOLUME IV. JULY: THE SON OF CROESUS. THE WATCHING OF THE FALCON. AUGUST: PYGMALION AND THE IMAGE. OGIER THE DANE. Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 31a, 31, 29a, 29, 28a, 28, 30a, and 30. Dated Nov. 25, 1896, issued Jan. 22, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum. 41d. THE EARTHLY PARADISE. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. VOLUME V. SEPTEMBER: THE DEATH OF PARIS. THE LAND EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON. OCTOBER: THE STORY OF ACONTIUS AND CYDIPPE. THE MAN WHO NEVER LAUGHED AGAIN. Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 29a, 29, 27a, 27, 28a, 28, 31a, and 31. Finished Dec. 24, 1896, issued Mar. 9, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum. 41e. THE EARTHLY PARADISE. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. VOLUME VI. NOVEMBER: THE STORY OF RHODOPE. THE LOVERS OF GUDRUN. Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 27a, 27, 30a, and 30. Finished Feb. 18, issued May 11, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum. 41f. THE EARTHLY PARADISE. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. VOLUME VII. DECEMBER: THE GOLDEN APPLES. THE FOSTERING OF ASLAUG. JANUARY: BELLEROPHON AT ARGOS. THE RING GIVEN TO VENUS. Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 29a, 29, 31a, 31, 30a, 30, 27a, and 27. Finished March 17, issued July 29, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum. 45. THE WATER OF THE WONDROUS ISLES. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Large 4to. Chaucer type, in double columns, with a few lines in Troy type at the end of each of the seven parts. In black and red. Borders 16a, 17a, 18a, 19, and 19a. 250 on paper at three guineas, 6 on vellum at twelve guineas. Dated April 1, issued July 29, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum. Unlike The Well at the World's End, with which it is mainly uniform, this book has red shoulder-notes and no illustrations. Mr. Morris began the story in verse on Feb. 4, 1895. A few days later he began it afresh in alternate prose and verse; but he was again dissatisfied, and finally began it a third time in prose alone, as it now stands. It was first announced as in the press in the list of June 1, 1896, at which date the early chapters were in type, although they were not printed until about a month later. The designs for the initial words 'Whilom' and 'Empty' were begun by William Morris shortly before his death, and were finished by R. Catterson-Smith. Another edition was published by Longmans on Oct. 1, 1897. 41g. THE EARTHLY PARADISE. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. VOLUME VIII. FEBRUARY: BELLEROPHON IN LYCIA. THE HILL OF VENUS. EPILOGUE. L'ENVOI. Medium 4to. Golden type. In black and red. Borders 28a, 28, 29a, and 29. Finished June 10, issued Sept. 27, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum. The colophon of this final volume of The Earthly Paradise contains the following note: 'The borders in this edition of The Earthly Paradise were designed by William Morris, except those on page 4 of volumes ii., iii., and iv., afterwards repeated, which were designed to match the opposite borders, under William Morris's direction, by R. Catterson-Smith; who also finished the initial words 'Whilom' and 'Empty' for The Water of the Wondrous Isles. All the other letters, borders, title-pages and ornaments used at the Kelmscott Press, except the Greek type in Atalanta in Calydon, were designed by William Morris.' 46. TWO TRIAL PAGES OF THE PROJECTED EDITION OF LORD BERNERS' TRANSLATION OF FROISSART'S CHRONICLES. Folio. Chaucer type, with heading in Troy type. In black and red. Border 32, containing the shields of France, the Empire, and England and a half-border containing those of Reginald Lord Cobham, Sir John Chandos, and Sir Walter Manny. 160 on vellum at a guinea, none on paper. Dated September, issued October 7, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Not bound. It was the intention of Mr. Morris to make this edition of what was since his college days almost his favourite book, a worthy companion to the Chaucer. It was to have been in two volumes folio, with new cusped initials and heraldic ornament throughout. Each volume was to have had a large frontispiece designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones; the subject of the first was to have been St. George, that of the second, Fame. A trial page was set up in the Troy type soon after it came from the foundry, in Jan., 1892. Early in 1893 trial pages were set up in the Chaucer type, and in the list for March 9 of that year the book is erroneously stated to be in the press. In the three following lists it is announced as in preparation. In the list dated Dec. 1, 1893, and in the three next lists, it is again announced as in the press, and the number to be printed is given as 150. Meanwhile the printing of the Chaucer had been begun, and as it was not feasible to carry on two folios at the same time, the Froissart again comes under the heading 'in preparation' in the lists from Dec. 1, 1894, to June 1, 1896. In the prospectus of the Shepheardes Calender, dated Nov. 12, 1896, it is announced as abandoned. At that time about thirty-four pages were in type, but no sheet had been printed. Before the type was broken up, on Dec. 24, 1896, 32 copies of sixteen of these pages were printed and given as a memento to personal friends of the poet and printer whose death now made the completion of the book impossible. This suggested the idea of printing two pages for wider distribution. The half-border had been engraved in April, 1894, by W. Spielmeyer, but the large border only existed as a drawing. It was engraved with great skill and spirit by C. E. Keates, and the two pages were printed by Stephen Mowlem, with the help of an apprentice, in a manner worthy of the designs. 47. SIRE DEGREVAUNT. Edited by F. S. Ellis after the edition printed by J. O. Halliwell. 8vo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 1a and 1, and a woodcut designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. 350 on paper at fifteen shillings, 8 on vellum at four guineas. Dated Mar. 14, 1896, issued Nov. 12, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland. This book, subjects from which were painted by Sir Edward Burne-Jones on the walls of The Red House, Upton, Bexley Heath, many years ago, was always a favourite with Mr. Morris. The frontispiece was not printed until October, 1897, eighteen months after the text was finished. 48. SYR YSAMBRACE. Edited by F. S. Ellis after the edition printed by J. O. Halliwell from the MS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, with some corrections. 8vo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Borders 4a and 4, and a woodcut designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. 350 on paper at twelve shillings, 8 on vellum at four guineas. Dated July 14, issued Nov. 11, 1897. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland. This is the third and last of the reprints from the Camden Society's volume of Thornton Romances. The text was all set up and partly printed by June, 1896, at which time it was intended to include 'Sir Eglamour' in the same volume. 49. SOME GERMAN WOODCUTS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Being thirty-five reproductions from books that were in the library of the late William Morris. Edited, with a list of the principal woodcut books in that library, by S. C. Cockerell. Large 4to. Golden type. In red and black. 225 on paper at thirty shillings, 8 on vellum at five guineas. Dated Dec. 15, 1897, issued January 6, 1898. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland. Of these thirty-five reproductions twenty-nine were all that were done of a series chosen by Mr. Morris to illustrate a catalogue of his library, and the other six were prepared by him for an article in the 4th number of Bibliographica, part of which is reprinted as an introduction to the book. The process blocks (with one exception) were made by Walker & Boutall, and are of the same size as the original cuts. 50. THE STORY OF SIGURD THE VOLSUNG AND THE FALL OF THE NIBLUNGS. BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Small folio. Chaucer type, with title and headings to the four books in Troy type. In black and red. Borders 33a and 33, and two illustrations designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. 160 on paper at six guineas, 6 on vellum at twenty guineas. Dated January 19, issued February 25, 1898. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum. The two borders used in this book were almost the last that Mr. Morris designed. They were intended for an edition of The Hill of Venus, which was to have been written in prose by him and illustrated by Sir E. Burne-Jones. The foliage was suggested by the ornament in two Psalters of the last half of the thirteenth century in the library at Kelmscott House. The initial A at the beginning of the 3rd book was designed in March, 1893, for the Froissart, and does not appear elsewhere. An edition of Sigurd the Volsung, which Mr. Morris justly considered his masterpiece, was contemplated early in the history of the Kelmscott Press. An announcement appears in a proof of the first list, dated April, 1892, but it was excluded from the list as issued in May. It did not reappear until the list of November 26, 1895, in which, the Chaucer being near its completion, Sigurd comes under the heading 'in preparation,' as a folio in Troy type, 'with about twenty-five illustrations by Sir E. Burne-Jones.' In the list of June 1, 1896, it is finally announced as 'in the press,' the number of illustrations is increased to forty, and other particulars are given. Four borders had then been designed for it, two of which were used on pages 470 and 471 of the Chaucer. The other two have not been used, though one of them has been engraved. Two pages only were in type, thirty-two copies of which were struck off on Jan. 11, 1897, and given to friends, with the sixteen pages of Froissart mentioned above. 51. THE SUNDERING FLOOD WRITTEN BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Overseen for the press by May Morris. 8vo. Chaucer type. In black and red. Border 10, and a map. 300 on paper at two guineas. Dated Nov. 15, 1897, issued Feb. 25, 1898. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland. This was the last romance by William Morris. He began to write it on Dec. 21, 1895, and dictated the final words on Sept. 8, 1896. The map pasted into the cover was drawn by H. Cribb for Walker & Boutall, who prepared the block. In the edition that Longmans are about to issue the bands of robbers called in the Kelmscott edition Red and Black Skinners appear correctly as Red and Black Skimmers. The name was probably suggested by that of the pirates called 'escumours of the sea' on page 154 of Godefrey of Boloyne. 52. LOVE IS ENOUGH, OR THE FREEING OF PHARAMOND: A MORALITY. WRITTEN BY WILLIAM MORRIS. Large 4to. Troy type, with stage directions in Chaucer type. In black, red, and blue. Borders 6a and 7, and two illustrations designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. 300 on paper at two guineas, 8 on vellum at ten guineas. Dated Dec. 11, 1897, issued Mar. 24, 1898. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in limp vellum. This was the second book printed in three colours at the Kelmscott Press. As explained in the colophon, the final picture was not designed for this edition of Love is Enough, but for the projected edition referred to above, on page 5. 53. A NOTE BY WILLIAM MORRIS ON HIS AIMS IN FOUNDING THE KELMSCOTT PRESS, TOGETHER WITH A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESS BY S. C. COCKERELL, AND AN ANNOTATED LIST OF THE BOOKS PRINTED THEREAT. Octavo. Golden type, with five pages in the Troy and Chaucer types. In black and red. Borders 4a and 4, and a woodcut designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones. 525 on paper at ten shillings, 12 on vellum at two guineas. Dated March 1, issued March 24, 1898. Published at the Kelmscott Press. Bound in half holland. The frontispiece to this book was engraved by William Morris for the projected edition of The Earthly Paradise described on page 5. This block and the blocks for the three ornaments on page 7 are not included among those mentioned on page 12 as having been sent to the British Museum. VARIOUS LISTS, LEAFLETS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS PRINTED AT THE KELMSCOTT PRESS. Eighteen lists of the books printed or in preparation at the Kelmscott Press were issued to booksellers and subscribers. The dates of these are May, July, and Dec., 1892; March 9, May 20, May 27, Aug. 1, and Dec. 1, 1893; March 31, April 21, July 2, Oct. 1 (a leaflet), and Dec. 1, 1894; July 1, and Nov. 26, 1895; June 1, 1896; Feb. 16, and July 28, 1897. The three lists for 1892, and some copies of that for Mar. 9, 1893, were printed on Whatman paper, the last of the stock bought for the first edition of The Roots of the Mountains (see p. 6). Besides these, twenty-nine announcements, relating mainly to individual books, were issued; and eight leaflets, containing extracts from the lists, were printed for distribution by Messrs. Morris & Co. The following items, as having a more permanent interest than most of these announcements, merit a full description: 1. Two forms of invitation to the annual gatherings of The Hammersmith Socialist Society on Jan. 30, 1892, and Feb. 11, 1893. Golden type. 2. A four-page leaflet for the Ancoats Brotherhood, with the frontispiece from the Kelmscott Press edition of A Dream of John Ball on the first page. March, 1894. Golden type. 2500 copies. 3. An address to Sir Lowthian Bell, Bart., from his employés, dated 30th June, 1894. 8 pages. Golden type. 250 on paper and 2 on vellum. 4. A leaflet, with fly-leaf, headed An American Memorial to Keats, together with a form of invitation to the unveiling of his bust in Hampstead Parish Church on July 16, 1894. Golden type. 750 copies. 5. A slip giving the text of a memorial tablet to Dr. Thomas Sadler, for distribution at the unveiling of it in Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead. Nov., 1894. Golden type. 450 copies. 6. Scholarship certificates for the Technical Education Board of the London County Council, printed in the oblong borders designed for the pictures in Chaucer's Works. One of these borders was not used in the book, and this is its only appearance. The first certificate was printed in Nov., 1894, and was followed in Jan., 1896, by eleven certificates; in Jan., 1897, by six certificates; and in Feb., 1898, by eleven certificates, all differently worded. Golden type. The numbers varied from 12 to 2500 copies. 7. Programmes of the Kelmscott Press annual wayzgoose for the years 1892-5. These were printed without supervision from Mr. Morris. 8. Specimen showing the three types used at the Press for insertion in the first edition of Strange's Alphabets. March, 1895. 2000 ordinary copies and 60 on large paper. 9. Card for Associates of the Deaconess Institution for the Diocese of Rochester. One side of this card is printed in Chaucer type; on the other there is a prayer in the Troy type enclosed in a small border which was not used elsewhere. It was designed for the illustrations of a projected edition of The House of the Wolfings. April, 1897. 250 copies. A LIST OF THE BOOKS DESCRIBED ABOVE. page 1 The Glittering Plain (without illustrations) 15 2 Poems by the Way 15 3 Blunt's Love Lyrics and Songs of Proteus 16 4 Ruskin's Nature of Gothic 16 5 The Defence of Guenevere 16 6 A Dream of John Ball 17 7 The Golden Legend 17 8 The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye 18 9 Mackail's Biblia Innocentium 19 10 Reynard the Foxe 19 11 Shakespeare's Poems and Sonnets 20 12 News from Nowhere 20 13 The Order of Chivalry 20 14 Cavendish's Life of Wolsey 21 15 Godefrey of Boloyne 21 16 More's Utopia 22 17 Tennyson's Maud 22 18 Gothic Architecture, by William Morris 22 19 Sidonia the Sorceress 23 20 Rossetti's Ballads and Narrative Poems 23 20a " Sonnets and Lyrical Poems 24 21 King Florus 23 22 The Glittering Plain (illustrated) 23 23 Amis and Amile 24 24 The Poems of Keats 24 25 Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon 25 26 The Emperor Coustans 25 27 The Wood beyond the World 25 28 The Book of Wisdom and Lies 25 29 Shelley's Poems, Vol. I. 26 29a " " II. 28 29b " " III. 28 30 Psalmi Penitentiales 26 31 Savonarola, De contemptu Mundi 26 32 Beowulf 27 33 Syr Perecyvelle 27 34 The Life and Death of Jason 27 35 Child Christopher 28 36 Rossetti's Hand and Soul 28 37 Herrick's Poems 29 38 Coleridge's Poems 29 39 The Well at the World's End 29 40 Chaucer's Works 30 41 The Earthly Paradise, Vol. I. 32 41a " " " II. 33 41b " " " III. 34 41c " " " IV. 34 41d " " " V. 34 41e " " " VI. 34 41f " " " VII. 35 41g " " " VIII. 35 42 Laudes Beatæ Mariæ Virginis 33 43 The Floure and the Leafe 33 44 Spenser's Shepheardes Calender 33 45 The Water of the Wondrous Isles 35 46 Trial pages of Froissart 36 47 Sire Degrevaunt 37 48 Syr Ysambrace 37 49 Some German Woodcuts 38 50 Sigurd the Volsung 38 51 The Sundering Flood 39 52 Love is Enough 39 53 A Note by William Morris 40 LEAFLETS, &c. Various lists and announcements relating to the Kelmscott Press 40 1. Hammersmith Socialist Society, invitations 40 2. Ancoats Brotherhood leaflet 41 3. Address to Sir Lowthian Bell 41 4. An American Memorial to Keats 41 5. Memorial to Dr. Thomas Sadler 41 6. L. C. C. Scholarship Certificates 41 7. Wayzgoose Programmes 41 8. Specimen in Strange's Alphabets 41 9. Card for Associates of the Deaconess Institution for the Diocese of Rochester 41 Other works announced in the lists as in preparation, but afterwards abandoned, were The Tragedies, Histories, and Comedies of William Shakespeare; Caxton's Vitas Patrum; The Poems of Theodore Watts-Dunton; and A Catalogue of the Collection of Woodcut Books, Early Printed Books, and Manuscripts at Kelmscott House. The text of the Shakespeare was to have been prepared by Dr. Furnivall. The original intention, as first set out in the list of May 20, 1893, was to print it in three vols. folio. A trial page from Lady Macbeth, printed at this time, is in existence. The same information is repeated until the list of July 2, 1895, in which the book is announced as to be a 'small 4to (special size),' i. e., the size afterwards adopted for The Earthly Paradise. It was not, however, begun, nor was the volume of Mr. Watts-Dunton's poems. Of the Vitas Patrum, which was to have been uniform with The Golden Legend, a prospectus and specimen page were issued in March, 1894, but the number of subscribers did not justify its going beyond this stage. Two trial pages of the Catalogue were set up; some of the material prepared for it has now appeared in Some German Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century. In addition to these books, The Hill of Venus, as stated on p. 38, was in preparation. Among works that Mr. Morris had some thought of printing may also be mentioned The Bible, Gesta Romanorum, Malory's Morte Darthur, The High History of the San Graal (translated by Dr. Sebastian Evans), Piers Ploughman, Huon of Bordeaux, Caxton's Jason, a Latin Psalter, The Prymer or Lay Folk's Prayer-Book, Some Mediæval English Songs and Music, The Pilgrim's Progress, and a Book of Romantic Ballads. He was engaged on the selection of the Ballads, which he spoke of as the finest poems in our language, during his last illness. THE IDEAL BOOK: AN ADDRESS BY WILLIAM MORRIS, DELIVERED BEFORE THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, MDCCCXCIII. By the Ideal Book, I suppose we are to understand a book not limited by commercial exigencies of price: we can do what we like with it, according to what its nature, as a book, demands of art. But we may conclude, I think, that its matter will limit us somewhat; a work on differential calculus, a medical work, a dictionary, a collection of a statesman's speeches, or a treatise on manures, such books, though they might be handsomely and well printed, would scarcely receive ornament with the same exuberance as a volume of lyrical poems, or a standard classic, or such like. A work on Art, I think, bears less of ornament than any other kind of book ("non bis in idem" is a good motto); again, a book that must have illustrations, more or less utilitarian, should, I think, have no actual ornament at all, because the ornament and the illustration must almost certainly fight. Still whatever the subject matter of the book may be, and however bare it may be of decoration, it can still be a work of art, if the type be good and attention be paid to its general arrangement. All here present, I should suppose, will agree in thinking an opening of Schoeffer's 1462 Bible beautiful, even when it has neither been illuminated nor rubricated; the same may be said of Schussler, or Jenson, or, in short, of any of the good old printers; their books, without any further ornament than they derived from the design and arrangement of the letters, were definite works of art. In fact a book, printed or written, has a tendency to be a beautiful object, and that we of this age should generally produce ugly books, shows, I fear, something like malice prepense--a determination to put our eyes in our pockets wherever we can. Well, I lay it down, first, that a book quite unornamented can look actually and positively beautiful, and not merely un-ugly, if it be, so to say, architecturally good, which, by the by, need not add much to its price, since it costs no more to pick up pretty stamps than ugly ones, and the taste and forethought that goes to the proper setting, position, and so on, will soon grow into a habit, if cultivated, and will not take up much of the master printer's time when taken with his other necessary business. Now, then, let us see what this architectural arrangement claims of us. First, the pages must be clear and easy to read; which they can hardly be unless, Secondly, the type is well designed; and Thirdly, whether the margins be small or big, they must be in due proportion to the page of the letter. For clearness of reading the things necessary to be heeded are, first, that the letters should be properly put on their bodies, and, I think, especially that there should be small whites between them; it is curious, but to me certain, that the irregularity of some early type, notably the roman letter of the early printers of Rome, which is, of all roman type, the rudest, does not tend toward illegibility: what does so is the lateral compression of the letter, which necessarily involves the over thinning out of its shape. Of course I do not mean to say that the above-mentioned irregularity is other than a fault to be corrected. One thing should never be done in ideal printing, the spacing out of letters--that is, putting an extra white between them; except in such hurried and unimportant work as newspaper printing, it is inexcusable. This leads to the second matter on this head, the lateral spacing of words (the whites between them); to make a beautiful page great attention should be paid to this, which, I fear, is not often done. No more white should be used between the words than just clearly cuts them off from one another; if the whites are bigger than this it both tends to illegibility and makes the page ugly. I remember once buying a handsome fifteenth-century Venetian book, and I could not tell at first why some of its pages were so worrying to read, and so commonplace and vulgar to look at, for there was no fault to find with the type. But presently it was accounted for by the spacing: for the said pages were spaced like a modern book, i. e., the black and white nearly equal. Next, if you want a legible book, the white should be clear and the black black. When that excellent journal, the Westminster Gazette, first came out, there was a discussion on the advantages of its green paper, in which a good deal of nonsense was talked. My friend, Mr. Jacobi, being a practical printer, set these wise men right, if they noticed his letter, as I fear they did not, by pointing out that what they had done was to lower the tone (not the moral tone) of the paper, and that, therefore, in order to make it as legible as ordinary black and white, they should make their black blacker--which of course they do not do. You may depend upon it that a gray page is very trying to the eyes. As above said, legibility depends also much on the design of the letter: and again I take up the cudgels against compressed type, and that especially in roman letter: the full-sized lower-case letters "a," "b," "d," and "c," should be designed on something like a square to get good results: otherwise one may fairly say that there is no room for the design; furthermore, each letter should have its due characteristic drawing, the thickening out for a "b," "e," "g," should not be of the same kind as that for a "d"; a "u" should not merely be an "n" turned upside down; the dot of the "i" should not be a circle drawn with compasses; but a delicately drawn diamond, and so on. To be short, the letters should be designed by an artist, and not an engineer. As to the forms of letters in England (I mean Great Britain), there has been much progress within the last forty years. The sweltering hideousness of the Bodoni letter, the most illegible type that was ever cut, with its preposterous thicks and thins, has been mostly relegated to works that do not profess anything but the baldest utilitarianism (though why even utilitarianism should use illegible types, I fail to see), and Caslon's letter and the somewhat wiry, but in its way, elegant old-faced type cut in our own days, has largely taken its place. It is rather unlucky, however, that a somewhat low standard of excellence has been accepted for the design of modern roman type at its best, the comparatively poor and wiry letter of Plantin and the Elzevirs having served for the model, rather than the generous and logical designs of the fifteenth-century Venetian printers, at the head of whom stands Nicholas Jenson; when it is so obvious that this is the best and clearest roman type yet struck, it seems a pity that we should make our starting-point for a possible new departure at any period worse than the best. If any of you doubt the superiority of this type over that of the seventeenth century, the study of a specimen enlarged about five times will convince him, I should think. I must admit, however, that a commercial consideration comes in here, to wit, that the Jenson letters take up more room than the imitations of the seventeenth century; and that touches on another commercial difficulty, to wit, that you cannot have a book either handsome or clear to read which is printed in small characters. For my part, except where books smaller than an ordinary octavo are wanted, I would fight against anything smaller than pica; but at any rate small pica seems to me the smallest type that should be used in the body of any book. I might suggest to printers that if they want to get more in they can reduce the size of the leads, or leave them out altogether. Of course this is more desirable in some types than in others; Caslon's letter, e. g., which has long ascenders and descenders, never needs leading, except for special purposes. I have hitherto had a fine and generous roman type in my mind, but after all a certain amount of variety is desirable, and when you have gotten your roman letter as good as the best that has been, I do not think you will find much scope for development of it; I would therefore put in a word for some form of gothic letter for use in our improved printed book. This may startle some of you, but you must remember that except for a very remarkable type used very seldom by Berthelette (I have only seen two books in this type. Bartholomew, the Englishman, and the Gower, of 1532), English black-letter, since the days of Wynkin de Worde, has been always the letter which was introduced from Holland about that time (I except again, of course, the modern imitations of Caxton). Now this, though a handsome and stately letter, is not very easy reading; it is too much compressed, too spiky, and so to say, too prepensely gothic. But there are many types which are of a transitional character and of all degrees of transition, from those which do little more than take in just a little of the crisp floweriness of the gothic, like some of the Mentelin or quasi-Mentelin ones (which, indeed, are models of beautiful simplicity), or say like the letter of the Ulm Ptolemy, of which it is difficult to say whether it is gothic or roman, to the splendid Mainz type, of which, I suppose, the finest specimen is the Schoeffer Bible of 1462, which is almost wholly gothic. This gives us a wide field for variety, I think, so I make the suggestion to you, and leave this part of the subject with two remarks: first, that a good deal of the difficulty of reading gothic books is caused by the numerous contractions in them, which were a survival of the practice of the scribes; and in a lesser degree by the over-abundance of tied letters, both of which drawbacks, I take it for granted, would be absent in modern types founded on these semi-gothic letters. And, secondly, that in my opinion the capitals are the strong side of roman and the lower-case of gothic letter, which is but natural, since the roman was originally an alphabet of capitals, and the lower case a gradual deduction from them. We now come to the position of the page of print on the paper, which is a most important point, and one that till quite lately has been wholly misunderstood by modern, and seldom done wrong by ancient printers, or indeed by producers of books of any kind. On this head I must begin by reminding you that we only occasionally see one page of a book at a time; the two pages making an opening are really the unit of the book, and this was thoroughly understood by the old book producers. I think you will seldom find a book produced before the eighteenth century, and which has not been cut down by that enemy of books (and of the human race), the binder, in which this rule is not adhered to: that the binder edge (that which is bound in) must be the smallest member of the margins, the head margin must be larger than this, the fore larger still, and the tail largest of all. I assert that, to the eye of any man who knows what proportion is, this looks satisfactory, and that no other does so look. But the modern printer, as a rule, dumps down the page in what he calls the middle of the paper, which is often not even really the middle, as he measures his page from the head line, if he has one, though it is not really a part of the page, but a spray of type only faintly staining the head of the paper. Now I go so far as to say that any book in which the page is properly put on the paper is tolerable to look at, however poor the type may be (always so long as there is no "ornament" which may spoil the whole thing), whereas any book in which the page is wrongly set on the paper is intolerable to look at, however good the type and ornaments may be. I have got on my shelves now a Jenson's Latin Pliny, which, in spite of its beautiful type and handsome painted ornaments, I dare scarcely look at, because the binder (adjectives fail me here) has chopped off two-thirds of the tail margin: such stupidities are like a man with his coat buttoned up behind, or a lady with her bonnet on hind-side foremost. Before I finish I should like to say a word concerning large-paper copies. I am clean against them, though I have sinned a good deal in that way myself, but that was in the days of ignorance, and I petition for pardon on that ground only. If you want to publish a handsome edition of a book, as well as a cheap one, do so, but let them be two books, and if you (or the public) cannot afford this, spend your ingenuity and your money in making the cheap book as sightly as you can. Your making a large-paper copy out of the small one lands you in a dilemma even if you re-impose the pages for the large paper, which is not often done, I think. If the margins are right for the smaller book they must be wrong for the larger, and you have to offer the public the worse book at the bigger price; if they are right for the large paper they are wrong for the small, and thus spoil it, as we have seen above that they must do; and that seems scarcely fair to the general public (from the point of view of artistic morality) who might have had a book that was sightly, though not high-priced. As to the paper of our ideal book, we are at a great disadvantage compared with past times. Up to the end of the fifteenth, or indeed, the first quarter of the sixteenth centuries, no bad paper was made, and the greater part was very good indeed. At present there is very little good paper made and most of it is very bad. Our ideal book must, I think, be printed on hand-made paper as good as it can be made; penury here will make a poor book of it. Yet if machine-made paper must be used, it should not profess fineness or luxury, but should show itself for what it is: for my part I decidedly prefer the cheaper papers that are used for the journals, so far as appearance is concerned, to the thick, smooth, sham-fine papers on which respectable books are printed, and the worst of these are those which imitate the structure of hand-made papers. But, granted your hand-made paper, there is something to be said about the substance. A small book should not be printed on thick paper, however good it may be. You want a book to turn over easily, and to lie quiet while you are reading it, which is impossible, unless you keep heavy paper for big books. And, by the way, I wish to make a protest against the superstition that only small books are comfortable to read; some small books are tolerably comfortable, but the best of them are not so comfortable as a fairly big folio, the size, say, of an uncut Polyphilus or somewhat bigger. The fact is, a small book seldom does lie quiet, and you have to cramp your hand by holding it or else put it on the table with a paraphernalia of matters to keep it down, a tablespoon on one side, a knife on another, and so on, which things always tumble off at a critical moment, and fidget you out of the repose which is absolutely necessary to reading; whereas, a big folio lies quiet and majestic on the table, waiting kindly till you please to come to it, with its leaves flat and peaceful, giving you no trouble of body, so that your mind is free to enjoy the literature which its beauty enshrines. So far then, I have been speaking of books whose only ornament is the necessary and essential beauty which arises out of the fitness of a piece of craftsmanship for the use which it is made for. But if we get as far as that, no doubt from such craftsmanship definite ornament will arise, and will be used, sometimes with wise forbearance, sometimes with prodigality equally wise. Meantime, if we really feel impelled to ornament our books, no doubt we ought to try what we can do; but in this attempt we must remember one thing, that if we think the ornament is ornamentally a part of the book merely because it is printed with it, and bound up with it, we shall be much mistaken. The ornament must form as much a part of the book as the type itself, or it will miss its mark, and in order to succeed, and to be ornament, it must submit to certain limitations, and become architectural; a mere black and white picture, however interesting it may be as a picture, may be far from an ornament in a book; while on the other hand a book ornamented with pictures that are suitable for that, and that alone, may become a work of art second to none, save a fine building duly decorated, or a fine piece of literature. These two latter things are, indeed, the one absolutely necessary gift that we should claim of art. The picture-book is not, perhaps, absolutely necessary to man's life, but it gives us such endless pleasure, and is so intimately connected with the other absolutely necessary art of imaginative literature that it must remain one of the very worthiest things toward the production of which reasonable men should strive. AN ESSAY ON PRINTING, BY WILLIAM MORRIS AND EMERY WALKER, FROM ARTS AND CRAFTS ESSAYS BY MEMBERS OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS EXHIBITION SOCIETY. Printing, in the only sense with which we are at present concerned, differs from most if not from all the arts and crafts represented in the exhibition in being comparatively modern. For although the Chinese took impressions from wood blocks engraved in relief for centuries before the wood-cutters of the Netherlands, by a similar process, produced the block books, which were the immediate predecessors of the true printed book, the invention of movable metal letters in the middle of the fifteenth century may justly be considered as the invention of the art of printing. And it is worth mention in passing that, as an example of fine typography, the earliest book printed with movable types, the Gutenberg, or "forty-two line Bible" of about 1455, has never been surpassed. Printing, then, for our purpose, may be considered as the art of making books by means of movable types. Now, as all books not primarily intended as picture-books consist principally of types composed to form letterpress, it is of the first importance that the letter used should be fine in form; especially as no more time is occupied, or cost incurred, in casting, setting, or printing beautiful letters than in the same operations with ugly ones. And it was a matter of course that in the Middle Ages, when the craftsmen took care that beautiful form should always be a part of their productions whatever they were, the forms of printed letters should be beautiful, and that their arrangement on the page should be reasonable and a help to the shapeliness of the letters themselves. The Middle Ages brought caligraphy to perfection, and it was natural therefore that the forms of printed letters should follow more or less closely those of the written character, and they followed them very closely. The first books were printed in black letter, i. e., the letter which was a Gothic development of the ancient Roman character, and which developed more completely and satisfactorily on the side of the "lower-case" than the capital letters; the "lower-case" being in fact invented in the early Middle Ages. The earliest book printed with movable type, the aforesaid Gutenberg Bible, is printed in letters which are an exact imitation of the more formal ecclesiastical writing which obtained at that time; this has since been called "missal type," and was in fact the kind of letter used in the many splendid missals, psalters, etc., produced by printing in the fifteenth century. But the first Bible actually dated (which also was printed at Mainz by Peter Schoeffer in the year 1462) imitates a much freer hand, simpler, rounder, and less spiky, and therefore far pleasanter and easier to read. On the whole the type of this book may be considered the ne-plus-ultra of Gothic type, especially as regards the lower-case letters; and type very similar was used during the next fifteen or twenty years not only by Schoeffer, but by printers in Strasburg, Basle, Paris, Lubeck, and other cities. But though on the whole, except in Italy, Gothic letter was most often used, a very few years saw the birth of Roman character not only in Italy, but in Germany and France. In 1465 Sweynheim and Pannartz began printing in the monastery of Subiaco near Rome, and used an exceedingly beautiful type, which is indeed to look at a transition between Gothic and Roman, but which must certainly have come from the study of the twelfth or even the eleventh century MSS. They printed very few books in this type, three only; but in their very first books in Rome, beginning with the year 1468, they discarded this for a more completely Roman and far less beautiful letter. But about the same year Mentelin at Strasburg began to print in a type which is distinctly Roman; and the next year Gunther Zeiner at Augsburg followed suit; while in 1470 at Paris Udalric Gering and his associates turned out the first books printed in France, also in Roman character. The Roman type of all these printers is similar in character, and is very simple and legible, and unaffectedly designed for use; but it is by no means without beauty. It must be said that it is in no way like the transition type of Subiaco, and though more Roman than that, yet scarcely more like the complete Roman type of the earliest printers of Rome. A further development of the Roman letter took place at Venice. John of Spires and his brother Vindelin, followed by Nicholas Jenson, began to print in that city, 1469, 1470; their type is on the lines of the German and French rather than of the Roman printers. Of Jenson it must be said that he carried the development of Roman type as far as it can go: his letter is admirably clear and regular, but at least as beautiful as any other Roman type. After his death in the "fourteen eighties," or at least by 1490, printing in Venice had declined very much; and though the famous family of Aldus restored its technical excellence, rejecting battered letters, and paying great attention to the "press work" or actual process of printing, yet their type is artistically on a much lower level than Jenson's, and in fact they must be considered to have ended the age of fine printing in Italy. Jenson, however, had many contemporaries who used beautiful type, some of which--as, e. g., that of Jacobus Rubeus or Jacques le Rouge--is scarcely distinguishable from his. It was these great Venetian printers, together with their brethren of Rome, Milan, Parma, and one or two other cities, who produced the splendid editions of the Classics, which are one of the great glories of the printer's art, and are worthy representatives of the eager enthusiasm for the revived learning of that epoch. By far the greater part of these Italian printers, it should be mentioned, were Germans or Frenchmen, working under the influence of Italian opinion and aims. It must be understood that through the whole of the fifteenth and the first quarter of the sixteenth centuries the Roman letter was used side by side with the Gothic. Even in Italy most of the theological and law books were printed in Gothic letter, which was generally more formally Gothic than the printing of the German workmen, many of whose types, indeed, like that of the Subiaco works, are of a transitional character. This was notably the case with the early works printed at Ulm, and in a somewhat lesser degree at Augsburg. In fact Gunther Zeiner's first type (afterwards used by Schussler) is remarkably like the type of the before-mentioned Subiaco books. In the Low Countries and Cologne, which were very fertile of printed books, Gothic was the favourite. The characteristic Dutch type, as represented by the excellent printer Gerard Leew, is very pronounced and uncompromising Gothic. This type was introduced into England by Wynkyn de Worde, Caxton's successor, and was used there with very little variation all through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and indeed into the eighteenth. Most of Caxton's own types are of an earlier character, though they also much resemble Flemish or Cologne letter. After the end of the fifteenth century the degradation of printing, especially in Germany and Italy, went on apace; and by the end of the sixteenth century there was no really beautiful printing done: the best, mostly French or Low-Country, was neat and clear, but without any distinction; the worst, which perhaps was the English, was a terrible falling-off from the work of the earlier presses; and things got worse and worse through the whole of the seventeenth century, so that in the eighteenth printing was very miserably performed. In England about this time, an attempt was made (notably by Caslon, who started business in London as a type-founder in 1720) to improve the letter in form. Caslon's type is clear and neat, and fairly well designed; he seems to have taken the letter of the Elzevirs of the seventeenth century for his model: type cast from his matrices is still in everyday use. In spite, however, of his praiseworthy efforts, printing had still one last degradation to undergo. The seventeenth century founts were bad rather negatively than positively. But for the beauty of the earlier work they might have seemed tolerable. It was reserved for the founders of the later eighteenth century to produce letters which are positively ugly, and which, it may be added, are dazzling and unpleasant to the eye owing to the clumsy thickening and vulgar thinning of the lines: for the seventeenth-century letters are at least pure and simple in line. The Italian, Bodoni, and the Frenchman, Didot, were the leaders in this luckless change, though our own Baskerville, who was at work some years before them, went much on the same lines; but his letters, though uninteresting and poor, are not nearly so gross and vulgar as those of either the Italian or the Frenchman. With this change the art of printing touched bottom, so far as fine printing is concerned, though paper did not get to its worst till about 1840. The Chiswick press in 1844 revived Caslon's founts, printing for Messrs. Longman the Diary of Lady Willoughby. This experiment was so far successful that about 1850 Messrs. Miller and Richard of Edinburgh were induced to cut punches for a series of "old style" letters. These and similar founts, cast by the above firm and others, have now come into general use and are obviously a great improvement on the ordinary "modern style" in use in England, which is in fact the Bodoni type a little reduced in ugliness. The design of the letters of this modern "old style" leaves a good deal to be desired, and the whole effect is a little too gray, owing to the thinness of the letters. It must be remembered, however, that most modern printing is done by machinery on soft paper, and not by the hand press, and these somewhat wiry letters are suitable for the machine process, which would not do justice to letters of more generous design. It is discouraging to note that the improvement of the last fifty years is almost wholly confined to Great Britain. Here and there a book is printed in France or Germany with some pretension to good taste, but the general revival of the old forms has made no way in those countries. Italy is contentedly stagnant. America has produced a good many showy books, the typography, paper, and illustrations of which are, however, all wrong, oddity rather than rational beauty and meaning being apparently the thing sought for both in the letters and the illustrations. To say a few words on the principles of design in typography: it is obvious that legibility is the first thing to be aimed at in the forms of the letters; this is best furthered by the avoidance of irrational swellings and spiky projections, and by the using of careful purity of line. Even the Caslon type when enlarged shows great shortcomings in this respect: the ends of many of the letters such as the t and e are hooked up in a vulgar and meaningless way, instead of ending in the sharp and clear stroke of Jenson's letters; there is a grossness in the upper finishings of letters like the c, the a, and so on, an ugly pear-shaped swelling defacing the form of the letter: in short, it happens to this craft, as to others, that the utilitarian practice, though it professes to avoid ornament, still clings to a foolish, because misunderstood conventionality, deduced from what was once ornament, and is by no means useful; which title can only be claimed by artistic practice, whether the art in it be conscious or unconscious. In no characters is the contrast between the ugly and vulgar illegibility of the modern type and the elegance and legibility of the ancient more striking than in the Arabic numerals. In the old print each figure has its definite individuality, and one cannot be mistaken for the other; in reading the modern figures the eyes must be strained before the reader can have any reasonable assurance that he has a 5, an 8, or a 3 before him, unless the press work is of the best; this is awkward if you have to read Bradshaw's Guide in a hurry. One of the differences between the fine type and the utilitarian must probably be put down to a misapprehension of a commercial necessity: this is the narrowing of the modern letters. Most of Jenson's letters are designed within a square, the modern letters are narrowed by a third or thereabout; but while this gain of space very much hampers the possibility of beauty of design, it is not a real gain, for the modern printer throws the gain away by putting inordinately wide spaces between his lines, which, probably, the lateral compression of his letters renders necessary. Commercialism again compels the use of type too small in size to be comfortable reading: the size known as "Long primer" ought to be the smallest size used in a book meant to be read. Here, again, if the practice of "leading" were retrenched larger type could be used without enhancing the price of a book. One very important matter in "setting up" for fine printing is the "spacing," that is, the lateral distance of words from one another. In good printing the spaces between the words should be as near as possible equal (it is impossible that they should be quite equal except in lines of poetry); modern printers understand this, but it is only practised in the very best establishments. But another point which they should attend to they almost always disregard; this is the tendency to the formation of ugly meandering white lines or "rivers" in the page, a blemish which can be nearly, though not wholly, avoided by care and forethought, the desirable thing being "the breaking of the line" as in bonding masonry or brickwork, thus: [Illustration] The general solidity of a page is much to be sought for: modern printers generally overdo the "whites" in the spacing, a defect probably forced on them by the characterless quality of the letters. For where these are boldly and carefully designed, and each letter is thoroughly individual in form, the words may be set much closer together, without loss of clearness. No definite rules, however, except the avoidance of "rivers" and excess of white, can be given for the spacing, which requires the constant exercise of judgment and taste on the part of the printer. The position of the page on the paper should be considered if the book is to have a satisfactory look. Here once more the almost invariable modern practice is in opposition to a natural sense of proportion. From the time when books first took their present shape till the end of the sixteenth century, or indeed later, the page so lay on the paper that there was more space allowed to the bottom and fore margin than to the top and back of the paper, thus: [Illustration] the unit of the book being looked on as the two pages forming an opening. The modern printer, in the teeth of the evidence given by his own eyes, considers the single page as the unit, and prints the page in the middle of his paper--only nominally so, however, in many cases, since when he uses a headline he counts that in, the result as measured by the eye being that the lower margin is less than the top one, and that the whole opening has an upside-down look vertically, and that laterally the page looks as if it were being driven off the paper. The paper on which the printing is to be done is a necessary part of our subject: of this it may be said that though there is some good paper made now, it is never used except for very expensive books, although it would not materially increase the cost in all but the very cheapest. The paper that is used for ordinary books is exceedingly bad even in this country, but is beaten in the race for vileness by that made in America, which is the worst conceivable. There seems to be no reason why ordinary paper should not be better made, even allowing the necessity for a very low price; but any improvement must be based on showing openly that the cheap article is cheap, e. g., the cheap paper should not sacrifice toughness and durability to a smooth and white surface, which should be indications of a delicacy of material and manufacture which would of necessity increase its cost. One fruitful source of badness in paper is the habit that publishers have of eking out a thin volume by printing it on thick paper almost of the substance of cardboard, a device which deceives nobody, and makes a book very unpleasant to read. On the whole, a small book should be printed on paper which is as thin as may be without being transparent. The paper used for printing the small highly ornamented French service-books about the beginning of the sixteenth century is a model in this respect, being thin, tough, and opaque. However, the fact must not be blinked that machine-made paper cannot in the nature of things be made of so good a texture as that made by hand. The ornamentation of printed books is too wide a subject to be dealt with fully here; but one thing must be said on it. The essential point to be remembered is that the ornament, whatever it is, whether picture or pattern-work, should form part of the page, should be a part of the whole scheme of the book. Simple as this proposition is, it is necessary to be stated, because the modern practice is to disregard the relation between the printing and the ornament altogether, so that if the two are helpful to one another it is a mere matter of accident. The due relation of letter to pictures and other ornament was thoroughly understood by the old printers; so that even when the woodcuts are very rude indeed, the proportions of the page still give pleasure by the sense of richness that the cuts and letter together convey. When, as is most often the case, there is actual beauty in the cuts, the books so ornamented are amongst the most delightful works of art that have ever been produced. Therefore, granted well-designed type, due spacing of the lines and words, and proper position of the page on the paper, all books might be at least comely and well-looking: and if to these good qualities were added really beautiful ornament and pictures, printed books might once again illustrate to the full the position of our Society that a work of utility might be also a work of art, if we cared to make it so. * * * * * NOTE TO THE PRESENT EDITION: The following pages showing the Troy and Chaucer types are printed from process blocks to insure fidelity to the originals. The frontispiece and first page of text are also reproduced in the same manner; page one, within the border, showing the Golden type, the only other type used by William Morris. [Sidenote: This is the Troy type] The following passages are given to show the Troy & Chaucer types, and four initials that were designed for the Froissart, but never used. The land is a little land, Sirs, too much shut up within the narrow seas, as it seems, to have much space for swelling into hugeness: there are no great wastes overwhelming in their dreariness, no great solitudes of forests, no terrible untrodden mountain-walls: all is measured, mingled, varied, gliding easily one thing into another: little rivers, little plains, swelling, speedily-changing uplands, all beset with handsome orderly trees; little hills, little mountains, netted over with the walls of sheep-walks: all is little; yet not foolish and blank, but serious rather, and abundant of meaning for such as choose to seek it: it is neither prison, nor palace, but a decent home. All which I neither praise nor blame, but say that so it is: some people praise this homeliness overmuch, as if the land were the very axle-tree of the world; so do not I, nor any unblinded by pride in themselves and all that belongs to them: others there are who scorn it and the tameness of it: not I any the more: though it would indeed be hard if there were nothing else in the world, no wonders, no terrors, no unspeakable beauties. Yet when we think what a small part of the world's history, past, present, & to come, is this land we live in, and how much smaller still in the history of the arts, & yet how our forefathers clung to it, and with what care and [Sidenote: This is the Chaucer type] pains they adorned it, this unromantic, uneventful-looking land of England, surely by this too our hearts may be touched and our hope quickened. For as was the land, such was the art of it while folk yet troubled themselves about such things; it strove little to impress people either by pomp or ingenuity: not unseldom it fell into commonplace, rarely it rose into majesty; yet was it never oppressive, never a slave's nightmare or an insolent boast: & at its best it had an inventiveness, an individuality, that grander styles have never overpassed: its best too, and that was in its very heart, was given as freely to the yeoman's house, and the humble village church, as to the lord's palace or the mighty cathedral: never coarse, though often rude enough, sweet, natural & unaffected, an art of peasants rather than of merchant princes or courtiers, it must be a hard heart, I think, that does not love it: whether a man has been born among it like ourselves, or has come wonderingly on its simplicity from all the grandeur over-seas. * * * * * And Science, we have loved her well, and followed her diligently, what will she do? I fear she is so much in the pay of the counting-house, the counting-house and the drill-sergeant, that she is too busy, and will for the present do nothing. Yet there are matters which I should have thought easy for her, say for example teaching Manchester how to consume its own smoke, or Leeds how to get rid of its superfluous black dye without turning it into the river, which would be as much worth her attention as the production of the heaviest of heavy black silks, or the biggest of useless guns. Anyhow, however it be done, unless people care about carrying on their business without making the world hideous, how can they care about art? I know it will cost much both of time and money to better these things even a little; but I do not see how these can be better spent than in making life cheerful & honourable for others and for ourselves; and the gain of good life to the country at large that would result from men seriously setting about the bettering of the decency of our big towns would be priceless, even if nothing specially good befell the arts in consequence: I do not know that it would; but I should begin to think matters hopeful if men turned their attention to such things, and I repeat that, unless they do so, we can scarcely even begin with any hope our endeavours for the bettering of the Arts. (From the lecture called The Lesser Arts, in Hopes and Fears for Art, by William Morris, pages 22 and 33.) [Illustration: Kelmscott William Morris] The "Note by William Morris on his Aims in Founding the Kelmscott Press," the last book printed at the Kelmscott Press, contains a few errors in the "Bibliography." These errors have been allowed to stand in reprinting the "Note" here, in order that the reprint shall be a literal one. Mr. S. C. Cockerell, the former Secretary of the Kelmscott Press, has kindly sent a list of these corrections, which appear below: Page 19, line 21--"Golden type" should be inserted after "8vo." Page 30, line 16--"June 26, 1893," should be "June 26, 1896." Page 39, line 17--after "guineas" insert "ten on vellum at ten guineas." Page 40, line 31--for "eight leaflets" read, "nine or ten leaflets." Page 44, line 12--omit "Lady." HERE ENDS THE ART AND CRAFT OF PRINTING; COLLECTED ESSAYS BY WILLIAM MORRIS. OF THIS BOOK THERE HAVE BEEN PRINTED TWO HUNDRED AND TEN COPIES BY CLARKE CONWELL AT THE ELSTON PRESS: FINISHED THIS THIRTIETH DAY OF JANUARY MDCCCCII. SOLD BY CLARKE CONWELL AT THE ELSTON PRESS, PELHAM ROAD, NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK. * * * * * Transcriber's Notes: For "A Note on Founding the Kelmscott Press" Page 4: "trangress" changed to "transgress": "Modern printers systematically transgress against it" Page 5: "artitcle" changed to "article": "the foregoing article was written" Page 5: "Pysche" changed to "Psyche": "Cupid and Psyche" Page 7: "rubicated" changed to "rubricated": "left blank to be rubricated by hand" Page 12: "handmade" changed to "hand-made": "English hand-made paper" Page 12: "Calendar" changed to "Calender": "Spenser's Shepheardes Calender" Page 26: "H. W. Hooper" changed to "W. H. Hooper" in item 31. Page 32: "water-mark" changed to "watermark": "with the apple watermark" Page 40: The reference in item 52 to page 8 for "Love is Enough" was corrected to page 5. Page 40: The reference in item 53 to page 7 for "The Earthly Paradise" was corrected to page 5. The reference to the ornaments on page 9 was corrected to page 7. The reference to page 17 was corrected to page 12. Page 40: The reference in "Various Lists" to page 10 was corrected to page 6. Page 43: "Milliam" changed to "William" in item 53 Page 44: The reference in "Various Lists" to page 57 was corrected to page 38. For "The Ideal Book" Page 1: "determation" changed to "determination": "a determination to put our eyes" For "An Essay on Printing" Page 12: "Maintz" changed to "Mainz": "printed at Mainz by" Page 15: "Calson" changed to "Caslon": "Even the Caslon type when" Page 16: "witout" changed to "without": "without enhancing the price" Page 23: Period added after "over-seas": "all the grandeur over-seas." General notes: 1. Paragraph breaks have been assumed in some places based on usage elsewhere in the text. 2. Both "caligraphy" and "calligraphy" are used in different parts of this book, and both forms were retained. This is also true for "d'Arthur" and "Darthur", "head-line" and "headline", "Sweynheim" and "Sweynheym", and "Zainer" and "Zeiner". 
35191	----	Bulletin of The Free Library of Philadelphia Number 4 SOME NOTES ON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PHILIPPINES By Rev. THOMAS COOKE MIDDLETON, D.D., O.S.A. December, 1900 Copyright, 1900, by The Free Library of Philadelphia. Press of Edward Stern & Co., Inc. Philadelphia PREFACE. So many inquiries have been made in the Free Library of Philadelphia for information concerning the history and literature of the Philippines, that an earnest effort was made some time ago to gather together books bearing on these subjects. The fact that a short catalogue of Philippine literature, prepared by the bibliographer, W. E. Retana, comprises as many as three thousand separate works, is a matter known to comparatively few persons, and it was therefore with considerable interest that the Philobiblon Club of Philadelphia obtained the promise of the Rev. Thomas Cooke Middleton that he would read a paper upon the bibliography of the Philippines before the Club. This Bulletin is a copy of that paper, as read in substance, and it would have been published several months since but for the unfortunate loss of the manuscript in the office of the newspaper to which the author had confided it. In answer to the urgent requests of the members of the Philobiblon Club, Father Middleton very kindly re-wrote it and consented that it should be printed by the Free Library of Philadelphia for the use of the students and patrons of the Library. An evil fate, however, seemed to pursue the manuscript, and within four days after it had been completed for the second time it perished in the great fire which destroyed the printing house of J. B. Lippincott Co. Once more the author took courage, and again wrote out the paper, and these facts are recorded both as a matter of interest, and to explain why this Bulletin has been so long delayed. A collection of books on the subject of the Philippines is being gradually accumulated, and it seems desirable both to furnish the readers in the Library with information upon the subject, and also to take an opportunity to counteract the popular misapprehension as to what has been done by the residents of the Philippines in the way of literature. Since the collection of works on this subject was commenced the Free Library has prepared and mimeographed from time to time for the use of its readers "Finding Lists" of the books on the shelves relating to the Philippine Islands. The latest of these lists, prepared May 4, 1900, shows that fifty-four volumes have been collected and also gives references to nearly six hundred magazine articles in the Library. Possibly one of the most interesting books received in the Library is the Flora de Filipinas, consisting of four folio volumes of text (printed in Spanish and Latin on the same page) and two of colored lithographed plates. It was published at Manila 1877-1883 for the friars of St. Augustine under the direction of H. Ex. the late Sebastiano Vidal y Soler, assisted scientifically by the able botanists, the Rev. Fathers Fr. Andres Naves and Fr. Celestino Fernández Villar, both of the Augustinian order of friars. It was composed from manuscripts of the late Father Blanco of the same order. The plates were drawn and colored from nature by native artists, and sent to Barcelona where they were lithographed, and after six hundred copies were printed off, the stones were destroyed. As will be noticed, in many cases the specimens are given both in fruit and flower, necessitating in most instances a gathering of the specimens at distinct seasons of the year. The book was published as a serial work, two or three parts with four plates each (with corresponding descriptions) appearing monthly. There were several stoppages during the printing of the work, caused by a large fire at one time and an earthquake at another, from both of which the printing establishment at which the book was being published suffered. In this manner the time occupied in the publication was prolonged. The original editor was Sr. Domingo Vidal, who unfortunately, after only two or three parts of the work had been given out, was obliged to leave the Islands on account of poor health. Several months later he died and his brother, who had assumed the editorship, upon his departure from Manila, continued the work until it was finished. The Trustees of the Free Library of Philadelphia desire to express their thanks to the Rev. Dr. Middleton for the contribution to bibliography which follows. A short index has been added, which it is believed will fit the paper for general use. Many thanks are due to Mr. John Ashhurst for his assistance in this tedious part of the Bulletin. John Thomson. INTRODUCTORY. The following pages, embodying a survey (on a broad scale) of the chief characteristics of Philippine intellectual energy, in its various lines of art, science, letters, seem an objective worthy of the American scholar, who, to his own large group of aboriginal tongues at home, has now to add to his field of study a similarly far-reaching family of the many-toned dialects of Malaysia,--twenty-seven idioms at least in number,--according to Retana's tabulation, whereof I give a list drawn from his latest bibliography of the Philippines, [1] where, enumerating the various works published in the several dialects in use in that archipelago, he has summarized them in the following table: Bisaya, or Visaya, generic name for Titles. 1. Cebuano, Isle of Cebú | 2. Panayano, Hiligayno and Harayo, Isle of Panay | 352 3. Leyte, or Leite, and Sámar Isles | 4. Tagalo, Isle of Luzon 230 5. Ilocano, ibid. 143 6. Bícol, or Vícol, ibid. 61 7. Pangasinán, ibid. 24 8. Pampango, ibid. 22 9. Ibanag, ibid. 15 10. Moro-Maguindánao 8 11. Cuyono 7 12. Tiruray 6 13. Bagobo 3 14. Aeta, or Negrito, Isle of Negros 2 15. Gaddan, Isle of Luzon 2 16. Isinay, ibid. 2 17. Joloano 2 18. Manobo, Isle of Mindanao 2 19. Tagbanúa, Isle of Paragua 2 20. Tino, or Zambale, Isle of Luzon 2 21. Batanes, or Vatanes, Isle (of same name) 1 22. Bilaan 1 23. Bisaya-montés, Isle of Mindanao 1 24. Calamiano 1 25. Egongot, or Ilongote, Isle of Luzon 1 26. Samal 1 27. Tagacaolo 1 This bibliography, which we rightly may term wealthy in its two thousand six hundred and ninety-seven titles [2] of numbered pieces of literature, besides being based largely on the author's own choice collection of Philippina, cites also fourteen other bibliographies of that archipelago. [3] In his own list of Philippine languages, or branch-tongues, of this quarter of Malaysia, in all (as he gives them) thirty-seven in number, some are mentioned, that, except in a broad sense, will not easily be recognized as members of the distinctively Philippine family; such as Sanscrit, Chinese, Japanese, Javanese, Nahuatl of Central America, along with Kanaka or Ponapé, [4] Chamorro and Malgacho, or Malagasy, as we more familiarly style it, three dialects spoken in lands outside of the Philippine zone,--of Yap, or Guap, in the eastern Carolines, the Marianas, or Ladrones, and Madagascar respectively. Wherefore, subtracting these nine foreign localized idiom-groups along with Malay (presumably ancestral tongue of the Philippines, as of other western Polynesian languages), though herein many scholars hold that Aeta, or Papuan, is mother, I have reduced the idioms peculiar (in large measure) to that archipelago itself to the number (given ahead)--twenty-seven. On this question of race and idiom unity Zúñiga, whom I cite frequently in this sketch, says that the vocabularies of New Zealand, New Holland, New Guinea, and part of New Hebrides (gathered by Captain Cook) were all easily understood by him through his familiarity with Philippine dialects; that, moreover, from his knowledge of the racial and linguistic characteristics of nearly all South Sea islanders, especially of the peoples from Madagascar to Easter Island, including (he distinctly declares) the natives of the Friendly, or Society Isles, of the Sandwich and Marquesas groups, he was of opinion that aboriginal stock of all, in tongue and blood, including even the natives of Central America, was Aeta, or Papuan, otherwise styled (in the Philippines) Negrito. [5] As far back as the early part of the seventeenth century this same question of race and language identity of the Philippine people was treated by the Jesuit Chirino, of whom we shall say more further on; then later by another Jesuit scholar, at one time provincial superior of his society in the Philippines, Francisco Colín, in his Lavor evangelica, (Madrid, 1663); and by Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro, a linguist of deserved eminence in the world of letters, formerly Jesuit. See his Catalogo (in six quarto vols., Madrid, 1800-1805), and you will learn very much about many strange things, among others, that the theory maintained by the English Wallace, the German Blumentritt, and later ethnologists, as to the identity of these Polynesians--Papuans and Malays--perhaps the only one now held by scholars--is venerably old, by two centuries and more. But really, in view of the apparently irreconcilable opinions of linguists on this topic, further discussion of it seems unprofitable. As concerns the Philippines themselves, neither have their isles all been numbered, nor their sub-races and branch-idioms classified, except in what we may style a generic scheme. Back now to our bibliographer. No study in mere humanities, it seems, could be more fascinating to your all-round scholar, and more fruitful especially to anthropologist, than with the guidance of Retana and other like gifted students of Philippina, to enlarge somewhat on this bibliographical theme, since in letters chiefly do men of upright mind find equipment for meditation of spirit, main source of all healthful, sober, intellectual recreation and work. Our list of Philippina, as you will notice, although given merely in outline, embraces in its sweep across the literary horizon of that quarter of Malaysia many works of recognized merit in the several lines of intellectual energy--of history, archæology, ethnology, philology and natural philosophy; books, all of them, which, if perchance not masterpieces according to the higher standard of Caucasian scholarship, will yet be acknowledged of much interest, nay, of great value in the inspiration and development of scientific thought. In this bibliographical skeleton, then, I shall point out those sources of information anent the Philippine Islands, wherein the scholar can best find a general description or history of them, the most trustworthy works on their very varied and multiform language, as well as other topics cognate with these. Hence these sub-sections into which my paper is split: (1) Works of General Information; (2) Authorities on Philippine Dialects; (3) Some Literary Curios among Philippina; (4) Philippine Presses; (5) Introduction of Printing into the Philippines. First, I name the chief works of reference, [6] of the highest, most authoritative character, bearing on the distinctive peculiarities of the Philippines,--works that will be recognized as serviceable to the general reader and scholar, to him that seeks to learn of the history of that archipelago, of its antiquities, and characteristics of the many tribes that people it,--of their customs, religious beliefs, superstitions and rites; of the fauna, flora, geology of those islands; in brief, of whatever refers to this part of Malaysia. For no matter how much the Malay,--Javan, Bornese, Sumatran, as well as Philippinian--has been civilized--Christianized, so far (as must be conceded) he has not become Caucasian in mind, nor will, nor spirit. He remains as he was, (nor any wonder), wholly Asiatic. Albeit, for three centuries and upwards, taught, ruled, elevated (at times, too, disedified) by white men, the Malay, or brown man, is not, perhaps never will be, employed by Europeans, save in very limited sphere, in wholly subordinate trusts, whether in commerce, trade, or whatsoever other field of human activity. I. WORKS OF GENERAL INFORMATION. But let us on to our list of works of general reading. Sifting the treasure-stores of authorities named in Retana and others, I find the following books of most value and service, whereof, though some few among them, and for that matter the highest in their respective classes, are no longer in print, yet these very masterpieces, if not obtainable by purchase, like many another priceless blessing, still are worth knowing by title to book-lover and scholar, who, if perchance he cannot have these repertories of human lore on his shelves, will know at least by what title to seek them on others. Of the Philippines and their neighboring archipelagos these works rank of the highest worth: The history of Mindanao, Jolo, and their adjacent islands (Madrid, 1667), written by the Jesuit, Francisco Combés--the most ancient detailed account of that region of Polynesia, known as the Archipelago del Sur, and invaluable beyond other guides to the ethnologist especially. Then an account of the establishment of Christianity in the Marianas Islands (Madrid, 1670?) similarly the oldest and at the same time most reliable history of these Ladrones, or robber, islands, so styled by early Spanish voyagers because of the thievish proclivities of the natives, every one of them in theory and practice an annexationist and protectionist to the back-bone, till the Jesuit missionary and scholar, Diego Luis de Sanvitores, author of this history, rechristened them Marianas, in honor (according to some chroniclers) of Doña Mariana of Austria, Queen of Spain, in loving and tenderest-hearted homage (according to others) of the Blessed Virgin, whose rosary that savant was wont to recite every day. [7] Then the story of the various religious missions in the Philippines entrusted to members of his Society by another Jesuit, Pedro Murillo Velarde (Manila, 1749), a rare and valuable work, whereof an accompanying chart, drawn in 1734, should, strictly speaking, be styled the earliest detailed topographical map of the Philippines. From the pen of the same scholar issued, too, an historical geography of that archipelago (Madrid, 1752), of much worth, the same as his chart, for its scientific details--albeit little known, it seems, to Philippinologists. Then we have the rare and deeply interesting history (Madrid, 1756) of some tribes in Luzon, hardest to convert--the Igorrotes, Tinguianes, Apayaos and Adanes, four races of Indians in the hill-country of Ilocos and Pangasinán, in spiritual charge of the Augustinians, a member of which brotherhood, Manuel Carillo, is the author. Another book, that because of its manifold literary merit, of historical accuracy and statistical detail, is styled by Retana "an historical work par excellence," is the general history of the Philippines (Sampaloc, 1788-1792), by the Recoleto missionary, Juan de la Concepción, copious source of varied and valuable information, wherein--albeit somewhat prolix in style, at times, too, rather digressive--the author may fairly be said to be without rival. Then comes the descriptive and historical account of the Marianas Islands (Madrid, 1875), by Felipe La Corte y Ruano Calderón, the best work on that little-known archipelago, and a rich source of general information anent these Malaysian islands. On the botany of the Philippines, a monumental work of the highest character is the Philippine Flora (classified according to the sexual system of Linnæus), by the Augustinian, Manuel Blanco, printed at Manila, first in 1837, again in 1845, and finally republished a third time in 1877-1883, in superb style, in four folio volumes of text in Spanish and Latin, embellished with two volumes of colored lithographed plates descriptive of the plants, flowers and fruits of those islands. One of the co-laborers on the third edition of this Flora was Ignacio Mercado, a Philippine botanist himself, and professed member of the Augustinian brotherhood. The same Father Blanco also translated into Tagal the French physician Tissot's work on medicine, enriched with his own life-long observations on Philippine plant-lore. Along with Blanco's Flora should be named the catalogue of fauna of the Philippines (Manila, 1895-1896), by the Dominican zoologist, Casto de Elera, an expert in that line of biological science,--a work in folio (in three volumes) of two thousand three hundred pages and upwards, termed by Retana not only a monumental work--easily to be believed--but one unique of its character. The geology of the islands (Madrid, 1840?), treated by Isidro Sainz de Baranda, government inspector of mines, besides being well worth reading, is the earliest study on this topic made on strictly scientific lines. Two works, sole representatives of their kind, are named by Retana as of singular value to the physician not only, but to ethnologist and scholar especially,--one the Embriologia Sagrada (Manila, 1856), by the Recoleto missionary Gregorio Sanz, written in aid of his fellow caretakers of souls, whose services in behalf of suffering humanity in out-of-the-way districts were often called upon by the natives, whose practice of the curing art, based on their own traditional formulas, especially in cases of child-bearing, was, despite the efforts of the missionary to uproot their unnatural and utterly heathen disregard for human life, attended too often with destruction of progeny and mother. The other repository of singular and very curious information is a treatise in Visaya-Cebuano and Spanish by another Recoleto evangelist, Manuel Vilches (Manila, 1877), written similarly in benefit of Indian sick, the Manual, that is, of the Visaya Physician, or native doctor--mediquillo, as in the Philippines these votaries of Hippocrates are styled, a work praised by Retana as replete with Indian plant-lore. The richest and most valuable collection of statistics relating to the Philippines, so at least acknowledged by experts, more reliable too than the Spanish government's own work, is the Estado general of all the pueblos--Christianized settlements--in the islands, drawn up by the Dominican archbishop of Manila, Pedro Payo (Manila, 1886), whereof the data were gathered by his vicars-forane and parochial-cures throughout the archipelago. While the most artistic map of Luzon, so styled by Retana, is the chart of that island (Madrid, 1883), published in four sheets by Enrique D'Almonte y Muriel. With mention of two other authors I close this section of Philippina,--one the history of the islands, or rather a detailed account of his travels therein, by the Augustinian scholar and voyager Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga (Sampaloc, 1803), a work known by its Spanish title as Estadismo de las Filipinas o mis viajes, which, translated into English by John Maver, was published in London in 1814; and lately edited by Retana himself at Madrid in 1893. As will be easily apparent to even the most cursory reader, Zúñiga's travels, critical throughout in spirit, display on well nigh every page the results of keen observation of affairs during his wanderings, combined moreover with sober reflections on the character and condition of the various races of people of the chief Philippine islands. In acknowledgment of its scientific worth, Retana has enriched Zúñiga's history (in the edition just noted) with twelve scholarly appendices replete with copious erudition, among other topics on the ethnography and geography of the islands; on animals, plants, and minerals. In these appendices, too, will be found copious bibliographies on special topics, as trade, commerce, the não de Acapulco, taxation, finance, and the like. And,--I feel that attention shall be called thereto, first because the subject itself is deeply interesting to lovers especially of folk-lore, then again, because commonly much misunderstood,--in one of his appendices to Zúñiga (ii *66-*83), Retana has reproduced some twenty-five pages of a Pangasinán Charm Book, covered with strange words--jumbles, most of them, of mutilated Church Latin, with crosses and queer-looking symbols. This charm-book in MS. (as are all its fellows), whereof copies without count are circulated among the lowest, most superstitious classes of islanders--Indians and meztizos, that is, Spaniard, or Chinese, mixed with native,--is wont to be worn around the neck, in the disguise of a Catholic scapular, as safeguard to the wearer against perils of any kind, chiefly the knife, or bullet, of his enemy. Again,--I am quoting Retana, who gives his own personal experiences in Luzon,--so jealously and closely (he says) do these Indian charm-bearers guard their secret heathenish practice from their missionaries, who, for ages, albeit not always with good result, have been striving to detach their wards from such superstitious usages, that the same scholar and curio-hunter, despite his keenest research in Luzon, has never been able to catch even a glimpse but of three of these pagan scapularies, the ones shown to him by a Dominican missionary, Father Casimiro Lafuente, for many years cure at the pueblo of Santa Barbara, in Pangasinán, now (1893) a member of the house of his brotherhood at Avila, in Spain. Moreover, it appears, from the same Retana, that Father Lafuente, so many years resident in the islands, had never succeeded in unearthing other scapularies than these self-same three. Many other forms of heathenism, some of them not even yet wholly banned from the Philippines, the reader will find described in another of Retana's works--de Aniterías (Madrid, 1894). Zúñiga also tells all worth knowing of the abominable rites practised among Luzonians,--of their Nonos, Duendes, the Pag-Papasipin, Tigbalag, Patianac, Bongsol, and Bilao. Much of what he says regarding the attachment of these peoples to unclean and impious ceremonies he has gathered from that rarest of books--one copy only believed to be extant, at the colonial museum of the Augustinians at Valladolid (in Spain), the Práctica (Manila, 1731), of Father Tomás Ortiz, one-time missionary of that brotherhood in China, then for thirty years resident in Luzon, where he died in 1742. Better, however, consult Zúñiga himself, [8] and the notes thereon by Retana, who singularly has failed to insert Ortiz' Práctica in his Biblioteca, and you will find much of interest;--among other things about tattooing, common practice at one time among all Polynesians, the same as among our own aborigines, until taught more refined ways by Christian missionaries; and about wakes too,--solemn ceremonials of grief, with banquetting and chants--on the occasion of the death of kindred. [9] Anent these and similar breaches of the Divine commands against Satanism, it is surprising (I would observe) to reflect how many forms of spirit and idol-worship [10] are (to their degradation be it said) common with Malaysian and Caucasian. (See in our own periodicals, published presumably by bright-minded, clean-souled Christian philosophers, yes, see in these oracles of our fireside, advertisements of magicians, diviners, fortune-tellers, charm-workers, not to speak of other law breakers, whose mere self-interest seems to have dulled all true intellective sense.) The last authority on general topics I name here as invaluable as well as deeply interesting to the scholar is the Encyclopedia (in two volumes) of the Augustinian travelers, Manuel Buzeta and Felipe Bravo (Madrid, 1851)--a work replete with most varied information along with statistics, now, of course, out of date, on the ethnology, geography, topography, dialects, customs and rites of the aborigines in the Philippine archipelago. Barring, as is only fair, any eulogy on the antiquated features of this Encyclopedia, which yet will be recognized of much service to the historian, the writer himself, who herein is supported among others by Retana, would style this monument of varied scholarship and research a masterpiece of all-round learning; within its lines an indispensable guide to every Philippinologist. Such, then, are the books most trustworthy and serviceable in their respective fields of history, antiquities, ethnology, and other sciences relating to Philippina. Before leaving this subject to dwell on Philippinian linguistics, I venture a brief digression on a class of works of general historic character--repertories of all ethnic science, little known, however, albeit to their serious disadvantage, to most students, and prized only by your true-hearted book-lover, who has sense to value what he reads for its own worth mainly, not because stamped with popular approval. These are annals of the religious brotherhoods in the East, to be recognized in Retana and other catalogues under the various titles of chronicles--sometimes as Conquistas, a by no means unfamiliar term--stories, that is, of the conquest of heathendom, woven oftentimes, no doubt, as recreation by the missionary amid his cares; sometimes as relief from thoughts of his far-away native land--journals, as it were, drawn up by the wanderer, who, besides being traveler, usually was a more or less keen-eyed observer, at home wherever Providence sent him; where, too, he studied (for self-interest was also at stake) whatever regarded the natives in his care--the lands they dwelt in, the skies above them, the waters around them. Scholars such as these on life-long service in their foreign homes were wont to make themselves conversant with every characteristic of the natives--with the language first of all, then the legends, poetry, chants; with the traditions and customs of the people, the industries and sports of their dusky-hued friends and brothers. As a rule, these plain, simply-told recitals of matters of fact, chronicle among other curios of literature, all kinds of even the most out-of-the-way learning anent the races of men; of plants and animals, of the various oftentimes most singular phenomena of air, earth, and water--subjects, all of them, of eagerest quest on the part of scientist, ethnologist, linguist, philosopher, naturalist. These stories, albeit at times verbose, at others digressive, will be acknowledged by the honest-minded critic as rich, indeed, in many-sided lore, enough to repay amply whatever time or trouble you have spent in their reading. With the exception of one collection of missionary annals--the Relations of the Jesuits in North America; now being edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites, Secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin--I know of no exact counterpart in the field of English literature to these delightful narratives of old-time missionary travelers, Maver's translation of Zúñiga's Estadismo, in 1814, being not only out of print, but I suppose unpurchasable. With the aid of such monuments as these--all original records of old-time conquistadores and their fellow-missionaries in the Americas, it has resulted (to the delight and blessing of students) that the cyclopedias of Americana (thirty nine volumes of them), wherein you will find enshrined whatever is worthy of preservation in the various chequered cycles of aboriginal and Spanish polity and art, massed together by the Western historian Bancroft, are veritably invaluable to the antiquarian, besides being wholesome and refreshing food for men of intellective genius, as therein, along with abundant matter for romance and epic, you will see unraveled and laid bare many a drama of life. II. AUTHORITIES ON PHILIPPINE DIALECTS. Now a few words anent the chief authorities on Philippine linguistics--treatises, namely, bearing on the various dialects employed in that archipelago, twenty-seven in number, as observed ahead, all, however, akin in their common stock--Malay, of which these idioms, or patois, are daughters, yet with countless, sharply-marked differences between one another. A working knowledge of the many fashions of speech so much needed as obvious, nay, indispensable to traveler or missionary, will be gained most quickly and thoroughly, it should be premised, from books of two-fold character,--(1) namely, from grammars and dictionaries of the several idioms, based on scientific rules of philology; then (2) from devotional works--books of Christian piety, very numerous in the Philippines, as are religious manuals, prayer-, sermon-, and confession-books, whereof titles abound in Retana, all pretty much from the busy pen of missionaries themselves, to whose zeal and ability in the instruction of their brown and black many-tongued wards is due largely, nay, wholly, whatever of humanizing, Christian character is found in Malaysia, as in fact is true also in other countries now civilized and enlightened, albeit once barbarian. In his latest bibliography, [11] where the number of published works in each of the twenty-seven dialects of the Philippines is set down by Retana, you will observe from a study of his lists, that though in many dialects there are no grammars so entitled, or other scientific aids to learning a given idiom, yet there are many works of religious cast printed therein,--hand-books of practical religion, which you will find useful beyond measure to linguists. Since from these prayer-books, wherein are set down plainly the simplest and commonest rules of Christian ethical conduct, you can easily gather a working knowledge of the language itself, as the missionary who composed them was careful to put matters of every-day interest in the plain, every-day speech of the islanders. Before closing this brief digression on manuals of piety, I must observe what will prove very useful, I judge, to the scholar, that with works of the first class, as grammars and dictionaries, is to be associated on shelf and desk a goodly number of works of another class--books and treatises that bear the name Arte = Aids to Learning, whereof you will encounter very many in Retana. The Arte of a given dialect, as will be found true also in a measure for grammars and other school-manuals, will be recognized as a compendium of not only literary rules, but of many practical maxims of daily life, whereby the pupils are urged not only to correct speech, but to upright conduct as well through sobriety, piety to the Supreme Being, obedience to rulers, respect for parents and fellows, according to the noblest ideals of refined Christian manhood and womanhood. Thus, with grammar were taught ethics; with politics, religion. Referring here to class-books in the Philippines, where from the earliest years of the conquest every pueblo had its school of primary instruction, it will not be irrelevant to point out the fact very stoutly that though education (as admitted by well-nigh every chronicler) was primitive in character,--and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries where was it not? yet the course of instruction given in the common schools of bamboo-thatch was (as results amply testify) deep and solid enough for the intellectual calibre of the people. Since, so far as known, Malaysia, however saintly, heroic, innocent, the same as our own aborigines, albeit now civilized for three centuries and upwards, has, despite the heartiest aid in teachers and funds, fairly lavished on them by Church and state, turned out no man of shining mark, no scholar, no artist, no genius in statecraft or commerce. The first college-institution with pretensions to higher courses of intellectual training was opened (formally at least) by the Jesuits in 1601, less than half a century, that is, after the arrival of Europeans in Luzon. In regard to common Indian schools, so zealously guarded by the Leyes de las Indias, I have picked up here and there from old-time chroniclers scraps of many ordinances passed by the crown relative to their foundation and conduct. Among them the following bits of quaint old-fashioned oversight of the dominies in charge. Thus, in 1754, I have read that each maestro of a mission-school was to get, in lieu of support, "a peso and one caban--a measure--of rice a month." (A caban was equal to 75 litres, about the same number of quarts, English.) Again, every mission-priest was called upon to supply (free to his pupils) "paper and ink." Moreover, as early as the beginning of the century just closing, in 1817, it was ordained that boys' schools were to be kept on the ground-floor of the mission-house; while the girls were to be taught at their mistress' home. (Malaysia--thus it was ordained--was not to experiment with the "co-educational theory.") Now for the promised works of chief authority on Philippine linguistics,--monuments of the various dialects of that archipelago, that, along with their purely technical value to the student of idioms, will be acknowledged as useful to scholars in even far different lines of intellectual play. Of the best works for the study of Visaya, or Bisaya, first dialect in the islands acquired by missionary and conquistador, wherein he gives 352 titles (p. xxix), Retana has the following: "Up to a few years ago the dictionary held in highest repute by linguists was the work of the Augustinian scholar Alonso de Méntrida," a vocabulary of the Hiligueina, or Hiligayno, and Haraya tongues--two of the three chief dialects spoken in Panay, not very different from the Visaya of Cebú, used, however, by the less cultured tribes of hillsmen in that island. This vocabulary, first printed in 1637, and in 1841 republished at Manila, with diagrams of Indian alphabets, enlarged in another edition in 1842, by a brother missionary, Julián Martín, has now been supplanted by the Visaya-Spanish dictionary (in two volumes), of another Augustinian scholar, Juan Félix de la Encarnación, printed at Manila, first, in 1851-1852, then in 1866 and again in 1885. Another work deserving of praise is the Arte of the Visaya idiom in use in the islands of Sámar and Leite (Binondo, 1872), composed by the Franciscan traveler, Antonio Figuerroa, in which latter language--Leite, that with slight changes is similar to Cebuano, the first grammar was published by the Jesuit missionary, Domingo Ezquerra, in 1662. Helpful, too, as much as the former Arte in philology is the Christian Doctrine translated into Visaya-Cebuano by the Recoleto scholar and orator, Tomás de San Jerónimo, known to his contemporaries as "the Cicero of Cebú." His school-book re-issued at Binondo in 1876 is a reprint of his edition of 1731. Of the Tagal dialect,--a form of speech so hard to acquire with nicety that, according to a Spanish saying, one needs therefor "un año de arte y dos de bahaque," [12] that is to say, unless I am wrong in my interpretation of the last word--"bahaque" which likely is Aeta, the scholar needs "a year of study and two of practice." The earliest Tagal Arte, so styled in chronicles, for what with the universal destructive touch of time, and in Luzon especially, the voracity of that pest of librarians, the anay,--an ant that in a few hours, it is said, will devour a library,--cases as well as books, not a sole copy, apparently, has survived, was composed in 1580 by the Augustinian voyager and missionary, Agustín de Albuquerque, fourth superior of his brotherhood in the Philippines, and printed at Manila in 1637. In Tagal the works most highly praised are the following: The Critical Treatise on Tagalisms (Mexico, 1742), by the Franciscan linguist, Melchior Oyanguren, the only work known wherein that tongue is contrasted on scientific lines with the classic Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and Mandarin Chinese. The author was moved to prepare his manual for the instruction of his brother missionaries prior to their entrance into their field of work in Luzon. The Tagal dictionary, by the Jesuit missionary, Juan de Noceda, and others of his society (Manila, 1754), a lexicographical treasure, was reprinted at Valladolid in 1836, and (in its most highly-prized form) again, in 1860, at Manila, with valuable additions by some Augustinian experts. For the scholar unacquainted with Latin, the most serviceable work for learning Tagal is the Essay on Tagal Grammar (Manila, 1878), composed by the Recoleto missionary and linguist, Toribio Minguella de la Merced, whose Grammar (in the same language) for the use of children (Manila, 1886) was adopted for schools by the Spanish government. While another helpful work for the study of that same dialect is the Tagal catechism, by the Augustinian, Luis de Amezquita, a popular booklet, first printed in 1666, and (in its thirteenth edition) in 1880, at Manila. A rare and precious treatise, praised for its critical spirit, is the study on Tagal poetry--a compendium of that dialect reprinted at Sampaloc in 1787, from the first edition of 1703; and again at Manila, in 1879, by another member of the same brotherhood, Gaspar de San Agustín, author, besides, of one of the most valued Conquistas, or histories of the islands. For the study of Tagal refrains--for this people is ballad-lover to the core--and similar turns of speech, an excellent work, one unique of its kind, is the Colección (Guadalupe, 1890), by two well-known Franciscan linguists, Gregorio Martín and Mariano Martínez Cuadrado. The Tagal Arte (Sampaloc, 1745), along with a manual (also in Tagal) for the administration of the Sacraments, composed by the Franciscan missionary, Sebastián de Totanes, "is" (according to our bibliographer) "the best edition of the best grammar" written by missionaries of that order. In Ilocano, another of the unnumbered dialects of Luzon, there is a good dictionary (Manila, 1849), by the Augustinian scholar, Andrés Carro (aided by others of his brotherhood)--the first work of its kind, reprinted only a few years ago, in 1888. Serviceable, too, for the study of the same dialect--Ilocano--as doubtless easy to obtain, is the Catecismo, by another member of that same order, Francisco López (Manila, 1877), whereof editions fairly without number have issued. In Batanes, or Vatanes, a dialect used in the islets north of Luzon, mission-field of the Dominicans, hard to reach, nor easy at best to live in, is composed the Catechism of the Christian Doctrine (Manila, 1834), by a missionary of that order--the only work, perhaps, printed in that language, wherein Retana states he is about to edit a grammar and dictionary. In his Biblioteca (p. 51) he gives the Ave Maria in Batanes, Ibanag and Ilocano, in order to show (he says) the diversities between these idioms. The Pampanga Arte (Manila, 1729), by the Augustinian, Diego Bergaño, an estimable aid to the would-be learner of that language, was reissued at Sampaloc in 1736. By the same author is a dictionary of Pampanga--the only work of its class, printed at Manila, first in 1732, and again in 1860. In the Ibanag tongue, otherwise Ibanay or Cagayan, the dictionary by the Dominican linguist, José Bugarín, and companions (Manila, 1854), we have what Retana styles a masterpiece of philological craft, "the first and (in fact) only vocabulary of that dialect" whereof of all Philippine tongues "the orthography is the most difficult to manage." In another place, however (p. 102), he has named another Ibanag dictionary (Manila, 1867), constructed from Dominican MSS., to which similarly (by error I suppose) he has awarded seniority of press. Prior to the above date--1854--in that vast region of Cagayan, where, by the way, is grown the choicest tobacco in the Philippines, the missionaries, for generation and generation of island-pupils had relied wholly on MS. copies of Padre Bugarín's dictionary. In Pangasinán, or Caboalan, dialect used in the province of the same name in Luzon, we have another linguistic treasure--the Arte of Mariano Pellicer, of the same brotherhood, reprinted at Manila, in 1862, from the edition of 1690, whereof in the course of time, as writers tell us, it came to pass that up to about the middle of the present century only one copy survived. Then re-cast by Pellicer, in 1840, it was re-published by him some twenty years later. Of the Cuyona dialect I note two works of merit,--one (p. 113) an explanation of the Christian Doctrine (Manila, 1871), by the Recoleto missionary, Pedro Gibert de Santa Eulalia, edited by the Dominican Mariano Cuartero, first bishop of St. Isabel, or Elizabeth, of Jaro, in the island of Panay, one of the four suffragans of Manila, an industrious scholar, editor of many works in Indian dialects, whom the reader, however, is not to confound with another prelate of the same name, Recoleto bishop of Nueva Segovia, in Luzon, nephew of the former, who, in this one respect, was like his uncle--author of no book: while the other Cuyona treasure, whereof there are very few in that language, ("poquisimos libros," says Retana, p. 230), seven titles in all comprising the bibliography of that tongue, is the Plan of Religion (Manila, 1886), by the same industrious and scholarly Gibert. In the Gaddan idiom, wherein only two books have been printed, both very devotional in character, is a Catechism (Manila, 1833), and the Pathway to Heaven (ib., 1873), by Dominican missionaries in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela, in Luzon. In the Aeta language of the Negritos, or little black men, perhaps the primitive race of the Philippines--whose name I have encountered in many forms of spelling, as Ata, Ataa, Aeta, Agta, Aita, Ita, Itaa, [13] there are similarly, only two works known to Retana, whose bibliographical notices have been of so much value,--one a Report on the Philippine Islands (Paris, 1885), addressed to the French Minister of Public Instruction by J. Montano, a book of over two hundred and nine pages, illumined with numerous phototypes, and, what renders it of exceptional value, enriched with vocabularies, "the first," Retana declares, in Aeta, Bilaan, Manobo (of the natives of Mindanao), Sámal and Tagacaolo dialects. As companion volume to the above, though far smaller in bulk, is a little treatise (Dresden, 1893), of double authorship, the German A. B. Meyer giving therein a very interesting Aeta vocabulary, and his Dutch co-laborer, H. Kern, a comparative study of the same tongue, which he traces to Malay ancestry. For the study of Chamorro, idiom of the Marianas Islands, one will find serviceable the little book of devotions (Manila, 1887), with counsels for the worthy reception of the Sacraments of God, (p. 248)--the only work, in fact, we have in this dialect, by the Recoleto linguist and traveler, Aniceto Ibáñez del Carmen. Finally, with three other samples of the Philippine press as proofs of the variety of its polyglot fonts, and I shall have done with this digression on the many languages used in this part of Polynesia,--one a grammar in the dialect of Yap or Guap (p. 248), in the western Caroline archipelago (Manila, 1888), composed apparently by the Capuchin missionary, Ambrosio de Valencia; the second (p. 332) a Hispano-Kanaka dictionary (Tambóbong, 1892), by another Capuchin wanderer, according to Retana, Agustín María de Ariñez. While the last, a work, as will readily be acknowledged, of interest as well as importance to ethnologists, linguists, Americanists especially, is the list of Nahuatlisms of Costa Rica (San José de Costa Rica, 1892), by Juan Fernández Ferraz, a goodly-sized volume of over two hundred pages, wherein, on purely linguistic grounds, the author has maintained the kinship of our own Central Americans and the Philippinians, from the fact especially that in the respective countries of these two antipodal peoples, abound very many terms of every-day use, with identical spelling and meaning. In his Biblioteca (p. 340), Retana has gathered a few of these homonyms and synonyms. Such, then, are the chief authorities on language among our Philippina that, while entertaining, nay instructing the philologist, will delight also the general student, the writers whereof, as the reader will not be slow to observe, were in far larger number all churchmen and missionaries. In fact, of the 1142 authors, whose works he has enumerated (Biblioteca, xxxv-xxxvi), Retana states that four hundred and sixty-six are ecclesiastics, that is, ninety-eight secular clergymen and three hundred and sixty-eight members of religious brotherhoods, whereof the Augustinians--the writer's own order--numbering one hundred and forty-one authors, inclusive of thirty-seven Recoletos--the bare-footed branch of that fraternity--figure highest. Next in rank, we have one hundred Dominicans, then fifty-seven Jesuits, fifty-six Franciscans, and fourteen authors of orders not specified. Of these brotherhoods, who thus in Malaysia, as in other quarters of the globe, brought forth so brilliant an array of scholars and philanthropists, the first-named, the Augustinians, with Legazpi, crossing two oceans and one continent therefore, found a home in the Philippines at the conquest of that archipelago in 1565; in 1577 the first Franciscans reached the isles; in 1581, the Dominicans, with the first bishop of Manila (by actual possession), Domingo Salazar, member of the same brotherhood, accompanied too by some Jesuits, while the Recoletos first crossed the Pacific in 1611. These churchmen, with very few exceptions Spanish, with later on a sprinkling of Portuguese, Dutchmen, Germans, Italians and Irishmen, scholars, as a rule, of fair repute, some even of European eminence, from their advent into Polynesia, besides their care in implanting Christian altruism, wherewith only (as history attests) thrive science and art, have toiled ever since to imbue these islanders, whom they found heathen--without letters, laws, or settled abode--with learning, the arts of husbandry, building, carving, painting, weaving, and the like graces of intellectual grandeur--in brief, with whatever of civilization now marks Malaysian genius. From Manila, as centre of intellectual enlightenment for all eastern Asiatic and Polynesian lands in the sixteenth century, were transplanted the germs of philanthropy--of wisdom and charity--to Borneo, the Carolines, Moluccas, as well as the mainland of Asia, to China and Japan, while in India the Portuguese, with headquarters at Goa, fulfilled the same destiny as their Iberian brothers. Speaking of the heroism of these self-exiled churchmen and worshipers of the Christian Minerva in Asiatic tropics, I quote the words of the famed French savant, Elisée Reclus, a witness, by the way, in no measure partial to cloister life. In his Universal Geography [14] he declares that "Los Filipinos son de los pueblos mas civilizados del Extremo Oriente. Los han civilizado los frailes"--that is, "The Philippines are one of the most civilized people of the Far East. The friars have civilized them." III. SOME LITERARY CURIOS AMONG PHILIPPINA. Among the curios of artistic and literary cast, your bright-minded reader, if on the alert to spy anything deserving of notice, will find here and there in Retana's pages enshrined many a bit of out-of-the-way information. The following half dozen or so of oddities will probably be acknowledged, not unworthy of mention among these Philippina: They are La Razon: A Plea Against Certain Vexatious Encroachments of the Crown on Mexican and Manila Trade, by José Nuño de Villavicencio (Sampaloc, 1737), which bears on its cover the most tasty design by Philippine burin--a plate illustrative of the contents of the Plea, engraved by Francisco Suárez, a Tagal artist. El Cosmopolita--The Cosmopolitan--(Manila, 1895-1896), the first periodical (p. 458), with phototypes, published in the islands. The first Almanac and Guide-Book for strangers and travelers, with a Map of the Archipelago, was issued at Manila for the year 1834. The newspaper--El Ilocano--a bi-weekly, published in Spanish and Ilocano at Manila (p. 464), from 1889 to 1896 (?) was the first periodical written in Indian dialect. Again, another periodical--El Hogar (p. 464), The Fireside--a weekly, of 16 pages, started at Manila in 1892, under the direction of Madam Amparo Gómez de la Serna, was the first paper devoted to science, letters, beaux-arts, and useful information published almost exclusively in the interests of women, while the Revista de Filipinas (p. 132), a bi-weekly, that, starting at Manila in 1875, lived only two years, is the worthiest of Philippine periodicals, noticeable chiefly for the deeply scientific cast of its papers. The Romancero Filipino, a work of fancy (Manila, 1892), by Manuel Romero Aquino, is styled (p. 554) by Retana the neatest and best piece of work by Philippine pen. While The American Soldier, a four-page daily newspaper, whereof the opening number is dated Manila, September 10, 1898, is the first periodical, maybe print of any sort, in the English language, published in the islands. With the foregoing extravaganzas of literature we note that the series of Philippine periodicals, which in Retana's own collection number (he says) one hundred and twelve, in their entirety do not surpass one hundred and sixty. Of his own he gives the titles (Biblioteca, xxiii-xxviii) from Del Superior Gobierno, the first newspaper issued in the islands, with the imprint of Manila, August 8, 1811, down to the latest--Thé Kon Leche (Tea and Milk)--a four-page weekly satirical periodical, with illustrations (in two colors), published at Manila in 1898. The oldest piece of what we may style distinctively Philippine literature, whereof, moreover, only one copy is believed to be extant, albeit printed abroad in Europe, is an Account of Legazpi's Expedition from Mexico to Cebú in 1565, sent from Seville to one Miguel Salvador, of Valencia, and printed one year later at Barcelona. This Copia--thus entitled in Retana--heads his list of Philippina, a study of which, with the supplement (p. 505 et seq.), discloses the fact that of the books that head his Biblioteca, the first nineteen were printed abroad--eighteen in Europe; that is, nine in Spain, at Barcelona, Madrid, Burgos, Valencia and Seville; seven in Italy, at Rome, Genoa and Venice; one each in France, at Paris, and in Flanders, at Antwerp ("Amberes" in the Spanish), where a Mendoza's History of China was printed in 1596, by Bellero; and the nineteenth in Mexico. The first fruit itself of the Philippine press--thus styled by Retana, though mistakenly, we judge--was the Spanish-Japanese Dictionary of 1630, on which I will make some remarks when treating of the early Philippine press. Moreover, it is noticeable that of these earliest Philippina not one of them treats distinctively of religious matters, but--with the exception of two, Fragoso's and Acosta's Botanies, or works on Eastern flora--are wholly historical in character, embracing, as they do, along with the Copia of 1566, eleven editions of the still estimable history of China and other Asiatic lands, by the Augustinian traveler, Juan González de Mendoza, whereof the Roman edition (by Vincenzo Acolti in 1585) gives plates illustrative of Chinese typographical symbols--the first shown to Europeans. Of this history, it may be observed, thirty-eight editions have appeared in all--in Latin, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Dutch, and English. Among these early Philippina--to continue our analysis--is a history of that archipelago, by the Franciscan chronicler, Marcelo de Ribadeneyra; a report on the same islands, by the Jesuit scholar, Pedro Chirino--the first work of its kind published in Europe (Rome, 1604), with diagrams of Philippine characters--signs, namely, employed by the natives in writing, whereof, says Retana, "a miserable edition" was printed at Manila in 1890. Then follow other works, among them a story of the conquest of the Moluccas, one of the sixteenth century names of the Philippines, a work of utmost value to the historical writer, composed by the presbyter, Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola (Madrid, 1609); then a trustworthy account of the triumph of Spanish arms in the Philippines, by Antonio de Morga, auditor-general of the crown in those colonies, printed in Mexico in 1609; and lastly the report of Governor Francisco Guzman de Tello, eleventh captain-general of those islands (Seville, 1598?). The two merely scientific works, alluded to ahead, are "Discourses on Aromatic Things--Plants, Fruit, and the like simple Medicines employed in the East Indies," composed by Juan Fragoso, a rare and curious work (Madrid, 1572); and a Treatise on the Drugs and Medicines used in the East Indies, with plates representing various plants, by Cristóbal Acosta, published first in Spanish at Burgos in 1578; in Latin (in two editions) in 1582 and 1593; in French (also in two editions) in 1602 and 1619; lastly in English in 1604. IV. PHILIPPINE PRESSES. Now for a description of the different printing-presses--or, rather, places--in the Philippines, from the earliest named by Retana in his Biblioteca, in all fourteen distinct localities, where printing was carried on in the three islands of Luzon, Panay and Cebú. 1.--From an analysis of the titles I find that Manila ranks earliest, where (with limitations to be set later) a printing-press was established in 1630, in which year, at the Dominican College of St. Thomas, a Spanish-Japanese dictionary, the work of Portuguese Jesuit missionaries and scholars, now translated into Spanish, was printed by Tomás Pinpin, a native Tagal, and Jacinto Magaurlua. This dictionary (now extremely rare), even though not the first book printed in the islands, as stated by Retana, must yet be ranked among the earliest specimens of Philippine literature. In his Bibliography three different titles (we may observe) bear the imprint of Manila, with the name of this city spelled according to the ancient aboriginal form, albeit but slightly varied from the present--"Maynila"--otherwise, as I have read it, "Mainilla," a variant in orthography one encounters in old chronicles--a Tagal word (it seems) signifying a species of shrub or bush, in the Spanish rendered arbusto, that in 1571 was found to cover the site of the new city projected by the conquistadores, under the leadership of Miguel López de Legazpi. In this same year, it may be added, the site of the future metropolis of Malaysia was taken possession of by Spanish arms, with due observance of ceremonial, sealed with the three local chieftains, [15] Lacandola, Matandá and Soliman, by blood-bargain--pacto de sangre. [16] Here, too, at Manila, the second church in Malaysia devoted to the Supreme Being, the first having been founded at Cebú, was dedicated the same year (1571) to God, under the most fitting title of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, first great missionary to heathendom. At Cebú, by agreement with Chief Tupas, the standard of Christian comity--the Cross--had been reared in 1565, and its church dedicated in honor of St. Michael Archangel, name-saint of Legazpi, though shortly after rechristened El Santo Niño--the Holy Child--its title to-day. The three works then printed at "Maynila," or Bush Town, in Luzon, are a Manual of Devotions to St. Roch, translated into Tagal by the Augustinian missionary, Esteban Diez, a skilled Tagalist, in 1820; a periodical--the Revista Católica--whereof the first and only number (p. 309) was issued in 1890; and lastly, a weekly paper (the same as the former) in Tagal, published in 1896. 2.--The second place to witness the establishment of a press was Sampaloc, in Zambales province, in Luzon, where, in 1736, at the Franciscan convent of Our Lady of Loreto, was printed the Augustinian Diego Bergaño's Arte, in Pampanga--first fruit, it seems, of typographical genius in that pueblo. While the last imprint with the name of Sampaloc is an almanac, or church calendar, for the year 1838 (more probably, however, printed the year ahead), when the old press, founded by Franciscan friars a hundred years before, disappears. 3.--At Tayabas, in the province of the same name, in Luzon (p. 31), was printed a Tagal dictionary, by the Franciscan, Totanes, now supplanted, however, by Noceda's far superior work on philological score, especially with the additions made thereto by the Augustinians in the Manila edition of 1860. This Tayabas imprint is the only work I have encountered with the name of that pueblo. 4.--The first Cavite imprint (p. 38) dates (it seems) from 1815--a church calendar for the following year; while the last, with the name of this Manila suburb written, however, with a K--"Kavite"--is an appeal of the revolutionary party in 1898 (p. 451), under the official seal of the Gobierno Dictatorial de Filipinas. 5.--Binondo is the fifth place, whereof the first work--statistical reports of Franciscan missionaries--was printed in 1865; the last, José Patricio Clemente's Moral Lectures for Youth (p. 540), in 1872. In regard, however, to this town, it should be observed that in his earlier bibliography (ed. 1893) Retana names a work printed by Pinpin in the Hospital of St. Gabriel, at Binondo, in 1623. 6.--At Vigan, the old Villa Fernandina of the Ilocos, known also to Spaniards as Nueva Segovia, a city founded in the sixteenth century by Juan Salcedo, one of the captains under Legazpi, and so christened by him in memory of his native place in Spain, but now known as Lalo, or Lal-lo,--here was started a Sunday newspaper, El Eco de Vigan, published in Ilocano in 1883, that died, however, a year after birth. 7.--In Iloilo (on the island of Panay) was printed, in 1885, the pastoral letter of Alejandro Arrué, Recoleto bishop of St. Isabel, or Elizabeth, of Jaro. 8.--Then comes Guadalupe, eighth place on our list, a sanctuary village on the left bank of the river Tasig, a couple of leagues from Manila, a shrine founded by Augustinians in 1601, in honor of St. Nicholas, the wonder-worker of Tolentino, a place visited yearly by great numbers of Chinese Confucians, as well as Christians, who hold that saint in highest and most singular veneration. At Guadalupe, in 1886, issued two works from the orphanage press--An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine of Pouguet and Fleuri, drawn up in Bisaya by Father Mateo Pérez, Augustinian cure of Argao; and Lozano's Novena to St. Thomas of Villanova. The last imprint of Guadalupe--a Tagal Catechism, by Luis de Amezquita, a brother missionary of Pérez--bears the date 1890. 9.--The earliest sample of Cebú print--the island where, under Legazpi, three centuries earlier, civilization first found a footing in Malaysia--is a work that elicits from Retana remarkable praise, in view of the difficulties that attended its printing; the paper--such was the dearth in the Visayas of proper material for good press-work--being of five or six different qualities in body, make, color. This work, that I think we may style a triumph of adaptive art, is the Ensayo para una Galería de Asturianos ilustres, a genealogical monument (in three volumes), by the Augustinian antiquary, Fabiáno Rodríguez, begun in 1888 and completed in 1893. While the last Cebú imprint, a government statistical report on crime and the like, is dated 1892. 10.--Tambóbong, a pueblo near the coast, in Tondo province, about three miles from Manila, comes tenth in our list, where, at the orphan asylum of Our Lady of Consolation, in 1889, was printed a weekly newspaper--the Revista Católica de Filipinas--discontinued in 1896. While the last imprint from this press--An Abridgment of the History of Spain (of only eight pages)--was issued, presumably, in 1897. 11.--At Nueva Caceres, or Camarines, in Luzon, a town founded in the sixteenth century by Governor Francisco Sande, in memory of his birthplace in Estremadura, but now known even officially as Naga, the first work bearing the name of that pueblo--a hand-book of devotions--issued from the press of the Sagrada Familia, in 1893; and two years later (in 1895) the last--A Life of St. Monica and her son, St. Augustine--written, the same as the former, in Bícol dialect. 12.--In 1895, we read the earliest printed samples of Malabón art--a poetical tribute of gratitude to Our Lady of Welcome--Bien-Venida, one of the many titles of the Mother of God, so dear to Philippine soul, by Fructuoso Arias Camisón, from the orphan-press of Our Lady of Consolation (in care of Augustinians). Only once, it may be noted, is the name of this pueblo--encountered quite frequently in Retana, the same (he says) as Tambóbong, written "Malabóng," a somewhat unusual form of spelling--employed by Manuel Sastrón, in his description of Batangas, printed in 1895. From several specimens of Malabón press-work, now before me, I may observe that, for accuracy in composition, neatness--in brief, of general excellence in workmanship--these samples of the orphanage establishment at Malabón would not fail to honor even a Philadelphia craftsman. Two years ago (in 1898), just prior to the siege of Manila, under the care of two Fathers and four lay-brothers of the Augustinians, resident at this orphan asylum, one hundred and one lads were being taught the following trades: 13 compositors, 12 press-workers, 30 bookbinders, 3 gilders, 43 candlemakers, while 44 other youngsters, too small for hard work, were, the same as their seniors, given food, clothing, and shelter; [17] while similarly, at Mandaloya orphan asylum for girls, conducted by twenty-two sisters (of the same order), a hundred and twenty-two lassies were taught music (piano), painting, drawing, embroidery, flower-, lace- and dress-making, hair-dressing, laundry-work, and sewing. [18] But alas! it is feared that through the grim fate of war a like disaster, as has wrecked many another fair shrine of learning and art in countries even nearer our own, has befallen our studios and laboratories at Malabón and Mandaloya, that therefrom their inmates--orphans, instructors and care-takers are now wanderers, with their treasures ravished, their homes destroyed. 13.--Then we meet with a work printed in 1896, at the revolutionary press at Imus, in Cavite province, in Luzon,--a proclamation (in Tagal)--the only imprint bearing the name of this pueblo. 14.--Finally, in 1898, at Mandaloyon, or Mandaloya (named ahead), an old hacienda of the Augustinians in Tondo province, in Luzon, the morning-paper--La República Filipina--began publication with the flag of the new-born republic in colors for heading,--the first journal of the Tagal insurgents, that had so much to do in bringing about the downfall of Spanish rule in the Philippines. Before concluding this section on early presses, we may add the references made by Retana to other Philippine prints than the ones given in his Biblioteca. In a former work [19] he states that by certain writers, whom he names, presses were said to have been established on the isle of Luzon, viz: at Bacolor in 1619; Macabebe in 1621; and Tayabas in 1703. Similarly, he cites two works, named by the Franciscan antiquarian Huerta as having been printed at Manila earlier than the Bugarín dictionary--the Devocion Tagalog in 1610; and a Diccionario in 1613, both (according to Huerta) from the press of Tomás Pinpin, the Tagal printer. Moreover, under the heading of "Manila" and "Pinpin," Retana gives the dates of several still older imprints than the Japanese dictionary of 1630, which in his Biblioteca has been accorded the honor of senior of the Philippine press. The reason for the omission of these titles in Retana's later bibliography, that otherwise would seem unaccountable, is perhaps a doubt as to their genuinity. But why he should fail to mention this flaw in their line of ancestral title, is like many another perplexing problem that the scholar is apt to encounter in his wanderings through the shadowy, albeit delightful and fascinating realm of letters. We now pass on to the question of the introduction of the press into the Philippines. V. INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING INTO THE PHILIPPINES. As regards the introduction of printing itself into that archipelago, wherein (as writers agree) the first press was set to work in the opening years of the seventeenth century, yet there is dispute as to two points,--the precise date, namely, when the printing-press was first established there, and the country whence it was carried to those islands. Though in his Biblioteca Retana inferentially states that the Spanish-Japanese Dictionary of 1630 was the earliest Philippine imprint, yet in another work of a few years ahead, one of his numerous valuable appendices to Zúñiga's Travels, [20] the same author has maintained, rightly and soundly enough it would seem, a wholly different opinion. There he reproduces the title-page of a work printed twenty years earlier, in 1610, which he himself saw in the Museo Biblioteca de Ultramar, whereof the title (he declares) is as follows: Arte y Reglas | de la Lengua | Tagala. | Por el Padre. F. Fray Francisco de. S. Joseph de la | Orde de. S. Domingo Predicador General en la Prouincia | de. N. Señora del Rosario de las Islas Filipinas. | [Here the Grand Seal of the Dominican Order (in wood) with this legend:] | Mihi avtem ab | sit glorianisi incruce Dñi Ñri IESVXPIAD--| GAL. 6. | | En el Partido de Bataan | galo, Año de 1610. | Substantially the aforesaid title means that the book--a Tagal grammar--was composed by Father Francisco de S. Joseph (whose family-name (as otherwise known) was Blancas), of the Dominican Order, preacher-general of his province of Our Lady of the Rosary in the Philippines, and printed at Bataan, A.D. 1610. [21] In one of his Appendices to Zúñiga, [22] Retana affirms that the printer of this Arte was the Tagal Tomás Pinpin. Why, then, with this sample of early Philippine typography before his eyes, presumably yet extant on the shelves of the Museo de Ultramar, Retana (whose interesting description of Blancas' Arte of 1610 will shortly follow) should have deemed it right to omit all mention of it in his latest bibliography, wherein, so far as I can read, there is not the slightest reference to it, seems truly a literary conundrum--one that, for me at least, baffles all power of solution. However, accepting facts in the world of letters, as in the objective universe of God's creation, as they stand, as we see them and know them, with the guidance of Retana himself, we now proceed (as promised) to a description of this Tagal grammar, the earliest specimen of Philippine typography known at least to be extant. Blancas' Arte is a book printed on rice paper--papel de arroz--with a preface of sixteen unnumbered pages and three hundred and eleven (of text) numbered, that is, three hundred and twenty-seven in all, yet in one instance wrongly paged, since the observant eye of our bibliographer has detected that what really is page 157 in the Arte has been printed "156," the body of the grammar thus comprising, not 311 pages, as the printer has made it, but in reality 312. On the verso of the title (that is, page 2) are given various licenses to print, issued among other officials by Miguel Ruiz of Binondoc (an old form apparently for the town now known as Binondo), this permit being dated February 6, 1609. Then follow the licenses of Father Blancas' own provincial superior, dated Manila, June 3, and another official's, whose name (Retana says) is missing by reason of the page having been torn, dated from Quiapo, on (month too wanting) 24, of the same year--1609--with the former. On the third page, with the date July 28, 1609, we read the names of several Manila church-officers, eight in all, licensing Father Blancas' Arte, among them the dean of the cathedral-chapter of Manila, the archdeacon Arellano, and Pedro de Rojas, who, as secretary apparently of that body, adds his attestation to the chapter-action above. From pages 4 to part of 7 is a Tagal Hymn to the Holy Virgin, Mother of Our Lord; then following the finale of this hymn, a prayer to God, Almighty Giver of all intellectual light, for power to be granted His servants to learn of His wisdom and ability to tell it to the Tagals. Then, following some ancient Tagal characters, comes the grammar in chief, which has been printed (as is obvious) [23] from type, bearing distinct marks of use. Wherefore, since we have now concluded Retana's description of this Arte, we, in turn, may observe--the inference seems lawful--that our Bataan press of 1610 had been at work before that year, and Father Blancas' Arte is not the earliest Philippine imprint. A point made by Retana with reference to Bataan, place of imprint on the title thereof, is to this effect that instead of Bataan, name (he says) of a province, and in olden time of a very unimportant pueblo (known, however, more correctly as "Batan"), [24] one should read Abucay, capital of the province of Bataan, a far likelier place for the establishment of a printing-office. [25] So much, then, for the still more ancient work than Bugarín's dictionary of 1630. But how much earlier than 1610, date of the Tagal Arte, or in what part of the Philippine archipelago, the press was at work, is a puzzle, that relying on the only authorities bearing in any manner on the priority of the press, we shall now seek to unravel. When referring to this question of early typography [26] Retana declares that there are only two authors that treat of the introduction of the press into the Philippines,--one the history of his province (of the Holy Rosary), which with the Philippines embraced also China and Japan, by the Dominican traveler and missionary, Father Diego Aduarte, whose work, published at Manila, in 1640, is the second title in our Biblioteca, bearing the name of that city as place of imprint, and the only old-time authority (in print) treating of ancient Malaysian typography. The other is a history (published a few years ago) entitled La Orden de Predicadores, of the Dominicans (Madrid, 1884), by a member of that brotherhood, Father Martínez-Vigil, at one time resident at Manila, where he held a chair in the university of that city, and now (1900) bishop of Oviedo in Spain. We shall, therefore, summon these two witnesses in the question in point of primeval Philippina. Aduarte's reference to early typography [27] contains substantially the following statements: that living with the Fathers of his Order (at Binondo) was a Christian Chinese, named Juan de Vera, a most worthy man, printer by trade, who had learned his art at home, and "the first printer" in the Philippines; that moreover he was employed by Father Blancas in getting out divers hand-books of devotion for the Indians, as well as for the missionaries themselves; and that as the said Juan was a good worker, always busy at his trade, he printed very many books, among them a Memorial of the Christian life; book on the postrimerias--that is, the Four Great Last Truths--Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell; Preparation for Communion; Confession-Book; the Mysteries of the Rosary; an Arte for the Tagals, or Aid to learn Spanish, and the like. Such are the titles of some of the books printed at Binondo by Juan de Vera. Commenting on the above statements of Aduarte, our bibliographer, however, makes this very sensible observation,--the omission, namely, of any positive information on two points of utmost importance to the antiquary and historian,--at what time, that is, was de Vera's press set up in the Philippines; and whence was it brought to those islands? Anent the first press it is noteworthy (according to the unanimous opinion of critics) that it certainly was not carried thither from Spain, though maybe sent over from Mexico, where printing was established in the early years of the sixteenth century, Retana, however, maintaining as likelier that the first printing-outfit introduced into the Philippines was brought thither from Japan, where (as we otherwise know) a book, the Sanctos no Gosagueo, or Compendium of the Lives of the Saints, was printed at the Jesuit College at Katsusa, in 1591. In the same kingdom I find printed (at another Jesuit College) at "Nangasaki," in 1603, the Vocabulario de Japón, Japanese ancestor of the old Bugarín dictionary elsewhere referred to (in this paper) as having been published at Manila in 1630. [28] In Japan,--the fact is worth noting,--ten different works were printed in Roman characters prior to the year 1599. But let us return to Luzon. If Aduarte is right in his assertion that Juan de Vera was "the first printer in the Philippines," then the press was at work prior to the year 1610, and the Tagal Arte (just described) is not the forerunner of Philippine imprints. So much for one of Retana's oracles. Now pass we on to consider the second and only other writer that, with original sources at hand, has treated of this bibliographical problem, Father Martínez-Vigil, who, in the story of his order (named ahead) mentions this fact, that when resident at Manila he was shown a very rich codex--a MS.--of over six hundred folios, on Chinese paper, in perfect condition, for many reasons (all duly set forth) of unassailable authenticity, and albeit (he remarks) somewhat hard to decipher, except to a palæontologist, yet written with marvelous clearness and neatness of penmanship. In this MS., which (the Father says) was written during the years 1609-1610, besides an account of all notable occurrences in the islands from 1581 to 1606, with which latter year the story ends, four years earlier, you should observe, than Pinpin's Arte of 1610, are also to be read these words: "Los que primero imprimieron fueron del órden de San Agustín el P. Fr. Juan de Villanueva, algunos tratadillos; mas del órden de Sto. Domingo el P. Fr. Francisco de San Joseph cosas mayores y de mas tomo el primero que escribió en lengua araya fué de la Compañia." Whereof, the meaning substantially is, that "the first printers (in the Philippines) were of the Order of St. Augustine, among them Father Juan de Villanueva, publisher of some small treatises--tratadillos; then others of the Order of St. Dominic, of whom Father Francisco de San Joseph printed works of larger bulk, and was the first of his brethren to write in araya (Tagal?)." Here then, in these quotations from two Dominican monuments--Aduarte's history and the MS. (quoted by Martínez-Vigil), the latter ending with events of the year 1606--you have all that antiquity tells of the introduction of the printing-press into the Philippines. To the assertion (in the MS.), relative to the Augustinian press, may be appended an item or so in regard to the art-establishment of that order at Lubao, in Pampanga province in Luzon, which I have picked up from one of their chroniclers, Gaspar de San Agustín, a Tagal and Visaya linguist, who died, some say at Tondo, others at Manila, in 1724, after nearly fifty years' mission-service in the islands. In his history (Madrid, 1698), are the following words in reference to Lubao convent: "Se han celebrado en este Convento algunos Capitulos intermedios y mucho tiempo huvo Estudios menores de Gramatica y Retorica; y teniamos tambien en él una muy buena Imprenta, traida del Japón, en que se imprimian muchos libros, assi en la lengua Española como Pampanga y Tagala." [29] In brief, that is, Father Gaspar says that "in Lubao convent, where the order maintained a school of grammar and rhetoric, there was a press (brought from Japan), whereon many books were printed in Spanish, Pampanga, and Tagal." May we not, then, be justified in surmising that this Lubao press was the one referred to in the MS. adduced by Martínez-Vigil, that attributes to Augustinians the introduction of typography into the Philippines? And, moreover, since the said ancient MS. ends with the year 1606, that this Lubao press was at work at a still earlier date? But, enough. With no originals at hand, we feel disinclined to pursue this topic further as to the priority of printing in the islands, nor do we care to press the question, whether, namely, the first book of Philippine manufacture was Bugarín's dictionary of 1630, Blancas' Arte of 1610, or the Lubao tratadillos of 1606. In our own colonies (we may observe) printing was introduced, first at Cambridge in Massachusetts, in 1638; while in Pennsylvania the first book printed--an almanac--by William Bradford, of Philadelphia, is dated 1685, a full half century later, that is, than the introduction of this "art preservative of arts" into Malaysia. NOTES [1] See his Catálogo Abreviado de la Biblioteca Filipina (Madrid, 1898), pp. xxix-xxxi. [2] These figures are given by Retana--a faulty enumeration, however, in that they fail to include all the titles in his work. Thus (p. 338), instead of a series-number we read four ciphers, to be met with elsewhere the same as his bis mark (pp. 59, 90, 118, 565). Again Méntrida's Arte and Diccionario of 1637, mentioned twice (Nos. 100, 173) have not been entered by Retana in his lists; neither has the first edition (Tayabas, 1703,) of Santos' Tagal dictionary, (pp. 31, 32.). In reality then, instead of only 2697 titles in his Biblioteca, one should count, I venture to guess, at least some twenty or thirty more than are given. [3] Biblioteca, vii-xi. [4] Singularly varied are the names given by writers to this dialect of Yap, as Bonabe, Bonibet, Bornabi, Funopet, Panapee, Ponapé, Puynipet, while to the French the island itself is known as Ascension. (Art. "Caroline Islands," Encycl. Brit.) [5] Read, however, his observations thereon in full in his Estadismo, i, 426-429. The same opinion as to Aeta being mother-tongue in the Philippines is pronounced also by Buzeta, ii, 49. [6] Throughout this sketch, unless otherwise noted, I follow only Spanish authorities. [7] See the Augustinian Zúñiga's Estadismo ii, *395, to which further reference will be made. [8] Estadismo, i, 426-429. [9] For these usages, see Zúñiga, Estadismo, i, 533-534. [10] Various heathen rites, practised by these islanders, are described in Buzeta (i, 60, etc.), as well as names of deities, and other enormities of man's distortion of truth. [11] Biblioteca, xxix-xxxi. [12] Relative to this term bahaque, which I have met only once, in the Historia Franciscana, (parte I, lib. i, cap. 39,) is the following description of the black men, the Aetas, or negroes, of Negros, "andan totalmente desnudos," (the author says,) "y solo traen cubiertas las partes verendas con unos como Lienzos, tirantes de atrás á adelante, que se llamen Bahaques, los quales hacen de cortesas de Arboles majadas con gran tiento, de modo que ay algunos, que parecen Lienzo fino; y rodeandose por la Cintura un Bejúco, en el amarran el Bahaque por sus dos extremos." See Zúñiga, i, 423, wherefore, perhaps, the significance of bahaque in the proverb. [13] Retana's Appendix G, in Zúñiga's Estadismo, ii, *492. [14] This quotation is from page 28 of Apostolado de la Prensa, No. 82 (Madrid, 1898), which locates it in tome xiv, p. 541, of Reclus. [15] In old Spanish chronicles it is a common thing to meet such titles of these Indian rulers, as Ladia, Radia, Raxa, and Rajá. Lacandola was rajah of Manila. [16] The Augustinian chronicler, Grijalva, is one of the earliest writers to describe this rite, which, according to him, is performed as follows: "La cerimonia se haze, sacando delos pechos delos que contraen la amistad una poca de sangre, y mezelando la una, y la otra en un poco de vino, le veuen por iguales partes los contrayentes." (Cronaca del Orden, from 1533-1592, Mexico (in the Augustinian Convent), 1624.) Quotation from Zúñiga, ii, 215. From Buzeta, i, 395, it appears that blood-bargain was first entered into by Legazpi (in 1565) at Bohol, with Chief Sicatuna. [17] From the report of the Orphanage for 1897-1898, in Estado General, Malabón, 1898. [18] From the report of the Orphanage at Mandaloya, in Estado (as ahead). [19] See Appendix B, in Zúñiga's Estadismo, ii, *105-*123, where Retana has given, with a list of the early presses in the Philippines, the names of the printers. [20] Zúñiga Estadismo, ii, 101. [21] Provinces of the other friars in Malaysia (including the Philippines) are entitled as follows: Augustinians--Most Holy Name of Jesus; Franciscans--St. Gregory the Great; Hospitallers--St. Raphael Archangel; Recoletos--St. Nicholas of Tolentino. [22] Zúñiga Estadismo, Appendice B, ii, *103, *104, and *115. [23] Thus Retana, ii, *103 (as above). [24] Zúñiga Estadismo, ii, *350. [25] Id., ii, *104-*105. [26] Id., ii, *95-*100. [27] For the original in full (too long to quote here) see Retana in Estadismo (as above), ii, *95-*98, where it covers nearly three pages. [28] The Jesuit Mission Press in Japan. 1591-1610. By Ernest Mason Satow. [Privately printed.] 1888, where you will find reproduced in photographic fac-simile the title-page of the above-named books. [29] Zúñiga, Estadismo, ii, *111-*112. 
34869	----	THE ESSENTIALS OF ILLUSTRATION A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE REPRODUCTION OF DRAWINGS & PHOTOGRAPHS FOR THE USE OF SCIENTISTS & OTHERS By T. G. HILL Reader in Vegetable Physiology in the University of London, University College LONDON WILLIAM WESLEY & SON 28 Essex Street, Strand 1915 PRINTED BY THE WESTMINSTER PRESS, LONDON, W. CONTENTS PAGE INTAGLIO PRINTING 1 Intaglio plates 2 Line engraving 2 Etching 5 Soft-ground etching 6 Mezzotint 7 Photogravure 8 PLANE SURFACE PRINTING 15 Lithography 15 Chromolithography 20 Photolithographic processes 23 Collotype 23 The preparation of illustrated pages 26 RELIEF PRINTING 33 Woodcuts and engravings 33 The Half-tone process 37 The Half-tone three-colour process 46 Photomechanical line blocks 49 The drawing of microscopic details 67 The drawing of diagrams and apparatus 72 The drawing of maps 76 The drawing of graphs or curves 79 The swelled gelatine process 84 The Relative Cost of blocks and plates by various processes 89 LITERATURE 95 ILLUSTRATIONS 1. PLATES PLATE 1 An original lithograph by Mr. Harry Becker. 2 Chromolithograph. Messrs. Gerrards, Ltd. 3-5 Collotype. Messrs. André, Sleigh & Anglo, Ltd. 6 Half tone. Swan Electric Engraving Co., Ltd. 7 Half tone. \ | 8 Photogravure. | | 9 Collotype. | Messrs. André, Sleigh & > Anglo, Ltd. 10 Half tone. | | 11 Half tone. | | 12 Half tone three colour. / 2. TEXT FIGURES Tailpiece, p. 11. Electrotype from the original wood engraving by Bewick. Tailpiece, p. 30. Line block. Messrs. Bourne & Co. Fig. 1. Wood engraving. Messrs. Edmund Evans, Ltd. Fig. 2. Wood cut. Mr. G. N. Oliver. Figs. 3-6. Line blocks. Messrs. André, Sleigh & Anglo, Ltd. Figs. 7 and 8. Line blocks, reproductions of a wood engraving. Mr. C. Butterworth. Fig. 9. Line block. Figs. 10-13. Line blocks, reproductions of wood engravings. Fig. 14. Line block. Fig. 15. Line block. Messrs. André, Sleigh & Anglo, Ltd. Fig. 16. Line block. Swan Electric Engraving Co., Ltd. Fig. 17. Line block. Messrs. André, Sleigh & Anglo, Ltd. Figs. 18-20. Line blocks. Figs. 21-23. Line blocks. Messrs. Bourne & Co. Figs. 24 and 25. Line blocks. Fig. 26. Line block. Messrs. Bourne & Co. Fig. 27. Line block. Figs. 28 and 29. Line blocks. Messrs. André, Sleigh & Anglo, Ltd. Fig. 30. Line block. Mr. C. Butterworth. Fig. 31. Line block. Messrs. André, Sleigh & Anglo, Ltd. Fig. 32. Line block. Mr. C. Butterworth. Figs. 33 and 34. Line blocks. Figs. 35 and 36. Line blocks. Messrs. André, Sleigh & Anglo, Ltd. Fig. 37. Line block. Messrs. Bourne & Co. Fig. 38. Lithograph reproduced by the Swelled Gelatine Process. Artists Illustrators, Ltd. Tailpiece, p. 86. Line block. Messrs. André, Sleigh & Anglo, Ltd. PREFACE Modern scientific publications, although they may in some or even many cases equal in their scientific quality the memoirs of earlier workers, do not, on the average, reach a high standard as regards illustration. For instance, in Great Britain botany is pre-eminent in its morphological aspects; it should therefore follow that the illustrations, which form so important a part of such papers, should be beyond reproach. This is not always so, a fact which must be patent to anyone with the slightest critical knowledge who looks through a typical journal. This is a fact much to be regretted, since many of the earlier scientists were accomplished draughtsmen and, indeed, often artists; in this connection the Hookers and Professor Daniel Oliver may be mentioned. The implication is not intended that there are no good amateur draughtsmen nowadays; there are, and in some cases possessed of great ability. The beautiful work of Church in his Floral Mechanisms may be cited as an example. It may, of course, be argued that any picture which serves to illustrate the particular feature is good enough; this is the contention of one who takes an insufficient pride in his work. A feature worthy of an illustration deserves the best the author can produce, more especially as a literary form is still, fortunately, preserved or, at any rate, aimed at. The reason for indifferent illustrations is primarily due to bad or mediocre drawings, or to their unsuitability for the kind of reproduction in view. With regard to the first point: this lack of draughtsmanship often obtains; when education entirely replaces mere instruction, it is to be hoped that all students of science will be trained in the rudiments of drawing. Meanwhile the difficulty can be partly overcome, as will be seen later on, by the simple means of drawing on an enlarged scale, in order that in reproduction reduction can be made. The second reason, the onus of which also falls on the authors, is a lack of knowledge regarding the kind of drawing suitable for the different modes of reproduction; this is a very important point, for "technical conditions govern even genius itself." Authors, however, are not always to blame; it would appear that even editors sometimes are wanting in the requisite knowledge, for we have known straightforward line drawings reproduced by half-tone; in other cases the paper used is unsuitable for the reproduction and, at other times, the printers are at fault. With a view to remedying, at any rate in part, these deficiencies, a course of lectures, arranged by the Board of Studies in Botany of the University of London, was delivered in the Lent term of 1913 in the Department of Botany of University College, London. In gratifying the wish expressed by some that these lectures should be given a more permanent dress, the author feels that some apology is necessary, for he can lay no claim to authoritative knowledge of much of the subject-matter; questions relating to the graphic arts and to illustrations, however, have always been of interest to him, so that he has tried various experiments, often with disastrous results, and thus has gained some experience. In these matters the author has benefited much through his association with Professor F. W. Oliver, who, characteristically, has been ever ready to discuss these problems with, and to place his knowledge and experience at the disposal of the author. The outline of the ways and means of illustration contained in the following pages is primarily intended for ordinary working scientists, not for artists, professional draughtsmen or skilled amateurs. The point of view is mainly botanical, primarily because the present writer is a botanist and also because the requirements of modern botany in the way of illustrations are more extensive than those of any other science; the requirements of other sciences, however, have not been overlooked. With regard to other branches of knowledge, the principles considered will, it is hoped, prove of some value to the workers therein. The details of technique have been kept as brief as possible; in fact, sufficient only has been said to indicate the main principles involved. In the literature cited, to which the author is indebted particularly for matters relating to technique, will be found full, and sometimes exhaustive, accounts. With regard to the illustrations, these have been selected to illustrate the various methods of reproduction described or to demonstrate the points raised. In those instances where the source has not been acknowledged or the draughtsman or photographer mentioned by name, the figure is by the author: and since the actual making of plates and blocks is of considerable importance, the firms, when known, responsible for their making are mentioned in the Table of Illustrations. In this connexion the author desires to express his appreciation of the skill shewn and care taken by Messrs. André, Sleigh and Anglo, Limited, who prepared the majority of the new illustrations which appear in the following pages. The author is indebted to many who have helped in various ways in the production of his work; particularly is he desirous of expressing his warmest thanks to Miss O. Johnston for the charming drawing of _Geranium columbinum_ (Plate 2) and to Mr. Harry Becker for his beautiful lithograph (Plate 1). To Miss S. M. Baker, Dr. W. G. Ridewood, and Miss Winifred Smith thanks are due for the loan of original drawings; also to Mr. Edward Hunter and Mr. Hugh Hunter for information regarding matters of technique and cost. The number of illustrations would have been less but for the generosity of Messrs. Chapman and Hall, the Editors of the "Annals of Botany," "The Imprint," and the "New Phytologist," Professor F. W. Oliver and Mr. G. N. Oliver in lending blocks. Recognition also must be made of the kindness of Mr. Richard G. Hatton in consenting to the use of certain blocks from his admirable "Craftsman's Handbook," of the Delegates of the Clarendon Press for permission to reproduce figure 14, and of Messrs. Frederick Warne and Co. for permission to make use of the wood engraving by Messrs. Edmund Evans, Ltd., of Kate Greenaway's charming Milkmaid. Finally, the author desires to express his sincerest thanks to Mr. Gerard T. Meynell, of The Westminster Press, for the keen interest he has taken in the work, for his help with the illustrations, and for the great care he has taken in the production of the book. University College, London _January, 1915._ INTAGLIO PRINTING In the biological sciences the massing of illustrations into plates is still the favourite method of illustration, although text-figures have recently become more numerous. This is partly due to innate conservatism, for most of the earlier memoirs were so illustrated, doubtless because it saved time, since if wood engravings were used with a view to text-figures, the compositor had to wait for the blocks, whereas in the case of plates the compositor and the engraver worked independently. Also the possibilities of plates are enormous; they may be very beautiful indeed besides being biologically satisfactory, for much finer results can be obtained by engraving metal than by engraving wood. Then again there are many different processes available for the making of plates, so that if one proves unsuitable for a subject an excellent reproduction may be obtained by another. Before passing on it is desirable to point out the essential differences in the three ways of printing. _Intaglio printing._ If the finger-tips be examined, many ridges and furrows will be seen on their under surfaces; if now a thick ink be well rubbed into these so as to fill well the furrows, and the superfluous ink be wiped off from the general surface, an impression will be obtained of the furrows on pressing the fingers on to a piece of smooth white paper. Better still, if the copper plate of a visiting card be examined, the name will be found cut into the surface. If an intimate mixture of tallow and lamp-black be well rubbed into these depressions and the excess of ink wiped off the surface of the plate, an impression can be obtained by placing a piece of damp paper on the plate and passing both through the domestic mangle--the kind with rubber-covered rollers. In each case the principle is the same, the pressure forces the paper into the depressions of the plate so that it takes up the ink. _Plane surface printing._ This is characteristic of lithography and allied processes. Writing or a design well chalked on a blackboard can be transferred on to a smooth piece of paper merely by a little vigorous rubbing on the back of the paper placed in position over the drawing. The transfers of childhood provide a further simple illustration, so also does the hectograph (jellygraph). _Relief printing._ In this case, the design is raised above the general surface of the substance. A rubber stamp is an obvious example. It will be noticed that intaglio and relief are the reverse one of the other, whilst plane-surface printing is intermediate between these extremes. In intaglio, the ink is taken from a depression; in relief from an elevation; and in flat printing from a plane surface. INTAGLIO PLATES. There are several methods of making intaglio plates, but only a few are used in the illustration of scientific papers; attention however may be drawn to the others, not only for their own sake, but also on account of their influence on some modern photo-mechanical processes. LINE-ENGRAVING. Line engraving, by which is meant cutting lines into copper, steel, or other suitable material with a burin or graver, is a very ancient art. Its employment for illustrative purposes is an outcome of the art of the metal workers--particularly the Florentine goldsmiths of the fifteenth century--who filled up the lines cut in the metal with a black enamel of silver and lead sulphides (niello) which was made by heating together a mixture of these metals with sulphur. This enamel when once in was very hard to remove, so that in order to see how their lines were progressing, the artists rubbed well into the metal, in order to fill up the lines, a sticky ink. The superfluous ink was then wiped off the general surface of the metal and a piece of paper was placed in position and pressed sufficiently hard to make it enter the depressions, which alone contained the pigment, and take up the ink. A print was thus obtained of the work and so its state was ascertained. Metal engraving is carried out in the same fashion at the present time. A flat plate of copper or steel is well polished and is worked upon with a graver or burin, so that the picture is represented by lines cut into the metal. Any line, however fine, will give an impression on printing, hence it is hardly surprising that engraving has long been a popular means of expression by artists, since force, depth and delicacy are possible of attainment. The printing is carried out in exactly the same way as by the early metal workers: the plate is covered with a thick ink which is forced well into the lines and then the superfluous ink is removed. The plate is now ready for printing; to do this, the plate is placed in the bed of a copper-plate press and over it is laid a sheet of damped paper which is covered with two or three layers of blanket. The whole is then passed under the roller which forces the paper into the incised lines, so that not only is the ink picked out, but a mould of them is taken on the paper, hence the very finest lines will give an impression. Having passed through the press the paper is carefully peeled off, and thus the print is obtained. With regard to the metal employed, copper is commonly used, since it is soft and easy to work; its softness however is, in a sense, a disadvantage, since the plate will soon wear, the finest lines being the first to go, so that a limited edition of good impressions only is possible. To overcome this difficulty, the plate may be faced with steel, by which means it is rendered very durable. Steel, although once popular, is not much used nowadays owing to its hardness and the rapidity with which it rusts. As compared with copper engravings, steel gives a somewhat harder line, whilst copper gives a soft line, but this, of course, does not mean that steel engravings are harsh; the finest work can be done on steel and of remarkable delicacy. At the present day line engraving is seldom or never used as a means of illustrating scientific work. It is obvious that the average scientist has not the time and he certainly does not possess the skill to make his own plates; the engraver must translate the originals into lines, so that much consultation would be necessary. Further, a line engraving takes a long time to make, and most publishers would certainly look at the expense. In the past, however, the line engraving was much used, and very beautiful work was often accomplished. The following works contain outstanding examples. Bojanus: _Anatome Testudinis Europaeæ_, Vilnae, 1819-1821. The plates are beautiful engravings by Lehmann after the drawings by the author. Chatin: _Anatomie Comparée des Végétaux_. Good steel engravings illustrating the structure of various plants. Curtis: _Flora Londinensis_, London, 1777. The illustrations are hand-coloured copper engravings by Sowerby and others, many of which, particularly the earlier ones, are of outstanding excellence. The engraving is often nothing more than the mere outline of the plant, whilst in cases where the structures are more massive, a certain amount of shading is used. The colouring is very good indeed, and it is obvious that much care was taken not only in the actual painting but also in the choice of pigments which, as far as can be judged, are as fresh now as when first used. _Curtis's Botanical Magazine_ and _Edwards's Botanical Register_ contain some excellent examples of hand-coloured copper engravings. Levaillant: _Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d'Afrique_. Paris, 1805-8. This work contains beautifully coloured engravings by Feesard. The original drawings were by Reinold. Lyonet: _Traite Anatomique de la Chenille_. La Haye, 1762. The plates are amongst the best illustrative of zoological science. Martius: _Flora Brasiliensis_. The earlier volumes, _e.g._, Vol. 13, Part I, contain excellent engravings. Passæus: _Hortus Floridus_. Arnheim, 1614-17. Sowerby and Smith: _English Botany_. London, 1790-1866. The illustrations are hand-coloured copper engravings. Thuret et Bornet: _Etudes Phycologiques_. Paris, 1878. This work contains the finest plates ever published in a botanical work. Riocreux drew from the preparations, and his drawings were engraved on steel by Picart, Thomas and others. ETCHING. Etching is a term very loosely used; strictly speaking it consists in corroding a metal plate or a flat stone with acid, or other substance possessed of a kindred action, so that depressions are formed. A pen and ink drawing, although usually so termed, is not an etching. Briefly the method is this: a well polished copper, steel or zinc plate is covered with a substance, known as the etching ground, consisting commonly of a mixture of asphaltum, white wax and pitch, which resists the action of the acid. The ground may be laid in more than one way; the simplest, perhaps, is to dissolve the etching ground in some solvent such as chloroform, which readily volatilises, and to pour the solution on to the plate, which is tilted this way and that until the liquid is evenly distributed; the excess is poured off and what remains is allowed to dry, the plate being kept level during the process. The plate is then warmed until the ground is softened, when it is held over a smoking candle and is rapidly moved here and there so that if properly done the fine soot is evenly incorporated in the ground. When the plate is cold, the drawing may be made by cutting through the etching ground, so as to expose the underlying copper, with needles of various sizes. The work is then etched by means of dilute nitric acid. When this is satisfactorily accomplished, the ground is cleaned off, the plate well inked with copperplate ink, and the surface ink removed by coarse muslin. The plate is then gone over with fine muslin, but the ink must not be removed from the depressions; finally the damped paper is placed in position and impressions obtained by the use of the copper-plate press. Etching, although suitable, especially when natural-printed,[A] for the illustration of many scientific subjects, is but seldom employed at the present time for this purpose; the preliminary announcement of Warburg's _Die Pflanzenwelt_, however, states that some of the illustrations are etchings. [Footnote A: A plate is said to be natural-printed when all the ink is removed except from the depressions; in artificial printing some ink is allowed to remain on the flat parts. Artists frequently, after removing the superfluous ink, lightly dab the plate in order to make the pigment spread slightly beyond the actual limits of the depressions; this is known as _retroussage_.] SOFT-GROUND ETCHING. This is a somewhat rare method of reproduction nowadays; it may, however, be described briefly, for it would appear to be suitable for scientific purposes, since it should not prove a matter of great difficulty for an author who is a sufficiently skilled draughtsman to make his own plates. The polished copper plate is laid with ordinary ground to which is added lard in a quantity according to the warmth of the weather. Over the plate is then placed a sheet, larger than the plate by an inch or two, of damp, thin, grained paper, the edges of which are folded over and pasted to the back of the plate. When the paper is dry it will be well stretched and in close contact with the plate. With the hand resting on a bridge, in order to avoid inadvertent touching of the plate, the drawing is made on the paper with a pencil of a hardness suited to the softness or otherwise of the etching ground. When the drawing is finished the paper is carefully removed; wherever the pencil has been used, the etching ground will adhere to the paper, so that in such places the metal will be exposed. The plate is then etched and printed as in the normal process. No reproductions of drawings of scientific subjects apparently have been reproduced by this method. Examples can conveniently be examined in _The Seven Lamps of Architecture_ by Ruskin. MEZZOTINT. The characteristic feature of mezzotint is that the subject is translated into tones rather than lines as in the preceding intaglio methods. The surface of a smooth metal plate--usually copper--is raised into innumerable and minute projections by going over it in all directions with a curved steel tool, known as a rocker, the edge of which is finely toothed. An impression taken of the plate in this condition will give a deep rich tone. The high lights are obtained by scraping and burnishing away the elevations so that there are no pits left to hold the ink, and, similarly, intermediate tones are produced by partly removing the pile so that the pits are made of varying degrees of shallowness and consequently will print in tones according to their depth. Impressions are taken in the same way as in the case of etchings. Mezzotint apparently has never been used for the reproduction of scientific subjects. Indeed, in a sense, this process is much too artistic for the purpose. At their best, illustrations reproduced by this method have mystery and depth and give the imagination much employ; in a word, they are subjective rather than objective, qualities unsuited for our purpose. PHOTOGRAVURE. Photogravure may next be considered, for although it is a photo-mechanical process, it corresponds to mezzotint. Excellent results may be obtained by its use provided the drawings--usually executed in monochrome such as sepia--be really good, otherwise they are hardly worth reproducing by this relatively expensive method.[A] [Footnote A: This account refers only to plates made and printed entirely by hand, not to photogravure for printing on a rotary machine.] Photogravure is particularly suitable for the reproduction of drawings showing a large amount of detail and made up of a variety of tones rather than lines or stipple. The photographic part of the process is essentially the same as making a carbon print from a photographic negative. This consists in exposing under the negative the carbon tissue, which is a mixture of gelatine, in which is dissolved bichromate of potash, and a suitable pigment. Such a film of bichromate gelatine is, when dry, sensitive to light. If no light gains access to it, the gelatine is readily soluble in warm water; if light acts upon it, the gelatine becomes insoluble in proportion to the degree of its exposure. Obviously, the pigment will be retained in varying degrees according to the relative insolubility of the different parts of the gelatine. The carbon tissue having been exposed, is rolled down on a wet sheet of paper covered with some adhesive and is dried under pressure. The paper is then soaked in warm water when the basis of the carbon tissue easily peels off; the picture is developed by laving in warm water, which will dissolve the gelatine in proportion to its exposure to the light. The print when dry is remarkably permanent and, from the picturesque point of view, is infinitely superior to the ordinary silver print. The method of making the photogravure plate is, in outline, as follows: The original drawing is photographed, and it is very important that the negative should be as perfect as possible. From the negative, a positive is made upon transparency carbon tissue which is mounted upon a sheet of plate glass. The procedure is, in essentials, exactly the same as described above for the making of a carbon print. This positive when dry may be touched up; after which a negative, which also may be touched up, is made from it upon an ordinary sheet of carbon tissue. The negative so obtained is transferred to a prepared plate of copper, developed with warm water and dried. The copper plate is prepared as follows: after being well polished until quite free from all scratches, the surface is dusted over with finely powdered resin or, more usually, bitumen. The plate is then heated until the dust adheres. After the carbon negative has been stuck on to the plate, developed and dried, the margins and back of the copper are protected with an acid-resisting varnish. When dry, the plate is placed in the etching bath of nitric acid or, more generally, of ferric chloride. The etching fluid will pass through the thinnest parts of the negative first, so that the surface of the copper will be etched to a degree corresponding to the thickness of the gelatine. The high lights on the negative obviously will be represented by thick coatings of gelatine, consequently such parts will be but slightly etched and vice versâ. If the plate had not been laid with resin, the surface after etching would show more or less extensive depressions and elevations; but the grains of resin protect the copper immediately beneath them from the action of the acid, which consequently can only dissolve the exposed parts of the metal between the resinous particles. The result is, therefore, that the plate is covered over with numberless fine pits of varying depths. The deepest ones will, on printing, give the darkest tones, since they will hold more ink, the shallower ones will give the lighter tones, whilst the shallowest and those parts unetched will give the high lights. The plate is usually etched three or four times successively in varying strengths of fluid, after which the etching ground and gelatine is cleaned off. A strong copper-plate ink is then well rubbed in by means of a dabber, after which the ink from the surface is removed, first with a coarse piece of muslin and finally, with fine muslin. The ink must not be removed from the pits. The first pull is then taken as in a line engraving with a copper-plate press, and its appearance shows what corrections are necessary. The plate nearly always requires a certain amount of engraving; the high lights may be improved by means of a burnisher, the shadows by means of a rocker or a roulette--a small steel wheel the rim of which is beset with fine teeth--and so on. Finally, if a large edition is required, the plate is steel faced. Although much used for the reproduction of pictures, photogravure is too rarely employed for scientific purposes; this is to be regretted, for the process is admirably suited to the reproduction of photographs and drawings with delicate tones. As compared with the usual half-tone, the cost is high, and this no doubt militates against its use. Examples of outstanding excellence will be found in the _New Phytologist_, Vol. xi, 1912, plates 5 and 6. These are absolute facsimiles of the original drawings by Mr. McLean, both as regards colour and reproduction of tones. Plate 8 may also be examined and compared with plates 9 and 10 which are reproductions of the same subject in collotype and half-tone respectively. PLANE SURFACE PRINTING [Illustration: PLATE 1.--An original lithograph by Mr. Harry Becker.] PLANE SURFACE PRINTING LITHOGRAPHY. Of these methods of printing, lithography is the outstanding example: it is a method of reproduction possessed of great possibilities, for by its employment a facsimile of any drawing can be obtained. As a means of artistic expression it ranks high amongst the graphic arts, and, for the reproduction of drawings of a scientific nature, it is very popular, since it meets most requirements and is comparatively inexpensive. The art, which was discovered by Senefelder towards the end of the eighteenth century, depends on the fact that grease and water are immiscible: a drawing made with a greasy pigment upon a suitable surface adheres very strongly, whilst those parts free from it retain water, so that when damped and rolled up (_i.e._, inked), the ink used will stick only to the lines, etc., of the drawing, but not to the other parts. Clearly the surface is all important, and this is provided by lithographic stone, a limestone occurring in Germany, France, England and Canada. The best stones occur at Solenhofen near Munich, those from other localities being inferior in quality. Incidentally it may be mentioned that zinc and aluminium plates are not infrequently used in place of stone. Lithographic stones vary in hardness, colour and grain. For the best work the stone should be homogeneous and of a hardness suitable for the subject; the colour affords an indication of the hardness, the lighter-coloured stones, which are much the commoner, being softer than the darker. There are two modes of procedure; the drawing may be made direct on the stone with lithographic ink or crayon--both being mixtures of tallow, wax, soap and shellac, with a sufficiency of pigment to render the drawing visible to the artist--or else the drawing may be made upon transfer paper. The former method, although the more satisfactory and often used by artists, is seldom pursued in scientific drawings except when professional draughtsmen are employed. In such cases it may be necessary to reverse the drawing, which is conveniently done by viewing it in a mirror, and, of course, all lettering must be reversed. The majority of amateur draughtsmen make their drawings in pencil or ink and these the lithographer traces upon lithographic transfer paper and transfers them to the stone; he, the lithographer, may merely trace the salient features and work the drawing up on the stone. The transfer papers are coated with gelatine, starch or gum, or mixtures of these substances, the idea being to interpose between the real paper and the pigment--in the form of lithographic crayon or ink--some substance soluble in water which will hold the pigment and prevent it soaking into the paper, so that a transfer has only to be damped through the back, pressed on to the stone and peeled off. The work, together with more or less of the film, will thus be transferred on to the stone and, of course, will be reversed, since the part uppermost on the stone will be the back of the original drawing. The original drawings may be made upon the transfer paper direct, and in so doing mistakes in tracing will be obviated. Suitable papers are made for various purposes, e.g., smooth for ink work and variously granulated for crayon (see Plate 1, which was drawn by Mr. Harry Becker on transfer paper). Another advantage in drawing directly upon the transfer paper is that the draughtsman can make corrections pretty easily for, if needs be, a bad piece of work can be entirely cut out and a fresh piece of paper inserted. Assuming that the transfer method has been employed, the stone must be prepared according as the drawing is made with ink or with crayon. The stone is first thoroughly ground, in order to rid it of all traces of previous work, and then polished for ink work or grained--_i.e._ roughened--for crayon work, the small points produced taking up the crayon in proportion to the amount present on the transfer and the pressure used. The transfer is then damped with water, sometimes with a dilute solution of nitric acid, and placed in position on the stone, which is then passed two or three times through the lithographic press until dry. Then the back of the paper is damped and the sheet peeled off. The stone is next proved, _i.e._, prepared for printing. It is first carefully examined for broken lines and other blemishes, which are touched up with ink or crayon. The stone is then painted over with a solution of gum in water which is allowed to dry, it is then washed in water and rolled up with ink. The drawing will now be clearly visible, for if properly inked the clear parts of the stone will not take the pigment, so that any parts which require cleaning up may be deleted. This is accomplished by means of a pencil of snake stone, a piece of pumice stone, an acid stump--a rod of hard wood, the sharpened end of which is dipped into nitric acid--or with a scraper. The stone is again washed and rolled up strongly with ink and etched with a dilute solution of nitric acid which is applied with a sponge; then the surface is again gummed and the stone allowed to dry. It is sometimes necessary to re-etch the stone; if so, the damp stone is rolled up with thin ink and allowed to dry, it is then dusted over with finely powdered resin, the superfluous resin is removed by means of a wet sponge, and the surface is painted over with a solution of gum arabic mixed with dilute nitric acid. If the resin is well incorporated with the ink, the work will suffer no damage in the process. The acid gum is then dabbed off with a rag, the stone is cleaned up with turpentine, rolled up once more, gummed and finally set aside to dry. All this appears complicated, but it is very necessary to get a good surface for printing. The action of the gum does not appear to be clearly understood, the nitric acid obviously will etch the stone, so that the gum will easily penetrate. It is sometimes supposed that the arabic acid of the gum enters into a chemical composition with the calcium carbonate, making a film which is the real ink-resisting surface. This film has not a long life, so that in printing it is necessary to renew it periodically by the application of gum solution. If possible, the stone should be allowed to rest for a day or two after proving, in order that the ink may sink well in. Before printing, the gum is washed off and the stone allowed to remain in the press-room until its temperature is the same as its surroundings. The stone is then thoroughly and evenly damped all over, placed in the press, and rolled up with lithographic ink; the paper is then laid on, and the whole passed through the lithographic press. After the first few pulls it will be seen whether all is well. The essentials of a good impression are these: the lines must be black and not grey, provided black ink is used; the lines must not be wider or blacker ("smutty") than those on the stone, nor must they be ragged or broken ("rotten"). In printing, the stone must be damped and inked before each impression is taken, and occasionally re-gumming is required. Good printing requires a considerable amount of ability, especially in the case of crayon drawings. The paper used is a very important matter, the selection of which can be safely left to the lithographer, provided he be a good one, unless the author possesses the necessary technical knowledge. If a smooth paper is required, and the paper is not to be damped before printing, India paper is best and plate paper next best. All coarse or grained papers must be damped before printing. As has already been remarked, lithography is a good process for scientific work; but, unfortunately, considering the number of lithographic plates published, really first-class examples are rare. This is largely due to the original draughtsman; it is unreasonable to expect a lithographer, in all probability ignorant of the subject of the plate, to turn out first-class reproductions of drawings which are obviously bad. On the other hand, lithographers vary greatly in their capabilities, and indifferent plates may be entirely due to their ability not being first rate. As drawings have to be traced, mistakes are apt to occur; the proofs should, therefore, be carefully examined, for a certain amount of correction can be made on the stone. The following works contain excellent lithographs, which should be studied by those interested in the subject. Bornet et Thuret: _Notes Algologiques_. Paris, 1876-1880. This contains some of the best work, illustrative of science, known to the present author. The original drawings mostly were made by Bornet, and the lithography was carried out by Riocreux--one of the best if not the greatest of botanical artists--Arnoul, Picart and Pierre. Davis and Thurnam: _Crania Britannica_. London, 1865. Mirbel: _Sur le Cambium_, Paris, 1842. The plates provide excellent examples of ink lithography by Laplante. Von Mohl: _Schriften botanischen Inhalts_. Tübingen, 1845. Good examples by Federer. The first volumes of the _Annales des Sciences Naturelles_ (Paris) may be referred to for lithographic work earlier than the above (1820). For more modern examples the following may be consulted: Blackman and Welsford: _Fertilisation in Lilium_, Annals of Botany, Vol. 27, 1913. Gravis: _Recherches anatomiques sur les organes végétatifs de l'Urtica Dioica_, Bruxelles, 1885. This memoir contains both good and indifferent plates. Keibel: _Normentafeln zu Entwicklungsgeschichte der Wirbeltiere_, Jena, 1904. Reed: _A Study of the Enzyme-secreting Cells in the Seedlings of Zea Mais and Ph[oe]nix dactylifera_. Annals of Botany, Vol. 18, 1904. Semon: _Zoologische Forschungsreisen in Australien_, Jena, 1904. Vaizey: _On the Morphology of the Sporophyte of Splachnum luteum_, Annals of Botany, Vol. 5, 1890. Woodburn: _Spermatogenesis in Blasia pusilla_, Annals of Botany, Vol. 27, 1913. Several memoirs in the _Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel_ (Berlin) are illustrated by excellent lithographic plates. Many good examples of chromolithography also will be found there. CHROMOLITHOGRAPHY. Lithography is much used for the reproduction of coloured pictures and illustrations, the process being termed chromolithography. The principles involved are the same as for ordinary work, but it is necessary to print from several stones, one for each colour. It is obvious that much skill is required, for the employment of different colours will give a large number of secondary and tertiary tints when printed one above the other in various combinations. Thus, by printing part of a design in yellow and the other part in blue, the finished product would show three colours--yellow, green and blue, and by the use of three primary colours a large number of different tints may be obtained. As already mentioned, each colour is printed by a separate stone, there is thus no limit--excepting that of expense--to the number of different colours which can be obtained. In practice it is usual to make an outline of the essential parts of the composition on a stone, known as the keystone, which is not necessarily used in printing the picture. An impression of this outline is taken upon a sheet of paper, which is used to transfer the design on to the stones, on each of which the artist will draw only those parts which he desires to be printed in one particular pigment. Although the sequence of colours is generally blue, red and yellow, it is obvious that various changes in this order must be made according to the colours used and the exact tint required. For instance, a body colour such as cadmium yellow would precede a glaze such as madder-lake; again, two distinct tints may be obtained from red and blue, for example, according to the order of printing--red upon blue will give a mauve, whilst blue upon red will give a purple. A knowledge of pigments is thus all important, and in printing, the superposition must be perfect. Plate 2 is an example of a chromolithograph. Miss O. Johnston first drew the outline of the plant, which was phototransferred on to the stone. An impression was then pulled and tinted by the artist, and from this tinted impression the colour stones were made by the lithographer. It may be added that only three colours were used in printing the plate. Examples: Baur: _Einführung in die experimentelle Vererbungslehre_ (Plate 1). Berlin, 1911. Bruce and others: _A Note on the Occurrence of a Trypanosome in the African Elephant_. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B. Vol. 81, 1909. Cropper: _The Development of a Parasite of Earthworms_. _Id._ Vol. 85, 1912. Oliver: _On Sarcodes sanguinea_. Annals of Botany, Vol. 4, 1889-1891. Rubbel: _UEber Perlen_ ... Zoologische Jahrbuecher, Vol. 32, 1911-12. Biometrika, 1906-7, Vol. 5, Plate 23. Mention has been made of the value of a knowledge of colours. The subject is much too extensive to be considered adequately on the present occasion even if it were desirable; its importance, however, warrants a few passing remarks.[A] [Footnote A: See Ridgway: _Color Standards and Color Nomenclature_.] No two people will describe in the same way the colour of, say, a rose petal; both will have a different conception of the colour "crimson." The majority have but a limited sense of colour, and even when this faculty is possessed, the personal equation looms large; further, the ordinary names of colours are quite inadequate for descriptive purposes. For these reasons the importance of a scientific system of colour nomenclature and colour standards is all important. By the use of such a scheme, the exact colour of an object can be found by comparison with an adequate chart, and the name there given will convey to others exactly what colour is described or desired. The plumage of a bird or the colour of a flower can thus be described correctly, and an author can indicate exactly the colour desired in certain parts of a chromolithograph or other reproduction in colour. [Illustration: PLATE 2.--GERANIUM COLUMBINUM. A chromolithographic reproduction of a drawing by Miss O. Johnston] PHOTOLITHOGRAPHIC PROCESSES.--Of these methods of reproduction there are several, their value lying in the fact that the originals can be reduced or enlarged with the greatest of ease. The general principles are as follows. A photographic negative is taken of the original drawing and a positive made on a film of bichromate gelatine. Wherever light reaches the film, the gelatine is rendered more or less insoluble according to the intensity of the light acting upon it; through the dark parts of the negative but little light will pass, so that the gelatine will remain soluble. The exposure of the positive having been made, the film, which may be mounted on paper, is inked with lithographic ink in the dark room and then washed. The pigment will adhere to those parts acted on by light, but will wash away from those regions unacted upon; obviously the half-tones will retain ink in direct proportion to their density. The developed positive is then transferred to a stone or zinc plate and impressions taken as in pure lithography for the dark parts are resistant to water and will take the ink, whilst the high lights will retain water and so will not be inked. The intermediate tones will take the pigment according to their density. In distinction to the previous methods, corrections cannot be made except in so far as the negative can be touched up. COLLOTYPE.--Of the various photolithographic methods which have from time to time been employed, collotype is the one in most general use at the present time, especially for the reproduction of photographs. Collotype is a simple process which does not require so extensive a technical knowledge and ability as some of those previously described. But notwithstanding this, the results are sometimes unsatisfactory and unequal; faults due to indifferent originals and to unsatisfactory conditions obtaining in the work rooms. The great drawbacks to good collotype are cold and dampness, and it is for these reasons that continental firms, blessed with a more stable climate, often produce much the best work. Provided the workshops are properly heated, the collotypers of this country ought to be able to turn out good work at all times of the year; indeed, the best firms do. For this and for other processes in which photographs form the originals to be reproduced, authors should send the negative to the collotyper; if this be impossible, positives of the best possible quality, printed on ordinary P.O.P. paper, toned to various shades of purple, and also on smooth bromide paper, in ordinary black tones, should be provided in order that the collotyper can choose the print he most prefers to work with. Also, it is usual to glaze the prints. The method is as follows. A piece of british plate glass, about half-an-inch in thickness, is ground on one side with fine emery powder, and then thoroughly washed and dried. The plate is covered with a filtered mixture of the colloids sodium silicate and dextrine or albumin, and placed in a warm oven to dry. If metal plates are used, such as zinc or copper, this preliminary coating is unnecessary; glass plates, however, must have the substratum in order that the sensitised gelatine--which is next put on--may stick. When the plate is dry, it is thoroughly washed with water in order to remove any free silicate; it is then dried and put away until required for use. The sensitising solution is made up of gelatine and bichromate of potash dissolved in water; before use it is filtered, freed from air bubbles and heated to not more than 120° F. The plate is now placed on a stand, which is provided with levelling screws, in the oven, and, when the temperature has reached 120° F., an amount of the bichromate gelatine solution sufficient to make a thickness of film proper for the mode of printing to be employed is poured upon the plate. The oven is kept at a constant temperature, 120° F., until the gelatine is dry, when it is allowed to cool gradually. Whilst the gelatine is setting, precautions against vibration must be taken else the plate will be spoilt. When dry, the collotype plate is sensitive to light and moisture; its surface shows a more or less regular series of convolutions which resemble those of the outer surface of the human brain, although, of course, very much smaller. The character of the grain is very important, for if it be too fine it will not take up a sufficiency of ink, and, on the other hand, if too coarse it will yield coarse impressions. A reversed negative, of a quality beyond reproach, must be made of the original; if the subject is dark or has heavy shadows the negative is frequently slightly over exposed so as to soften them. The collotype plate is then exposed under the negative and washed in cold water until the yellow bichromate no longer comes away. It is then dried. In printing, the plate is damped and rolled up with ink as in lithographic printing; the amount of ink adhering to the film depends on the extent to which the different parts have been acted on by the light, as has already been mentioned. The moistening of the plate--mis-termed etching--is best done with dilute glycerine containing 75 per cent. of water, which when first applied should be allowed to remain on for about half-an-hour. The excess of moisture is taken up with a sponge or a ball of rag, and then the plate is inked and printed in a lithographic or a collotype press. The picture is usually masked with tin foil in order that its edges may be quite clean. Of the faults which may occur, the following may be alluded to. A mottled appearance may obtain in the high lights; this is due to the coating of gelatine being too thick. More commonly, the reproductions may appear flat owing to the degradation of the high lights; this is a sign that the sensitive film has been acted upon by moisture during its critical existence between the drying and the washing out of the potassium bichromate, or that the temperature has been too low. The following contain good examples of collotype. Karsten and Schenck: _Vegetationsbilder_, Jena. Oliver: _Notes on Trigonocarpus and Polylophospermum_. New Phytologist, Vol. 3, 1904. Semon: _Zoologische Forschungsreisen in Australien_. Jena. 1912. Thompson: _The Anatomy and Relationships of the Gnetales_. Annals of Botany, Vol. 26, 1912. See also Plates 3, 4, 5 and 9 in the present work. THE PREPARATION OF ILLUSTRATED PAGES. Of the processes dealt with, photogravure lithography and collotype are those most generally used at the present day for the printing of plates or insets. Half-tone also is employed, a process which will be considered later since it is essentially relief printing. This, therefore, is a convenient opportunity to make a few general observations on plates. Plates should only be employed for the reproduction of subjects of such complexity that cannot be reproduced satisfactorily by figures in the text. A plate or page made up of several illustrations should look well as a whole; in other words, it should not outrage all the canons of composition, it should have some pictorial effect. At the same time, for facility of reference, the individual figures should run in a convenient sequence. This latter point is so important that a plate composed really well is distinctly rare, for a compromise nearly always has to be made. At the same time there are, apparently, comparatively few authors who pay much attention to plate design. Although it is not desired to write of the laws of pictorial composition, attention may be drawn to a few points which are amongst those generally neglected. The figures should not be crowded together; a reasonable amount of margin should be left around each. They should be arranged, as far as possible, in such a way that a sense of balance is maintained. As to how this is to be accomplished will depend upon the nature of the illustrations; if they are all about equal in tone, the largest ones should preponderate towards the base of the plate, and not _vice versâ_. The difference which this makes will be obvious if the two accompanying illustrations (Figs. 1 and 2, Plate 3) be compared. The first is a reduced copy of the plate as it was published: it will be noticed that it has a top-heavy appearance, which is corrected in the second figure by the simple device of turning it upside down. [Illustration: PLATE 3.] If, on the other hand, the figures are some lighter and others darker, the latter should form the base, since low tones give the idea of solidity; this is so marked that in cases where the figures vary much in size and tone, the darker ones may nearly always be situated at the base or at any rate low down on the plate unless they are very much smaller than the lighter toned ones.[A] [Footnote A: If, of course, the reader understands chiaroscuro, he will take no notice of this paragraph, but arrange his plates in accordance with his ability.] An examination of the figures on Plates 4 and 5 will roughly illustrate these points. The upper figure of Plate 4 is well designed, and no improvement could be made, bearing in mind the compromise alluded to above. The lower figure is, however, not so good, it was obviously a difficult one to arrange; it would have been improved if Figs. 23, 26 and 28 could have been placed in the top tier, but this would have seriously disturbed the sequence. The first illustration on Plate 5 is well designed; it would, however, have been improved by interchanging 8A and 11B. [Illustration: PLATE 4.] [Illustration: PLATE 5.] We may now pass on to the individual figures; these should shew the essential features, together with some surrounding and comparatively extraneous matter; often there is included too much of unimportance and its retention means a waste of valuable space. The first thing to do, therefore, is to trim, if needs be, the figures; their shape is more or less immaterial, provided that in cases where there are a large number of illustrations on one plate, they are not all alike. The American fashion of circular figures is particularly displeasing, at any rate to the author. Having trimmed the figures, the next point to decide is whether any require reduction; if they do, cut out pieces of paper (referred to as patterns below) of the size which the figures will ultimately appear: on the whole, it is better to avoid reduction of the originals, for without a good deal of experience it is very difficult to judge exactly what the result will be; a good idea, however, may be gained by the use of a diminishing glass. The size of the available surface of the plate should now be ruled on a white sheet of fairly thick cardboard, and the figures, or their patterns, arranged so as to be easy of reference, to compose as well as may be, and spaced in such a way that, in the case of a quarto plate to be folded vertically, no figure is placed so that the fold will pass through its centre. Nothing is more irritating than having an illustration spoilt in this way. All this may be done by arranging in different ways until a satisfactory result is obtained, a process which may take an hour or two. The figures should then be pasted down, covered with several sheets of blotting paper and placed in a press. A press is seldom available; when such is the case, a number of heavy books serve equally well. The lettering must next be attended to. The individual figures are usually designated by numbers; this is a bad method, since it involves referring to the description of the plate. The best way is to use a number, and after it to add the name of the plant or animal, and, if needs be, a description as short as may be. If the author can "print" or write reasonably well, well and good; if not, it is better to attach a slip to the plate with full directions relating to lettering, and to write in pencil on the plate the titles, etc., required in the proper places for the guidance of the craftsman. The typewriter is sometimes employed for this purpose by authors; it is purely a matter of taste, but some readers feel a slight shock when this method is resorted to. In some cases a key to the plate printed on tough translucent tissue paper and having the necessary information, guide lines, etc., is inserted with the plate.[A] [Footnote A: See Kerner and Oliver: _Natural History of Plants_ (First Edition) London, 1894.] In the case of glossy chromolithographs this practice is best avoided, for the key is apt to stick to the plate if too much pressure is used when the book is bound. With regard to the "catch letters" used to indicate different parts: these should be as obvious as possible, and the guide lines should be either in black or in white ink, according to the general tone of the illustration. These lines should be conspicuous without being heavy. Not infrequently they, together with the lettering, are printed on the plate by a second impression in red ink. The foregoing is primarily the business of the author; with regard to editors and publishers, all plates should be mounted in a manner to facilitate reference and should be printed on suitable paper; the former is seldom or never done. All plates which must be constantly referred to in reading the text should have a selvedge as broad as the book, so that when unfolded the whole plate is visible, no matter what page is being read. This would, no doubt, prove an additional expense, but this should not militate against the suggestion here made, not by any means an innovation, for in many cases it would save the expense of mounting on guards, and, further, the additional expenditure could be saved several times over in other ways. With regard to paper, this generally is satisfactory; unfortunately, highly glazed paper, mis-termed art paper, with an enamelled or chromo surface, and consisting chiefly of china clay and size, is generally used for printing the best half-tone reproductions. For this purpose a paper with a suitable surface, obtained by means other than those mentioned and not too costly, is highly desirable, since art paper has the reputation of being not at all permanent, owing to the deleterious action of moisture, and is somewhat brittle. When used, art paper, if folded, should have a proper paper hinge along the fold. Half-tones are occasionally printed on a kind of vegetable parchment, a paper which should be more extensively used since it will sometimes, but not always, give as good a reproduction as art paper, and the final result is more pleasing from the artistic point of view. [Illustration: G. Oliver, del.] RELIEF PRINTING [Illustration: Little maid, little maid, Whither goest thou? Down in the meadow To milk my cow. Fig. 1.--A wood engraving, by Edmund Evans, from the original drawing by Kate Greenaway. Reproduced by permission of the publishers, Fredk. Warne & Co.] RELIEF PRINTING In order that illustrations may be incorporated in the text, the blocks used must be in relief the same as the type; a mixture of intaglio and relief is impossible, for the whole surface must be level in order to be inked by the rollers, which deposit the pigment evenly, so that only one tone of colour--that of the ink--is possible. Up to quite recent times wood cuts and engravings were the only means available for text-illustrations, so that this method may next be considered.[A] [Footnote A: See Treviranus, C.L.: _Die Anwendung des Holtzschnitts zur bildlichen Darstellung von Pflanzen_. Leipzig, 1855.] WOOD CUTS AND ENGRAVINGS. The invention of illustrating by means of wood blocks followed closely on the heels of the use of moveable types for printing. The Chinese were the first, as far as is known, to use these methods of printing and illustration; in the western world the first wood blocks date from the beginning of the fifteenth century. All the earlier cuts were made, commonly on pear wood, on the longitudinal face of the wood, in technical language "on the plank," and seemingly, in many instances, were made from drawings in ink. By cutting on the plank, the craftsmen were enabled to make large blocks, but were prohibited from doing anything more than relatively simple and straightforward work. Such blocks are known as wood cuts; wood engravings were not made until the possibilities of a hard wood like box carved upon the transverse section were discovered at a much later date. This is, strictly speaking, wood engraving, an art which almost entirely, if not quite, superseded the older craft, on account of its great possibilities; indeed, wood engravers imitated metal engraving so closely as to deceive many. But such work was enormously laborious; for instance, in the case of a fishing net, if the string were to be printed black, the engraver would have to cut out hundreds of small diamond-shaped pieces of wood in order that the string of the net should be in relief. But few artists would do this of their own free will, and generally such laborious work will only be found in wood-engravings which were intended for the reproduction of ink drawings or other kinds of pictures where the lines, shading, etc., had to be faithfully copied. This point may be illustrated by the accompanying cut (Fig. 2), which was made by my friend Mr. Geoffrey Oliver, who at the time was totally uninstructed in the art and knew nothing of its literature. It will be seen that he, quite unconsciously, treated his wood in the same way as an engraver would his metal; the result, of course, is just the opposite to metal engraving since the printing of the wood block is the reverse to intaglio. [Illustration: Fig. 2.] In fact, the cut illustrates the three fundamentals of wood engraving; the white line made by cutting out the wood so that no impression will be obtained when printed; the white space which is similarly obtained; and the black space, which is made by leaving the wood untouched. It was, however, necessary to employ the black line, otherwise the tape with which the two men--the artist and his father--are measuring the trunk of the tree would be invisible where it crosses the sky. In a word, the little picture illustrates very nicely the legitimate use of wood in the graphic arts. As already remarked, the majority of the earlier wood cuts and engravings are reproductions of line drawings, so that although we may admire and often marvel at the technical ability of the engraver, the credit for what artistic merit such illustrations may possess must, in the majority of cases, go to the draughtsman. The work of the earlier wood engravers may be conveniently studied in _A Lyttel Booke of Nonsense_, by R. D., London, 1912. (See also the relevant works cited under Literature, p. 94). Bewick, of course, is an outstanding example of an artist who used wood engraving for illustrating natural history; the methods he pursued may be studied in the tailpiece on p. 11, which was printed from an electrotype of the original block. Wood engraving, up to quite recent times, was the method of reproducing text figures; not only for scientific books and periodicals, but also for general literature and journals. Much of this work is of outstanding excellence; for scientific work the following may be studied: Duchartre: _Eléments de Botanique_. Paris, 1867. The drawings were made by Riocreux and engraved by Leblanc. Baillon: _Histoire des Plantes_, Paris, 1887. This work contains some beautiful wood engravings, reproductions of drawings by Faguet. Bentham: _Handbook of the British Flora_, London, 1865. The engravings are from drawings by W. H. Fitch. Deschanel: _Natural Philosophy_, London, 1890. The engravings, many of which are of excellent quality, are by Laplante, Rapine and others. In many cases, notably in the representation of the rays of light passing through lenses and also in the illustrations of snow crystals, the use of the white line is admirably demonstrated. Kerner: _Pflanzenleben_, Leipzig, 1888. This contains some excellent engravings by Winkler and others. Le Maout et Decaisne; _Traité général de Botanique_, Paris, 1876. This work contains splendid examples by Riocreux and Steinheil (see Fig. 8). Oliver: _First Book of Indian Botany_, London, 1869. This contains some characteristic work of W. H. Fitch. It does not appear to be generally known that excellent reproductions in colour may be obtained from wood blocks by superposed printing in a manner comparable to that followed in chromolithography although, of course, in the present instance, the blocks are in relief (Fig. 1). From the foregoing account it is obvious that the engraving even of a small illustration, except it be in mere outline, involves a considerable amount of labour; in fact, if the subject were large it was usual to cut it up into areas and distribute between several engravers, the finished blocks finally being joined together to make the block of the whole picture. Hence it is not surprising to find that when the photo-mechanical processes were perfected, the older methods of reproduction were ousted by the newer, more especially since they are much less expensive; these, therefore, may next be considered. THE HALF TONE PROCESS.--For the making of a relief block by photo-mechanical means, the main difficulty is the proper rendition of the tones intermediate between black and white; this has been solved, at any rate in part, by the discovery of the half-tone process. If an ordinary photographic negative be highly magnified, it will be seen that the high lights, the low lights, and the intermediate tones are made by the varying density of the reduced silver. In the lighter parts the small black particles are surrounded by colourless areas, whilst in the dark regions small colourless patches are surrounded by black areas owing to the closeness of the particles of silver (Plate 5, Fig. 2). What is required, therefore, is a relief block which will print a number of dots of equal density but of unequal size. Vervasser illustrates the point in an ingenious way: a plate, covered with a number of cones, is supposed to be acted upon by light in such a way that the cones are truncated in varying degrees according to intensity of the light falling upon them. The section of such a plate would therefore shew a curve (Fig. 3); now if the truncated cones be brought down to one level and a print taken from them, the high lights would be represented by black dots surrounded by white areas and so on. [Illustration: Fig. 3] This illustrates the principle which obtains in the making of half-tones in which the image is made up of a large number of dots varying in size but all equally dense, so that when viewed from a suitable distance the dots are individually invisible but compose to give gradations of light and shade. In other words, the structure obtaining in a photographic negative is, in a sense, realised by optical chemical means, although the dots in a half-tone block are much coarser than those in a negative (Plate 5, Fig. 3). This result is obtained by interposing between the diaphragm of the camera and the negative--for the half-tone process is a photo-mechanical one--a glass screen covered with intersecting engraved lines (Fig. 4). As a matter of fact, each screen consists of two plates of glass similarly ruled and cemented face to face so that the lines intersect. [Illustration: Fig. 4] It may at first be thought that the effect of such a screen placed in front of the negative would be to produce merely a cross hatching on the reproduction; this, however, is not the case; if the screen be placed in a proper position relative to the negative and the size of the diaphragm of the camera, the picture will be reproduced in a series of dots of varying size. The optical and other reasons for this phenomenon must be sought elsewhere,[A] but the following brief consideration will serve to illustrate what happens. The rays of light which ultimately reach the sensitive plate are acted upon by two lenses, that of the camera and the meshes of the screen, each one of which acts as a lens on the principle of the pin-hole camera. Each mesh, therefore, brings the image of the diaphragm to a focus on the negative, but the lens of the camera focusses the picture as a whole, thus the amount of light falling on the different pin-holes will vary in intensity, and hence the dots produced will vary in size, for it is assumed, with good reason, that each dot is built up from its centre and radially expands according to the amount of light acting upon it. [Footnote A: See Verfasser, _loc. cit._, p. 94.] It is obvious that the quality of the resulting picture will depend, other things being equal, upon the coarseness of the screen employed. Screens are ruled with lines varying from 50 to 400 to the inch: the lower rulings give very coarse reproductions, and are only used for posters, whilst the higher rulings yield very fine impressions and are employed only for the best work. It is hardly necessary to remark that the finer the screen the better must be the skill of the printer. To illustrate the difference in the results obtained by the use of different screens, the two figures on Plate 6 have been prepared; both were made from the same negative, but for the upper figure a 100-line screen was used, and for the lower a 200-line screen. It will be observed that there is more contrast in the former, and more detail in the latter. Authors should therefore mention when sending in their original pictures the qualities they require in the reproduction; it must, however, be remembered that the blocks made from the finer ruled screens will not print satisfactorily except on more or less highly glazed paper, to the use of the "art" varieties of which there are objections on æsthetic and other grounds. [Illustration: PLATE 6. Half Tone reproduction of a photograph by Mr. W. Rowan. Part of a shingle beach shewing plants of Sea Blite (_Suaeda fruticosa_) and a ring plover's nest with four eggs.] Before passing on it may be mentioned that screens with patterns other than that represented in Fig. 4 are sometimes employed; for instance, the wavy-line screen gives the impression of coarse collotype. The preparation of the blocks may now be briefly dealt with. A negative of the picture, using a screen suitable for the purpose, is taken on a special dry gelatine plate ("process" plates) or on some other form of negative, _e.g._, wet collodion which is most commonly employed. This negative requires very careful development in order to get the dots right. From the negative a positive is made upon a copper or zinc plate, suitably coated with a sensitive film. The usual practice is to coat the polished metal plate with a mixture of water, albumen, fish glue, ammonium bichromate, chromic acid and ammonia; the plate is then dried and, when cooled, exposed under the negative. The action of the light on such a film, the essentials of which are the albumen, the glue or gelatine and a chromate, has already been described. The mixture becomes more or less insoluble in water, according to the intensity of the light falling upon it. The positive is now rinsed in water, and is sometimes stained with an aniline dye in order to render the film more visible. Next it is developed in a stream of water until the surface of the metal is visible between the dots, the last traces of the soluble gelatine being removed with warm water. After drying, the plate is evenly heated over a Bunsen burner until the dots of gelatine mixture turn chocolate colour, when the plate is allowed to cool gradually. This is known as burning in. The plate, if necessary, is now touched up and the back, sides and margins varnished in order to protect them from the acid: when the varnish is dry, the plate is etched in a weak solution (about 2-1/2 per cent.) of nitric acid if the metal be zinc; if the plate be copper, it is usually etched with a solution of iron perchloride. On taking a proof, there is almost certain to be a lack of contrast, the plate is then fine etched, by which means a considerable improvement can be made; and, by covering certain parts with an acid-resisting substance ("stopping out"), it is possible to fine etch locally. Incidentally it may be mentioned that machine etching, by which a fine spray of the etching fluid is distributed over the plate, has recently come into vogue, for it is claimed that the results print better and are in other ways an improvement upon the older method. The plate may now pass through the hands of an engraver, who removes any blemishes, as far as is possible, improves the high lights, and so on; in fact, a skilful engraver can improve the plate considerably. After the plate is trimmed, and the superfluous metal cut out by means of a routing machine, it is firmly tacked to a wooden mount, usually of oak, but sometimes of mahogany, especially if the plate is large. In order to obtain the best results, the printing, in a typographical machine, should be done on highly calendered paper--so-called "art" paper; in fact, this is absolutely essential if a fine screen has been used; it is only the blocks made with the coarser screens that will give fair prints on ordinary paper. For this reason reproductions made by the half-tone process are very generally treated as plates unless the glazed paper is used throughout the book. The process is used principally for the reproduction of photographs, and for pencil or wash drawings. With regard to photographs, it has already been mentioned that authors should send the negative or two or three prints differently toned, in order that the operator can choose the one most likely to give the best result. It is sometimes difficult in a photograph of a landscape to obtain a negative in which the particular feature it is desired to represent--_e.g._, in photographs of vegetation--stands out with the requisite contrast. This is due to the position of the sun at the time of exposure, or to the use of ordinary plates. The remedy for the first is to take the photograph when the proper light obtains; with regard to the second, the use of colour correct plates, together with a colour screen in front of the lens, will obviate the defect. Since for scientific purposes the correct interpretation of the various tones of the vegetation, for example, may not be essential, variously coloured screens may be used in order to emphasise a particular feature. For instance, it will be noticed how well the bushes in Plate 7 stand out. This effect was obtained by the use of a panchromatic plate in conjunction with a red colour screen. [Illustration: PLATE 7.--Half Tone reproduction of a photograph taken by Dr. Mees through a red screen.] With regard to drawings in wash, charcoal or pencil, in which there are half-tones; these are better drawn on an enlarged scale, especially if the author is not a skilled draughtsman, for improper gradations in shading and other imperfections will not appear so noticeable in the reduced reproduction. Originals should all be made in one colour; in the case of wash drawings, diluted Indian ink (really Chinese ink) will give excellent results. In making pencil drawings, a fairly stout hand-made paper with not too much grain should be used. If the drawing is to be of some size, the paper may be damped and pasted by its edges on to the drawing board, it will then be stretched quite flat and will not cockle when dry. The outline of the object may first be sketched in lightly with a soft pencil and then the shading may be proceeded with. To do this, broad-pointed soft pencils, 2 B, 3 B, or 4 B, should be used, and it is better generally to work from the high lights to the shadows. To avoid rubbing finished parts, the work should proceed from the top of the board downwards, especially in the case of large drawings. In order to obtain a nice gradation and a more smooth appearance--more especially when a very coarse paper has been used--the work may be gone over with paper stumps of appropriate size and softness, and, of course, India rubber may be employed where it is desired to reduce the density of the shading. When finished, the edges of the various parts may appear woolly owing to the rubbing of the lead; this may be cured by cleaning up the edges with a trimmed piece of India rubber, but in so doing there is always a risk of rubbing out part of the shading, especially if the outline be at all intricate. If preferred, all the shaded parts may be fixed by painting them over with a suitable solution, gelatine for instance, paying particular attention in following the correct outline. When dry, the application of soft india-rubber will soon clean up the blurred edges. If charcoal be used the same procedure may be followed. Charcoal and pencil drawings should be fixed, in order to prevent rubbing, before sending to the block makers. A suitable fixative may be purchased or one may be made by dissolving white resin in alcohol and applying it to the paper by means of a scent spray or an atomizer. A very good fixative may be made by dissolving a little gelatine in hot water and applying it whilst hot by means of a broad, flat camel hair brush, or ordinary milk may be used in a similar way. After the fixative has been put on, the drawing should be pinned up by one corner--unless, of course, it was pinned up before the fixative was employed, which is the best way when the fixative is an alcoholic solution--and allowed to dry; it may then be placed under pressure in order to flatten it, for fixed drawings generally shew a tendency to curl, especially when the preparation used for fixing has only been applied to one surface of the paper. In making drawings for reproduction by means of the half-tone process, there are a few general points to which attention should be paid. It should be remembered that there is not infrequently a tendency towards flatness in the reproduction; it is therefore important that the originals should be "plucky," and, on the whole, it is better to exaggerate with regard to high light and shade, especially if there is much modelling or perspective. Finally, with regard to lighting, it is better for the majority in drawing their objects--solid objects in relief are referred to--to use a more or less lateral illumination and to represent only the high lights, shades and shadows referable to this main direction of illumination. A high relief will thus be obtained, and the effect will prove more satisfactory than if minor sources of illumination are unsuccessfully dealt with. This is especially important in drawing complicated structures such as models of vascular tissues, embryos, etc. In cases where many such figures are to occur on one page, it is highly desirable that the lighting of each should be from the same direction. The use of the half-tone block is now almost universal, so that it is hardly necessary to mention examples, more especially as they are hard to judge without seeing the original picture. Those in the present book are all of a high quality. Excellent examples will also be found in Tansley's _Types of British Vegetation_ (Cambridge, 1911) and in the _Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society_. Proofs should be carefully compared with the originals, particular attention being paid to the rendering of the tones; as already remarked, fine etching will clear up a block and will often prove a remedy to flatness. An author will naturally consider whether a photograph is to be reproduced by means of photogravure, collotype or half-tone. It is impossible to lay down any laws on the subject, but the following points should be considered. If it is essential to have the reproduction in the text, a half-tone block must be used; it must, however, be remembered that the paper used for the letterpress may be very unsuited for the printing of half-tones. On the other hand, if it be immaterial where the picture is placed, then the relative merits of photogravure, collotype and kindred processes and half-tone must be weighed. Provided that expense need not be considered, photogravure will, in the majority of cases, give the best results; on the other hand, if this process is too costly, then the choice lies between collotype and half-tone. The latter method will often give a result with more contrast as compared with collotype, whilst collotype will give a truer interpretation of the tones. As has already been remarked, the best results with half-tone blocks only are to be obtained by the employment of a paper which seemingly has no lasting qualities; it therefore follows that if the reproduction forms an important record, the use of collotype is indicated, since many varieties of good paper are available. As a general rule photo-micrographs are best reproduced by collotype. In order that the respective qualities of these three processes--photogravure, collotype and half-tone--may be compared, Plates 8, 9, and 10 have been made from the same photograph, a view taken by Dr. F. F. Blackman of the Bouche d'Erquy, a salt marsh in Brittany, which was selected chiefly on account of the large number of tones it contains. [Illustration: PLATE 8. Photogravure] [Illustration: PLATE 9. Collotype] [Illustration: PLATE 10. Half Tone] These three plates are not entirely comparable, since the heavy shadows in the right hand bottom portion of the photogravure have been touched up by the engraver. This was not intended by the author, but the plate was retained as it shews that directions regarding this point should not be omitted when sending the drawing or photograph to be reproduced. It also indicates that for critical work, when an exact a facsimile as possible is required, collotype should be used, for the plate cannot be touched up. With regard to the reproduction of drawings shaded by means of wash or pencil, the same remarks apply, with the addition that if it be possible to express what is desired by other means, suitable for reproduction by line block, these latter should be employed. To illustrate this point, Figures 5, 6, and Plate 11 have been inserted; all illustrate the vascular skeleton of a fern (_Marattia fraxinea_), the first one is in outline and the second is shaded by lines of varying thickness; both of these are reproduced by means of the line block, whilst the third is a reproduction by half-tone of a pencil-shaded drawing. In order to obtain a fair comparison, the half-tone is reproduced as a plate, owing to the fact that it would not print satisfactorily on the paper used for the letterpress. [Illustration: Fig. 5] [Illustration: Fig. 6] [Illustration: PLATE 11] THE HALF-TONE THREE COLOUR PROCESS.--This process is much used for colour reproductions of various subjects; and, in view of the fact that the best results can only be obtained by the best photography, the object should, if possible, be sent to specialists for reproduction. In many cases, however, this is impossible, _e.g._, landscapes and animal and plant portraits amidst their natural surroundings, so that the scientist, if unable to make a water colour drawing, which will give by far the best result, must make his own negatives. The first thing to do is to purchase a set of colour-filters, adapted to the colour-correct plates to be used, from firms who specialize in these matters, Messrs. Paget or Messrs. Wratten for instance, and from them the inexperienced should obtain full information regarding exposure, etc., for it is essential that the exposure of the negatives should be correlated in order that all may have the same tone-value. The colour-screens, blue, green and orange, are made by dyeing gelatine with suitable stains; the films are stuck on to perfectly plane glass and are mounted in frames. In practice these screens are usually placed behind the lens, in which case a special camera is necessary, or they may be adapted to fit on to the front of the lens. In either case the procedure is the same; three negatives are taken one after the other through each colour filter, the exposure being modified in order that the tones in each case may be of equal value. There are thus obtained three negatives which, of course, yield positives which look very different one from the other. These prints may be sent to the block makers, but it is better, on the whole, to send the negatives with clear indications as to the colour of each. From each negative there is made by contact a transparency, and from these positives there are prepared a set of half-tone negatives from which are made the half-tone blocks. The reproductions are made by superposed printing of the three blocks, yellow being printed first, then red, and finally blue (Plate 12). [Illustration: PLATE 12.--Three Colour Half Tone.] As indicated above, it is hardly worth while to make negatives for this process unless the operator is a really skilful or at least an efficient photographer, and even then the final product may prove unsatisfactory. Better results are generally to be obtained by sending to the block maker a Lumiere colour photograph with full instructions regarding any corrections in the colours which may be necessary. Examples:-- Bateson: _Mendel's Principles of Heredity_, Cambridge, 1909. Church: _Types of Floral Mechanism_, Oxford, 1908. Seward: _Darwin and Modern Science_, Cambridge, 1909. PHOTO-MECHANICAL LINE BLOCKS.--The photo-mechanical line block, commonly known as a zinco, is in a sense the lineal descendant of the wood block. As a means of reproduction the possibilities of line blocks are very great, for not only is it possible to reproduce by their means all kinds of line drawings, but also drawings in charcoal and crayon, provided they be suitably executed on a proper grained surface. In fact, an artist or draughtsman who has a thorough knowledge of the process and its capabilities can obtain extraordinary results. The process has the further advantage of being both quick and inexpensive, a few hours only being required to make the finished product. Their mode of manufacture is the same in principle as for half-tone blocks; in the case of the latter, the method known as the enamel process was described; in the present instance a different procedure may be dealt with. A photograph of the drawing is taken on a negative, the wet collodion process being generally followed, although dry process plates may be used. A highly polished zinc plate is sensitised with bichromate of potash and gelatine, or by other means, and, when dry, is exposed under the negative. The exposed metal plate is then taken into the dark room and evenly, but thinly, coated with etching ink. When the ink is dry, the plate is developed in water; the unexposed gelatine, and with it, the ink, will come away, its removal being helped by the judicious application of a dabber of wet cotton wool. The plate may next be "rolled over" with an ink which will more stoutly resist the action of the acid than that used in the first inking, but prior to this it is usual to soak the plate in a mixture of gallic acid, phosphoric acid and gum. This second rolling up must be carried out as if the plate were for lithographic reproduction; and, when dry, powdered resin may be applied, in order to make a better acid-resist, as in the preparation of a lithographic stone. The plate is now etched slightly in a weak solution of nitric acid; it is then rinsed, dabbed dry and placed upon a hot plate until the resin has stuck well to the ink. When cool, the margins, sides and back are protected from the action of the acid by means of a varnish and the plate is given its first real etch, which is a very slight one. After rinsing and drying, the plate is again heated until the ink and resin have melted and flowed down the exposed sides of the ridges of metal produced in the first etching. This application of ink and resin must be repeated in order that the exposed sides of the ridges may be well covered with the acid-resist and so will not be undercut. The plate is then given its second etch, and this is done with a stronger acid, after which the sides of the lines are again protected with resinous material in the same way as before. The third etch follows, after which the metal is thoroughly cleansed from all the ink, etc. In order to smooth the shoulders of the lines, the plate is given a finishing etch: the cleaned plate is warmed and rolled up with hard etching ink; the metal is then heated until the ink becomes glazed, and, when cool, is placed in the acid bath for the requisite amount of time. If necessary the plate, after cleaning, is touched up with a graver, and the superfluous metal is cut away. Finally it is mounted on a block of wood, and after the corners and sides have been trimmed square, the block is ready for the press. To illustrate the enormous improvement which may result from the block passing through the hands of a skilful engraver, two line blocks of a wood engraving by Riocreux (see p. 36) have been prepared. Fig. 7 is the impression given by the block as ordinarily turned out, whilst Fig. 8 is a precisely similar block which has been worked up by an engraver. [Illustration: Fig. 7] [Illustration: Fig. 8] There are several other methods of making the blocks, but the principles are the same as in the foregoing process. In examining the proofs it must be remembered that deletions are not the only alterations that can be made in the finished block; not only can lines be cut away, or their character altered by removing part of the metal from them, but additions can be made in reason. For instance, lines can be added across open spaces, and if part of the printing surface has been accidentally removed in cutting away the superfluous metal, the damage can be made good by building up with solder and working on this with the graver. If, however, the additions required are at all extensive or complicated, it is better to have a new block made. Inasmuch as scientific illustrations are to describe and explain definite facts, the drawings must needs be materialistic rather than suggestive; in other words, a more or less conventional system must be employed. In making their drawings for reproduction by line blocks, authors have at their disposal the black line, the white line, the black space, the white space, the black dot and the white dot, all of which may be combined in various ways. No tones, other than black and white, are available; if it be desired to represent half-tones, they must be rendered by the above-mentioned means. In the majority of cases the originals should be made with black ink on white Bristol board or smooth white paper; ordinary lead pencil drawings on smooth paper are useless, and lead pencil, black crayon or charcoal in combination with grained paper or board should not be employed unless the draughtsman has the requisite skill and knows exactly the limitations of the line block. For all ordinary folk black ink and Bristol board cannot be improved upon. The drawing may be made first with a soft lead pencil, using the camera lucida or other optical aids to correct delineation. The pencil lines are then gone over with ink; for this purpose a good black ink is necessary. Wolff's Indian ink, Higgins' waterproof ink and Steuber's waterproof drawing ink are highly satisfactory, and there are many others. With regard to pens, a suitable implement is all-important; Gillott's lithographic pens and Brandauer's No. 515 are recommended. For straight lines of an even thickness a ruling pen is very useful, and these may be obtained fitted with an adjustment which enables the worker to rule a line of a definite thickness, _e.g._, .5 mm. and so on. All drawings should be made larger than it is intended the reproduction to be, for slight inaccuracies, ragged lines, and other blemishes will thus appear less obvious. This drawing on a large scale is often a stumbling block, because the work appears too open and the draughtsman is tempted to put in too much; this must be avoided, else the crowded lines may join together in the reduced reproduction. Also it must be remembered not to draw too finely, else the work in parts may disappear entirely in the reproduction. In drawing on an enlarged scale a certain amount of exaggeration may be employed, in order that when reduced the drawing may not be quite spiritless. When representing a solid object, such as a plant or an animal, to shew the external morphology, it is to be borne in mind that form is the main thing to represent, and this can be expressed by outline drawing alone. In fact, more or less primitive methods must be employed, and better models cannot be followed than the best wood cuts. [Illustration: Fig. 9. The Lesser Celandine (_Ranunculus Ficaria_). By R. G. Hatton. (From Hatton's _Craftsman's Handbook_).] [Illustration: Fig. 10. The Lesser Celandine. After Fuchs. (From Hatton's _Craftsman's Handbook_.)] An examination of figures 10 and 12 will shew that Fuchs[A] attained his object by simple outline drawings; he never employed local colour, and shading he used very sparsely indeed, and then only to give expression to the form of some thick part. Fuchs's celandine (Fig. 10) should be compared with the drawing of the same plant (Fig. 9) by R. G. Hatton. [Footnote A: The methods followed by the illustrators of the Herbals may be conveniently studied in Hatton's "The Craftsman's Plant Book," London, 1909, and Arber's "Herbals," Cambridge, 1912.] [Illustration: Fig. 11. The Apple (_Pyrus Malus_). After Matthiolus. (From Hatton's _Craftsman's Handbook_).] The methods of Matthiolus (Figs. 11 and 13) were somewhat more advanced, for he used shading not only to express form but also to give a certain amount of relief. It will be noticed that he shaded by lines which followed the moulding of the parts. The work of Riocreux (Fig. 8) should also be studied; it will be observed that he managed to get a very high relief in his drawings by the simple means of straight or curved lines, according to the shape of the part, of varying thicknesses. [Illustration: Fig. 12. Charlock (_Brassica Sinapis_). After Fuchs. (From Hatton's _Craftsman's Handbook_)] There is no necessity for keeping all the lines of even thickness. For instance, provided the character of the form is not altered, the outline on the shaded side may be made thicker than on the illuminated side; also distance can be indicated by the use of thinner lines, for these, although really black, will give the impression of greyness. Then again, a line may be drawn with local increases and decreases in thickness, as in ordinary writing, and such lines drawn by a skilled hand can be made to express a marvellous amount of modelling. [Illustration: Fig. 13. Sea Lavender (_Statice Limonium_). After Matthiolus. (From Hatton's _Craftsman's Handbook_.)] The draughtsman, however, is not restricted to lines; any marks which can be made with a pen and black ink may be employed, provided they be sufficiently firm and large. The accompanying figure (14) which is a reduction of an illustration in Church's _Floral Mechanisms_, illustrates the use of lines of varying lengths for shading. [Illustration: Fig. 14. _Viola odorata_: Floral morphology. A reduction of a figure in Church's _Floral Mechanisms_.] In shading, the effect of shadow may be obtained by increasing the thickness of the lines, but they must not be drawn too closely together; on the other hand, the lighter parts can be represented by thinner lines placed further and further apart, and the lightest parts by the white of the paper. Cross hatching may also be employed (see Fig. 15), but the crossed lines must not be too close together, for otherwise they will tend to thicken in the making of the block and so will print too black. [Illustration: Fig. 15. A Seedling of _Abronia villosa_.] For very delicate shading and tinting, stipple may be employed, but the dots must be quite definite, sufficiently large to stand reduction, and not too close together (Figs. 18, 28c, and 32). A particularly good example of this method will be found in Butler's paper on _Allomyces_ in the Annals of Botany, 1911, vol. 25. Dots have also been employed in Fig. 28c (p. 69). With regard to local colour; this may be indicated by shading, by a white space, or by a black space. Hitherto, drawing with black ink on white paper alone has been considered, but the reverse is equally available; much can be expressed by drawing with white ink on black paper. Drawing in white upon a black ground is not frequently attempted, but an excellent example by Miss Janet Robertson is shewn in figure 16, which is well worthy of study, since it illustrates to a nicety some of the means at the disposal of the draughtsman for line blocks. The black surface is best obtained by the use of a waterproof Indian ink applied with a brush to a white surface, the drawing being made with a dense white ink, using a pen or a brush. The white ink may be made by diluting any good opaque white water-colour paint, or process white may be used. The composition of this should be zinc oxide or baryta, for these do not darken with age; the author once used for this purpose a white pigment which proved excellent at the time; the drawings, however, subsequently turned dark brown owing to the fact that the basis of the paint was apparently a compound of silver. [Illustration: Fig. 16. _Neuropteris Heterophylla_. A line reproduction of a drawing by Miss Janet Robertson.] The top part of the drawing (Fig. 16), shewing the general morphology of the plant, was drawn with a brush charged with white ink upon a black ground. In the simplest possible way relief has been obtained by representing the leaflets of the nearer fronds by white spaces, whilst those further away are represented by white outlines. An enlargement of a frond is shewn on the lower part of the picture, and here the parts are represented in black on a white ground. The leaflets are in black outline and the fruits are made to stand out, as in the upper part, by the use of local colour--in this instance black--their shape being indicated by the curve of the higher lights. In brief, a very effective drawing has been made by the simplest use of the white line, the white space, the black line and the black space. [Illustration: Fig. 17. _Fucus volubilis_, var. _Flexuosus_, a seaweed. (From a drawing by Miss Baker.)] This may be compared with figure 17, which was drawn by Miss Baker; the method pursued is entirely different to the last, it being a pure pen and ink drawing on white paper. No local colour has been employed, and the modelling has been expressed by the lines used for shading which have been made by short strokes with a fine pen. The result is suggestive of an engraving but this was not intentional; under no circumstances should an attempt be made to imitate in a relief block effects which can only be obtained by intaglio. From what has been said it is obvious that the photo-mechanical line block can be used for the reproduction of all kinds of drawings in pure black and white; to illustrate this figures 18-26 have been inserted. [Illustration: Fig. 18. The Larkspur (_Delphinium ajacis_). By R. G. Hatton. (Hatton, _Craftsman's Handbook_.)] [Illustration: Fig. 19. Hollyhock (_Althaea rosea_). By R. G. Hatton. (Hatton, _Craftsman's Handbook_.)] [Illustration: Fig. 20. A Liverwort (_Lepidozia reptans_). (Evans, _Annals of Botany_, 1912, vol. 26.)] [Illustration: Fig. 21. A Seedling of _Bruguiera gymnorhiza_, a mangrove. Drawn by Mrs. F. E. Fritsch. (Tansley and Fritsch, _New Phytologist_, 1905, vol. 4.)] [Illustration: Fig. 22 A diagrammatic sketch by Mrs. F. E. Fritsch of _Rhizophora conjugata_, a mangrove. (Tansley and Fritsch, _New Phytologist_, 1905, vol. 4.)] [Illustration: Fig. 23 A shoot of _Acanthus ilicifolia_, a mangrove. Drawn by Mrs. F. E. Fritsch. (Tansley and Fritsch, _New Phytologist_, 1905, vol. 4.)] [Illustration: Fig. 24 A longitudinal section of a fossil seed, _Conostoma oblongum_. Drawn by Dr. E. J. Salisbury. (Oliver and Salisbury, _Annals of Botany_, 1911, vol. 25.)] [Illustration: Fig. 25 The Meadowsweet (_Spiraea ulmaria_), shewing four years' growth. (Yapp, _Annals of Botany_, 1912, vol. 26.).] [Illustration: Fig. 26. The Chesil Bank. (Oliver, _New Phytologist_, 1912, vol. 11.)] THE DRAWING OF MICROSCOPIC DETAILS. Questions relating to the drawing of microscope sections may now be dealt with. Usually these are drawn in pencil and reproduced by means of lithography; this is quite wrong, for in addition to its being an unnecessary expense, it is also an inconvenience to a reader, since the figures are necessarily divorced from the letterpress. There are very few histological details which cannot be represented by line blocks, and with a proper co-operation between the author, the block maker, the printer and the publisher, even the delicacies of karyokinesis could be reproduced in the text. For demonstration purposes, transverse sections of plant-structures may first be taken. The walls of the various elements may be represented by lines of more or less equal breadth, but in those cases where the walls are particularly thick, _e.g._, the elements of the wood, the thickening may be represented by an additional line. This is seen in Fig. 27, in which it will be noticed that the middle lamellæ of the wood-elements are represented by black lines. [Illustration: Fig. 27. (From Butler's paper on Gummosis of _Prunus_ and _Citrus_. _Annals of Botany_, 1911, Vol. 25).] This is a particularly good drawing, but, unfortunately, it has been over reduced. On the other hand, the various tissues may be represented by lines of varying breadths, the thickest walled cells having the same double contour as in the above, but with the addition of local colour in the shape of diagonal shading. This is not uncommonly found in papers dealing with the anatomy of plants by French authors; it is illustrated in Figure 28 _a_. If preferred, such thick-walled elements may be entirely represented by thick black lines as in Figure 28_b_, and when such cells are relatively few in number, this method has much to recommend it since a greater relief is obtained. [Illustration: Fig. 28 _a_ _b_ _c_ A transverse section to shew the vascular cylinder of the root of the spinach, _c_ is somewhat older than _a_ and _b_.] Finally, an attempt may be made to draw in a more detailed fashion as in Figure 28_c_. Here the thickness of the cells of the wood is represented by broad black lines, the middle lamellæ being left white. The lines marking the boundaries of the other cells vary slightly in thickness, but this is to a great extent masked by the representation of the cell contents, which consist entirely of dots in the case of the protoplasm, whilst the nuclei are represented by dark ovals--black relieved with small white areas. By varying the size of the dots and their distance apart, varying densities can be indicated. It has been mentioned above that it is possible to reproduce fine detail by means of the line block; this is illustrated in Figs. 29 and 30. [Illustration: Fig. 29] Fig. 29, which illustrates a stage in the division of a nucleus, was drawn with black crayon on a rough-grained piece of Whatman's water-colour paper. The cytologist will, doubtless, criticize its coarseness, but it may be mentioned that the roughest paper at hand was designedly employed in order to illustrate the point raised. That a finer grained paper will give more delicate results is shewn by Fig. 30, which is a reproduction of a drawing, kindly lent by Dr. W. G. Ridewood, made with ordinary lead pencil on grained Bristol board. Its delicacy is obvious, and at first sight it could easily be mistaken for a lithograph.[A] [Footnote A: Many similar examples will be found in Ridewood's memoir _On the Cranial Osteology of the Clupeoid Fishes_, Proc. Zoo. Soc., Lond., 1904, vol. 11, p. 448.] [Illustration: Fig. 30] A half-tone can be put on to a line block during its manufacture. All that the draughtsman has to do, is to indicate by blue pencil lines those parts on which he requires the dots, which give the half-tone, to be placed, and to select the pattern of the stipple he desires to be used. The result may appear somewhat mechanical since the dots are regularly arranged, but a drawing sometimes may be considerably improved by this means if used with judgment. It is frequently employed in representing drapery, and many examples may be found on those pages of newspapers devoted to ladies' dress (Fig. 31; see also Fig. 32). [Illustration: Fig. 31. After a water-colour design by Miss Winifred Pearse.] THE DRAWING OF DIAGRAMS AND APPARATUS. Much valuable information may be conveyed by diagrams; in fact, these could be used more freely than they are. [Illustration: Fig. 32] The principles to be borne in mind are the same as for other ink drawings. They should always be drawn upon an enlarged scale, and with as little detail as possible, which generally should be indicated in the most conventional ways--dots, black spaces, lines, and so on (Figures 33 and 34). The main thing to be aimed at is clearness, so that it is often necessary to sacrifice true relative proportions in order to gain this end (Fig. 34). [Illustration: Fig. 33. A diagram by Mr. E. Lee. (_Annals of Botany_, 1911, vol. 25.)] [Illustration: Fig. 34 A Diagram from the _Annals of Botany_, 1912, Vol. 26.] In certain cases it is possible to combine detail and diagram in one drawing; this is shewn in Fig. 32, taken from Dr. Ridewood's admirably illustrated memoir on the _Gills of Lamellibranchiata_ (Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B. vol. 195, 1903). The shading employed was either done by the draughtsman (at _ch_ and in the cells with irregularly arranged dots), or else was put on the block during its manufacture (_af_). If a lens be used, the difference will at once be obvious. The finished drawing should be bold and neat, and all lettering should be very clear. If several figures are included in one diagram they may be separated one from the other by ruled lines, and in no case should one tier of figures--taking the frames as the boundaries--unevenly overlap another tier, otherwise the diagram, to use an expressive phrase, will look "like a pig with one ear." Under the heading of diagrams must be included the representation of apparatus. There are two ways of drawing apparatus; the objects may be drawn as a study in still life, as, for example, in many of the figures illustrating Deschanel's _Natural Philosophy_ (London, 1890) or they may be represented in a purely conventional fashion. The latter is the better way, and it is preferable to draw for the most part in section in order that all connections, inlets, outlets, etc., may be clearly shewn. A study of a good example is infinitely better than a written description, wherefore Figure 35 has been inserted. [Illustration: Fig. 35] It will be observed that all glass vessels and tubing are represented in section, and in the thermometers, the fine capillary bores are represented by a single line in each case; corks by diagonal shading; wood by lines in imitation of its grain; metal parts by vertical shading or dead black; more or less still liquids by a series of lines broken below and continuous at the surface, and gradually becoming closer and closer together towards the surface. Mercury, on the other hand, may be indicated by dead black relieved by a few white lines to represent its reflecting surface, also its free surface may be drawn convex. Finally thumb screws may be shewn by a combination of black areas and vertical shading. These conventionalities need not all be followed; for instance, rubber connexions may be indicated by broad black lines and wood by diagonal shading. The drawing should be very bold and the different parts clearly and freely indicated by writing or "printing." THE DRAWING OF MAPS. In the drawing of maps for reproduction by the line block process, if an existing map serves the purpose, a tracing may be made in ink on translucent linen. If, on the other hand, the author has to make his own map, the problem becomes more difficult. For the obtaining of the data for map making information must be sought for elsewhere, since we are only concerned in the preparation of the map for publication. And as regards this, but few general rules can be laid down since the character of maps is so diverse. The amount of detail in the physical features represented depends to a great extent upon the scale. Thus streams of a greater breadth than, say, 10 feet, may in large scale maps be represented by double lines, whilst no stream less than 2 feet in breadth will be shewn in low scale maps. [Illustration: Fig. 36 _a_ Contoured. _b_ Spot-levels. _c_ Layered. These three figures illustrate in three different ways the varying levels of a piece of ground surveyed by Prof. F. W. Oliver and Mr. A. G. Tansley.] The indication of hills is always a problem; the most satisfactory way is by the drawing of contours (Figure 36_a_), and this whenever possible should be followed, since it is scientifically the most correct method, inasmuch as when properly drawn the form of the hill is shewn exactly; further, contours obscure the detail to a much less extent than does shading, and but little artistic talent is required to draw them. If, however, contouring be impossible, the various heights above the datum may be shewn by spot levels (Figure 36_b_) or the relative levels may be shewn by layers; that is to say, by a system of shading each kind of which indicates a certain level. Thus dots may be used for all parts not more than 100 feet above sea level, vertical lines for regions between 100 and 200 feet, horizontal lines for parts between 200 and 300 feet, and so on (Figure 36_c_). It is obvious that this method cannot be pursued if vegetation also is to be shewn. The last choice is to represent the hill by shading in much the same way as many of us did when children; the method referred to was known as "herring bones" or "hairy caterpillars." The sea or a broad expanse of water may be indicated by fine lines which follow the coast-line and which may be placed at gradually increasing distances apart. If geological strata are to be represented, the accepted symbols should be used; if the map is intended to represent the distribution of soils, convenient signs may be employed, _e.g._, large dots for shingle or gravels, small dots for sand, black areas for clay, and so on; finally, if the distribution of plants or of animals is to be shewn, symbols again may be employed. These, however, must be quite simple and as far as possible give an idea of the organism represented. This, in the case of animals, may be a difficulty, but, with regard to plants, simple signs are easily inserted which give a very good idea of the plant it is intended to represent. Many of the signs used by the Ordnance Survey are ready to hand, and these can often be used to designate plant associations. The delimitation of areas should always be clearly shewn, and all names should be very clearly "printed" indeed, and if they must be placed on a dark portion of the map, they should have a good white border around them. The north should always be indicated. This may be done by drawing in its proper position a representation of a compass or merely an arrow pointing to the north. Unless otherwise stated, the arrow is assumed to point to the magnetic north, and if no north be actually shewn it is taken for granted by an intelligent reader that one of the vertical sides is a true north and south line, with the north at the top. Finally, under no circumstances should a scale be omitted--it is the first thing a reader should look for. For a map to look well two things are all-important, neatness and clearness; both of these may nearly always be secured by drawing on a large scale, bearing in mind what has been said about crowding the detail, etc., and carefully considering how much reduction the original can stand. This last point is of vital importance, for an over-reduced map is an abomination; we have seen really good maps absolutely ruined by this stupid error. The inexperienced author should study the methods pursued by Prof. Yapp in Figure 37. For comparison, the simpler way adopted by Mr. Wilson may be studied (_Annals of Botany_, 1911, Vol. 25). [Illustration: Figure 37. A Map of the Fenland by Prof. Yapp. (_New Phytologist_, 1908, Vol. 7)] GRAPHS OR CURVES. Simple though it be, the plotting of a curve for reproduction requires thought and care. In the first instance, the curve is drawn on squared paper, and the question naturally arises--To what extent are the squares to be represented? If it be desired to reproduce all the lines, say the paper is ruled in millimetres, a half-tone may be employed, or all these lines can be ruled over in black ink where the reproduction by line block is possible. It is, however, seldom necessary to represent all the smallest squares; it will generally be found that the centimetre squares are sufficient. If the original be plotted on paper which is ruled in pale blue, it can be reproduced by line block without re-drawing, since the blue will photograph as white with the plates commonly used; all the essential lines and curves must, of course, be in black. If, however, the rulings of the squared paper are in red, yellow, or dark blue, a tracing must be made. The horizontal and vertical sides should be ruled with a broad black line, but the internal intersecting lines should be much thinner. The actual curve may be in a continuous line if one only be shewn on the graph; if more are drawn, then each must be different, the obvious variations being the thick continuous line ---- the thin continuous line ----, dashes either thick or thin ---- ---- ----, dots . . . . . , and finally combinations of dots and dashes ---- . ---- . ---- . Owing to the difficulty which some experience in drawing freehand a continuous line, the plot should be made twice the linear size of the intended reproduction. A good rule to follow in drawing lines is to keep the eye fixed on the point where the line is to end, the hand will then guide the pen in the right path, especially after a little practice. In many cases the ruler may be used, not only for straight but also for curved lines, for good curve rules may be purchased. In order that the figure may look neat, the lines should be of an even thickness throughout their length; this is easily accomplished by means of a ruling pen. It has been stated above that Bristol board is the best material to use for the making of drawings for line blocks; other materials may, however, be employed, although they are not so nice to work upon. For instance, it may be necessary to reproduce a map; this, as has already been mentioned, may be conveniently done by pinning over the map a sheet of pale blue tracing linen, and tracing the map on this with Indian ink. The fact that the linen is blue does not matter, for it will photograph as if it were white. Then again, many subjects may be of so complicated a nature as to be beyond the skill of the author to draw. In such a case a good plan is to take a photograph of the object and make a positive on smooth bromide paper, which need only be developed sufficiently far to give a print which just shows the features. The print, when dry, can then be worked on with fixed Indian ink. The finished drawing, when quite dry, may be immersed in any solution which will dissolve out the silver; a solution of iodine in potassium iodide answers sufficiently well. The print will turn very dark, but it must be allowed to remain in the bath until all the silver has dissolved; it is then removed, rinsed under the tap and placed in an ordinary fixing bath of hyposulphite of soda. All the colouration will be quickly removed so that the ink drawing will stand out well against the white paper. All that it now requires is a thorough washing in water; when dry it may be touched up and then placed under pressure in order to make it quite flat.[A] [Footnote A: The chief disadvantage of iodine solution is its slowness of action; the following methods are much quicker. (_a_) To a solution of 4 oz. of hyposulphite of soda in one pint of water, add a 10 per cent. aqueous solution of potassium ferricyanide until the mixture is lemon coloured. When the silver image has quite disappeared, wash the print thoroughly in water. Since the mixture does not keep, the ferricyanide solution should be added to the hyposulphite solution immediately before use. (_b_) Mix 125 ccs. of a 10 per cent. alcoholic solution of iodine with 21 ccs. of a 10 per cent. aqueous solution of potassium cyanide, add to the mixture 1 litre of water. When the image has disappeared, which will be in less than a minute, wash for five minutes in water and dry.] This method of drawing over photographic prints will often save a considerable amount of time. For instance, it may be desired to reproduce a consecutive series of drawings to illustrate the microscopic structure of the subject. The ordinary way of doing this is to make camera lucida drawings of the sections, which is a lengthy and tiresome process; a photograph of each section will take much less time and will give quite as good results. Before sending any line drawings to press they should be carefully examined; pencil marks may be rubbed out, lines touched up, unnecessary lines removed by painting them out with white or black ink according to the background, and, finally, a frame ruled around, if necessary. The amount of reduction, which should be marked clearly on the margin, requires very careful consideration since under reduction may cause the reproduction to appear too coarse whilst over-reduction may result in the loss of the finer detail and the drawing may, moreover, appear spiritless. It must also be remembered that a reduction of, say, 1/2 linear means that the reproduction will be a quarter the area of the original. The best way to indicate the reduction required is to draw a vertical or horizontal line, parallel to a side or the base of the picture, of the exact length; or, the line may be roughly drawn and its length indicated by figures thus ------------2-1/2"--------- . The question arises as to when line drawings for reproduction by the zinc block should be employed. The answer is, Whenever possible. The advantages to a reader of having the illustrations in the text has already been commented upon. It is about the only method commonly employed in which practically everything depends on the draughtsman; the author thus exercises the greatest control. Finally the fact that it is very inexpensive will appeal to editors and publishers. As a matter of curiosity, the present writer picked out at random a recent volume of a scientific journal to examine the illustrations; although there were a number of text figures, an examination of the plates--chiefly lithographs and collotypes--showed that there were a large number of figures which ought to have been in the text. A more detailed inspection of the plates was therefore made, with the result that nearly 200 figures were found which with the minimum amount of alteration--merely drawing in ink instead of pencil in the majority of cases, and leaving out unnecessary shading in the others--could have been reproduced by line blocks. If this had been done, a saving of over 20 per cent. could have been effected on the plates. Some of this would, of course, have been absorbed in the making of zincos, but not much, since line blocks of excellent quality can be obtained for 2-1/2d. and 3d. per square inch. The above relates only to the most obvious examples; the saving in plates would have been enormous if the authors had drawn for the line process. THE SWELLED GELATINE PROCESS. From the foregoing account of the line-block it may, perhaps, be thought that a drawing shewing the finest detail cannot be reproduced in the text by a relief block made by photo-chemical means. This is not the case; the swelled gelatine process is such that at its best the very finest work can be so reproduced. The method is not extensively used, chiefly owing to the remarkable amount of skill required to produce the best results and to the facts that the blocks take longer to make and are more expensive than the ordinary line block. This, however, should not militate against its use, for the increased cost is but very little, and the longer time in making, say two days, should not be of any consequence in a monthly or quarterly periodical. The great point in its favour is its great fidelity as compared with the ordinary photo-chemical relief blocks: for instance, a close cross-hatching reproduced by a line block will often come out as a series of white dots owing to the fact that at the points of intersection the black lines tend to thicken; hence, on printing, the white spaces, instead of being sharply cut and diamond-shaped, are rounded. This will not occur in a good block made by the swelled gelatine method. Further, the process does not restrict the draughtsman to dead black ink; the drawings may be made in pencil, crayon, or in ordinary writing ink: it is even claimed that wash drawings and photographs can be reproduced satisfactorily by this method. In the case of pencil drawings, the best results will be given when the surface of the paper used by the draughtsman is slightly rough; a pencil drawing on Bristol board, for example, will not be so well reproduced as one on ordinary smooth drawing paper. In brief, the process is as follows: a photographic negative of the drawing is made, and under it is exposed a bichromate gelatine plate. This plate is then developed in water. As already described, the gelatine will swell up in proportion to the amount of light to which it was exposed. The "positive" thus obtained will be in relief, the high lights being at a higher level than the shadows. A wax mould of the gelatine positive is then taken, covered with a thin layer of plumbago and electrically covered with copper. The "casting" so obtained is built up with metal and then mounted on wood in the same way as a zinco or a half-tone. The capabilities of the process may be judged by a study of Fig. 38, which is an extremely faithful reproduction of a lithograph, by S. Prout, by the swelled gelatine process. [Illustration: Fig. 38. A Lithograph by S. Prout reproduced by the swelled gelatine process.] [Illustration] COST RELATIVE COST OF BLOCKS AND PLATES The question of cost is one of very great difficulty; in all probability no two firms will agree in their quotations for different kinds of work, and the reason for this lies in the large number of factors involved, many of which are very difficult to compute exactly. With respect to line engravings, etching, mezzotint, wood cuts and wood engravings, it is impossible to give any idea of the cost. It depends entirely on the complexity of the subject and the artist employed. As regards lithographic processes for reproduction in one colour the cost varies with the nature of the work. If an artist be commissioned to make an autolithograph, the fee would be agreed upon beforehand. Photolithography and collotype, on the other hand, are processes which do not require the hand of an artist, and these methods of reproduction are relatively inexpensive. The price quoted by the lithographer or collotyper is for printing so many copies, hence the relative cost per copy depends upon the run and on the quality of the paper used. Lithography is cheaper than collotype; but if several illustrations are sent at the same time to be reproduced by collotype, the cost for each would be less than if sent separately. In chromolithography a separate stone is necessary for each colour, hence the cost depends upon the number of stones used, and as several may be necessary to obtain a first-rate reproduction, it is obvious that the process may prove very expensive. Turning to photomechanical processes, the prices vary according to the grade of work required--the best possible, good, and, lastly, cheap work. By best possible is meant the best that can be made under existing conditions, the price being immaterial; in good work the cost will be a limiting but not a preponderating factor, hence the work will be open to criticism; finally, in cheap work, the price is all important, so that the result is a block or a plate which will print well but which must not be criticized as regards its being a faithful reproduction of the original. It is obvious that in the last two cases the quality of the work will depend upon the agreed price, whilst in the first case the cost will depend on the amount of time and skill required. It is obvious, therefore, that a comparison of cost cannot be made between these grades; it is, however, possible to draw up a scale of relative cost of the processes under consideration for work of the same grade. In the table given below, A represents the best possible work, B indicates good work, and C stands for cheap work. Since the line block is the least expensive it is taken as the unit of price; that is to say, if a line block costs 3d. per square inch the cost of half tone, three colour half tone and photogravure would be 7-1/4d., 3s., and 1s. 2-1/2d. respectively. A B C Line 1 1 1 Half tone and swelled gelatine 2-1/2 2-1/4 2 Half tone three colour (three plates required) 9 12 10-1/2 Photogravure 4-1/2 4-3/4 5 It must not be thought that if the area of a block is 3 square inches, the cost will, therefore, be 9d. There is, for obvious reasons, a minimum size at which the block or plate is charged although it may be smaller. These minima vary; in general terms they may be taken as 12 inches for line, half tone and swelled gelatine blocks, and 20 inches for half tone three colour blocks and photogravure plates. The measurements are the areas of the etched surface, the actual plate or block may be larger, but for this margin no charge is made. With regard to cost of printing, nothing need be said about blocks which are set up with the type, namely line, swelled gelatine and coarse half tone blocks. The price of printing fine half tones and three colour blocks depends upon the quality of the paper used and the fineness of the work. Photogravure plates must be hand printed (photogravure printing on rotary machines is not considered here), and skill is required; for ordinary printing on good plate paper the price would be 10s. to 12s. 6d. per hundred copies, whilst for India printing the cost would be about 25s. for the same number. LITERATURE Barnes: _Illustrating Botanical Papers_, Botanical Gazette, Vol. 43, 1907. Bock: _Zincography_, London, 1910. Cumming: _Handbook of Lithography_, London, 1904. Cundall: _A Brief History of Wood-Engraving from its Invention_, London, 1895. Gamble: _Line Photo-engraving_, London, n.d. Hamerton: _Drawing and Engraving_, London, 1892. _Etching and Etchers_, London, 1880. _The Graphic Arts_, London, 1882. Pennell: _Lithography and Lithographers_, London. Richmond: _Grammar of Lithography_, London, 1909. Robertson: _The Art of Etching_, London, 1885. Verfasser: _The Half-tone Process_, London, n.d. Wilkinson: _Photo-mechanical Processes_, London, n.d. * * * * * Transcriber's Note Some extraneous Headings on otherwise blank pages have been removed. Each Footnote has been indented and placed beneath the paragraph to which it refers. The Plates, which were on un-numbered pages, and some of the Figures, have been moved to (usually) below the paragraphs which first refer to them. page 35: 'revelant' corrected to 'relevant' ... "See also the relevant works cited under Literature" page 90: The Table of Costings does not appear to make sense, but has been left as in the original. Hyphenation is not consistent in this book. 
22534	----	A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH of the LIFE AND CHARACTER of JOSEPH CHARLESS, IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO HIS GRANDCHILDREN. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Phil., chap.4, verse 8. SAINT LOUIS: A. F. COX, PRINTER, OFFICE OF THE MISSOURI PRESBYTERIAN. 1869. Letter One MY DEAR GRANDCHILDREN: We are reminded daily of the uncertainty of human life: for the young and the old, the gay and the grave, the good and the wicked, are subject to death. Young people do not realize this, but it is nevertheless true, and before you are old enough, my children, to understand and lay to heart all that your mother would tell you of her dearly beloved father, she may be asleep with grandma, close beside him in Bellefontaine. An earthly inheritance is highly esteemed among men. For this reason great efforts are made by them to lay up treasures for their children. They know not, however, who shall gather them, for �riches take to themselves wings and fly away.� But a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children, and to his children�s children, which is as stable as the throne of the Most High. Like the stream that gathers strength from every rivulet, and grows deeper, and broader, and more majestic, until the myriads of crystal drops are received into the bosom of the mighty deep, so likewise is the legacy of a good man. It descends to his child by birthright, and through the rich mercy of a covenant-keeping God, widens and extends its life-giving power, flowing on and on, as rivers of water, into the boundless ocean of God�s love. Your grandfather, my beloved children, was a great man. Not as a warrior, nor as a statesman, nor in any sense which is simply of the earth, earthy. But he was great by being the possessor of a rare combination of moral worth and Christian excellence, which made him a blessing to his race. In other words, he was great because he was truly good. In the midst of his days of usefulness he was cut off from the land of the living. His precious remains rest quietly in the fresh made grave; his immortal spirit has winged its flight to the mansions of the blessed, for �blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.� While endeavoring, in much weakness, to put together for your perusal such facts as may present to your minds a faithful likeness of the noble man from whom you have descended, I sincerely pray that you may be stimulated, by the grace of God, to follow him even as he followed Christ. Affectionately yours, GRANDMA. BELMONT, January 7, 1860 Letter Two MY DEAR GRANDCHILDREN: If you will look in your mother�s Bible, you will find that your grandfather, JOSEPH CHARLESS, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on the 17th of January, 1804; that his father, whose name was also Joseph Charless, was born July 16th, 1772, in Westmeath, Ireland, being the only son of Captain Edward Charles, whose father, (or paternal ancestor, John Charles), was born in Wales and emigrated to Ireland in the year 1663. Your great-grandfather, Jos. Charles, fled from his native country to France, in consequence of his having been implicated in the Rebellion of 1795, �at the head of which figured the young and noble Emmet, who fell a sacrifice for loving too well his enslaved country.� After remaining a short time in France, he sailed for the United States of America, where he arrived in 1796, landing at the city of New York. Upon his arrival in the United States he added an s to his name to secure the Irish pronunciation of Charles, which makes it two syllables instead of one, as pronounced by us. He settled in Philadelphia, and being a printer by trade, he secured a situation with Matthew Carey, �who, at that time, did the largest publishing business in the Quaker City.� He often boasted of having printed the first quarto edition of the Bible that was ever issued in the United States. In 1798 he married Mrs. Sarah McCloud, a widow (with one child), whose maiden name was Jorden. Sarah Jorden was born January 28, 1771, near Wilmington, Delaware. During the American Revolution her parents, with their family, were driven by the Hessians from their home in Delaware, and resided subsequently in Philadelphia. In the year 1800 Mr. and Mrs. Charless removed from Philadelphia to Lexington, Kentucky; to Louisville in 1806, and to St. Louis in 1808. In July of that year Mr. Charless founded the �Missouri Gazette,� now known as the �Missouri Republican,� of which he was editor and sole proprietor for many years. This is the first newspaper of which St. Louis can boast, and I am told it still has the largest circulation of any paper west of the Alleghany Mountains. As regards the character of your great-grandfather, he was a noble specimen of the Irish gentleman-�impulsive-warm-heartedness being his most characteristic trait. He was polite and hospitable, his countenance cheerful, his conversation sprightly and humorous. Sweet is the memory of the times when his children and friends gathered around his plentiful board. Often have we seen him entering his gateway, followed by the mendicant, who would soon return thither literally laden down with provisions from his well-stored larder. His wife was no less hospitable, not less charitable and kind to the poor, but more cautious. She was of the utilitarian school, and could not bear to see anything go to waste, or anything unworthily bestowed. Not so easily touched with the appearance of sorrow as her husband was, but always ready to relieve the wants of those she knew to be destitute, she would herself administer to the sick with a full heart and a generous hand. But she had a natural aversion to indolence, and would not give a penny to any she esteemed so, lest it should tend to increase this unmeritorious propensity. She was herself exceedingly industrious, and took great delight in making her family comfortable, and, in fact, supplying the wants of every living thing about her, even to the cat and the dog. �She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She riseth also while it is yet dark, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.� Both possessed honorable pride, and were plain, unpretending people, making no claim to an aristocratic ancestry, but, after a long life spent in a growing city of considerable size, they died, leaving many to speak their praises, and not one, that I have ever heard of, to say aught against them. He departed this life at the age of sixty-two, having enjoyed robust health until within two weeks of his death. His widow was �gathered as a shock of corn, fully ripe, into the garner of the Lord,� at the advanced age of eight-one. From an obituary notice of her I will quote the following lines: �Mrs. Sarah Charless was an exemplary Christian, and was one of the most zealous and untiring in her exertions to build up the Presbyterian Church established in this city under the pastoral care of the Rev. Salmon Giddings. Eminently charitable in her disposition, and ever willing to alleviate the evils of others, she endeared to her all upon whom the hand of misfortune hung heavily. Well was it said of her by one of the most eminent men of our State�-the Hon. Edward Bates�-that she was a woman upon whom the young man, far from friends and home, could always rely.� Of a family of eight children, viz: Robert McCloud, Edward, John, Joseph, Anne, Eliza, Chapman, and Sarah Charless, Joseph alone was left in this pilgrimage word to mourn for his mother. Eliza Wahrendorff, daughter of Anne Charless Wahrendorff, and Lizzie Charless, your own dear mother, were the only grandchildren left to mingle their tears with his. Great was the void caused in our small family circle when this excellent woman, this aged Christian, this revered and much loved parent was laid in the silent tomb. It is sweet now to think about her love of flowers, and how often she would say, when they commenced shooting up in early spring, that they reminded her of the resurrection morning. May you, my dear mother, realize the blessedness of this truth�-when Jesus shall bid his redeemed ones rise from the cold ground which has so long shrouded them-�and come forth, more beautiful than the hyacinth, to bloom forever on the borders of the river of life! And may you, my sweet children, have a pleasant and happy childhood, loving all that is lovely and hating all this is evil, that you may grow up to be good men and women; and in old age, when memory fails, may you, like her, rejoice and revel again amid the innocent scenes of early life, looking through them up to that glorious world above us, where the �inhabitant shall no more say he is sick,� or shall feel the infirmities of age. Affectionately, GRANDMA. Letter Three MY DEAR GRANDCHILDREN: You, Charless and Louis, often say to me, �Grandma, tell me about when you were a little girl,� and many a little story have I told you. But now I am going to tell you about �Grandpa,� when he was a little boy. That dear, good grandpa, who looked young to grandma, but who looked so old to you, with his pretty, glossy grey hair, was once a little boy, just like you are. He had a dear mamma, too, who tenderly loved him, but she used to punish him when he was naughty, and kiss him when he was good, just as your mamma does to you. He was a very obstinate little fellow, though, and generally submitted to a good deal of punishment before he would confess his fault and beg for forgiveness. His mamma would sometimes tie him to the bed-post, but he would pull against the string until his arm would almost bleed, and frequently he would free himself by gnawing the cord in two. But he was a good-humored little boy for all that, and �mischievous as a house pig,� his mother used to say. Once she locked him up, for some naughty trick, in a room where there were a number of nice fresh made cheeses, arranged around for the purpose of drying, and said to him, �Stay there, Joe, until you mean to be good, and then I will let you out.� He very soon knocked at the door, calling out, �Mamma, mamma, I�ll be good now,� and his mamma thought �my little son is conquered very soon this time; he is certainly improving.� She opened the door, but what, do you suppose, was her dismay, when she found that the �little rogue� had bit a mouthful out of every cheese! When he was a small child he strayed off from the house, away down to the spring, and, stooping down to see the pretty clear water, fell in, and came near being drowned. Oh, how his poor mother did cry, when her sweet little boy was brought to her so pale, and almost lifeless. But she rubbed him and warmed him until he came to, and was as well as ever; and his mamma thought �surely such an accident will never again happen to my dear little son.� But when he grew to be a larger boy, some time after his parents had removed from Kentucky to St. Louis, he went one day with some boys to have a swimming match in the Mississippi river. Most boys like to swim or wade in the water, and sometimes are so eager for the sport that they forget, or give no heed to the expressed commands of their parents; and many a boy has lost his life by breaking the fifth commandment, which says, �Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.� Many a boy who, had he lived, might have become a good and noble-hearted man, doing much good in the world, has thus early been summoned suddenly and unprepared before the judgment bar of God, simply for having forgotten, in a moment of pleasurable excitement, to honor his parents by a strict obedience to their commands. But, thanks to our Heavenly Father, this was not the case with little Joseph Charless, for, although he was drawn by the current of the terrible Mississippi into a whirling eddy, he was saved from such a dreadful doom. A good, brave boy, who was larger than he, and a better swimmer, rushed into the whirl and pulled him out to the shore. Poor little fellow! he was almost gone, for he was insensible, and it was some time before he breathed freely again. He was carried home�-to that dear home which came so near being made desolate-�and with deep penitence did he confess his fault and beg for pardon. His last thoughts when he was drowning (as he thought) were, �I have disobeyed my mother! It will break my poor mother�s heart!� Children have a great deal of curiosity, and perhaps you will ask, �how did grandma know so much about grandpa when he was a little boy? Was she a little girl then, and did she live in St. Louis, too?� No, my children, when my parents moved to St. Louis I was a young lady and grandpa was a young gentleman. We soon became acquainted, however, and after awhile we were married, and then I took a strange fancy to learn all about him from the time he was a little baby in his mother�s arms; and when I ventured to ask his mother a few questions about him, I found it pleased her so much that I was encouraged to ask many more. And now it seems to me I have known grandpa always, and was with him when he used to go with his mamma and little brothers and sisters into the country, with a company of the neighbors, all in little French carts, to gather strawberries and blackberries, which grew in abundance in Lucas Place, Chouteau avenue, and all about, where now are elegant mansions and paved streets. It was then a prairie, with clumps of trees here and there, springs of water and sweet wild flowers. He told me himself about his frolics with the French boys (many of whom were his earliest and truest friends), how they used to have match-eating pancake parties, in the day of the pancake festival in the Catholic Church; and about his youthful gallantries, and how desperately in love he was once with a very smart, pretty creole girl, and how the discovery of �a hole in her stocking� drove the little god of love from his breast. But these anecdotes and incidents were, perhaps, more interesting to his wife than they will be to you. Well, then, I will tell you an Indian story, for I have never known a boy yet that did not like to hear about the Indians. You know the poor things are now nearly exterminated from the face of the earth. In the early history of St. Louis, I find that they lived not far off, having pitched their wigwams only a little farther to the west, for the white man, in intruding upon their hunting grounds, had driven them, with the elk, the deer and the buffalo, still farther from the Atlantic coast, which they once claimed as their own rightful property. These poor savages, however, would often come into the town to see �the white-faced children of the Great Spirit;� to buy their beads and other fine things to dress up in; and that they might show them how fierce they looked, their faces streaked with every variety of paint, and their hair all shaved off excepting a little bunch on the top of their heads which they reserved as a fastening for their feathers and other head ornaments, of which they were very fond. But, I dare say, if you have never seen Indians, you have seen their pictures. It was real sport for the boys to see them dance, and listen to their wild songs and savage yells. But to my story. There was an old Indian who was a great thief. He was seen alone, generally, prowling about the town, peeping through the fences into the yards, watching out for chickens, or anything he could shoot with his arrow, or slip under his blanket. Little Joseph Charless had watched this famous old Indian thief, and determined to punish him for his wickedness. To accomplish this purpose, he armed himself with plenty of dried squashes, which he kept in the garret of his father�s house, near to the gable window, that fronted on the street. He watched his opportunity, and one day, as the Indian passed by, he threw a squash down upon the old fellow�s head. Soon after he peeped out to see if it had struck him, when whiz went the arrow, just grazing his face and sticking tight and firm into the window beam above his head! This fright cured him of �playing tricks upon travelers,� at least for awhile. You see now, my dear children, from what I have told you, that �grandpa� was just such a boy as you are�-fond of fun and frolic, and of playing tricks. I have said nothing of his love of school and books. But I think he was about as fond of both as boys usually are. When a little boy he was sent to the village school, and after he became large enough to work, he was put to work in his father�s printing office. By the time he became a pretty good printer, a school of a higher grade than any St. Louis had yet afforded was opened in the country, and his father gladly availed himself of this opportunity to continue the education of his son. He was a pupil in this school for some time, after which he commenced the study of the law, agreeably to his father�s wishes, under the supervision of Francis Spalding, who was at that time an eminent lawyer in St. Louis. After having read law awhile, he was sent to complete his legal education at the Transylvania University, Kentucky. While in the printing office he and another boy received a terrible flogging one day for laughing at a poor, unfortunate man, who had a very bad impediment in his speech, which being accompanied, with ludicrous gestures and grimaces, was more than their youthful risibility could withstand. They made a manly, but vain attempt to suppress a roar of laughter, which only gathered strength from being dammed up, and at last burst over all bounds. I never could forgive his father for whipping the poor boys so severely for what they could not avoid. He was too just and generous a man, however, to have been so unmerciful, if his better feelings and his better judgment had not been warped by a burst of passion. The following is from the pen of his old friend and playmate, Mr. N. P., of St. Louis: �You ask me to state what I know of the early character of your late husband. This I proceed to do. In his boyhood there were not the same temptations in St. Louis to irregularity of habits and vice that assail the young men of the present day. I do not think I err when I say that Joseph Charless was a good boy-�kind, tractable, obedient to his parents, and giving them no further solicitude than such as every parent may well feel when watching the progress of a son to manhood. He had no bad habits. As a boy, there was nothing dishonorable about him, and he had quite as few frailties, or weaknesses, as attach to any of us. In the sports and amusements of that day he stood well with his fellows, and was well received in ever society. Of course, from what I have said, you will infer that he was of an amiable disposition, exhibiting less of heated temper than most of us. Not quick in inviting a quarrel, but, being in, defending himself resolutely and manfully. I do not think he was the favorite of his parents at that day. Edward was. John, another brother, was passionate and hard to govern, but he was the only one of the family who had these qualities in a marked degree. �I think Joseph gave as little cause for anxiety to his parents and friends as any boy could possibly do. He has been taken from us, and I have written in a more public manner (as editor of �The Republican�) my estimate of his character in all the relations of life,� &c.,&c. At the age of twelve years, his brother John, who was two years older than himself, was taken sick and died. This was the first great sorrow that your dear grandfather ever knew. I have often heard him speak of it, but never without a shade passing over his countenance, denoting that time could not efface the recollection of that painful event. Oh, how his loving young heart must have swelled with unutterable grief when his playmate brother lay in his coffin, so still and cold, his hands clasped upon his breast, with cheeks so pale, and his bright blue eyes dimmed and closed! But grandpa still had brothers and sisters left, and a kind father and mother. The world which looked so dark, soon became a pleasant world to him again; the flowers looked pretty and the air was fresh, and he was again seen sporting and romping. But at night, when he knelt down to pray, and his thoughts went up to Heaven, he would think of his brother, and, weeping, to relieve his little, aching heart, he would go to bed, feeling lonely and sad. Did you ever think what a blessing it is to go to sleep, my dear little children? What pleasant dreams; and how gay and bright the morning appears after a good night�s rest upon a comfortable bed. And do you ever think how good God is to have given you a praying mother, when so many little children have never heard of God or Heaven? Grandpa had a Christian mother, too, and she taught him to pray. She told him all about the great God who made Heaven and earth, and all things, and about his SON JESUS, who came into the world as a little child; that, though rich, he became poor, and was laid in a manger. This blessed Jesus is your friend. He can hear, and he can answer your prayers, and knows all you think and feel, all that you say and do. Affectionately yours, GRANDMA. BELMONT, January, 1860. Letter Four MY DEAR GRANDCHILDREN: Twelve months have elapsed since I first made an attempt, by writing, to make you acquainted with your beloved grandfather, who departed this life on the 4th of June, 1859. I am still a mourner-�such an one as I hope, as I earnestly pray, none of you may ever be. My poor heart is desolate! I have no home in this world, and I long for Heaven. I would gladly lay me down in the grave, but God knows what is best for me, and He does all things well. Then to my task, for I have a portrait to make-�a portrait for you to look at, to imitate, to love, and to reverence. Not a likeness of the external man: you have that to perfection-�so perfect that a friend, who knew him well, remarked, upon looking at it, that the artist must have been inspired. But to show the inner life and the daily walk of that dear man who, for twenty-seven years, six months and twenty-seven days, was the sharer of my joys and sorrows, and the prop of my earthly existence, is a more delicate task. In a few words I could sum up his life and character, for there was nothing extraordinary in it, excepting extraordinary goodness; but, then, how could my dear children, from a few abstract ideas thrown hastily together, see the path he trod, in all its windings, compare it with that of others, and with their own, and learn the lessons it teaches? I do not mean by �extraordinary goodness� that your grandfather had no faults-�that he never did wrong-�for then, you know, he would have been an angel, not a man. With these preliminaries, I shall endeavor, in much weakness, to set him before you in such a light that you will not fail to see and understand him, and to feel, too, the sweet influences of a presence that always brought with it happiness and peace. On the 8th of May, 1830, my father, Captain Peter Blow, arrived at St. Louis with his family, consisting of my mother, my two sisters, my four brothers, and myself. We landed at the wharf of our future home on the steamer Atlantic. This being the finest boat that had ever reached this distant western city, the Captain, who was evidently proud of it, proposed to give to the good citizens of this goodly city of ten thousand inhabitants a select pleasure-party on board of her, that, with music, dancing and feasting, they might, to the best advantage, appreciate its dimensions, its comforts and elegancies. My sisters and self having accepted the cordial invitation of the Captain, who had treated us with great kindness and consideration while passengers on his boat, and, attended by our father and a gentleman whom we had formerly known, and who had been residing in the city for a few months, made our appearance for the first time in St. Louis society. Our mother, who was a perfect pattern of propriety, advised us to equip ourselves in our nicest street dresses, and, being strangers, not to participate at all in the dance. Consequently, we were there in the position of �lookers-on in Vienna.� We made good use of our eyes, and kept time to the music in our hearts, but used our feet only in promenading. During the evening I observed several ladies with much interest, but was greatly attracted with but one gentleman, whom I first noticed sitting opposite to us, leaning back in his chair. There was a calm serenity overspreading his handsome features, which wore a joyousness of expression that was irresistible. I pointed him out to our escort, and inquired who he was. He could not tell me; still I could not but observe him. He waltzed once with the belle of the evening (a Miss Selby). My eyes followed them; and I see your dear grandfather now, just as he looked then. He was about the medium size �-five feet nine inches high, and well proportioned; his complexion rather fair, hair dark. His beard was closely shaved, but showed, from the soft, penciled tints about his mouth and chin, that it was likewise black. His eyes were grey. With considerable gaiety of disposition, he evinced a gentleness, a suavity, and a modest grace of deportment, which I have never seen surpassed, if equaled. In a few weeks Mr. Charless sought an introduction to us, and from that time he became a constant visitor at our house, and in fifteen months from our first acquaintance, he declared himself a suitor for my hand and heart, promising to use the best efforts of his life to make me happy. I could tell you a good many incidents of our early acquaintance �-of our pleasure-rides in pleasant weather, in gig or on horseback, and of our merry sleigh-rides in winter. Delightful recollections crowd upon me, and, if I were given to novel-writing, I could weave them into a very pretty little love-story; but then I would have to make myself the heroine. There was a little Scotch song, however, that he used to sing to me, and as it will afford me a sweet, sad pleasure to recall it, I will do so, at least as much of it as I can recollect: �Come over the heather, we�ll trip thegither All in the morning early; With heart and hand I�ll by thee stand, For in truth I lo�e thee dearly, There�s mony a lass I lo�e fu� well, And mony that lo�e me dearly, But there�s ne�er a lass beside thysel� I e�er could lo�e sincerely, Come over the heather, we�ll trip thegither, All in the morning early; With heart and hand I�ll by thee stand, For in truth I lo�e thee dearly.� I have before me now the first letter I ever received from him, expressing what he had several times in vain attempted to speak. For although he was at no loss for thoughts, or words in which to clothe them, in ordinary conversation, yet, whenever he felt a desire to open his heart to me on the subject of his love, he became so much agitated that he had not the courage to venture, and finally wrote and sent me the following letter: After a brief and simple introduction, he says: "That I love, you is but a faint expression of my feelings, and should I be so happy as to have that feeling reciprocated by you, I pledge you the best efforts of my life to promote your happiness. Nature, I fear, has wrought me in her rougher mould, and unfitted me to appear to advantage in an undertaking like this, in which so much delicacy of sentiment seems to be required in these, our days of refinement. Such as I am-�and I have endeavored to appear without any false coloring--I offer myself a candidate for your affections, for your love. You have known me long enough to find out my faults--for none are without them--and to discover what virtues I may have (if any), and, from these, to form a just estimate of my character. "I feel that my future happiness, in a great measure, depends on your answer. But suspense to me is the greatest source of unhappiness. Naturally impatient and sanguine, I cannot rest until the result is known. May I hope that my offer will be favorably received, and that hereafter I may subscribe myself, as now, Your devoted, JOS. CHARLESS, Jr.� If this seems like a "love-letter" to you, my dear children, it does not to me, for it does not embody half of the love and devotion which I ever received from my husband, from the time we stood at the hymenial altar, until, in his last, faint whisper, while he gazed with unutterable tenderness, he said, "I--love--you!" But I must try to forget, while I am writing to you, my dear children, that I am bereaved. I must not let my sorrows give a coloring to every page, for I know how natural it is to the young to delight in pleasant things, and to flee from that which is gloomy; and, besides, I cannot leave a faithful impression upon your minds of what he was, unless I enter into the spirit of the past, when our sweet home was full of joy, and gladness. And why should I not be joyous again? Have I not dear children to love me, and is not my dear husband alive, and shall I not see him again? Is not God still good, and has he ever tried me more than I am able to bear? Was he not with me in the deep waters? "I know that in very faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me." Then let me cease my murmurings; or, rather, let me check my yearnings for what I can never have again--a faithful, loving heart, to bear with me my sorrows, and a strong arm to lean upon. Yes, there is a strong arm upon which I can lean. May I have faith to make use of it! There is a "Friend who sticketh closer than a brother," to whom I can unburden my heart. Affectionately yours, GRANDMA. BELMONT, January, 1861. Letter Five My DEAR GRANDCHILDREN: We were married on the 8th of November, 1831. No costly arrangements were made for the occasion. The death of my sweet mother having occurred a few months previous would alone have prevented display and revelry; but, besides this sad event, my father had become greatly reduced in circumstances, and could afford no better preparations for the wedding of his child than such as could be made at home. Evergreens, provided by my little brothers, and festooned with flowers by my sisters, set off to great advantage the transparent white curtains, and gave a look of freshness and gaiety to our neat, but plain parlor; and the cake, with its plain icing, showed more than the confectioner's skill in its whiteness and flavor. The circle of Mr. Charless' own immediate family, and a few friends he wished to invite, with some of our own, composed the company. And, since I am dealing in minutiae, I will tell you how the bride was dressed. She wore a plain, white satin dress, (made by herself), trimmed about the waist and sleeves with crape-lisse, which gave a becoming softness to the complexion of the arms and neck, which were bare. A simple wreath of white flowers entwined in her black hair, without veil, laces or ornaments, (save the pearls which were the marriage gift of her betrothed), completed her toilet. The graceful and talented Dr. Potts (Mr. then) performed the marriage ceremony, saying, "what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." My father, who had always been in comfortable circumstances, had, however, never been rich; and, notwithstanding he had been called to encounter many untoward events in life, we had never known what it was to want, until we came to St. Louis. This last move, which was fraught with brilliant hopes, in a monetary point of view, proved most disastrous, and, in a few short months, his little all of earthly goods was gone, and his faithful, loving help-meet laid away to sleep in the cold earth, and he, himself, declining in health, depressed and discouraged. Our new home was a sad place, and it was joyous, too; for young hearts were there throbbing with pleasurable emotions, which sorrow and disappointment, though they checked, could not destroy. And young heads were there, big with the future; and Hope, which could not be hid by the darkness that surrounded us, sat enthroned as a queen, ever pointing us to the beautiful castle in the distant mist, and by her reflex influence coloring even the dreary present with her rainbow-tints. A few days after our marriage we were received, as members of the family, at the house of my husband's parents. Upon our arrival there, we found the house brilliantly illuminated, for "Joseph was coming home with his bride," and the old people must have a grand reception! Everybody came that evening, and everybody called on the bride afterwards. Next morning, however, some of the realities of life commenced. We were late to breakfast, and, to my dismay, the breakfast was over. I glanced at my husband, who seemed a little embarrassed. But a cordial greeting from his mother, who was busy in the adjoining room "ridding up," and an affectionate kiss from his sister (Mrs. Wahrendorff), who immediately advanced upon our entrance into the room, made things a little more pleasant. We sat down together, and alone. Hot batter-cakes, etc., which were covered up near the fire, were soon placed upon the table, by the servant, and our plain, old-fashioned mother (who was no woman for nonsense) very unceremoniously told me to "pour out the coffee." What a downfall for a bride! But this was not all. Upon my return to my room, after the departure of Mr. Charless to the store, I found that it was just as we had left it, and not cleaned and put in order, as I supposed it would have been. Mrs. Wahrendorff followed me, and offered (smiling) to assist me in making my bed, which I courteously accepted; and, finding that I was to be my own chamber-maid, I asked for a broom, which she sent to me. How long I had had that broom in hand I do not remember, but, while standing in the middle of the room, leaning on its handle, absorbed in rather disagreeable reflections, (all of which I might have been saved if I had known then, as I do now, that no disrespect was intended by these stranger relations), I happened to look out of the window, down into the street, when what should I see but the uplifted countenance of my husband, beaming with happiness and joy. Our eyes met, and, in a few moments, he entered the apartment, which had been very prettily fitted up, expressly for us. There was a shade of mortification on his whole-souled face, mingled with a playful humor, as he said: "Has mother put you to work already?" A kind embrace, with "I must make some other arrangement, dear--this will not do"--brought me to my senses, and I insisted (without prevailing, however), upon conforming to his mother's wishes in all things. "I had been accustomed to do house-work (much to the credit of my sensible mother, who, although a Virginian, taught her daughters self-reliance and many useful lessons in house-wifery), but I only felt strange, and a little home-sick; I would soon get over that, however." A few crystal tears fell, not mixed with sorrow; for how could sorrow find a place for such trifles in a heart so conscious of having just obtained a treasure, in a noble and devoted husband? The next event of consequence that will aid in developing to your minds the character and disposition of your revered grandfather, occurred a few weeks after the circumstances related above. Mr. Edward Charless, who was married and settled a few squares from us, sent one evening an invitation to his brother to come over and make one of a card-party-�to be sure to come, for they could not do without him. He went. Upon his return, about twelve o'clock, he found me still up, waiting for him. He saw I felt badly. Not an unpleasant word passed between us, and nothing was said about it afterwards, that I recollect. Again his brother sent a similar message--"one wanting in a game of whist." He promptly replied, (very good-humoredly), "tell your master I am a married man now, and cannot come. He will have to look out for some one else to fill that chair." And if my husband ever spent half a dozen evenings from me in his life--except when attending to business of importance, or when necessarily separated--I do not now remember it. His pleasures were with his heart, and that was with his family. Not long after this, news came that his half-brother (Robert McCloud) was in a declining state of health. His mother expressed a desire to have him brought home. Joseph immediately offered to go for him, and in a few days he took leave of me for the first time; left in his sister's (Mrs. Kerr's) carriage, with two good horses and a careful driver. And it was fortunate that he was so well equipped, for it was a hard trip, at best, for a poor invalid who was a good many miles distant. He returned in a few weeks with his emaciated brother, who lingered a few months, and died. During this winter my own dear father declined rapidly, and no hopes were entertained of his recovery. This state of things passed heavily upon me. It was painful enough to know that he, too, had to die soon. But what was to become of my dear sisters, and our brothers --all of whom were younger than ourselves? The eldest, who was about sixteen years old, and our second brother (two years younger), had just commenced business as store-boys--one in a dry-goods store; the other, my father had placed under the care of my husband. Mr. Charless had, but a few years previous to this time, become a partner of his father in the drug business, (having abandoned the profession of the law, as it was not at all suited to his taste, and, perhaps, not to his talents), and, as he had frankly told me, immediately after our engagement, he was a new beginner in the world, and poor; under such circumstances I could not hope that it would be in his power to do anything for my father's helpless family. Tears, scalding tears, nightly chafed my cheeks, and it was only when emotions were too strong to be suppressed that I would sob out in my agony sufficiently loud to awake my husband from sound repose; for, through the day, I always controlled myself, and waited at night until deep sleep had fallen upon him before I would give vent to my burdened heart. At such times he would sympathize with me, and speak words of encouragement and comfort: not embracing promises, however, for he was not a man to make promises, unless he felt at least some assurance of an ability to perform them them. True, to his heart's core, he could not, even under the excitement of the moment, awaken hopes, perhaps to be blasted. And, young and warm-hearted as he was, so alive to the sufferings of others, I wonder now, when I think of it, that sympathy such as his, and love such as his, had not overbalanced his better judgment, and induced him, in such trying circumstances, to promise any and everything to soothe the troubled soul of one he loved better than himself. He weighed matters. He planned, and thought of every expedient. As respectful as he ever had been to his parents, and tenderly as he loved them--fearful as he was of any step which they might not cordially approve--a new and nobler feeling was struggling in his breast; for a sorrowing one, whom he had promised to love and cherish, looked up to him as her only solace; and, while a thousand conflicting emotions forbade her utterances and requests, he divined all, and, folding me tenderly to his breast, said, emphatically: "Charlotte, your sisters and your brothers are mine." Sweet words, that acted "like oil poured upon the troubled waters." And has he not proved himself faithful to that declaration? Has he not been to us, in our destitute orphanage, more than a husband and a brother? Did a father ever bear more patiently with the foibles and imperfections of his children? Was a father ever less selfish than he has been? Has not his loving arm embraced us all? But, my children, I forgot I was writing to you, and I have already written a long letter--so, will conclude with the injunction: If you want to be happy--if you want to make others happy--if you want to be truly noble, make this dear grandsire your model. It was truly said of him by his pastor, Rev. S. B. McPheeters, that "Mr. Charless was a man of unusual loveliness of character, irrespective of his religious principles. By nature frank and generous, full of kindly emotions and noble impulses, if he had remained a man of the world, he would have been one of those who often put true Christians to the blush, by his deeds of benevolence and acts of humanity." As regards his devotion to me and mine, I would say, there are but few brothers-in-law, and they hard-hearted, and regardless of the world's opinion, who could have refused to be the friend and brother of a helpless family, thus left in the midst of strangers. But how often do you see men so steadfast, so disinterested and devoted through life? Where is the man to be found that would not have murmured--that would not, at some time, have let an impatient word drop, showing that he felt the burden of the care and responsibility brought on him by marrying, and thus, at least, have wounded the wife of his bosom? Where is the man to be found, that, under such circumstances, has secured to himself the devoted love, and the unbounded confidence and admiration of a proud-spirited family, such as mine are? Many, indeed, must have been his virtues, clear and sound his judgment, upright and pure his daily walk and conversation, cheerful and confiding his demeanor. Affectionately yours, GRANDMA. BELMONT, January, 1861. Letter Six MY DEAR GRANDCHILDREN: In my previous letters I have endeavored, with the best lights I have, to show you the circumstances and surroundings of your grandfather�s early life, by giving you a sketch of his parentage, associations, youthful characteristics, etc. But now, I am entering upon a new era. He is a married man-�has left the paternal roof, and is forming new associations. The romance of the vine-covered cottage, with the girl of his heart-�which, as fortune smiled, should gradually grow into the stately mansion, with none to share or distract the peculiar joys of early married life, when all is couleur de rose-�were not for him. Life is too earnest for romance; for high and holy responsibilities, in the dispensations of an all-wise Providence, he has to meet and to discharge. He is young and inexperienced, but here are boys, bound to him by a new, but tender tie, just entering the most dangerous period of life, without their natural guides; here are girls, unused to the hard usages of misfortune, suddenly deprived of all �save innocence and Heaven,� and he is their only earthly protector and friend. Our parents were both of English descent, and Virginians by birth. They were married young, and settled upon the hereditary estate of my mother, which consisted of a well-improved Virginia plantation. There they lived, with nothing to interrupt the quiet and ease of their existence, excepting the war of 1812-13, between the United States and England, when my father had to shoulder the musket, as captain of a volunteer company, and leave his family, to fight for his country. This was the only eventful period of their lives, until my father became fired with the Western Fever, that about that time (the year 1818) began to rage, and which resulted in the purchase and settlement of a cotton plantation in North Alabama. Alabama was then the Eldorado of the far West, and I well remember the disappointment I felt, upon our arrival there, at not seeing �money growing upon trees,� and �good old apple brandy flowing from their trunks!� From this period commenced our misfortunes, which, although trying to my parents, were, by dint of energy and perseverance, readily overcome, at least so as to enable them to support and educate their growing family-�securing the comforts of life, with some of its luxuries�-until, very naturally, aiming at more than this, my father again made a sacrifice of much, with the hope of gaining the more, by removing to St. Louis-�the result of which I have already told you. My father was honest, frank, social, communicative, and confiding. He possessed an unbounded confidence in his species, believing every man a gentleman who seemed to be one, or was by others esteemed as such, and, in transactions with them, considered their �word as good as their bond.� From which, as soon as the old and well-tried associations of his native State were dissolved, he suffered many pecuniary losses. He was passionate, but not revengeful; gay and animated, but subject to occasional reactions, when he became much depressed. He was a high-toned, honorable gentleman, very neat and exact in his personal appearance, but entirely free from pretension. My mother was orphaned in infancy, and brought up by her grand-parents �-Mr. and Mrs. Etheldred Taylor. She was proud of her ancestry. I can see and hear her now, when, under circumstances where her pride was touched, she would say, �Daughter, remember that pure and rich blood flows in your veins-�the best in the land. If your mother had to live in a hollowed stump, she would be what she is; no outward circumstances could lower or elevate her one iota;� and she would raise her proud head with the air of an unrighteously dethroned queen. This, I may say, was mother�s great, if not her only fault. She was a pure, lovely, estimable woman; quick and sensitive, but, as a friend, a wife, and mother, she was unexceptionable. Like the Grecian matron, her children were her jewels. Her education would have been considered limited for these days, yet she was a woman of fine sense and quick intellect. She possessed great delicacy of feeling, an inflexible will, an unusual energy (for a woman) in carrying out what she esteemed right, and an uncontrollable aversion to whatever was mean or cowardly. The training of their children devolved mostly up her, my father finding enough out of doors, in business or pleasure, to occupy him. And faithful she was in teaching them the practical lessons of industry and economy; faithful in dealing with their faults. The only one never checked was pride. This she appealed to as a stimulant to every other virtue; for virtue she esteemed it-�and virtue it is, in its proper place, and under proper control. My parents were brought up in the Episcopal church-�with a form of godliness, without the substance. But the sufferings and death of my eldest sister, who had become a true convert to the religion of Jesus Christ, in the Methodist church, and who died rejoicing in the hope of everlasting life, so impressed my mother that she, too, sought and found the �one thing needful�-�which happy change, although it took place late in life, was long enough to evince to her children the genuineness of her faith, and the power of the Gospel in making the �proud in spirit� meek and lowly at the feet of Jesus. She united with the Presbyterian church a few years before her death; and now, as I look back at the days of my childhood and youth, and call to mind all the pleasant and sweet things which memory cherishes, there is nothing so refreshing as the piety of my mother, and that of the dear sister, who, like a pioneer, went before to show us the "straight and narrow path� through the rugged scenes of this sinful world. Like an oasis in the desert of life, it lives, fresh and green, and ever and anon directs my vision above the storm and tempest to the pure and bright realms of the redeemed. With this short sketch of the life and character of my parents, from which you can form an idea of the peculiar characteristics and dispositions of their children, who now have become so intimately associated with your grandfather, I will proceed to say, that, after the death of my father, which occurred in June, just eleven months after that of my mother, he at once became our loving and beloved head. We took an affectionate leave of his dear parents, and removed into our own "rented house;" and that you may be enabled to place us there, I will describe our two best rooms, which were separated by a folding-door, and used as parlor and dining rooms. They were neatly furnished, with nice ingrain carpets, cane-bottom chairs, an extension dining table, and very pretty, straw-colored Venetian window-blinds, trimmed with dark blue cords and tassels. A mahogany work-stand--the only article ordered from "the east," because it was a gift for his wife--was placed in the parlor, for it was too pretty to stay up stairs, (perhaps the emptiness of the parlor made me think so). Now, my dear children, you may laugh, and, perhaps, feel ashamed that your grandparents should have started in life with so little, and that so plain, especially if you hear others boasting of the wealth and grandeur of theirs. But, when I tell you that after awhile we had a nice sofa, (bought at auction, because it was cheap), and that at another time a small side-board was provided, in like manner, by that dear grandpa, who always did the best he could; and when I tell you that "grandma" was so happy, and so well satisfied; that nobody's house--not even those furnished in the most expensive manner, with the richest carpets, the most massive and elegant furniture, mirrored and draped in costly brocatelle--looked half so sweet and pretty to her; when you know, my dear children, and understand, that those people who have so far deteriorated, by false teaching, and the glitter of the world, as to esteem such things more highly than the far richer treasures of the heart, which alone can garnish a home with unsullied beauty, and feel the pity and contempt for them that I do, these trifling baubles will take their appropriate place, and you will see life as it is, and value it for what is pure and genuine--not for that which is false and worthless. On the 8th of November--exactly one year after our marriage --your dear mother (then our sweet little Lizzie) was born. Not long after this, I was taken extremely ill with a fever, which lasted many, many weeks. My dear husband is now seen as the tender and devoted nurse. With my sisters, he watched beside me, with his own hands wringing out the flannels from strong, hot lotions, and applying them to my aching limbs, which gave relief (but that only momentary) when as hot as could be borne. No nurse could be procured. The few that were in the city had left from fright when the cholera made its appearance there that fall, and had not returned. But "grandpa" never wearied in attentions to his wife. After the violence of my disease had abated, and I was pronounced by my physicians "out of danger," I continued weak and in a bad state of health for months. Still, how thoughtful, how watchful and attentive he was! Often at night have I waked, and the first object that would meet my eyes would be my husband, walking to and fro with the baby in his arms, trying to hush her to sleep, lest she should disturb me. For at least six months after my partial recovery my limbs had to be bandaged, to lessen the swelling. No one but he could do this properly. At night he would prepare the bandages, by rolling them tightly, and in the morning, immediately after returning from market, (that he might not lose time from business), he would go through with the tedious process of bandaging--meanwhile keeping up a cheerful conversation, which is so reviving to the invalid; and, after breakfast, he would return to my room, to bid me an affectionate adieu, before leaving for the store. During this sorrowful year, my dear husband lost both of his sisters. Mrs. Wahrendorff died in November; Mrs. Kerr the May following. In this severe dispensation he derived comfort from the belief that they had exchanged this for a better world, for they both had a well-grounded hope in the merits of a crucified Redeemer; and, even while he mourned for his sisters, he was cheerful. It is surprising how much real happiness we can have in the midst of trouble, when the heart is right; and it is surprising, too, how much real misery we can have in the midst of prosperity, when there is everything apparently to make life pleasant and blissful, when the heart is wrong. You know the little song, "Kind words can never die." "Grandma" realizes to-day that they never do; nor kind looks either, nor good deeds. With the God of love, nothing is small. He stoops "to feed the young ravens when they cry," and yet there are men, (not many, I hope), who, from pride, selfishness, and ill-nature, imagine that, as "lords of creation," it is utterly beneath them to minister with their own hands to the sick and feeble, not even excepting the wife of their bosoms. Life is made up of little things. "A cup of cold water" from the hand of a loving, gentle, sympathizing friend, does more to alleviate suffering than rich gifts bestowed by the unfeeling and the proud; than many luxuries provided by the harsh and exacting. I have first particularized, and then drawn a contrast, my dear children, that you may be the better able to see the beauty and excellency of true goodness; and that, like your grandfather, who has gone to reap the reward, through grace, of a well-spent life, you may be self-denying, gentle, loving, and kind. Devotedly yours, GRANDMA. Belmont, January, 1861. Letter Seven My Dear Grandchildren: With a return of comparative good health, "grandma" is again enabled to resume her duties as housekeeper, and is daily seen, with "grandpa," presiding at their family board. Our sisters and brothers, with two young men from "the store," (who, from motives of economy, board with us), and our little daughter, who sits to the left of her father, in her baby dining-chair, constitute the family. How cheerful the scene, after months of sickness and anxiety! "Grandpa," at least, is radiant with happiness and good-humor. No unpleasant word or look is seen or heard during our family repast. Perhaps an awkward boy upsets his cup of coffee, but the quaint remark, "accidents will happen in the best regulated families," spoken with a native courtesy, rarely seen, restores his equilibrium; and thus peacefully, (in the main), day after day passes along, although many little perplexities and cares arise, such as every family are subject to, especially where there are sons just entering the dangerous and tempting paths of youth. In my particular duties and unavoidable anxieties I had a warm and sympathizing friend, and a good counsellor, in the person of my precious husband. But I felt that I needed more than this to sustain me in the cares, and trials, and sorrows of life. And, besides, I carried about with me a troubled conscience. For, at the commencement of my illness, in the fall of 1832, I was perfectly aware of the approach of danger, and, as I took a look from this world into Eternity, all was dark and void, and the thought of having to meet death thus alarmed me. While a raging fever was fast making me wild, I drew the sheet up over my face, and said, "Let me be quiet." All was stilled, no sound being heard, save an occasional whisper from some loved one, (who was too anxious to be mute), and my own quick breathing, while my heart was struggling for communion with God. Vague as were my ideas of that glorious Being, I prayed that He might spare my life, promising, most solemnly, that if He should do so, I would, upon my recovery, turn my attention to the consideration of Divine Truth; that I would search the Scriptures, to know what they taught, and, should I be assured that the Bible contained a revelation from Heaven, I would, in the future, govern my life by its precepts and doctrines. Weak and sinful as this prayer was, I believe the God of pity heard and answered it; for, notwithstanding my disinclination to the fulfilment of this vow, made under circumstances so appalling, He bore with me, but never allowed me to forget it. Every appearance of evil --and especially the return of the cholera in our midst the next fall --seemed to me, "like the fingers upon the wall," ready to write my doom. I often tried to become interested in reading the Bible, but that sacred book possessed no charm to me. I found it a hard and unpleasant task to read it at all. At length I summoned up courage to communicate my difficulties and fears to my husband. Prompt in action, he immediately purchased for me "Scott's Commentary," which, he said, would aid me in understanding the Bible; the want of which, he thought, was the reason I could feel no interest in it. He was right; for, before I had finished the book of Matthew, with the systematic and attentive reading of "the notes" and "practical observations," I was convinced that this was none other than the word of that great Being who had made and preserved me all the days of my life. This blessed book--which, hitherto, had been a sealed book to me--now seemed to glow with real life, and unwonted beauty! It was no difficult task for me then, hour after hour, to pore over its sacred pages. Your grandfather, at this time, was only a nominal believer. He had not earnestly examined this all-important matter, and made it a personal one. Engrossed in business, young and healthy, he no doubt felt, like thousands of others, that there was time enough for him to attend to the interests of his soul, (which, to the natural heart, is insipid, if not distasteful); but, when he saw his wife so deeply interested, he did all he could to encourage her. He knelt with her at the bedside in secret prayer, conversed with her on the subject, went with her to church, and sympathized with her; until, as a reward, I truly believe, for all his kindness to me, at a time when I was ashamed of myself--ashamed to let anyone know (even him) that I felt the weight of unpardoned sin-��God touched his heart as with a live coal from off His altar." So, hand and heart, we went together. Sweet is the memory of the ever-to-be-remembered day, when, "in the presence of men and of angels, we avouched the Lord JEHOVAH to be our God, the object of our supreme love and delight; the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Saviour from sin and death, our Prophet, Priest, and King; and the Holy Ghost, our Illuminator, Sanctifier, Comforter, and Guide;" when we gave ourselves away in "a covenant, never to be revoked, to be his willing servants forever, humbly believing that we had been redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Son of God." How different is the scene now presented at that fireside, where no God had heretofore been acknowledged! For, morning and evening, we surround the Throne of Grace; the Bible is read, a hymn sung, and that sweet voice, which we shall hear no more on earth, with a full confession of sin and unworthiness, humbly pleads with Him "in whom we live, and move, and have our being." A blessing is asked at our meals; preparations are made on Saturday for the holy Sabbath, that no unnecessary work may be done on that day, and servants are exhorted to improve its sacred hours. After having dedicated ourselves to the service of the living God, we took our little Lizzie--the dearest, richest treasure of our heart and life--and presented her, in the solemn ordinance of baptism, to that Saviour who, when all earth, "took little children in his arms and blessed them," and there promised to pray with, and for her; to impart to her the knowledge of God's holy word, and to bring her up, not for this vain and perishing world, but for Heaven. Now, my dear children, that I have given you a peep into the home and household of your grandparents, when your mamma was a little babe--before and after they became members of the Church--I will proceed, by telling you that, during that summer, (in July, 1834), your beloved grandfather met with another heavy bereavement, in the death of his father. None were then left of all that united and happy family circle, which caused the homestead to ring with mirth when "grandma," as a bride, first became a member of it, excepting his mother, his brother Edward, and himself. Deep sorrow pervaded our souls, most of all because, before this sad event, we had learned to feel, most keenly, the importance of a careful preparation for "the great change," which we do not know that his father ever made. But, (as I once heard a minister say at a funeral), "we will leave him where he left himself, in secret with his God," with the hope that he was enabled, by that grace which is rich in Christ Jesus, to "make his calling and election sure." Life is made up of lights and shadows, and, before closing this letter, I will give you an account of a delightful little journey which we made early in September of that year. Your mamma, who was then just twenty-two months old, was quite delicate, and we thought a little trip into the country would be of service to her; and her papa, having some business in Illinois that would cause an absence of ten or twelve days, concluded to hitch up our little barouche and take us with him. So we started, in fine style, on a beautiful morning--"grandpa," and "grandma," our little Lizzie; and her nurse--which, with a small trunk, a carpet-bag, and a little basket, containing some crackers, etc., for the baby, quite filled the carriage. I�ll tell you there is no such traveling these days of railroads and steam boats! Every body is in too great a hurry to stop and go slowly, as we did in our little barouche, trotting gently along across the prairies of Illinois. How balmy and bracing the air; how quiet the scene; how beautiful the prairies! Some four, some ten, some twenty miles in width--all covered with tall grasses and a profusion of large autumn flowers that waved in graceful undulations before the sweeping breeze. An apt representation of a gently swelling sea, upon whose dark green waves, nature had emptied her lap of richly varied blossoms. We traveled from twenty-five to thirty miles per day; starting early in the morning--while yet the dew glittered before the rising sun. We always took care to learn from our host, the distance and situation of the next good stopping place, where we might dine, and rest a few hours in the heat of the day, after which we would again "hitch up" and start refreshed and strengthened for our evening ride. What magnificent sunsets! How picturesque the woodland bordering of these beautiful prairies, with here and there an humble residence, and a cultivated field. We could not but lift our hearts in adoration and praise. �If God has made this world so fair, where sin and death abound, How beautiful, beyond compare, will Paradise be found.� On we went--passing occasionally through neat little villages, sometimes large towns, such as, Springfield and Jacksonville--until we reached Lewiston, where we spent the Sabbath and attended the village church. In the afternoon of the next day we went to Canton which was the end of our journey. And when "grandpa" had transacted his business there we turned our faces homeward. The first day upon our return, we lost our way--then appeared clouds and mists, just enough rain falling, to make the high hills we had to climb, slippery and hard upon our poor horse, who manfully pulled away without flagging, until we found a shelter for the night; which, although a wretched one we were very thankful for. From this time, there is but a faint impression left upon my mind of our return, until within a few miles of Alton, when, as the sun was fast sinking into his glorious bed of cloud and fire (giving strong indications of an approaching storm), my anxious husband, after having made a strenuous but vain attempt to obtain a shelter for the night "whipped up" his jaded horse and pressed forward. It grew dark rapidly. As we passed from the open prairie into the dense forest, we seemed to leave light and hope behind us--for cloud and tempest, lightning, and loud claps of thunder quickly succeeded. For awhile we could discern the road; at length, enveloped in total darkness, it was to be seen, only by the flashes of lightning, which, while it horrified our horse and ourselves, served to guide us and also to show us our danger, from the tall trees as they swung to and fro above and around us. About nine o'clock we discovered (as we thought) in the distance a light from a window, of which we were soon assured --and our fears allayed by hearing "the watch-dog's honest bark." Next day we reached our snug little home, where we entertained the family with the incidents of our trip--its pleasures, hair-breadth escapes, &c. None were more delighted in that group than our sweet Lizzie, who brought the roses of the prairie home upon her little checks, which were more than a reward for a few untoward events of that delightful and long remembered journey. Affectionately yours, GRANDMA. Belmont, January, 1861 Letter Eight My Dear Grandchildren: There is a circumstance connected with the death of my father Charless, which I cannot pass over without omitting a very striking feature in the character of my husband, delineating his unselfishness, brotherly affection, and his strict sense of justice. I think his father had deferred making his will until his last illness. At any rate it was not until then that his son, Joseph, learned (from his brother-in-law, Mr. John Kerr), the contents of his father's will, which were, in substance, as follows: Joseph was to inherit all of his father's estate, excepting a lot of ground, fronting on Walnut street, of sixty feet, which was bequeathed to his mother. Thus his brother, Edward, was disinherited. Eliza Wahrendorff, the only child of your grandfather's sister, who afterwards became the wife of my brother, Taylor Blow, had, by the death of her parents, inherited a beautifully improved lot of sixty feet front, on Market street, which was the gift of Eliza's grandfather to her mother, Ann Charless. Edward Charless had unfortunately displeased his father; for, although he was a genial, honorable, and kind-hearted man, he had, in early life, contracted habits of dissipation, which clung to him through life, and which were very displeasing to his father. He had been married a number of years, too, but had no children. The information of Mr. Kerr, respecting the will of my husband's father, was anything but pleasing to him--for he loved his brother, and had a very tender regard for his feelings--and as much as he valued the love and approbation of his father, he could not enjoy it at the expense of his brother. He was very much worried, and seemed scarcely to know what to do. Finally he repaired to the bedside of his father, and, painful as it must have been to him, at such a time, he gently, but earnestly, expostulated with him on the subject. The old gentleman, for some time, persisted in saying, Joseph, you are my favorite son; you have a child, too; while Edward has none. I do not wish my property to be squandered, or to go out of my family: but always received the reply, father, you have but two children, do not, I beg you, make a difference between us, or something equivalent to that. At length he prevailed, and his father had a codicil added to his will, which made his brother an equal heir with himself, the property to come into their possession after the death of their mother, and should these brothers die, leaving no heirs, the estate should belong to his granddaughter, Eliza Wahrendorff. I am sure you will agree with me, dear boys, that your grandfather was right, but how seldom do we see an exhibition of such firm integrity among men, (even among brothers), of whom the poet truthfully says, "If self the wavering balance shake, it's rarely right adjusted." In the winter of 1836 my husband paid a visit to the eastern cities, for the purpose of purchasing a stock of goods. Previous to this I had always accompanied him, so that, excepting the time he went for his sick brother, (Robert McCloud), to which I have alluded, we had never been separated. He was absent seven weeks, during which time he wrote me twenty-one letters, of which I will quote one entire, and give a few extracts from others, that you may read from his own pen. "Steamboat Potosi, below Cincinnati, Jan. 1st, 1836. "A happy new year to my dear Charlotte and to all my dear friends at home! I feel that I should be happy to spend today with you, but though absent, still, in spirit, I am with you, for my thoughts have dwelt all the morning with my dear friends in St. Louis. We left Louisville last night at seven o'clock and are now passing "Rising Sun," a village in Indiana, thirty-five miles below Cincinnati, which we hope to reach by dinner time. I saw no one in Louisville that we knew. Mr. B. was not there and I made no inquiries about his family, as I do not know his partner, Mr. G., and we remained there but a few hours. I read, this morning, the 46th chapter of Isaiah, and, from the fact of this being new year�s day, my mind has been carried to the goodness of God to usward, in granting all the blessings we enjoy:--His infinite greatness, wisdom and mercy. I feel greater reliance on the atonement of our divine Saviour, and a full assurance that if we are faithful unto the end, we shall reap a crown of immortality and be forever blessed by His presence. Let us then, dear Charlotte, endeavor to realize more than we ever yet have done the reality of eternal things, and fix our minds more on the attainment of the salvation, not only of our own souls, but of all those who are near and dear to us. Let us "seek first the kingdom," feeling assured that all things else will be given us that is best for us. I am satisfied that love to God will purify our souls, and make us better fitted for the trials of this world, and will ensure eternal happiness to us hereafter. "I send you a kiss, which you must share with our dear little girl, not forgetting aunt Loo's share. When you write, let me know how the boys (my brothers Taylor and Wm.) get on at St. Charles, and the news generally of all the family." CINCINNATI. "I have just called on Dr. Drake and family, and find them very pleasant people. We stay here but a few hours, and leave for Wheeling, at 8 o'clock to-night. Remember me to mother, and to all our dear friends at home. Yours truly, JOS. CHARLESS." This is a very characteristic letter, and I will take occasion here to acknowledge, with shame, that, with my ardent temperament, I was not always pleased with my husband's universal care, and love, and consideration of everybody, without a stronger expression of his feelings for me. When he presented me with a set of pearls, before our marriage, he brought two sets for me to select from, not being able himself to decide which was the prettiest. As soon as I expressed a preference, he handed that set to me, and the other to my sister, politely asking her acceptance of it. While I was pleased to see my sweet sister with a set of pearls, like mine, I would have been more pleased with his attention if it had been directed to me only; and often have I lost sight of his devotion to me--by every act of his life, not less in his love to those most dear to me, than in thousands of other ways--because he did not make a more marked difference in his acts, and bestow upon me, in words, a stronger expression of his love. But I have lived long enough to find out what empty things words are: how poor and mean, compared with a life which, like "a living epistle, is known and read of all men." "A happy New Year to my dear C., and all my dear friend�s," etc. His was a courtesy which sprung from the heart--which was seen alone with his wife in the cordial New Year's greeting, or at the fireside, with familiar loved ones there; that came from his pen, or flew upon the telegraph; a courtesy that carried soul with it, and made everyone feel the value of his friendship and love; not that which is the result of false teaching, or a false heart--to be put on, or put off, as it suits the place or the whim of its possessor. But I promised to quote some extracts from other letters. Well, here is one: "I hope, dear Charlotte, you have taken care of your health in my absence, and that I shall have the happiness to see you yourself again. I pray the Lord to be merciful unto us, and grant that we may meet again, and that our hearts may once more be raised, with our voices, around our family altar, to Him who purchased us by His blood, and, as we hope, redeemed us unto a new life; and that His blessing may extend to all who are near and dear to us; that all our family may be united in serving the Lord fervently and affectionately." Again he says: "I hope that, in the letters you have written, you have told me all about the business of the store, and house, and farm, and generally all the news of home, as I will not be able to receive an answer to this, or any of my subsequent letters from the east." My husband made me his confidant. He did not think me so far beneath him as not to be able to understand, and to appreciate all that interested him--his "business," his "farm.� At "the house" he ever considered me the head, while he relieved me of every possible care, by strict personal attention to all out-of-door work connected with housekeeping. This little farm to which he refers was his delight; for it served as recreation from the toils of mercantile life, and afforded him unalloyed pleasure. He was fond of flowers, of fruits, of trees, of meadows, and everything pertaining to country life. It was impossible for him to stand and look at others who were at work in the garden. He would throw off his coat, seize the spade or the hoe, and go to work himself with the most intense relish. Not the most minute little wild flower ever escaped his notice, or was ruthlessly trodden under foot; but, stooping down, he would take up the tiny thing, and hold it up for admiration, seeming to think that others could not but admire it as he did. Oh, my husband! how sweet and pure was your life! Tears fall as I think of thee. Before this period in the history of your grandfather, we had exchanged our old residence for a very delightful one, near to his paternal home, on Market and Fifth streets. It had been built by Mr. and Mrs. Wahrendorff, for their own use; had a large yard, and every improvement necessary to make it second to none in the city. Here your dear mother passed seven years of her happy childhood, and still remembers what romps she used to have with her papa; how she would watch for him at the alley-gate, with hands full of snow-balls to pelt him with, and how he would catch her up in his arms, kiss her cheeks, plunge them into the snowbank, and then give her a fair chance to pay him back. She remembers what assistance he would render her in the very grave business of catching pigeons, by creeping up behind them, and sprinkling "a little fresh salt upon their tails." She has not forgotten the happy Christmas mornings, when old Santa Claus was sure to load her with presents; nor her school-girl parties, which would have been no parties at all without "papa" to make fun for them; and many other things, perhaps, which I never knew, or noticed, she could tell you. But "grandma" remembers some things, which, as she wants you to see "grandpa" just as he was, she will relate to you. About this time, we had a dining-room waiter, who, one day, was such a luckless wight as to be very impertinent to me. He was an "exquisite," (in his way), although as black as the "ace of spades;" wore a stiff shirt collar, that looked snow-white, from the contrast, and combed his hair so nicely that it appeared as fleecy as zephyr-worsted. He had, however, a habit of going off, without anybody's knowing where, and staying a long time, neglecting his work, and provoking "grandma." Upon his return, when she would inquire where he had been, his answer invariably was, "To the barber�s, ma'am"--accompanied by a bow, and an odoriferous compound of barbarous perfumes, presenting altogether such a ludicrous picture that I could not possibly avoid laughing; after which, of course, I would have to excuse him, with the mild injunction not to stay so long again. Anthony presumed upon this mode of treatment until it ceased to be amusing to me, when, with a good grace, I was enabled to administer a severe reproof, which he returned with the most unheard-of impudence. As soon as his master came in, I related the fact to him. In an instant, as Anthony was passing the dining-room door, my husband sprang at him--caught him by the collar, shook and twirled him around into the gallery, and pounded him with his bare fists to his heart's content. In this changing world, I do not know but that, in the course of time, you little Southerners may become fanatical abolitionists, and, losing sight, in the above case, of the cause of provocation, in your tenderness and sympathy for the slave, will attribute this unceremonious treatment of poor Anthony to the fact that he was one of those "colored unfortunates." Therefore, to set you right, at least, with regard to the character of your grandfather, I will give you another instance of his impulsiveness, which, perhaps, may be considered a flaw in the character of this singularly pure and noble man. Some years after the circumstance related above, a young friend was living with us who had a hired white girl for a nurse. I soon discovered that she was an unprincipled, saucy girl; but she was smart enough to get on the "blind side" of this young mother, by nursing the babe (as she thought) admirably well. When I could no longer put up with her encroachments, I took the girl to one side, and laid down the law; whereupon the enraged creature was excessively impertinent. After finding that my dear little friend had not the moral courage to dismiss the girl (which she might have done, for I offered to take care of the baby myself until another could be procured), I suppressed my emotions, and bore it as well as I could. From reasons of consideration for my husband, who seemed much wearied that evening after returning home from business, I concluded not to consult him about what was best to be done until next morning, when, upon hearing the particulars of this little episode in domestic life, he arose in great haste, and so excited as scarcely to be able to get into his clothes. I begged him to be calm, but there was no calmness for him until he got hold of the girl, ran her down two flights of stairs, and out of the door into the street, having ordered her, in no very measured terms, never again to cross his threshold. In the course of his whole life, I witnessed but one (or perhaps two) other instances of like impetuosity. They were rare, indeed, and always immediately followed, as in the cases above referred to, by his usual calmness and good humor, no trace being left of the storm within, save a subdued smile, which had in it more of shame than triumph. I have been told that, in his counting-room, he has occasionally produced a sensation by like demonstrations, caused, in every case, by the entrance of some person who, not knowing the stuff he was made of, would venture to make an attack upon the character of some friend of his; or, perhaps, would make a few insidious remarks, "just to put Mr. Charless on his guard." But the slanderous intruder would soon find out the quicker he was outside of the store the better for him, much to the astonishment, and amusement, too, of his partners and clerks, who, but for those rare flashes of temper, and an occasional "stirring up" of a milder sort among the boys in the store, could not be made to believe it possible that Mr. Charless could be otherwise than mild and genial as a sunbeam. He was never known to resent, in this kind of way, any indignity shown to himself, which was rarely done by any one. Unfortunately, however, on one occasion, he gained the displeasure of an Irishman, (from whom he had borrowed some money), who was half lawyer, half money-broker. Standing with a group of gentlemen, in conversation about money matters, per centage, etc., your grandfather remarked that he had borrowed a certain amount from Mr. M., for a certain per cent., (naming it). One of the gentlemen asked, "Are you sure, Mr. Charless? for that was my money Mr. M. lent you, and he informed me that you were to pay him only so much," (naming the per cent., which happened to be less than that agreed upon). Mr. Charless, perceiving his faux pas, expressed a regret that he had so unwittingly mentioned what, it seemed, should have been kept secret; which was all he could do. Mr. M., of course, heard of it. He knew well that he could not revenge himself upon him who was the innocent cause of his exposure, in St. Louis; but in New York, where neither were so well known, he did all he could to injure Mr. Charless' reputation. The friends of the latter, having heard of Mr. M.'s unprincipled conduct, in insidiously striving to undermine the confidence reposed in him there, informed him of it, expecting that he would take some notice of the matter--which he did not do. They came again, and protested against his allowing �that fellow� to continue these aspersions. He smiled, and replied, �I am not afraid of his doing me any harm; let him go on.� He did go on, and after awhile he returned to St. Louis, when some mutual friend (poor Mr. M. still had friends among gentlemen) informed him that certain reports against Mr. Charless, which had reached St. Louis, as coming from him, were doing him considerable injury; not Mr. C, for he stood too high in the estimation of the community to be injured by slanderous reports of any kind whatever. Whereupon Mr. M. denied having made them, and expressed a determination to explain, and make the matter all right with Mr. Charless. For this purpose, one day, as the latter was passing a livery stable, where Mr. M. was waiting for his buggy to be brought out, he called to Mr. Charless, who passed along without noticing him. Again he called saying, �Mr. Charless, I want to speak to you.� Mr. Charless waved his hand back at him, and went on. Elevating his voice, said he, �Do you refuse to speak to me, sir?� Still a wave of the hand-�nothing more. This was too much for the hot-headed gentleman. His raving and abuse attracted the attention of everybody about there to the hand, which still waved, as �grandpa� walked on, and said, too plainly to be mistaken, in its silent contempt, � I can�t lower myself by speaking to such a dirty fellow as you are.� Without a word or circumstance from your grandfather, it circulated from mouth to mouth, with considerable gusto; from which, I need not say, Mr. M. had the worst of it. It has given me some pain, my dear children, to speak of these incidents; and, indeed, there are many things (some very sweet to me) that I feel constrained to write which I would gladly keep secret and sacred in my soul, but for a firm conviction that such a halo of light as has shone about my path, from the pure life of your beloved grandfather, should not be allowed to go out. And the faithful historian cannot give the light without the shadows. Affectionately yours, GRANDMA. Belmont, February, 1861. Letter Nine My Dear Grandchildren: Before the fire companies were properly organized in St. Louis, or, perhaps, before there were any at all, I was perfectly miserable whenever a fire occurred, for �grandpa� would be sure to rush to the spot, and up, probably, to the most dangerous places on the tops of houses, or anywhere else, to assist in protecting life or property. Besides the fear that he might lose his life in this way, I felt considerable anxiety on account of his health; for, after these extraordinary exertions, he would return home nearly exhausted. No entreaties or arguments, in urging him to desist, had any weight, until he found that his services were no longer needed. With this impetuosity of character, he possessed a large share of moral courage. He dared to do right, or what he deemed right, always, and that without display or fear, and entirely indifferent to the opinion of the world. With a modest estimate of himself was blended a quiet satisfaction in the discharge of duty. But not over-careful about what others did or did not do, or at all dictatorial, he cheerfully accorded to all what he claimed for himself, viz: independence of thought and action. No one was more willing to give advice, when asked; none more free from obtruding it uninvited. Thankfully and courteously he always received it, even when pressed upon him beyond what was proper; and although to some of it he might not give a second thought, perceiving at once its invalidity; yet he was too modest, and too polite to intimate the fact�-leaving an impression upon the mind of the giver (without the slightest intention to deceive) that he had conferred a favor: which, indeed, by considering the kindness of the motive, he appreciated as such. This was the result of a profound respect for the opinions and feelings of his fellow-men, to whom he would listen patiently, even to the ignorant and the weak, meanwhile giving kind and considerate responses, causing them (no less than his equals) to feel satisfied with themselves and with him, whom each one, high and low, rich and poor, esteemed as his own particular friend: and all this without study, without an effort, because the offspring of a kind, generous, and appreciative nature. A circumstance occurs to my mind, which, perhaps will give you an idea of your grandfather�s kindness and consideration towards those in the humbler walks of life: One morning a plain, honest looking youth, from whom he had purchased some marketing, accompanied him to the house, for the purpose of bringing it. They went into the kitchen together, to warm and dry themselves, and when, in a few moments afterwards, breakfast was announced, �grandpa� asked me to have a plate placed for the lad; to which I demurred, inquiring if I had not better send breakfast to the kitchen for him? He replied, �No. The golden rule directs us to do unto others as we would they should do unto us.� Whereupon an argument ensued, I insisting that, according to that rule, his breakfast should be sent out, as I had no doubt that the boy would feel more at ease, and would enjoy his breakfast more in the kitchen than he would at our table. Fixing his eyes upon me, with that kind but reproving expression which was characteristic of him, he said: �Charlotte, if we were to stop at the house of that young man�s father, I doubt not but that he would give us the best place, and the best of everything he has.� Even this did not convince me; when, with his usual dislike to argument, and with that conciliatory kindness which ever marked his intercourse with his family, he yielded the point, gracefully, as though it was a matter of little consequence, so that the young man was only well provided for; but not without a mild, and well-merited reproof, in which he playfully reminded me of my �Virginia pride.� And thus it ever was, my dear children, with your honored grandfather. Firm in principle�-kind in action; but most kind to those who had the first and highest claim upon him. Never afraid of compromising his dignity or position as head of his family, he always retained it unabated. How unlike some men, who, by attempting to maintain their rights by an overbearing, arbitrary manner, and harsh and unbecoming words, evince a weakness which makes them contemptible, if not in the estimation of the wife and children, at least so in that of others, who plainly discern that littleness, in some shape or other, and not manly dignity and good sense, places them in their unenviable position of �master of my own house.� And yet how much do I regret, now, when it is too late to remedy it, that I did not, readily and cheerfully, accede to every wish of this dear friend, whose truly consistent and beautiful character shone out most clearly at home. How much do I regret now, that I should have allowed his few little foibles to annoy me. The greatest of these, and the one that caused more unpleasant words between us than any and all things else, was his carelessness in dress. I do not know that I am scrupulously neat, but I did pride myself in the personal appearance of my husband, which was sometimes seriously marred by an unshaved beard or a soiled shirt. We were once traveling on a steamboat, and, standing on the guards, I discovered him on the wheel-house, and called to him to come to me. A lady asked if �that old gentleman� was my husband, and said: �You look so young, I am surprised that you should have married so old a man.� She seemed to be an unoffending, simple-hearted woman, such as we frequently meet in traveling, and I replied, with a smile, �He suits me very well, ma�am;� but made use of the earliest opportunity to tell him of it�-really taking pleasure in doing so-�for I had often expressed my own views on that subject, assuring him that he looked at least twenty years older when he neglected to dress with care, especially if he had not shaved. Next morning he paid particular attention to making his toilet, declaring it to be his intention �to create a sensation,� which he certainly succeeded in doing, much to our mutual amusement; for the same lady, eyeing him closely at breakfast; expressed to me afterwards her amazement at the change, giving it as her opinion, that �he was the handsomest young gentleman she had ever seen.� I went too boldly to work in trying to correct his careless habits in dress. I formed an idea that it was my duty and my privilege, not only to attend to my husband�s wardrobe, but to direct, too, how it should be disposed of; but soon found that he was not to be made to do anything. And, as �straws show which way the wind blows,� I learned, in most things, to influence him by silken cords. He was willing to be led captive by love and tenderness. Why, when your dear mamma was not more than four or five years of age, she had learned the art of making �papa� do as she liked. I remember to have heard her say once (slyly to one side), �I am going to make papa let me do it.� And when asked �Make papa?� answered, �Yes, the way mamma does;� and immediately turned to him with her most bewitching little smile, and said, �Do please, dear papa, let me.� O! what a joyous home we had! And what changes time has made! The old Wahrendorff house has been rased to the ground, and stores stand in its place. Where domestic peace and happiness reigned-�where flowers bloomed-�where childhood held its sports and holidays, now is seen the busy mart of this bustling, plodding world. The merry little magnet of that grass-covered spot is now the mother of four children; and the beloved father, upon whom her mother fondly hoped to lean, as she tottered down the hill of life, lies low, at its base. One of my dear sisters was there seen in her bridals robes, pure and sweet. But now, she is among the angels (as I humbly trust,) clothed in the white robe of a Saviour�s righteousness. The other still lives to bless us with her presence and her love. Our brothers have passed their truant school-boy days-��sowed their wild oats��-have taken their stand among men, and are realizing themselves now the blessedness of a home of conjugal and paternal happiness, and begin to know something of the care and anxiety that has been felt for them, and of the hopes which stimulate to duty. And thus, Time, as he passes, leaves foot-prints, which make the children of to-day the men and women of to-morrow; brings changes which blight our fondest hopes, crush the heart, and leave us, in our tempest-tossed bark, to weather awhile longer the storms upon the voyage of life. But my mind still reverts to this home of my happy married life. It is Sabbath morning there, and we are around the family altar. The chapter has been read, and we are singing a favorite hymn of the one who reads and prays. It is spring time, and the fresh air comes in through the opened window, perfumed with the rose and the sweet-brier. But we are singing: �The rosy light is dawning, Upon the mountain�s brow: It is the Sabbath morning, Arise, and pay thy vow. Lift up thy voice to Heaven, In sacred praise and prayer, While unto thee is given The light of life to share. The landscape, lately shrouded By evening�s paler ray, Smiles beauteous and unclouded Before the eye of day; So let our souls, benighted Too long in folly�s shade, By the kind smiles be lighted To joys that never fade. O, see those waters streaming In crystal purity; While earth, with verdure teeming, Give rapture to the eye. Let rivers of salvation In larger currents flow, Till every tribe and nation Their healing virtue know.� The morning is past�-we have been to church, and dined; and now our little daughter is listening, most eagerly, to the Bible story, which was promised her as a reward for good behavior. The afternoon has passed. We have had an early tea, and again we surround the Throne of Grace before going to church. The same loved voice is heard again joining in another favorite hymn: �Sweet is the light of Sabbath eve, And soft the sunbeams lingering there: For this blest hour the world I leave, Wafted on wings of faith and prayer. The time, how lovely, and how still! Peace shines and smiles on all below; The vale, the wood, the stream, the hill, All fair with evening�s setting glow. Season of rest, the tranquil soul Feels the sweet calm, and melts to love: And while these peaceful moments roll, Faith sees a smiling Heaven above. Nor shall our days of toil be long; Our pilgrimage will soon be trod, And we shall join the ceaseless song, The endless Sabbath of our God.� Affectionately yours, GRANDMA. Belmont, February, 1861. Letter Ten My Dear Grandchildren: I see in casting a glance back, that I have passed over a good deal in the life of your grandfather, which will, perhaps, be of interest to you; without which, at any rate, this sketch would not be complete. And I intended, when I closed my last letter, to commence this with his career as a business man, and to continue the narrative to the close of his life; and then to give you a distinct account of his influence and deeds in the Church, and in the world, as a Christian. But I do not know, upon further reflection, that it is best to divide up his life in that way; and, indeed, it seems to me rather a difficult and unnatural task to do so, for he strictly followed the injunction of the Apostle: �Be diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.� The dividing line, therefore, would be hard to find, if there was one at all. And these letters, which are a pleasant recreation to me while I write them�-and of profit, too, I hope, as I carefully review the life of him who, �though dead, still speaketh��-would, I fear, become a task, should I change the simple and pleasing plan I have adopted of recalling the past, with the incidents as they occurred, and from them selecting such as I think will best unfold to your view the real, every-day life of him, which, if fairly seen, cannot fail to plant in your young hearts a just pride for such an ancestor, and a holy desire to walk in his steps. With this view, I will retrace, and bring up, briefly and in order, the omissions to which I have alluded. You remember, I mentioned to you the fact, that your grandfather commenced life, as a business man, by becoming the partner of his father in the drug business. His father had, a few years previously, given up his interest in the �Missouri Republican� to his son Edward, and commenced a business which was new to him, and that upon a small capital. He found it so profitable, however, that he prevailed on Joseph to abandon his profession, (the practice of which he had but just commenced), and to join him, believing that it would ultimately be more to his advantage to do so. From the profits arising from this business�-which regularly increased, with the increase of the city, and that of the country, from the rapid emigration to the Western States-�combined with his success in an occasional speculation in land, I doubt not, if �grandpa� had been at all given to the love of money, or had been ambitious of attaining to great wealth, and had bent his powers of mind and body in that direction, he would have reached the desired goal, perhaps to becoming a millionaire. But very different from this were the tendencies of his nature. He appreciated money as the means of adding to the sum of human happiness; and, while he was by no means reckless in the use of it, it was a source of great pleasure to him to have it in his power to indulge his family in having what they desired and in living as they pleased, and still to have something over to distribute to the necessities of the indigent. To the Church of Christ he cheerfully contributed to the extent of his ability, esteeming it one of his highest privileges. Pursuing this course, his business meanwhile widening, and constantly becoming more profitable, in the year 1837 or �38, he decided to take a partner, and offered the situation to my brother Henry, which was gladly accepted. After this, (I do not know exactly how long), he purchased a valuable piece of ground in the city, upon a part of which �the firm� determined to build an oil and lead factory. This proved to be a very expensive and arduous undertaking; and, although it promised, after being fairly established, to be a most profitable investment, yet the capital of �the firm� was not sufficient to complete and to carry it on successfully until it should reach a self-sustaining point, without doing serious injury to �the store,� by depriving it of the necessary capital for its success. During this state of things, which grew worse every day, my husband discerned a portentous cloud in the sky of his commercial prosperity, which resulted after days and nights of anxiety and overtaxed strength of body and mind, in a low state of health and spirits that almost unfitted him for his accumulated business, which, nevertheless, he continued to prosecute with avidity. This was about the year 1841. I do not recollect how long his ill health lasted, but I well remember how his flesh went away�-how pale he was�-how he perspired at night, from nervous prostration, and how his skin seemed to cleave to his bones. He was still amiable and uncomplaining; but his elasticity, his free-hearted joyousness was gone. After pressing him for some time to tell me his troubles and difficulties, and sympathizing with him because of them, until a far deeper concern took possession of me on account of his health, and, finding that moderate expostulations did not better things, I determined to make an effort by trying a wife�s skill in arousing him from this state of despondency, which threatened such serious consequences; for I might well feel that fortune would be nothing to me without my husband-�my husband as he ever had been. And �if the worst came to the worst,� if he only had sufficient means to pay his debts, (which he said, without doubt, he had), I cared for nothing better than to begin life afresh, with such a husband as I had, with health, youth, business capacity, and a good reputation. This conversation was not without effect; and he determined, by way of recruiting, to �knock off� from business, and to make an excursion into the country. This little trip�-which was not simply without aim, other than for his health, as he had some business to attend to on the way-�acted like a charm, by restoring his wasted energies and his cheerfulness. He returned, in ten or fifteen days, more like himself than he had been for months. After this, he soon recovered entirely; and never again did he lose his equanimity for more, perhaps, than a day or two at a time, although the dreaded blow did come, but not before he had taken a step in the divine life, which served to buoy him up above the ills of this checkered existence. During the year 1839, about five years after we became members of the Church, your grandfather was ordained �Ruling Elder� in the Second Presbyterian church. We united with the �First Presbyterian church� (which I believe, I told you in a previous letter), which was then the only one in the city, but were induced, from a sense of duty, to go out, with a few others, to assist in strengthening a small colony that had been struggling for existence almost from the time it had left the mother church, some two or three years previous. In the building up of this church he was one of its most efficient agents. Besides having the duties of an Elder to perform, he was appointed a Trustee, and, with others, was very active in planning, and carrying forward to its completion, a large and expensive building, bearing a heavy part of the debt of it for years, until the means were provided for his relief, which was not until long after he had met with heavy pecuniary losses. He was regularly in his place at all the meetings of the church, both for spiritual and secular purposes. Now, my dear children, if you have conceived an idea, from the insight I have given you, of the numerous occupations of your grandfather, that he must have been bustling about, having so much to do--hurrying things at home, and having no time for pleasure or recreation-�you are greatly mistaken. A day rarely passed that he did not take a ride with his family, or some member of it, to �the farm,� (except during the period of his ill health, when he oftener sought repose in the afternoon), enjoying, with the fresh air, exercise, and charms of the country, the society of those so dear to him. He never came home with a surly look�-like some people who want to make an impression that they have the world on their shoulders-�to talk about hard work, and hard times, or disagreeable matters, or to recount all the wonderful things he had done, or had to do. But, with a step and a countenance that seemed to say, �What a blessed and happy man I am!� his presence always brought with it happiness and peace. He was not a great talker, but he generally had something pleasant to say, or an interesting anecdote to relate; for, with a keen perception of the ludicrous, he possessed a talent for telling anecdotes admirably well, and a humor that was irresistibly pervasive. No one could help feeling its influence, and being all the happier for it. I wish I could remember some of his anecdotes, and do them justice in the relation; but I know the attempt would be futile: for there was so much in the look and manner that gave a zest to his conversation, and rendered it attractive, that it would be impossible to convey a correct idea of it in words. None can feel, or fully appreciate it, without having had the privilege of being in his presence. A friend, to whom he was much attached, and at whose house he frequently visited, mentioned to me, since his death, that he and his wife had, from their early acquaintance with him, been in the habit of referring often to what �Mr. Charless� would say, recalling his conversation, and talking so much about him, that one day he asked, �Wife, how is it we cannot help talking of Mr. Charless?�-what is there about him that impresses us so? It is not really what he says, but the way he says it. It is his humor, his benevolence of manner, his inimitable pleasantry, etc.� With these qualities, I need not say that he was an acquisition to society. He enjoyed it at home or abroad; at the evening party, or with a few friends around the social board. With a genial nature, he had a facility for adaptation, so that it was easy for him to feel perfectly at home, and unrestrained, with all classes and conditions of men, young or old, gay or grave. He was particularly fond of young people, and generally had a �little sweetheart� among the girls, with whom he would occasionally carry on a spirited flirtation. In the fall of 1841, immediately after his period of dejection, and consequent ill health, your grandfather and myself mutually agreed that it would be best for us, by way of lessening our expenses, to sell our furniture, and break up housekeeping for a few years. My health, which had never been good since that severe illness, of which I have spoken, was the palpable cause; for my husband had often expressed a desire to try the effect of rest from the cares and fatigue of housekeeping, and now, that one sister and two of my brothers were married and settled, there was not difficulty in the way of our doing so. This proved to be a very fortunate step, for at the time things, almost anything, sold well. The city was prosperous, and everybody felt rich. Our furniture, of which we reserved sufficient to furnish two bed-rooms, besides our valuables of plate, etc., sold for as much, some of it for more, than we paid for it when new. And in one year from that time, suddenly, there was a monetary pressure, which brought every kind of property down to less than half of its value or original cost. It was one of those pecuniary tornadoes which occasionally sweep through the whole length and breadth of the land, levelling and blighting everything as it passes, putting a stop to the wheels of commerce, and bringing terror into almost every family. It came with an astounding effect upon St. Louis. Many who felt themselves rich were in a few days reduced to a state of poverty, not having the means wherewith to pay their honest debts. The firm of �Charless & Blow� were compelled to �suspend payment.� This reverse came upon them like a shock, for, notwithstanding my husband�s fears, a year or two previous, with regard to his mercantile affairs, he had informed me, but a short time before, that he had no doubt now but that they would be enabled to get through with the difficulties that had been pressing him down; for, as he expressed it, �we begin now to see our way clear.� They had had no apprehensions with regard to their endorser (for whom they also endorsed), for �his house� was one of the oldest and (it was thought) one of the most opulent in the city. But when the fact was known that Mr. T had failed, and when his creditors called upon the firm of �Charless & Blow� to respond to his notes, which were then due, it was too much for them. At first my husband (pale from emotion) thought all was over!�-all for which he had been toiling for years; reduced to poverty, his reputation as a merchant, perhaps, greatly weakened; and, what was worse still, (not knowing the extent of his losses by Mr. T.), he might not be able, after sacrificing everything he had in the world, to pay his debts! In a crisis like this, developments are exceedingly rapid, and revulsion of feeling just as much so. The excitement is too intense to endure delay. The best and the worst must be known, if possible, and that at once. It was soon ascertained, therefore, in the case of �Charless & Blow,� that their loss, by the failure of our good and honorable old friend, was not much; and the chief difficulty with them, as with all other sufferers, lay in the loss of confidence between men, and the consequent scarcity of money in circulation. Your grandparents passed one troubled night in consequence of this event, in which sleep�-�tired nature�s sweet restorer�-�forsook them. But the next afternoon found them taking a drive in grandpa�s buggy, calmly talking about their new circumstances, and resolving, with a courageous heart, to meet them, whatever they might be. Of course, I did all I could to encourage him, (else I would not have been worthy the name of wife); became very self-sacrificing for a lady�-willing to part with my tea service, and all my silver-ware-�any and everything I had of value, except my bridal gifts; and then began to speculate upon how very nice it would be to live in a neat little cottage, etc., etc. For I was not too old to be romantic; and I do really believe now, as I recall my enthusiasm on the subject, that I would have been disappointed had anything occurred to prevent me from exhibiting to my husband how cheerfully I could submit to misfortune. No such test came; for the very next day a widow, who had deposited a few hundred dollars with �the firm� for safe keeping, hearing of their reverses, called to get her money. They had none; and my husband, remembering my offer, sent a messenger, with a note, requesting me to send the tea-service, with which to secure her. Cheerfully�-for I was glad it was in my power to secure the widow against loss, and to relieve the mind of my husband to some little extent-�but with a beating heart, (for this was a birth-day gift from him), I parted with my beautiful tea-service, and have never seen it since. It was sold to pay that debt. Our dear old mother was greatly afflicted because of our reverses in fortune, and wept like a child; but her amazement was to see me so unmoved. I thought then it was Christian submission that enabled me to bear up so well; but I see now there was a great deal of human love, and sympathy, and human pride, too, mixed with it. Although we were not keeping house, at that time, we were very delightfully and happily situated, for we were boarding (as an especial favor) at our eldest brother�s. He had a sweet wife, and they lived in their beautiful new house, which, years after, �grandpa� purchased. It was there your dear mamma passed her young lady days-�where she was married-�where her little sons, Charless, Louis and Edward, were born; and where their loving grandpa breathed away his precious life. But the same reasons which made it necessary for us to submit to loss and inconvenience, made it incumbent on my brother to sell his residence. Consequently, we accepted the kind invitation of our mother to occupy a part of her house; and, by strict economy in every practicable thing -�paying her a very low price for our board, which the old lady would receive, but �not a cent more�-�we passed three of the happy years of our life, at the end of which time, we had regained a considerable amount of our losses; and, what was better still, your dear grandfather had become firmly and prosperously re-established in business, without having lost an atom of his reputation as a judicious and energetic merchant. �The suspension� of Charless & Blow did not result in a complete failure, by any means. They solicited an examination into their affairs, exhibited their books, making a complete and full exposition of the condition of their business, and it was unanimously agreed upon, by the committee chosen for the purpose, that it would be greatly to the advantage of their creditors for �the firm� not to close up, but to continue the business, each binding himself to extract, for the two succeeding years, only a small (stated) sum for private use, from the proceeds of the store. As soon as the adverse condition of �C. & B.� was relieved, and they had regained their former position-�which, I think, was in about two years from the time of the crisis-�they made up their minds to dissolve partnership: one to take �the store;� the other, �the oil and lead factory.� Accordingly, terms of dissolution were drawn up. Mr. Charless, being the elder, had the privilege of choosing, and, after reflection, decided upon retaining the store. My two younger brothers afterwards became his partner in the business, and remained as �Charless, Blow & Co.� until dissolved by the death of their beloved senior. This is a long letter, my dear children, and I will close it, with the promise of letting you know something more about our three years� sojourn at your great-grandmamma�s: in which I hope to show you how happy we can be under adverse circumstances, and how much less the evil of �coming down in the world� is, than generally is supposed. Affectionately yours, GRANDMA. Letter Eleven My Dear Grandchildren: Man is naturally aspiring, and the more he attains to in life, the more earnestly he reaches after something higher still. And it is well that it is so, for, without this spirit, there would necessarily be but little or no advance in the world. The old land-marks would stand unmolested, forever; and the human family, instead of developing, could not but deteriorate, from generation to generation. But for the fall of man, his highest aim would have been such as the angels have, viz: to see, and to be with God, whose exceeding greatness and glory would tend to ravish the soul with delight, enlarge its capacity, and yet keep it at an humble distance, reverent and lowly. But I am stepping beyond my reach, and will come back again to what is, not what might have been. As soon as you observe at all, you must perceive what a constant struggle there is going on here below. Some aim at �fortune�s gaudy show,� while others strive to catch the wreath of fame, and crown themselves with that. Few are so indifferent, unless besotted by ignorance and degradation, as not to aspire, in some shape or other, to something more or better than they ever had, or better than others have; and, in this age of the world-�at any rate in this country-�money seems to be esteemed the chief good. Not the miser�s money, for, while that is locked up, and he hoards, and hoards, and still locks it up, it narrows down the soul, and expunges from it all the milk of human kindness. What are the orphan�s tears, or the widow�s groans�-what is human suffering to him? Gold! gold! His precious gold fills the contracted, dark place, which the soul, made in the image of its Creator, has forsaken, and leaves him more brute than man. Money is a good and valuable possession, but not to the spendthrift, to whom it becomes a temptation to vice. Better be poor forever, and, by the sweat of the brow, eat your daily bread, maintaining, at the same time, a pure and unblemished character, than to have a fortune that only induces idleness and self-indulgence, opening to you an avenue for the destruction of soul and body; and, perhaps, too, as is often the case, cause you to blindly drag your wife and children with you, if not to vice, at least to want and to disgrace. Money is only good when properly valued, and properly used. It is desirable as a means of education, and of refinement; for the cultivation of one�s taste in the field of nature, or in the arts and sciences. It is gratifying, and not wrong, to have handsome houses and grounds, tasteful furniture, fine paintings, or statuary, libraries, and everything pertaining to an elegant establishment. It is very good when used to make people happy who, in the providence of God, are not supplied with the necessaries of life. �The poor ye have always with you�-�why if not to keep the stream of benevolence running fresh and sweet? And money helps materially, perhaps too much, toward giving one position in society. All things considered, it is hard to lose it. It is trying to feel, as you pass along, people are saying, �There goes poor Mrs. A., or B. She has come down in the world!� Some malicious ones will say, �Well, she deserved it, for she was very extravagant, and she held her head too high.� Women, no doubt, are more susceptible to suffering and mortification, from reverses in fortune than men are; yet there are many ways in which they feel it, too-�according to their characters and dispositions. And, my dear children, if I were to say that we had not felt or cared for the reverses in life of which I told you in my last letter, it would not be true. We did feel it, and that in many ways. My husband was humbled, and disappointed, but entirely submissive to the will of God; for he believed that adversity, as well as prosperity, came from His loving hand, and was designed for the highest good of His people. Instead of having the effect to lessen, it strengthened his faith. Instead of making him more anxious and striving for the accumulation of wealth, he was less so; and he continued to be less so throughout the remainder of his life. Notwithstanding he was quite as industrious, just as energetic; yet there was less of dross mixed up with the pure metal in his soul. To me, it was evident that he advanced rapidly in the divine life; of which I felt the influence, if I caught none of its spirit. In a letter from him, dated that fall, soon after our removal to his mother�s, he says: �The scenery of the Mississippi, from the rapids north, is very beautiful. The frost having changed the color of part of the leaves, the forest presents an endless variety of colors; and the great number of farms and villages add much to the beauty of the landscape. But everywhere I find the people complaining, and many suffering from actual want. Although Providence has provided a most bountiful harvest, many, who have been accustomed to have every comfort, and many luxuries, around them, are now almost destitute. It makes me feel more resigned to our losses and poverty, seeing we are so much better off than thousands who are more deserving than we. They, it seems, are resigned, and submit most cheerfully to all the dispensations of their Heavenly Father. Let us, dear Charlotte, hereafter endeavor to show, in our lives, greater devotedness to Him who has done so much for us, and who promises to be our support and stay in every hour of need; who will never desert any who put their trust in Him. �Let us, therefore, exhort one another, and provoke each other to well-doing, in the service of our God. Let us love each other more and more, and make Jesus the great object of our praise and prayer. I hope and pray that the chastenings of our blessed Lord, in depriving us of our worldly possessions, may be sanctified to us, and lead us, more earnestly and undoubtingly, to seek for possessions in that Kingdom where all is joy, and peace, and love. Oh! That we may be enabled, with all our dear kith and kin, and kind friends, to attain unto this glorious and happy state, to dwell forever in the presence of our God, and enjoy Him throughout eternity. Dear C., are not these things worth our most strenuous efforts? And yet how little do we do! How poor our best attempts to serve Him who has done everything for us.� With these earnest desires for closer communion with God, and for those treasures which fade not away, he necessarily had a hard struggle to prosecute his worldly affairs, under circumstances so disadvantageous as that of carrying on a large business without the necessary capital, greatly weakened, in fact, by pecuniary losses, and more still by the misfortune of being compelled to �suspend payment,� and the consequent exposure of the internal difficulties with which �the firm� had to contend. Anxious and toiling, week after week, he was always rejoiced when Saturday night came, that he might, as he generally expressed it in his prayer that night, �lay aside the world, and engage in the delightful exercises of the holy Sabbath.� And I will here mention, for the benefit of those among you (if there are any such) who, in your eager pursuit of wealth, or honor, or are battling, as he was, with the untoward events of life, are tempted to desecrate the Sabbath to secular purposes, that I have often heard your grandfather say (about that time) that on Monday his mind was clearer, and his hopes stronger of success, than at any other time. And towards the close of the week, after his mental energies had been on the stretch for days, things looked darker; that sometimes he felt as though he must give up; that it would be impossible to meet his payments; but that on Monday, with both mind and body invigorated from the holy rest of the Sabbath day, the mists had cleared away, and everything looked bright again-�so bright that he often felt surprised that he should have been in such a desponding condition on Saturday. There is sound philosophy in this; but I will leave it for you to work out the problem, and will proceed to say, that with the opening of the spring of 1843, business prospects really did brighten. And our new home, though humble, we had found vastly comfortable. It looked familiar and home-like, too; for the furniture to which we had been accustomed had been removed into our suite of rooms, one of the bedsteads minus only the cornice and the feet, which had to be taken off to accommodate it to the height of the ceiling-�of which, for awhile, I had so constant and disagreeable an impression that often, when rising suddenly from my chair, I would dodge, from fear of bumping my head against it. And no wonder! For this was an old house, built in �the year one,� before people (poor things!) found out the necessity of having their ceilings pitched so high above them! But our front room was otherwise capacious; for several partitions had been knocked down, which added a small room and part of a hall to the main one, and extended it entirely across the front of the house. It was so large that it accommodated the piano, and a pier-stand, besides every necessary article for a completely furnished bed-room. The piano and pier-stand-�the latter of which was a particular object of attraction to your mamma (for bon-bons were kept in that)-�gave to the room the air somewhat of a parlor. At least, we esteemed it so cosy, and appropriate for the purpose, that we more frequently received the calls of friends there than in our mother�s little reception-room. What right had we to murmur? It would have been ungrateful if we had done so; for, although not by any means elegant, we were comfortable. True, my nice carriage and beautiful horses had been sold; but mother had quite a nice little carriage, and a fine old gray horse, that would have appeared very respectable, if (as the stable boy said) the calves had not �chawed of his tail!� However, that was a source of amusement. We rode often, for both mother and I needed the exercise; and the rides were delightful, as �Joseph� was generally our driver; and a merry chase he would lead us sometimes, for when he no longer had �the farm� to go to, (that had likewise been sold), he seemed determined to find out the merits, or demerits, of every road in the vicinity. This made quite a variety for us, for, besides the change of scenery, it usually called forth ejaculations from his mother, and answers from him, which were very amusing. She saw no sense in �rambling the country over, going into every nook and corner, and jolting people to death!� But he would earnestly assure her that he had not gone into half yet-�looking round at her with a provokingly mischievous expression, which seemed to intimate that he meant to try it, though-�and as for the roads, he could �find much worse roads than that! And as to driving�-he hadn�t begun to show how many stumps he could go over, without upsetting.� This playful, jocose, merry mood of her son, frequently recalled to the old lady�s mind some incidents of early times, when she was young, and Joseph was a boy, which she would relate, and laugh all over at, shaking her fat sides most merrily. And, notwithstanding her outbursts of hastily spoken words of disapprobation to him for his temerity, she always wondered, after being safely landed at home, why she enjoyed her rides so much more when Joseph drove! When we think about it, there are really no enjoyments in this wide world equal to home enjoyments. And when we have to go away from that hallowed spot, to seek for some longing of the soul which we cannot find there, or return to it with distaste, after having dipped into the pleasures (even the refined and reasonable ones) of the world, we are to be pitied, greatly pitied; for we are strangers to the purest and sweetest joys that are known this side of Paradise. And, thank God! this happiness is not confined to the mansion of the rich and the great. Perhaps it is less felt there than in the cottage of the virtuous and intelligent poor. At our mother�s we had quite as much of domestic peace and happiness as we had ever known. Our little daughter, who, to us at least, looked just as sweet and pretty in her bit calicos as she had ever done in better and more expensive clothes, beguiled a portion of our evenings with her music. She played delightfully on the piano, for a child of her age; and then she had conceived an idea (perhaps from something her father or mother had said) that the day might come when, by teaching music and French, she would be their support in old age. This was a new and beautiful stimulant to study, and we were no less pleased with this virtuous devotion of her young life, because we confidently believed that no such necessity would ever arise. We enjoyed society, too�-not quite so much or half as often as when we could return civilities; but there was an abandonment of feeling, or freedom from care, when we did participate; something like that expressed by a clerical friend of ours, who, upon beholding the beautiful grounds of a wealthy gentleman, congratulated himself upon his capacity for enjoying them as much as the proprietor could, �without having his responsibility and care,� which, in some measure, compensated us. And, then, your grandfather found out what �a jewel of a wife� he had; how, as with a magic touch, she could make old things perfectly new, in which she appeared more charming to his eye than ever before. We are really not dependent upon external circumstances for happiness. That ingredient of life is found within us; and every one has a share in promoting it. One gentle, patient, unselfish, cheerful member of a household, can do wonders towards making the whole atmosphere of home redolent with his soul-reviving influences. From what you have seen of your grandfather, you will readily imagine that he must have been a good son. He was: one of the best, if not the best, I have ever known. But facts speak for themselves. I have never once heard him speak a hasty or unkind word to his mother. He was her staff, upon whom she lovingly leaned; and yet, at her bidding, he was her boy, obedient, and respectful. As she declined in life, �when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way,� and many infirmities made her irritable and exacting, the charm of his loving voice, playfully and skillfully giving a turn to the current of her feelings, would alternately soothe, comfort, and amuse her. He was thoughtful of her every wish and comfort, and did all that he could to fill the void which death had made in that aged heart. Some of the most striking proofs of his pure and elevated character, of his disinterested friendship and love, delicacy forbids me to speak of, as there are those living who might be touched by them. But I have given facts enough to show that he was no ordinary man. He was fond of reading, quick of perception, and given to investigation. There were but few subjects with which he was not more or less acquainted. For, notwithstanding his close business habits, he found much time for his favorite occupation of reading; by which means he kept up with the religious, political, and literary news of the day. He was a good historian, and possessed a retentive memory. I never thought of referring to an encyclopedia, or to a dictionary, when he was present; for I found it so much easier, and more pleasant, to obtain needed information from him. As regards the intellectual character of his mind, however, I do not think it was of the highest stamp. Of all practical things he had a decided opinion. His judgment was sound. Not marred by prejudice, nor warped by self-love, or self-praise, or self-aggrandisement, he was enabled coolly to exercise his powers of mind in forming a just estimate of men and things. He possessed strong common sense, which, being balanced by a high moral tone, and refined sensibilities, enabled him to be quick in discerning the characters of men, but tenderly careful of their feelings and reputation. I do not think his mind was of a metaphysical cast. He never willingly engaged in argument of any kind, nor conversed upon abstruse subjects. He might have said, with David, �Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty, neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.� Yet he had a profound respect, and great admiration, for the highly gifted, and the learned; especially for those who, with these extraordinary gifts and attainments, possessed sincere piety. He enjoyed learned disquisitions just as he did a fine painting, the excellencies and beauties of which he appreciated, and could point out, without knowing how to use the brush or the pencil. He had a keen appreciation of natural beauty, and of the art which could represent it, either on canvas or in marble. He was fond of poetry. But of all the poets, Burns stood first in his estimation. He could enter so easily into the spirit of this writer, because, in some respects, they were kindred spirits. Burns� touching pathos, his humor, his love and pity for man and beast, penetrated his own humorous and nature-loving soul. When the centenary celebration of the birth of this great poet took place in St. Louis, a few years ago, he was absent, and I attended, not only for personal gratification, but that I might, upon his return, give him an account of it. In a letter to your mother (who was at Belmont) I alluded to the celebration, and said, �It only needed �father� to read the �Cotter�s Saturday Night� to have made it complete in interest.� He did read those poems beautifully; and many of his anecdotes embodied Scotch and Irish nature, and every-day life, which he would relate with all their native simplicity and humor, using the brogue of the one, and the accent and provincialism of the other, to perfection. He was fond of music; but that, like his love of poetry, was a simple taste, his decided preference being for Scotch and Irish ballads. He could speak and read French well-�very well, when in practice. In much weakness, my dear children, but looking up to God to guide me into all truth concerning this matter, I have endeavored to give you a faithful history of the life (as far as it goes) and character of your beloved grandfather. I am afraid it does not do him justice, for I have often felt how meager words are to convey an idea of what he really was. But look at his portrait, and that benevolent, honest, cheerful countenance, may, in some measure, make up to you what my pen has failed to do. I do not believe I have spoken to you of his kindness to the poor. But ask, in St. Louis, who were among those who wrung their hands and wept big tears around his cold remains, and you will find he was the poor man�s friend. I have made but slight allusions to his self-denying labors in the Church of Christ, because I know comparatively, but little of them. He never spoke of his good works, as such, not even to me. �Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth� was no difficult task for one who, alone conscious of his �many infirmities,� was kept truly humble before the eye of the heart-searching God. His humility was his crowning virtue. It adorned all the rest, and gave a certain kind of grace, even to his greatest faults. Affectionately yours, GRANDMA. Letter Twelve My Dear Grandchildren: In this simple sketch of the life of an unpretending Christian man, whose highest aim was to discharge his duties, as such, in the position in which God had placed him, I am aware there is nothing particularly interesting, or congenial, to the feelings or taste of the worldling. By �the worldling� I mean a man, or woman, who-�perhaps without deliberately weighing things as they exist, and regardless of the future-�is content with the short-lived pleasures and advantages of this world. But I cannot better describe the worldling than in the language of your grandfather, taken from a letter which lies open before me. In speaking of a certain lady who expressed to him a regret that she had not fifty thousand dollars per annum to spend in living, he says: �She is a poor, worldly woman, whose chief end in life is to dash!�-shine, and out-shine-�consequently envies those who have more means, or appear to out-shine her. I would not swap my old woman for as many of such as could stand between this and Mobile, and the fifty thousand per annum in the bargain!� To such among you (God forbid that there should be such!) I do not write; for I know how the world blinds by its dazzle, and you could see no beauty or use in living for the glory of that Being who made and preserves you, and before whom you must stand to be judged. Made in His image, with an immortal soul, you might dwell forever with the Redeemer, in the mansions he has gone to prepare. But, like the butterfly, you fritter away your earthly existence, and, by so doing, throw away the only cup of real, unadulterated pleasure of this present life; and, when Time, with all its fleeting joys, has passed away forever, where, oh, where! do you expect to dwell? But for those who are the worthy descendants of him who lived the life of the righteous, and who find pleasure in reading these imperfect letters, I will recommence a review of the past, recording, as I have done, such facts as I think will interest you, and acquaint you still better with him. You have seen his Christianity exhibited in many ways; and I have not kept from your view his faults and imperfections. You have seen him as a son, and as a brother, a friend, and a husband. As a father, you know but little of him; and now I will relate the circumstances which led to a temporary separation from his child and her mother, and will quote from his letters, that you may learn, from himself, his views and desires as a father, and his manner of intercourse with this only child of his heart. During the winter of 1846�-after we had removed from your great-grandmamma�s, and were again enjoying a home of our own--my health gave way, to an alarming extent. Although able to go about the house, it was evident (declared so by my physicians) that I was in a decline. When I grew no better from the concentrated wisdom of three of the Faculty, my husband determined to try the effect of a change of air and scene, first having consulted the doctors as to the expediency of it, and having been assured by them that, if it did me no good, it could do me no harm. With his accustomed dispatch he hastened to the river, secured our passage on a boat, which was to leave in three days, and at dinner asked me if I would not like to take a trip to Havana? The question startled me, for there was more business done in March and April than in any other two months of the whole year, and I could not see the practicability�-indeed, it had previously seemed almost impossible for him to leave home at that time. But his answer to my exclamations of surprise-��Business is of no importance compared to health,� and the question, �Can you be ready by day after tomorrow?� accompanied by the assurance that our state-rooms were already engaged �-put a stop to further discussion, and set my sister earnestly to work to get me ready. �Lizzie must leave school,� (�papa� said), �for she, too, may go along to help take care of mamma�-�and never was a mamma better taken care of, with two such nurses as she had. This arrangement acted like a charm, for I began to mend before we started, from the effect upon my mind, in being drawn off from myself and my ailments to the necessary thought required in giving directions for the packing of trunks, and in making arrangements generally for leaving home. After reaching New Orleans, we were advised that it was too late in the season to visit Havana, and we determined to steer our course toward Pensacola; but, upon our arrival in Mobile, our friends there suggested Pascagoula, as a better place, and, as it was more accessible than the former, we decided upon trying the effect of the sea-breeze there. It was early in the season to visit a watering-place, but we were not the less welcomed by the proprietors of a delightful hotel, (which has since been burned down), for, as it happened, they were old acquaintances of ours. This hotel was a commodious, and cheerful looking establishment, with its large dancing saloon attached, and had every convenience for the amusement and comfort of the gay crowd that assembled there in the summer months for pastime or health. It stood on an eminence, and commanded a beautiful view of the bay. The large yard in front, which gradually sloped down to the beach, was planted with evergreens and shrubbery, presenting a gay contrast, which, with the flowered vines, so prettily trained around the pillars of the long piazza, made it rurally picturesque, and filled the air with odors of the sweetest kind. But nothing was so sweet to me as the unadulterated sea air, which I delighted to drink in, every breath of which seemed to send vigor into my wasted and weakened frame. At first, I could walk but a little way along the beach; but soon, by leaning on the arm of my husband, I could walk half a mile out on the pier, and, sitting down in a chair (provided for me), would remain there, with the rest of the party, for hours, as deeply interested in fishing as ever that famous old angler, Sir Izaak Walton, could have been. And if he had been as successful as we were in hooking and pulling out the great variety of fish, large and small�-with an occasional monster of the deep, which caused us to open our eyes in amazement-�I am sure he could not have ruminated to his heart�s content, as he did, and made the world so much the wiser for his having lived and angled in it. Pascagoula, as it was then, was by far the most fascinating place I had ever seen. Besides its natural beauties and advantages, (its health-giving influences being, no doubt, the greatest to the invalid), we had a pleasant little society of cultivated people, all bent on pleasure and sport. Sometimes we would go rowing, and then sailing. At other times we would course up the Pascagoula river-�a beautiful little stream, all studded with the gardens of cottagers. One of these was an Italian, who, devoted to the land of his birth, had, as it were, transplanted the home of his heart to this romantic spot in the far-off world. It looked decidedly foreign; but its greatest beauty (to my taste) was the background, which was composed a grand old forest of towering pines. In contrast with this little river, were the island which dotted the bay, adding beauty to the scene and affording tempting attractions to those who are fond of pic-nics. One especially-��Island Casot,� formed by the beautiful bayou of the same name-�is shaded by immense live-oak trees, and lies just south on the border of the finest oyster bed (for flavor) in the South. We spent a whole day there, having first amply provided ourselves with every luxury, even to comforts and pillows to lounge on. Your grandfather admired this beautiful little island so much that he thought seriously of purchasing it, to improve in a cheap and simple way, to be used as an occasional resort for health and pleasure. He and your mother were evidently as much charmed with Pascagoula, and its surroundings, as I was. Both were the picture of happiness. They engaged in many amusements, of which I was incapable, and could only look on and laugh at-�such as catching crabs, and speering flounders by torchlight. They bathed and swam, too, (the latter with a life-preserver), but they were afraid to venture out too far, on account of sharks, which were occasionally seen near the shore. At a certain season of the year there was frequently heard, near the bath-houses, a strain of music, like the Aeolian harp, which had never been satisfactorily accounted for, although many wise heads had pondered over it. Some supposed that it proceeded from a certain kind of small fish, which, in their perambulations through the mighty deep, for some secret reason best know to themselves, touched at this point at the stated season, just to whisper a few sweet notes, and would then retire. Other said it was only an echo borne upon the waters (when the wind was in a certain direction), from the playing of the waves against the sandy shore of an island, three miles distant. There is an Indian legend, which I will relate, that gives a more interesting account of this phenomenon than either of these. A war party of the Pascagoula tribe, headed by their chief, having been hotly pursued by a victorious enemy, had rushed into the bay (sooner than submit), and were drowned, while singing a melancholy dirge, which annually returns in token of the sad event. They: �Sing of death and life undying, In the Islands of the Blest In the kingdom of Ponemah, In the Land of the Hereafter.� But perhaps it is irrelevant to my subject to dwell so minutely upon scenes and incidents so remotely associated with it. He was with me then, and it makes me for awhile forget my loneliness. The result of this little excursion, which proved so beneficial to my health, was a sojourn of one whole winter and spring, and part of another, in Mobile. We found there a boarding-school for young ladies, of high standing, in which we determined to place our daughter; and a very delightful boarding place for me, about three miles from the city, in the family of an old friend and relative, who, some years previous, had been the family physician of my father, in North Alabama. Feeling quite at home here, among these kind friends, with the advantages resulting from a mild climate, and the sea-breeze, my health steadily improved, which was some consolation for the long and tedious separation from my beloved husband. In the meanwhile our daughter was pursuing her studies at Madame De Fellon�s. I often visited her at the Academy, and she always came out to the Doctor�s on Friday afternoon, and remained until Monday morning, when she would make an early start for school. We had many pleasures and recreations in the city and neighborhood of Mobile, the country especially presenting a very beautiful appearance from the highly cultivated gardens, picturesque and tasteful cottages, and elegant mansions, contrasted, as they were, with the magnificent groves of pine and magnolia, with their rich and fragrant undergrowth of yellow jessamine, and other sweet flowers, which were indigenous to the soil of this lovely country. In these pleasant groves were many springs of soft, clear water, which, flowing together, formed little creeks, whose gentle meanderings added freshness and increasing loveliness to the already charming scene. Some of these creeks flowed over their shining beds of sand, and some over the waving grass and lily. It tranquillizes me, even now, to recall the rustic bridge, where I have often stood (it seems to me for hours) and gazed at the gentle stream, as it murmured over the log that lay half-imbedded in the sand, and watched the never-ceasing motion of the graceful �water lilies� which arched the stream below. But our highest enjoyment, with the exception of the visits, were the letters of our beloved husband and father, who necessarily had to remain, a greater part of the time, in St. Louis. I find, in looking over your mother�s package of letters from him, one dated �October 15th, 1842,� at which time she was not quite ten years of age. After writing the particulars of his journey, and expressing a desire that she and her mother were with him �to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Mississippi,� etc., he says: �I hope you have been a good girl, and that �mother� will be able to tell me how well you have behaved during my absence, and what a comfort it is to have so dutiful a daughter, who never has to be told a second time to go to her piano, or to learn her Sabbath school lesson. I am satisfied if children knew how it gladdens the hearts of parents, and how cheerfully they labor to educate good children, that my little girl would give her whole energy to acquire such a habit of obedience, and attention to her parents, as would make her beloved by all who know her; and, more than all, would meet the approbation of Him who has said, �Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.� But I feel assured that the unwearied attentions of the best of mothers will not be in vain; but that the blessed God will make them serve his own wise purpose, and, �father� prays, will eventually make her a bright and shining light in this world, and place her in the world to come among the redeemed of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST. I have been reading to-day the Life of the Rev. Mr. Newton, who was a very wicked man,� etc., etc. �Mr. Newton was, like little Samuel, devoted to the Lord, when a child, by his mother, who died, leaving him an orphan, at three years of age. Yet, after many trials, He saves him from his sins �-and, might we not almost say, for his mother�s sake? Surely for the Saviour�s sake. �I have heard nothing from home since I left, and am extremely anxious to hear from you all. Has dear �mother�s� health improved? How is �grandma,� and �Cousin Eliza,� and little Joe and Ella, and �aunt Loo,� and all our dear friends?" etc. �Your affectionate father, JOS. CHARLESS.� Here is the first page of another letter, dated �New York, December 22, 1843." �My Dear Daughter: Having finished my business arrangements for the day, and having a spare moment, I thought I would occupy it by writing to my dear child. Since I left home, I have been hurried along, from place to place, and from scene to scene, so that I have nothing very pleasing to detail to you of my journey. Since I have been in this great city I have also been very closely engaged with my business, and have visited, as yet, none of its wonders. We have tonight, at the house where I am staying, a very large company, assembled to celebrate the landing of the Puritans in New England. They had a most splendid table, filled with every luxury; and they have Mr. Webster, who is to make a speech to them. Mr. Choate delivered an address to-day, in the Tabernacle. So, you see, we have grand doings. �Well, I feel more happy up in my little room, away from the noise and bustle, writing to my daughter, and thinking of her dear mother and grandma, and cousin Eliza, and all that are so dear to us. My dear, when I think how God has blessed you, and all of us, and when I think how wicked we have been, what stubborn and disobedient children we have all been, and how little we love that Saviour who has done so much for us, I feel very much condemned. God would be just, if he should at once punish us. We should be very prayerful, and pray earnestly and continually, for a new heart and a right spirit, and that we may all be truly converted, and fitted to serve Him with our whole hearts.� His humility is plainly seen in this quotation, as it often was in his prayers, when he seemed more like a little child, seeking his Father�s face, than an elder in the Church, conscious of setting an example to the flock. In the first letter your mother received from her father, in the winter of 1846-7, after we were settled in Mobile, he says: �My dear child, I hope, needs no hint to urge her in attention and kindness to a mother whose happiness is so dependent upon her child. Your father, immersed in the business of the world, and his feelings hardened by the adverse and trying scenes which he is constantly called to breast, is not so alive to, and dependent for happiness, as the mother is upon her husband and child; and, in the absence of the former, the weightier duties devolve on you, and I confidently feel that you will fulfil them all cheerfully, and partake of the happiness their performance affords. I pray that the Spirit of all Grace may impart to you all the strength and grace you need, and that you may be guided to the Saviour, in whom you will find fullness of joy, and a peace which passeth all knowledge.� After writing another page, in which he gives all �the news,� he says: ��Grandma� says, �tell Lizzie I do miss her so much!� She says the birds are fine and healthy, and are well taken care of. So are the pigeons, for several of the neighboring boys have erected more comfortable winter quarters for them, than they had in your boxes, and they have nearly all left us and gone to the neighbors, much to the distress of John, who cannot be reconciled to such ingratitude, not even in pigeons. For he says, �I feeds them every morning, and as soon as they get the corn they fly away.� So you will find the world, my dear girl; when they get nothing more from us either in a pecuniary or other point of view, they cease to care for, or to be interested in us. We are therefore warned to seek happiness at home. And the well cultivated, and well balanced mind will always find it there, where no one can deprive us of it. Will you not seek that happiness? It is to be found with the blessed Saviour. He alone can impart it; but He promises that all who seek shall find, and that none shall be turned away without it, if they will seek Him in the appointed way.� This letter was written on thanksgiving day. Further on, he continues: �And have we not great reason to render thanks to our heavenly Father, when we see how great are his mercies to us, that we have such an abundant harvest while nearly all Europe is in a starving condition? I really think that we have, for these mercies are most undeserved and unmerited; for we have not sought the Lord as we should have done, but have widely departed from him, as a people, and followed the guidance of our own wicked hearts. But let us fear and humble ourselves and repent; and seek the pardon of our sins, and determine that let others do as they will, as for us we will seek and serve the Lord our God! Oh, I pray that the Blessed Spirit may incline the heart of my dear child to consecrate her heart and soul to the service of her Saviour, and her Redeemer.� His concern for the conversion of his child was not always seen in his letters to her. I have just read one embracing seven pages of large letter paper, in which he tells much of interest about every thing and every body, in a lively jocose strain, but says not a word on the subject of religion. Among other things he says, �But I have never told you about our dog, Nimrod. Why, he has improved wonderfully in size, beauty, manners, &c. You will be perfectly delighted with him. He is no longer a country dog, but is becoming a real city bred gentlemanly dog. The fond companion of Miss Annie Blow in her rambles around the well, cistern, and even out into the alley. And never comes into the dining room, kitchen, or your grandma�s room, without being pressingly invited. Having upon his first arrival received divers striking hints, his intellect has become very sharp, and his sense of propriety very much quickened in regard to all these matters.� Towards the close of January instead of the usual reception of letters every few days, we experienced the far greater happiness of seeing him, which was only marred by the stern necessity of his having to leave us again. In May he returned, bringing my sister with him, to remain until after �the examination� of Madame De Fellon�s school. In the meanwhile we made up our mind to pay another visit to Pascagoula, from whence I see he wrote to our daughter as follows: Pascagoula, May 18, 1847. �Dear Daughter: We avail ourselves of the return of Dr. F. to send you a few lines to let you know how we are getting on in these diggings. We arrived safely last Friday evening, and found Mrs. F. and O. pleased to see us. The General is over on �Round Island,� whither we attempted, this morning, to go, but were driven back by the head winds. Your mother and aunt were wet by the spray but have experienced no inconvenience from it. They are both well. We missed you very much this morning when the fish were biting almost as fast as we could bate our lines and throw them into the water. Your mother caught nearly two dozen cats before breakfast. But you need not come as there are no redfish or sheepshead, or trout, nothing to be caught but cats and croakers, and I know you are too fastidious in your piscal taste to delight in such sport. We would have been much pleased to have had dear daughter with us. But hope that you have improved the time, so that when the examination comes off we shall be delighted with the proficiency you have made in your studies. �Mother� and �aunt� send their love to you. Ever your devoted, FATHER.� After the examination, in June, we returned to St. Louis. The encouragement we felt from the effect of the last winter upon my health, induced us to try another winter�s sojourn in the South, with the hope that a permanent restoration would be the result. Consequently in December following, your grandfather took us to Mobile and settled us for the winter. Soon after which we returned home, by way of the eastern cities, for the purpose of purchasing his stock of goods for the next spring. After again taking leave of the dearest objects of his earthly affection, he pursues his solitary way. From �Charleston, Dec. 22nd, 1847,� he writes: �My Dear Daughter: To redeem my promise to write alternately to you and dear mother, I date my first to you from this City of Palms. I wrote from Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, last, sitting in the Senate chamber, which was beautifully adorned with curtains, and furnished with rosewood desks and rosewood and damask velvet cushioned chairs; everything having the air of majesty-�the majesty of the sovereign people. Since which time, I have been compelled to descend from my lofty flights to the real democracy, as I have had rough traveling, and the roughest kind of fare. After two and one-half days� hard traveling (night and day), I arrived her yesterday afternoon, completely worn out, and determined to lay over one day at this place. Having slept soundly, and removed the lamp-black and dust, I feel this morning quite well again, and shall leave to-day for Wilmington, North Carolina, by sea, in a fine steamer. The weather is very fine, and I think I shall have a quick and pleasant journey." �I had the honor of traveling with Maj. Gen. Quitman and family from Montgomery to Augusta, George, where he was invited to remain and receive the congratulations of the citizens. The General, accustomed to command, could not well put up with the little deference paid him by his fellow-travelers, and was much annoyed that they were not restrained until he and his family were provided for. He is expected here to-day, and all the military are ordered out to receive him. General Shields has been here for several days, feasted and honored by this city, and the capital, Columbia, where the Legislature have voted him a splendid sword, the use of which he has so well practiced in Mexico." �This is really a very beautiful and pleasant city, and has much of a business appearance. The streets are wide. It has a fine market-house. The Citadel is an old-fashioned fort, now used as a military school; for you must know that South Carolina is, or claims to be, the most chivalrous State in the Union; and her great men�-Mr. Calhoun, Preston, McDuffy, and a host of others�-stand high among the great men of the nation." �I suppose you are, long before this, comfortably fixed at school, and mother has�-�etc., etc. You see, my children, from these several specimen letters, that your grandfather allowed no opportunity to pass unimproved. That, however, limited his time, he always found time to observe and to write. Neglect of duty had no place in his head or heart. It gratified him to serve his friends in any and in every way; but his devotion to his immediate family, in every respect, was remarkable. No display, no effort marked his intercourse with them, which made it only the more precious, for they well knew that love and kindness prompted his every act. He wrote from New York�-after having written from every stopping-place on his way thither-�giving a more detailed account of his duties and pleasures which occupied every moment of his time there. In one of these letters he says: �I have been this evening to see Powers� Greek Slave, and think it the most beautiful thing I ever saw. It is a perfect model of the human form, and as you gaze at it you perceive new beauties every moment. The face, the neck, the arms, and hands, in fact every limb, and every muscle, are perfect; and the marble seems to have that softness and delicacy which we see in a young and beautiful girl. But you must see it to realize all its beauties, which I hope you will have an opportunity of doing next spring." �I am very well, and have nothing to trouble me but our separation, and the thoughts of the long and wearisome months that must elapse before I can again clasp my dear wife and child to my arms. But I trust that it will be best for us both, and that it will be the last time on this earth.� In another letter from New York, dated January 4th, 1848, after a good deal of good advice to his child, and a faithful dealing with her peculiar faults, he writes: �With all the other matters, do not, my dear daughter, forget to learn the most important of all lessons-�the end for which you were placed on this earth; for which mind and body were given you: �that you glorify God here, and enjoy Him forever� in the world to come. That you know, experimentally, Jesus Christ, now in the morning of life, whom to know aright is eternal life; who is love, and who has promised to love all who come unto Him by faith. I am sure that there is nothing that would gratify your parents so much as to see you, with all the fervor and ardor of youth, seeking and serving this, the best of masters; devoting your best affections to Him who sticketh closer, under every trial, than parent or friend.� I will quote another short extract from a letter dated �St. Louis, March 3d, 1848.� In giving an account of a revival of religion, naming the number of persons who were about to unite with the Second Presbyterian church, he says: �How delighted would I be, could I see dear daughter a bright Christian, devoting all her powers and energies to the service of the blessed Saviour! How much more important is it to be educated to shine in Heaven than to be a star in this world of sorrow and affliction, where there is no solid enjoyment, and where all is transitory and evanescent. I pray that you may be led to a wise choice in these things.� As soon as the winter months were over-�becoming impatient under such a long separation-�we determined to cut short our stay in the �Sunny South.� The greatly improved health of her for whose sake the sacrifice had been made, was ever afterwards a cause of gratulation. In April we returned to St. Louis, with joyous anticipations of the future. The darling of our hearts was fast blooming into womanhood. Her father had purchased the residence which my brother had built for his own use, and which, above all others, we preferred, (especially as it was near to that of his aged mother), and we hoped before long to be permanently settled. But as this letter has reached its full length, I will close it, with the best love poor grandma has to offer from her desolate and stricken heart. Letter Thirteen My Dear Grandchildren: In the summer of 1848 your beloved grandfather, to whom no discharge of duty in the Church of God was felt to be a sacrifice, again determined to change his church connection. A feeble little church, painting for existence, without a pastor or house to worship in, solicited help from the mother church. Every Christian felt that the increasing wants of our growing city demanded more churches, but how many in the Second Presbyterian could obtain their own consent to exchange the comfort and ease of this elegant temple, which at length, after much self-denial of its members, was almost free from debt, and whose pulpit was adorned with the gifted and talented Dr. Potts! who could give up their cushioned and carpeted pews, the choice choir, the grand organ, and the many sweet Christian associations of past years, and throw in their lot with a little handfull of Jesus� praying disciples, who had few possessions, save that faith which made them lovingly cling to their Master�s cause? My husband had been one of the first to assist in building up the Second Presbyterian church. He was an Elder, and a Trustee, and, after much anxiety, and the utmost straining of his ability to raise and to contribute funds towards the completion of their house of worship, he was just beginning to enjoy the comfort of seeing the debt, which had hung as an incubus over it for years, wiped out, when this new call was made upon him. A few young people proposed to go out to the assistance of the feeble church, upon the condition that Mr. Charless and Mr. Keith would go with them -�wisely concluding that the attempt to sustain it without some such efficient aid, would be utterly in vain. It was thought, however, by the members generally, that it was a useless undertaking to keep the little church, as such, alive; and that it would be better for its few advocates to be merged into the different churches already established. Yet all seemed to think that St. Louis, growing as it was so rapidly in population and in wickedness, needed more houses of public worship; but most of the members of this church evidently shrank from the self-denial necessary thereto. Your grandfather did not at once accede to this proposal, without first consulting his wife, as to her views, and especially her feelings, and she could not have it in her heart to consider her own comfort and pleasure, or that of their daughter, when he so evidently felt that, for him, this was the path of duty. I cheerfully consented; but, looking back at the �flesh-pots of Egypt� (and there is no doubt a great deal of this kind of worldliness carried even into the Holy place), I requested that we should retain our pew, calculating, as soon as the young church was fairly established, again to occupy it. We both loved and admired, and, like everybody else, felt proud of our minister�-for, without doubt, he stood among the first, if not at the head of the Presbyterian church in the West-�and we knew that no Dr. Potts could be obtained for this poor little church, which seemed to be tossed upon the breakers, and ready to sink. But my husband, like the early disciples, would have been pleased to toil all night upon the sea of Galilee, and at early dawn would have been seen mending the meshes of the broken net, making ready for another day or night of toil, while I would have preferred to sit with the five thousand upon the green grass, to be fed. But I never could gainsay or resist the few, simply spoken words, that revealed the cherished purpose of his soul, adorned, as they were, with eloquence of his unobtrusive and devoted piety. Of the difficulties and hardships endured by that faithful little band before a flourishing church was really established, and what part the subject of this brief history took in it, I must refer you to others, who know the particulars better than I do, and will proceed to other matters. Early in the fall of 1848 we placed our dear Lizzie at school in Philadelphia, under the care of Mrs. Gardell, who deservedly enjoyed the highest reputation as an instructress of young ladies, being untiring in her efforts to cultivate their hearts, no less than their minds and manners. From the letters of her father, written during that time, I will make but one quotation, merely to show how earnestly he ever longed for the spiritual good of his beloved daughter: �Do you ever think on the subject of your soul�s salvation?-�of its value-�of the importance of giving the subject that attention its magnitude demands, in the morning of life, when the feelings and emotions of the heart are warm and generous-�before the temper and disposition are soured by disappointment? It was for this reason our blessed Saviour desired the young to come unto Him. My dear daughter, you cannot tell how happy your mother and I would be to know that you had consecrated yourself, heart, soul, and body, to the Lord, to serve Him faithfully in this world, that you might be permitted to enjoy Him in mansions of peace in that which is to come. This is the tenor of our morning and evening prayers, and, we trust, of yours also.� It was our intention to keep our Lizzie at this school for two years, but, the cholera making its appearance in the United States-�a more terrible epidemic than ever before, in the spring of 1849-�determined us to bring her home at the expiration of the first year. Especially as this fearful disease had exhausted itself in St. Louis during that summer, while we were with her at Newport and Nahant, out of its reach, and as it had not yet swept through Philadelphia, we deemed it safest to bring her home, where she might still pursue her studies under the instruction of private teachers. From the time we had solemnly vowed at the baptismal font to train our child, not for this perishing world, but for Heaven, and thereby could claim the rich promise of a covenant-keeping God-��I will be a God to you, and to your seed��-nothing had caused us more anxiety than to know how wisely and faithfully to discharge our duties towards her. Whether strictly to force her into measures, or, by a mild and firm treatment, to win her to love the religion of her parents, was often discussed by us when alone in our chamber. We observed, with pain, that many of the children of our beloved church, whose parents believed that they could do no better part by them than strictly to carry out the rules of the church concerning worldliness, and would not, for any consideration, allow them to learn how to dance, or to attend a dancing party, were by far the giddiest and most reckless of young people. Some, first uniting with the Church, and afterwards disgracing their profession, while still under parental guidance; others, waiting until they were married, and were countenanced by a worldly husband, before throwing off all restraint, and showing these �long-faced Presbyterians� how amazingly dashy and gay they could be. With what natural grace and ease they can now discuss the merits or demerits of the last play! What a keen relish they have for balls! How charming the masquerade was! What delightful sport, in masque, to tell disagreeable and sarcastic truths (or falsities, perhaps), to some luckless ones who very innocently, but ignorantly, preferred to look on at the droll sight with their faces uncovered! Oh, what a disgrace to the child, who, for the sake of a few years (perhaps days) of false and empty pleasure, can do such violence to the feelings of parents, who, whatever their errors, truly love, and would sacrifice everything, except their hope of Heaven, to bless their children and do them good. Your grandfather, my dear children, who was no extremist, but was �moderate in all things,� thought it best to let his child enjoy everything that was innocent; that, while an act of disobedience-�an untruth, or any direct breach of �The Commandments�-�would cause his displeasure, and was followed by a look that penetrated your mother�s soul, and was a far greater punishment than the rod of her mother, yet she might dance as much as she pleased, for �dancing was children�s sport.� But when she would gravely ask, if, like her school-mates, she might not go to a dancing school, she would be told that her papa and mamma had promised God to bring her up for Heaven, and that they would not be doing that if they fitted her for the gay world: that she must not forget that she was a baptized child of the Church. If she looked doubtful, or was inclined to urge the matter, we would ask her if she wanted us to break our word to God-�which, like any other conscientious child, she would recoil from. When in her sixteenth year, however, while at boarding-school in Mobile, she expressed a greater desire than ever before to take lessons in dancing. They were given in the school, and confined to the pupils; not at night, but in the afternoon, when she required exercise instead of sleep; and we determined, after serious and prayerful reflection, to indulge her in this very natural wish, believing that longer opposition might be attended with a still stronger desire for the forbidden thing, which she could see no harm in, nor we, if confined to the social circle. We knew that God alone could make her a Christian�-could turn her heart from the love of the world to that of holiness-�and we did not believe that He would be less willing to do so because of our yielding to her wishes in this respect, which, our child clearly understood, was done, not from inconsistency on our part, or a vain desire to see her admired in the world; but from a conviction that, at her age, some consideration should be shown to her reasonable desires; especially as she was far from esteeming this indulgence as a license to unbounded worldliness; that the theater and the ball-room were to be conscientiously avoided, as the road that led directly away from all that was pure, holy and happy. And I am now gratified in saying that we have never had cause to regret the course we pursued in this matter -�which ceased to be overrated as soon as its depths were sounded-�our daughter finding, by experience, how empty and shallow this greatly overrated enjoyment is, compared to others, even of a worldly and social nature; how far it falls below the more refined joys of a less conspicuous but more reasonable and choice character, which the cultivated alone can appreciate. The young lady days, no less than those of her childhood, your mother will tell you, were happy days. Restrained in that only which her parents, and her own conscience, deemed wrong, she was as free and joyous as the birds that carol in their native air. When her sprightly and impulsive nature inclined her to go beyond the bounds of propriety, she was checked. Readily indulged in every reasonable desire, and knowing that nothing worldly afforded her parents so much happiness as that of her own, she did not long mourn over occasional disappointments in personal gratification, which, if indulged in, might have reasonably reflected discredit, if not on her, at least on the religious position of her parents. She had to be reminded, now and then, that she was the child of an Elder of the Church; but never did she intentionally do violence to the feelings or views of him she so much reverenced and loved. This reminds me of a circumstance, that I will relate: One evening, when your mother was dressing for a party, which was to be given at the house of a friend, a very serious accident occurred a few squares from us. A May-day celebration of school-girls, with their teachers, parents and friends, were suddenly startled with the sound and movement of a falling house, and, in a moment, from the giving way of the floor, they were precipitated from the second story of the house down to the first, and, after a moment�s pause, into the cellar. The alarm was soon noised abroad, and, in a very short time, the building was surrounded by persons-�some, who had relatives there, in agony to know the worst concerning them, some from curiosity, and others to render assistance to the sufferers. Your grandfather rushed to the spot, and remained there as long as there was anything for him to do, in encouraging the sufferers, and in assisting them to their homes. No one was killed�-though I think one person died from the injuries received there, a few days after the event; but many were dreadfully bruised, and some had limbs broken. After learning who constituted the assembly, who was hurt, and how much, and finding that, although we knew two or three of the injured persons, and entertained a high respect for them, they were not among our particular friends, nor even in our visiting circle--daughter and I concluded that there could be no impropriety in her attending the party: the time of starting having been delayed for awhile, until we were fully assured of all the facts, and had recovered from the shock felt upon the first alarm. In less than half an hour after she had gone, her father returned from the scene of the disaster, and, learning that Lizzie had gone to the party, was amazed and greatly excited, that, �when our neighbors were dying around us,� our child, knowing the fact, should be permitted to make one of a gay and thoughtless crowd! I was taken aback, for I had not realized the distressing condition of the wounded, and undertook to explain; but feeling condemned, mortified, and chagrined, I immediately proposed to send for her, which he promptly approved of, and, in a few moments, the carriage (which had just returned) was sent back, with an explanatory note from me. Lizzie had that moment taken her place in a cotillion, when the note was handed her. She read it, made an apology to her partner, an explanation to her hostess, bidding her �good evening,� and, in a few minutes more, she was handed into the parlor at home by her friend and escort, regretting, most of all, that she had wounded that kind and tender father, who so deeply sympathized in the sorrows and sufferings of others. Our house was a gay one. It was thought too much so by some, and perhaps gave umbrage to the feelings of a few of them, who, judging from without, as they passed to and fro, and heard music, and could discern from the street the moving of the heads in the brilliantly lighted parlors, thought, and said, too, �what a shame to reflect discredit upon the cause of Christ by revelry and dancing.� �How much better it would be to appropriate the expenditure of money in these costly preparations to the poor,� etc., etc. But, could they have seen and felt the influence of a Christian light, of which he alone who reflected it was unconscious, as he moved about in congenial mood with the young and gay, or, quietly conversed with the grave, perhaps his own dear pastor; had they but known that the calls upon the benevolence of the Christian man were as sacred, and as cheerfully granted, as those of the indulgent father, perhaps more so, they would not, I am sure, have been so censorious. And then, had they known the facts in the case, that no instrument of music, excepting the piano and guitar, and occasionally a flute, and no professor to play on them, for the purpose of keeping up a dance, had ever been in our house, these worthy people, fastidious Christians as they may have been, could not have felt so grieved. We used wine too, but only at dinner and at suppers, with the ladies. No side-board drinking was ever done in our house. In our early married life even this was not our custom, for several reasons, two of which I will name: We were members of the old temperance society, which, however, did not forbid the moderate use of wine; but to be consistent with the spirit of our pledge, we used it only when some friend dined with us, whom we supposed was so accustomed to it, that he could not dine with comfort or pleasure without it. We did at one time introduce claret, as an every-day drink at dinner. We had been South for the first time, where the use of this mild wine is a universal practice, especially in New Orleans and Mobile. My husband and sister became quite fond of it, and so did our little Lizzie, who was then only five years old. Her father, consequently, purchased a cask for home use, had it bottled and sent to the house. But we found that our �cold water� brothers became quite excited after drinking it, one saying-��Sister, I felt like walking over the tops of houses, yesterday, after dinner.� Another complained of the wine flying up into his face, making it so red, and all three appearing a little more merry than usual. Their good brother-in-law, never having known what a selfish feeling was, thought this may be the first step towards giving these boys a taste for drink, and determined at once to forego personal gratification in the use of a beverage which he really enjoyed, and felt all the better for. Next day, by order, the wine was not brought, as usual, to the table. No remark was made about it, until one of �the boys� asked the servant to hand it. My husband then in his ordinary modest cheerful way, explained the reason why the wine was not there. From which time we relapsed into our previous habit of offering a glass of sherry or madeira, only when politeness suggested it. But by the time our daughter was grown up, these brother-sons of his were men, with their habits formed, and capable of judging for themselves, and he no longer felt it incumbent upon him to be over strict. �Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind.� �To his own Master he standeth or falleth.� The religion of Jesus Christ is designed for all nations and people, whatever may be their peculiar views, tastes, or vices, and while it cannot exist in a corrupt heart --and when that has been changed, savingly touched by the Holy Spirit, the true light will shine out of it-�yet we should all be careful not to measure other Christians in our measure, which, while it may be the best one for us, may not be exactly adapted to them. �By their fruits you shall know them,� which the Apostle defines thus: �The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.� Pleasant and merry times your dear mother had at home, with her young friends, and long to be remembered. But more cherished still to her are the recollections of our religious hours. The same sweet hymns of praise that she loved to sing, while away at school, that would bring tears trickling down her sunny face, and with them that relief which her home-sick heart required, ascended in former times at our morning and evening orison. A few friends dropping in to tea were no excuse to evade the worship of our God. Regularly the Bible and hymn books were placed, before retiring from table, in front of your grandfather, and without an apology, excepting occasionally he might say, �it is our habit,� as he turned the leaves of the Blessed Book. There were a few restrictions with regard to how often your mother, when a young lady, should accept invitations to spend the evening out, or have invited company at home, but none was so strictly regarded as the one concerning Saturday night: for, as in early childhood she had been taught to put away her toys and irreligious books before the dawn of the Sabbath, she now found it easy and natural, if not to prepare her mind for the sacred day, at least to engage in nothing which might physically unfit her for its enjoyments. And the Sabbath was esteemed �the day of all the week the best.� Often felt so by her, who, in the midst of this fascinating and beautiful world, never forgot that it was the burden of her father�s prayers that like �Mary of old, she might choose that good part which should never be taken from her, and learn like her, to sit humbly at the feet of Jesus.� And this quiet day of rest, so still, so sweet, so unlike the bustle of the world without, is well calculated to arrest the current of worldly thought, and cause the mind to revert to the impressions of happy childhood, and often to incite a desire for joys more pure and stable than Earth can afford. Christians of an ardent temperament, who have come out from the world without having had previous religious training, are apt to go to extremes, and in trying to keep the Sabbath holy sometimes become slaves to the day, and only breathe freely when Monday comes. This was not the case with your grandfather. The Sabbath seemed to be made for him, not he for the Sabbath. It was his day of sacred rest, in which, however, he was not afraid to laugh as heartily as on other days; nor was he so absorbed in religious duties as to make him less thoughtful of the ordinary claims of life. I have often seen him on the afternoon of that day, when the servants were all out, lay down his religious book or newspaper, and go out to the stable, lead the horses into the yard, water them at the hydrant, and then turn them loose on the grass plot; and, seemingly with the greatest delight, he would watch them as they alternately nipped the green grass, or engaged in those extraordinary fantastic exercises which horses that have been pent up in the stable, or in harness all the week, know so well how to perform. Our back yard was separated from the front by a grape arbor, which extended entirely across, and beyond which boundary the horses were not allowed to pass. In this yard they had carte blanche in their Sabbath day recreation, with one exception; they were not to touch the grape vines. And they well understood from the wave of the book or handkerchief in the hand of their master (who generally, on these occasions, sat in one of the arches of the arbor) that they were to approach no nearer the forbidden thing. Even horses know what kindness is; and I have often been amused in looking at them, from the gallery, as they would follow �grandpa� about the yard evincing evident satisfaction in the many caresses he bestowed upon them. And had he lived, my precious little children, you would soon have learned, in your happy experience of his playfulness, and sympathy with you, on the holy day, that he was far from being a Puritan in his views and feelings. In the fall of 1852, again in search of health, which of all things belonging to this life (save an unblemished character) was ever the most prized by your dear grandfather, we determined to pass the whole of the approaching winter in the South. We started early in November, went to �Bailey�s Springs,� in North Alabama, intending to proceed from thence to Charleston, then to Mobile, and take New Orleans in our way home in the spring. But after reaching �the Springs� we concluded to give them a fair trial before proceeding further, as we understood from friends, who had tested these waters, that they often proved as beneficial in winter as in summer. Accordingly as we had learned that the accommodations were very indifferent, we made arrangements with the proprietor to rent us three nice, new log cabins, telegraphed to St. Louis for our servants, carriage and horses, and were speedily set up for ourselves. With our own kitchen and cook we needed nothing, for Bailey Springs were situated only nine miles from Florence, where my parents had lived seven years, more than twenty years previous, and our experience did not prove the old adage, �out of sight out of mind,� or the truth of the poetical effusion, �what is friendship but a name.� For our old friends were friends indeed, evincing the most delicate attentions, and making up to us the deficiency in our supplies, from a carpet, to keep the wind from penetrating our open cabin floors, to dog-irons, or a dutch oven, and the like useful articles, besides many rare sweetmeats from their own choice kitchens. Our main supply of provisions, however,--for these Baileys could not understand that mortal man needed more than �hog and hominy�-�came every week from my nephew�s, who is a cotton planter, residing eighteen miles from the Springs. As sure as Friday or Saturday came, so sure came the pack horse, laden with fresh butter, mutton, &c. The presiding genius of these luxuries, who safely guided the richly laden vessel into port, was a grinning, half grown cuffy, whom they called �Bowlegs.� But my only object in telling you of this delightful, but very novel winter sojourn, made so pleasant because of the unwearied attentions, and choice society of a small circle of friends, is to give you a peep at your beloved grandfather in these new circumstances. Cut off, necessarily, a greater part of the time from society, in a wild country, without occupation or recreation, excepting such as we could originate, with many it would have been esteemed unendurable. Especially to men possessing the active and stirring habits of a city life, and to young ladies accustomed to a large circle of congenial friends. But we did not find it unendurable by any means. Your mother often said to me while there, �Mother, I did not know before that my father was such a delightful man, we really need no other society.� In his gunning excursions, which, in pleasant weather, were frequent, she often accompanied her father, and, from her account of them, upon their return, you would imagine that nothing could have been more charming; but, from the appearance of both father and daughter, you would think they had been rambling over hill and dale, scrambling through briars and wading creeks, without design, for the game that they sought was rarely found, or if found, lost again, before the inexperienced huntsman could level his gun. But who cared for that when they had so much pleasure and sport notwithstanding, and always such glorious anticipations for the morrow. Sometimes, in their eager pursuit after game, they would paddle up and down the creek, watching out on either side for ducks. On these occasions, Lizzie would hold the steering oar, while her father made vigorous use of the propelling ones; but one day his �Lady of the Lake,� (as he called her), in her excitement, at the prospect over the bluffs, of flying ducks, rose to her feet; and, reeling, tipping, over she went, which was the finale of the ducking for that day. From the beneficial effect of the exercise in walking back to �the cabins� no ill result ensued, and next day they were eager to resume their search. In rainy weather and of evenings your grandfather would often read aloud, while your mother and I were engaged in kitting or sewing; or, she would take up her guitar and sing some of those pretty Scotch airs, of which he was so fond; or, the more deep-toned German songs, which were favorites of mine. And thus we passed nearly thee months, happy months, never to be forgotten; and bidding adieu to these wilds, with improved health, and taking an affectionate leave of the kindest friends, we pursued our way farther south. The only time that your dear mother and I were separated from her father, after her return from school until her marriage, was in the summer of 1853. In a letter received from him at that time he says, �I hope and pray that daughter will seriously bring her mind to the consideration of this most momentous subject. Oh, that she would remember how good and kind and merciful God has always been to her, and how strong is the obligation she is under to consecrate herself, with all her energies, to God�s service. How happy would we be, could we be permitted to meet her at the table of our Lord, as an humble follower of the blessed Saviour, to feel that her peace is made with God, and that her calling and her election is sure. Nothing which this earth offers could confer so great happiness upon her parents. And will she not now try to find the Saviour, who is always found of them that seek Him earnestly and faithfully? Let us, dear wife, pray more earnestly, that our kind heavenly Father would add this, our greatest mercy and blessing, to the innumerable ones that have followed us all the days of our lives.� Our kind heavenly Father did �add this, our greatest mercy and blessing, to the innumerable ones that had followed us all the days of our lives,� for not long after this we were permitted to sit together, father, mother, and child, at the table of our Lord. Your beloved mother having consecrated her heart to the blessed Saviour, determined to make a public profession of her faith on the Sabbath morning of February 5th, 1854, when, in the presence of the congregation of �Pine Street Presbyterian Church,� she went forward to the pulpit (accompanied by her precious father), and there, under the ministration of Rev. S. B. McPheeters, dedicated herself, soul and body, to the service of �the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the only living and true God.� As soon as this solemn ceremony was concluded, the sweet tones of the organ, accompanied by the choir, came floating over our heads, and seemed like the music of heaven to our souls. They sang: 1. �People of the living God, I have sought the world around, Paths of sin and sorrow trod, Peace and comfort no where found: Now to you my spirit turns, Turns a fugitive unblest; Brethren, where your altar burns, O! receive me into rest. 2. �Lonely I no longer roam, Like the cloud, the wind, the wave; Where you dwell shall be my home, Where you die shall be my grave; Mine the God whom you adore, Your Redeemer shall be mine; Earth can fill my soul no more, Every idol I resign. 3. �Tell me not of gain or loss, Ease, enjoyment, pomp and power; Welcome poverty and cross Shame, reproach, affliction�s hour: �Follow me!� I know thy voice; Jesus, Lord, thy steps I see; Now I take thy yoke by choice; Light thy burden now to me.� On the 23rd of February, 1854, we gave our dearly beloved child away, to your own dear father. And the light and joy of our house and hearts, the free and joyous hearted girl, became a wife. Affectionately yours, GRANDMA. Letter Fourteen My Dear Grandchildren: Before speaking of the changes, the marriage of your mother brought, and the life of self-denial led by her father, in consequence of it, I will relate a few incidents of his every day life. I have already said he was kind to the poor. He was systematic in his contribution for the benefit of this large class in every city; but that did not deprive him of the pleasure of throwing a few dimes into the hands of every applicant, although he often felt that they might be used for a bad purpose and do more harm than good to the recipient. On one occasion as I entered the dining room, just before breakfast, he was having a kind and merry chat at the window, with a shabby looking son of Erin, in the yard below, who declared to his �honor� that he �hadn�t tasted a drop!� (upon which fact the matter of giving, or not giving, seemed to turn). He threw him a piece of money, saying, as he did so, �look out, my friend, or that quarter will get you into the calaboose.� Next morning it so happened that your grandfather was called to that useful, but uninteresting place, to bail out a colored servant, who was prone, occasionally, to get into scrapes, which subjected him to temporary imprisonment, when, whom should he find there, safely ensconced in one of the cells, but the Irishman, his �old customer,� as he called him, in relating the anecdote, which he did with considerable point and humor, making all around the breakfast table laugh heartily. At another time, when we were spending the summer at our country place, near the city, another citizen of the �auld country� presented himself and asked for work. �What kind of work can you do?� inquired your grandfather. �Work, sir! I am not over particular at all, at all.� �Can you dig potatoes?� �Praities! Your honor, jist thry me.� �Well, I will hire you by the day.� �By the day, and sure I�ve no place to put my head at night.� �Well then, my man, I can�t hire you, for I have no place for you to sleep.� �Sleep, is it? I�d never want a better place than with the horses-�the stable, to be sure, on a bit of straw-�there�s no better place to my mind, sir.� The poor fellow�s destitution, his worn and tattered clothes, his tangled hair, with a face young and simple, but not vicious looking, touched my husband�s heart. Poor Tommy did know how to dig potatoes, if he knew nothing else, and his new master set him to work at his small patch, with the understanding that when he got through with that, he had nothing more for him to do. But Tommy took good care not to get through with that potatoe patch, yet he was always as busy as a bee when he saw �the master� coming that way, who would praise him for his industry and wink at his tricks. Tommy was quite a Merry Andrew, and more knave than fool, after all; and when he became a decent looking man, from the present of a bran new suit�-cap-a-pie�-and a comb into the bargain, which his thoughtful benefactor procured for him, he was decidedly the lion of the kitchen cabinet. But how to get rid of Tommy became at length a serious question. Just before returning to the city in the fall, he was sent with a note, from �the master,� to a farmer, hard by, who gave him a trial, but finding that he was not capable of earning a living, or from some other cause, he soon dismissed him; and, Tommy, much to my dismay, found his way to our city residence. But as the developments of his character in civilized life, were not of the most encouraging nature, it was not a difficult matter for your grandfather to drive him from the premises. But there was another poor man, of whom I never speak or think, but with feelings of kindness and respect. His remains lie in Bellefontaine, and I have no doubt but that his spirit is happy in the presence of his God. He had lived a poor, but honest life in the west of Ireland, with his wife and children, until, like thousands of his countrymen, he was driven, by hardship and poverty, to seek a better future in this �land of the free and the home of the brave.� In extreme poverty they arrived in St. Louis. Not so many in family as when they bade adieu to their native land, having buried one or two children on the banks of the Mississippi. They had all had �ship fever,� and a more wretched looking family I had never seen. But notwithstanding their squalid poverty and wretchedness we found them industrious, good people, and Protestants, which was an unusual circumstance among this class of Irish. Your grandfather, who, in his charities, never seemed to forget that God caused his sun to shine upon the evil as well as the good, and who could not allow even a beast to suffer from want, took peculiar pleasure in ministering to the necessities of this virtuous family, and reaped the rare reward of a rich return in gratitude and love. Poor David appeared to look up to him as to a superior being, always addressing him as �Your honor,� in the most respectful manner. One day as I was coming out of church I was attracted by the subdued look of this good man, whose tearful eyes were fixed on Rev. Mr. McPheeters and your grandfather, as they walked together down the aisle. I had a good excuse to stop as I was in the advance of my husband, and off to one side I saw him bow most reverently, as he said, �Your riverence�-��Your honor,� and out of the abundance of his heart, while tears streamed down his honest face, he gave utterance to his feelings of gratitude to God, and to them, for the blessedness of this holy day. The pathos and eloquence of the sermon had completely overcome him. David was a farmer, and after having been in your grandfather�s employ, at first one thing and then another, for a year or two, he finally accepted an advantageous offer, to take charge of a gentleman�s farm, some eight or ten miles from the city; and we had heard nothing from the family for several months, when, one cold rainy day in autumn, a wagon was driven up to our front door, containing his remains. His poor afflicted wife came with them, and told, that David had said, �Take me to Mr. Charless to bury me.� He had died of congestive fever. No doubt but that it was a comfort to the poor fellow in his dying hour to feel that in this distant land of strangers, he had found a friend who would not neglect �the widow and the fatherless in their affliction,� and his confidence was not misplaced, for, from the time of his death, his family lived near us, and never knew, as long as David�s good friend lived, what it was to want a friend indeed. Another anecdote of the poor just occurs to my mind, and as it exhibits your grandfather in another light, I will relate it. Immediately after dinner, on a pleasant day, my two sisters-in-law, who resided together, less than a square from us, came over to our house, with a man, who had just applied to them for assistance. They were deeply interested in behalf of this poor fellow, who was a Frenchman, and �Frenchmen,� they said, �were not apt to beg unless in real want.� They were sure he was an honest man. One of my sisters was a French Creole, and both were new beginners in active effort for the benefit of the indigent, and did not know exactly the best method of relieving the unfortunate man, �who had just arrived and had a poor sick wife and six little children on the boat at the wharf. A kind-hearted gentleman had offered them a home at his farm in Illinois, a few miles from the river, and all he wished was money sufficient to hire a horse and wagon in which to move his helpless family.� While the ladies were presenting his case to me, the Frenchman manifested great anxiety, and made the most touching appeals in the piteous expression of his face and manner. Presently, my husband, who had been indulging in his usual siesta, awoke and came down stairs. �Now, the poor fellow can tell his own story,� and �Mr. Charless� was pathetically appealed to, to listen to his tale of woe. Unfortunately for the man he was immediately recognized by your grandfather, who had but a short time before given him a cup of coffee, etc., from the kitchen, and had also procured work for him as a day laborer in a factory, which mode of subsistence not suiting the Frenchman�s taste, he had slipped out of, and ran off, before commencing work. It was soon evident, from the juxtaposition of the two, one as accusant, the other defendant, which was not to be mistaken, even by a person ignorant of the language in which they spoke, that all was not right. His friends, the ladies, stared, when, upon each renewed attempt to convict him, he would assure, in the most self-possessed and polite manner, �Your are mistaken, Monsieur, I have no doubt but that the man to whom you refer, was very like me, but not myself, I assure you, sir.� Whereupon your grandfather proposed to accompany him to the boat for the purpose of seeing his family, promising to procure him a wagon and every thing necessary for their comfort and removal. But they had not gone far before the Frenchman began to sidle off, as it to turn a corner, but finding that it was no easy matter to get away from the persevering gentleman, who insisted upon being �introduced to the Madame,� he made a clean breast of the whole thing, �Monsieur, I have no wife and little children, but you know when a poor man want he get nothing from the ladies unless he have one sick wife, and some poor little children. Excuse me, Monsieur, I mean no disrespect to you.� No one liked a joke better than your grandfather, and being something of a tease too, he more than once slily referred to the pitiable condition of the poor Frenchman, which, although enjoyed by others, was not quite so keenly relished by the ladies, who had manifested so much interest in the welfare of the honest man, and his distressed family. You are not old enough, my dear little children, to remember how devotedly fond �Grandpa� was of children, and how they all loved him, notwithstanding he was always playing some trick upon them. Sometimes at dinner when any of your little cousins were with us and would show by the interest expressed in their faces, when the dessert was being brought in, how eager they were to be �helped,� �Grandpa� would quietly and gravely say, ��Aunty,� you needn�t give Peter (or perhaps it might be Charless) any of that, he is not fond of �Charlotte Russe,�� (or whatever the nice thing might happen to be), when Peter, taken aback, half believing, half doubting, would present such a ludicrous picture, by the mingled expression of his countenance that no one present, not even little Peter himself, (when he found out it was all a joke), could avoid a hearty laugh. And thus with a thousand little ways which fascinated the children he was decidedly a favorite among them. He never forgot what he liked, and how he felt, when a boy, and could easily enter into the feelings of a boy and be a sympathizing friend and companion. I know some little boys whose parents lived on Pine Street, and although this was by no means the direct road from �the garden,� they used to watch for �dear Mr. Charless�� return from that oft-frequented place in the cool of the evening, for he would be sure to come that way and stop a minute to fill their hats with peaches or apples, etc. One of these little boys, attracted one evening by a glorious sunset, which stretched its golden streaks and varied hues far and wide, lighting up the azure blue with unusual brilliancy and beauty, asked, �Mamma, is n�t that like heaven?� �Something like it, I expect, my son.� �There�s where good Mr. Charless will go, when he dies!� said the little boy. And thus it was, even children felt the influence of such a godly life, as that of your beloved grandfather. The marriage of your dear mother, and the necessity of her being so far separated from the home of her parents, away here in Louisiana, where there is no Protestant Church, and among strangers, whose isolated lives throw an almost impassable barrier in the way of social intercourse, made it incumbent on me to remain with her a greater part of the time. Your father gave your mother�s parents a very cordial and pressing invitation to spend their winters with them, promising that they would always pass the summer with us, and that we should never be separated from our precious only child. But the business relations of your grandfather made it impossible for him to do more than to pay a visit of five or six weeks during the winter; but with the tender feeling of the father he was willing to submit to the self-denial of separation from his wife, that she might be with the darling of their united hearts. In one of his letters he says, �You ask me, in your last, how I am getting on, I must be honest and say, bad enough. If I were not tied hand and foot I would cut loose from these cold regions and lonely habitations, and fly away to my �ain wifey, and my ain bairns� in the sunny south.� Again he says, when longing to see me, �But I would not have you come too soon, as I know how changeable March and April are here, and how delightful they must be in Louisiana.� At another time he says, �Kiss Louis, Lizzie and the babies for me, and believe me that whatever claims business or other ties, may have one me, my heart is ever with my dear ones.� In the winter of 1855 he was elected �President of the Bank of Missouri.� I find among my newspaper slips, an article relative to that fact which I will copy: �We announced in our article of Friday last that the name of Joseph Charless, Esq., would probably pass through the Legislature, as the new President of the 'Bank of the State of Missouri.� The Telegraph of this morning announces his election to that important post. �It is proper for us to say to our distant readers, who Mr. Charless is, and we shall assume to speak of his capacity for the important post confided to him, by the Legislative wisdom of the State. �The Bank of Missouri is a State institution; were it otherwise we question whether we would refer to the matter at all. It is also by the wisdom of our fathers constituted (vide the Constitution) a monopoly, a moneyed monopoly too, and therefore, wields great power, and it is important to the people of this State to know in whose hands this great moneyed power is to be vested for the next two years, by the act of Legislature, if (perchance) the Bank is not turned into a private corporation, by act of Assembly, with the concurrence of private stockholders. We do not intend to tire our readers with a �long yarn,� and therefore proceed to say, that, Mr. Charless has lived, man and boy, in this State and in this city 45 years, being the worthy son of a most respected sire, and is now about 50 years of age. Mr. Charless is a gentleman of fair financial ability, and has managed his own private affairs in the prosecution of a large business, with prudence, skill and judgment, and the firm, of which he is head, enjoys a high credit, both at home and abroad. �He is a gentleman, too, of great suavity of manner, and exhibits a kind spirit in all his intercourse with men (a good quality for the post he is called to) and withal is a man of great firmness of purpose, not stubborn, of indomitable industry, perseverance and energy, and even in moneyed panics (the worst of all panics) would probably be as calm as a summer morning, while at the same time he would act, and act, too, efficiently, looking to the interest and safety of the corporation of which he is the head, and to the interests of the mercantile and trading community, at the same time. �The private character of the new President is beyond reproach, he is a gentleman of unwavering integrity, and possesses the confidence of his fellow-citizens in an eminent degree. To use the western phrase, he is �very popular,� but we don�t esteem this of much account. It is an idle wind, and may blow south or north to-morrow and proves nothing. �The new President, however, has not only a good character but a good reputation, and whether he will mar or advance the latter during his presidency, time only can determine.� �Reputation� based upon such a characters as his, could not be marred. But, ah! it was as President of this Bank, he was brought into contact with the wretched being who has robbed the world of a benefactor, and where can I find a word in which to embody an idea of the loss of those he so dearly loved. He served two years in the State Bank, at which time the term expired, and he determined to be no longer tied down to St. Louis, more than was necessary to attend to his own business. But in the formation of the �Mechanics� Bank� the Board of Directors insisted upon have Mr. Charless for their President. He refused positively, but they still insisted; and, at length, urgently requested that he would accept the presidency of this new institution until fairly established, if for no longer time. He finally acceded to the latter proposition. But after once getting in, there was no getting out of it; for he found the gentlemen with whom he was there associated so very congenial, and his duties not onerous but pleasant, so that he continued to serve them until the day of his death, having signed the last notes on the 1st of June. It only remains for me to say, my dear children, that after the marriage of your mother, the summers were our gala time, for Lizzie and the boys and grandma were all at home, and happy Grandpa would in his excess of joy forget the lonely winters, which he had endeavored by constant occupation at the store, the bank, and in the Church, to make the best of. His evenings were spent in reading, and in holding communion, by letter writing, with his loved ones far away: which, excepting on Church evenings, he would occasionally vary by a visit to some friend, of whom, I need not say, he had many, who would have esteemed it a privilege, during my absence, to have admitted him into their family circle as a member, but, as he often said, in his letters, he preferred to visit friends, and make his home in the old familiar spot, where he could so readily call up to his mind the earthly idols of his heart. I shall ever be thankful, to the Ruler of all events, that I was with him during the whole winter immediately preceding his death. We accompanied our daughter and her three little boys to their home in Louisiana in December; staid two weeks with them, and returned together, fully determined to be no more separated; that, in future, together we would visit our children, and together return to our lonely home. For the light that had gone out when our daughter married, was no more kindled in our aching hearts, notwithstanding the joy we felt in the possession of our precious little grandchildren. In earlier life when we pictured to ourselves a green old age, with our �bairn and bairn�s bairns� about us, it was a different scene from the reality when it came with its long separations and anxieties. Our greatest solace during this last winter of our pilgrimage together, was the service of our God. And oh, with what gratitude I shall ever remember His loving kindness and tender mercies towards us. �He leadeth us in ways we know not of.� He can comfort in the darkest hour. The spring came, and with it, a month or two earlier than usual, our beloved ones returned to the longed for homestead, around which were so many tender recollections of a happy, very happy life. How your dear mother clung to that precious father! How she feasted upon his every look. She followed him every where; in his rides, in his strolls through the garden. She accompanied him at night, and at all times to Church, preferring (when we did not ride) to take the long walk with �father� to going with �mother� across the street to �the Second Church.� When business called him away from his much prized domestic circle, she would walk, with her arm wrapped around him, to the door, and follow him with her eyes down the street until out of sight. After her return home that spring, when she first saw his portrait, that he had had taken for her, she wept, and could not tell why, except that it was �faultless.� And now, my dear children, I am treading so closely upon that last morning, that I begin to tremble. On Friday, June 3, 1859, your dear grandfather arose early, and drove, as he was wont to do, to the garden. While there he gathered and tied together a bunch of flowers for his daughter, and when I came down stairs to breakfast he was sitting at the window, where he had evidently read the morning paper and laid it aside, and was enjoying the sports of his little �sonny boys� who were at play on the grass plot. I gave him my last �good morning� kiss, little thinking that in joy our lips would no more be pressed, and turning to the beautiful bouquet, which was placed in a glass of water at our daughter�s plate, I took it up and admired it. He had gathered his first fuchsia to put in her bouquet. Our last breakfast is over. At worship little Charless seated himself opposite his grandpa, and observed him attentively as he read the Bible and one of the metre Psalms. We knelt in prayer, the only words of which, that I remember, are, �We thank thee, O God, that thy mercies are new to us every morning, and fresh every evening.� After worship he stood erect before us, his countenance full of his usual look of benevolence and love, as he asked, �What�s the order of the day? I will go around to the Planters� House, and see if Dr. and Mrs. Palmer have arrived, and will be back in ten minutes to let you know.� (Dr. and Mrs. Palmer of New Orleans were on their return from the �General Assembly� of the Presbyterian Church, and had been invited to stay with us, while they remained in St. Louis). In ten or fifteen minutes the door bell rang violently. A young man entered and tremblingly said, �Mr. Charless is badly hurt on Market Street.� I heard nothing more, but running, and hoping that he was not hurt so seriously, I found myself among a crowd of people, and then beside my dying husband! He lay on the floor in the back part of a small store, pale and sweet. Like an angel he looked to me. I did not lose my senses, and I was so impressed with the sanctity of the spot that it seems to me I dropped, but dropped very softly beside him. �Be still and know that I am God,� seemed to be spoken by the Holy One, into my ear and heart. And I was still. I thought, of course, this was an accident, but when I heard from his own pale, slightly parted lips, as he answered some one who asked, �Who did this, Mr. Charless,� that he was murdered! Where! Who! I exclaimed, could do this deed! But instantly turning to my husband, I said, �He is more to be pitied than your are, my dear, for he is a fiend! not a man.� Oh, Oh, Oh! If my Father, God, had then lifted up the veil and showed me all I have passed through since, I must have died. But he does not try us more than we are able to bear. Indeed he bestowed such rich spiritual blessings upon us (your dear mother and myself) in that dark hour, that we were astonishingly sustained. We were filled with gratitude because �dear father� was ready. We knew that he had nothing to do, but to die. Like Stephen, he �fell asleep.� My beloved children, I have his dying words written down, and after I show you �what the newspapers say,� and you have read his funeral sermon, perhaps I will tell you more about the last moments of your honored, it must be forever honored, grandfather. Yours, affectionately, GRANDMA. Belmont, March, 1861. Letter Fifteen My Dear Grandchildren: It has been nearly two years since I last wrote to you, since which time, war has desolated our once prosperous and happy country, and drenched its soil with the blood of her sons. All has been excitement and turmoil. Many widows and orphans have been made-�and the wail of anguish has been poured into the ear of the God of Sabbath. But I turn from the revolting facts which belong to the history of the nation�-to consider the last sad hours of your revered grandfather, and to copy for your instruction and admonition his dying words. After having seen something of his daily walk through life, thought upon his sad and unexpected death, and in imagination mingled with the throng that followed him to his last resting place-�your mind will naturally revert to the lonely homestead and its desolate inmates. But words cannot picture the anguished of our hearts, the gloom and loneliness of our home--after the last relic of its light and glory had passed away from our view. So you will follow me, my dear children, to that little store on Market Street; look upon the bare floor, and behold your grandfather-�the gentle and loving man, in his dying agony! Listen to his words. He knew he was dying, for he said, in answer to a hope expressed, that he might live�-�No, no, no! I am a dead man.� After a pause he uttered, fervently, �Lord Jesus, come quickly.� Again, said he, �I am a great sinner.� Some one directed him to look to Jesus. �I do look to him. He is my all. He is very precious to my soul.� Again, he said, �I deserve all I suffer, for I am a great sinner.� I heard all this, but do not know how long I had been by him, when he said to me, �Charlotte, I have loved you always-�dearly loved you�-and I love you to the end.� Then turning his eye towards your father, who was on the opposite side of him, said he, �Louis, I leave my family to you�-my wife I leave to you.� Some gentleman came up and asked, �Mr. Charless, who shot you?� He replied, �A man by the name of Thornton. I was called upon to testify against him in court last fall. While President of the Bank of Missouri, he brought me some bank notes to redeem. They were stained and had the appearance of having been buried. I asked him where he got those notes. He replied, he had bought them from some boatmen, who said they had found them under a stump, which had been pulled up from a boat having been tied to it. I told him that was a very unlikely story. When called upon to testify, I told, upon oath, what I knew about the matter, but I had no unkind feeling towards the poor fellow. I would have done him a kindness if it had been in my power. I have always tried to be a good neighbor-�to do justly-�and to love mercy. But I honor my country, and the majesty of her laws, and I have never shrunk from discharging my duty as a man, and as a Christian.� Sometime afterwards he said, �How little we know what is before us.� I remember, my children, in that dark hour, to have seen your dear mother, kneeling at the head of her precious father, in the deepest woe, alternating between glimmerings of hope, and agonizing fear. To some remark of Col Grimsley, he said, �No, Colonel, no! I forgive my murderer; from the bottom of my heart, I forgive him.� Some one asked him if he would not like to see a minister. He answered, �Send for Mr. McPheeters. You will find him at the Second Presbyterian Church, at the meeting of the Church Extension Committee.� �My dear Pastor, I am glad to see you, I have always loved you. You have tried to instruct men, and I thank you for it.� My beloved sister, for whom my heart is now bleeding�-for she too has left us and gone away, to return no more to cheer, to sympathize with, and to comfort us in our sorrows-�was at my brother�s, six miles from the city, and was late in meeting with us at this mournful scene. When she arrived, in broken accents she asked, �Is there no hope? Is there no hope?� �No hope here,� replied my husband, �but a bright hope beyond!� Thank God! for the bright hope which I have that they met again, not, as then, in sorrow, but in the full enjoyment of the blissful presence of the adorable Jesus! But, come back my thoughts from that joyous abode, to the once happy little earthly home, I used to have, and go with me, dear children, to the same parlors, where your dear mother has had so much pleasure in the days of her youth, and behold, laid on a narrow couch, in agony and blood, that noble form. The beloved and admired of all who knew him. The rooms, the halls, are filled with anxious friends, but stillness reigns. Not a sound is heard save the involuntary groans of the dying Christian. In the midst of them he would sometimes exclaim, �God have mercy upon me a sinner!� Through that long dark day, little was said. After many paroxysms of intense pain, Mr. McPheeters said, �Mr. Charless, you know something now about the sufferings of Jesus.� �Yes,� he faintly replied, �I have been thinking about that, while lying here.� Again, Mr. McPheeters repeated, �Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.� In broken accents he replied, �Nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done.� Several times, looking full in my face, said he, �I love you.� Once, with some difficulty, as if to leave his blessing, he placed his hand upon the head of your poor mother, and said, �My precious daughter.� Again and again he uttered, �My poor wife.� He well knew how desolate his poor wife would be in this bleak world without him. Towards the close of his sufferings, said he, �Will my heart strings never break? �Not my will but thine be done.�� When he was almost gone, he whispered to me, �I�-love--you.� His last words were, �I am satisfied.� PEACEFULLY HE LIVED-�PEACEFULLY HE DIED! And now, my dear children, I have but little more to say. It has been a hard struggle for me to write much that I have written; for it seemed like tearing open my heart. But the ardent desire that the virtues of my husband should not die out as his name has done, and the fear that, as one by one of those who knew and loved him, should be laid in the grave, and the bare fact that he was murdered only remain, a blush might tinge your cheeks, at the mention of his name, lest the ancestor, who thus fell, might by his evil deeds have provoked his untimely end. I have often felt, too, while penning these letters, it is useless; my grandchildren will perhaps never even take the pains to read them, and if read they may not be impressed by them or stimulated to a single effort, to imitate the being I so much love and admire, and whose blood still flows in their own veins. One of the few friends to whom I communicated my intention to write this sketch, and for whose opinion I have a high regard, wrote me as follows: �Do not suffer yourself to forget that when your grandchildren shall have become old enough to understand what you write, the present and the future will be the object of their interest, not the past and the dead. They will be unlike humanity, if they take any interest, in what so much interests you. I very much fear that your labors will wholly fail of accomplishing the good your earnest and loving heart intends.� In the same letter he also expresses a fear that it will be impossible for me to make any attempt of the kind which will not be a very partial one. In reference to this, he says: �The memory comes insensibly to dwell on all that was agreeable, and to intensify it; impartiality ceases; and the almost certain result is, a picture which all who read it, having known the object, see to be colored by the hand of love.� If I had not already written twelve or thirteen letters before this damper to my efforts came to hand; I do not know that I would have had the courage to proceed, and I am now gratified to see, in reperusing the letters of condolence which we received after the death of your grandfather, that they, no less than the public manifestations of the community where he lived and died, corroborate what I have said in relation to him. Of the forty-seven letters received from friends, from every part of the country, there is but one opinion. All speak of him as an uncommon man, whose loss is irreparable. I will copy a few extracts from these letters, scarcely knowing, however, which to select, so full they all are of praises of him, whose memory, I humbly pray, his children may ever cherish as their richest earthly inheritance. A gentleman of Cincinnati writes: �After the first stunning realization of the horrible crime of which your dear and universally beloved husband has been the victim, we continue to ask ourselves, if such a man is murdered, who can be safe? A man so kind, so just, so gentle, so good. I never knew a man whose whole life and character would have seemed a better guarantee against all violence, even of feeling.� A lady, who had passed the greater part of her life in St. Louis, writes to my brother Henry, from �East Rockport.� She says, (after an expression of her heart-felt sympathy for him, and for the bereaved wife and child): �St. Louis has not been alone in her just indignation and horror at the cruel and ruthless deed committed on one of her principal streets; the bitter lament she so recently sent forth to all parts of the country has been re-echoed back again by many hearts and voices, that never knew our poor friend. May I not then, who have known him from his early youth, be permitted to bear my testimony to his many excellencies of character, so justly portrayed by his own Pastor, and others, with whom he was associated? Yes! there is but one voice on that subject, as there should be but one earnest wish, by all who mourn this sad event, �May I die the death of the righteous, and may my last end be like his.� I know that on the face of the widowed wife and her only child, there rests the expression of unutterable sorrow, but her Maker is her husband, and her fatherless one, His peculiar care. The cold grave does not contain the immortal spirit that she saw contending in its agony for freedom from its clay casket, but it has soared away forever to the fields of light and immortality. May all with whom he has been associated, and all who shall hereafter learn the history of his amiable character, of his serene, and exalted piety, his peaceful conscience, and his martyr death, be so impressed as to join themselves to the �followers of the Cross,� and bear the same noble testimony to the excellence of our holy religion that our friend, Mr. Charless, has done.� Another lady writes, from Cumberland, Penn., thus: �My heart bleeds for you all, for well I know what a treasure you have lost. Few persons beyond your family circle had a better opportunity of knowing your beloved husband, and none, I venture to say, loved and admired him more. The world at large knew and valued him as a noble Christian gentleman, as a man of sterling integrity, and enlarged benevolence, but who could understand all his excellence and all his loveliness, but those who have been privileged, as I have so often been, to see him in the sweet relations of husband and father, to bow with him at his family altar, and to hear the fervent, yet humble, outpourings of the Christian heart before the mercy seat? Ah! well do I remember how tenderly, how sweetly, his petitions were wont to ascend for me, at the time of my deep and overwhelming sorrow; and when about to leave his hospitable roof, how affectionately he would commend the stricken one to our heavenly Father�s gracious care. These remembrances will linger about the heart as long as it throbs with life. Oh! sad, sad is the thought that I shall no more hear that sweet voice pleading with our Father God in behalf of the sorrowing ones, or for the Church of God, so dear to his heart, or committing his loved ones into his gracious care; while, with lowly meekness, he confessed and bewailed his sins, and plead for pardon with a childlike love and trust in our blessed Saviour. But oh! delightful thought, his prayers are now turned to praise.� I will copy a part of a letter, from a gentleman in the city of New York, to show what kind of an impression your dear grandfather made upon strangers. �June 4, 1859." �Very dear Madam: Although a stranger to you, I cannot repress the expression of the heart-felt sympathy of myself and my whole family for you in your late terrible bereavement. Language is totally at fault in its poverty to convey what we feel, or give words that shall comfort you in your heavy affliction. Our acquaintance with your dear husband was recent and short, but it was long enough to endear him to our hearts in no ordinary way. We had gone to the house of God in company, and taken sweet counsel together. We had mingled our songs of praise around the domestic altar, and at the same holy place had poured out our united petitions to God for his blessing on our dear families, as well as on the cause of our divine Master. Indeed, I can truly say that our intercourse with your dear husband was all that was sweet and refreshing to the Christian�s heart, and time can never efface the delightful impression he left in our family when he took an affectionate leave of us all in order to join you and his dear daughter, and grandchildren. Every look and every word as is fresh as yesterday, and his sweet memory will be cherished by Mrs. S. and myself, and all our children, every one of whom became warmly attached to him. �I feel that I am doing that which will re-open the bleeding wound, but I cannot help it, as my own emotions must have the relief which this note of sympathy only partially affords. O, how unspeakably dear to us is the thought of his readiness for the great change, and that he is now walking those golden streets, and basking in the smiles of his Saviour. And how consoling the many sweet assurances of our heavenly Father that he doth not willingly afflict, that all things work together for good to them that love God, and that as our day is, so shall our strength be.� In explanation of your grandfather having been a guest of the gentleman who wrote this letter, and yet a stranger to him, it may be of interest to you to know, that in the spring of 1859, just before the return of your dear mother and yourselves to St. Louis, from your Southern home, he paid a short visit to the city of New York, to attend to some business for the Mechanics� Bank, which brought him in contact with Mr. S., �President of the Bank of the Republic,� who gave him a pressing invitation to pass the Sabbath day with him, at his country seat, on the Hudson river. He accepted the invitation, accompanied his new made friend on Saturday afternoon, and returned Monday morning; and was thus made acquainted with a charming family, of whom he several times spoke in terms of admiration and affection. A gentleman, residing in the interior of the State of Missouri, says, in a letter to my brother Taylor: �I cannot in justice to my own feelings refrain from expressing to you the deep, deep grief I felt at the loss of our dear friend, Mr. Charless. In all my intercourse with the world I can safely say that he was the purest and best man I have ever known. Thousands have lost their best friend, society one of its brightest ornaments, and his family-�Great God, how can their loss be described. I have been proud for twenty years to claim him as my friend, and if I had no other reason for thinking well of human nature, a knowledge of his character would be sufficient. He was a credit to human nature, and I never, sir, expect to meet his equal again in all that is essential to make a good and true man.� Another gentleman, who dates his letter, Sarcoxie, June 10, in addressing the same brother, after offering his sincere condolence to him, and through him to the immediate family of the deceased, says: �My relations with Mr. Charless it is true were mostly of a business character, yet a relation of this kind of twenty years standing, could not exist with such a man without producing feelings of a kindly character. Such I entertain for him, though I never saw his face; and I am persuaded that he entertained similar feelings toward me. I shall ever cherish his memory as one of the best friends I ever had in my life.� Before closing his letter he requests a �lithograph likeness� of your grandfather, which was sent him. What a rare testimonial is this! Known only as a business man, without ever having seen his face. Your mother, in reading �Macaulay�s Essays,� a few days since, was struck with his description of the late Lord Holland, as being so much like her father. She pointed it out to me, and it so exactly accords with my views of him, also, that I think I may be excused by transferring it to this letter, for your perusal. He says of the expression of Lord Holland�s face, that it was �singularly compounded of sense, humor, courage, openness, a strong will and a sweet temper,� and that he had the �most gracious and interesting countenance that was ever lighted up by the mingled luster of intelligence and benevolence. As it was with the faces of the men of this noble family (referring to Lord Holland and his ancestors) so was it with their minds. Nature had done much for them all. She had moulded them all of that clay, of which she is most sparing. To all she had given strong reason and a sharp wit; a quick relish for every physical and intellectual enjoyment; constitutional intrepidity, and that frankness by which constitutional intrepidity is generally accompanied; spirits which nothing could depress; tempers easy, generous and placable; and that genial courtesy which has its seat in the heart, and of which artificial politeness is only a faint and cold imitation. Such a disposition is the richest inheritance that ever was entailed on any family.� Rev. Mr. Cowen, of Carondelet, on the Sabbath of June 12, 1859, preached to his congregation from the text, �He being dead yet speaketh.� After giving an exposition of the text, he calls the attention of his congregation to the lessons of instruction �which this solemn providence� (alluding to the sad death of your grandfather) teaches: 1st. �The death of Mr. Charless teaches us the mysteriousness of God�s providence.� �In the calamity, dear hearers, which has removed from our midst one of the best men of this, or any previous age of the world, and overwhelmed so many in deep sorrow, we are pointed to the cruel and murderous hand of the assassin, but this was only the proximate cause of his sudden and violent death. There is a high and remote cause to which we must look, if we would find the true source of this event, which has thrilled the heart of this whole community. That cause, dear hearers, is the providence of God.� Rev. Dr. Palmer of New Orleans, whom you recollect was to be our guest when in St. Louis, in June, 1859, told me that on that Sabbath day, when so many tearful eyes were looking for the last time upon the placid countenance of the beloved, who lay so still and cold in his coffin, he saw at the hotel where he was staying, among others who were lamenting the untimely end of Mr. Charless, men of rough appearance, who would one moment use the most horrible oaths of vengeance against the perpetrator of the bloody dead, and the next, their voices softening with expressions of tender regret, big tears were seen streaming down their cheeks, showing, as Dr. Palmer said, �how they loved the man from whom, in a moral point of view, they were so far separated, and the extraordinary influence of his life and character.� Among the many copies that were sent to us of �the Resolutions,� which were passed by the various associations of St. Louis, in honor of this dear friend, I will extract but a portion of one: �Resolved, That in the death of JOSEPH CHARLESS, Esq., we, as representatives of �The Home of the Friendless,� are called to grieve for the loss of our First Patron. He whose benefactions, stimulated into action the earliest impulses that led to the establishing of this institution, and whose sympathizing heart and ready hand followed us to the end of his life. Truly of him it may be said, �The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, and he caused the widow�s heart to sing for joy.�� In conclusion, my dear children, I am reminded as I often have been while writing these letters, that my husband was not fond of praise, and that he particularly disliked any approach to it from his wife, for he thought it almost as unbecoming in her to extol his virtues as it would have been to speak in praise of her own. He was, as I have said, an humble man, for he seemed never to forget that he had been redeemed from the curse of a broken law and was indebted to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for all that he had or was. And to God truly does the glory belong! Nature had done much for him, but Grace far more. And while, my dear children, I would again and again point you to your noble grandfather as an example worthy of your imitation, I would more earnestly direct your attention higher still, even to the Great Exemplar whom he followed at so great a distance. Attempt to compare any human standard, however exalted to this, and it wanes until it ceases to be seen before the dazzling purity of the Sun of Righteousness! Man, although he was originally made pure, has fallen very low in the scale of moral being, on account of sin. And notwithstanding he may by nature be endowed with many amiable qualities and many excellencies of character, the atmosphere of this sinful world is not favorable to their proper development, so that the virtuous and happy youth, gifted as he may be with intellectual capacity, and having ever so large a share of moral courage, may yet not be able to resist evil; and at last may become a bad, and, consequently, a discontented man. And it is certain, that, although he may live above reproach before his fellows, and achieve wonders in his career through life, he can never be noted for true moral excellence without Christianity. And now, my dear, very dear children, I am done. But I linger in saying, farewell! Oh, that you all, �children, and children�s children, even to the third and fourth generation,� may be enabled to give your hearts away, in early life, to that blessed Saviour, who alone is able to fit you for living and for dying, who alone can effectually soothe your sorrows, sweeten every earthly enjoyment, and impart to you, in the midst of the cares, trials, and dangers of life, that calm confidence so beautifully expressed by David, �The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.� That you may be guided by the precepts of God�s Holy Word, which is so faithfully taught you from week to week by your own sweet mother, my precious grandchildren, and that the dews of Divine Grace may distil from heaven upon you, making you true men and women, that you may live the life of the righteous, and at last be found among those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, is, and ever will be, the sincere and earnest prayer of, YOUR LOVING GRANDMA, C. T. CHARLESS. Belmont, December 24, 1862. Letter from Rev. S. B. McPheeters, D.D. Shelby Co., Kentucky, Sept. 5, 1865. TO THE GRANDCHILDREN OF MR. JOSEPH CHARLESS. My Dear Young Friends: Your Grandmother has told me of the letters she has addressed to you, concerning the life of your Grandfather Charless, giving many incidents and recollections of him, which I doubt not will be of the greatest interest to you, and to those who will come after you; at her request, I will also add a letter on the same subject. Before doing so, however, I wish to say, that as you are all, at the time I am writing, quite young, and as you will not probably read this until some years are passed, I shall not address you as small children, but anticipating a little, I will have you in my mind, and address you, as you will be a few years hence. I wish very much that I could give you the picture of your Grandfather, as he was, and as he lives in my memory. And when I first undertook the pleasant task, so distinct was his whole character upon my memory, and so dear was the recollection of Mr. Charless to my heart, that I thought it would be easy to transfer to paper the image that was in my mind. But I have not found it so. I have once and again failed to satisfy myself in efforts I made to draw his moral and social portrait, nor do I know that I will succeed better now. But you may ask what is the difficulty? I will reply by an illustration from nature. When one is familiar with a landscape that is marked by bold mountains, prominent headlands, or rushing torrents, it is not difficult to describe such scenery so that it is at once recognized. Very different, however, it is when one attempts to tell in detail, what it is that makes a rich valley, in a bright spring morning, such an object of beauty and delight to the soul. There are a thousand objects too minute for detailed description, which, blended, charm the eye and please the fancy, and make us exclaim, How beautiful! The verdant grass, and modest flower, and budding tree, and singing bird, and genial sun, and balmy air, and light, and shade, all combine to make a scene, which he who sees it feels, but cannot easily reproduce in the mind of another. So it is with Mr. Charless. That which gave him his peculiar charm was not one or two striking characteristics which distinguished him from other men, but it was a beautiful combination of many noble and lovely traits, in proportions so just, and in harmony so pleasing, that when I have attempted to select this and that characteristic for description, I feel that I have succeeded about as well, as if I had collected a bouquet from the valley of which I just spoke, and should give it to a friend as a picture of the landscape itself. The truth is, my young friends, you will never truly know your Grandfather unless you are so happy as to meet him in heaven. And yet this is no reason that you should not desire to know something of him, and form some true idea of his character. And it is with the hope that I may add to your pleasure that I shall try and give you some account of him from my own personal knowledge and intercourse with him. My relations to Mr. Charless were intimate for about eight years, I being, during that time, the Pastor of the Church in which he was a Ruling Elder. This official connection necessarily brought me in frequent intercourse with him, and as it was hardly possible to know such a man at all, without wishing to know him better, our intercourse soon ripened into friendship, which continued while he lived. How well do I remember the first time I saw Mr. Charless, and the impression he made upon me. I had just come to St. Louis, from Virginia, to visit Westminster Church, with a view of settlement as its Pastor, if we should be mutually pleased. Being comparatively young and inexperienced, I felt much diffidence in undertaking the charge of a Church in a large city. It would have taken little to have discouraged me and made me abandon the thought; when I saw St. Louis, I felt so unfit to labor in such a place, that I was more than half regretting that I had listened to the invitation. As soon as he learned that I had arrived he called to see me. And there was something so cordial and winning in his manner, he was so frank and kind, that I at once felt that I could give him my confidence, and that with such men I would love to live and labor. It was Mr. Charless, more than all others in St. Louis, that induced me to make it my home. It would be easy for me to fill sheets with my recollections of personal kindnesses shown me. I never went to him discouraged or dispirited that he did not impart some of the cheerful hope, which was so characteristic of his own mind. I never sought his advice when perplexed, or in doubt, that he did not, by his wise counsel, throw light on the matters presented. But I will not dwell on these things, yet I can never forget them. I have had other friends who were very dear to me, but never such a friend as Mr. Charless; and what he was to me in our peculiar relations, such he was also to many, many others, in the various relations of life. But while so true and valuable a friend, I do not think I ever knew a man who made fewer declarations or professions of friendship. You will get a very good idea of your grandfather�s personal appearance from the excellent portraits of him in the family. He was slightly above the average height, well developed, without being corpulent, had a firm elastic step, and motions indicating vigor and health. His eye was bright, but mild, his features regular and unusually handsome, and his countenance was habitually lighted up by an intelligence and benignity which gave it a peculiar charm, and inspired even strangers with a confidence that such a face could not belong to any but a good and upright man. Mr. Charless was an exceedingly pleasant companion, and, without being either brilliant or witty in conversation, his society was courted and his arrival was always hailed with pleasure by the company in which he mingled, for he brought with him a bright face, a cheerful heart, a genial humor and hearty cordiality that seemed to diffuse itself through all around-�children, young people and old people seemed alike to enjoy his society�-yet he never seemed to me to make an effort to �be agreeable,� he only acted out his natural feelings and disposition, and this was agreeable. I hesitate some in describing your grandfather as a very polished and polite man. I fear you might put a meaning to those words which would lead you into a wrong view of his character: there is a polish and politeness that is the result of art and painstaking-�a thing on the surface-�often a disguise, having its root in expediency, always self-conscious and often selfish-�something that may please us because it flatters us, but does not win us because we cannot trust it. Nothing could be more unlike Mr. Charless than this. Yet there is a polish which flows from a nice sense of what is fitting and proper to be done in social intercourse, from ease and self-possession, from a kind heart and desire to make others happy; a politeness that is made up of a thousand little acts of self-denial for the comfort of others; that does not obtrude itself upon your notice, but is felt in making you easy; that flows, not from rules, but from good principles and a generous nature, in this sense Mr. Charless was eminently a polished and polite man. I have seen him with persons in humble life, he made them easy and treated them with kindness. I have seen him with men of eminent positions and great reputation, he was at perfect ease himself and commanded their marked respect. Mr. Charless was not a learned man, and made no pretensions to learning, yet he was remarkably well informed; kept himself acquainted with the current literature of the day, and conversed with intelligence and good sense on all matters that came up in general society. On more than one occasion he surprised me, by showing an amount and accuracy of acquaintance with subjects which I had supposed lay out of the range of his investigation, and of which I should never have known that he had a knowledge had they not casually come up in conversation. I met him one day, and after some general conversation he gave me a book, remarking, �Here is a work to which a friend called my attention. I have read it with so much pleasure that I sent for a copy for you.� When I got home I was surprised to find it an elaborate and scientific treatise on the nature of the Church, a work which, I venture the assertion, not one layman in five hundred would have thought of reading, or would have finished if he had begun it. You will never hear any one who knew your grandfather speak of him without mentioning his great generosity, liberality and kindness to the poor, but no one will ever be able to tell you how much he did to alleviate the sorrows of the distressed, or to help the needy, for he did these things so quietly that none knew it but those received, and Him who sees our secret things; but in my visits to the poor I have seen the tears start in the eyes of widows and orphans at the mention of his name, which told better than words who was their friend and benefactor. Mr. Charless was one of the few men I have ever known who seemed to think, as much as they should, that the manner of bestowing a benefaction, while it adds nothing to the cost of what is given, adds immensely to the value of the thing given, in the estimation of those who receive it. A friend of mind, who was soliciting funds for a charitable purpose, said to me, as he returned from an interview with your grandfather, �It is a pleasure to ask a subscription from Mr. Charless. He gives as though you conferred a favor on him in affording him the opportunity of �giving.�� This was very characteristic. Mr. Charless was a modest and very unassuming man, and never pushed himself forward, yet he had a just estimate of his abilities, knew what he could do, and when called upon by circumstances, or by those with whom he acted, to take the lead, if the thing commended itself to his judgment, without ado or apology, he went forward and did it; and I have often been surprised to see how much he could accomplish and how well he did what he undertook. Besides his private business which was large, and complicated, one would think, enough for any man, he took a most active part in all the operations of the Church, in the various benevolent and educational schemes, in commercial and municipal enterprises, and still found time to attend to a multitude of little business matters for friends, who would avail themselves of his experience, and, I will add, (being one of the number myself), impose upon his kindness. But while always busy he never seemed in a hurry. The fact is, he had, in addition to great energy, a most uncommon amount of business talent. He was a thorough business man, and conducted all his affairs on strict business principles; a little circumstance will illustrate this: I was settling with him an account of a few dollars, in some matter which he had attended to for me. I handed him the money and there was a few cents in change, which neither he nor I could make. It was so insignificant that I said, �Never mind, Mr. Charless, that makes no difference.� He replied, promptly, �But it does make a difference; the account is not settled until that is paid,� and away he went to the other end of the store, stepped to his cashier, got the exact change, and handing it to me, said, with a smile, �You preachers are too often poor business men, and I want my Pastor to be not only a good preacher, but a good business man. The rule is, meet your engagements to the minute and pay your debts to the cent.� The whole thing made, as he designed it should, an impression on my mind, and has been of great advantage to me. I have often repeated the anecdote to other clergymen, and hope it has been an advantage to them. You will often hear from those who knew your grandfather speak of his great kindness, his habitual placidity of temper, and uncommon sweetness of disposition, and all this was eminently true of him; but if you are led by such accounts to think of him as in any degree what is called a yea-nay sort of character, or as destitute of spirit, or even incapable of passion, you will make a great mistake. He was not at all deficient in firmness, and had not only moral but physical courage in an eminent degree. As he never wantonly gave so he never tamely brooked an indignity. His eye could flash as well as laugh. I was one day conversing pleasantly with him in his private office in the Bank, of which he was President. A gentleman came in, evidently in a pet, and addressing Mr. Charless, spoke in a very harsh way, and with broad insinuations against one of the Bank Directors, in relation to some transaction. Before he had well finished his invective Mr. Charless rose to his feet, his eye kindling, every feature of his faced marked by sternness, and replied, �Sir, the gentleman of whom you speak is my personal friend. The charge you bring against him is not true; the facts were these (mentioning them concisely but clearly), and now, sir, you must retract what you have said.� The gentleman evidently taken aback, both Mr. Charless� statement of the case, and manner, immediately calmed down, made an explanation and withdrew. I could not resist a hearty laugh at the storm which had so suddenly burst upon us and had been as suddenly quelled, and turning to him said, �Mr. Charless, I had no idea you had so much pluck.� He joined the laugh and said, �My Irish will sometimes come up. Besides,� he added, more gravely, �that man took no pains to learn the facts of the case, and has a way of bullying that I wanted to put a stop to.� Few men had a keener relish for what was humorous or enjoyed a laugh better than Mr. Charless, and with little children he was playful and would sometimes even join in their sports, and if he did not join them he would look on and seemed to relish with great zest their pranks and joyous shouts and gambols. Perhaps some persons would not have mentioned such a trait of character, as it might seem to imply a want of dignity. I beg leave to differ from such. There is a dignity of manner and a dignity of character, not only quite separable, but often separated. I have known men who had great dignity of manner and very little dignity of character, and they are to me among the most irksome of mortals. Mr. Charless, while not deficient in dignity of manner, when occasion called for it, was truly dignified in character. The one he might drop for a little while, the other he never dropped. The children, with whom he might sport or familiarly talk, respected him just as much as if he had the manner of a Judge on the bench, and then they loved him far better; and there was to me in these occasional overflowings of a genial nature, this return of youthful feeling in mature manhood, this sympathy with children, something very beautiful. It showed how large his heart was, how little he been soured or soiled by contact with the world, how broad, and healthy and true a nature God had endowed him with. The very same large humanity that disposed him to enter into the sports of children led him also to help the widow, to befriend the friendless and soothe the sorrowing. I have said nothing yet about your grandfather�s religious character, and yet this was by far his greatest excellence. He was truly and sincerely pious. By which I mean he truly loved, trusted in, and obeyed Christ. But, although I am a preacher, I do not intend to write you a sermon, and I hope you will not take it as so intended, in what I am about to say to you of the religious character of Mr. Charless. I esteem it by far your greatest loss, in his death before you were old enough to understand him, that you are deprived of the means of learning something about true religion as it was exemplified in him. Most young people, if not pious themselves, have an idea that religion is in its nature gloomy, or at least that it would interfere with the happiness and vivacity of youth. I know this, for I once thought and felt so myself. And it is just to correct this that I so much regret that you did not know your grandfather Charless; you could not have known him without knowing that he was truly pious, nor could you have helped seeing that he was a happy man, and that his religion, yes, his religion, so far from interfering with, promoted his happiness. You may meet with other examples, but you will rarely find one so striking as his. And I hold, as a matter of fairness, that religion should be judged by just such examples. I know that there are truly pious persons who are not attractive, who are melancholy, or who are sometimes even repulsive in their characters. Do you ask, Why not judge the effect of religion from these as well as from better and more pleasing cases? My reply is: What you see and judge may not be religion at all. In the repulsive it may be only the coarse, rough natural character; with the melancholy it may be dyspepsia. You do not form your estimate of what the glorious light of the sun does in gladdening and beautifying the earth, by its vain struggles with mists and fogs; it may fail to make a potato patch sublime or grand, and yet be in itself both sublime and grand. No, you judge of it by objects in themselves calculated to reflect its excellence, by the life and joy it diffuses on all animated nature, and especially by the exquisite beauty it imparts to some lovely valley, or to grand old mountains whose snow summits it drenches in light until they glitter and radiate like the gates of heaven. So, precisely, in fairness, you should judge religion. Hence I insist that men like Mr. Charless are examples by which religion should be judged. Nature did much for him, made him generous and kind, gave him a large heart and noble impulses. Grace elevated, strengthened, purified all these natural qualities, and brought him in harmony and fellowship with God; set before him, as an object of love, confidence, and imitation, the blessed Saviour; gave him a hope which earthly losses could not dim, and a peace which they only know who have felt it. Why should it not have added to his happiness? Had he lived he would have told you himself that what real happiness he had in this life came more from his religion than all other sources. My young friends if you still stand in doubt on this point I can only say make the experiment yourselves, and if you find what I have said not true, judge me a false witness. There is a special promise made by Christ, to those who enter their closet and shut the door and pray to their Father which is in secret. How often Mr. Charless brought those words to my mind; and as I used to see him coming from home, with such a cheerful, happy face, as I saw how good men and wicked men respected and honored him, I have said to myself over and often: His Father who seeth in secret is rewarding him openly. In truth this passage was so associated with Mr. Charless in my mind, that I do not know that I have read these words for a number of years before his death and since without thinking of him as a striking illustration of its truth and beauty. I need not, in concluding, say much to you of the circumstances that snatched from his family, from you, from the Church and the community, such a man. The record of the whole event you will see in the journals, secular and religious, which your Grandmother has so thoughtfully preserved for you. I remember nothing that occurred in St. Louis, during the fourteen years that I resided there, which produced a more profound impression on the public mind, or so stirred its hot indignation, as the death of Mr. Charless by the hand of the assassin who slew him. Nothing, I believe, but the urgent request of Mr. Charless, from his bed of death, prevented the community from avenging themselves without the forms of law for the dark crime committed. And when, at the request of Mr. Charless, the community spared the life of the felon, there was all the sterner purpose that Justice should be meted out to his crime by the hand of law. And no jury could have been found in the city, who, if they had been so disposed, would have ventured to acquit him on false or frivolous pretexts, such as secured the acquittal of many a culprit. No one felt that the death of the poor wretch who did the deed was any atonement for what he had done, any more than a household can feel that the death of the viper is any atonement for the life of a favorite son it has slain. The viper is crushed and forgotten, the child is remembered, honored and cherished-�so it was in this case. The execution of the murderer created no excitement; all that men appeared to desire with regard to him was to know that he was executed, and he was dismissed with loathing and detestation from all minds. I think it exceedingly probably that there are multitudes in St. Louis who could not, without an effort recall the name of Thornton-�I do not now myself remember his given name,--but there is not a little boy or girl, there is not a citizen, living there at that time, who does not remember JOSEPH CHARLESS. And I have been struck with the fact that a number of persons who have been at my house in this State, and have asked me, as they looked at your Grandfather�s miniature that hangs on my walls-�Who is this? When I have told them, all remembered what they had heard, or seen in the papers, of his virtuous life and tragic death; but not one ever asked me the name of his assassin. So true to nature and the orderings of Providence is the proverb of Solomon: �The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.� And now, my dear young friends, let me say to each of you, if you would be virtuous, or happy, or useful, if you would be loved and deserve to be loved, honored and deserve honor, be like JOSEPH CHARLESS. And to this end may the rich blessing of God rest on each of you. Your Friend SAM�L B. McPHEETERS. 
32400	----	generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Paper and Printing Recipes A Handy Volume of Practical Recipes, Concerning the Every-Day Business of Stationers, Printers, Binders, and the Kindred Trades. PUBLISHED BY J. SAWTELLE FORD, _OFFICE OF "THE STATIONER AND PRINTER,"_ CHICAGO. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by J. SAWTELLE FORD, In the Office of the Librarian at Washington. GLIMPSE OF CONTENTS. This Volume has nearly =Two Hundred= valuable Recipes for Stationers, Printers, Bookbinders, etc. These Recipes are thoroughly practical, and such as come up in every day's work. They have been gathered from many sources, and are endorsed by the best workmen of the United States and Europe. INDEX TO RECIPES. WRITING INKS. Removing Writing Ink from Paper 1 White Ink 3 Purple Hektograph Ink 3 A Dark Red Indelible Ink 4 Making Carmine 4 Violet Ink 5 Indelible Ink 5 To make Black Ink 6 An Ink which cannot be Erased 6 Copying Ink to be used without Press or Water 3 A Cardinal Ink 7 A Portable Ink 28 Indelible India Ink 28 Copying Inks 29 Invisible Writing 68 PRINTING INKS. To Prevent Colored Inks from becoming Hard 81 To keep Colored Inks from Skinning 81 To Preserve Colored Inks 82 How to Brighten Common Qualities of Colored Inks 83 A Good Dryer 79 A Quick Dryer 61 Improved Dryer for Printing Ink 66 To take Printer's Ink out of Silk 17 Red Printing Ink 68 Black Printing Ink 69 Colors for Printing Ink 71 Principal Colors of Gold for Grinding 45 MARKING INKS, ETC. Ink for Rubber Stamps 7 Marking Ink 10 Black Ink for Stencils 6 Stencil Ink 2 Blue Marking Ink for White Goods 10 REMOVAL OF INK STAINS, ETC. To Remove Writing Ink from Paper 1 To Remove Aniline Ink from the Hands 8 To take Ink Stains from the Hands 9 To Remove Grease Spots from Paper 13 How to Remove Colored Inks 81 Paper for taking out Ink Stains 14 To Remove Ruling Ink Stains from Fingers 17 To Remove Ink Spots 19 To Remove Oil Marks from Paper 20 To Remove Ink Stains from Mahogany 20 CARE OF BOOKS. Care of Books 78 To Destroy Book Worms 77 How to Prevent Mildew on Books 78 GLUES, PASTES, MUCILAGE, ETC. Solid Pocket Glue 20 To Test Glue 21 Book-Binder's Glue 22 Cement for Glass 22 Postage Stamp Mucilage 26 To keep Mucilage Fresh 26 Mucilage 27 Mucilage for Pasteboard 27 Cement for Labels 23 A Colorless Cement 23 A Cement that will Resist the Damp 24 To make Glue Water-proof 24 Two Glue Receipts 25 A Good Paster 29 A Paste which will not Spoil 29 A Silver Solder 30 An Article for Labeling Bottles 8 For Making Dextrine 70 PRINTERS' VARNISHES. A Varnish for Color Prints 82 Printers' Varnish 83 A Varnish for Paper 13 A Transparent Paper Varnish 53 COLOR AND GOLD LEAF PRINTING. To Fix Bronze Colors on Glass 77 A Bronze or Changeable Hue 80 Gold Leaf Printing 80 Inking Surfaces for Color Work 82 Colors for Holding Bronze 2 Colors for Printing 51 ELECTROTYPING. To Prevent Electrotype Blocks from Warping 69 Electrotyping on China 42 Electrotyping Handwriting 35 WOOD CUTS AND ENGRAVING. Care of Wood Cuts 75 To Produce Engraving or Types for Printing by Photography 15 Different kinds of Engraving 36 Care of Wood Type 38 To Restore the Original Whiteness of Copper plate, Wood Engravings, etc. 42 To Transfer Engraving to Mother of Pearl 39 An Improved Process of Photo-Engraving 31 To Prevent Warping in Blocks and Wood 61 Stereotyping Wood Cuts 46 PAPER. Waterproof Paper 56 How to Size poor Drawing Paper 56 Paper Soft and Flexible 19 Incombustible Writing and Printing Paper 17 Blue-Black Writing Paper 10 Electric Paper 30 Tinning Paper and Cloth 77 Gummed Paper from Cockling 57 Qualities of Good Paper 14 Impermeable Paper 53 Aniline Ink Paper 16 To make Paper Fine and Water-proof 52 To Bleach Sheepskin Parchment White 50 Carbon Paper 54 Luminous Paper 54 Sizes and Weights of Drawing Paper 55 Bronzed Paper 55 Transparent Drawing Paper 56 Paper for Labels 14 To Split a Sheet of Paper 15 Photo-Lithographic Transfer Paper 32 MISCELLANEOUS. An Ink Restorer 2 To Obtain a Bright and Lasting Red Edge 41 To Mount Chromos 53 Sealing Wax 69 Photo Prints on Glass 46 Enamel for Fine Cards 35 To Bend a Rule 67 To Make a Corroded Pen 31 To Restore the Lustre of Morocco Leather 41 Non-erasible Pencil Marks 41 Copy Drawing in Color 57 Black Paint for Blackboards 33 To Preserve Pencil Sketches 37 Treatment of India Ink Drawings 9 To Clean Gilt Frames 67 Cleaning New Machinery 67 Washing Forms 59 A Hardening Gloss for Inks 84 A Modeling Material 84 Leaf Copying 84 Usual Sizes and Weights of Book papers 86 Usual Sizes and Weights Colored Print or Poster 86 Painting on Ebonized Wood 43 To Clean Steel Pens 33 To Clean a Chamois Skin 12 Dryer for Ruling Inks 85 Usual Sizes and Weights of News Printing Paper 86 Usual Sizes of Flat and Ledger Papers 87 Size of Newspaper Sheets and Number of Columns 85 STATIONERS' WINDOWS. Stationers' Windows 33 Hints on Dressing the Store Windows 12 To Prevent Window Steaming 18 GILDING. For Cheaply Gilding Bronze, etc. 11 Electro-Gilding in Colors 19 How Gilding is Done 43 Gilding with Gold Leaf 46 Gilding on Wood 47 Gilding in Oil 48 METALS. Coloring Metals 11 Copper Plating on Zinc 38 An Alloy for Glass or Metal 30 Writings on Metals 45 TYPE. Laying Type 76 Metal for Stereotyping 40 Effect of Petroleum Oil on Wood Type 79 Remedy for Type that Sticks in Distributing 76 Care of Wood Type 38 To Ascertain the Quantity of Plain Type Required for Newspapers 75 Repairing Battered Wood Type 82 PRINTERS' ROLLERS. Keeping Rollers when not in Use 62 Preservative of Rollers when not in Use 62 Rollers in Summer Time 63 To Keep Green Mould from Rollers 63 Treatment of Old Rollers 64 A Recipe for Printer's Rollers 64 When to Wash Rollers 66 Oils for Lubricating Roller Moulds 62 PRINTING METHODS. Gloss Printing 49 Colors for Printing 51 Off-Setting 83 Printing Envelopes 60 On "Casting Up" 74 To Prevent Set-off 61 Temperature of the Pressroom 65 LYE. A Strong Lye 79 A Cheap Lye 77 Paper and Printing Recipes. HOW TO REMOVE COMMON WRITING INK FROM PAPER WITHOUT INJURY TO THE PRINT. Common writing ink may be removed from paper without injury to the print by oxalic acid and lime, carefully washing it in water before restoring it to the volume. TO RENDER PENCIL NOTES INDELIBLE. Pencil notes found in a book, or placed there as annotations, may be rendered indelible by washing them with a soft sponge dipped in warm vellum size or milk. TO REMOVE GREASE SPOTS FROM PAPER. Grease may be removed from paper in the following manner: Warm gradually the parts containing the grease, and extract as much as possible of it by applying blotting-paper. Apply to the warm paper with a soft, clean brush, some clear essential oil of turpentine that has been boiled, and then complete the operation by rubbing over a little rectified spirits of wine. HOW TO DETECT ARSENIC IN PAPER. A simple method for detecting arsenic in paper, cards, etc., is described as follows:--Immerse the suspected paper in strong ammonia on a white plate or saucer; if the ammonia becomes blue, the presence of salt of copper is proved; then drop a crystal of nitrate of silver into the blue liquid, and, if any arsenic be present, the crystal will become coated with yellow arseniate of silver, which will disappear on stirring. AN INK RESTORER. The process consists in moistening the paper with water and then passing over the lines in writing a brush which has been wet in a solution of sulphide of ammonia. The writing will immediately appear quite dark in color, and this color, in the case of parchment, it will preserve. COLORS FOR HOLDING BRONZE. Red and green inks are good colors for holding bronze, when you are not working with size or varnish. STENCIL INK. A good and cheap stencil ink in cakes is said to be obtained by mixing lampblack with fine clay, a little gum arabic or dextrine, and enough water to bring the whole to a satisfactory consistence. COPYING INK TO BE USED WITHOUT PRESS OR WATER. Well mix three pints of jet-black writing ink and one pint of glycerine. This, if used on glazed paper, will not dry for hours, and will yield one or two fair, neat, dry copies, by simple pressure of the hand, in any good letter copy-book. The writing should not be excessively fine, nor the strokes uneven or heavy. To prevent "setting off," the leaves after copying should be removed by blotting-paper. The copies and the originals are neater than where water is used. WHITE INK. There is really no such article as "white ink." A true ink is a solution of some substance or combination of substances in liquid. Colored liquids, however, may be prepared with various substances not soluble in the liquids available for writing fluids. A "white ink" may be made by rubbing the finest zinc white, or white lead, with a dilute solution of gum arabic. It must be stirred up whenever the pen or brush is dipped into it. PURPLE HEKTOGRAPH INK. To make the purple hektograph ink:--Dissolve 1 part of methyl-violet in 8 parts of water, and add 1 part of glycerine. Gently warm the whole for about an hour, then allow to cool and add 1/4 part alcohol. It is said, on good authority, that the alcohol may be advantageously omitted, and that the following proportions will give even better results than the above, viz: Methyl-violet, 1 part; water, 7 parts; glycerine, 2 parts. This formula, it is said, produces an ink which is less liable to sink into the paper. A DARK RED INDELIBLE INK. An indelible red ink for marking linen may be made from the following formula: Prepare three separate solutions: I. Sodium carbonate 3 drs. Acacia 3 " Water 12 " With this moisten the spot to be marked, and dry and smooth with a hot flat iron. II. Platinum bichloride 1 dr. Water 2 oz. Trace the letters with this fluid, permit to dry, and finally apply solution. III. Stannous chloride 1 dr. Water, distilled 4 " TO MAKE A CARMINE. Take 9 ozs. carbonate of soda and dissolve in 27 quarts of rain-water, to which add 8 ozs. of citric acid. When boiling, add 1-1/2 lbs. of best cochineal, ground fine, and boil for one and a quarter hours. Filter and set the liquor aside until cool. Then boil the clear liquor for ten minutes with 9-1/2 ozs. of alum. Draw off, and allow the mixture to settle for two or three days. Again draw off the liquor, and wash the sediment with clear, cold, soft water, and then dry the sediment. VIOLET INK. To make violet ink:--Put 8 ozs. logwood into 3 pints of water, and boil until half the water has gone off in steam. The rest will be good ink, if strained, and supplemented by 1-1/2 ozs. gum, and 2-1/2 ozs. alum. Chloride of tin may be used instead of alum. Another plan is to mix, in hot water, 1 oz. cudbear (a dye obtained from lichen fermented in urine) and 1-1/2 ozs. pearlash; let it stand 12 hours; strain; add 3 ozs. gum and 1 oz. spirit. INDELIBLE INK. A cheap indelible ink can be made by the following recipe:--Dissolve in boiling water 20 parts of potassa, 10 parts of fine-cut leather chips, and 5 parts of flowers of sulphur are added, and the whole heated in an iron kettle until it is evaporated to dryness. Then the heat is continued until the mass becomes soft, care being taken that it does not ignite. The pot is now removed from the fire, allowed to cool, water is added, the solution strained and preserved in bottles. This ink will flow readily from the pen. HOW TO REMOVE INK-STAINS FROM THE HANDS. Ripe tomatoes will remove ink or other stains from the hands. TREATMENT OF INDIA INK DRAWINGS. An easy method for rendering drawings in Indian ink insensible to water, and thus preventing the ink from running when the drawing has to be colored and the lines are very thick:--To the water in which the ink has to be rubbed, is added a weak solution of bichromate of potash of about 2 per cent. The animal gum contained in the Indian ink combines with the bichrome, and becomes insoluble under the influence of light. BLACK INK. To make a black ink for fountain pens, add 1 part of nigrosein to 50 parts of hot water; agitate well at intervals; let it cool, and after twelve hours filter through a fine linen cloth, and add a few drops of carbolic acid to each pint. This may be diluted with three times its volume of water, and still form a good ink for ordinary pens. INK FOR RUBBER STAMPS. Aniline (red violet), 16 parts; boiling distilled water, 80 parts; glycerine, 7 parts; molasses, 3 parts. CARDINAL INK. Improved cardinal ink for draughtsmen is made as follows:--Triturate 1 gram of pure carmine with 15 grams of acetate ammonia solution and an equal quantity of distilled water, in a porcelain mortar, and allow the whole to stand for some time. In this way a portion of the alumina which is combined with the carmine dye is taken up by the acetate acid of the ammonia salt and separates as precipitate, while the pure pigment of the cochineal remains dissolved in the half saturated ammonia. It is now filtered and a few drops of pure white sugar syrup added to thicken it. In this way an excellent red drawing ink is obtained, which holds its color a long time. A solution of gum arabic cannot be employed to thicken this ink, as it still contains some acetic acid, which would coagulate the bassorine, one of the natural constituents of gum arabic. AN ARTICLE FOR LABELING BOTTLES. A very useful article for labeling bottles containing substances which would destroy ordinary labels consists of a mixture of ammonium fluoride, barium sulphate and sulphuric acid, the proportions for its manufacture being: barium sulphate, 3 parts; ammonium fluoride, 1 part; and sulphuric acid enough to decompose the fluoride and make a mixture of semi-fluid consistency. This mixture, when brought in contact with a glass surface with a common pen, at once etches a rough surface on the parts it comes in contact with. The philosophy of the action is the decomposition of the ammonium fluoride by the acid, which attacks the glass; the barium sulphate is inert, and is simply used to prevent the spreading of the markings. The mixture must be kept in bottles coated on the inside with paraffine or wax. HOW TO REMOVE ANILINE INK FROM THE HANDS. Aniline inks are now in common use, especially in connection with the various gelatine tablets for multiplying copies of written matter. Upon the hands it makes annoying stains, difficult of removal by water or acids. They may be easily washed out by using a mixture of alcohol 3 parts, and glycerine 1 part. AN INK WHICH CANNOT BE ERASED. An ink which cannot be erased from paper or parchment by any known chemical solvent, and will retain its original color indefinitely, and last as long as the material on which it is written, is made as follows:--Make a solution of shellac in borax, to which add sufficient lampblack to give the requisite depth of color. TO MAKE BLACK INK. Lactate of iron, 15 grains; powdered gum arabic, 75 grains; powdered sugar, half a drachm; gallic acid, 9 grains; hot water, 3 ounces. (Lactate of iron is a novelty in ink-making, and the above formula may possibly suit those who have a taste for writing with mucilaginous matters instead of limpid solutions.) Black Ink for Stencils. The following is commended for the preparation of a black ink or paste for use with stencils:--Boneblack, 1 lb.; molasses, 8 ozs.; sulphuric acid, 4 ozs.; dextrine, 2 ozs.; water sufficient. Mix the acid with about two ounces of water, and add it to the other ingredients, previously mixed together. When the effervescence has subsided, enough water is to be added to form a paste of convenient consistence. MARKING INK. Put two pennyworths' lunar caustic (nitrate of silver) into half a tablespoonful of gin, and in a day or two the ink is fit for use. The linen to be marked must first be wet with a strong solution of common soda, and be thoroughly dried before the ink is used upon it. The color will be faint at first, but by exposure to the sun or the fire it will become quite black and very durable. BLUE MARKING INK FOR WHITE GOODS. Crystallized nitrate of silver, dram 1 Water of ammonia, drams 3 Crystallized carbonate of soda, dram 1 Powdered gum arabic, drams 1-1/2 Sulphate of copper, grains 30 Distilled water, drams 4 Dissolve the silver salt in the ammonia; dissolve the carbonate of soda, gum arabic, and sulphate of copper in the distilled water, and mix the two solutions together. BLUE-BLACK WRITING PAPER. Take of Aleppo galls, bruised, 9 ozs.; bruised cloves, 2 drachms; cold water, 80 ozs.; sulphate of iron, 3 ozs.; sulphuric acid, 70 minims; indigo-paste, 4 drachms. Place the galls and the cloves in a gallon bottle, pour upon them the water, and let them macerate, with frequent agitation, for a fortnight. Press, and filter through paper into another gallon bottle. Next, put in the sulphate of iron, dissolve it, add the acid, and shake the whole briskly. Lastly, add the indigo-paste, mix well, and filter again through paper. Keep the ink in well-corked bottles. COLORING METALS. Metals may be rapidly colored by covering their surfaces with a thin layer of sulphuric acid. According to the thickness of the layer and the durability of its action, there may be obtained tints of gold, copper, carmine, chestnut-brown, clear and aniline blue and reddish-white. These tints are all brilliant, and if care be taken to scour the metallic objects before treating them with the acid, the color will suffer nothing from the polishing. FOR CHEAPLY GILDING BRONZES, ETC. A mixture for cheaply gilding bronzes, gas-fittings, etc.:--Two and one-half pounds cyanide of potash, five ounces carbonate of potash and two ounces cyanate of potass, the whole diluted in five pints of water, containing in solution one-fourth ounce chloride of gold. The mixture must be used at boiling heat, and, after it has been applied, the gilt surface must be varnished over. HOW TO CLEAN A CHAMOIS SKIN. When a chamois skin gets into a dirty condition, rub plenty of soft soap into it, and allow it to soak for a couple of hours in a weak solution of soda and water. Then rub it until it appears quite clean. Now take a weak solution of warm water, soda and yellow soap, and rinse the leather in this liquor, afterward wringing it in a rough towel, and drying it as quickly as possible. Do not use water alone, as that would harden the leather and make it useless. When dry brush it well and pull it about; the result will be that the leather will become almost as soft as fine silk, and will be, to all intents and purposes, far superior to most new leathers. HINTS ON DRESSING THE STORE WINDOWS. In dressing store windows avoid as far as possible placing cards or note sheets flat; endeavor in some manner to have them erect, leaning against a box or placed upon a small easel. Neither crowd your window nor place things in exact rows. Give each article plenty of space in your window; then you do not need so much to fill up, and on the following week put in the pieces you might have displayed the previous week had you crowded your window. A VARNISH FOR PAPER. A varnish for paper which produces no stains, may be prepared as follows:--Clear damar resin is covered in a flask, with four and a half to six times its weight of acetone, and allowed to stand for fourteen days at a moderate temperature, after which the clear solution is poured off. Three parts of this solution are mixed with four parts of thick collodian, and the mixture allowed to become clear by standing. It is applied with a soft hair brush in vertical strokes. At first the coating looks like a thin, white film, but on complete drying it becomes transparent and shining. It should be laid on two or three times. It retains its elasticity under all circumstances, and remains glossy in every kind of weather. TO REMOVE GREASE SPOTS FROM PAPER. The following is a recipe for removing grease spots from paper:--Scrape finely some pipe clay on the sheet of paper which is to be cleaned. Let it completely cover it, then lay a thin piece of paper over it, and pass a heated iron on it for a few seconds. Then take a perfectly clean piece of India rubber and rub off the pipe clay. In most cases one application will be found sufficient, but if it is not, repeat it. PAPER FOR TAKING OUT INK STAINS. Thick blotting paper is soaked in a concentrated solution of oxalic acid and dried. Laid immediately on a blot it takes it out without leaving a trace behind. QUALITIES OF GOOD PAPER. A good paper ought to feel tight and healthy, not clammy and soft, as if a little muscle were required. Paper-makers say that a good paper has "plenty of guts" in it, a forcible if not extremely polite expression. In buying a good paper always look out for the "guts." Clay gives paper a soft feel. Perhaps the first qualification about a good writing paper is its cleanliness and freedom from specks of all kinds. A dirty paper is never salable except to dirty people and firms who don't mind using dirty materials. PASTE FOR LABELS. For adhesive labels dissolve 1-1/2 ozs. common glue, which has laid a day in cold water, with some candy sugar, and 3/4 oz. gum arabic, in 6 ounces hot water, stirring constantly till the whole is homogeneous. If this paste is applied to labels with a brush and allowed to dry, they will then be ready for use by merely moistening with the tongue. HOW TO PRODUCE ENGRAVINGS OR TYPES FOR PRINTING BY PHOTOGRAPHY The process of producing engravings or types for printing by photography consists first, in making a sharp negative of the picture to be engraved; second, in the photographic printing of a sheet of sensitized gelatine by means of the negative; third, the development of the printed lines upon the surface of the gelatine by water; and fourth, the casting of a copy of the developed gelatine sheet in metal, the metal so produced being used for printing on the press in the ordinary manner. All this is very simple, and in the hands of experienced and skilled persons very beautiful examples of printing plates, having all the fineness and artistic effect of superior hand engraved work, may be produced. HOW TO SPLIT A SHEET OF PAPER. Get a piece of plate glass and place on it a sheet of paper; then let the paper be thoroughly soaked. With care and a little dexterity the sheet can be split by the top surface being removed. But the best plan is to paste a piece of cloth or strong paper on each side of the sheet to be split. When dry, violently and without hesitation pull the two pieces asunder, when part of the sheet will be found to have adhered to one and part to the other. Soften the paste in water and the pieces can be easily removed from the cloth. The process is generally demonstrated as a matter of curiosity, yet it can be utilized in various ways. If we want to paste in a scrap book a newspaper article printed on both sides of the paper, and possess only one copy, it is very convenient to know how to detach the one side from the other. The paper, when split, as may be imagined, is more transparent than it was before being subjected to the operation, and the printing ink is somewhat duller; otherwise the two pieces present the appearance of the original if again brought together. ANILINE INK PAPER. To make aniline ink paper thick filtering paper is soaked in a very concentrated solution of an aniline dye and allowed to dry; it may then be soaked again to make it absorb more color. With a little attention it will not be difficult to prepare the paper so as to have a known quantity of coloring matter in a square of a given size. Paper prepared as above is very convenient to have when traveling; when one wishes to write, it is only necessary to tear off a small piece of the paper and let it soak in a little water. Aniline blue paper may also be employed conveniently for bluing in washing. TO MAKE INCOMBUSTIBLE WRITING AND PRINTING PAPER. To make incombustible writing and printing paper, asbestos of the best quality is treated with potassium permanganate and then with sulphuric acid. About ninety-five per cent of such asbestos is mixed with five per cent of wood pulp in water containing borax and glue. A fire proof ink is made of platinous chloride and oil of lavender, mixed for writing with India ink and gum, and for printing with lampblack and varnish. HOW TO TAKE PRINTERS' INK OUT OF SILK. To take printer's ink out of silk without damaging the goods:--Put the stained parts of the fabric into a quantity of benzine, then use a fine, rather stiff brush, with fresh benzine. Dry and rub bright with warm water and curd soap. The benzine will not injure the fabric or dye. TO REMOVE RULING INK STAINS FROM FINGERS. Wash in chloride of lime and then rinse hands in a spoonful of alcohol. The operation should be done quickly, as the lime, of course, eats into the flesh. The alcohol renders the hands smooth again, and takes away the disagreeable odor. TO PREVENT WINDOW STEAMING. A remedy against window steaming is composed of methylated spirit at about 63 per cent over-proof, glycerine and any of the essential oils, and in some cases amber dissolved in spirit, according to the state of the atmosphere. About eight ounces of glycerine to about one gallon of spirit, the quantity of essential oil depending upon the nature of the same; but it will be understood that these proportions may be varied. Instead of methylated spirit, spirit of wine may be employed, but methylated spirit is preferable as being the cheaper. In combining the above-named ingredients, the essential is destroyed by being mixed with the methylated spirit or with the spirit of wine, and the liquid is then incorporated with the glycerine. The combination is affected at the ordinary temperature, the employment of heat being unnecessary. This liquid composition is applied to the internal surface of the pane of glass or the lens, either by rubbing it on with felt or with cotton-waste, or by spreading it thereon with a camel's hair brush, or with other suitable appliances, and thus the dull and dimmed appearance of glass usually produced by condensation--known as steaming or sweating--is avoided. TO RENDER PAPER SOFT AND FLEXIBLE. To render paper soft and flexible, heat it with a solution of acetate of soda, or of potash dissolved in four to ten times its weight of water. For permanent paper, to twenty parts of this solution one part of starch or dextrine is added. If the paper has to be made transparent, a little of a solution containing one part soluble glass in four to eight parts water is added. To render the paper fit for copying without being made wet, to the acetate solution chromic acid or ferro-cyanide of potassium is added. TO REMOVE INK SPOTS. First moisten the blots with a strong solution of oxalic acid, then with a clear saturated aqueous solution of fresh chloride of lime--bleaching powder. Absorb excess of the liquids from the paper as quickly as possible with a clean piece of blotting paper. Repeat the treatment if necessary, and dry thoroughly between blotting pads under pressure. ELECTRO GILDING IN COLORS. Electro-gilding in various colors may be readily effected by adding to the gold bath small quantities of copper or silver solution until the desired tint is obtained. A little silver solution added to the gilding bath causes the deposit to assume a pale yellow tint. By increasing the dose of silver solution a pale greenish tint is obtained. Copper solution added to the gold bath yields a warm, red gold tint. It is best to use a current of rather high tension, such as that of the Bunsen battery, for depositing the alloy of gold and copper. TO REMOVE OIL MARKS FROM PAPER. Oil marks on wall paper, where careless persons have rested their heads, may be removed by making a paste of cold water and pipe clay or fuller's earth, and laying it on the stains without rubbing it in; leave it on all night, and in the morning it can be brushed off, and the spot, unless it be a very old one, will have disappeared. If old, renew the application. TO REMOVE INK STAINS FROM MAHOGANY. To remove ink stains from mahogany apply carefully with a feather a mixture of a teaspoonful of water and a few drops of nitre, and rub quickly with a damp cloth. SOLID POCKET GLUE. Is made from 600 grams of glue and 250 grams of sugar. The glue is at first completely dissolved by boiling with water; the sugar is then introduced into the hot solution, and the mixture evaporated until it becomes solid on cooling. The hard mass dissolves very rapidly in lukewarm water, and then gives a paste which is especially adapted for paper. TO TEST GLUE. An article of glue which will stand damp atmosphere is a desideratum among mechanics. Few know how to judge of quality except by the price they pay for it. But price is no criterion; neither is color, upon which so many depend. Its adhesive and lasting properties depend more upon the material from which it is made, and the method of securing purity in the raw material, for if that is inferior and not well cleansed, the product will have to be unduly charged with alum or some other antiseptic, to make it keep during the drying process. Weathered glue is that which has experienced unfavorable weather while drying, at which time it is rather a delicate substance. To resist damp atmosphere well, it should contain as little saline matter as possible. When buying the article, venture to apply your tongue to it, and if it tastes salt or acid, reject it for anything but the commonest purpose. The same operation will also bring out any bad smell the glue may have. These are simple and ready tests and are the ones usually adopted by dealers and large consumers. Another good test is to soak a weighed portion of dry glue in cold water for twenty-four hours, then dry again and weigh. The nearer it approaches to its original weight the better glue it is, thereby showing its degree of insolubility. BOOK-BINDERS' GLUE. To prevent book-binders glue from turning sour, add enough of the raw salicylic acid in boiling water to keep it soluble. It is also commended never to keep glue in open pots, but in cylindrical shaped vessels that admit of tight corking. HOW TO MAKE A CEMENT FOR GLASS THAT WILL RESIST ACIDS. To make a cement for glass that will resist acids, the following has been recommended:--Take 10-1/2 pounds of pulverized stone and glass, and mix with it 4-3/4 pounds of sulphur. Subject the mixture to such a moderate degree of heat that the sulphur melts. Stir until the whole becomes homogeneous, and then run it into molds. When required for use it is to be heated to 248°, degrees, at which temperature it melts, and may be employed in the usual manner. This, it is said, resists the action of acids, never changes in the air, and is not affected in boiling water. At 230° it is said to be as hard as stone. CEMENT FOR LABELS. 1. Macerate 5 parts of glue in 18 parts of water. Boil and add 9 parts rock candy and 5 parts gum arabic. 2. Mix dextrine with water and add a drop or two of glycerine. 3. A mixture of one part of dry chloride of calcium, or 2 parts of the same salt in the crystallized form, and 36 parts of gum arabic, dissolved in water to a proper consistency, forms a mucilage which holds well, does not crack by drying, and yet does not attract sufficient moisture from the air to become wet in damp weather. 4. For attaching labels to tin and other bright metallic surfaces, first rub the surface with a mixture of muriatic acid and alcohol, then apply the label with a very thin coating of the paste, and it will adhere almost as well as on glass. 5. To make cement for attaching labels to metals, take 10 parts tragacanth mucilage, 10 parts of honey, and 1 part flour. The flour appears to hasten the drying, and renders it less susceptible to damp. A COLORLESS CEMENT FOR JOINING SHEETS OF MICA. A colorless cement for joining sheets of mica is prepared as follows:--Clear gelatine softened by soaking it in a little cold water, and the excess of water pressed out by gently squeezing it in a cloth. It is then heated over a water bath until it begins to melt, and just enough hot proof spirit (not in excess) stirred in to make it fluid. To each pint of this solution is gradually added, while stirring, one-fourth ounce of sal-ammoniac and one and one-third ounces of gum mastic, previously dissolved in four ounces of rectified spirits. It must be warmed to liquefy it for use, and kept in stoppered bottles when not required. This cement, when properly prepared, resists cold water. A CEMENT THAT WILL RESIST THE DAMP. A cement that will resist the damp, but will not adhere if the surface is greasy, is made by boiling together 2 parts shellac, 1 part borax, and 16 parts water. TO MAKE GLUE WATERPROOF. The best substance is bichromate of potash. Add about one part of it, first dissolved in water, to every thirty or forty parts of glue; but you must keep the mixture in the dark, as light makes it insoluble. When you have glued your substances together, expose the joint to the light, and every part of the glue thus exposed will become insoluble, and therefore waterproof. If the substances glued together are translucent like paper, all will become waterproof; if opaque like wood, only the exposed edges will become so, but they also protect the interior--not exposed parts--against the penetration of moisture. TWO GLUE RECIPES. A glue ready for use is made by adding to any quantity of glue, common whisky, instead of water. Put both together in a bottle, cork it tight and set it for three or four days, when it will be fit for use without the application of heat. Glue thus prepared will keep for years, and is at all times fit for use, except in very cold weather, when it should be set in warm water before using. To obviate the difficulty of the stopper getting tight by the glue drying in the mouth of the vessel, use a tin vessel with the cover fitting tight on the outside to prevent the escape of the spirit by evaporization. A strong solution of isinglass made in the same manner is an excellent cement for leather. A valuable glue is made by an admixture with common glue of one part of acid chromate of lime in solution to five parts of gelatine. The glue made in this manner, after exposure, is insoluble in water, and can be used for mending glass objects likely to be exposed to hot water. It can also be made available for waterproofing articles such as sails or awnings, but for flexible fabrics it is not suitable. A few immersions will be found sufficient to render the article impervious to wet. It is necessary that fractured articles should be exposed to the light after being mended, and then warm water will have no effect on them, the chromate of lime being better than the more generally used bichromate of potash. POSTAGE STAMP MUCILAGE. Postage stamp mucilage can be made by dissolving an ounce of dextrine in five ounces of hot water, and adding one ounce of acetic acid and one ounce of alcohol. The dextrine should be dissolved in water in a glue pot, or some similar vessel, which will prevent burning. The quantities in this recipe may be varied by taking any required weights in the proportions mentioned. Dr. Phin says that dextrine mixed with water makes a good label mucilage if a drop or two of glycerine be added to it. Too much glycerine will prevent the mucilage drying; with too little it will be likely to crack. HOW TO KEEP MUCILAGE FRESH. To keep mucilage fresh, and prevent the formation of mould, drop into the bottle a few crystals of thymol, which is a strong and harmless antiseptic. MUCILAGE IN A SOLID FORM WHICH WILL DISSOLVE IN WATER. Mucilage in a convenient solid form, and which will readily dissolve in water, for fastening paper, prints, etc., may be made as follows:--Boil one pound of the best white glue, and strain very clear; boil also four ounces of isinglass, and mix the two together; place them in a water bath--a glue pot will do--with one-half pound of white sugar, and evaporate till the liquid is quite thick, when it is to be poured into molds, dried, and cut into pieces of convenient size. MUCILAGE FOR PASTEBOARD. Persons are often at a loss for a very strong mucilage having sufficient power of tenacity to fasten sheets of pasteboard together. The following cement is recommended by a scientific authority. It has the additional advantage of being waterproof. Melt together equal parts of pitch and gutta-percha. To nine parts of this add three parts of boiled oil, and one-fifth part of litharge. Continue the heat with stirring until a thorough union of the ingredients is effected. Apply the mixture hot or somewhat cooled, and thinned with a small quantity of benzole or turpentine oil. A PORTABLE INK. The aniline colors, which possess great tinctorial powers, can be conveniently used in the preparation of a portable ink. Saturate white tissue paper with an aniline violet, or with aniline black, by dipping the sheets into a saturated alcoholic solution of these colors; then dry and pack them in suitable parcels, and you will have a portable ink, either violet or black. INDELIBLE INDIA INK. Draughtsmen are aware that lines drawn on paper with good India ink well prepared cannot be washed out by mere sponging or washing. Now, however, it is proposed to take advantage of the fact that glue or gelatine, when mixed with bichromate of potassa, and exposed to the light, becomes insoluble, and thus renders India ink, which always contains a little gelatine, indelible. Reisenbichler, the discoverer, calls this kind of ink "Harttusche," or "hard India ink." It is made by adding to the common India ink of commerce about one per cent, in a very fine powder, of bichromate of potash. This must be mixed with the ink in a dry state; otherwise, it is said, the ink could not be easily ground in water. Those who cannot provide themselves with ink prepared as above in a cake, can use a dilute solution of bichromate of potash in rubbing up the ink. It answers the same purpose, though the ink should be used thick, so that the yellow salt will not spread. TO MAKE COPYING INKS. Dissolve in a pint and a half of writing ink (violet or any other color) an ounce of lump sugar or sugar candy. A copying ink, so slow drying that writing in it can be copied by the use of no greater pressure than the hand can produce when passed over a sheet of paper, may be made by boiling away nearly half of some ordinary writing fluid and then adding as much glycerine. A GOOD PASTER. Let a little starch lie in vinegar over night. Pour in boiling water, stirring briskly till it thickens. It will keep better if a few drops of carbolic acid are added. A very little corrosive sublimate will keep out insects. A little glue dissolved in the vinegar will make it stronger. It leaves the pasted scrap-page flexible, adheres firmly, dries quickly, and does not give a varnishy look to even the thinnest print paper. A PASTE WHICH WILL NOT SPOIL. A paste that will not spoil is made by dissolving a piece of alum the size of a walnut in one pint of water. Add to this two tablespoonfuls flour made smooth with a little cold water, and a few drops of oil of cloves, putting the whole to a boil. Put up in a glass canning-jar. ELECTRIC PAPER. Electric paper may be made thus:--Tissue paper or filtering paper is soaked in a mixture consisting of equal quantities of saltpetre and sulphuric acid. It is afterwards exposed to dry, when a pyroxyline (a substance resembling gun-cotton) forms. This is in the highest degree electrical. A SILVER SOLDER. To make silver solder melt together 34 parts, by weight, silver coin, and five parts copper; after cooling a little, drop into the mixture 4 parts zinc, then heat again. AN ALLOY FOR GLASS OR METAL. The following alloy, it is said, will attach itself firmly to glass, porcelain or metal.--Twenty to thirty parts of finely pulverulent copper, prepared by precipitation or reduction with the battery, are made into a paste with oil of vitriol. To this seventy parts of mercury are added, and well triturated. The acid is then washed out with boiling water and the compound allowed to cool. In ten or twelve hours it becomes sufficiently hard to receive a brilliant polish, and to scratch the surface of tin or gold. When heated it is plastic, but does not contract on cooling. AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF PHOTO-ENGRAVING. The metal plate, of copper or zinc, is coated with a very thin layer of bitumen of Judæa, and when this coat has become perfectly dry, a film of bichromatized albumen is flowed over the plate. It is next exposed in the camera, and afterwards washed with water, in order to dissolve all the albumen which has not been rendered insoluble by the luminous action; it is then treated with spirit of turpentine, which dissolves all those parts of the layer of bitumen that have become exposed. The plate can now be attacked directly by water acidulated with from four to six per cent of nitric acid. The great advantage of this method consists in the high sensitiveness of the bichromatized albumen, at the same time preserving the solid reserve produced by the bitumen of Judæa on a metallic surface. TO MAKE NEW A CORRODED PEN. When a pen has become so corroded as to be useless, it can be made good as new by holding it in the flame of a gas jet for half a minute; then drop in cold water, take out, wipe clean, and it will be ready for use again. ENAMEL FOR FINE CARDS. For the brilliant enamel now often generally applied to fine cards and other purposes, the following formula is given:--For white and for all pale and delicate shades, take twenty-four parts, by weight, of paraffine; add thereto 100 parts of pure kaolin (China clay), very dry and reduced to a fine powder. Before mixing with the kaolin, the paraffine must be heated to fusing point. Let the mixture cool, and it will form a homogeneous mass, which is to be reduced to powder, and worked into paste in a paint-mill, with warm water. This is the enamel ready for application. It can be tinted according to fancy. ELECTROTYPING HANDWRITING. To produce electrotypes or stereotypes of letters, signatures, ordinary written matter, drawings or sketches, coat a smooth surface of glass or metal with a smooth, thin layer of gelatine, and let it dry. Then write or draw upon it with an ink containing chrome alum, allow it to dry exposed to light, and immerse the plate in water. Those parts of the surface which have not been written upon will swell up and form a relief plate, while those parts which have been written upon with the chrome ink have become insoluble in water, after exposure to light. The relief may be transferred to plaster of Paris, and from this may be made a plate in type metal. BLACK PAINT FOR BLACKBOARDS. Take shellac varnish, one-half gallon; lampblack, five ounces; powdered iron ore or emery in fine powder, three ounces. If too thick, thin down with alcohol. Give the wood three coats of the composition, allowing each to dry before putting on the next. The first coat may be of shellac and lampblack alone. TO CLEAN STEEL PENS. Potato is used to clean steel pens, and generally act as a pen-wiper. It removes all ink crust, and gives a peculiarly smooth flow to the ink. Pass new pens two or three times through a gas flame, and then the ink will flow freely. STATIONERS' WINDOWS. It is important that strangers should get a good impression with a tasty window, or a polite reception when entering the store. Remember that first impressions go a great way, and when once formed, good or bad, are very hard to get rid of. Make it a special point to clean the window once a week, put in different stock every time, and do not be afraid to display goods because the dust will spoil them. If the article in question is delicate and easily ruined, leave it in the window only a few days; display samples of the latest goods, and, if necessary, buy some article that is showy, and which you think will attract people, especially for the window, even though the amount expended is "sunk." It will certainly pay in the end. If your stock of a certain article or class of goods is large, devote the whole window to it for a week. It is impossible to give rules for the arrangement, which, of course, depends on the goods to be shown and the taste of the person dressing the window. Stamped papers and visiting cards can be shown effectively in the following manner:--Have a number of wooden blocks made the size of a quarter of a ream of paper and a package of visiting cards; wrap these neatly with a sample sheet of paper or cards on the outside, tied with ribbon. Another way to show printed visiting cards is to make a small pyramid of them by taking three small square boxes of different sizes, which, when placed one on top of the other, will form a small pyramid. Cover these entirely with samples of visiting cards, and place in the center of the window. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHIC TRANSFER PAPER. Photo-lithographic transfer paper and ink are prepared in the following manner:--The paper is treated with a solution of a hundred parts of gelatine and one part of chrome alum in 2,400 parts of water. After drying, it is treated with the white of egg. It is made sensitive with a bath consisting of one part of chrome alum, 14 parts of water and 4 parts of alcohol. The latter ingredient prevents the white of egg from dissolving. On the dark places the white of egg, together with the ink with which the exposed paper has been coated, separates in water. The transfer ink consists of 20 parts of printing ink, 50 parts of wax, 40 parts of tallow, 35 parts of colophony, 210 parts of oil of turpentine, 30 parts of Berlin blue. It is found that a varnish formed of Canadian balsam, dissolved in turpentine, supplies a most valuable means of making paper transparent. The mode by which this is most satisfactorily accomplished is by applying a thin coating of this varnish to the paper, so as to permeate it thoroughly, after which it is to be coated on both sides with a much thicker mixture. The paper is kept warm by performing the operation before a hot fire, and a third and even a fourth coating may be applied until the texture of the paper is seen to merge into homogeneous translucency. Paper prepared according to this process is said to come nearer than any other to the highest standard of perfection in transparent paper. Care must be used in making, as the materials are highly inflammable. DIFFERENT KINDS OF ENGRAVING. "Line" engraving is of the highest order. All engravings are done in "line"--simply straight lines. Next comes "line" and "stiple." "Stiple" means dots--small dots like this:--....--.... These small dots are used to lighten up the high parts of the face or drapery. It is very hard to engrave a face in lines, simply, and only master engravers have ever undertaken it. The masters understand and practice both in "line" and "stiple." Claude Mellan engraved, in 1700, a full head of Christ, with one unbroken line. This line commenced at the apex of the nose, and wound out and out like a watch spring. Mezzotint engravings are produced thus:--The steel or copper is made rough like fine sand paper. To produce soft effects, this rough surface is scraped off. If you want a high place or "high light" in your engraving, scrape the surface smooth, then the ink will not touch it. If you want faint color, scrape off a little. Such engravings look like lithographs. Etching is adapted to homely and familiar-sketches. Etching is done thus:--The copper or steel plate is heated and covered with black varnish. The engraver scratches off this varnish with sharp needles, working on the surface as he would on paper with a pencil. Nitric acid is then passed over the plate, and it eats away at the steel and copper wherever the needle has scraped off the varnish. When the varnish is removed with spirits of turpentine, the engraving is seen in sunken lines on the plate. HOW TO PRESERVE PENCIL SKETCHES. The pencil drawings of mechanical draughtsmen and engineers may be rendered ineffaceable by the following process:--Slightly warm a sheet of ordinary drawing paper, then place it carefully on the surface of a solution of white resin in alcohol, leaving it there long enough to become thoroughly moistened. Afterward dry it in a current of warm air. Paper prepared in this way has a very smooth surface. In order to fix the drawing, the paper is to be warmed for a few moments. This process may prove useful for the preservation of plans or designs when the want of time or any other cause will not allow the draughtsman reproducing them in ink. A simpler method than the above, however, is to brush over the back of the paper containing the charcoal or pencil sketch with a weak solution of white shellac in alcohol. CARE OF WOOD TYPE. Wood type should always be kept in a cool and dry place--not, as is often the case, a few feet from a large stove, or directly over the lye and wash tub. The drawer or shelves--drawers or cases are preferable to shelves--where they are kept, should not, as very often happens, be made of unseasoned wood, for this reason: type wood is usually perfectly seasoned, and when allowed to remain for any length of time on a damp surface, the moisture is absorbed, the bottom expands, and a warped type, ready to be broken at the first impression, is the result. Wood type should only be washed with oil. A moistened cloth is sufficient, is more economical, and is certainly much cleaner than using their weight in oil. All wood type have a smooth and polished face, and if properly cleaned when put away will last for years. In fact, proper use only improves the working qualities. Wood type forms should not be left standing near hot stoves, or left locked up over night on a damp press or stone to warp, swell, and perhaps ruin a costly chase. COPPER-PLATING ON ZINC. Take an organic salt of copper--for instance, a tartrate. Dissolve 126 grammes sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) in two litres of water; also 227 grammes tartrate of potash and 286 grammes crystallized carbonate of soda in 2 litres of water. On mixing the two solutions, a light bluish-green precipitate of tartrate of copper is formed. It is thrown on a linen filter and afterwards dissolved in half a litre of caustic soda solution of 16° B. when it is ready for use. The coating obtained from this solution is very pliable, smooth and coherent, with a fine surface; acquires any desired thickness if left long enough in the bath. Other metals can also be employed for plating, in the form of tartrates. Instead of tartrates, phosphates, oxalates, citrates, acetates and borates of metals can be used; so that it seems possible to entirely dispense with the use of cyanide baths. TO TRANSFER ENGRAVINGS TO MOTHER-OF-PEARL. To transfer engravings to mother-of-pearl, coat the shell with thin white copal varnish. As soon as the varnish becomes sticky, place the engraving face down on it, and press it well into the varnish. After the varnish becomes thoroughly dry, moisten the back of the engraving and remove the paper very carefully by rubbing. When the paper is all removed and the surface becomes dry, varnish lightly with copal. METAL FOR STEREOTYPING. For every six pounds of lead add one pound of antimony. The antimony should be broken into very small pieces, and thrown on the top of the lead when it is at red heat. It is a white metal, and so brittle that it may be reduced to powder; it melts when heated to redness; at a higher heat it evaporates. The cheapest and most simple mode of making a stereotype metal is to melt old type, and to every fourteen pounds add about six pounds of grocer's tea-chest lead. To prevent any smoke arising from the melting of tea-chest lead it is necessary to melt it over an ordinary fire-place, for the purpose of cleansing it, which can be done by throwing in a small piece of tallow about the size of a nut, and stir it briskly with the ladle, when the impurities will rise to the surface, and can be skimmed off. In the mixing of lead and type-metal see that there are no pieces of zinc among it, the least portion of which will spoil the whole of the other metal that is mixed with it. Zinc is of a bluish white color; its hue is intermediate between that of lead and tin. It takes about eighty degrees more heat than lead to bring it into fusion; therefore, should any metal float on the top of the lead, do not try to mix it, but immediately take it off with the ladle. HOW TO FIX PENCIL MARKS SO THEY WILL NOT RUB. To fix pencil marks so they will not rub, take well skimmed milk and dilute with an equal bulk of water. Wash the pencil marks (whether writing or drawing) with this liquid, using a soft camel-hair brush, and avoid all rubbing. Place upon a flat board to dry. HOW TO OBTAIN A BRIGHT AND LASTING RED EDGE. A bright and lasting red edge may be obtained by the following process:--Take the best vermillion and add a pinch of carmine; mix this with glaire, slightly diluted. Take the book and bend over the edge so as to allow the color to slightly permeate it; then apply the color with a bit of fine Turkey sponge, bend over the edge in the opposite direction, and color again. When the three edges have been done in this manner, allow them to dry. Next screw the book tightly up in the cutting press, and after wiping the edge with a waxed rag, burnish well with a flat agate burnisher. TO RESTORE THE LUSTRE OF MOROCCO LEATHER. The lustre of morocco leather is restored by varnishing with white of egg. TO RESTORE THE ORIGINAL WHITENESS OF COPPER-PLATE, WOOD ENGRAVING, ETC. The following process will restore the original whiteness of copper-plate, wood-engraving or printed matter:--Place a piece of phosphorus in a large glass vessel; pour in water of 30° centigrade (that is 86° Fahrenheit) temperature until the phosphorus is half covered. Cork up, but not tightly, the glass vessel, and lay it in a moderately warm place for fourteen hours. Damp the paper that is to be bleached, with distilled water; fasten it to a piece of platinum wire and hang it up inside the glass vessel. The faded paper after a short time will regain its original white color. It should then be taken out and washed in water; next drawn through a weak solution of soda, and finally dipped in pure water and laid on a glass table, and thus made dry and smooth. FOR ELECTROTYPING ON CHINA. For electrotyping on China and similar non-conducting materials:--Sulphur is dissolved in oil of spike lavender to a syrupy consistence; then chloride of gold or chloride of platinum is dissolved in ether, and the two solutions mixed under a gentle heat. The compound is next evaporated until the thickness of ordinary paint, in which condition it is applied with a brush to such portions of the china, glass or other fabric as it is desired to cover, according to the design or pattern, with the electrometallic deposit. The objects are baked in the usual way before they are immersed in the bath. PAINTING ON EBONIZED WOOD. The great difficulty to be overcome in painting on ebonized wood, is the non-absorbent character of the surface, which will not allow the paint to sink in. Washing the panel over with onion juice enables the paint to adhere more easily. The paint, whether oil or water color, must be laid on thickly. In order that the painting, whether of flowers or figures, shall prove a decoration, the black space between the painted figures must be graceful in shape. Water color paintings on such panels require to be varnished. Oil color does not need the varnish. HOW GILDING IS DONE. Letters written on vellum or paper are gilded in three ways. In the first a little size is mixed with the ink, and the letters are written as usual; when they are dry a slight degree of stickiness is produced by breathing on them, upon which the gold leaf is immediately applied, and by a little pressure may be made to adhere with sufficient firmness. In the second method some white lead or chalk is ground up with strong size, and the letters are made with this by means of a brush; when the mixture is almost dry, the gold leaf may be laid on and afterward burnished. The best method is to mix up some gold powder with size, and make the letters of this by means of a brush. The edges of the leaves of books are gilded while in the binders' press, by first applying a composition formed of four parts of Armenian bole and one of sugar candy, ground together to a proper consistence; it is laid on by a brush with white of egg; this coating, when nearly dry, is smoothed by the burnisher; it is then slightly moistened with clear water, the gold leaf applied, and afterwards burnished. In order to impress the gilt figures on the leather covers of books, the leather is first dusted over with very fine powdered resin or mastic; then the iron tool by which the figure is made is moderately heated and pressed down upon a piece of leaf gold which slightly adheres to it, being then immediately applied to the surface of the leather with a certain force; the tool at the same time makes an impression, and melts the mastic which lies between the heated iron and the leather; in consequence of this, the gold with which the face of the tool is covered is made to adhere to the leather, so that on removing the tool a gilded impression of it remains behind. PRINCIPAL COLORS OF GOLD FOR GRINDING. The principal colors of gold for grinding are red, green, yellow. These should be kept in different amalgams. The part which is to remain of the first color is to be stopped off with a composition of chalk and glue; the variety required is produced by gilding the unstopped parts with the proper amalgam, according to the usual mode of gilding. Sometimes the amalgam is applied to the surface to be gilt, without any quicking, by spreading it with aquafortis; but this depends on the same principle as a previous quicking. WRITING ON METALS. To write on metals, take half a pound of nitric acid and one ounce muriatic acid. Mix and shake well together, and then it is ready for use. Cover the plate you wish to mark with melted beeswax; when cold, write your inscription plainly in the wax clear to the metal with a sharp instrument. Then apply the mixed acids with a feather, carefully filling each letter. Let it remain from one to ten hours, according to the appearance desired, throw on water, which stops the process, and remove the wax. HOW TO TRANSFER A PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT TO GLASS. To transfer a photographic print to glass for painting or for other purposes, separate the paper print from the background by steaming it; dry thoroughly, and having given the warmed glass an even coating of clean balsam or negative varnish, place the face of the print on the surface thus prepared, smooth it out and let it stand in a cool place until the varnish has hardened. Then apply water, and with a soft piece of gum-rubber rub off the paper so as to leave the photographic image on the varnished glass. STEREOTYPING WOODCUTS. In stereotyping woodcuts, care should be taken that they are thoroughly dry before being sent to the foundry, as the intense heat to which they are subjected frequently causes them to warp and split, especially if pierced. TO GILD WITH GOLD LEAF. Bookbinders use gold leaf in two ways--to gild on the edge, and to place gold letters on the binding. To gild on the edge, the edge is smoothly cut, put in a strong press, scraped so as to make it solid, and the well-beaten white of an egg, or albumen, put on thinly; the gold leaf is then put on before the albumen is dry; it is pressed down with cotton, and when dry polished with an agate polisher. To put on the lettering, the place where the letters are to appear is coated with albumen, and after it is dry, the type to be used is heated to about the boiling point of water, the gold leaf is put on, either on the book or on the type, and then placed on the spot where the lettering is desired, when the gold leaf will adhere by the heat of the type, while the excess of gold leaf loosely around is rubbed off with a tuft of cotton. GILDING ON WOOD. To gild in oil, the wood, after being properly smoothed, is covered with a coat of gold size, made of drying linseed oil mixed with yellow ochre. When this has become so dry as to adhere to the fingers without soiling them, the gold leaf is laid on with great care and dexterity, and pressed down with cotton wool. Places that have been missed are covered with small pieces of gold leaf, and when the whole is dry the ragged bits are rubbed off with cotton. This is by far the easiest mode of gilding. Any other metallic leaves may be applied in a similar manner. Pale leaf gold has a greenish-yellow color, and is an alloy of gold with silver. Dutch gold leaf is only copper colored with the fumes of zinc. Being much cheaper than gold leaf, it is very useful when large quantities of gilding are required in places where it can be defended from the weather, as it changes color if exposed to moisture; and it should be covered with varnish. Silver leaf is prepared like gold leaf, but when applied should be kept well covered with varnish, as otherwise it will tarnish. A transparent yellow varnish will give it the appearance of gold. GILDING IN OIL. In order to make good work in oil gilding there are several indispensable conditions which must be observed. First, a smooth ground. Second, gold size free from grit or skins. Third, in putting oil gold size on the work it must be dross black, ground in turpentine, and mixed with boiled linseed oil and a small piece of dryers; well sand-paper again, when this coat is dry. And now for the finishing coat of color, which should be flat, _i. e._, mixed with turpentine and a few drops of japanner's gold-size, but no oil. The dross black should be first ground in turpentine and the gold-size added after. When this has dried, varnish with hard drying oak varnish, leave for a day or two, and then rub down with pumice-stone powder, sifted through muslin; use a piece of cloth or felt wrapped on a small block of wood, and first wet the surface to be rubbed with water; dry with a wash-leather, and re-varnish. The ornaments are usually done with stencil patterns, and the lines are done with straight edges and lining fitches. Stencil patterns can be cut out of card paper. Before using, give a coat or two of patent knotting. For gilding panels, give a coat of buff first, then a coat of gold-size, in oil. When this has dried just sticky, press the gold leaf upon it with a ball of wadding, and leave for five or six hours, then rub over with a piece of soft wadding, and wash well with a sponge and cold water. The gold will not need any preparation before painting on, but if varnished afterward use pale varnish. Screens should be painted in colors to match the rooms they are intended to be used in. Birds, flowers and animals are the subjects generally introduced for this purpose. Birds should be painted toward the top of the screen, animals, flowers, etc., in the centre or at the bottom. GLOSS PRINTING. Gloss printing is done in two ways; one by using the gloss inks specially prepared for the purpose, the other by printing the gloss preparation on over the finished job, or over that portion of it required to be glossed. To the inexperienced this is a difficult operation, attended by many failures. It is accomplished as follows:--Prepare a tint block the exact size and shape to cover the printing to be glossed. The block should be of boxwood or hard metal--soft metal will not do. Fix it on the press and make it ready as for ordinary work, with a good, even impression. Wash up the ink table, the rollers and the block itself thoroughly, removing the least trace of ink. Replace the rollers and distributors. Now, with a clean palette knife put a little of the gloss preparation on the ink cylinder or table, let it distribute for about a minute, and then pull an impression; if it comes up perfectly clean, the work may proceed, but if there are any signs of dirt, it is best to wash up again at once. While working the gloss, keep the machine in motion, and should the gloss become too sticky (which it is apt to do) sprinkle a very little turpentine on the rollers. It is best to have a separate hand to put on the gloss, so as not to delay the feeder, and the sheets should be taken away at once and laid out singly to dry. The two most important points are to have the machine clean and keep it in motion. After printing, wash up the gloss quickly with benzine. TO BLEACH SHEEPSKIN PARCHMENT WHITE. To bleach sheepskin parchment white, expose the pieces to strong sunlight under glass, in a moist atmosphere. COLORS FOR PRINTING. For a black color for printing, 25 parts paraffine oil and 45 parts resin are mixed, either by melting at 80°C., or by mechanical means at the ordinary temperature. To this mass 15 parts of black are added. For printing machines, the mixture is composed of 40 parts of resin only, instead of 45. Resin can, in some cases, be replaced by dammar. Other colors are mixed by substituting the equivalent of the color to the black. When cheapness has to be considered, paraffine oil can be substituted by resinous oil, and resin by Burgundy resin, etc. HOW TO DYE PARCHMENT BLUE OR RED. Parchment can be dyed green, blue or red. To dye it blue, use the following process:--Dissolve verdigris in vinegar; heat the solution, and apply it by means of a brush on the parchment, till it takes a nice green color. The blue color is then obtained by applying on the parchment thus prepared a solution of carbonate of potash. Use two ounces for one gallon of water. Another method is to cover it by means of a brush with aquafortis, in which copper dust has been dissolved. The potash solution is then applied as before, till the required shade is obtained. Another method is by using the following solution:--Indigo, 5 ozs.; white wood, 10 ozs.; alum, 1 oz.; water, 50 ozs. Red:--The parchment is dyed red by applying with a brush a cold logwood solution, and then using a 3 per cent potash solution. TO MAKE PAPER FIRE AND WATER-PROOF. To make paper fire and water-proof, mix two-thirds ordinary paper-pulp with one-third asbestos. Steep in a solution of common salt and alum, and after being made into paper coat with an alcoholic solution of shellac. By plunging a sheet of paper into an ammoniacal solution of copper for an instant, then passing it between the cylinders and drying it, it is rendered entirely impermeable to water, and may even be boiled without disintegrating. Two, three, or any number of sheets rolled together become permanently adherent, and form a material having the strength of wood. By the interposition of cloth or any kind of fiber between the layers, the strength is greatly increased. A NEW BLOTTING PAPER. A blotting paper that will not only dry the blot, but bleach the remainder of it can be made by passing ordinary blotting paper or card through a concentrated solution of oxalic acid. Care must be taken that no crystals appear, which would injure the porosity of the paper. IMPERMEABLE PAPER. To make impermeable paper, prepare the two following baths: (1) alum, 25 ozs.; white soap, 12-1/2 ozs.; water, 100 ozs. (2) gum arabic, 6 ozs.; Colle de Flandre, 18 ozs.; water, 100 ozs. Place the sheet of paper in the first bath to be well impregnated. In this bath the paper is left only for a short time. It is then dried and dipped in the second bath, the same precautions being used as for the first bath. When dry, the paper is hot-pressed in order to render it uniform. TO MOUNT CHROMOS FOR FRAMING. To mount chromos for framing, first soak for fifteen minutes in a shallow dish, or lay between two newspapers that have been thoroughly saturated with water; then paste to the panel of the wood or canvas which has been prepared to receive them. Care must be taken that there are no lumps in the paste. A VARNISH FOR MAKING PAPER TRANSPARENT. A varnish formed of Canada balsam, dissolved in turpentine, supplies a most valuable means of making paper transparent. The mode by which this is most satisfactorily accomplished is by applying a pretty thin coating of this varnish to the paper, so as to permeate it thoroughly, after which it is to be coated on both sides with a much thicker sample. The paper is kept warm by performing the operation before a hot fire, and a third, or even a fourth, coating may be applied, until the texture of the paper is seen to merge into a homogeneous translucency. Paper prepared according to this process is said to come nearer than any other to the highest standard of perfection in transparent paper. Care must be used in making, as the materials are highly inflammable. CARBON PAPER. To make carbon paper:--Take of clear lard, five oz.; beeswax, one oz.; Canada balsam, one-tenth oz.; lampblack, q. s. Melt by aid of heat, and mix. Apply with a flannel dauber, removing as much as possible with clean woolen rags. LUMINOUS PAPER. To make paper which shall be luminous in the dark, it is sufficient to mingle with the pulp the following ingredients in their proportions:--Water, ten parts; pulp, forty parts; phosphorescent powder, ten parts; gelatine, one part; bichromate of potash, one part. The paper will also be waterproof. SIZES AND WEIGHTS OF DRAWING PAPERS. The following are the sizes and weights of drawing papers: Inches. Lbs. Emperor, 72 � 48 620 Antiquarian, 53 � 31 250 Double Elephant, 40 � 26-3/4 136 Atlas, 34 � 26 98 Columbier, 34-1/2 � 23-1/2 102 Imperial, 30 � 22 72 Elephant, 28 � 23 72 Super Royal, 27 � 19 54 Royal, 24 � 19 44 Medium, 22 � 17-1/2 34 Demy, 20 � 15-1/2 25 Large Post, 20-3/4 � 16-3/4 23 Post, 19 � 15-1/4 20 Foolscap, 17 � 13-1/2 15 Pott, 15 � 12-1/2 10 Copy, 20 � 16 20 TO MAKE BRONZED PAPER. Dissolve gum lac in four parts by volume of pure alcohol, and then add bronze or other metal powder in the proportion of one part to every three of the solution. A smooth paper must be chosen, and the mixture applied with a fine brush. The coating is not dull, and may be highly burnished. Another process consists in first applying a coat of copal or other varnish, and when this has become of a tacky dryness, dusting bronze powder over it. After remaining a few hours, this bronzed surface should be burnished with an agate or steel burnisher. TO MAKE DRAWING-PAPER TRANSPARENT. Drawing paper of any thickness may be made perfectly transparent by damping it with benzine. India ink and water colors can be used on this paper. The paper resumes its opacity as the benzine evaporates, so that any place that has not been duly traced requires to be redamped with the benzine for that purpose. A sponge should be used for the application. TO MAKE PAPER WATER-PROOF. The following is a recipe for making paper water-proof:--Add a little acetic acid to a weak solution of carpenters' glue. Dissolve also a small quantity of bichromate of potash in distilled water, and mix both solutions together. The sheets of paper are drawn separately through the solution, and hung up to dry. HOW TO SIZE POOR DRAWING PAPER. To size poor drawing paper, take one oz. of white glue, one oz. of white soap, and one-half oz. of alum. Soak the glue and soap in water until they appear like jelly, then simmer in one quart of water until the whole is melted. Add the alum, simmer again and filter. To be applied hot. TO PREVENT ALTERATIONS IN WRITING. The following process of preparing paper will prevent alterations in writing:--Add to the sizing 5 per cent of cyanide of potassium and sulphide of antimony, and run the sized paper through a thin solution of sulphate of manganese or copper. Any writing on this paper with ink made from nutgalls and sulphate of iron, can neither be removed with acids nor erased mechanically. Any acid will change immediately the writing from black to blue or red. Any alkali will change the paper to brown. Any erasure will remove the layer of color, and the white ground of the paper will be exposed, since the color of the paper is only fixed to the outside of the paper without penetrating it. TO PREVENT GUMMED PAPER FROM COCKLING. It is well known that paper, when gummed, often cockles. To remedy this a little glycerine or sugar should be added to the gum. COPYING DRAWING IN COLOR. The paper on which the copy is to appear is first dipped in a bath consisting of thirty parts of white soap, thirty parts of alum, forty parts of English glue, ten parts of albumen, two parts of glacial acetic acid, ten parts of alcohol of 60°, and 500 parts of water. It is afterwards put into a second bath, which contains fifty parts of burnt umber ground in alcohol, twenty parts of lampblack, ten parts of English glue, and ten parts of bichromate of potash in 500 parts of water. They are now sensitive to light, and must, therefore, be preserved in the dark. In preparing paper to make the positive print, another bath is made just like the first one, except that lampblack is substituted for the burnt umber. To obtain colored positives the black is replaced by some red, blue, or other pigment. In making the copy, the drawing to be copied is put in a photographic printing frame, and the negative paper laid on it, and then exposed in the usual manner. In clear weather an illumination of two minutes will suffice. After the exposure the negative is put in water to develop it, and the drawing will appear in white on a dark ground; in other words, it is a negative or reversed picture. The paper is then dried and a positive made from it by placing it on the glass of a printing frame, and laying the positive paper upon it, and exposing as before. After placing the frame in the sun for two minutes, the positive is taken out and put in water. The black dissolves off without the necessity of moving back and forth. WASHING FORMS. Forms sent down to machine ought not to be wet too much with lye or with water, otherwise it becomes necessary to dry them before working, which takes time and often much trouble. The wet works up little by little to the face of the letter, and then the form becomes unworkable. It has often to be taken off the coffin, the feet of the types have to be thoroughly dried, then some sheets of unsized paper have to be placed under the form; it has also to be unlocked, shaken, locked up again, the sheets removed with the moisture they have imbibed, and then it is to be hoped the form will be workable. If not there is nothing to be done but to lift it and dry it by heat. Lye is generally used for washing forms which do not contain wood blocks; turpentine where wood-cuts or wood-letters are to be found in them. The bristles of the lye-brush should be longer than those of the turpentine-brush, and, in order to preserve it, each brush should be properly washed with water after using, and shaken and stood up to dry. If this is not done the brush will last but a short time. There is no good in taking up with the brush a large quantity of lye or turps, and to shed it at once. Yet this is too commonly done, regardless of waste. In order to wash a form well the brush should be passed lightly over all the pages, in order to wet them uniformly. Then they should be rubbed round and round, and finally lengthwise and crosswise. Leaning on the brush not only wears away the bristles, but sometimes injures the face of the type, too. It is a bad practice. After washing, before printing, a sponge with pure water should be passed lightly over the form, and then the form should be dried with a cloth. Care should be taken not to use a woolen cloth, which is liable to leave little pieces on the face of the types, and to see that there are no hard substances in it. After printing it is always best to wash with turpentine. Lye induces oxidation of the types, while turps leave an oily film on them, which preserves them from the action of the atmosphere. HOW TO PREVENT OFF-SETTING. A practical pressman says that a sheet of paper wet with glycerine and used as a tympan-sheet will prevent off-setting. This will be found better than using oiled sheets. PRINTING ENVELOPES. To prevent the lumpy particles of mucilage on gummed envelopes from "battering" the type, use a heavy piece of blotting paper as a tympan, and when beaten down, touch the injured part with a drop of water, which will bring up the impression again. TO PREVENT SET-OFF ON WRITING PAPERS PRINTED ON ONE SIDE. To prevent set-off on writing papers printed on one side, do not lay the sheets straight as they leave the press or machine; this will enable the air to get between them, and wonderfully expedite the drying of the ink. Do not allow the heap to become too heavy. A QUICK DRYER. A quick dryer:--Japanese gold size, 2 parts; copal varnish, 1 part; elber powder (radix carlinæ, carline thistle), 2 parts. Incorporate well together with a small spatula, and use in quantities to suit the consistency of the ink employed and the rapidity with which it is desired to dry. The usual proportion is a small teaspoonful of the dryer to about one ounce of average good ink. TO PREVENT WARPING IN BLOCKS AND WOOD. To prevent warping in blocks and wood-letter used in large bills, a French printer advises that they should be placed in a zinc basin, provided with an air-tight lid; they should then be thoroughly saturated with paraffine oil, and left thus for about four days, when they should be wiped with a clean dry rag. Prepared in this way when new, wood-letter resists the effects of lye, petroleum, turpentine, and atmospheric changes. HOW TO KEEP ROLLERS WHEN OUT OF USE. It is a good plan, when rollers are to be kept out of use for any particular time, to put them away with the ink on them. It protects their surface from the hardening effects of the atmosphere, and causes them to retain those properties which give them the much desired "tackiness." But about half an hour before using them, remove the ink and see that they are really in condition again. PRESERVATIVE OF ROLLERS WHEN NOT IN USE. The following preservative of rollers when not in use is often applied:--Corrosive sublimate, 1 drachm; fine table salt, 2 ozs.; put together in 1/2 gallon of soft water. It is allowed to stand 24 hours, and is to be well shaken before using. Sponge the rollers with the mixture after washing. OILS FOR LUBRICATING ROLLER MOLDS. Sperm and lard oils are the best for lubricating roller molds. If they are properly used, no trouble will be experienced in drawing the rollers. CARE OF ROLLERS IN THE SUMMER TIME. In hot, sultry weather rollers will not need sponging, as some of the materials used in their manufacture, having an affinity for moisture, will absorb enough humidity from the atmosphere to keep the surface soft. Indeed, too much moisture is absorbed in close and sultry weather. Cover the rollers while not in use with tallow (in damp weather); this will prevent the absorbtion of moisture and keep the roller dry. When starting up put a little tallow on the distributor. This will prevent the rollers from sticking, and keep them cool. The safest thing for the pressman is to have on hand, as a reserve, a set of old, hard rollers. Remember, it is not dry, hot weather that causes trouble so much as it is hot moist weather. When the weather is dry, soft rollers can be used, but when dampness comes on, take out the soft and put in the old hard rollers that have become rejuvenated by the absorption of moisture. TO KEEP GREEN MOULD FROM ROLLERS. Nothing destroys the surface of a roller so much as green mould. It takes all the life out of them. Green mould results from a damp place and a careless pressman, and is always a disgrace to all concerned. TREATMENT OF OLD ROLLERS. When rollers have been lying for weeks with a coating of ink dried on to the surface--a circumstance that often occurs, more especially when colored inks have been used--get an ordinary red paving brick (an old one with the edges worn away will be the best), place the roller on a board, then dip the brick in a trough of cold water, and work it gently to and fro on the surface from end to end, taking care to apply plenty of water, dipping the brick in repeatedly; and in a short time the ink will disappear. Nor is this all; for if a little care and patience is exercised, it will put a new face to the roller, making it almost equal to new; the coating of ink having, by keeping the air from the surface, tended to preserve the roller from perishing. Sponge off clean. A RECIPE FOR PRINTERS' ROLLERS. Best white glue, one pound; concentrated glycerine, one pound. Soak the glue over night in just enough cold soft water to cover it. Put the softened glue in a fine cloth bag, gently press out excess of water, and melt the glue by heating it over a salt water bath. Then gradually stir in the glycerine and continue the heating, with occasional stirring, for several hours, or until as much of the water is expelled as possible. Cast in oiled brass molds, and give the composition plenty of time to cool and harden properly before removing from the mold and inking. See that the ink is well spread before bringing the roller in contact with type. TEMPERATURE OF THE PRESS ROOM. The temperature of the press or machine room ought to be as near as possible the same as that at which the ink is manufactured--_viz._, 16° of Reamur (68° Fahrenheit). If the temperature of the room, and consequently, of the iron receptacles the ink is kept in, be considerably less, the varnish of the ink will stiffen, the paper will adhere to the type and peel off, or, if this does not occur, there will at least be too little varnish in the ink remaining on the type, and too much carbon, which, of course, will not sufficiently adhere to the paper, and may be wiped off even when the paint is perfectly dry. But if the temperature of the work-room be too high, the varnish becomes too thin, the ink loses its power of covering well all parts of the types, which then look as if they had been printed with lamp-oil. Colors of different hues require generally a somewhat higher temperature than black, say 70° to 75° Fahrenheit, but any printer who wants to see a clear and sharp impression of his types on the paper should not neglect to look sometimes to the thermometer, too low or too high a temperature being much oftener the cause of unsatisfactory printing than the ink we use. WHEN TO WASH ROLLERS. The press or machine man must be guided by the condition of the face of the roller, and the eyes and fingers will be the best guides. Where machine rollers are required for a weekly newspaper, they should be washed ready for the first set of forms, and when the number is long, a second set should be got ready and inked to work the second side, as the paper throws off a quantity of cotton waste, and powder, and neutralizes the tack so necessary to the face of a good roller and a clear impression. Should a roller require cleaning for a hurried work, the old ink may be removed with turpentine, but must be done quickly, and immediately distributed on the ink table, or the face will harden. IMPROVED DRYER FOR PRINTING INK. A small quantity of perfectly dry acetate of lead or borate of manganese in impalpable powder will hasten the drying of the ink. It is essential that it be thoroughly incorporated with the ink by trituration in a mortar. HOW TO BEND A RULE. To bend a rule, get it thoroughly hot and let it cool slowly; this will take the spring out, and it will stay in the shape it is bent to. TO CLEAN GILT FRAMES. Use a soft sponge moderately moistened with spirits of wine; allow to dry by evaporation. Do not use a cloth, and avoid friction. Another way is to use a very soft shaving brush, and to gently rub backward and forward a lather of curd soap. Rinse with water at about blood heat. This applied morning after morning to old and dirt-covered oil paintings will greatly restore them. In adopting this plan with regard to gilt frames around water colors or prints, be sure that not enough moisture is used to run off the frame, or the paper will be stained. The cleaning applies to gold frames only. Dutch metal will bear no cleaning, but a new material, not absolutely gold, but very like it, will stand any amount of soap and water. CLEANING NEW MACHINERY. As presses and machinery have their bright work covered with a compound to keep it from rusting while shipping, parties who receive the machinery will find benzine or kerosene oil the best articles to clean off the compound with. TO MAKE INVISIBLE WRITING. To make secret or invisible writing, procure some very thin starch, with which write with a quill pen (which should be a soft one) anything that fancy may dictate. Suffer it to dry perfectly; examine the paper upon which you have written, and not one letter can be distinguished by the naked eye. Procure a little iodine, which is an elementary body, dissolve it in water, and with a camel's hair pencil, a quill, or any other convenient article, dipped in the solution, slightly rub the paper on the side which has been written upon; the writing will instantly appear as distinctly visible as if written with the finest ink ever invented. RED PRINTING INK. Red printing ink may be made in this way:--Boil linseed oil until smoke is given off. Set the oil then on fire, and allow it to burn until it can be drawn out into strings half an inch long. Add one pound of resin for each quart of oil, and one-half pound of dry, brown soap cut into slices. The soap must be put in cautiously, as the water in the soap causes a violent commotion. Lastly, the oil is ground with a sufficient pigment on a stone by means of a muller. Vermilion, red lead, carmine, Indian red, Venetian red, and the lakes are all suitable for printing inks. TO PREVENT ELECTROTYPE BLOCKS FROM WARPING. To prevent electrotype blocks from warping, shrinking or swelling, place them in a shallow pan or dish, cover with kerosene oil and let them soak as long as possible, say three or four days. Then wipe dry and place in the form. After the first two or three washings they may swell a little; if so, have them carefully dressed down, and after that you will have little or no trouble with them, and can leave them in the form just as you would were they solid. BLACK PRINTING INK. To make a good, permanent black printing ink, take Balsam copaiva 9 oz. Best lampblack 3 oz. Prussian blue 1-1/2 oz. Indian red 0-3/4 oz. Turpentine soap, dried 3 oz. Grind on a stone until extreme fineness has been obtained. This ink will work clear and sharp, and can easily be removed from the type. SEALING WAX. Following are formulas for making sealing wax:--Fine red sealing wax--Pale shellac, 4 oz.; Venice turpentine, 10 drachms; English vermilion, 2 oz. Ordinary red sealing wax--Shellac, 2 oz.; resin, 4 oz.; Venice turpentine, 12 drachms; chrome red, 12 drachms. Cheap red bottle wax--Resin, 10 oz.; turpentine, 1 oz.; beeswax, 1-1/2 oz.; tallow, 1 oz.; red lead or red ochre, 3 oz. The manipulation is about the same for the three kinds. First, the resins are melted with as low a heat as will suffice, then the turpentine, previously warmed, is to be added, and lastly the coloring material. The first quality is only used in sticks, and the third, when melted, for dipping bottles in. The second can be employed for either purpose. When the wax is used for dipping it should be kept at a temperature just sufficient to render it liquid, as too much heat causes it to foam and to rapidly become brittle. Even with this precaution, it is necessary to add a little turpentine, from time to time, to replace the essential oil lost by evaporation. FOR MAKING DEXTRINE. Five hundred parts of potato starch are mixed with 1,500 parts of cold distilled water and eight parts of pure oxalic acid. This mixture is placed in a suitable vessel on a water-bath, and heated until a small sample tested with iodine solution does not produce the reaction of starch. When this is found to be the case the vessel is immediately removed from the water-bath, and the liquid neutralized with pure carbonate of lime. After having been left standing for two days, the liquor is filtered, and the clear filtrate evaporated upon a water-bath until the mass has become quite a paste, which is removed by a spatula, and having been made into thin cakes is placed upon paper and further dried in a warm situation; 220 parts of pure dextrine are thus obtained. When needed for making mucilage, the solution has only to be evaporated to the proper thickness. COLORS FOR PRINTING INKS. The different colors, and the inks which may be made from them, are as follows: For Red.--Orange lead, vermilion, burnt sienna, Venetian red, Indian red, lake vermilion, orange mineral, rose pink and red lead. Yellow.--Yellow ochre, gamboge, and chromate of lead. Blue.--Cobalt, Prussian blue, indigo, Antwerp blue, Chinese blue, French ultramarine, and German ultramarine. Green.--Verdigris, green verditer, and mixtures of blue and yellow. Purple.--A mixture of those used for red and blue. Deep Brown.--Burnt umber, with a little scarlet lake. Pale Brown.--Burnt sienna; a rich shade is obtained by using a little scarlet lake. Lilac.--Cobalt blue, with a little carmine added. Pale Lilac.--Carmine, with a little cobalt blue. Amber.--Pale chrome, with a little carmine. Pink.--Carmine or crimson lake. Shades and Tints.--A bright red is best got from pale vermilion, with a little carmine added; dark vermilion, when mixed with the varnish, produces a dull color. Orange lead and vermilion ground together also produce a very bright tint, and one that is more permanent than an entire vermilion color. The pigments are dear; when a cheap job is in hand, orange mineral, rose pink and red lead may be used. Yellow.--Of the materials named, the chromate of lead makes the brightest color. If a dull yellow be wanted, yellow ochre may be used; it grinds easily and is very cheap. Blue.--Indigo is excessively dark, and requires a good deal of trouble to lighten it. It makes a fine, showy color where brightness is not required. Prussian blue is useful, but it must be thoroughly ground. It dries very quickly, hence the roller must be frequently cleaned. Antwerp blue is very light and easily worked. Chinese blue is also available. As already said, the shade may be varied with flake white. There is this objection to Prussian, Antwerp, and Chinese blues, that they are hard to grind, and likely to turn greenish with varnish when used thin. A bright blue is also to be got from cobalt, or French or German ultramarine. This is cheap, easily ground, and works freely. Lime blue may also be used. Green.--Any of the yellows and blues may be mixed. Gamboge, a transparent color, is very useful in mixture with Prussian blue; or chromate of lead and Prussian blue may be used. The varnish, having a yellow tinge, has an effect upon the mixture, and should be taken into account. With a slight quantity of Antwerp blue, varnish in itself will produce a decidedly greenish tint. Verdigris and green verditer also give greens. If Chinese blue be added to pale chrome, it gives a good green, and any shade can be obtained by increasing or diminishing either color. Emerald green is got by mixing pale chrome with a little Chinese blue, and then adding the emerald until the tint is satisfactory. Brown.--Sepia gives a nice tint, and burnt umber a very hot tint. Raw umber gives a brighter brown, bistre a brighter still. Neutral tints are obtained by mixing Prussian blue, lake and gamboge. In using painters' colors, it is advisable to avoid, as much as possible, the heavy ones. Tints of any desired depth may be made by using a finely-ground white ink as a basis, and toning it with the color desired. Varnish tints are made by adding color to full-bodied, well-boiled printers' varnish, using a little soap and drying preparation to make them work smoothly and dry quickly. In mixing tints to print with, the muller should be used to rub in the colors thoroughly, otherwise the work is liable to be streaky. It is advisable to mix no more of a tint than is needed for the work in hand. Most colored inks work best if applied to the rollers a little at a time, until the depth of color desired is reached, as colored inks distribute slower than black, and are more liable to thicken upon and clog the type when too much is taken at once. HINTS ON "CASTING UP." The most simple and effective contrivance for casting-up work is, for every printer to set up, in vertical parallel lines, the m's of each font in his office, with figures in succession beside them, and work them upon good hard paper, but little wet or pressed, which ought to be dried very gradually. If the cast-up work printed with the same type as these measures very little variation will be found; for if the measure and the measured page do vary from the measurement, the one is compensated by the other. But even this method can scarcely be trusted in setting the price with the compositor, since the difference between a thin and thick space will carry an en quadrat, and thus may give the turn in the 500 letters, so as to make 1,000 difference. HOW TO ASCERTAIN THE QUANTITY OF PLAIN TYPE REQUIRED FOR NEWSPAPER. To ascertain the quantity of plain type required for a newspaper, magazine, and other work, find the number of square inches and divide the same by four; the quotient will be the approximate weight of the matter. As it is impossible to set the cases entirely clear, it is necessary to add 25 per cent to large fonts, and 33 per cent to small, to allow for dead letter. This, of course, is only approximate, but will be found sufficiently close for all practical purposes. CARE OF WOOD-CUTS. Care should be taken that wood-cuts are thoroughly dry before being sent to the foundry, as the intense heat to which they are subjected frequently causes them to warp and split, especially if pierced. REMEDY FOR TYPE THAT STICKS IN DISTRIBUTING. Great difficulty is sometimes experienced in distributing type which has been allowed to remain in form for any length of time. Prevention, of course, is better than cure; but where the remedy is required, the following may be tried with advantage:--Pour boiling water over the type, and allow it to stand for about half an hour. Repeat, if necessary, until the desired effect has been obtained. LAYING TYPE. The page as received from the founder, should be carefully unwrapped, and, after having been placed on a galley, soaked thoroughly with thin soap water, to prevent adhesion after the types have been used a short time; then, with a firm rule or reglet, as many lines should be lifted as will make about an inch in thickness, and, placing the rule close upon one side of the bottom of the proper box, slide off the lines gently, taking care not to rub the face against the side of the box. Proceed then with successive lines till the box is filled. Careless compositors are prone to huddle new type together, and grasping them by handfulls plunge them pell-mell into the box, rudely shaking them down to crowd in more. This should never be allowed, as shaking does more injury to type than press wear. The type left over should be kept standing on galleys in regular order till the cases need to be again filled or sorted. TO FIX BRONZE COLORS ON GLASS. Bronze colors can be fixed upon glass or porcelain by painting the articles with a concentrated solution of potash water glass of 30° B., and dusting them with the bronze powder. The latter adheres so firmly that it will not be affected by water, and may be polished with steel or agate. TO DESTROY BOOK WORMS. For the destruction of book worms, put the books into a case which closes pretty well, and keep a saucer supplied with benzine within it for some few weeks. Worms, larvæ, eggs--all are said to be got rid of. TINNING PAPER AND CLOTH. The following is a method of tinning paper and cloth:--Zinc powder is ground with an albumen solution, the boiling mixture is then spread over the tissue by means of a brush, when dry, the layer is fixed by dry steam, which coagulates the albumen, and the tissue is then taken through a solution of tin. Metallic tin is reduced, and sets in a very thin layer. The tissues of paper are then washed, dried and hot pressed. CARE OF BOOKS. Books should be shelved in the coolest part of the room, and where the air is never likely to be overheated, which is near the floor, where we ourselves live and move. In the private libraries of our residences a mistake is often made in carrying the shelving of our book-cases so high that they enter the upper and overheated stratum of air. If anyone be skeptical on this point, let him test, by means of a step-ladder, the condition of the air near the ceiling of his common sitting-room on a Winter evening, when the gas is burning freely. The heat is simply insufferable. HOW TO PREVENT MILDEW ON BOOKS. To prevent mildew on books, lightly wash over the backs and covers with spirits of wine, using as a brush the feather of a goose quill. A CHEAP LYE. Boil six gallons of water and add while boiling one pound of unslacked lime and four pounds of common soda. When cold, it should be carefully dipped out, leaving the dregs of the lime at the bottom of the vessel, and it is then fit for immediate application. Cost, about two cents per gallon. A GOOD DRYER. A good dryer for printers' use is made by taking a small quantity of perfectly dry acetate of lead or borate of manganese in impalpable powder will hasten the drying of the ink. It is essential that it should be thoroughly incorporated with the ink by trituration in a mortar. A STRONG LYE. A very strong printers' lye may be made as follows:--Take of table salt, 2 oz.; unslacked lime, 2 lb., and bruised Scotch washing soda, 2 lb. Mix together in three gallons of water, stirring frequently until the ingredients are dissolved, when the lye will be ready for use. This is a powerful mixture, and will wash off almost any color. EFFECT OF PETROLEUM OIL ON WOOD TYPE. Although petroleum oil is a highly useful fluid for cleansing wood letter or wood-cuts, the printer should be cautioned that it is highly detrimental to type and stereoplate. While it has no effect in opening the pores of the wood, but on the contrary, hardens the surface, rendering the face peculiarly smooth, it corrodes or rots the metal, and leaves a white powder on the face, which, although it may be removed with a brush, shows that the type has been injured. Besides this, petroleum is highly dangerous on account of its inflammability. It cannot be extinguished by water. A BRONZE OR CHANGEABLE HUE. A bronze or changeable hue may be given to inks with the following mixture:--Gum shellac, 1-1/2 lb., dissolved in one gallon of 95 per cent alcohol or Cologne spirits for 24 hours. Then add fourteen ounces aniline red. Let it stand for a few hours longer, when it will be ready for use. When added to a good blue, black, or other dark inks, it gives them a rich hue. The quantity used must be very carefully apportioned. In mixing the materials, add the dark color sparingly at first, for it is easier to add more, if necessary, than to take away, as in making a dark color lighter, you increase its bulk considerably. GOLD LEAF PRINTING. Gold leaf printing requires much more care than bronze printing, but if properly managed will be found to be a great improvement. Ink should be made of chrome yellow, mixed with Venice turpentine, virgin wax and varnish. Cut the gold leaf into slips a shade wider than the lines it is to cover, ink the form in the usual way, and pull a sheet; then lay on the gold leaf with no great harm. Some colors will not keep at all, and others deposit at the bottom of the can almost all their solid ingredients. It is not easy to alter this, but colza oil will at least prevent the surface skinning over. TO PREVENT COLORED INKS FROM BECOMING HARD. Red and some other colored inks are often found to become so hard in a few weeks after the can has been opened that the knife can scarcely be got into them, and they cannot be got to work at all. Oil, varnish and turpentine are of no use in such a case; the remedy is paraffine oil mixed well up with the old ink. Many prefer paraffine oil rather than boiled oil or turps for thinning down both black and colored inks. TO KEEP COLORED INKS FROM SKINNING. Colored inks can be kept from "skinning" by pouring a little oil or water on the top and closing the can tightly. HOW TO REMOVE COLORED INKS. Benzine is a powerful chemical preparation which may be used to remove colored inks when lye and turpentine fail. It should, however, not be used after dark, as it is very inflammable, and it should be kept out of doors if possible. A VARNISH FOR COLOR PRINTS. To make a varnish for colored prints, etc., take of Canada balsam, 1 ounce; spirits of turpentine, 2 ounces, and mix well together. The print or drawing should first be sized with a solution of isinglass in water, and when this has dried the varnish above named should be applied with a camel's hair brush. REPAIRING BATTERED WOOD TYPE. Wood type when battered may be repaired by removing the damaged part with a sharp pointed knife, and fill in with beeswax or gutta-percha. INKING SURFACES FOR COLOR WORK. The best inking surfaces or slabs for color work at press or machine are porcelain, litho stone, marble or slab. Metals are injurious to colored inks--even polished iron surfaces give a dullness to bright colors. HOW TO PRESERVE COLORED INKS. If it is necessary to keep colored inks, the best way of preserving them so that they shall be workable after standing some time is to pour a little colza oil on the top, and securely close the vessel containing them. This oil will not generally rob the ink of any of its color, and even if it is not all poured off afterwards, its presence can do a piece of cotton wool; when dry, it may be washed in the same way as bronze. Rolling afterward will improve it very much. HOW TO BRIGHTEN COMMON QUALITIES OF COLORED INKS. Common qualities of colored inks may be brightened by using the whites of fresh eggs, but they must be applied a little at a time, as they dry very hard and are apt to take away the suction of rollers if used for any lengthend period. PRINTERS' VARNISH. For fine work, a little Canada balsam of the consistency of honey makes a good varnish of great purity. The coarser but similar Venice turpentine may also be used with effect where time is precious and purity of tint not indispensable. A little soft soap may be added to the Venice turpentine. If the work be coarse and varnish not at hand, a little oak varnish and soft soap form a good substitute. TO PREVENT OFF-SETTING. Setting off may be prevented by slightly greasing or oiling a sheet which may be placed on the tympan if in press work, or the cylinder if at a machine. This will answer for several thousands without requiring to be replaced. A HARDENING GLOSS FOR INKS. A hardening gloss for inks may be made by dissolving gum arabic in alcohol or a weak solution of oxalic acid. This mixture should be used in small quantities, and mixed with the ink while it is being consumed. A MODELING MATERIAL. Some pretty effects can be produced by the use of a composition made by thoroughly mixing rice flour with cold water, and allowing it to gently simmer over the fire until a delicate and durable cement results. When made of the consistency of plastic clay, models, busts, etc., may be formed, and the articles when dry resemble white marble, and will take a high polish, being very durable. Any coloring matter may be used at pleasure. LEAF COPYING. Take a piece of thin muslin and wrap it tightly round a ball of cotton wool as big as an orange. This forms a dabber, and should have something to hold it by. Then squeeze on to the corner of a half-sheet of foolscap a little color from a tube of oil paint. Take up a very little color on the dabber, and work it about on the center of the paper for some time, till the dabber is evenly covered with a thin coating. A little oil can be used to dilute or moisten the color if necessary. Then put your leaf down on the paper and dab some color evenly over both sides. Place it then between the pages of a folded sheet of paper (unglazed is best), and rub the paper above it well all over with the finger. Open the sheet, remove the leaf, and you will have an impression of each side of the leaf. Any color may be used. Burnt or raw sienna works the most satisfactorily. DRYER FOR RULING INKS. Ruling inks are made to dry quickly by using half a gill of methylated spirits to every pint of ink. The spirit is partly soaked into the paper and partly evaporates; it also makes the lines firm. SIZE OF NEWSPAPER SHEETS AND NUMBER OF COLUMNS. Width of Column Paper. Column Rules. 13 Ems Pica. 5 Column Folio 20 � 26 17-3/4 in. 6 " " 22 � 31 19-3/4 " 6 Col Fo (wide margin) 22 � 32 19-3/4 " 7 Column Folio 24 � 35 21-3/4 " 7 Col Fo (wide margin) 24 � 36 21-3/4 " 8 Column Folio 26 � 40 23-3/4 " 9 " " 28 � 44 26 " 4 " Quarto 22 � 31 13-3/4 " 4 Col Qu (wide margin) 22 � 32 13-3/4 " 5 " " 26 � 40 17-3/4 " 6 " " 30 � 44 19-3/4 " 7 " " 35 � 48 21-3/4 " USUAL SIZES AND WEIGHTS OF NEWS PRINTING PAPER. Size. Weight per Bundle. 22 � 30 44 lbs. 22 � 32 45 and 50 " 24 � 36 50, 56, 60 and 70 " 26 � 38 60 and 70 " 26 � 40 65, 70, 75, 80 and 90 " 28 � 40 80 " 28 � 42 70, 80, 90 and 100 " 28 � 44 85, 90 and 105 " 29 � 48 100 " 29 � 58 110 " 30 � 44 90, 95 and 100 " 31 � 44 90, 95 and 100 " 31 � 45 96 " 22 � 44 90, 95, 100 and 120 " 32 � 46 100 " 34-1/2 � 47-1/2 120 " 35 � 48 120 " USUAL SIZES AND WEIGHTS OF BOOK PAPERS. Size. Weight per Ream. 22 � 32 30, 35 and 40 lbs. 24 � 36 30, 35, 40 and 50 " 25 � 38 35, 40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100 " 28 � 42 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 100 and 120 " 32 � 44 60, 70, 80, 100 and 120 " USUAL SIZES AND WEIGHTS COLORED PRINT OR POSTER. Size. Weight per Ream. 24 � 36 25 lbs. 25 � 38 27 " 28 � 42 35, 40, 45 and 50 " USUAL SIZES OF FLAT AND LEDGER PAPERS. Flat Letter 10 � 16 Flat Foolscap 13 � 16 Packet Post 12 � 19 Cap 14 � 17 Crown 15 � 19 Double Flat Letter 16 � 20 Demy 16 � 21 Folio Post 17 � 22 Check Folio 17 � 24 Medium 18 � 23 Double Flat Foolscap 16 � 26 Bank Folio 19 � 24 Royal 19 � 24 Double Cap 17 � 28 Super Royal 20 � 28 Double Demy 21 � 32 Double Demy 16 � 42 Imperial 23 � 31 Double Medium 23 � 36 Double Medium 18 � 46 Elephant 23 � 28 Colombier 23 � 34 Atlas 26 � 33 Double Royal 24 � 38 Double Elephant 27 � 40 Antiquarian 31 � 53 Transcriber's Notes: Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=. The following misprints have been corrected: "Lables" corrected to "Labels" (Index to Recipes) "Sett-off" corrected to "Set-off" (Index to Recipes) "I" corrected to "1" (page 5) missing word "is" added (page 13) missing word "A" added (page 14) "Gildng" corrected to "Gilding" (page 19) missing word "be" added (page 29) "homoegeneous" corrected to "homogeneous" (page 35) "posssble" corrected to "possible" (page 39) "condiitons" corrected to "conditions" (page 48) "a a" corrected to "a" (page 50) "receipe" corrected to "recipe" (page 56) missing word "a" added (page 67) "he" corrected to "the" (page 74) "when" corrected to "When" (page 80) 
33497	----	Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations and illuminations. See 33497-h.htm or 33497-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33497/33497-h/33497-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33497/33497-h.zip) FROM XYLOGRAPHS TO LEAD MOLDS AD 1440 AD 1921 Copyright, 1921 The Rapid Electrotype Company Cincinnati, Ohio FOREWORD Printing has been called "the art preservative of all arts." The invention of individual movable cast-metal type, between A. D. 1440 and 1446, made printing a commercial possibility. The subsequent rapid spread of the art, in the hands of students and craftsmen, may be said to have been the centrifugal force of the Renaissance and the Revival of Learning, which age, if it can be chronologically delimited, began A. D. 1453. Printing divulged to the masses the ancient classics which had been locked up in monasteries and accessible only to clerics and the nobility. The common people began to read. Education became popularized. This brochure is a brief history of the evolution from xylographs to the methods used today for duplicating a typographical printing surface in a solid piece. INDIVIDUAL MOVABLE CAST-METAL TYPE The art of writing, and that of printing from wooden blocks, and all the subsidiary arts of illuminating, decorating and binding manuscripts and books, had long passed out of the exclusive hands of the monasteries into the hands of students and artisans, before printing with individual movable cast-metal type was invented. This epoch making invention came into practical use between A. D. 1440 and 1446. When, therefore, Johannes Koelhoff of Lubeck, Germany, printed the "Cologne Chronicle" in 1499, he used individual movable cast-metal type. Typographic printing had long before superseded Xylographic printing, that is, printing from a solid block of wood on which type of an entire page were cut individually by hand. Between the invention of individual movable cast-metal type and the perfection by the Earl of Stanhope of his printing-press, (a period of about three hundred and sixty years), very few improvements had been made in the mechanics of printing. Everything we know today about the art has come into use since 1799, and if Koelhoff had come to life in 1799 and been permitted to resume his occupation of printer, he would have found himself practically familiar with the mechanical equipment of his craft as used in the establishment of the Stanhope Press in that last year of the eighteenth century. Centuries before 1440 printing is believed to have been attempted in China; presumably about the beginning of the Christian era. It is said that in the year A. D. 175 the text of the Chinese classics was cut into tablets which were erected outside the national university at Peking, and that impressions--probably rubbings--were taken of them. Some of these fac-simile impressions are still in existence, it is asserted. Xylography was also practiced in China long before Europe knew the art. It can be traced as far back as the sixth century, when the founder of the Suy dynasty is said to have had the remains of the Chinese classics engraved on wood, though it was not until the tenth century that printed books became common in China. The authorities of the British Museum also report that Chinese writers give the name of a certain Pi Sheng who, in the eleventh century, invented movable type, and the Department of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts of the same institution possesses a copy of the Wen hsien tung Kao, a Chinese encyclopedia printed in Korea from movable type in A. D. 1337. To the Koreans also is attributed the invention of copper type in the beginning of the 15th century, and the inspection of books bearing the dates of that period seems to show that they used such type, even if they did not invent them. The first authentic European printing produced from individual movable type of which we have any recorded impression, bears the date of A. D. 1454. These documents are two different editions of the same Letters of Indulgence issued in that year by Pope Nicholas V. in behalf of the Kingdom of Cyprus. We do not know, however, whether they were printed from metal or wood type. [Illustration] As to the _exact_ date of the invention of printing from individual movable type in Europe, we know only that it was some time prior to A. D. 1454. Where and by whom the invention came about, a dispute has been waged for more than four hundred years; one of the most hotly contested questions in history. In short, Koelhoff was in part responsible for starting this dispute. He published in his "Cologne Chronicle" a statement by Ulrich Zell, a printer of Mainz in Germany and a contemporary of Gutenberg, that Gutenberg _had improved_, but _not invented_ the art, which he attributes to Coster of Haarlem, in the Netherlands, in the year 1440. Gutenberg stole Coster's type, according to Zell, and printed from them in 1442. Other unrefutable evidence shows that Gutenberg could not have begun printing at Mainz before the end of 1450. In addition to Gutenberg and Coster we also find Waldfoghel of Avignon, in France, and Castaldi of Felte, in Italy, mentioned as claimants of this invention. The value of their respective pretensions has been summed up by one well known authority in the words, "Holland has books, but no documents. France has documents, but no books. Italy has neither books, nor documents, while Germany has both books and documents." As the case stands at present, after careful and impartial examination of all available evidence, no choice is left but to attribute the invention of printing with individual movable cast-metal type to Lourens Janszoon Coster of Haarlem in the Netherlands between the years 1440 and 1446 and not to Gutenberg of Mainz in Germany. Zell's statement in the "Cologne Chronicle" of 1499 is further substantiated by Hadrianus Junius in his "Batavia." Junius stated that printing from individual movable type was invented by Coster in Haarlem, and that the "Speculum Humanae Salvationes" was one of his first productions. These two statements were made independently of each other and both are corroborated by books to which they refer. The "Speculum Humanae Salvationes," attributed to Coster by Junius was partly a folio Latin block-book, and partly typographically printed. From this and other records it has been clearly established that Coster began as a xylographer and ended as a typographical printer, and before 1472 he had manufactured and extensively used at least seven different styles of primitive looking individual movable cast-metal type. According to tradition, while he was walking in a wood near Haarlem, Coster cut some letters in the bark of a beech tree, and with them, reversely impressed one by one on paper, he composed one or two lines as an example for the children of his son-in-law. Junius does not say it, but clearly implies that, in this way, Coster came to the idea of the movability of the characters, the first step in the invention of typography. He perceived the advantage and utility of such insulated characters, which hitherto he had been cutting together on one block, and so the invention of printing with individual movable type was made. The questions as to whether he continued to print with movable "wooden" type, or even printed books with them, cannot be answered, because no such books or fragments of them have come down to us. Junius' words on this point are ambiguous, and yet, upon the examination of the first edition of the Dutch Spiegel (of which two copies are preserved at Haarlem) no one would deny that there are grounds for this belief. The dancing condition of the lines and letters make it almost impossible to think that they are impressions from metal type. But for how long and to what extent movable wooden type were employed, if at all, cannot be positively stated. However, this idea of movability, and the accidental way in which it was discovered, form together the pith of the Haarlem tradition as told by Junius. Nothing seems more natural than that a block-printer should cut such separate letters as Coster did on the bark of a tree and thereupon perceive that they could be used over and over again for a variety of words on different pages, while those which he used to cut in a solid block only served him for one page and for one purpose. It is equally clear from the Haarlem tradition that the art of casting metal type was the second stage in the invention, a development or outcome of the primary idea of "movable letters," for Junius says that Coster "afterwards changed the beechen characters into leaden, and the latter again into tin ones." Theod. Bibliander, in 1548, was the first to speak of movable wooden type and to describe them. First they cut their letters, he reports, on wood blocks the size of an entire page; but because the labor and cost of that way was so great, they devised movable wooden type, perforated and joined one to another by a thread. Bibliander does not say that he had ever seen such type himself, but Dan Speckle or Specklin (d. 1589) who ascribed the invention to Mentelin, asserts that he saw some of these wooden type at Straussburg; and Angelo Roccho asserted in 1591 that he had seen at Venice type perforated and joined one to another by a thread, but he does not state whether they were of wood or of metal. There is a theory also that between block-printing and printing with movable cast-metal type there was an intermediate stage of printing with "sculpto-fusi" type; that is, a type of which the shank had to be cast in a quadrilateral mold and the characters or letters engraved afterwards by hand. This theory was suggested by some one who could not believe in wooden type and yet wished to account for the marked irregularities of the type used to print the earliest books. Granting that all the earlier works of typography preserved to us are impressions of cast-metal type, there are still differences of opinion, especially among practical printers and type-founders, as to the probable methods employed to cast them. It is considered unlikely, although not impossible, that the invention of printing passed all at once from xylography to the perfect typography of the punch, matrix, and mold. The types that Coster made and used were supposed to have been manufactured in one of three or four probable ways. Bernard believed that the first movable cast-metal type were molded in sand, since that method of casting was known to the silversmiths and trinket-makers of the fifteenth century. In substantiation of his theory he exhibits a specimen of a word cast as a unit for him by this process, roughly similar to a modern linotype slug. A second suggested mode was that of casting in clay molds, by a method very similar to that used in the sand process, and resulting in like peculiarities and variations in the type. Ottley, in his "Invention of Printing," was the chief exponent of this theory. He believed that type were made by pouring molten lead into molds of clay or plaster, after the ordinary manner used from time immemorial in casting statues and other articles of metal. The imperfections in the type cast by the sand and clay processes--the difficulty of uneven heights in the various type--is supposed to have been surmounted either by locking up the form with the type-face downward on the composing stone, or by perforating the type, either at the time of casting or afterwards, and holding them in their places by means of a wire or thread through the perforations. [Illustration] To this cause has been attributed the numerous misprints in those early specimens of the printers' art, to correct which would have involved the unthreading of every line in which a typographical error occurred. A striking proof that the lines were put into the form one by one, as a piece, instead of type by type, is shown in a blunder in the "Speculum" of Coster where the whole of a last reference line is "turned." It is as if a modern linotype slug were put in the form up-side-down. A third suggestion as to the method by which the type of those early days of printing may have been produced is described as a system that the type-founders of about 1800 called Polytypage, which is a cast facsimile copy of an engraved block of type matter. Lambinet, who is responsible for this suggestion, explains that this method really means an early adoption of the stereotyping process. Lambinet thought that the early printers may have discovered a way of molding in cooling metal so as to get a matrix-plate impression of an entire page. Upon this matrix they would pour molten lead or tin and by the aid of a roller, press the fused metal evenly so as to make it penetrate into all the hollows and corners of the letters. This tablet of lead or tin, when cooled, being easily detached from the matrix, would then reveal the letters of the alphabet reversed and in relief, similar to a present day stereotype. The individual letters, of course, could easily be cut apart by a sharp tool, and the molding operation could be repeated, using the same matrix. The metal type faces so produced would be fixed on wooden shanks, type high, and the font would be complete. It is impossible to suppose, however, that the Mainz psalter of 1457, which Lambinet points to as a specimen of this mode of execution, is the impression, not of type at all, but a collection of "casts" mounted on wood. Yet another theory has been proposed by Dr. Ch. Enschede, head of the celebrated type foundry of that name in Haarlem. Enschede concludes that the Costerian type were produced from leaden matrices and the latter from brass patrices. Their bad, irregular condition was due to the tools being imperfect, and Coster in the first practice of his invention was inexperienced and therefore bound to produce such imperfections as are found in the Speculum. Coster's type were cast in one tempo, that is, the character itself and the shank cast at the same time in one piece. Gutenberg's patrices, according to Enschede, were made like bookbinders' stamps, of yellow copper, i. e., brass. With such patrices only lead matrices could be made, but the latter could be produced in two ways. Molten lead could be poured over the patrices or the patrices could be pressed into cold lead. The first mode is somewhat complex, but the matrix would have a smooth surface and need no further adjustment. The second mode is more simple, but required great force, although lead is a soft metal. Moreover the surface of the matrix would have to be trimmed, as the impression forces the metal downwards and sidewards, which makes the surface uneven, though by this pressure the lead becomes firmer and more compact, to the advantage of the type-founder. Enschede thinks that Gutenberg obtained his matrices by the second mode. He arrives at this conclusion by reason of the fact that Gutenberg's types were sharper in their impressions than Coster's. Developing this theory, he believes that Gutenberg had each letter engraved on a brass plate 2 mm. thick, therefore a mere letter without anything underneath it. This brass letter patrix was pressed, by means of a small flat plate, so far into the lead that its back formed an unbroken plane with the top surface of the lead, and was then removed. After the matrix had been made this way, the type were cast, which was done, not by pouring metal into the matrix, but by pressing the latter into semi-fused metal. In this way a great many letters could be cast from one matrix without any injury to it. Gutenberg's method was to cast in two tempos, according to Enschede, that is, the character was cast first and the shank was cast by another operation joining it to the character. Enschede warns us, however, that his theories are simply those of a practical founder and not a bibliographer's. But since no tools used by those early printers and type-founders have come to light to prove or disprove him, his theory is as valuable as any others advanced as to the methods used for casting type in those primitive days of printing. The shape of the type used as early as 1470 does not seem to differ materially from those of the present day. This is evident from old type which were discovered in 1878 in the bed of the river Saone, near Lyons, opposite the site of one of the fifteenth century printing-houses of that city. Also a page in Joh. Neider's "Lepra Moralis" printed by Conrad Homburch in Cologne in 1476 shows the accidental impression of a type pulled up from its place in the course of printing by the ink-ball, and laid at length on the face of the form, leaving its exact profile indented upon the page. This accidental imprint shows a small circle, and it is presumed that the type were pierced latterly by a circular hole, which did not penetrate the whole thickness of the letter, and served, like the nick in modern type, to enable the compositor to tell by touch which way to set the letter in his stick. The fact that a letter was pulled out of the form seems to show that the type composing the line could not have been threaded together, as set forth by Ottley in his theory of clay molds for casting type. It is to be remembered, however, that in the early days of printing, every printer was his own type-founder. The method of casting type had not been standardized and each printer had his own individual ideas both as to the kind of characters and the method used in casting them. Some may have threaded their type together in lines and others may have simply locked them up in the form face downward in the composing stone to overcome any irregularities caused by crude methods of casting. Vinc. Fineschi, of Florence, in Italy, gives an extract from the cost-book of the Ripoli press, about 1480, which shows that steel, brass, copper, tin, lead and iron were all used in the manufacture of type at that period. Today we have the wizardry of mechanical production in the manufacture of type. The linotype and monotype machines, uncanny in their operations, have also come into common practice. Without them printing would seem almost as primitive, in typography, as it was in its infancy. STEREOTYPING About the beginning of the eighteenth century a certain Van der Meyer, of Antwerp, made the next step towards a definite improvement in typography, the first that had been attempted since the invention of printing from movable, cast-metal type. Van der Meyer prepared the composed pages of the Bible by soldering together the bottom of the type in the form. This was the first "stereotype," a term derived from two Greek words meaning literally "solidtype." This method met one requirement. It prevented the "pi-ing" of the type, but it had the disadvantage of holding in comparative idleness a large and costly mass of type useless for any other purpose, and it was not generally practiced. This was followed in 1730, by William Ged, a goldsmith of Edinburgh, who is credited with casting printing-plates in plaster-of-paris molds for the University of Cambridge Bible. These plates, however, were destroyed by jealous printers and thrown aside, resulting in the process being abandoned for many years. In the meantime several other improvements along this line were undergoing experiment. Firmin Didot, (1764-1836), a printer of Paris, cast type of a hard alloy, and when his book-pages were composed, made an impression of them on a sheet of soft lead, thus forming a mold. Molten metal was then poured into a shallow tray, and just as this was on the point of solidifying, but still plastic, the lead-mold of the book-page was pressed on the soft metal in the tray. This process called Polytypage, was but partly successful; it could be used only for small pages, and the plates were too often defective. A process similar to this is what Lambinet thought the printers of the latter half of the fifteenth century might have used as one of the probable methods to cast their metal types. These and other experiments, however, were leading to the real stereotyping process which developed later. Early in the nineteenth century, Earl Stanhope, of England, re-introduced Ged's stereotyping process with many improvements. One or more pages of type were locked in a chase, the surface of the type being oiled to prevent the subsequent mold from sticking. The mold was made by pouring a semi-fluid composition of plaster-of-paris mixed with a little fine salt to make the plaster settle solidly. While the plaster was still soft, it was carefully pressed down and rolled smooth on top to give a uniform thickness to the mold and to expel any air there might be in the plaster. When the plaster became solid, it formed a perfect matrix of the type pages. The moisture in those early plaster molds was expelled by baking them in an oven for three or four hours. A later method for drying was practiced by suspending the mold directly over the metal-pots or to float them on the surface of the molten metal. By this means the drying could be accomplished in a half-hour or so. In the process of casting, several of these plaster molds were placed side by side face downward in a special casting-pan. The pan was one and three-quarters or two inches deep, and a lid on the pan screwed down on the back of the molds. By means of a crane the casting pan with its molds was then lowered into the pot of molten metal which ran into the pan at the corners and sides. The mold was allowed to remain ten minutes or so in the metal-pot, or until the face of the inverted mold was entirely filled with the metal. [Illustration] A later method of casting from a plaster mold was to place it in a frame with a smooth, flat plate opposite the face of the mold and to enclose the open space at one end and on the two sides. The casting space thus formed was then turned with the open end up and metal was poured in with a ladle, in a manner similar to the method still employed for casting job-work stereotypes. The distance between the flat plate and the mold was adjusted to make a stereotype plate of the required thickness. After the removal and cooling of the casting pan, the plates were freed from the plaster and the surplus metal cut off. Only one cast could be made, as the mold was usually destroyed in removing the cast. The stereotype was then sent to the finishing department, where the face was cleaned and examined for defective letters, then trimmed on the sides and planed off uniformly on the back to the desired thickness, in the same manner as a stereotype is treated today. A defective letter could be mortised out of the plate and a good type inserted in its place. In cases where a whole line or other part was imperfect, another mold was made of as much of the form as was necessary and the new cast inserted and soldered to the plate. There were many and varied experiments made in the earlier development of this idea of producing a duplicate printing form in a single piece. That such a process was highly desirable was universally recognized, and the conviction that some practicable and economical method was feasible was a continual incentive which gradually led to better results. STEREOTYPING IN AMERICA Although credit is given to John Watts, an Englishman then working in America, for making the first stereotype plates here, the real introduction of the process into the United States was by David Bruce. This was in 1813. Bruce had learned the printer's trade in Edinburgh and later came to America, where after a few years he was joined by his brother George in establishing the firm of D. & G. Bruce, printers. Hearing of the new process of stereotyping in England, he went over there to learn about it. He could get very little information about the process there, but came back with some practical ideas which he proceeded to carry out. Bruce and his brother also began type-founding about this time, and abandoned the business of printing. Later they gave up the work of stereotyping. [Illustration] The first book stereotyped in the United States was the New Testament, in 1814. Bibles and school books were the first works to be stereotyped; then came other books which were demanded in many editions, such as the works of popular authors. THE PAPIER MACHE MATRIX The papier-mache (literally, mashed paper) matrix was first successfully used for casting stereotypes for book pages in France in 1848. Charles Craske, an engraver of New York, introduced the method into the stereotype trade of the United States in 1850, and in 1854 he stereotyped a page of the "_New York Herald_" and later made stereotypes for other New York newspapers. The modern wet stereotype "flong," in common use today, consists of several layers of special paper pasted together to form a thick sheet. The base is a sheet of special soft stock similar to firm blotting-paper, such as is used between leaves of small blank books. Three or four sheets of strong, white tissue are next added, each sheet except the last being uniformly covered with the paste. The pasting must be done with great care so as to cover the entire surface of each sheet and at the same time to press out all air bubbles. The sheets must then be pressed smoothly but not squeezed so hard as to force the paste out and must be kept moist until used. In newspaper syndicate plants, the "flong" is made automatically by a specially devised machine into which the various kinds of paper used are fed from rolls, the pasting and cutting into sheets being mechanical. In molding a papier-mache matrix, the moist "flong" is laid on the original molding form to be duplicated, the molding form being in place on the table of the molding press. The "flong" is covered with several blankets of thick felt and the table of the molding press is then automatically moved in under a powerful roller which squeezes the moist flong down into the form. At the end of its travel the table is automatically brought back again under the rollers to the position from which it started. The speed of the roller and the table is synchronized to obviate any possibility of the mat becoming wrinkled by sliding. The molded matrix and the pattern with the blanket still on it is then transferred to the drying press, in which under a hot platten it is again squeezed and allowed to remain for a few minutes until the moisture is completely expelled from the molded flong. The drying press is kept at a high temperature, usually by steam heat. The matrix thus dried out to a thick, flexible cardboard is then ready for the casting of the stereotype, which is done by pouring molten stereotype metal against the face of the matrix placed in a casting-box designed for this purpose. A successive number of stereotypes can be cast for the same mat before it is injured by the hot metal. For job-work stereotyping the casting-box is flat, and the molten metal is either poured by hand or automatically pumped in the casting-box. After the stereotype is cast it is flattened, rough shaved, smooth shaved, bevelled or blocked on wood; the wood base trimmed and then planed type-high for printing press use. The large daily papers cast the full-page stereotype from which the paper is printed in an automatic casting machine which forms a curved plate, trimmed and bevelled, to fit the cylinder of the press. Stereotyping was for many years the chief means of making plates for books and also for commercial printing. It has several advantages. The first, obviously, is the advantage which it shares with several other methods of providing a solid printing plate made by molding from an original form of type or engraving. Its peculiar advantage, however, is that it is the quickest method of producing a duplicate plate from an original. In comparison with electrotyping, however, it has two distinct disadvantages. One is that it is not adapted for reproducing the fine lines of engravings and type faces. In addition it is comparatively shallow and does not possess a sharp, clean printing face. The other disadvantage is that a stereotype is relatively soft and quickly worn. Stereotypes have been made more durable, to withstand the wear of printing, by the deposition of a film of harder metal--copper or nickel--on the face of the plate after it has been cast. This, however, is not satisfactory, as it involves not only another operation, but also makes an already shallow printing plate that much shallower and increases the probability of it printing "dirty," which is one of the chief objections to the stereotype in itself. This practice is not recommended. ELECTROTYPING In 1799, Allesandro Volta, of Pavia, in Italy, constructed the first electric battery, which came to be called the Voltaic pile. Improvements in the form of Volta's battery were made almost immediately by William Cruickshank, in England, who discovered in experimenting with it that he could by its power electrolyze or chemically decompose the salts of certain metals in solution. Both copper and silver, he found, could be precipitated from their salt solutions and deposited upon a plate immersed in the solution. This observation was the first step in the process of electroplating, which is electrotyping when applied to the art of typography. In 1837, thirty-eight years after Volta's discovery, Mr. Thomas Spencer of Liverpool, England, accidentally stumbled upon the first realization of the electrotyping process. While experimenting with a modification of a Daniell battery, he used an English copper penny as one of the poles instead of a plain piece of copper. A deposition of copper from the solution in the battery took place upon the penny, and upon removing the wire which attached the penny to the zinc plate a portion of the copper deposit was pulled off the penny also. This first copper electrotype shell Spencer found to be an exact duplicate or mold of part of the head and lettering on the coin. _It was as smooth and as sharp as the original._ It was some time later, however, before this suggested to him any useful application of the process. Another accident made him appreciate the full value of his discovery. This time he carelessly dropped some varnish on a strip of copper which he was going to use in the same way he did the penny. Upon removing the copper from the battery he observed that there was no deposition of copper on those parts of the strip where the varnish had dropped. Spencer then conceived the idea of applying this principle to the arts by coating a piece of copper with varnish or wax and engraving a design in the coating, thus exposing the copper strip in the engraved lines. He did this, and then deposited copper in the design so engraved. Upon removing the coating the design was exposed in relief on the piece of copper. On September 13, 1839, Spencer read a paper before the Polytechnic Institution of Liverpool, which he accompanied with specimens of both electrotypes made by this process and of printing from these electrotypes. The publication of this paper acted like an electric shock upon society. Developing his process, Spencer first used lead as the plastic medium in which to mold printing surfaces, and it is to be noted in this connection that in doing so he anticipated Dr. Albert's lead mold by considerably over three quarters of a century. Spencer impressed a form of type on a planed piece of sheet-lead and subjected both of them to the action of a screw-press. A perfectly sharp mold of the type form was thus made in the lead. This lead mold was placed in a battery, and at the end of _eight days_ a copper shell one eighth of an inch in thickness had been deposited. It was then removed from the apparatus and the rough edge of the deposited copper filed off. Being subjected to heat, the copper shell loosened from the lead-mold. Spencer called this a "copper stereotype." [Illustration] The next step in developing the electrotyping process, after Spencer had demonstrated the practical application of the electro-chemical deposition of a copper shell on a mold, was made by a Mr. Robert Murray. Mr. Murray was the first to use plumbago, or black-lead, to give the surface of non-metallic bodies electro-conductive properties. He discovered that he could coat a mold of bees-wax with black-lead and deposit thereon a copper shell. This was in 1840. In the same year Smee's battery was invented. This was a marked improvement and was a most important step towards making electrotyping a commercial possibility. Thus in 1840, four hundred years after the probable date of the invention of printing from individual movable cast-metal type, and over forty years after the foundation of electrotyping was laid by Volta, electrotyping, as a practical method of reproducing a commercial typographical printing surface, came into existence. Mr. E. Palmer, in England, using Spencer's method, was the first to receive a patent for producing a metallic printing plate with the printing surfaces in relief. This patent is dated 1841. Palmer followed this in the succeeding year by a further patent for engraving through a wax-coated matrix-plate to form the printing surfaces in the _positive_ electrotype taken from it. This process was termed by Palmer, "Glyphography." The "whites" or low spots in Palmer's Glyphographs were "built-up" in the wax mold through adding wax by hand, assisted by various ingeniously constructed tools which were heated. After "building-up," the wax was black-leaded and the copper deposition on the surface of the wax mold was obtained. This copper deposit, or shell, was then tinned on the back, backed up with lead, mounted on wood, and trimmed type-high. These processes are the essentials used today in electrotyping. One of the earliest works illustrated by the Palmer process is "The History and Antiquities of Brentford, Ealing, and Chiswick," by T. Faulkner, published in 1845, and the word "Glyphography" occurs at the foot of many illustrations contained in it. In 1839 the first attempt was made at commercial electrotyping in America. In that year, Joseph A. Adams, a wood-engraver connected with Harper & Bros. in New York, experimented along lines similar to those Spencer had pursued, but using a wood-cut from which to mold. His electrotypes were made by taking an impression from the wood-cut in an alloy of soft metal of which bismuth was probably the chief ingredient, and immersing the metal mold in an ordinary Voltaic battery for the deposition of the copper shell. In making the impression, however, the wood-cut was destroyed so, that this method of making an electrotype was not commercially practical. [Illustration] The year following Adams took advantage of Smee's battery and made an electrotype which was used in Mape's Magazine in 1841. He also employed this process for making illustrations for Harper's Family Bible, issued between 1842 and 1844. The first successful commercial electrotyper in America was John W. Wilcox, of Boston. A wood carver named Chandler, told Mr. Wilcox that if he could repeat what Adams of New York had done with a wood-cut in 1839 that he, Chandler, would lend him the necessary wood-cuts for experimental purposes. In less than sixty days in 1846, Mr. Wilcox had put into practical use every essential principle known for the next twenty-five years in electrotyping. In 1855, Mr. Gay of New York first used tin-foil for the purpose of soldering the copper shells to the metal backing. During the same year, a Mr. Adams of Brooklyn, New York, invented the dry-brush black-leading machine. Steven D. Tucker, of New York, developed and patented in 1866 the type of dry-brush black-leading machine which is in common use today. In 1871, Silas P. Knight, of Harper & Bros., New York, invented the wet black-leading process, and in 1872 took out another patent for an improvement on this process. Mr. Knight's method of wet black-leading was not generally adopted by the electrotypers of that time and gradually became almost unknown. Undoubtedly, the cause of this was that the method of dry black-leading was good enough for type and woodcut work. The half-tone had not been invented at that time, and it was only after the invention of the half-tone that a better method of black-leading became necessary. Thirty-seven years after Mr. Knight had successfully used his process of wet black-leading a patent was granted to Frank L. Learman, of Buffalo, New York, for a wet black-leader. Since that time numerous patents have been taken out on different methods of using the wet process, which is universally recognized today as the best method of graphiting the surface of a mold. In 1870, Joseph A. Adams patented a process for covering the surface of the mold after it had been black-leaded with powdered tin. This was for the purpose of quickening the deposition of the copper shell when the molds were in the batteries, and from this undoubtedly came the oxidizing process of coating the surface of the molds with chemical copper invented by Silas Knight, which has long been and is now in use. Perhaps one of the greatest forward steps in the development of electrotyping was made when the plating dynamo was invented. The first adoption of a dynamo in place of Smee's battery took place in 1872. With the Smee type of battery it required from thirty to forty-eight hours to deposit a copper shell thick enough for commercial use. With the invention of the plating dynamo and its improvements, the time of depositing the shell was reduced so that now two hours is the common time that a mold is kept in the tubs or batteries. This quickening of the time required to deposit the shell was one of the most essential features in the development of commercial electrotyping. From the first hand-screw presses, which were successfully used for molding, to the modern high-power, motor-driven, hydraulic presses, for working either in wax or lead, is a far cry. The invention of the half-tone, together with the invention of the modern two-revolution cylinder press which has brought printing into its present state of perfection, made necessary radical improvements in the machinery for making electrotypes. These improvements have been steady in their development, but the fundamental points of the process are practically those which have been in use from the start of commercial electrotyping. ELECTROTYPING BY THE WAX MOLD PROCESS An electrotype is a facsimile printing plate duplicated from an original. The original may be either type, a woodcut, a zinc or a copper etching such as a line-cut or a half-tone, or it may be a combination of type-matter and line-cuts or half-tones. We commonly think of electrotypes as printing plates made of copper, but any metal which can be electrochemically deposited may be used. Because of their wearing qualities and economy, however, copper and nickel are the two metals commercially used for electrotyping. Briefly, an electrotype is made by taking an impression of the original in a plastic substance, thus forming a mold or matrix; depositing copper or nickel on the mold; removing the copper or nickel shell from the mold and backing it with a semi-hard metal; trimming the metal to printing-plate thickness, and bevelling, or blocking on wood, the trimmed plate for printing-press use. In modern practice more than twenty-five different operations are necessary to make a finished electrotype ready for the press. They may be enumerated, as follows: _1. Case-making._ The flowing of a molding compound composed of "ozokerite," a resinol-mineral wax, onto the case. The case is of copper. _2. Flashing the Case._ Passing a flame over the surface of the melted ozokerite immediately after flowing the case in order to remove air-bubbles. _3. Case-shaving._ The automatic shaving of the top surface of the flowed case after the ozokerite has hardened to give it a smooth, even surface for molding. _4. Graphiting._ Brushing surface of case with molding graphite to prevent the pattern from sticking to the wax mold. _5. Molding._ Making an impression from the original zinc line etching, half-tone or type form in the waxed case. This is done by means of a hydraulically operated molding press. _6. Cutting-down._ The levelling off by hand, using a sharp trowel shaped tool, of the splurge after the impression has been made. Flashing is also used here to remove the burr left around the letters after the cutting down process. _7. Building-up._ The adding of wax by hand to the blank spaces in the molded case so that in the finished electrotype they will be well below the printing face. _8. Black-leading._ Making the face of the molded case electrically conductive by applying graphite. _9. Stopping-out._ Insulating with a thin coating of wax the edges and back of the copper case to prevent copper being deposited except on the face of the mold. _10. Pumping-out or Oxidizing._ Coating the face of the molded case with chemical copper to hasten deposition of copper shell in the bath. _11. Deposition of Shell._ The molded case is put in the electrolytic bath for the deposition of shell thereon. _12. Releasing Shell from Molds._ Stripping the deposited shell from the waxed mold by dashing hot water on it. The wax is melted off case and used again. _13. Washing Copper Shell._ Hot lye-water or steam is used to clean off any wax sticking to it. _14. Trimming Copper Shell._ Rough edges of shell outside the guard line trimmed off. _15. Aciding Copper Shell._ An application of fluxing medium to back of copper shell so that tin will adhere. _16. Tinning Copper Shell._ Tin-foil is melted on the back of the copper shell. This is the solder between the copper shell and the metal back, without which the metal backing would not adhere to the shell. _17. Backing-up._ The flowing of electrotype metal on the back of the tinned copper shell for the purpose of making a foundation for printing (electrotype metal is an alloy of 94 per cent lead; 3 per cent tin for flowing and 3 per cent antimony for hardness). _18. Scrubbing the Cast._ A power operated scrubbing machine using a hydro-carbon oil as the cleansing medium to clean the printing face of the electrotypes. _19. Cast-sawing._ Sawing off the surplus metal of the cast before finishing. _20. Flattening the Casts._ Hand operation with mallet and flattening block to take the warp out of the electrotype caused by the contraction of the metal in cooling. _21. Rough-shaving._ Planing off superfluous metal from the back of the electrotype. _22. Finishing._ Putting the printing surface of the electrotype in perfect condition for press after leaving the foundry department. This is done by hand and requires a high degree of skill. _23. Smooth-shaving._ The finishing shave of metal from back of electrotype to bring it to the required thickness. _24. Routing._ Cutting out the high but non-printing surfaces of the electrotype by a routing machine. _25. Guard-line Sawing._ Cutting the guard lines or bearers off the electrotype to practically the finished size before blocking or bevelling. _26. Blocking._ Fastening the plate on wood base with brads driven through the metal. _27. Trimming._ Trimming the wood mounted electrotype to its exact finished size. _28. Type-high Machining._ Used for planing the bottom of the wood base so that the mounted electrotype is of printing press requirements, i. e., .918" high. ELECTROTYPING BY THE LEAD MOLD PROCESS Electrotypes made by the genuine Dr. Albert Lead Mold Process are always duplicates of fine-screen half-tones or mezzo-tints used for the highest class of commercial job-work, such as three and four color process or duo-tone printing on paper with a highly glazed surface. The largest press used in lead molding will give a maximum pressure of two thousand tons per square inch on a thirty inch ram hydraulically operated. The weight of this press is over thirty thousand pounds. [Illustration] In the lead mold process the plastic medium used is a soft thin sheet of what is called "impression lead," .040 inches thick, instead of wax, and the lead is placed on top of the original to be duplicated, instead of vice-versa, as in the wax-molding process. No "building-up" nor "black-leading" is necessary. In all other respects the consecutive steps towards the completion of the lead mold plate are identical to those used in the Wax Mold Process. ALUMINOTYPES The age long progress in the development and perfection of typographical printing surfaces, from the period of Xylographic blocks on through the successive inventions of individual movable cast-metal type, stereotyping and electrotyping, by both the wax and lead-molding processes, reaches its culmination in _Aluminotypes_. Briefly, it is a method of casting printing plates of aluminum alloy in molds made from a composition of plaster-of-paris. In its essential points it is a modern adaptation of the process credited to William Ged of Edinburgh in 1730 and afterwards modified and improved in the early 19th century by Earl Stanhope of England. In practice, the original to be duplicated is placed on a molding-slab. A molding frame is set upon the slab and enclosing the original. A special kind of oil is then sprayed on the face of the original. This is to facilitate the release of the plaster mold so that it will not "tear" when it is ready to be lifted off the original after solidifying, and at the same time to retain the sharpness of the mold. The molding medium of plaster composition in a semi-liquefied state is then poured on to the original in the molding frame. The surplus plaster is scraped off flush with the top of the molding frame. After the plaster matrix in its molding frame has set sufficiently it is released by means of cams from the working pattern on the molding-slab. The plaster matrix is then placed in a drying oven, through which a forced draft of hot air is kept circulating at high pressure. The thorough drying of the mold takes approximately ninety minutes. When the plaster mold has become sufficiently dried, a round hole is cut through the bottom of the matrix in an offset of the molding frame. This hole is the gate through which the molten aluminum is forced. The mold is then securely locked upright in a specially designed casting machine. The Aluminotype is cast by pressure and not by pouring as in the case of stereotypes, which depend entirely upon gravity. Fused aluminum alloy is poured into a hopper on the casting machine. A piston operated by the agency of compressed air forces the aluminum evenly into all parts of the plaster matrix. When the cast is completed the molding frame is taken from the casting machine and the Aluminotype removed from its plaster-of-paris matrix. _AUTHORITIES_: "An Outline of the History of Printing," by R. A. Peddie. "Typographical Printing Surfaces," by L. A. Legros. "Manual of Electro-Metallurgy," by Napier. "The Encyclopedia Brittanica." "Electrotyping and Stereotyping" Typographical Technical Series, Vol. XV. The Rapid Electrotype Company. THE MAKING OF THE FOOLPROOF NEWSPAPER DRAWING SOME ADVERTISING PICTURES PRINT WELL--OTHERS DO NOT. WHY? IT'S ALL A MATTER OF GOING ABOUT IT IN A KNOW-HOW WAY _By J. LIVINGSTON LARNED_ An advertiser--perhaps one of the largest users of newspaper space in the country--sprang a surprise recently on his ad-manager. Into the office he came, one day, grim-visaged, jaw set, fire in his eyes, and armed with no less than fifty clippings from exchanges. And on the amazed ad-manager's desk he placed two conglomerate piles of advertising matter. One represented the national newspaper campaign of his own industry; the other a collection of newspaper advertisements, picked at random. "I think I have conclusive proof," said he, in no mild mood, "that you fellows are not as efficient as you might be. Here are our advertisements--from papers everywhere. The illustrations print abominably! Look at them. The matter has been called to my attention many times--by the newspapers themselves, by our road representatives and by local dealers. They say our electro service and our straight national campaigns are all muddied up with pictures that nobody can decipher. Here's conclusive proof of it. Not a clean-looking cut in the series and you can't blame it on paper and press work and all that--they're _all_ bad!" The advertising manager glanced casually at the exhibits. The criticism was valid. Here was a daily newspaper campaign, running into space valued at approximately sixty thousand dollars, and the displays, three-fourths illustration, were mussy, involved, smeared up, and unsatisfactory from a reproductive standpoint. Solid black backgrounds were a sickly, washed-out gray and in other places intricate pen work had "run-together." It was equally true that clippings of competitive advertising and advertising in general, selected at random, were strangely clean-cut. The comparison was startling. "Mr. X," finally observed the ad-manager, "I see what you mean; all of us in this department have known of it, kept track of it; and the remarkable part of the entire situation is that these results can be traced back to you and your personal insistence on a certain type of pen and ink design, executed in a specific technique. These matters came up for your supervision and O. K. You did not care for the bold, simple outline drawings first submitted. You preferred too many, and a glut of detail. All of which is not compatible with newspaper printing, even in large space. We were afraid of this and said so at the time. Our objection was overruled. It's one thing to prefer a pleasing, perhaps highly artistic pen technique and quite another to apply it to fast presses, poor ink and hurried make-ready. A great many things can happen, and _do_ happen, to a newspaper design before it is printed and in the readers' hands." DISREGARDING FUNDAMENTALS Sometimes it is better to come out with the frank, brutal truth. In a great many instances, poor newspaper reproduction is the direct result of some executive's marked preference for a certain artist or a certain technique, regardless of whether the man is qualified to draw for this field, or whether the technique is fitted for the purpose. On the other hand, there is, unquestionably, a strange, well nigh inexcusable disregard of certain fundamentals of the business. There is too much swivel-chair composure; too much beatific reassurance, when proofs are submitted on good paper, from a flat-bed engraver-house press. A newspaper series is very apt to look 100 per cent when presented on the final electro sheet, or bound into a neat booklet for the dealer and printed on coated stock. These are ostrich methods! In certain advertising agencies there is a standing rule in the matter of newspaper plates that all proofs must be pulled on newspaper stock--and a very inferior grade. A newspaper press is used, an entire series coming off at once. There is no make-ready to speak of. By this process no one is deceived. You see exactly what will happen, or nearly so, when the series fares forth to newspapers all over the country. The executive mentioned above had collected newspapers, big and little, from the four points of the compass. And he had collected a liberal number of perfectly satisfactory newspaper advertisements of the illustrated variety. Blacks were clean black, Ben Day tints held their own, there was no congestion, no smudging, no mishap of any sort. If certain rules are followed, any newspaper advertising illustration can be made "fool-proof." You can be absolutely certain of a printable result, despite all exigencies, all drawbacks, all hazards. Failure usually follows a desire to attempt something beyond that which has been tried and is wholly practical. For the present, at least, users of newspaper space _must_ bow to the inevitable. They _must_ realize that there is a well-defined limit to what can be done mechanically. They must _not_ defiantly experiment, although the desire to "do something new" and to be original is entirely praiseworthy. THINGS YOU CAN'T DO If you use half-tones, have them made very coarse screen--nothing finer than 60 line. Stop out whites and eliminate backgrounds. The high-light half-tone is a modern development with many virtues. If a portrait is used, take out all background. There is a way of retouching photographs that will minimize the danger of poor printing. The artist strengthens weak contrasts, not with a brush and paint, but with a pen and waterproof black ink. He also uses areas of pure white. Successful reproduction is dependent upon _sharp_, clear, vigorous _contrasts_. Stippling is one of the best substitutes for the half-tone. This simply means dotting-in a subject. It is a time-consuming, laborious process, but it means line plates and the elimination of middle tones--which are disastrous. There was a time when certain clever inventions of the paper manufacturer could be employed for half-tone effects in line. For example, a Ross Board is manufactured with an assortment of patterned surfaces. When brush or crayon or pencil is drawn over them, they give effects that may not be duplicated in straight pen and ink on plain white drawing board. Some of these papers have a chalk surface. Some have imitation half-tone patterns, straight-line designs, etc. It is possible to scratch away certain portions with a sharp knife. _Do not use them_ as matters now stand in newspaper printing. They will not "stand reduction" and only very coarse tints reproduce satisfactorily. _Special Caution_--Do not allow artists to make original drawings for newspaper use much larger than twice the size. Here is one of the greatest evils of the day. The artist seems possessed to make his original on a full sheet of paper, when he knows that the plate is for two or three newspaper columns. What happens? An illustration which makes a handsome showing in the original will inevitably fill-in when reduced to "actual size." Figure it out yourself--look at it through a reducing glass. Lines that seem wide apart almost touch in the congestion that follows great reduction. The really wise and shrewd artist makes his newspaper drawing _actual_ size. Not more than a dozen Ben Day patterns can be used safely--now--in newspapers. Do you know the meaning of "Ben Day?" It is a mechanical tint, printed mechanically either on the plate, by the engraver, or on the original drawing, from an inked gelatine surface and rubbed on with a stilus. Magazine reproduction accepts it in all its forms. Newspaper stock muddies it up when it is too fine. In any event, when selecting a pattern, see that it is an open one and have it put on the engraving--not the design. If on the design it means a reduction. If on the plate it means no reduction, but precisely as shown in the Ben Day book of patterns. Avoid complex line treatments and techniques, such as cross-hatching and the laying in of many very fine 290 pen lines close together. They look well in the original--they seldom print well on newspaper stock. They reduce abominably. Any newspaper illustration should have plenty of white margin to "relieve it." When a drawing is cramped, packed in, suffocated by side rules, borders and text, it suffers. Clear outline drawings, with an occasional dash of black, prove most efficient for newspaper reproduction. They _can't_ fill in, they _can't_ smudge, they _can't_ become contaminated by clots of printing ink or defects in the newspaper stock. Not even fast press work can damage their printability. But remember, not all outline drawings are alike--great originality of technique can be secured. CAREFUL OF BLACK AREAS Large areas of solid black are not advisable. Think it over. Ink flows irregularly on newspaper presses. One copy may show up exactly as in the original; the next may develop a white halo, a gray tendency, a smeary, half-baked look. No two impressions will be quite the same. And it is logical to see that this is apt to be so. Any imperfection or irregularity in the ink roller will cause it, or the collection of foreign matter on cut or roller. Any black area larger than two inches square is a hazard. Advertisers often think that masses of solid black will make an advertisement "stand out." They would if they printed a smooth, even black--which they seldom do. But liberal white margins are far more potent in attracting attention and in segregating an advertisement from mixed company than solid blacks. The _appearance_ of large areas of black may be secured via subterfuge. One method is to form the background of heavy black lines, quite close together. The white spaces between save the printing. Look at straight type through a magnifying glass. Not even type is printed clear black. Then what chance would an even surface of large proportion have? Newspaper cuts should be "routed deep." Routing is merely the deepening or entire cutting away of extraneous matter on the engraving--that is, where there is no printing surface. The smudges of hideous design often seen are really an impression of a metal surface that has not been routed out properly. Every engraving should be examined critically for such defects. Avoid placing a shaded area against a black area. As we have intimated, the heart and soul of the successful newspaper drawing is _contrast_. The beginning of every advertisement or series of advertisements is represented in terms of a first visualization. It is in pencil. These should be made same size--that is, the actual size they are to eventually appear. Then no one, the artist least of all, is fooled by disparity of proportions. KEEP IT SIMPLE The visualizer should keep one cardinal point in mind. Keep newspaper advertisements simple. The less there is in them the better. Thirty-two of the ads selected by our advertising friend, mentioned earlier in the story, were good because they were simple. Type was held to blocks, and with as little change in style, size and character of type as possible. All of them were characterized by liberal white margins. It is the best known way of fighting back the opposition of the surrounding appeals on the same page. There's a good test possible. Make a photographic print of your advertisement, the size it is to appear, and paste it on a newspaper page--not a New York or Chicago paper, but a page in the "Bingville Banner." Before plates are made or even before pen and ink drawings are fully completed, you can change, rearrange, eliminate, or add to, as the case may be. The wise advertiser is the one who in preparing an elaborate and extensive newspaper campaign keys it in its printing qualities, not to the best papers on the list, but to the ones that are worst printed. This may mean the undreamed of thing of 100 per cent perfect! No advertiser can hope to secure full efficiency from a campaign if it presents a smudged and confused appearance. Newspapers are trig things in their own right. Their column rules and their precision of type make this an arbitrary condition. There is really nothing finer and cleaner and more pleasing to the human eye than a well-composed newspaper, hot from the press. Ugly advertisements can make an ugly newspaper. They can even spoil the set-up and typography in general of the reading sections. A newspaper is held responsible if returns from a single advertisement or a campaign are not satisfactory. It is looked upon as a "poor medium." Yet how many times the true fault can be traced to the message itself. Full efficiency in advertising is the result of full efficiency in the copy.... (Reprinted by the kind permission of The Bureau of Advertising, the American Newspapers Publishers Association, Mr. William A. Thompson, Director.) NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING PLATES Mechanical production of any kind is an unsympathetic and inexorable thing, and the modern large daily newspaper, in its mechanical production, is unsympathetic and inexorable to the highest degree. It reproduces exactly and impartially from all the different material supplied to it. Your ad-plate is locked into the form with the other matter composing the page. A hurried lock-up, and the form is molded into a mat and stereotyped. Fast presses and cheap ink do the rest. If your ad does not show up well in the first few impressions run off, the press grinds on just the same, with little or no make-ready. Once they start, it is too late to stop to allow the press-room foreman to investigate why a certain ad does not print up well. The "Daily Bugle" must get on the streets, if possible, before its competitors with the important scoop that the Beghum of Swat has just died. If you have supplied the best material for the newspapers to work with, the clean-cut reproduction of your advertisement is insured. If you have been penny-wise and pound-foolish in saving a few cents on your ad-plate, all the dollars you spent on art, typography and white space for your ad are on the knees of the gods and liable to be spilled off the said knees, and your ad is messy looking when it appears. The advertiser invariably blames the newspaper and the newspaper passes the buck on to the plate-maker. The printed appearance of the ad is largely determined by the kind of plate furnished to the newspaper. The large daily newspapers are entirely dependent upon the stereotyping process for the necessary speed required in production. They do not print directly from type or cuts. The big advantage of stereotyping in this connection lies in the fact that it is the quickest method of producing a solid, duplicate printing plate from an original molding form. After locking up a page form, it can be molded, the matrix dried and the plate cast and ready for the press in about ten minutes. Therefore, only unmounted plates should be sent to the large daily papers and not wood mounted, as it takes too long for the heat to pass through the wood base in drying the mat. The unmounted plate is placed on a metal base, (because heat passes through metal quickly in drying the mat) and then locked in the form with the type and other matter composing the entire page. A mat is then molded from the complete form and a curved stereotype is cast from this page mat. It is from this curved full page stereotype that the large daily newspaper is actually printed. Since they must duplicate the plates sent to them by the stereotyping process, your expensively prepared advertisement, if it is to appear sharp and clean in the valuable space it uses, should be electrotyped by your plate-maker. A stereotype duplicated from an electrotype will print cleaner than a stereotype duplicated from a stereotype by reason of the fact that mats molded by the newspaper from electrotypes are sharper and deeper than when they are molded from stereotypes. Electrotypes have a distinctly sharper and harder face and are deeper than stereotypes. The very nature of the process and materials used in their manufacture makes this superiority inevitable. Wax is used as the plastic medium in which to mold electrotypes, whereas for stereotypes paper is used. Sharpness and depth cannot be molded into paper as it can into wax. Neither will stereotype metal poured by gravity against a paper matrix mold be as sharp and deep as copper deposited electrolytically on a wax mold. It follows, therefore, that when an unmounted electrotype is supplied to the "Chicago Tribune" or the "New York Journal" or the "San Francisco Call" they are stereotyping your ad in the page form from a plate molded in wax directly from the original. On the other hand, when you supply a stereotype of your ad to the large dailies this stereotype is already one step removed from the original master plate and means that two paper mats intervene between the original supplied to the plate-maker and the final stereotype of the page containing your advertisement. In short, they are duplicating a stereotype from a stereotype and each duplication means a loss in sharpness and depth; therefore they should be supplied with a sharp electrotype from which to make their final page mat. Obviously when a stereotype is supplied to the large dailies they are working from a plate that is neither sharp nor deep to start with, as would be the case if you sent them an electrotype from which to work. An electrotype is economy in the end and will save you grief, when the cost of space is considered. Should you desire economy, order your plate-maker to send mats--copy considered--to the large dailies. A mat is less expensive than a stereotype and will reproduce your advertisement equally as well. When you send them a mat instead of an electro there is one more duplication for the newspapers to make in producing the final stereotype from which they print, but the mat which your plate-maker furnishes them is at least molded directly from the original plate, so that it is sharper and deeper than the mat the newspapers have to make when you furnish them a stereotype from which to work. When you furnish the large dailies with the mat they cast a flat stereotype first, which is locked up in the form with the other matter composing the page. This entire form is then molded into a mat and stereotyped. The small dailies and country newspapers print directly from type and cuts. They use a flat-bed press. For this reason it is necessary that the advertising-plate or dealers cut which you furnish to them should be mounted type-high. The best plate you can furnish them is none too good; their make-ready and the general handling of their material is not of the highest order in efficiency as compared to the large dailies, and it is entirely probable that even with a good sharp electrotype, your advertisement may not show to advantage. With a stereotype, the liability of smudgy printing is greatly enhanced. The Rapid Electrotype Company knows the mechanical equipment of the different newspapers throughout the United States. It sends mounted plates to those papers that print directly from type and cuts, and unmounted plates to those that stereotype their forms. This detail is left entirely to their discretion. The names of the towns to which your advertisement or dealers-cut is to be shipped is all the information they require in order to determine whether or not to ship mounted or unmounted plates. THE RAPID ELECTROTYPE COMPANY The Rapid Electrotype Company of Cincinnati was organized in July, 1899, and incorporated under the laws of Ohio in May, 1902. It has been in service over a fifth of a century. Prior to the organization of The Rapid Electrotype Company, electrotyping was, on the whole, a localized business. The Rapid Electrotype Company pioneered in the service of making and distributing newspaper advertising plates--electrotypes, aluminotypes, stereotypes, and mats--direct from its factory in Cincinnati to newspapers and dealers throughout the United States. The originality of this service, intelligently rendered to advertising agencies and advertisers, was one of the reasons for the increase of their capacity from only five thousand square inches of plate matter daily in 1899 to one million square inches per day in 1921, and from an organization of only nine men to one of over two hundred and fifty, working in day and night shifts. Their new factory is unquestionably the largest of its kind in the world, especially designed and equipped for the making and distribution of newspaper ad plates of all kinds. Over forty-five thousand square feet of floor space is devoted to this service, and with their highly developed co-operative facilities they occupy a unique place in the advertising plans of many large national advertisers and advertising agencies. FACTORY PRACTICE Developing and serving an ever increasing volume of business has brought about a specialization in the factory practice of The Rapid Electrotype Company. It has kept pace with the demands upon its production and has made improvements in manufacturing methods designed to cut-corners in cost of manufacture, to be shared with its customers, and to make its service truly Rapid for all emergencies, without sacrificing quality. Its commercial job-plate department is a separate and distinct unit from the newspaper advertising-plate department. The character of the respective requirements of commercial job-plates and newspaper advertising plates make this departmental production advisable. A lead-molding press, built by The F. Wesel Mfg. Co., weighing over thirty-thousand pounds, and developing two thousand tons pressure per square inch on a thirty inch hydraulically operated ram is used in the job-plate department. On this press are duplicated, from the finest screen half-tones, the highest quality electrotypes and nickeltypes to be used in three and four color process printing. The preponderating volume of its business, however, is the production of newspaper electrotypes, and it is in this department that The Rapid Electrotype Company has made distinct improvements in manufacturing practice by methods and machinery designed and constructed by its own engineers in its own machine shop. BLACK LEADING The Rapid Electrotype Company has built a new type of machine for use in this important phase of the electrotyping art. It is a combination Dry-Wet Machine, designed by its own engineering staff. Those familiar with electrotypes well know the superiority of the wet black leading process, especially for half-tones, stipple, Ben Day or fine type, where much of the detail and sharpness is lost in dry black leading, because of the crushing effect the brushes have on the wax mold. In this new type of black leading machine this fault is entirely eliminated, as the brushes never come in contact with the printing face of the mold; they merely polish the high built-up spots, thereby insuring better electrical conductivity to the wax, and a more uniform deposition of the copper shell. Two of these especially designed machines are in constant operation in the ad department, which means the highest grade of advertising plates. DEPOSITING THE SHELL Those who are not technically familiar with electrochemistry are prone to think that the length of time a mold is kept in the electrolytic bath, i. e., the copper bath, determines the thickness of the shell deposited thereon. As a matter of fact, one electrotyper may keep his molds in the copper bath for three hours and get only as thick a shell as another who keeps his in but two hours. The element of time does not determine the thickness nor quality of the shell deposited. The determining factors in this phase of electrotyping are the composition of the electrolytic bath, its temperature, and the current density applied. In addition, the purity of the materials, the cleanliness of the batteries, the perfection of the electrical connections as well as the distance between the anode and the cathode are all matters of importance. These factors are all variables and must be confined between narrow limits. This important phase of manufacture in The Rapid Electrotype Company is under the supervision of an electro-chemical engineer. Plus this fact is the accuracy of mechanical operation in handling wax molds from the time they are put into the batteries until they are taken out with the shell deposited thereon and ready for tinning and backing-up. The molded cases are suspended at regular intervals of twenty inches from an endless chain-conveyor operating directly over the batteries. This conveyor carries the cases edge-wise through the electrolytic bath between two rows of anodes which are four inches apart. At the end of each battery the conveyor automatically lifts the cases out and over into the next battery in the series, of which there are seven. The eighth tub contains pure running water for washing the case after the complete deposition of the shell. The speed of this conveyor is regulated so that when the molded case has reached the end of its journey through the series of seven batteries, the other factors also being regulated, a shell of uniform thickness and texture throughout is deposited thereon. This automatic handling of the cases in the batteries eliminates the necessity of the battery-man pulling the case out of the bath by hand from time to time in order to peel back a corner of the shell to see if it is thick enough, which is the common practice. In other words, the element of human guess-work is eliminated, and in addition, the items of time and handling are greatly reduced. BACKING UP THE SHELL Backing-up the shells with the metal base, i. e., casting, is done automatically by The Rapid Electrotype Company. A rotary casting-table with a capacity of ten pans revolves around its axis on a plane that brings each pan immediately below a spout through which the required metal is automatically flowed from the bottom of the metal pot on the tinned shell placed therein. When the required metal backing has been flowed, the table turns to bring the next pan with its shell under the metal-spout. The amount of metal flowed is exactly regulated. As the casting table completes a circuit, the first shell backed up has cooled so that it can be removed to the scrubbing machine. This method, of course, eliminates the hand-ladling of hot metal from the metal-pot to the casting-table, as is the ordinary practice, and obviates any possibility of the oxidized metal or dross on the surface getting into the casts, besides effecting a marked economy in time and handling. In addition, it casts the plates flat, thereby eliminating about 75 per cent of the finishing, which, of course, means a better printing plate. Three of these machines are used. The Rapid Electrotype Company developed and built these casting-machines in its own machine shop and owns the patents covering them. THE ALUMINOTYPE PROCESS The development, perfection and introduction of the Aluminotype Process for duplicating a printing surface in a solid piece is one of the outstanding accomplishments of The Rapid Electrotype Company, and marks a distinct step in advance of the other and older methods used in the graphic arts, for certain classes of printing. Aluminotypes are much harder than an electrotype or stereotype and have as sharp and deep a printing face as an electrotype. The Aluminotype process will reproduce as sharp and clear as the electrotyping process an eighty line screen half-tone, which is really too fine a screen for newspaper printing. A distinct advantage Aluminotypes have is in the item of weight. An Aluminotype, unmounted, weighs only one quarter as much as an unmounted electrotype or stereotype of the same size. When mounted on a wood base an Aluminotype weighs just one half as much as an electrotype or stereotype of the same size mounted on wood. In a national advertising campaign where a general list of newspapers is used Aluminotypes, by reason of their light weight, effect a marked saving in parcel-post or express charges. This saving in postage is especially noticeable in the case of foreign country newspaper campaigns. In addition, because of their toughness, a saving can be made in packing Aluminotypes, inasmuch as they do not require the expensive precautions in packing to avoid injury in transportation that electrotypes or stereotypes do. They will not bend; their printing face cannot be injured by the ordinary mishaps attendant upon handling in transportation. For all practical purposes it can be said that Aluminotypes are indestructible. MATRICES The ordinary practice followed in making mats is to use an electrotype or stereotype pattern plate made from the original form. Sometimes the original itself is used. The first mat molded from an electrotype pattern plate will be sharp. The next one molded will be a little less sharp than the first. The third one molded will be slightly less sharp than the second one. In other words, with every succeeding mold, the electrotype or stereotype pattern plate is mashed a little by the pressure of the matrix press until it has to be discarded and a new one used. The five-thousandth mat made by the Rapid Electrotype Company from the same pattern plate is as sharp as the first one molded. This is because an _aluminotype_ pattern is used from which to mold. _Aluminotypes_ will not mash under the pressure of the matrix press, as they are much harder than electrotypes. THE SHIPPING DEPARTMENT The shipping department of The Rapid Electrotype Company is one of the most important and highly systematized in the entire organization, and in the manner of handling orders for distribution to newspapers in large campaigns or in making bulk shipment direct to the advertisers is unique. It is in this department that the packing and routing of advertising plates to newspapers or dealers is done. A system of triple checking each item of all orders precludes, as far as is humanly possible, any error in filling accurately all specifications. _This brochure was compiled by H. C. Forster of The Rapid Electrotype Co._ 
32997	----	The Style Book of the Detroit News _For helpful suggestions the editor is beholden to the style books of the United States Government Printing Office, the Universities of Missouri, Iowa and Montana, the Indianapolis News, the Chicago Herald, and the New York Evening Post; to "Newspaper Writing and Editing," by Willard G. Bleyer; "Newspaper Editing," by Grant M. Hyde; "The Writing of News," by Charles G. Ross; and to the New York Tribune for permission to make applicable to Michigan its digest of the libel laws of New York._ _The inscriptions on the building of The News, reprinted in this book in boxes, were written by Prof. Fred N. Scott, of the University of Michigan._ [Illustration: THE HOME OF THE DETROIT NEWS _Fort Street, Second Avenue and Lafayette Boulevard_] Founded by James Edmund Scripps August 23, 1873 Absorbed the subscription lists of the Detroit Daily Union July 27, 1876 Established a Sunday edition Nov. 30, 1884 Sunday News and Sunday Tribune combined as Sunday News-Tribune October 15, 1893 Daily Tribune merged with The News and discontinued February 1, 1915 Ground broken for present building November, 1915 Sunday News-Tribune became The Sunday News October 14, 1917 The News entered new building October 15, 1917 _The_ STYLE BOOK OF The Detroit News Edited by A. L. WEEKS Published and Copyrighted 1918 by The Evening News Association Detroit This edition consists of 1,000 copies, of which this is No. 625 TABLE OF CONTENTS The Aim of The Detroit News 1 Instructions to Reporters 4 Instructions to Copy Readers 6 Preparing Copy 7 Leads 7 Heads 8 Diction 14 A. P. Style 15 Capitalization 17 Punctuation 22 Quotations 23 Nouns 24 Pronouns 27 Conjunctions 28 Verbs 29 Adverbs 33 Adjectives 34 Prepositions 37 Articles 38 Numbers 38 Roman Numerals 39 Weights and Measures 40 Abbreviation 42 Names and Titles 45 Jew and Hebrew 46 Church Titles 48 Compounds 48 Superfluous Words 49 Vital Statistics 50 Spelling 51 Popular Names of Railroads 52 Do and Don't 54 The Cannery 57 Michigan Institutions 59 Army and Navy Organization 60 Dates Often Called For 62 The Law of Libel 64 First Three Years of the War 72 Index 77 THE AIM OF THE DETROIT NEWS Formation of a newspaper's ideals comes through a process of years. The best traditions of the past, blending with hopes of the future, should be the writer's guide for the day. Nov. 1, 1916, the editor-in-chief of The Detroit News, in a letter to the managing editor, wrote his interpretation of the principles under which the staff should work, in striving toward those journalistic ideals to which this paper feels itself dedicated. His summary of the best practices of the profession follows: The Detroit News should be: Vigorous, but not vicious. Interesting, but not sensational. Fearless, but fair. Accurate as far as human effort can obtain accuracy. Striving ever to gain and impart information. As bright as possible, but never sacrificing solid information for brilliancy. Looking for the uplifting rather than the depraved things of life. We should work to have the word RELIABLE stamped on every page of the paper. The place to commence this is with the staff members: First, getting men and women of character to do the writing and editing; and then training them in our way of thinking and handling news and other reading matter. If you make an error you have two duties to perform--one to the person misrepresented and one to your reading public. Never leave the reader of The News misinformed on any subject. If you wrongfully write that a man has done something that he did not do, or has said something that he did not say, you do him an injustice--that's one. But you also do thousands of readers an injustice, leaving them misinformed as to the character of the man dealt with. Corrections should never be made grudgingly. Always make them cheerfully, fully, and in larger type than the error, if there is any difference. The American people want to know, to learn, to get information. To quote a writer: "Your opinion is worth no more than your information." Give them your information and let them draw their own conclusions. Comment should enlighten by well marshaled facts, and by telling the readers what relation an act of today has to an act of yesterday. Let them come to their own conclusions as far as possible. No issue is worth advocating that is not strong enough to withstand all the facts that the opposition to it can throw against it. Our readers should be well informed on both sides of every issue. Kindly, helpful suggestions will often direct officials in the right, when nagging will make them stay stubbornly on the wrong side. That does not mean that there should be any lack of diligence in watching for, and opposing, intentional criminals. A staff can be good and strong only by having every part of it strong. The moment it becomes evident that a man, either by force of circumstance or because of his own character, does not fit into our organization, you do him a kindness and do justice to the paper by letting him know, so he can go to a calling in which he can succeed, and will not be in the way of filling the place with a competent man. No one on the staff should be asked to do anything that will make him think less of himself or the paper. MAKE THE PAPER GOOD ALL THE WAY THROUGH, so there will not be disappointment on the part of a reporter if his story is not found on the first page, but so he will feel that it must have merit to get into the paper at all. Avoid making it a "front-page paper." Stories should be brief, but not meager. Tell the story, all of it, in as few words as possible. Nature makes facts more interesting than any reporter can imagine them. There is an interesting feature in every story, if you will dig it out. If you don't get it, it is because you don't dig deep enough. The most valuable asset of any paper is its reputation for telling the truth; the only way to have that reputation is to tell the truth. Untruth due to carelessness or excessive imagination injures the paper as much as though intentional. Everyone with a grievance should be given a respectful and kindly hearing; especial consideration should be given the poor and lowly, who may be less capable of presenting their claims than those more favored in life. A man of prominence and education knows how to get into the office and present his complaint. A washerwoman may come to the door, timidly, haltingly, scarcely knowing what to do, and all the while her complaint may be as just as that of the other complainant, perhaps more so. She should be received kindly and helped to present what she has to say. Simple, plain language is strongest and best. A man of little education can understand it, while the man of higher education, usually reading a paper in the evening after a day's work, will read it with relish. There is never any need of using big words to show off one's learning. The object of a story or an editorial is to inform or convince; but it is hard to do either if the reader has to study over a big word or an involved sentence. Use plain English all the time. A few readers may understand and appreciate a Latin or French quotation, or one from some other foreign language, but the big mass of our readers are the plain people, and such a quotation would be lost on the majority. Be fair. Don't let the libel laws be your measure in printing of a story, but let fairness be your measure. If you are fair, you need not worry about libel laws. Always give the other fellow a hearing. He may be in the wrong, but even that may be a matter of degree. It wouldn't be fair to picture him as all black when there may be mitigating circumstances. It is not necessary to tell the people that we are honest, or bright, or alert, or that a story appeared exclusively in our paper. If true, the public will find it out. An honest man does not need to advertise his honesty. Time heals all things but a woman's damaged reputation. Be careful and cautious and fair and decent in dealing with any man's reputation, but be doubly so--and then some--when a woman's name is at stake. Do not by direct statement, jest or careless reference raise a question mark after any woman's name if it can be avoided--and it usually can be. Even if a woman slips, be generous; it may be a crisis in her life. Printing the story may drive her to despair; kindly treatment may leave her with hope. No story is worth ruining a woman's life--or a man's, either. Keep the paper clean in language and thought. Profane or suggestive words are not necessary. When in doubt, think of a 13-year-old girl reading what you are writing. Do not look on newspaper work as a "game," of pitilessly printing that on which you are only half informed, for the mere sake of beating some other paper; but take it rather as a serious, constructive work in which you are to use all your energy and diligence to get all the worth-while information for your readers at the earliest possible moment. INSTRUCTIONS TO REPORTERS When you go after a story, make sure that you get all of it. Drill yourself into searching for facts; almost anybody can write a story--it takes real brains and resourcefulness to get one. You are urged to call the city editor for instructions whenever in doubt, and it is a good idea to call as often as possible to keep the office informed and also to get any information on your story that may have come in from other sources. Before you write or telephone your story, make sure that you have all your facts marshaled in your own mind. A good reporter usually plans his story, lead and details in his head on his way to the office. NEVER GUESS. KNOW WHAT YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT. When you turn in a story KNOW that everything in that story is true--and if you feel there is a statement you can not prove, call your city editor's attention to it. To color or fake a story is not newspaper work--it is prostitution of the profession of journalism. Be sure of your sources of information. Never take anything for granted--find out for yourself. You will discover that many persons talk convincingly about things although they have no actual knowledge of the subject under discussion. Remember always that a newspaper has to prove what it says--and any decent newspaper is eager to. If you don't know, tell the city editor you don't know. To guess is criminal because nobody can guess with any consistent degree of accuracy. And accuracy should be your guide. Reporters should study their stories after they are printed, with the realization that any changes made in them were made to better them. Ask why your stories have been changed so your next story will be better through avoidance of the same mistake. Never be afraid to ask anybody anything. The mainspring of a good newspaper man is a wholesome curiosity. The essentials of newspaper writing are accuracy and simplicity. The newspaper is no place for fine writing. Simplicity means directness and conciseness in telling the story as well as an avoidance of hifalutin phrases, obsolete words and involved sentences. Walt Whitman wrote: "The art of arts, the glory of expression, and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity. Nothing is better than simplicity--nothing can make up for excess or the lack of definiteness." Every worker on a newspaper knows the value of accuracy. Accuracy is the god before whom all newspaper men bow. If one could analyze the effort put forth in one day in this office, one might discover that perhaps a third of that effort was in an attempt to obtain accuracy. The city directory is the newspaper man's Bible because accuracy is his deity. The hardest lesson the journalist must learn is the development of the impersonal viewpoint. He must learn to write what he sees and hears, clearly and accurately, with never a tinge of bias. His own views, his personal feelings and his friendships should have nothing to do with what he writes in a story. The ideal reporter would be a man who could give the public facts about his bitterest enemy even though such facts would make the man he personally hated a hero before the public. In journalism more than in any other profession does the advice hold good: "Beware of your friends; your enemies will take care of themselves." By this is meant: Learn well the code of ethics which governs your profession, and when any man in the guise of friendship asks you to violate that code, you may say to him, "If you were truly my friend, you would not ask me to do this any more than you would ask a physician as a matter of friendship to perform an illegal operation, or a lawyer to stoop to shyster practices." Supplying his editors with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, is the only mission of the reporter, and any man who asks the reporter to deviate from that principle asks that which is dishonest. BE TRUE Thomas Carlyle: To every writer we might say: Be true, if you would be believed. Let a man but speak forth with genuine earnestness the thought, the emotion, the actual condition of his own heart; and other men, so strangely are we all knit together by the tie of sympathy, must and will give heed to him. In culture, in extent of view, we may stand above the speaker, or below him; but in either case, his words, if they are earnest and sincere, will find some response within us; for in spite of all casual varieties in outward rank or inward, as face answers to face, so does the heart of man to man. +-------------------------------------------+ | ... VOICE OF THE LOWLY AND OPPRESSED ... | | ADVOCATE OF THE FRIENDLESS ... RIGHTER OF | | PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WRONGS. | +-------------------------------------------+ INSTRUCTIONS TO COPY READERS The copy reader's position carries with it larger responsibilities than the position of any other member of the staff. He can mar or ruin a good story; he can redeem the poor story; he can save the reporter from errors of commission or omission in the matter of his story or in the manner of its writing. No matter how accomplished a writer a reporter may be, the copy reader who handles his story can destroy his product. Then, too, it is the function of the copy reader, if he believes that a better story can be written with the same facts as a basis, to suggest to the city editor that the story be rewritten by the reporter, by another reporter or by the copy reader himself. Because a man is reading copy, he should not imagine that he is not to write a story or rewrite one when occasion demands. Charles G. Ross writes: "His [the copy reader's] work is critical rather than creative. It is destructive so far as errors of grammar, violations of news style and libel are concerned. But if his sense of news is keen, as that of every copy reader should be, he will find abundant opportunity for something more than mechanical deletion and interlineation. He may insert a terse bit of explanation to clear away obscurity, or may add a piquant touch that will redeem a story from dullness. To the degree that he edits news with sympathy and understanding, with a clear perception of news values, his work may be regarded as creative. If, on the other hand, he conceives it his duty to reduce all writing to a dead level of mediocrity * * * * he richly deserves the epithet that is certain to be hurled at the copy reader by the reporter whose fine phrases have been cut out--he is in truth a 'butcher' of copy." Dr. Willard G. Bleyer writes: "The reading and editing of copy consists of (1) correcting all errors whether in expression or in fact; (2) making the story conform to the style of the newspaper; (3) improving the story in any respect; (4) eliminating libelous matter; (5) marking copy for the printer; (6) writing headlines and subheads." LEARNING THE METIER Said Robert Louis Stevenson to a painter friend: "You painter chaps make lots of studies, don't you? And you don't frame them all and send them to the Salon, do you? You just stick them up on the studio wall for a bit, and presently you tear them up and make more. And you copy Velasquez and Rembrandt and Vandyke and Corot; and from each you learn some little trick of the brush, some obscure little point of technic. And you know damn well that it is the knowledge thus acquired that will enable you later on to deliver your own message with a fine and confident bravado. You are simply learning your metier; and believe me, mon cher, an artist in any line without the metier is just a blind man with a stick. Now, in the literary line I am simply doing what you painter men are doing in the pictorial line--learning the metier." PREPARING COPY Use the typewriter. See that the keys are clean. Use triple space. Write on one side of the paper. Do not paste sheets together. Leave wide margins on both sides and at the top. Write your name and a brief description of the story in two or three words at top of first sheet. Number sheets. Never write perpendicularly in the margin. Never divide a word from one page to another, and if possible do not divide a word from one line to the next. Try to make each page end with a completed paragraph to aid the composing room in setting the story in "takes." When necessary to write in long hand, underscore _u_ and overscore _n_, and print proper names and unusual words. Ring periods or write _x_ to stand for them. When there is a chance that a word intentionally misspelled will be changed by the printer, write _Follow Copy_ in the margin. Indent deeply for paragraphs. Use an end-mark to indicate your story is completed. Avoid interlining by crossing out the sentence you desire to correct and writing it again. Save time for your office by care in writing and editing. A little thought before setting down a sentence will save you the trouble of rewriting and the copy reader the annoyance of reading untidy copy. LEADS There is generally a better way to begin a story than with _A_, _An_, _The_, _It is_, _There is_, _There are_. Avoid beginning a story with figures, but when this must be done, then spell out, as: _Ten thousand men marched away today._ The comprehensive A. P. lead is generally preferable, but in writing some stories, particularly feature stories, a reporter may find a more effective lead than the sentence or sentences that summarize the story. Remember that your reader's time may be limited and that if your story begins with a striking sentence, arresting either because of what it says or the manner in which it says it, your story will be read. THE CUTTLEFISH He that uses many words for the explaining of any subject doth, like the cuttlefish, hide himself in his own ink.--Anon. +---------------------------------------------+ | BEARER OF INTELLIGENCE ... DISPELLER OF | | IGNORANCE AND PREJUDICE ... A LIGHT SHINING | | INTO ALL DARK PLACES. | +---------------------------------------------+ HEADS "The head," says Ross, "is an advertisement, and like all good advertisements it should be honest, holding out no promise that the story does not fulfill. It should be based on the facts as set forth in the story and nothing else." The head should be a bulletin or summary of the important facts, not a mere label. It is usually best to base the head on the lead of the story. The first deck should tell the most important feature. Every succeeding deck should contribute new information, not merely explain previous statements or repeat them in different language. The function of the head is to tell the facts, not to give the writer's comment on the facts. The head for the feature story, the special department, the editorial or the illustration may properly be a title that suggests the material it advertises instead of summarizing it. Indeed, the success of a feature story often depends on its having a head that directs the reader to the story and arouses his curiosity in it without disclosing the most interesting content. Head writers should beware of revealing in the head the surprise of a story, if it has one. Never turn in a head that you _guess_ will fit. Make sure. Heads that are too long cause delay and confusion. As a general rule write heads in the present tense. Principal words should not be repeated. Do not, however, use impossible synonyms, as _canine_ for _dog_ or _inn_ for _hotel_. Make every deck complete in itself. Use articles sparingly. Occasionally they are needed. Observe the difference in meaning between _King George Takes Little Liquor_ and _King George Takes a Little Liquor_. Avoid such overworked and awkward words as _probe_, _rap_, _quiz_, _Russ_. Never abbreviate _President_ to _Pres._ Avoid ending a line with a preposition, an article or a conjunction, as, TO MAKE PLANS FOR AMERICAN DEFENSE Do not divide phrases, as, CUT IN SCHEDULE "K" IS PROBABLE CAMP PICKS ALL- AMERICAN TEAM Try to make each line of the first deck a unit, as, POSTOFFICE ROBBED BY BAND OF TRAMPS TARIFF BOARD REPORTS ON ALL WOOL SCHEDULES STORY OF DYING MAN REOPENS GRAFT CASE Observe that in reading these heads there is a natural pause that comes at the end of the line. The same principle may govern the writing of three-line heads, as, ONE GIRL'S ACT PREVENTS 60,000 FROM WORKING WAYNE MEN WANT CANAL TO CONNECT CITY WITH DETROIT In the head just written observe that the first line has fewer letters because it contains two W's and an M. Either an M or a W is equal to a letter and a half, and an I and a space are each equal to half a letter. The first line contains 14½ units; the second line contains 15 units; the third line contains 15 units. And yet the first line contains 14 letters and spaces, the second 16, and the third 17. Every deck should contain a verb, expressed or implied. In this head, THIEVES BUSY IN NORTH END the verb _are_ is understood. If the subject of the verb in the first deck is not written, it should be the first word of the second deck, as, INVESTIGATE WET VICTORY Texas Senators All Agreed to Inquire Into Late Election. Omit all forms of the verb _to be_ whenever possible. This head, ASKED HOW HE GOT STOLEN AUTOMOBILE is more effective than this, IS ASKED HOW HE GOT THE STOLEN AUTOMOBILE Avoid expressions that are awkward because of omission of some form of the verb _to be_ such as this: U. S. WEATHER MAN SAYS SUMMER HERE Negatives should be avoided. The head should as a rule tell what happened, not what did not happen. Avoid the word _may_. The head should as a rule tell what happened, not what is going to take place, perhaps. Beware of heads that contain words of double meaning, as, NURSES HOPE TO WIN GAME The word _nurses_ may be taken as a noun or a verb. In this head the first word might be read as a noun or as a verb: SCOUTS CLAIM KAISER IS TO BLAME FOR WAR Use as little punctuation as possible in the first deck. Avoid alliteration. Use few abbreviations. Use figures sparingly. Insert subheads in long stories at intervals of 150 to 200 words. Use at least two subheads or none. When there is a paragraph ending, _The President spoke as follows:_, place the subhead before this paragraph and not between it and the quoted matter. Avoid such makeshift constructions as M A Y O R WILL RESIGN, SAID WILSON WON'T REPLY, RUMOR Avoid beginning a head with quotation marks because the white space destroys the balance of the head. When it is unavoidable, use single quotation marks. Avoid heads in which a dash takes the place of _says_, as, SHIPPING BOARD MUST GO--WILSON When this style is necessary, use quotation marks. It is permissible to make the first deck of a head a quotation without quotation marks, writing the name of the person quoted in full-face caps immediately below the deck. One need seldom resort to this expedient. Be careful of the present tense in writing of historical events. The head on a story about the legality of Christ's trial should not read, JESUS CHRIST IS ILLEGALLY SLAIN nor should it read JESUS CHRIST WAS ILLEGALLY SLAIN but it should read SAYS CHRIST WAS ILLEGALLY SLAIN Remember always in writing heads that although a newspaper man seldom reads more than the first deck, deciding by that whether to read the story, many readers of the paper read no more than the head, and for them it should summarize the story, embodying all its salient features. GRAMMAR The most common errors in grammar to be found in copy are in: The agreement of a verb with its subject. The relation of pronouns to their antecedents. The position of participles in relation to the words they modify. The use of co-ordinate conjunctions to connect elements of the same kind. The position of correlative conjunctions with relation to the elements they connect. To gain grace in writing one must either be born with a natural aptitude in the use of words--and such men: Stevenson, Poe, Walter Pater and others, are geniuses--or one must study the writings of these masters of prose and attempt to discover the secret of their success. It is not necessary that a good writer should know rules of grammar, but he must know enough to observe them. A writer may be unable to tell why a dangling participle is faulty English by testing it with a rule, but he may nevertheless avoid such a construction because his ear tells him it is not the best style. Copies of the best grammars may be found in the office library and should be consulted when reporters and copy readers are in doubt. SIMPLICITY In character, in manners, in style and in all things the supreme excellence is simplicity.--Longfellow. NOTES DICTION The newspaper writer must beware of two pitfalls in writing: Fine writing and dialect. Stilted English, pompous and high-sounding, is in just as bad taste as garish clothing or pungent perfume. Reporters often give to their stories a wordy and turgid flavor by their refusal to repeat a word, preferring a synonym. One often sees such sentences as this: "The policeman took his pistol away as he was about to shoot at the bluecoat's partner, another officer of the law." This is a quite unnecessary avoidance of the repetition of the word policeman. Fine writing is quite out of place at all times in a newspaper and is particularly obnoxious when a reporter quotes a person of inferior mentality in polished--or what the reporter thinks are polished--phrases. Things like this shouldn't get into the paper: _"It is with poignant grief that I gaze on the torn frame of my dear spouse," said Mrs. Sowikicki, as she stood beside a slab in the morgue._ On the other hand reporters should not try to be funny at the expense of someone inexpert in the use of the language. If a person interviewed uses bad grammar, correct him when you write the story. To make a person say _Hadn't ought to of_ or _Hain't got no_ is not only insulting to that person and to your readers, but is poor comedy. Dialect must be absolutely accurate if it is used. Finley Peter Dunne can write Irish dialect and not many other persons in America can write as good. Probably no reporter on The News can write it. Dialect that might hurt the feelings of others who speak the same way should not be used. In fact as a general rule: DON'T WRITE DIALECT. The greatest masters of humor, such as Moliere, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, have obtained their best effects by writing their language straightforwardly. THE GRIT OF COMPACT, CLEAR TRUTH I began to compose by imitating other authors. I admired, and I worked hard to get, a smooth, rich, classic style. The passion I afterwards formed for Heine's prose forced me from this slavery, and taught me to aim at naturalness. I seek now to get back to the utmost simplicity of expression, to disuse the verbosity I tried so hard to acquire, to get the grit of compact, clear truth, if possible, informal and direct. It is very difficult. I should advise any beginner to study the raciest, strongest, best spoken speech and let the printed speech alone; that is to say, to write straight from the thought without bothering about the manner, except to conform to the spirit or genius of the language. I once thought Latinized diction was to be invited; I now think Latinized expression is to be guarded against.--W. D. Howells. A. P. STYLE What M. E. Stone says to his correspondents on story writing may be read with profit by any newspaper man. The following is clipped from the monthly bulletin issued by the Associated Press to its correspondents: A plain statement of fact is the best introduction to a news story. A simple, direct style--which does not mean a wooden style--is always desirable. In the opening sentence it is of particular value. The news which a story contains is the one thing which entitles it to place in the Associated Press report. It is the news, not the manner of telling the news, on which the story must stand. It is therefore essential to present the vital point at the outset, in such form as will enable the reader to grasp it quickly, clearly and easily. For this purpose there is no acceptable substitute for plain English. In an effort to make the most vivid and emphatic impression at the opening, objectionable forms of construction often are employed. A highly-colored or strained introduction almost always fails of its purpose of enlisting interest at once, since it tends to divert the attention of the reader from the subject-matter of the story to the writer's manner of telling it. This renders the introduction cloudy and lessens interest instead of stimulating it. Once the main point is established, the well known rules of news writing should be observed. To say that "'William Brown may obtain a fair trial in Greene County,' Judge Smith so ruled today," is to misstate the facts. It places the Associated Press on record as making a statement made by the court. Use of this and similar introductory sentences which require subsequent qualification is objectionable. Opening sentences frequently lose directness and clearness because of the effort to crowd too much into them. All that is essential is to cover the vital point, leaving details for subsequent narration. Introductions must be impartial. It is possible to take almost any given set of statements and present them in such a way as to convey any one of several shades of meaning. This may depend merely on the order of presentation. Associated Press stories must be accurate and accuracy involves not only the truthfulness of individual statements but the co-relation of these statements in such a way as to convey to the reader a fair and unbiased impression of the story as a whole. An account of a court proceeding, a political debate, or any other event which involves conflicting claims or interests, should not be introduced by singling out a particular phase of the story which is limited to one side of the controversy, simply because that is the most striking feature. Such a form of introduction tends to place the emphasis on one side of the case, giving bias to the entire story. Stereotyped introductions should be avoided. One of the most common is the "When" introduction, as: "Two men were killed when a train struck ..." etc. "If" and "After" often are used similarly. Inverted sentences are also frequent; as "That the prisoner was guilty was the opinion expressed by ..." etc. Constant employment of these fixed styles becomes monotonous. Moreover, it is possible to state the facts more simply, directly and effectively without them. BROADEN THE VOCABULARY Edward Harlan Webster gives this excellent advice on how to broaden the vocabulary: Practice is the first aid. Actually get hold of new words and then use them. You will perceive that you will not startle others so much as yourself. Gradually the words will begin to assume a standing in your vocabulary, and before long, they will seem like old friends. To obtain these words, various practical methods are possible. Here are a few: 1. Find synonyms for words which you have a tendency to overuse. 2. Record words with which you are familiar but you never use--and then "work" them. 3. Make a list of important, unfamiliar words which you hear, or discover in your reading. 4. Listen carefully to the conversations or addresses of educated people. 5. If possible, try to translate from a foreign language. In this way a fine perception of shades of meaning, almost unattainable by any other method, is acquired. 6. Get interested in the dictionary, where you can trace the life history of words. THE PICTORIAL POWER OF WORDS "Words have a considerable share in exciting ideas of beauty--they affect the mind by raising in it ideas of those things for which custom has appointed them to stand. Words, by their original and pictorial power have great influence over the passions; if we combine them properly, we may give new life and beauty to the simplest object. In painting, we may represent any fine figure we please, but we never can give it those enlivening touches which it may receive from words. For example, we can represent an angel in a picture by drawing a young man winged: but what painting can furnish out anything so grand as the addition of one word--'the angel of the Lord'? Is there any painting more grand and beautiful?"--Edmund Burke. CAPITALIZATION Capitalize titles preceding names, as, Chief of Detectives Fox, Gen. Bell. Lower-case titles following names, as John Downey, superintendent of police, except these which are capitalized always: President } Vice-President } Cabinet } of the United States. Government } Administration } Supreme Court } Governor (of Michigan). Lieutenant-Governor (of Michigan). Mayor (of Detroit). Supreme Court (of Michigan). Judges and Justices of all courts of record. The names of all courts of record. King, Emperor, Czar, Kaiser, Sultan, Viceroy, etc. The Crown Prince. The Duke of Blank. The Prince of Dash. Do not capitalize _former_ preceding a title, as _former Senator Wilson_. _Former_ is preferred to _ex-_. Capitalize the full names of associations, clubs, societies, companies, etc., as Michigan Equal Suffrage Association, Detroit Club, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Star Publishing Company. _The_ preceding such a name is not to be capitalized. Do not capitalize _association_, _club_, etc., when not attached to a specific name. Capitalize _university_, _college_, _academy_, etc., when part of a title, as University of Detroit, Olivet College. But do not capitalize when the plural is used, as the state universities of Michigan, Kansas and Ohio. Capitalize the first word after a colon in giving a list, as, _The following were elected: President, William Jones; vice-president, Sam Smith_, etc. _Try this menu: Rice, milk and fruit._ When the colon is used merely to indicate a longer pause than a semicolon, it is not followed by a capital, as, _A tire blew out: the car skidded: we were in the ditch_. Capitalize _building_, _hall_, _house_, _hotel_, _theater_, _hospital_, etc., when used with a distinguishing name, as Book Building, Hull House, Cadillac Hotel, Garrick Theater, Harper Hospital. Capitalize the names of federal and state departments and bureaus, as Department of Agriculture, State Insurance Department, Bureau of Vital Statistics. But lower-case municipal departments, as fire department, water and light department, street department. Capitalize the names of national legislative bodies, as Congress, House of Representatives or House, Senate, Parliament, Reichstag, Duma, Chamber (France). Capitalize _state legislature_ and synonymous terms (_legislature_, _assembly_, _general assembly_) only when the Michigan Legislature is meant. Capitalize the names of all political parties, in this and other countries, as Democratic, Republican, Progressive, Socialist, Liberal, Tory, Union. But do not capitalize these or similar words, or their derivatives, when used in a general sense, as republican form of government, democratic tendencies, socialistic views. Capitalize _pole_, _island_, _isthmus_, _cape_, _ocean_, _bay_, _river_, and in general all such geographical terms when used in specific names, as North Pole, South Sea Islands, Cape Hatteras, Hudson Bay, Pacific Ocean, Mississippi River, Isthmus of Panama. Capitalize _county_ when used in a specific name, as Wayne County. Capitalize the _East_, the _West_, the _Middle West_, the _Orient_ and other terms used for definite regions; but do not capitalize _east_, _west_, etc., when used merely to designate direction or point of compass, as "west of here." Do not capitalize _westerner_, _southerner_, _western states_ and other such derivatives. Capitalize sections of a state, as Upper Peninsula, Western Michigan, etc., but not the _northern part of Michigan_, etc. Capitalize, when used with a distinguishing name, _ward_, _precinct_, _square_, _garden_, _park_, etc., as First Ward, Eighth Precinct, Cadillac Square, Madison Square Garden, Palmer Park. Capitalize _Jr._ and _Sr._ after a name. Capitalize _room_, etc., when followed by a number or letter, as Room 18, Dime Bank Building; Parlor C, Normandie Hotel. Capitalize distinctive names of localities in cities, as North End, Nob Hill, Back Bay, Happy Hollow. Capitalize the names of holidays and days observed as holidays by churches, as Fourth of July, Dominion Day, Good Friday, Yom Kippur, Columbus Day, Washington's Birthday. Capitalize the names of notable events and things, as the Declaration of Independence, the War of 1812, the Revolution, the Reformation, the Civil War, the Battle of the Marne. Capitalize _church_ when used as a specific name, as North Woodward Methodist Church, First Christian Church. But write: a Methodist church, a Christian church. Capitalize the names of all religious denominations, as Baptist, Quaker, Mormon, Methodist. Capitalize names for the Bible, as the Holy Scriptures, the Book of Books. But do not capitalize adjectives derived from such names, as biblical, scriptural. Capitalize all names and pronouns used for the Deity. Capitalize the Last Supper, Lord's Prayer, Ten Commandments, Book of Ruth, etc. Capitalize the names of races and nationalities, as Italian, American, Indian, Gypsy, Caucasian and Negro. Capitalize titles of specific treaties, laws, bills, etc., as Treaty of Ghent, Eleventh Amendment, Workmen's Compensation Act, Good Roads Bill. But when the reference is general use lower-case, as the good roads legislation of the last congress. Capitalize such terms as Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, Union Jack, Stars and Bars, etc. Capitalize U. S. Army and Navy. Capitalize names of military organizations, as First Regiment, B Company (do not quote letter), National Guard, Grand Army of the Republic, Michigan State Militia, University Cadet Corps (but University cadets). Capitalize such names as Triple Alliance, Triple Entente, Quadruple Entente, Allies (in the European war). Capitalize the fanciful titles of cities and states, as the City of the Straits, the Buckeye State. Capitalize the nicknames of base ball, foot ball and other athletic teams, as Chicago Cubs, Boston Braves, Tigers. Capitalize epithets affixed to or standing for proper names, as Alexander the Great, the Pretender. Capitalize the names of stocks in money markets, as Federal Steel, City Railway. Capitalize college degrees, whether written in full or abbreviated, as Bachelor of Arts, Doctor of Laws, Bachelor of Science in Education: A.B., LL.D., B.S. in Ed. Capitalize _high school_ when used thus: Central High School (but the high school at Port Huron). Capitalize, but do not quote, the titles of newspapers and other periodicals, the New York World, the Outlook, the Saturday Evening Post. Do not capitalize _the_, except The Detroit News. Capitalize and quote the titles of books, plays, poems, songs, speeches, etc., as "The Scarlet Letter," "Within the Law," "The Man With the Hoe." _The_ beginning a title must be capitalized and included in the quotation. All the principal words--that is, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and interjections--are to be capitalized, no matter how short; thus: "The Man Who Would Be King." Other parts of speech--that is, prepositions, conjunctions and articles--are to be capitalized only when they contain four or more letters; thus: at, in, a, for, Between, Through, Into. The same rules apply to capitalization in headlines. Capitalize adjectives derived from proper nouns, as English, Elizabethan, Germanic, Teutonic. But do not capitalize proper names and derivatives whose original significance has been obscured by long and common usage. Under this head fall such words as india rubber, oriental colors, street arab, pasteurize, macadam, axminster, gatling, paris green, plaster of paris, philippic, socratic, herculean, guillotine, utopia, bohemian, philistine, platonic. When, however, a name is comparatively recent, use capitals, as in Alice blue, Taft roses, Burbank cactus. Capitalize the particles in French names, as _le_, _la_, _de_, _du_, when used without a Christian name or title preceding, as Du Maurier. But lower-case when preceded by a name or title, as George du Maurier. The same rule applies to the German _von_: Field Marshal von Mackensen, but, without Christian name or title, Von Mackensen. Always capitalize _Van_ in Dutch names unless personal preference dictates an exception, as Henry van Dyke. Capitalize the names of French streets and places, as Rue de la Paix, Place de la Concorde. Do not capitalize _street_, _avenue_, _boulevard_, _place_, _lane_, _terrace_, _way_, _road_, _highway_, etc., as Ninth street, Boston boulevard, Maryland place, Rosemary lane, Seven Mile road. Do not capitalize _addition_, _depot_, _elevator_, _mine_, _station_, _stockyards_, etc., as Wabash freight depot, Yellow Dog mine, Union station, Chicago stockyards. Do not capitalize _postoffice_, _courthouse_, _poorhouse_, _council chamber_, _armory_, _cadets_, _police court_, _women's parlors_. White House, referring to President's residence, should be capitalized. Capitalize only the distinguishing words if two or more names are connected, as the Wabash and Missouri Pacific railroad companies. (In singular form, Wabash Railroad Co.) Do not capitalize the seasons of the year unless they are personified. Do not capitalize _a. m._ and _p. m._ except in headlines. Capitalize O. K., write it with periods, and form present tense, O. K.'s and past tense, O. K.'d. Capitalize _Boy Scouts_ (referring to organization). Make _Campfire_ (referring to the girls' organization) one word, capitalized. Capitalize _Constitution_ referring to that of the United States. But state constitution (lower-case). NOTES PUNCTUATION A series of three or more words takes commas except before conjunctions, as: _There were boxes of guns, bayonets, cartridges and bandages_. Separate members of the series with semicolons if there are commas within the phrase, as: __There were boxes of guns, bayonets and cartridges; casks of powder, high explosives and chemicals; and many other prohibited articles_._ Use asterisks to indicate that part of quoted matter has been omitted, as, _He said: "I favor all measures that * * * will help the people."_ Use leaders to indicate a pause in the thought. _He said he would never return . . . . . ._ _When the news reached his mother, she fainted._ Commas set off an explanatory phrase but not a restrictive phrase of inclusive qualification. One writes: Poe, a poet of America, wrote "The Raven." But one writes: Poe the poet is a finer craftsman than Poe the fiction writer. Use commas before conjunctions in a sentence made up of separate clauses, each with its own subject nominative, as, _The horse is old, but it is still willing_. If the same subject, write it: _The horse is old but willing_. Use no period after letters used in place of numbers, as, =B Company=. (Companies of soldiers are designated as _B Company_, not _Company B_.) Use hyphen and no apostrophe when dates are joined, as, _1861-65_. Write the _caliber_ of a revolver or rifle with a period, as _.22_. Use no commas in years and street numbers, as, _1904_, not _1,904_; and _2452 High street_. But write: _2,156 persons_ and _$1,560_. Follow this style in date lines: CHICAGO, May 10.-- BROWNSVILLE, Mich., May 10.-- Avoid this form as hackneyed: _His wealth (?) has disappeared._ Place a comma or a colon after _said_, _remarked_ and similar words when quoted matter follows. THREE RULES Writes the Duke of Argyll: I have always held that clear thinking will find its own expression in clear writing. As to mere technical rules, there are very few that occur to me, except such as these--first, to aim at short sentences, without involution or parenthetical matter; second, to follow a logical order in construction of sentences, and in the sequence of them; third, to avoid absolutely such phrases as "the former" and "the latter," always preferring repetition to the use of such tiresome references. The last rule, and in some measure the other, I learned from Macaulay, and have found it of immense use. There is some mannerism in his style, but it is always clear as crystal, and this rule of repetition contributed much to this. QUOTATIONS Quotation marks are not needed when matter is indented, thus: _The speaker said in part_: _I do not believe that, etc._ Sometimes marks of punctuation belong inside quotation marks and sometimes outside, as: "_Did you hear him say, 'I am here'?_" But in this case: "_I heard him say, 'Are you here?'_" Continental usage permits this form: "_Are you shot!?_" but it is not in good use on this side. Use no quotation marks with slang of your own writing. Use no quotes in writing testimony with question and answer. This is the style: Q.--What is your name? A.--John Jones. Observe the style on quotes within quotes: _The witness said: "I asked him, 'Where is my copy of "Paradise Lost"?'"_ OBSERVATION Writes Arnold Bennett: One is curious about one's fellow-creatures: therefore one watches them. And generally the more intelligent one is, the more curious one is, and the more one observes. The mere satisfaction of this curiosity is in itself a worthy end, and would alone justify the business of systemized observation. But the aim of observation may, and should, be expressed in terms more grandiose. Human curiosity counts among the highest social virtues (as indifference counts among the basest defects), because it leads to a disclosure of the causes of character and temperament and thereby to a better understanding of the springs of human conduct. Observation is not practiced directly with this high end in view (save by prigs and other futile souls); nevertheless it is a moral act and must inevitably promote kindliness--whether we like it or not. It also sharpens the sense of beauty. An ugly deed--such as a deed of cruelty--takes on artistic beauty when its origin and hence its fitness in the general scheme begin to be comprehended. In the perspective of history we can derive esthetic pleasure from the tranquil scrutiny of all kinds of conduct--as well, for example, of a Renaissance Pope as of a Savonarola. Observation endows our day and our street with the romantic charm of history, and stimulates charity--not the charity which signs cheques, but the more precious charity which puts itself to the trouble of understanding. The condition is that the observer must never lose sight of the fact that what he is to see is life, is the woman next door, is the man in the train--and not a concourse of abstractions. To appreciate all this is the first inspiring preliminary to sound observation. NOUNS Watch for nouns ending in _-ics_. Many of them are singular, such as _politics_, _mathematics_, _ethics_. Make sums of money singular: _Five dollars was spent_, unless individual pieces of money are meant, as: _Five silver dollars were placed on the table_. Write _moneys_, not _monies_. Remember that _data_, _memoranda_, _phenomena_, _paraphernalia_, _bacteria_ and _strata_ are plural. Distinguish between _majority_ and _plurality_. _Majority_ means the lead of a candidate over _all other_ candidates. _Plurality_ means the lead of a candidate over _one other_ candidate. _Event_, _incident_, _affair_, _occurrence_, _happening_, _circumstance_ do not mean the same things. Look them up. Use _preventive_, not _preventative_. Distinguish between _ambassador_, _minister_, _consul_, _envoy_. Avoid feminine forms of such words as _author_, _artist_, _dancer_, _violinist_, _pianist_, _poet_. It may be necessary occasionally to change more than the spelling. For example, _the world's greatest pianiste_ may not mean _the world's greatest pianist_. Prefer motorist to automobilist and autoist. _Sewer_ is a drain. _Sewage_ is what goes through it. _Sewerage_ is a system of drains. Don't use _divine_ as a noun. Don't write _couple_ unless you mean two things joined and not merely two. Don't write _party_ for _person_, nor _people_ for _persons_. Don't use _citizens_ when you mean simply _persons_. Don't write _a large per cent of_ when speaking of persons when you mean _a large proportion_. When nouns are attended by participles, two constructions are possible. One may say either _I know of John's being there_, or _I know of John being there_; _The fact of the battle's having been lost_, or _The fact of the battle having been lost_. The possessive is to be preferred with proper names and in most simple constructions; it is _altogether to be preferred with pronouns_ when the principal idea is in the participle. One says: _I saw him going_, _I heard them singing_; but _I heard of his going_; _I urged his going_; _I advised their attending_; _I objected to his staying_; _I opposed their going_; _the fact of his being there made a difference_; _On his saying this the people shouted_; _With their consenting the thing was settled_; _He spoke of my setting out as already agreed to_; _He found fault with our accepting the place_, etc. Collective nouns are usually singular, as, _The club has increased its membership_. However, a collective noun, when it is used to refer more particularly to individuals than to the mass, is plural, as _The crowd was orderly_, but, _The crowd threw up their hats_. In using collective nouns beware of mixing the number. Do not write, _The audience was in their seats_, but _The audience was seated_, or _The audience were in their seats_. PREFER _Station to depot_ _House or home to residence_ _Woman to lady_ _Man to gentleman_ _Telephone to phone_ _Automobile to auto_ _Motor car to motor_ _Bridegroom to groom_ _Rest to balance_ THE JOURNALIST'S CREED _By WALTER WILLIAMS_ I believe in the profession of journalism. I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust. I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism. I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true. I believe that suppression of the news for any consideration other than the welfare of society is indefensible. I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one's own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another's instruction or another's dividends. I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of the readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and clearness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service. I believe that the journalism which succeeds best--and best deserves success--fears God and honors man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power; constructive, tolerant, but never careless; self controlled, patient; always respectful of its readers, but always unafraid; is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance and, as far as law and honest wages and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic, while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of and for today's world. NOTES PRONOUNS Never use _I_ in referring to yourself except in a signed article. Avoid the use of _he or she_ and _his or her_. The use of either phrase is seldom required for clearness' sake. When a noun is used which may refer indifferently to both sexes, the accepted practice is to use the masculine pronoun. For example, say: _Let the teacher do his duty and he need not fear criticism_, not _Let the teacher do his or her duty and he or she need not fear criticism_. Similarly after indefinite singulars like _each_, _every_, _somebody_, _anybody_, use the masculine singular pronoun. Thus, _Everyone should do his duty and he should do it every day_. Here one is not only to avoid the use of _he or she_ and _his or her_, but also particularly and constantly to be on guard against _they_ and _their_. Sentences like _Nobody knows what they can do till they try_; _Everyone is urged to come and bring their pocketbooks with them_, are frequently heard and often get into print. Do not use _the same_ for a third personal or a demonstrative pronoun. _The farmer brought a load of wheat to town and sold it_ (not _the same_) _at the mill_. Do not make _such_ a pronoun, except in the phrase _such as_. _He has fruits of all sorts and his prices for such are unreasonable_, is the sort of use to be avoided. Distinguish between _its_, possessive pronoun, and _it's_, contraction of _it is_. Use _either_ or _neither_ only of two, _any one_ or _none_ of more than two, as: _In one group are Russia, Germany and Austria, in another France and England. Any one of the first group acting with either of the second could determine the question_. (As conjunctions, _either_ and _neither_ may introduce the first of a series of particulars consisting of three or more. It is correct to say _Neither this nor that nor the other thing_; but when used as pronouns, _either_ and _neither_ should be rigidly confined to use with reference to two only.) Prefer always _no one_ and _nobody_ to _not any one_ or _not anybody_, as _It is no one's_ (or _nobody's_) _business_, not, _It is not any one's_ (or _not anybody's_) _business_. Do not use _apiece_ for _each_ of persons. Say: _The men each took an apple_ or _took an apple each_, not _The men took an apple apiece_. But they might have bought the apples at so much _apiece_. Be careful not to say _these sort of things_, _these kind of men_, for _this sort of things_ or _this kind of men_. In questions direct or indirect be careful to use _whom_ when the objective case is required. Do not say, _Who did you see there?_ or, _I do not know who he meant_. The relative _who_ should be used only of persons (or of beasts or things personified). Do not say: _The dog whom you saw_ or _He drove the horse who made the best record_. The relative _which_ should be used only of beasts and inanimate objects. Do not say: _The women and children which were numerous then came trooping in_. The relative _that_ may be used regardless of gender and the antecedent. _That_ should be used after a compound antecedent mentioning both persons and animals or things, as, _The soldiers, the ambulances and the pack mules that were recaptured, were sent to the rear_. Be careful of the case of _who_ if a parenthetical sentence intervenes between it and its verb. _He said that Gen. Harrison, whom, everybody well knew, had long been interested in the case, would make the closing argument._ Such faulty objective is often heard in daily speech and not infrequently gets into the papers. Of course _who_ should be used. But _whom_ should be used when the infinitive follows: _He said that Gen. Harrison, whom everybody admitted to be profoundly versed in the law, would discuss the point_. It is proper to omit the relative pronoun on occasion when it is the object of the following verb, as _He was among the men (whom) I saw_. CONJUNCTIONS Never use _like_ as a conjunction. John may look _like_ James or act _like_ James or speak _like_ James, but he never looks, acts or speaks _like_ James looks, acts or speaks; he never looks _like_ he wanted to do something, nor conducts himself _like_ he thought he owned the earth, or _like_ he was crazy. _Like_ (as in the first example) may be followed by an objective case of a substantive, with which the construction is completed: _You are like me in this_; _You, like me, believe this_; _He conducted himself like a crazy man_. When a clause is demanded, _as if_ should be used: _He looks as if he wanted something_; _he acts as if he were crazy_. Do not use _if_ for _whether_ in introducing indirect questions: _I doubt whether_ (not _if_) _this is true_; _I asked whether_ (not _if_) _he would go_. Do not use _as_ for _that_. Not _I do not know as this is so_, but _I do not know that this is so_. Do not use _without_ for _unless_. _We cannot go unless_ (not _without_) _he comes_. Do not use _but what_ for _but that_ or _that_. _I do not doubt that_ (or _but that_) _he will come_, not _but what he will come_; _They did not know but that_ (not _but what_) _they might accept it_. Do not use _while_ for _although_, as, _while it is probable_. _While_ refers to time. VERBS The verb should agree with its subject in person and number. It ought not to be necessary to give this obvious rule, but hardly a day passes without violation of it in almost every paper. Its violation is especially common in the inverted sentence, introduced with _there_. _There is likely to be some changes_; _There is, at the present writing, some hopes of peace_; _There seems to be, in view of all the conditions, many objections to this plan_, are examples of the faulty usage. The _to_ should not be separated from the infinitive by word or phrase. The modifier should precede the _to_ or follow the verb. Do not say _to promptly act_, but _to act promptly_ or _promptly to act_. Such use as in the example just given is bad enough, but it is not so offensive as the intrusion of time adverbs and negatives as, for example, _He decided to now go_, or _He expected to not only go but to stay_, or _He preferred to not stay_. Do not end a sentence with the _to_ of an omitted infinitive; as: _He could not speak but tried to_; but _He refused to go but he ought to go_, or _He ought to go but he refuses_. Subordinate infinitives and participles take their time from the verb in the principal clause. They should therefore be the simple so-called present forms. Do not say: _I intended to have gone_, or _I intended having gone_, but _I intended to go_, _I intended going_; not _He had expected to have been present_, but _He had expected to be present_; not _He would have liked to have seen you_; but _He would have liked to see you_; not _I was desirous to have gone_, but _I was desirous to go_. With the verbs _appear_ (in the sense of _seem to be_) and _feel_, _look_, _smell_ and _sound_ (used intransitively) use an adjective and not an adverb, i. e., _The rose smells sweet_; _Miss Coghlan as Lady Teazle looked charming_; _She appeared happy_. But _appear_ in the same sense of _behave_ is followed by an adverb, as _He appears well_; and the other verbs used transitively of course take an adverb, as _He looked sharply at the man_. When one wishes to imply doubt or denial in a condition of present or indefinite time, the imperfect subjunctive should be used, as _If the book were here, I should show you_--but the book is not here; _If it were true, you would long ago have heard it_--but it is not true. But if one is referring to past time, the imperfect indicative must be used, as, _If he was here yesterday, I did not know it_. Be careful to distinguish between _lay_ and _lie_, _raise_ and _rise_, _set_ and _sit_. The first of each pair is transitive, and always requires an object; the second is intransitive and never takes an object. (The only exception is _sit_ used of a rider, as, _He sits his horse well_.) One _lays_ or _sets_ a thing down and _raises_ it up. One _lies_ or _sits_ down and _rises_ from one's place. Land _lies_ this way or that. (But we speak of the _lay_ of the land.) Especially pains must be taken to keep straight the past tenses and past participles of _lay_ and _lie_. Of _lay_ past tense and participle are alike _laid_. _He laid_ or _he has laid the case before the authorities_. The past tense of _lie_ is _lay_ (the same as the present tense of the transitive verb), the past participle is _lain_. These forms are seldom if ever used for parts of _lay_; but for them _laid_ is very often used, as, _He laid_ or _he has laid down to take a nap_, where the correct usage is _He lay_ or _he has lain down_, etc. Prices _rise_, wages _rise_, bread _rises_, bread is _set_ to _rise_; men _raise_ prices or wages; _He rose and raised his hand_. Clothing of every sort _sits_ well or ill, it does not _set_. The corresponding noun, however, is _set_; _He admired the set of the garment_. You _set_ a hen, but the hen _sits_ and is a _sitting_ hen. The heavenly bodies _set_, but that is another word, which means to _sink_ or to _settle_. Inanimate objects are not _injured_ but _damaged_. Use _wish_ to mean simple desire, as, _I wish to see him_. Use _want_ to mean acute need, as, _I want food_. Only moving objects _collide_. Two automobiles may _collide_, but an automobile does not _collide_ with a fence. PREFER: _lend_ to _loan_ _lives_ to _resides_ _leaves_ to _departs_ _obtain_ or _procure_ to _secure_ _turn over_ to _turn turtle_ _bought_ to _purchased_ _live at hotel_ to _stop at hotel_ _robbed of_ to _relieved of_ Things of a general class are compared _with_ each other to bring out points of similarity or dissimilarity. One thing is compared _to_ another of a different class. He compared Detroit _with_ Cleveland. He compared Detroit _to_ a busy hive of bees. Things _occur_ or _happen_ by chance and _take place_ by design. An accident _happens_ or _occurs_; a pre-arranged act _takes place_. Except in legal papers use _proved_ instead of _proven_. _Transpire_ does not mean to take place but to leak out, as, _They tried to keep their deliberations secret, but it transpired that * * *_ _Enthuse_ is not a good word. Say _become enthusiastic_. Medicine, laws and oaths are _administered_; blows and punishment are _dealt_. _Allege_ is used only in referring to formal charges and not as a synonym for _say_ or _assert_. The past tense and past participle of _dive_ are _dived_. Don't use _dove_. The past tense and past participle of _forecast_ are _forecast_. Don't use _forecasted_. The past tense and past participle of _hang_ are _hung_, except in reference to an execution; then write, _He was hanged_. The past tense and past participle of _plead_ are _pleaded_ and not _plead_ or _pled_. Don't write, _He plead guilty_, but _He pleaded guilty_. The past tense of _swim_ is _swam_, and the past participle is _swum_. BARRED BY THE SUN Newspaper men can read with profit this list of words and phrases to be avoided, compiled by Charles A. Dana for his associates on the New York Sun: _above_ or _over_ for _more than_ _aggregate_ for _total_ _balance_ for _remainder_ _call attention_ for _direct attention_ _claim_ for _assert_ _commence_ for _begin_ _comprise_ for _compose_ _conscious_ for _aware_ _couple_ for _two_ _cultured_ for _cultivated_ _date back to_ for _date from_ _donate_ for _give_ _fall_ for _autumn_ _from whence_ for _whence_ _indorse_ for _approve_ _inaugurate_ for _establish_, _institute_ _individual_ for _person_ _infinite_ for _great_, _vast_ _last_ for _latest_ _less_ for _fewer_ _materially_ for _largely_ _named after_ for _named for_ _notice_ for _observe_ _onto_ for _on_ or _upon_ _partially_ for _partly_ _past two years_ for _last two years_ _practically_ for _virtually_ _party_ for _person_ DOUBLING UP HAVE'S Mark Twain in "A Tramp Abroad" wrote: "Harris said that if the best writer in the world once got the slovenly habit of 'doubling up his have's,' he could never get rid of it; that is to say, if a man gets the habit of saying 'I should have liked to have known more about it' instead of saying 'I should have liked to know more about it,' his disease is incurable." +-----------------------------------------+ | ... REFLECTOR OF EVERY HUMAN INTEREST | | ... FRIEND OF EVERY RIGHTEOUS CAUSE ... | | ENCOURAGER OF EVERY GENEROUS ACT. | +-----------------------------------------+ NOTES ADVERBS Great liberty may be exercised in placing the adverb according to the emphasis desired. In general it should be placed near the word or phrase it modifies to express the thought most clearly. One should not say, _Not only he spoke forcefully but eloquently_; nor _He was rather forceful than eloquent_, but _He was forceful rather than eloquent_. Note particularly that when the adverb is placed within the verb, it should regularly follow the first auxiliary. For example: _This can truthfully be said_, not _This can be truthfully said_; _He will probably have set out by noon_, not _He will have probably_, etc.; _It has long been expected_, not _It has been long expected_. If the adverb is intended to modify the whole sentence, it very properly stands first, as, _Decidedly, this is not true_; _Assuredly, he does not mean that_. In such sentences the adverb really modifies some verb understood, as, _I say decidedly this is not true_. Do not use _this_, _that_ and _some_ as adverbs. Never say _this high_, _this long_, _that broad_, _that good_, _this much_, _that much_, _some better_, _some earlier_. Say _thus_ or _so_ whenever tempted to use _this_ or _that_ in such connections, and use _somewhat_ instead of _some_. Do not say a man is _dangerously ill_; say _alarmingly_ or _critically_. Never use _illy_; you might as well say _welly_. After a negative use _so_ in a comparison. _This is as good as that_, but _This is not so good as that_. Say _as far as_, _as long as_, etc.; not _so far as_, _so long as_. Thus, _As far as I know, this is true_; _As long as I stay here, you may use my book_. Use _previously to_, _agreeably to_, _consistently with_, etc., instead of the adjective forms, in such expressions as _Previously to my arrival, he had been informed_; _We acted agreeably to the instructions_. Beware of _only_. Better not use it unless you are sure it is correctly placed. Observe the difference in the meaning here: I have _only_ spoken to him. I have spoken _only_ to him. Don't use _liable_ when you mean _likely_. A man is _likely_ to park his automobile so he will be _liable_ to arrest. Don't use _painfully cut_ and similar expressions. One is not _pleasantly cut_. _Occasionally_ means _on occasion_. So don't write _very occasionally_, but _very seldom_ or _infrequently_. _Farther_ is used to denote distance; _further_ in other senses, as, _I told him further that I walked farther than he_. ADJECTIVES Be sparing in the use of epithets and of adjectives and adverbs generally. Especially avoid the use of superlatives. Superlatives are seldom true. Rarely is a man the most remarkable man in the country in any particular; rarely is an accident the worst in the history of the city. Better understate than overstate; better err on the side of moderation than excess. William Cobbett says: "Some writers deal in expletives to a degree that tires the ear and offends the understanding. With them everything is excessively, or immensely, or extremely, or vastly, or surprisingly, or wonderfully, or abundantly, or the like. The notion of such writers is that these words give strength to what they are saying. This is a great error. Strength must be found in the thought or it will never be found in the words. Big sounding words, without thoughts corresponding, are effort without effect." Be sure to remember that _nee_ means born. It is of course impossible then to speak of _Mrs. Doe, nee Mary Roe_, as one is never born with a Christian name, but _Mrs. Doe, nee Roe_. And, of all things when a widow has remarried, do not write _Mrs. Richard Roe, nee Mrs. John Doe_. Adjectives, if wisely used, give desirable color to a story. A thesaurus will brighten up a reporter's adjectival vocabulary. These are suggestions for possible substitutions of fresh words for more or less hackneyed words: _fast_--_fleet_, _swift_ _good_--_meritorious_, _laudable_ _repentant_--_penitent_, _contrite_ _temperate_--_abstemious_ _intemperate_--_inabstinent_ _modest_--_decorous_ _distressing_--_piteous_, _pitiable_, _rueful_ _witty_--_jocose_, _nimble-witted_ _fearful_--_timid_, _apprehensive_, _tremulous_ _crafty_--_cunning_, _artful_ _frank_--_ingenuous_, _guileless_ Prefer _agreeable_ to _nice_, which means accurate; and _long_ to _lengthy_. Words like _perfect_ and _unique_ cannot be compared. Never write, _more perfect_, _most perfect_, _most unique_. Eschew the word _very_. It seldom strengthens a sentence. It is better to use such words as _feline_, _bovine_, _canine_, _human_ as adjectives only. Prefer _several_ or _many_ to _a number of_. _Healthy_ means possessing health, as, _a healthy man_. _Healthful_ means conducive to health, as, _healthful climate_, _surroundings_, _employment_. Do not use _healthful_ in speaking of food, but _wholesome_. _Parlous_ is archaic. Don't use the phrase _in these parlous times_. The word in good usage is _perilous_. Nobody has explained the difference between _actual photographs_ and _photographs_. _Awful_ means inspiring _awe_, _fearful_ inspiring _fear_, and _terrible_ inspiring _terror_. _Anxious_ implies _anxiety_. Say _eager_ if you mean it. The first meaning of _hectic_ is habitual. The second meaning is _fevered_. It connotes _heat_ more particularly than _red_. Great care is needed in using these three words: _livid_, _lurid_ and _weird_. _Livid_ means primarily black and blue. It also means a grayish blue or lead color, as flesh by contusion. It doesn't mean anything else. _Lurid_ means a pale yellow, ghastly pale, wan; figuratively it means gloomy or dismal, grimly terrible or sensational. When used in its first sense it is properly applicable to the yellow flames seen through smoke. It does not mean fiery red. In its figurative sense it can be used to describe a series of incidents calculated to shock or to stun by the enormity of them. _Weird_ means primarily pertaining to witchcraft and is used in reference to the witches in "Macbeth." It also means unearthly, uncanny, eerie. A green light might be called _weird_. It must not be used to mean peculiar, as, _She wore a weird hat_. YOUR AUDIENCE Says Irvin S. Cobb: I'd rather have my work read by thousands of people throughout the country than be the author of the greatest classic that ever mouldered on a shelf. In my opinion, the masses are worth our art. If we believe in a democratic form of government we should believe in a democratic attitude toward the art of the short story, and I, for one, frankly admit that I write for the shop girl and business man rather than for the high-brow critic. That does not mean you must necessarily choose between them, but if I had to choose I would let the critic go. +----------------------------------------------+ | DEFENDER OF CIVIL LIBERTY ... STRENGTHENER | | OF LOYALTY ... PILLAR AND STAY OF DEMOCRATIC | | GOVERNMENT. | +----------------------------------------------+ NOTES PREPOSITIONS Be careful to use the proper prepositions in all connections. Say _different from_, not _different to_. We say a man lives _on_, not _in_, a street, an avenue, etc. Children play _in_ the street, but _on_ the pavement. One writes _under_, not _over_, a signature. The preposition has no reference to the place of the signature. Do not overwork _on the part of_. This phrase is often used where _by_ or _among_ is to be preferred, as, _Much patriotism is displayed on the part of the Greeks_. Say _off_, not _off from_ or _off of_. _He fell off his horse_, or _He fell from his horse_. Discriminate carefully between _beside_ and _besides_. The first is always a preposition and means either _by the side of_, as, _He stood beside me_, or _aside from_, or _out of_, as, _This is beside our present purpose_; _He was beside himself for joy_. _Besides_ is either preposition or adverb: as the former it means _in addition to_, as _Several others were present besides those you saw_; as adverb it means _moreover_ or _more than that_, as _There were, besides, many pompous volumes_. Be careful with _between_ and _among_; _between_ is used with reference to two persons, parties or things; _among_ with reference to many: _In this city Democrats and Republicans divide the offices between them; in some cities they are distributed among all the parties_. Distinguish between _in_ and _into_. _Into_ implies action. A man goes _into_ his house and then he is _in_ the house. A person dies _of_ typhoid fever rather than _from_ typhoid fever. Distinguish between _consist in_ and _consist of_. Virtue consists _in_ right living. The family consists _of_ seven persons. A book is illustrated _with_ sketches and it is illustrated _by_ the artist who made the sketches. Omit _from_ from the phrases _from hence_, _from thence_, _from whence_. +-------------------------------------------+ | MIRROR OF THE PUBLIC MIND ... INTERPRETER | | OF THE PUBLIC INTENT ... TROUBLER OF THE | | PUBLIC CONSCIENCE. | +-------------------------------------------+ ARTICLES Use an article with every noun of a series unless the nouns are so closely related that one concept is implied. Say, _The bread and jam was good_, but _The bread and the jam were good_. Say, _A horse and buggy_, but _A man and a woman_. Do not repeat an article before each adjective of a series when all modify the same noun. Say, _A red, white and blue flag_. If you mean three flags, say, _A red, a white, and a blue flag_. Do not write _a_ or _an_ after _sort of_ and _kind of_. Make it: _He is the right sort of man for mayor_. The definite article is used too often when it might better be omitted, as in this sentence: _The study of the dictionary is helpful_. Write it: _Study of the dictionary_. NUMBERS The general rule on The News is that all numbers above nine shall be written in figures, and that all numbers below 10 shall be spelled out. There are, of course, many exceptions to this rule. Figures are always used for degrees of latitude and longitude, degrees of temperature, per cent, prices, racing time, scores, definite sums of money, time, votes, dates (as Sept. 27), ages, street numbers and tabulated statistics. Spell out indefinite figures, as _about a dollar's worth_. Use Roman numerals in writing of kings, as _George V_, and then without a period. Do not use Roman numerals in designating centuries. Write it _fourteenth century_, not _XIVth century_. Write _Monday at 8 a. m._, not _at 8 o'clock on Monday morning_. Spell out such expressions as _the early seventies_. Use figures in dimensions when written thus: _a lot 4�6 feet_. All ages shall be written thus: _John Smith, 8 years old_. Do not write it: _John Smith, aged 8_, or _aged eight_. It will be easy to remember the rule if you observe that in writing it thus: _John Smith, aged 18, 48 Jones street_, you are opening an opportunity for an error easily made. It may appear: _John Smith, aged 184, 8 Jones street_. All ordinals are spelled out. Write it _thirtieth_, not _30th_. Write a date: _Feb. 6_, not _February 6th_, or _February sixth_. Do not use both numerals and figures spelled out in one phrase. Write it: _Eight feet eleven inches_. If in a phrase a number over 10 precedes a number under 10, express both in figures, thus _18 hours 4 minutes_. If vice versa, express it thus: _two hours eighteen minutes_. ROMAN NUMERALS I 1 II 2 III 3 IV 4 V 5 VI 6 VII 7 VIII 8 IX 9 X 10 XIX 19 XX 20 XXX 30 XL 40 L 50 LX 60 LXX 70 LXXX 80 XC 90 C 100 CL 150 CC 200 CCC 300 CCCC 400 D 500 DC 600 DCC 700 DCCC 800 DCCCC 900 M 1,000 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 7.92 inches make 1 link. 25 links make 1 rod. 16.50 feet make 1 rod. 4 rods make 1 chain. 10 chains make 1 furlong. 8 furlongs make 1 mile. 320 rods make 1 mile. 5,280 feet make 1 mile. 10 square chains make 1 acre. 160 square rods make 1 acre. 640 acres make 1 square mile. 43,560 square feet make 1 acre. 69 geographical miles make 1 degree of latitude. 1,728 cubic inches make 1 cubic foot. 27 cubic feet make 1 cubic yard. Gunter's chain, 22 yards of 100 links. A section is 640 acres. A township is 36 sections, each 1 square mile. A span is 9 inches. A hand--horse measurement--is 4 inches. A knot--nautical--is 6,086 feet. A fathom--nautical--is 6 feet. A stone is 14 pounds. A square acre is 208 7-10 feet on each side. The metric system is the system of measurement of which the meter is the fundamental unit. It was first adopted in France and is now in general use in most civilized countries except the English-speaking countries. The system is now used throughout the world for scientific measurements. Its use was legalized in the United States in 1866. The meter, the unit of length, was intended to be one ten-millionth part of the earth's meridian quadrant and is nearly so. Its length is 39.370 inches. The unit of surface is the are, which is 100 square meters. The theoretical unit of volume is the stere, which is a cubic meter. The unit of volume for the purposes of the market is the liter, which is the volume of one kilogram of distilled water at its maximum density and is intended to be one cubic decimeter. For 10 times, 100 times, 1,000 times and 10,000 times one of these units, the prefixes, deca-, hecto-, kilo- and myria- are used. For 1-10, 1-100 and 1-1,000 of the units, the prefixes deci-, centi- and milli- are used. In this table the equivalents are measures common in the United States and are not to be confused with British measures, which in some cases vary slightly. 1 myriameter 5.4 nautical miles or 6.21 statute miles. 1 kilometer 0.621 statute mile or nearly 5/8 mile. 1 hectometer 109.4 yards. 1 decameter 1.988 rods. 1 meter 39.37 inches or about 1 yard 3 inches. 1 decimeter 3.937 inches. 1 centimeter 0.3937 inch. 1 millimeter 0.03937 inch. 1 hectare 2.471 acres. 1 are 119.6 square yards. 1 centiare (square meter) 10.764 square feet. 1 decastere 13 cubic yards or about 2¾ cords. 1 stere (cubic meter) 1.308 cubic yards or 35.3 cubic feet. 1 decistere 3½ cubic feet. 1 hectoliter 26.4 gallons. 1 decaliter Little more than 2 gallons 5 pints. 1 liter 1 quart ½ gill. 1 deciliter 0.845 gill. 1 millier 2,204.6 pounds avoirdupois. 1 kilogram Little more than 2 pounds 3 ounces. 1 hectogram Little more than 3 ounces 8 drams. 1 decagram 154.32 grains troy. 1 gram 15.43234 grains. 1 decigram 1.543234 grains. 1 centigram 0.154323 grains. 1 milligram 0.015432 grains. +-----------------------------------------+ | ... CHRONICLER OF FACTS ... SIFTER OF | | RUMORS AND OPINIONS ... MINISTER OF THE | | TRUTH THAT MAKES MEN FREE. | +-----------------------------------------+ ABBREVIATION This is the style of The News on abbreviating the names of states and territories: Ala. Alaska Ariz. Ark. Calif. Colo. Conn. D. C. Ga. Fla. Ida. Ill. Ind. Ia. Kan. Ky. La. Me. Mass. Md. Mich. Minn. Miss. Mo. Mont. N. C. N. D. Neb. Nev. N. H. N. J. N. M. N. Y. O. Okla. Ore. Pa. P. I. (Philippine Islands) P. R. (Porto Rico) R. I. S. C. S. D. Tenn. Tex. T. H. (Territory of Hawaii) Utah Va. Vt. Wash. Wis. W. Va. Wyo. Do not abbreviate _Port_ to _Pt._ Abbreviate _Fort_ to _Ft._, whether a city or a post. Abbreviate _Mount_ to _Mt._ in names like Mt. Vernon. Do not abbreviate names of cities, as Kazoo, Frisco, St. Joe. Do not use state with names of well-known cities, such as Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, etc. Follow a firm name as the firm writes it, except in the capitalization of _the_, as _the Ford Motor Co._ Later in the story the name may appear as _the Ford company_. It is _the J. L. Hudson Company_. However, one may say, after writing the firm name, that _the Hudson company will_, etc. Use _Mich._ after the names of all places in the state except: Adrian Ann Arbor Alpena Battle Creek Bay City Calumet Flint Grand Rapids Jackson Kalamazoo Lansing Muskegon Mt. Clemens Marquette Port Huron Saginaw Ypsilanti and places so near Detroit that they are generally known. Beware of the names of cities in other states identical with those in Michigan. Also watch for the names of cities identical with those in other states, as Portland, Me., and Portland, Ore. A few cities that should carry a state designation because there are places of the same name in Michigan are: Akron, O. Atlanta, Ga. Augusta, Me., or Ga. Bangor, Me. Birmingham, Ala. Brooklyn, N. Y. Canton, O. Caro, Ill. Chatham, Ont. Concord, N. H. Erie, Pa., or N. Y. Fargo, N. D. Frankfort, Ky. Grand Rapids, Wis., or Minn. Hanover, N. H. Helena, Mont. Jackson, Miss. Lincoln, Neb. Lowell, Mass. Manchester, N. H. Memphis, Tenn. Nashville, Tenn. Phoenix, Ariz. Plymouth, Mass. Pontiac, Ill. Portland, Me., or Ore. Quincy, Ill., or Mass. Rochester, N. Y., or Minn. Richmond, Va. Sandusky, O. St. Louis, Mo. Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Trenton, N. J. Vicksburg, Miss. Do not abbreviate _Attorney_ to _Atty._ before a name. Do not abbreviate first names except in reproducing signatures, as, _Wm. H. Taft_, if Mr. Taft wrote it that way. Abbreviate _senior_ and _junior_ with commas on each side, as _John Jones, Jr., spoke_. Do not make _Tom_, _Dan_, _Ben_, _Joe_, etc., abbreviations unless you are sure they are. _Alex Dow_ is written without the period. Write _S O S_ and similar telegraphic abbreviations, and _I O U_ without periods. Use _Bros._ only when firm name is so written. Use ampersand (&) in firm name only when the firm uses it. Abbreviate _number_ when followed by numerals, as _No. 10_. Spell out United States except in addresses or in army and navy phrases. Military and naval titles should be written thus: Adjt. Adjt.-Gen. Brig.-Gen. Capt. Col. Corp. First Lieut. Gen. Lieut. Lieut.-Col. Lieut.-Gen. Maj. Maj.-Gen. Private Q. M.-Gen. Q. M.-Sergt. Second Lieut. Second Sergt. Sergt. Sergt.-Maj. Surg.-Gen. Surg.-Maj. _Class of '08_ may be used for _Class of 1908_. Abbreviate _degrees_ after a name. Book sizes, _4to_, _8vo_, _12mo_, should be written without periods. Use only abbreviations that will surely be understood, such as _Y. M. C. A._, _W. C. T. U._, etc., in referring to organizations. Never write _Xmas_. These abbreviations should be used: Ald. Atty.-Gen. Gov. Lieut.-Gov. Sen. Rep. Cong. Supt. Abbreviate _saint_ and _saints_ in proper names, as _St. Louis_, _Sault Ste. Marie_, _Ste. Anne's_, _SS. Peter and Paul's church_. Write scriptural texts _Gen. xiv, 24_; _II Kings viii, 11-15_. Abbreviate names of political parties only thus, _Smith (Rep.) defeated Jones (Dem.) for alderman_. Do not abbreviate street, avenue, boulevard, place or other designation of a thoroughfare. Abbreviate clock time when immediately connected with figures to _a. m._ and _p. m._ Prefer _for example_ to _e. g._ Prefer _namely_ to _viz._ Prefer _that is_ to _i. e._ Write English money _£5 4s 6d_, without commas. Abbreviate the months thus: Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Use _don't_ only when you may substitute do not. Perhaps you have seen the advertisement which reads: "Hand Made Tobacco Don't Bite the Tongue." NAMES AND TITLES The one infallible way to insult a man is to misspell his name; that is an old newspaper maxim. More care should be taken with the spelling of the names in a story than with any other mechanical detail. Often a name is misspelled because a typewriter is not clean and an _e_ or an _a_ is mistaken for an _o_ or a _u_. It is wise for the reporter to make sure these letters particularly print clearly or he may be held to account for an error. An even better way is to write a proper name in CAPS if it is at all uncommon. When the reporter writes a name such as Willson or Jonnes or Georg, a name which deviates slightly from a familiar name, it is wise to write it thus "... _and Georg (Correct) Brandes who ..._" then the copy reader knows that the reporter has not left off a letter and the printer and proof reader also know that the word must stand as written. All proper names should be looked up in the directory, dictionary or encyclopedia unless the reporter or copy reader is sure of the spelling. To misspell a man's name shakes that man's faith in the newspaper; leads him to believe that if the newspaper can't write his name correctly, it is likely to make other mistakes. Never use _Mr._ before a man's Christian name. Give his full name and then speak of him thereafter as Mr. Blank. Do not write: Mr. John J. Blank. Do not quote familiar nicknames, such as Billy Sunday, Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, Jim Corbett. Do not write: Superintendent of Police Marquardt, but Supt. Marquardt, or Ernst Marquardt, superintendent of police. Never refer to a woman, no matter how lowly her social position, as "the Smith woman." Call her Mrs. Smith or Miss Smith. Do not use the title _professor_ unless the person spoken of is or was a member of a college or university faculty. Because a man is a principal of a high school, a mesmerist or the trainer of sea lions, he is not for that reason entitled to call himself Prof. Blank. Do not use name handles, such as _Butcher Smith_, _Grocer Jones_. Do not use _master_ in referring to a boy. Write _Mr. and Mrs. James Smith_, not _James Smith and wife._ Do not write Mrs. Judge Smith, or Mrs. Dr. Jones. Use the indefinite article, as _Frank Smith, a plumber_; _William Jones, a barber_. Use the definite article in naming persons of distinction, as _William Dean Howells, the writer_; _Sarah Bernhardt, the actress_. The surname is written first among the Chinese. _Sun Yat Sen_ is _Dr. Sun_. _Li Hung Chang_ is _Mr. Li_. Chinese is a monosyllabic language and all names should be written with each syllable capitalized, but hyphens are used with geographical names, as, _Yang-Tse-Kiang_, _Ho-Hang-Ho_, except _Pekin_, _Nankin_, _Shanghai_, _Hankow_ and _Canton_. Drop unnecessary letters in Chinese names whenever possible, as _Pekin(g)_, _Yuan Shi(h) Kai_, _Ho(w)-Hang-Ho_. Write a man's name as he writes it. It is not _A. H. Frazer_; it is not _Allan Frazer_; but _Allan H. Frazer_. It is not _F. H. Croul_ or _Frank Croul_, but _Frank H. Croul_. It is the King of the Belgians, not the King of Belgium. Writing of a knight, be sure that you use his first name with the title _Sir_. He is _Sir Arthur Conan Doyle_, not _Sir Conan Doyle_. Never write _Sir Doyle_. The wife of a knight, however, is addressed as _Lady Blank_, not necessarily _Lady Mary Blank_. JEW AND HEBREW The proper use of the words "Hebrew" and "Jew" has been explained by the American Jewish Committee, as follows: "Although no hard and fast rules can be laid down, the word 'Hebrew' has come to have a purely racial connotation. It refers to a race and to the language of that race. Thus we hear of a 'Hebrew Christian,' meaning a person of Hebrew descent who has been raised in or adopted the Christian religion. The word 'Jew,' although often used for denoting a member of the Hebrew race without reference to religion or nationality, has come, in the best usage, to have two restricted meanings--a national and a religious meaning. It used to mean a person who was a subject of the Kingdom of Judah, in the southern part of Palestine, and later it was also applied to those who were subjects of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Under Roman domination Palestine was called 'Judea' and its inhabitants 'Jews.' The word Jew has the same sense now among those who believe that the dispersion of the Jewish people and the fact that they possess no territory of their own has not deprived them of their character as a nation or nationality. The other meaning of 'Jew' is any one who professes the religious principles laid down in the Old Testament as interpreted in the Talmud. Thus, a Gentile who adopts the Jewish faith may be called a Jew, but may not be called a Hebrew, because he does not descend from that sub-class of the Semitic race from which the Hebrews are reputed to come. Up to the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Jews rarely applied the term 'Jew' to themselves, as it was used as a term of opprobrium and as a contemptuous epithet. The Jews preferred to call themselves 'Hebrews' or 'Israelites.' Since about 1880, however, the Jewish people have come to adopt this name more and more generally, and it has begun to lose its derogatory meaning. The word 'Jew' is always a noun, and its use as an adjective in such cases as 'Jew boy' and 'Jew peddler,' etc., is as ungrammatical as it is vulgar." Don't use _Jew_ as a verb, as, _I jewed him down to a dollar_. NOTES CHURCH TITLES Writing of clergymen, follow this style: _the Rev. Dr. John J. Blank_, _Dr. Blank_, the _Rev. Mr. Blank_. Never _Rev. Blank_ or _the Rev. Blank_. Bishops of the Catholic, Anglican or Episcopal communions use the prefix _Right Reverend_, abbreviated _Rt. Rev._ Bishops of the Methodist church NEVER use the prefix _Rt. Rev._ They make no claim to apostolic succession. The usage of Methodism is to write, for example, "Bishop Theodore Somers Henderson, of the Methodist Episcopal area of Detroit." In the Methodist church an episcopal division is denominated, Area; in the Catholic and Anglican communions, Diocese. Deans of the Catholic and Anglican churches use the prefix _Very Rev._ Under no circumstances call priests of the Roman Catholic church _ministers_. Call them either priests or pastors. The denominational usage in the Methodist church is to call clergymen _preachers_. In the Congregational and Presbyterian churches it is in accord with denominational usage to call clergymen _ministers_. Archbishops of the Catholic church carry the prefix _Most Rev._; cardinals, _His Eminence_; as, _His Eminence, James, Cardinal Gibbons_. Invariably the word _Rabbi_ should be placed before the name of a Jewish pastor. It should be written, _Rabbi Leo M. Franklin, of the Temple Beth El_; never _Dr. Leo M. Franklin, rabbi of the Temple Beth El_. Never use indiscriminately the prefix _Dr._ in the case of a clergyman. Clergymen of any denomination are not entitled to the prefix _Dr._ unless the degree of Doctor of Divinity has been conferred on them by some recognized college or university. Write a priest's name, _the Rev. Fr. Blank_, or _Fr. Blank_. COMPOUNDS Webster's New International Dictionary is the standard of the office on compounding words, on hyphenation and on spelling, except as the style of The News noted in this book is different. +----------------------------------------------+ | REPORTER OF THE NEW ... REMEMBRANCER OF THE | | OLD AND TRIED ... HERALD OF WHAT IS TO COME. | +----------------------------------------------+ SUPERFLUOUS WORDS Avoid awkward phrases as _a man of the name of_. A _man named_ is not only better style but shorter. Do not write _at the corner of State and Griswold streets_, but simply _at State and Griswold streets_. In place of _so that_ use either _so_ or _that_. In the phrases that follow, observe that the italicized words are not needed. throughout the _whole of the_ state throughout the _entire_ state _in order_ to a hill resembling _in its form_ a hat the problem is _a difficult one_ he addressed the _different_ schools _As yet_ no clue has been found he works _equally_ as hard most are _of a_ large _size_ _the color of_ the hat was green Don't say _invited guest_. It is supposed that a guest is invited. Don't say _They both went_. Omit _they_. Write _equally well_, or _as well_, not _equally as well_. Don't write _new beginner_ or _new recruit_. Don't write _general consensus of opinion_. Omit the _general_. Consensus means _a general agreement_. Don't say _entirely completed_. _Completed_ means finished in entirety. Don't say _partly completed_; that phrase involves a contradiction. Don't write that he has _a brilliant future before him_. Futures do not lie in the past. Don't say _present incumbent_. _Incumbent_ means at present in office. Don't say _old adage_. If it's an adage, it's old. Don't write _widow woman_, _true facts_, _old veterans_, _the la grippe_, _the hoi polloi_. Don't say _possibly may_ or _possibly might_. The verb conveys the idea of possibility. Two words may be discarded generally in the phrase _whether or not_. Write it: _He doesn't know whether he will go._ Omit the italicized phrase in He was thrown _a distance of_ 50 feet. Don't write _regular monthly meeting_. If it's monthly, it's _regular_. If a man is _well known_, it is not necessary to say so. Omit the adverb in the phrase _totally destroyed_. Don't write _still persists_. _Still_ is superfluous. Make it _noon_, not _high noon_. VITAL STATISTICS In writing obituaries the reporter must use the greatest care, for it is very easy to offend the family of the subject of the obituary. Avoid the conventional euphemisms. Prefer: _body_ to _remains_ _send body_ to _ship body_ _coffin_ to _casket_ _flowers_ to _floral offerings_ _funeral_ to _obsequies_ _widow_ to _wife_ _burial_ to _interment_ _the dead man_ to _deceased_ or _defunct_ Avoid: _the late_ _late residence_ solemn black__ _sable hearse_ _last sad rites_ _Marriage_ is a state. The ceremony is a _wedding_. Don't marry the man _to_ the woman. The woman is always married to the man. Don't say a marriage was _consummated_. _Funeral_ means _interment_. Write: _Funeral services were held at the church and burial was in Evergreen Cemetery._ Do not use _heart failure_ for _heart disease_. All persons die because the heart fails to beat. Write simply, _he died_, and not _passed away_, _shuffled off this mortal coil_, _gave up the ghost_, or any similarly amateurish phrase. There is no occasion for clothing the incident of death in a panoply of words, nor should birth be written of except simply. Do not say, _a little stranger was ushered into a cold world_, but _a child was born_. In writing of vital statistics--death, birth, marriage--be content to state the facts without unnecessary embellishment. Forget about the stork, the grim reaper, Hymen and Cupid. A DICTIONARY Wrote Sir Clifford Allbutt: "A dictionary 'sanctions' nothing of its contents, but it enables us by consultation of its stores to compare and choose for ourselves. In using this liberty we shall neither be subservient to the prescriptions of age, nor scornful of modern freedom; in every use we shall be guided by historical growth, the example of the best authors, and our present necessities." +---------------------------------------------+ | SCOURGE OF EVIL DOERS ... EXPOSER OF SECRET | | INIQUITIES ... UNRELENTING FOE OF PRIVILEGE | | AND CORRUPTION. | +---------------------------------------------+ SPELLING LOOK IT UP IF YOU ARE NOT SURE. BETTER LOOK IT UP ANYWAY. If two spellings are given in the dictionary, the first cited is preferable. Follow these spellings: _airplane_ _ayes and noes_ _ax_ _base ball_ _basket ball_ _bazar_ _birdseye_ _blond_ (both noun and adjective) _Budapest_ _can not_ _Chile_ (South America) _Chili_ (Africa) _clue_ _decollete_ _dispatch_ _draft_ _drouth_ _Duma_ _employe_ _Eskimo_ _facsimile_ _Filipino_ _foot ball_ _gaily_ _gaiety_ _goodby_ _guarantee_ (verb) _guaranty_ (noun) _Hayti_ _Hindu_ _Khartum_ _kidnaped_ _Korea_ _Leipzig_ _Macaulay's History_ _Mohammed_ _nearby_ _plow_ _Porto Rico_ _repertory_ _Shakespeare_ _Shakespearean_ _skilful_ _technic_ _Tibet_ _today_ _Tolstoy_ _tomorrow_ _Turgenieff_ _tying_ _vilify_ _vying_ _whisky_ _Wilkes-Barre_ _woolly_ _world series_ Write: _Parcel post_, not _parcels post_. Be sure that proper names are spelled uniformly throughout a story. Use the form _in_ instead of _en_ in such words as _indorse_, _inclose_. Write it: _Trade unions_, not _trades unions_. Use no diphthongs when they can be avoided. Write: _anesthetic_, _esthetic_, _medieval_, _maneuver_, _subpena_, _homeopathic_. Follow the American spelling on _checks_, _tires_, _curb_, _pajamas_, disregarding the British _cheques_, _tyres_, _kerb_, _pyjamas_. Make the plural of _Knight Templar_, _Knights Templar_. Don't add _s_ to: _afterward_, _backward_, _forward_, _toward_. As a general rule change _-re_ to _-er_ when it is the last syllable, as in _theater_, _caliber_, _timber_. Beware of _effect_ and _affect_, and use them carefully. A long _way_, not a long _ways_. Distinguish between: _depository_ and _depositary_; between _insanitary_ and _unsanitary_; between _immoral_ and _unmoral_; between _councilor_, _consular_ and _counselor_; between _council_ and _counsel_ and _consul_; between _capitol_ and _capital_; between _clamant_ and _claimant_; between _sear_ and _seer_ and _sere_; between _emigrant_ and _immigrant_; between _faker_ and _fakir_; between _breech_ and _breach_; between _auger_ and _augur_; between _hoard_ and _horde_; between _lessen_ and _lesson_; between _principle_ and _principal_; between _prophecy_ and _prophesy_; between _advice_ and _advise_; between _maize_ and _maze_; between _site_ and _sight_. The people of Panama are Panamans, not Panamanians, just as we are Americans, not Americanians. Two cities in the United States take final _gh_. They are _Pittsburgh, Pa._, and _Newburgh, N. Y._ Also write it _Edinburgh_. Drop the unsounded final letters in such words as _program_, _catalog_, _suffraget_, _dialog_, _cigaret_, _decalog_. Similarly, write _armor_, _favor_, _color_, and _Savior_. Some words have lost prefix or suffix, and if they are in good use in their curtailed form, they should be written without apostrophes, as, _cello_ and _varsity_. POPULAR NAMES OF RAILROADS Big Four Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis. Burlington Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Clover Leaf Toledo, St. Louis & Western. Cotton Belt St. Louis Southwestern. Katy Missouri, Kansas & Texas. Lackawanna Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. Lake Shore Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. Lookout Mountain Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis. Monon Chicago, Indiana & Louisville. Nickel Plate New York, Chicago & St. Louis. Pan Handle Pittsburg, Cleveland, Chicago & St. Louis. Queen & Crescent Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas. Rock Island Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. Soo Milwaukee & Sault Ste. Marie. St. Paul, or Milwaukee Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul. NOTES DO AND DON'T Don't use the words _suicide_ and _murder_ in heads on stories recounting the details of specific crimes or their prosecution. However, should a story of the sociological type appear, dealing with, for example, the increase in the number of suicides or the attempts of the police to reduce the number of murders, the use of either word in the headline is allowed. In the body of the story the most natural expression and good taste must guide the writer, and the use of these words is permissible if they most clearly and effectively express the information in hand. Names of girls or women who are the victims of actual or attempted indecent attack are not to be published under ordinary circumstances. Authority for exceptions will be granted by the editor when there is sufficient reason. Use the names of POISONS only when essential to the story. Never call _a policeman a cop_. Keep the reporter or a representative of The News out of the story. It is understood that a reporter and a reporter for The News writes a story that appears in The News. Write the English language. For _sine qua non_, write _essentials_; for _de riguer_, _coup d'etat_, _coup de grace_, _Sturm und Drang_, _au fait_ and similar phrases use English equivalents. Some exceptions are _decollete_, _fiancee_ and _fiance_, and other words which have been taken over into the language. Don't mix languages. Write _a day_, not _per day_. As a general rule use _per_ only in the phrase _per cent_. _Comatose_ means in a state of _profound insensibility_, not merely dazed as some writers believe. _Et al._ stands for the Latin _et alii_, _et aliae_, or _et alia_, meaning _and others_. Of course it should never be written _et als._ to form a fancied plural. _Prone_ means lying flat and face downward. One can not lie prone on the back. _Supine_ means lying on the back. Use _pseudonym_, a good English word, or _pen name_, and not _nom de plume_, which isn't even good French. Says L'Intermediaire, a French journal: "We do not know in our language the expression _nom de plume_. We have the phrase _nom de guerre_." Don't use _most_ for _almost_, as, _I am most as tall as you_. Never write _kiddies_ or _tots_. Write _kids_ when referring to young goats or to children in stories written in a spirit of levity, as, _This is the big day for the kids on Belle Isle_. Don't try to arouse sympathy for children in unfortunate circumstances by calling them _poor little tots_, or _poor kiddies_. Avoid words borrowed from the yellow-backs, such as, _The bullet crashed through his brain_, _She tripped down the steps_. Try such sentences as this on your hisser: _"I will not go," he hissed._ In news stories don't use thieves' slang, as, _dick_, _frisk_, _dip_, _gat_. Don't use the editorial _we_. It is old-fashioned. Say _The Detroit News_. Don't refer to the Darwinian theory or to Dr. Osler's theory without knowing what they mean. Don't call _a revolver a gun_ or _a pistol a revolver_. It is _automatic pistol_. Reporters frequently quote Kipling to the effect that west is west, east is east, and never the twain shall meet. But if they knew the poem, they would be aware of the fact that the next line qualifies the quoted lines and vitiates the observation. _The exception proves the rule_ is a phrase that arises from ignorance, though common to good writers. The original word was _preuves_, which did not mean _proves_ but _tests_. Say in bad _condition_, not in bad _shape_. A toga was a garment worn by a Roman citizen. The word is persistently misused to refer to senatorial honors. Avoid newspaper slang. To all but a few of our readers the word _story_ means not _an item of news_ in the paper but a _piece of fiction_. To speak of a _story_ meaning a piece for the paper is to confuse them. Say _article_ or _item_. Don't write _alright_. There is no such word in the language. Avoid poetic forms. Do not use _amongst_ for _among_. _Thither_ and _whither_ have a bookish sound. Prefer the simple _while_ to the fancy _whilst_. There are no degrees of _certainty_. Don't write a thing seems _more certain_. _Amateur_ means _non-professional_, not necessarily _unskilled_. _Novice_ implies lack of skill. _Spectators_ see; an _audience_ is a collection of _auditors_. _Spectators_ go to ball games and motion picture theaters. Use _render_ in speaking of lard and not of songs. Don't use _complected_ for _complexioned_. Don't write _better half_ for _wife_. Do not write that a thing _grows smaller_. We write _wages are_. The biblical phrase is, _The wages of sin is death_. Don't write _the three first_. You mean _the first three_. A _justice_ presides in police court, in justice court and in the supreme court. A _judge_ presides in other courts except the recorder's court, which is presided over by the _recorder_ and his associate. Justices of the supreme court of the states and the nation are referred to as _Mr. Justice Jones_ or _Chief Justice White_. Avoid the hackneyed phrase, _a miraculous escape_. It is almost an unbreakable rule that reporters and copy readers shall verify all quotations. Many of the most familiar phrases are popularly misquoted. Don't write _the above statement_ or _the statement given above_. It may not be _above_ when it gets into the paper. Write _the foregoing statement_. Don't use _about_ meaning _approximately_ except with round numbers. Do not write _about 27 cents_ or _about 12 minutes after 8 o'clock_, but write _about $10_ or _about 10,000 persons_. Don't confuse _O_ and _Oh_. The former is the formal spelling of the interjection and is used usually in poetry, as, _Sail on, O Ship of State!_ It is used in supplication, as, _O God, hear our prayer!_ The _Oh_ spelling is that commonly used, as, _Oh, dear_; _Oh, what shall I do?_ It is usually written with a comma. DANA'S EIGHT RULES Charles A. Dana's eight rules for the guidance of a newspaper man are: 1. Get the news, all the news, and nothing but the news. 2. Copy nothing from another publication without giving perfect credit. 3. Never print an interview without the knowledge and consent of the party interviewed. 4. Never print a paid advertisement as news matter. Let every advertisement appear as an advertisement; no sailing under false colors. 5. Never attack the weak and defenseless, either by argument, by invective, or by ridicule, unless there is some absolute public necessity for so doing. 6. Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth or the only truth. 7. Support your party, if you have one; but do not think that all the good men are in it or all the bad ones outside. 8. Above all, believe that humanity is advancing, that there is progress in human affairs, and that as sure as God lives the future will be better than the past or present. +-----------------------------------------+ | ... PROMOTER OF CIVIC WELFARE AND | | CIVIC PRIDE ... BOND OF CIVIC UNITY ... | | PROTECTOR OF CIVIC RIGHTS. | +-----------------------------------------+ THE CANNERY Dean Alford says: "Be simple, be unaffected, be honest in your speaking and writing. Call a spade a spade, not a well known oblong instrument of manual husbandry. Elegance of language may not be in the power of all of us, but simplicity and straightforwardness are." Many pages would be required to list all the so-called bromides that have been worn threadbare by constant use and abuse in newspapers. Often these phrases are used to avoid what the writer believes to be annoying repetition. It is better to use the word _fire_ many times in a paragraph than to use the word _conflagration_ once. So many phrases have become hackneyed in newspapers that the comic magazines make jokes about them. This is from Puck: A NEWSPAPER DICTIONARY =Appropriate Exercises.=--What the celebration opened with. =Good-Natured Crowd.=--People out on election night. =Firm, Clear Tones.=--What the bride uttered the responses in. =Heart of the Business Section.=--District threatened by fire. (See =under control=.) =Land Office Business.=--What the charity bazaar did. (See =pretty girls=.) =Luscious Bivalve.=--What the pearl was found in. (See =poor shoemaker=.) =Musical Circles.=--What the hostess is prominent in. (See =artistic interpretation=.) =Pool of Blood.=--What the body was lying in. =Sensational Failure.=--A Wall street bankruptcy. =Trojans.=--What the men were working like. =Undercurrent of Excitement.=--Something that ran through the audience. (See =tense moment=.) =Well-Known Southern Family.=--What the bridegroom is a member of. Avoid such phrases as: burly Negro smoking revolver cheered to the echo in durance vile herculean efforts it goes without saying limps into port daring robber bolt from a clear sky facile pen breathless silence crisp bill grim reaper dusky damsel tonsorial parlor vale of tears denizens of the deep finny tribe knights of the grip like rats in a trap speculation is rife for 10 long years severed his connection (say _he quit_) solon probe city father leave no stone unturned whipped out a gun old Sol fair Luna Dan Cupid Dame Fashion milady Jupiter Pluvius affixed his signature vast concourse edifice was consumed infuriated animal summoned a physician busy marts of trade breakneck speed high dudgeon fragrant Havana divine passion city bastile immaculate linen minions of the law rash act never in the history of sad rites tidy sum light collation pale as death totally destroyed news leaked out rooted to the spot war to the knife fair sex white as a sheet to the bitter end well-known clubman pillar of the church large and enthusiastic audience natty suit giant pachyderm swathed in bandages tiny tots checkered career angry mob dull, sickening thud foeman worthy of his steel great beyond downy couch toothsome viands Study of a thesaurus--there is one in the library--will enlarge the vocabulary and help the writer to rid himself of these trite phrases. How fresh words may give life to a piece of writing is shown in the chapter in this book on the use of adjectives. CLARITY, FORCE, GRACE "Of the three generally recognized qualities of good style--clarity, force and grace--it is the last and the last alone in which critics of newspaper English find their material," reads an editorial in the New York Evening Post. "Beauty, grace, suggestion of that final touch which confers on its object the immortality of perfect art, are nearly always conspicuously absent." MICHIGAN INSTITUTIONS There are no convicts in Michigan except men who have escaped or who have been discharged from institutions in other states. The Michigan State Prison at Jackson houses inmates. The same is true of the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia and the State House of Correction at Marquette. Industrial schools, homes, hospitals and a state public school have succeeded reform schools in Michigan. The humanizing movement has led the state to declare that persons detained in such institutions shall be designated pupils, patients or inmates. There are no prisoners in Michigan juvenile institutions. The practice of printing the prison record of a man arrested in connection with the commission of a crime but not convicted of that crime is discouraged on The News. Often, former inmates of prisons, striving to lead decent lives, are brought in by the police on suspicion. To print their names may be to injure them needlessly without imparting valuable information to our readers. The correct names of state institutions as given in the Michigan Official Directory and Legislative Manual (the red book) are: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Michigan Agricultural College, East Lansing. State Normal College, Ypsilanti. Central Michigan Normal School, Mt. Pleasant. Northern State Normal School, Marquette. Western State Normal School, Kalamazoo. Michigan College of Mines, Houghton. Michigan School for the Deaf, Flint. Michigan School for the Blind, Lansing. Michigan Employment Institution for the Blind, Saginaw. State Public School, Coldwater. Industrial School for Boys, Lansing. Industrial Home for Girls, Adrian. Michigan Soldiers' Home, Grand Rapids. State Psychopathic Hospital, Ann Arbor. Kalamazoo State Hospital. Pontiac State Hospital. Traverse City State Hospital. Newberry State Hospital. Michigan Home and Training School, Lapeer. Michigan Farm Colony for Epileptics, Wahjamega. Ionia State Hospital. Michigan State Prison, Jackson. State House of Correction, Marquette. Michigan Reformatory, Ionia. Detroit House of Correction. State Sanitorium, Howell. ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION The United States Army consists of officers, non-commissioned officers and privates. Officers hold commissions. Non-commissioned officers hold warrants. Officers in the regular army engage to serve the United States for life and may leave the service only on the acceptance of their resignations, on retirement or on dismissal imposed by sentence of a general court martial. Enlisted men in time of peace engage to serve for a definite term of years and at the expiration of this term, return to civil life or re-enlist as they may elect. Non-commissioned officers are enlisted men and the duration of their service is governed by the same rules that apply to privates. The grades of commissioned officers, given in accordance with their relative rank are: General, lieutenant-general, major-general, brigadier-general, colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major, captain, first lieutenant, second lieutenant. The grades of enlisted men are sergeant, corporal and private. There are numerous special grades in each of these general classes. Master sergeants, master electricians, etc., are the highest paid enlisted men and rank all others. Every commissioned officer ranks every enlisted man regardless of the length of their respective services. All officers are of equal social rank. Officers and enlisted men are forbidden to associate socially. Cadets at the United States Military Academy are neither enlisted nor commissioned but have a status of their own. Socially they rank with officers. They are required to salute all officers but are not entitled to the salutes of enlisted men. Flying cadets in the Signal Corps, who are candidates for commissions as aviators or aeronauts, also have a status of their own. They are required to salute officers but do not receive the salutes of enlisted men. Officers salute one another, the juniors saluting the seniors, who acknowledge the courtesy. The infantry organization is based on the company. Under war conditions, the company consists of 250 men. Four companies form a battalion, and three battalions a regiment. A headquarters company, a supply company and a machine gun company also are attached to each regiment. These three are smaller than the other companies. The band is part of the headquarters company. The cavalry organization includes the troop, squadron of four troops, and regiment of three squadrons, with headquarters, machine gun and supply organizations. The field artillery regiment is made up of six batteries, divided into two battalions. It also has headquarters and supply companies. The infantry company is divided into platoons and the platoons into squads of eight men each. The field artillery battery is divided into platoons and sections. The coast artillery until the war had no regimental organization but consisted of several separate companies. All the companies stationed in a coast defense district were under the command of the ranking officer in that district. For service abroad with heavy mobile artillery, several coast artillery regiments were organized on the infantry model. The United States Navy consists of commissioned officers, warrant officers, petty officers and enlisted men without ratings. The officers' grades are: Admiral of the Navy, vice-admiral, rear-admiral, captain, commander, lieutenant-commander, lieutenant, lieutenant junior grade, ensign. The warrant officers rank below commissioned officers and above enlisted men. Gunners, boatswains, machinists, etc., are warrant officers. They wear a uniform similar to that of commissioned officers but with different insignia. Chief petty officers and petty officers are enlisted men. Chief petty officers wear a double-breasted blouse and a cap similar to that won by officers but with a different ornament. Petty officers and unrated enlisted men wear the sailor shirt and either the flat hat or the watch cap. Petty officers are rated first, second and third class, the first the highest. Men aboard ship are organized in divisions. The commander of a ship is called captain by courtesy regardless of his real grade. The marine corps is under the control of the Navy Department but has an organization separate from the Navy proper. It has the same grades of officers and non-commissioned officers (with some exceptions among the latter) as the army. The corps is commanded by a major-general, which is the highest grade to which marine corps officers are eligible. THE WAY TO BECOME ORIGINAL Here is a classic bit of advice given by Flaubert to de Maupassant: "Whatever one wishes to say, there is only one noun to express it, only one verb to give it life, only one adjective to qualify it. Search, then, till that noun, that verb, that adjective are discovered; never be content with 'very nearly,' never have recourse to tricks, however happy; or to buffooneries of language; to avoid a difficulty. This is the way to become original." +--------------------------------------------+ | UPBUILDER OF THE HOME ... NOURISHER OF THE | | COMMUNITY SPIRIT ... ART LETTERS AND | | SCIENCE OF THE COMMON PEOPLE. | +--------------------------------------------+ DATES OFTEN CALLED FOR Battleship Maine blown up in Havana harbor, Feb. 15, 1898. Baltimore fire, Feb. 7, 1904. Black Friday, Sept. 24, 1869. Columbus discovered America, Oct. 12, 1492. Chicago destroyed by fire, Oct. 8-11, 1871. Dayton flood, March 24, 1913. Emancipation Proclamation by Lincoln, Jan. 1, 1863. Equitable Building fire, New York, Jan. 9, 1912. Ft. Sumter fired on, April 12, 1861. Francis Ferdinand, Austrian archduke, assassinated at Sarajevo, Bosnia, June 28, 1914, by Gavrio Prinzip, a Bosnian. Galveston flood, Sept. 8, 1900; hurricane blew 18 hours and attained velocity of 135 miles an hour; 5,000 lives lost; $17,000,000 damage. Garfield assassinated, July 2, 1881. Halifax explosion and fire, December 6, 1917, 150 killed, 2,000 injured, property loss, $40,000,000. Iroquois Theater fire, Chicago, Dec. 30, 1903. Johnstown flood, May 31, 1889; 2,235 lives lost; $10,000,000 damage. Lincoln born near Hodgenville, Larue County, Ky., Feb. 12, 1809. Lincoln assassinated, April 14, 1865. Mayflower Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Dec. 11, 1620, O. S., or Dec. 21, N. S., but landing is celebrated Dec. 22. Mount Pelee eruption and destruction of Martinique, May 8, 1902. McKinley assassinated, Sept. 6, 1901. North Pole discovered by Peary, April 6, 1909. New York great fire, Dec. 16, 1835. Republic sunk in collision with Florida off Nantucket, Jan. 23, 1909; six lives lost. South Pole discovered by Amundsen, Dec. 14, 1911. San Francisco earthquake, April 18-19, 1906. Steamship Eastland capsized in Chicago River, July 24, 1915; more than 800 lives lost. Steamship Lusitania sunk by German submarine, May 7, 1915; 1,149 lives lost. Steamship Titanic wrecked, April 14, 1912, 1,503 lives lost. Steamboat Gen. Slocum burned in East River New York, June 15, 1904; more than 1,000 lives lost. Steamer Larchmont sunk in Long Island Sound, Feb. 12, 1907; 131 lives lost. Volturno burned at sea, Oct. 9, 1913. Washington died, Dec. 14, 1799. Woodrow Wilson born, Dec. 28, 1856. NOTES THE LAW OF LIBEL The following general statement of some of the fundamental principles governing the law of libel is intended to enable the newspaper writer to guard against the publication of indefensible libelous matter. The intention is to state the rules and principles, as far as possible, without legal technicalities, and to include only such portions of the law on the subject as may be necessary or essential for the accomplishment of the double object desired. For the purposes of the newspaper writer, libel may be defined as malicious defamation, either written or printed, charging on or imputing to another that which renders him liable to imprisonment, or tends to injure his reputation in the common estimation of mankind, or to hold him up as an object of hatred, scorn, ridicule or contempt. Slander is malicious defamation by speech or oral language; hence the newspaper writer has no especial concern for the law relating to it, further than to remember one general principle--that the law of libel is much stricter than the law of slander. Thus, one may apply to another _orally_ words of personal vituperation and abuse that would not render him liable in a suit for slander, but which if published of another in a newspaper would be libelous and actionable. The definition of libel here given is broad enough to cover all the experiences of the newspaper office. But the character of defamatory publication that is brought within its scope is best shown by the language of the courts in individual instances. ACTIONABLE LANGUAGE Language in writing has been held to be actionable _per se_ which "denies to a man the possession of some such worthy quality as every man is _a priori_ to be taken to possess"; "which _tends_ to bring a party into public hatred or disgrace"; which "tends to degrade him in society"; which "tends to expose him to hatred, contempt or ridicule"; which "reflects on his character"; which "imputes something disgraceful to him"; which "throws contumely and odium on him"; which "tends to vilify him"; which "tends to injure his character or diminish his reputation"; which is "injurious to his social character"; which "shows him to be immoral or ridiculous"; which "induces an ill opinion of him"; which "detracts from his character as a man of good morals"; which "imputes to him a bad reputation" or "degradation of character" or "ingratitude," and "_all defamatory words injurious in their nature_." Each of the following terms charged on one personally in writing or in print has been adjudged in one or more reported cases to be libelous and actionable, namely: That he was a "villain"; "liar"; "rogue"; "rascal"; "swindler"; "drunkard"; "informer"; that he was the author or the publisher of a libel or slander; that he was a "libelous journalist"; "a hypocrite, and using the cloak of religion for unworthy purposes"; "an imp of the devil"; "a miserable fellow it is impossible for a newspaper article to injure to the extent of six cents"; and "that the community can hardly despise him worse than they do now"; that he had paid money to procure an appointment to an office; that he had received money for offices; that he had been "deprived of the ordinances of the church"; that he was "thought no more of than a horsethief and a counterfeiter"; that he had infringed a patent; that he had been guilty of falsehood; of "dishonesty"; or "moral obliquity"; of "smuggling"; of "blasphemy"; of "false swearing"; that he was "insane"; that he was "fit for a lunatic asylum and unsafe to go at large"; that he had been guilty of gross misconduct in insulting females, etc. Where quotation marks are used, they indicate the exact language used in the respective publications complained of on which the suit was brought. OBJECTIONABLE PUBLISHED CHARGES The following published charges have been held to be objectionable, namely: Want of chastity (as applied to women, at all events) or adultery (charged on either man or woman); the publication of the obituary of a person known to the writer to be living; a charge that a member of Congress was a "misrepresentative" and a groveling office-seeker; that a juror agreed with another juror to rest the determination of the damages in a case upon a game of checkers; characterizing a verdict of a jury as "infamous" and charging the jurors with having done injustice to their oaths; stating in the criticism of a book that the motives of the author are dishonorable or disreputable. The illustrations of this character might be multiplied indefinitely, but these cover the general range of libelous expressions when personally applied to an individual. Imputations on character in allegory or irony may amount to a libel. Imputing to a person the qualities of a frozen snake in the fable; _heading_ an article in regard to a lawyer's sharp practices, "An Honest Lawyer." The general rule is that it is libelous _per se_ to impute to a person in his official capacity, profession, trade or business any kind of fraud, dishonesty, misconduct, incapacity or unfitness--any imputation, in fact, which would _tend_ to prevent him deriving that pecuniary reward from a _legitimate_ business which otherwise he would have obtained. It has been held actionable to publish of a _butcher_ that he used false weights; of a _jeweler_ that he was a "cozening knave" who sold a sapphire for a diamond; of a _brewer_ that he makes and sells unwholesome beer or uses filthy water in the malting of grain for brewing; of a _tradesman_ that he adulterates the article he sells; of a _schoolmaster_ that he is an "ignoramus" on the subject he pretends to teach; of a _clergyman_ that he is immoral, or "preaches lies" or is a "drunkard" or "perjurer"; of an _attorney_ that he offered himself as a witness in order to divulge the secrets of his client, or that he "betrayed his client," or "would take a fee from both sides," or that he "deserves to be struck off the roll"; of a _physician_ that he is an "empiric," or "mountebank," or "quack," or "vends quack medicines"; of a _mechanic_ that he is ignorant of his trade; of a _judge_ that he lacks capacity and has abandoned the common principles of truth; and of anyone _in public office_ of a charge of malfeasance or want of capacity to fulfill its duties. So also personal criticism of an _author_ might go so far as to injure him in his business as an author and come within the rule. And so of any other occupation from which the injured person derives pecuniary benefit. CHARGING WITH A CRIME It is hardly necessary, except for completeness, to add that to charge a person with _any crime_ brings the publication within the definition of libel. If matter libelous _per se_ is published falsely concerning a person he is _presumed_ to have suffered loss without proving the specific amount or the manner of loss, the amount of damages being found by the jury in accordance with the circumstances of the case and various legal rules. If the language complained of does not come within the foregoing definitions and limitations, and is not therefore libelous _per se_, still, if untrue, it may furnish the basis for a libel suit _where it has resulted in pecuniary loss or the loss of other material advantage_. "Any false words are actionable," say the courts, "by which the party has sustained _special damage_." But special damages have to be proved. That is to say, in such case, excluding general damages arising from a _per se_ libel, the character and manner of the loss and the amount in dollars and cents must be proved, and the verdict should not exceed such amount. A single illustration will be sufficient for this class. A newspaper _falsely_ publishes that a man has died of the smallpox at a certain hotel. The proprietor brings a libel suit, claiming loss of custom by way of special damage. His recovery would be limited to such special damages as he could fairly show. Libel has been defined above as "_malicious_ defamation," etc. But it is not generally necessary that the injured complainant should prove actual malice. If the defamatory matter complained of is _false_, the law _presumes_ that the publication was malicious, unless it can be shown either that it was "privileged" by statute or otherwise, or the presumption of malice is overcome by actual proof. That is to say, if the publisher claims that, although false and not privileged, the defamatory publication was not malicious, he must prove it. Of course, if it was not false, it would not be legally malicious. THE THREE DEFENSES The defense to libel suits, therefore, are three, namely: (1) To prove the published charge is true. This is called a "justification." (2) To show that the publication was "privileged." (3) To prove circumstances connected with the publication tending to show that it was not malicious, or was provoked and excused by the conduct of the complainant. This is called a defense "in mitigation of damages." To prove that the defamatory publication complained of is _true_ is an absolute and complete defense. The old maxim of the English criminal law, "The greater the truth the greater the libel," frequently quoted erroneously in this connection, has no application to actions in the civil courts, and at the present time would scarcely be invoked even in any of the criminal courts of this country, except under the most extraordinary circumstances. But it is not enough that the writer of defamatory articles himself knows that they are true, unless he is able to produce, when required, _competent legal proof of their truth_. What he himself has witnessed is, of course, competent evidence as far as it goes; when such proof can be strengthened by official records or other documentary proof, and by the evidence of other persons who can testify of their personal knowledge to the truth of the publications, a defense of the strongest character is presented. But one distinction should be observed carefully, a misconception in regard to which has given rise to many libel suits that have been difficult to defend. When it is said that "the truth is a complete defense," the literal truth of the published statement is not meant; _but the truth of the defamatory charge_. _To illustrate_: A prominent official, say a judge, during the progress of a political campaign, either in the course of an interview or of a public speech, makes the charge against a candidate for an important office that he (the candidate) obtained his naturalization papers either through perjury or subornation of perjury. A newspaper publishes the interview or the speech, giving the speaker's name and the exact language he used. If the candidate referred to should sue the newspaper for libel because of this publication, it would be no defense for the publishers to show that it was _true_ that the speaker had said just exactly what the newspaper represented him to have said. To justify they would have to show that the defamatory charge was true, that the candidate had been guilty of perjury or subornation of perjury in obtaining his naturalization papers. In other words, no publishers or writers can escape responsibility for defaming a man's character by showing that it was on the authority of some other individual. The same principle applies to defamatory accusations republished from another newspaper, whether the name of the newspaper from which they are copied is given or not. PRIVILEGED PUBLICATIONS There is a certain class of publications concerning official proceedings which, although they be defamatory in character, public policy demands that publishers should be protected in making, entirely regardless of the question whether the defamatory matter be true or false. These are termed "privileged publications" and are defined by law. The mere fact that a paper is _entitled_ as being in a certain suit or that _its contents are sworn to_ does not necessarily make it a part of any "judicial, legislative or other public and official proceedings." Such proceedings must actually and legally have been instituted before it becomes entitled to the privilege. _An instance_ would be the publication of libelous statements taken from a complaint or affidavit that had been sworn to in a suit but before _the paper had been actually introduced in the trial of the case_. Here there would be no privilege. The same would be true of an affidavit charging crime on a person which had not before the publication of it been presented to and judicially recognized by the committing or police magistrate. Criticism is also privileged in a limited degree. Nowhere else in the world, not even in England, is so great freedom of legitimate criticism allowed and protected by law as in the United States. The Constitution of the United States provides: "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." The Constitution of Michigan provides: "Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all prosecutions for libel the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, accused shall be acquitted." But the right to criticise is general, and belongs quite as much to any other individual as to the newspaper writer, editor or publisher. The _actions_ of individuals are always legitimate subjects of discussion and criticism. "In this country," says Judge Smith, of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, "every citizen has the right to call the attention of his fellow-citizens to the maladministration of public affairs or the misconduct of public servants, if his real motive in so doing is to bring about a reform of abuses or to defeat the re-election or reappointment of an incompetent officer." "No one can doubt the importance," is the language of Judge Story, "in a free government of the right to canvass the _acts_ of public men and the tendency of public measures--to censure boldly the conduct of rulers and to scrutinize the policy and plans of government." The language of the English courts is nearly as broad. "God forbid that you should not be allowed to comment on the _conduct_ of all mankind, providing you do it justly and honorably," says Baron Alderson. Chief Justice Cockburn said: "It is of vast importance that criticism, so long as it is fair, reasonable and just, should be allowed the utmost latitude, and that the most unsparing censure of works which are fairly subject to it should not be held libelous." CRITICISM DOES NOT EXTEND TO PERSON But the privilege of criticism extends only to the _actions_ or _works_ of an individual; it does not extend to the _person_. In the case of an author, his _works_ may be criticised as severely as the occasion demands. "Every man who publishes a book commits himself to the judgment of the public," says an eminent English judge; but this can not be made the excuse for personal abuse of the author himself. The author, the artist, the architect, who produces a book, a painting or a building, is in this respect in the same position as the maker or producer of a watch, a piano or a carving-knife. The thing produced in either case may be "criticised." But if the _person_ who produces it is defamed, this must be defended, if at all, upon some other ground than that it is _criticism_. Moreover, to justify such comment on men's actions or on the products of their hands or brains _as criticism_, it is essential that the acts or things so criticised should have actual existence. _For instance_, a newspaper comments with great severity on certain occurrences which it publishes as the official acts of a mayor of its city. Before these strictures can be defended as _criticism_, it must appear that such official acts really occurred. Again, newspaper proprietors might well be held liable for publishing a ridiculing criticism of language pretended to be quoted from the book which the critic is reviewing, but which language the author of the book had not actually used. If the publishers who are defendants in a libel suit are unable to show that the defamatory publication is _true_ or that it is _privileged_, then the injured plaintiff is entitled to a verdict _in some amount_. How small this sum shall be will depend upon how good a case the defendants can make out _in mitigation of damages_. The range of defenses that may be interposed for this purpose is very broad. The following may be enumerated as the most important: (1) That the general conduct of the plaintiff gave the defendant "probable cause" for believing the charges to be true. (2) That the complainant's general character is bad. (3) That the publication was made in heat and passion, provoked by the acts of the plaintiff. (4) That the charge published had been made orally in the presence of the plaintiff before publication, and he had not denied it. (5) That the publication was made of a political antagonist in the heat of a political campaign. (6) That as soon as the defendant discovered that he was in error he published a retraction, correction or apology. (7) That the defamatory publication had reference not to the plaintiff, but to another person of a similar name, concerning whom the charges were true, and that readers understood this other individual to be meant. ABSENCE OF ACTUAL MALICE The principle underlying all the above defenses is that they tend to show an absence of _actual malice_. Many other circumstances, too numerous and varied to be classified, and which properly could be used in the same manner and for the same reason to reduce damages, will readily suggest themselves to every one. The successful defense of libel suits depends largely on having clear and trustworthy proof of the facts sought to be sustained promptly at hand as soon as the suit is brought. Any metropolitan newspaper that deserves the name finds itself compelled every day to publish matter that is defamatory in character. Otherwise there would be no journalistic records of crimes or of a large portion of the other occurrences in which the public is interested. The publisher's concern in that particular is a double one--that whatever of that nature is published in his newspaper should be _true_ or _privileged_ and that there should be clear _proof_ of the truth or privilege. Every newspaper writer frequently finds himself called upon to deal with such matter. If it is the report of a trial in court, he need have regard, so far as his report is concerned, to four points: (1) that the judicial or official proceedings have been already begun in open court; (2) that his report of the testimony, etc., or synopsis of the sworn papers is fair and impartial; (3) that he knows where he can put his hands on the official records to sustain the privilege at any time; and (4) that both sides are similarly published. If the matter is defamatory and not privileged in any way, then the utmost care before publication with regard to the proof of its truth will be the only safeguard against libel suits. The publication of such matter on the authority of any person's mere word, however truthful, trustworthy and careful that person may be believed to be, will always be attended with danger. The statements may be entirely true, and yet the giver of the information when called upon may not be able to furnish the proof. If he is, probably he could furnish it as well before as after publication. The only absolutely certain way for any newspaper writer to avoid all risk of this sort is for him to furnish for publication such defamatory matter only as he can sustain by his own testimony as an eye-witness, or such as he has seen the proofs of before writing the article. The almost certain result will be to prevent the bringing of a libel suit--the first consideration in this connection. If, on the other hand, a libel suit should be brought, the writer would be able to furnish the publishers with the best means of defense, namely, proof of the truth of the publication--which is of next importance. PRECISION, SIMPLICITY, EUPHONY Adams Sherman Hill, professor of rhetoric at Harvard University for nearly 30 years, gives these three rules for good writing: Precision: Of two forms of expression which may be used in the same sense, that one should be chosen which is susceptible of only one interpretation. Observance of this rule tends to give each word a meaning of its own. Simplicity: Of two forms of expression which may be used in the same sense, the simpler should be chosen. The simpler a word or phrase, the more likely it is to be understood, and simplicity in language, like simplicity in dress or manners, belongs to the best society. Euphony: Of two forms of expression which may be used in the same sense, that one should be chosen which is the more agreeable to the ear. It is of course wrong to give undue weight to considerations of euphony, but when no sacrifice is involved it is desirable to avoid an expression that is unusually difficult to pronounce or to substitute for an extremely disagreeable word one that is agreeable to the ear. FIRST THREE YEARS OF THE WAR June 28, 1914--Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to throne of Austria-Hungary, and wife shot by Gavrio Prinzip, a Bosnian, at Sarajevo, Bosnia. July 28--Austria declares war on Serbia. Aug. 1--Germany declares war on Serbia. Aug. 4--Great Britain declares war on Germany. Germany proclaims state of war between Germany and Belgium. Wilson proclaims U. S. neutrality. Aug. 6--Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia. Aug. 7--Montenegro declares war on Austria. Aug. 8--British troops land in France. Aug. 12--Great Britain declares state of war with Austria-Hungary. Aug. 19--Germans occupy Louvain. Aug. 20--Germans occupy Brussels. Aug. 23--Japan declares war on Germany. Aug. 31--St. Petersburg becomes Petrograd. Sept. 1--After seven days' battle Russians take Lemberg. Sept. 3--French capital transferred to Bordeaux. Sept. 4--Germans occupy Rheims. Sept. 10--Joffre reports five-day battle at the Marne a victory. Sept. 28--Japanese invest Tsing-Tau. Oct. 9--Antwerp surrenders. Oct. 13--Seat of Belgian capital moved from Ostend to Havre. Oct. 21-31--First battle of Ypres. Nov. 5--Great Britain and France declare war on Turkey. Nov. 10-12--Second battle of Ypres. Dec. 2--Austrians capture Belgrade. Dec. 8--British sink German fleet off Falkland islands. Dec. 14--Serbians force evacuation of Belgrade. Dec. 20--Germans evacuate Dixmude. Jan. 24, 1915--Naval battle in North Sea. Feb. 4--Germany declares war zone about England and Ireland after Feb. 18. Feb. 25--Allied fleet reduces four forts at Dardanelles entrance. March 22--Austrian fortress of Przemysl surrenders to Russians. April 22--Gas first used in war by Germans at Ypres. May 1--American steamer Gulflight sunk. May 7--Lusitania sunk by German submarine off Ireland; 1,149 lost, 707 rescued. May 23--Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. June 3--Teutons recapture Przemysl. June 8--Bryan resigns. June 22--Russians driven out of Lemberg. Aug. 6--Germans occupy Warsaw. Sept. 9--U. S. asks recall by Austria-Hungary of Ambassador Dumba. Sept. 18--Germans capture Wilna. Oct. 5--King Constantine of Greece won't support Allies and Premier Venizelos resigns. Allies land at Saloniki. Oct. 11--Bulgaria enters war by sending army into Serbia. Dec. 4--Ford peace party sails. Dec. 19--Allies evacuate Gallipoli. Jan. 17, 1916--Montenegro surrenders to Austria-Hungary, first belligerent to withdraw. Jan. 26--Compulsory service measure passes final reading in British House of Lords. Feb. 23--Germans open Verdun offensive. March 8--Germany declares war on Portugal. March 15--Von Tirpitz resigns as German minister of marine; succeeded by Admiral von Capelle. April 24--Sinn Feiners' revolution breaks out in Dublin. April 28--British besieged in Kut-el-Amara, Mesopotamia, surrender. May 25--King George signs compulsory bill, applicable to all men from 18 to 41. May 30--Battle of Jutland. June 5--Lord Kitchener drowned. July 9--German submarine Deutschland arrives at Baltimore. Aug. 27--Rumania enters the war on side of Allies. Nov. 10--First great air battle; 67 airplanes brought down. Nov. 21--Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, dies; 86. Dec. 6--Germans occupy Bucharest. Feb. 3, 1917--U.S. severs diplomatic relations with Germany. Feb. 26--Cunard liner Laconia sunk. Feb. 27--Wilson asks authority to arm merchantmen; declares sinking of Laconia is overt act. March 11--British take Bagdad. March 15--Czar Nicholas II abdicates in favor of his brother, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch. April 2--American steamer Aztec sunk. April 6--U. S. declares state of war with Germany. April 7--Cuba declares war on Germany. April 11--Brazil severs diplomatic relations with Germany. May 18--Wilson signs selective conscription bill for army of 500,000. June 5--Americans register for draft. June 8--Gen. Pershing in England. June 12--King Constantine abdicates. June 15--American mission reaches Russia. June 26--First U. S. troops arrive in France. June 29--Greece severs relations with Germany and her allies. July 2--Chinese empire re-established for three days. July 14--Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg resigns, Dr. George Michaelis succeeding. July 22--Kerensky made dictator in Russia. Aug. 28--U. S. rejects pope's peace proposal. Sept. 3--Germans capture Riga. Sept. 16--Kerensky proclaims Russia a republic. Oct. 6--Peru severs diplomatic relations with Germany. Oct. 7--Uruguay severs diplomatic relations with Germany. Oct. 19--U. S. transport Antilles torpedoed. Oct. 23--First of U. S. troops enter French trenches. Oct. 26--Brazil declares war on Germany. Nov. 2--Three-cent postage in effect. Nov. 8--Bolsheviki in control of Russian government. Nov. 10--Lenine made Russian premier. Nov. 18--British capture Jaffa. Dec. 4--Wilson asks congress to declare war on Austria-Hungary. Dec. 6--Part of Halifax wrecked by explosion and fire. Dec. 7--Congress declares war on Austria-Hungary. Dec. 10--British capture Jerusalem. Dec. 26--U. S. takes over the railroads. NOTES INDEX A Abbreviations in heads, 10 rules governing, 42 _about_, use of, meaning approximately, 55 _above statement_ barred, 56 _academy_, capitalization of, 17 Accuracy, 4-5 _acts_, capitalization of, 19 _actual photographs_ barred, 35 _a day_ preferred to _per day_, 54 Adjectives, capitalization of, 20 rules governing, 34 _administered_, use of, 30 _administration_, capitalization of, 17 Adverbs, rules governing, 33 _advice_ confused with _advise_, 52 _advise_ confused with _advice_, 52 _affair_, misuse of, 24 _affect_ confused with _effect_, 52 _afterward_, spelling of, 52 Ages, writing of, 38 _agreeable_ preferred to _nice_, 34 _agreeably to_ preferred to _agreeable to_, 33 Agreement of verbs, 29 _airplane_, spelling of, 51 _alarmingly_ preferred to _dangerously_, 33 Alford, Dean, quoted, 57 Allbutt, Sir Clifford, quoted, 50 _allege_ not a synonym for _say_, 30 _alliance_, capitalization of, 19 _allies_, capitalization of, 19 Alliteration in heads, 10 _almost_ preferred to _most_, 54 _alright_ barred, 55 _although_ preferred to _while_, 28 _a. m._, capitalization of, 20 use of, 38-44 _amateur_, meaning of, 55 _ambassador_, misuse of, 24 _amendment_, capitalization of, 19 _among_, misused for _between_, 37 preferred to _amongst_, 55 _amongst_, prefer _among_ to, 55 Ampersand, use of, 43 _anesthetic_, spelling of, 51 _a number of_, prefer _several_ to, 34 _anxious_ misused for _eager_, 35 _anybody_, use masculine pronoun with, 27 A. P., leads, 7 style, 15 _apiece_ misused for _each_, 27 Apostrophe, use of, 22 _appear_, use of, intransitively, 29 _approximately_ preferred to _about_, 56 _Arab_, capitalization of, 20 _armor_, spelling of, 52 _armory_, capitalization of, 20 _army_, abbreviation of titles of, 44 capitalization of, 19 organization of, 60 Articles, in heads, 8 rules governing, 38 use of, with names, 45 _artist_, avoid feminine form of, 24 _as far as_, use of, 33 misused for _that_, 28 _long as_, use of, 33 _assembly_, capitalization of, 18 Associated Press, see A. P. _associations_, capitalization of, 17 Asterisks, use of, 22 _as yet_ superfluous, 49 _at the corner of_ superfluous, 49 _attorney_, abbreviation of, 43 _audience_, meaning of, 55 _au fait_ to be avoided, 54 _auger_ confused with _augur_, 52 _augur_ confused with _auger_, 52 _author_, avoid feminine form of, 24 _auto_, prefer _automobile_ to, 25 _autoist_, prefer _motorist_ to, 24 _automatic pistol_ preferred to _automatic revolver_, 55 _automobile_ preferred to _auto_, 25 _automobilist_, prefer _motorist_ to, 24 _avenue_, capitalization of, 20 _awful_, meaning of, 35 _ax_, spelling of, 51 _axminster_, capitalization of, 20 _ayes and noes_, spelling of, 51 B _backward_, spelling of, 52 _bacteria_, plural of, 24 _balance_ misused for _rest_, 25 Barred by the Sun, 31 _base ball_, spelling of, 51 _basket ball_, spelling of, 51 _battle_, capitalization of, 18 _bay_, capitalization of, 18 _bazar_, spelling of, 51 _be_, forms of, in heads, 9 omission of, in heads, 10 Belgians, king of, 46 Belgium, king of, misused, 46 Bennett, Arnold, quoted, 23 _beside_ not to be misused for _besides_, 37 _besides_ not to be misused for _beside_, 37 _better half_, prefer _wife_ to, 55 _between_ not to be misused for _among_, 37 _Bible_, capitalization of, 19 _bills_, capitalization of, 19 _birdseye_, spelling of, 51 _birth_, avoid euphemisms regarding, 50 _birthday_, capitalization of, 18 _bishop_, use of, 48 Bleyer, Dr. Willard G., quoted, 6 _blond_, spelling of, 51 _body_ preferred to _remains_, 50 _Bohemian_, capitalization of, 20 Book sizes, 44 _bought_ preferred to _purchased_, 30 _boulevard_, capitalization of, 20 _bovine_ used as adjective, 34 _boy scouts_, capitalization of, 20 _breach_ misused for _breech_, 52 Brevity, 2, 22 _bridegroom_ preferred to _groom_, 25 Bromides, 57 _bros._, use of, 43 _Budapest_, spelling of, 51 _building_, capitalization of, 17 _bureau_, capitalization of, 17 _burial_ preferred to _interment_, 50 Burke, Edmund, quoted, 16 _but that_ preferred to _but what_, 28 _but what_ misused for _but that_, 28 _by_, book illustrated, artist, 37 C _cabinet_, capitalization of, 17 _cadets_, capitalization of, 20 _caliber of guns_, punctuation of, 22 _caliber_, spelling of, 52 _campfire girls_, capitalization of, 20 _canine_, use as adjective, 34 Cannery, 57 _can not_, spelling of, 51 _cape_, capitalization of, 18 _capital_ misused for _capitol_, 52 Capitalization, rules governing, 17 _capitol_ misused for _capital_, 52 _cardinals_, how referred to, 48 Carlyle, Thomas, quoted, 5 _casket_, prefer _coffin_ to, 50 _catalog_, spelling of, 52 _cello_, spelling of, 52 _century_, use ordinal with, 38 _certainly_, no degrees of, 55 _chamber_, _of deputies_, etc., capitalization, 18 _checks_, spelling of, 51 _Chile_, spelling of, 51 _Chili_, spelling of, 51 Chinese names, 45 Christmas preferred to _Xmas_, 18 _church_, capitalization of, 18 titles, 48 _cigaret_, spelling of, 52 _circumstance_, meaning of, 24 _cities_, abbreviation of, 42 _citizens_ misused for _persons_, 24 City directory, importance of, 5 City editor, telephone to, 4 _civil war_, capitalization of, 18 _claimant_ misused for _clamant_, 52 Clarity, 22-58 Clauses, punctuation of, 22 Cleanliness of thought, 3 Clemens, Samuel L., see Mark Twain, 31 Clock time, how to write, 44 _clubs_, capitalization of, 17 _clue_, spelling of, 51 Cobb, Irvin S., quoted, 35 Cobbett, William, quoted, 34 _coffin_ preferred to _casket_, 50 Collective nouns, 25 _college_, capitalization of, 17 _college degrees_, abbreviation of, 44 capitalization of, 19 _collide_, only moving objects, 30 Colon, use of, 22 capitalization after, 17 _color_, spelling of, 52 of, 49 _comatose_, meaning of, 54 Commas, use of, 22 _compared to_, meaning of, 30 _compared with_, meaning of, 30 _Complected_ preferred to _complexioned_, 55 Compounds, how formed, 48 _consistently with_ preferred to _consistent with_, 33 _condition_, bad, preferred to _bad shape_, 55 _congress_, capitalization of, 18 Conjunctions, punctuation before, 22 in heads, 8 rules governing, 28 _consensus of opinion_, use of, 49 _consist in_ misused for _consist of_, 37 _consist of_ misused for _consist in_, 37 _constitution_, capitalization of, 20 _consul_, confused with _ambassador_, etc., 24 confused with _counsel_, 52 _consummated_, when to avoid, 50 _convict_, prefer _inmate_ to, 59 _cop_ barred, 54 Copy, reading, 6 preparation of, 7 Corrections, making, 1 _council_ confused with _counsel_, 52 _council chamber_, capitalization of, 20 _councilor_ confused with _counselor_, 52 _counsel_ confused with _council_, 52 _counselor_ confused with _councilor_, 52 _county_, capitalization of, 18 _coup de grace_, use of, 54 _coup d'etat_, use of, 54 _couple_, misuse of, 24 _courthouse_, capitalization of, 20 _courts_, capitalization of, 17 Creed, journalist's, 25 _critically_ preferred to _dangerously_, 33 _crown prince_, capitalization of, 17 _Cupid_, avoid use of, 50 _curb_, spelling of, 51 Curiosity, 4 Cuttlefish, 7 _czar_, capitalization of, 17 D _damaged_, inanimate things are, 30 Dana, Charles A., quoted, 31, 55 dancer, avoid feminine form of, 24 _dangerously_, prefer _alarmingly_ to, 33 Dangling participle, 11 Darwinian theory, 55 Dash in heads, 10 _data_, number of, 24 Date lines, punctuation and capitalization of, 22 Dates, how to write, 38 often called for, 62 _day_, capitalization of, 18 _dealt_, use of, 30 _death_, write simply of, 50 _decalog_, spelling of, 52 _deceased_, prefer _dead_ man to, 50 _declaration of independence_, capitalization of, 18 _decollete_, spelling of, 51 _decoration day_, capitalization of, 18 Definite article misused, 38 _defunct_, avoid use of, 50 _degree of temperature_, use figures for, 38 abbreviation of, 44 capitalization of, 19 _deity_, capitalization of names and pronouns used for, 19 _democrat_, _-ic_, capitalization of, 18 _denial_, use of subjunctive to imply, 29 Department head, 8 capitalization of, 17 _departs_, prefer _leaves_ to, 30 _depositary_ confused with _depository_, 52 _depot_, prefer _station_ to, 25 capitalization of, 20 _de riguer_ to be avoided, 54 Derivatives, capitalization of, 20 Dialect, 14 _dialog_, spelling of, 52 _dick_ to be avoided, 55 Diction, 14 Dictionary, get interested in, 16 sanctions nothing, 50 _different_, when superfluous, 49 _different from_, preferred to _different to_, 37 Dimensions, how to write, 38 _dip_ to be avoided, 55 _dispatch_, spelling of, 51 _distance of_ superfluous, 49 _dive_, past tense of, 30 _dived_ preferred to _dove_, 30 _divine_ to be avoided as noun, 24 Do and don't, 54 _dominion day_, capitalization of, 18 _don't_, use of, 44 Double meaning in heads, 10 Doubling up have's, 31 _dove_, prefer _dived_ to, 30 _Dr._, use of, 48 _draft_, spelling of, 51 _drouth_, spelling of, 51 _duke_, capitalization of, 17 Duke of Argyll, quoted, 22 _duma_, capitalization of, 18 spelling of, 51 E _each_, preferred to _apiece_, 27 use masculine pronoun with, 27 _eager_ preferred to _anxious_, 35 _East_, _-ern_, _-erner_, capitalization of, 18 Editing copy, 6 Editorial head, 8 _effect_ confused with _affect_, 52 _E. G._, use of, 44 _either_, use of, 27 _emigrant_ confused with _immigrant_, 52 _Emperor_, capitalization of, 17 _employe_, spelling of, 51 Ending a sentence with _to_, 29 End-mark, use of, 7 English money, abbreviation of, 44 _entente_, capitalization of, 19 _enthuse_ to be avoided, 30 _entirely completed_, use of, 49 _envoy_, use of, 24 Epithets, capitalization of, 19 _equally well_, use of, 49 Errors in grammar, 11 _Eskimo_, spelling of, 51 _esthetic_, spelling of, 51 _et al._, use of, 54 Ethics of the profession, 5 Euphony, 71 _event_, use of, 24 Events, names of notable, capitalization of, 18 _every_, use masculine pronoun with, 27 _ex-_, use of, 17 Exception proves the rule, 55 F _facsimile_, use of, 51 Facts, 2, 4, 8 _faker_ misused for _fakir_, 52 _fakir_ misused for _faker_, 52 _farther_ distinguished from _further_, 33 _favor_, spelling of, 52 _fearful_, meaning of, 35 Feature heads, 8 _feel_, use of, intransitively, 29 _feline_ misused as a noun, 34 Feminine forms of words, 24 _fiance_ and _fiancee_, use of, 54 Fictitious names, capitalization of, 19 Figures, beginning a story, 7 rules governing, 38 punctuation of, 22 _Filipino_, spelling of, 51 Fine writing, 4, 14 Firm names, use of, 42 _first of series_, writing of, 55 First three years of the war, 72-74 _flag_, capitalization of, 19 Flaubert, Camille, quoted, 61 _floral offerings_, use of, 50 _flowers_, use of, 50 _follow copy_, use of phrase, 7 _foot ball_, spelling of, 51 Force, 58 _forecast_, past tense of, 31 _forecasted_, prefer _forecast_ to, 31 _foregoing statement_, use of, 56 Foreign phrases, 2, 14, 54 _former_, capitalization of, 17 _fort_, abbreviation of, 42 _forward_, spelling of, 52 _Fourth of July_, capitalization of, 18 _Fr._, use of, 48 _frisk_, misuse of, 55 _from_ misused with diseases, 37 when to omit, 37 Front page paper, 2 _funeral_, terms referring to, 50 _further_ distinguished from _farther_, 33 _future before him_, phrase to avoid, 49 G _gaiety_, spelling of, 51 _gaily_, spelling of, 51 Game, newspaper work as a, 3 _garden_, capitalization of, 18 _gat_, misuse of, 55 _gatling_, capitalization of, 20 _gentleman_, use of, 25 Geographical terms, capitalization of, 18 Girls, protection of good name of, 54 _goodby_, spelling of, 51 _government_, capitalization of, 17 _governor_, capitalization of, 17 Grace, 58 Grammar, 11 bad, not funny, 14 Grievance, treatment of reader with a, 2 _grim reaper_ to be avoided, 50 _groom_ misused for _bridegroom_, 25 _guarantee_ misused for _guaranty_, 51 _guillotine_, capitalization of, 20 _grows smaller_, misuse of, 55 _gun_, misuse of, 55 H Hackneyed phrases, 57 _hall_, capitalization of, 17 Handles, name, 45 _hang_, past tense of, 31 _hanged_, use of, 31 _happen_, use of, 30 _happening_, use of, 24 Heads, 8 _heart disease_, use of, 50 _failure_, use of, 50 _Hebrew_, rules governing use of, 46 _he or she_, avoid, 27 _healthful_, use of, 35 _healthy_, use of, 35 _Herculean_, capitalization of, 20 _high noon_, avoid, 49 _high school_, capitalization of, 19 _highway_, capitalization of, 20 Hill, Adams Sherman, quoted, 71 _Hindu_, spelling of, 51 _his or her_, avoid, 27 _hoard_ confused with _horde_, 52 _hoi polloi_, use of, without article, 49 _holidays_, capitalization of, 18 _holy names_, _places_, _events_, etc., capitalization of, 19 _home_ preferred to _residence_, 25 _homeopathic_, spelling of, 51 _horde_ confused with _hoard_, 52 _hospital_, capitalization of, 17 _hotel_, capitalization of, 17 _house_, _of representatives_, etc., capitalization of, 18 _Hull_, _Palmer_, etc., capitalization of, 17 preferred to _residence_, 25 Howells, William Dean, quoted, 14 _human_ used as adjective, 34 _hung_, use of, 31 _Hymen_, avoid use of, 50 Hyphens, use of, 22 I _I_, when barred, 27 _-ics_, nouns ending in, 24 _i. e._, use of, 44 _if_ misused for _whether_, 28 Illustration head, 8 _illy_, never use, 33 _immigrant_ confused with _emigrant_, 52 _immoral_ confused with _unmoral_, 52 Impersonal viewpoint, 5 _in a street_, prefer _on a street_ to, 37 _incident_, meaning of, 24 Indefinite figures, 38 Indentions, 7 _india rubber_, capitalization of, 20 _in_ distinguished from _into_, 37 Infinitives, split, 29 time of, 29 _injured_, inanimate things not, 30 inmate preferred to convict, 59 _in order to_, avoid use of, 49 _insanitary_ misused for _unsanitary_, 52 Institutions, Michigan, 59 Instructions, to reporters, 4 to copy readers, 6 Interlining, 7 _interment_, use of, 50 Interrogation point, use of, 22 _into_ distinguished from _in_, 37 _invited guest_, misuse of, 49 _I O U_ written without periods, 43 _island_, capitalization of, 18 _isthmus_, capitalization of, 18 _item_ used for _story_, 55 _its_ distinguished from _it's_, 27 J _Jew_, use of, 46 Journalist's creed, 25 _judge_, capitalization of, 17 distinguished from justice, 55 _junior_, abbreviation of, 43 capitalization of, 18 _justice_, capitalization of, 17 distinguished from _judge_, 55 of supreme court, 56 K _kaiser_, capitalization of, 17 _Khartum_, spelling of, 51 _kiddies_, avoid use of, 54 _kidnaped_, spelling of, 51 _kids_, use of, 54 _kind of_ not followed by article, 38 _king_, capitalization of, 17 with Roman numerals, 38 _knight_, use of title of, 46 _Knight Templar_, plural of, 52 _Korea_, spelling of, 51 L _Labor Day_, capitalization of, 18 _lady_, use of, 25 _la grippe_, omit article with, 49 _lane_, capitalization of, 20 _late_, _the_, use of, 50 _latitude_, use figures to express, 38 Law of libel, 3, 64-71 _laws_, capitalization of, 19 _lay_, use of, 29-30 Leaders, use of, 22 Leads, 7 A. P., 15 _leaves_ preferred to _departs_, 30 _legislative bodies_, capitalization of, 18 _legislature_, capitalization, 18 _Leipzig_, spelling of, 51 _lend_ preferred to _loan_, 30 _lengthy_, prefer _long_ to, 34 _lessen_ confused with _lesson_, 52 Libel laws, 3, 64-71 _liable_ misused for _likely_, 33 Liberal, capitalization of, 18 _lie_, use of, 29-30 _lieutenant-governor_, capitalization of, 17 _like_ misused as conjunction, 28 _likely_ preferred to _liable_, 33 _live at hotel_ preferred to _stop at hotel_, 30 _lives_ preferred to _reside_, 30 _livid_, use of, 35 _loan_, prefer _lend_ to, 30 _localities_, capitalization of names of, 18 _long_ preferred to _lengthy_, 34 Longfellow, Henry W., quoted, 11 _longitude_, use figures with, 38 _long way_, spelling of, 52 _look_, use of, intransitively, 29 _lurid_, use of, 35 M _M_ in heads, 9 _macadam_, capitalization of, 20 Macaulay, Thomas Babington, quoted, 51 _maize_ confused with _maze_, 52 _majority_, meaning of, 24 _man_ preferred to _gentleman_, 25 _maneuver_, spelling of, 51 _many_ preferred to _a number of_, 34 Margins, 7 _marriage_ confused with _wedding_, 50 _master_ to be avoided, 45 _may_ in heads, 10 _mayor_, capitalization of, 17 _maze_ confused with _maize_, 52 _medieval_, spelling of, 51 _memoranda_, number of, 24 Metric system, 40-41 Metier, learning the, 6 _Mich._, use of, 43 Michigan Institutions, 59 _middle west_, capitalization of, 18 Military titles, punctuation of, 19 capitalization of, 19 abbreviation of, 44 _minister_, diplomatic, 24 of gospel, 48 _miraculous escape_, avoid use of, 56 Misspelled names, 45 _Mohammed_, spelling of, 51 Money, sums of, 24 how written, 38 English, abbreviation of, 44 _months_, abbreviation of, 44 _more certain_ to be avoided, 55 _most_ misused for _almost_, 54 _Most Rev._, use of, 48 _motor car_ preferred to _auto_, 25 _motorist_ preferred to _autoist_, 24 _mount_, abbreviation of, 42 _murder_ not always barred, 54 _Mrs. Judge_, use of, barred, 45 N Names, abbreviation of, 43 connected, capitalization of, 20 holy, capitalization of, 19 of railroads, 52 rules governing use of, 45 rules governing capitalization of, 17 _nationalities_, capitalization of, 19 _navy_, abbreviation of titles of, 44 capitalization of, 19 organization of, 60 _nearby_, spelling of, 51 _nee_, use of, 34 Negatives in heads, 10 _neither_, use of, 27 _Newburgh_, spelling of, 52 _new recruit_ to be avoided, 49 News, aim of, The, 1 capitalization of The, 19 Newspapers, capitalization, of names of, 19 _New Year's_, capitalization of, 18 New York Sun, words barred by the, 31 _nice_, prefer _agreeable_ to, 34 Nicknames, use of, 45 capitalization of, 19 _No._, use of, 43 _nobody_ preferred to _not anybody_, 27 _no one_ preferred to _not any one_, 27 _nom de guerre_ in good usage, 54 _nom de plume_ to be avoided, 54 _north_, _-ern_, _-erner_, capitalization of, 18 Nouns, rules governing, 24 _novice_, meaning of, 55 Numbers, rules governing, 38 punctuation of, 22 street, 22, 38 O _O_, use of, 55 _obsequies_ to be avoided, 50 Observation, 23 _obtain_ preferred to _secure_, 30 _occasionally_, use of, 33 _occur_, use of, 30 _occurrence_, meaning of, 24 _ocean_, capitalization of, 18 _off from_, prefer _off_ to, 37 _off of_, prefer _off_ to, 37 _off_, use of, 37 _of_ when used with diseases, 37 _oh_, use of, 55 _O. K._, use of, 20 _old adage_ to be avoided, 49 _Old Glory_, capitalization of, 19 _old veterans_ to be avoided, 49 _on a street_ preferred to _in a street_, 37 _on the part of_ to be avoided, 37 _only_, beware of, 33 Ordinals, 38 _orient_, capitalization of, 17 _oriental_, capitalization of, 20 Originality, 61 Oslerian theory, 55 _over a signature_ to be avoided, 37 Overscore _n_, 7 P _pajamas_, spelling of, 51 _Panamans_, spelling of, 52 _pants_, prefer _trousers_ to, 55 _painfully_, when to avoid, 33 _paraphernalia_, number of, 24 _parcel post_, spelling of, 51 _paris green_, capitalization of, 20 _park_, capitalization of, 18 _parliament_, capitalization of, 18 _parlor_, capitalization of, 18 _parlous_, prefer _perilous_ to, 35 Participial construction, 24 Participle, dangling, 11 Particles, capitalization of, in foreign names, 20 _parties_, _political_, capitalization of, 18 _political_, abbreviation of, 44 _partly completed_ to be avoided, 49 _party_ misused for _person_, 24 Paste sheets, do not, 7 _pasteurize_, capitalization of, 20 _pen name_ preferred to _nom de plume_, 54 _people_ misused for _persons_, 24 _per_, use of, 54 _per cent_, use of, 38, 54 _per day_, prefer _a day_ to, 54 _perilous_ preferred to _parlous_, 35 Period, use of, 22 ring, 7 _periodicals_, capitalization, of names of, 19 _person_ preferred to _party_, 24 _phenomena_, number of, 24 _philistine_, capitalization of, 20 _philippic_, capitalization of, 20 _phone_, prefer _telephone_ to, 25 Phrases, holy, capitalization of, 19 _pianist_, avoid feminine form of, 24 Pictorial power of words, 16 _pistol_ confused with _revolver_, 55 _Pittsburgh_, spelling of, 52 _place_, capitalization of, 20 _platonic_, capitalization of, 20 _plead_, past tense of, 31 _pleaded_ preferred to _pled_, 31 _pled_, prefer _pleaded_ to, 31 _plow_, spelling of, 51 _plurality_, meaning of, 24 _p. m._, use of, 38, 44 capitalization of, 20 _poet_, avoid feminine form of, 24 Poisons, use of names of, 54 _pole_, capitalization of, 18 _police court_, capitalization of, 20 _policeman_ preferred to _cop_, 54 _poorhouse_, capitalization of, 20 _port_, abbreviation of, 42 _Porto Rico_, spelling of, 51 _possibly_, redundant with _may_, 49 Post, New York Evening, quoted, 58 _postoffice_, capitalization of, 20 _preachers_, use of, 48 _precinct_, capitalization of, 18 Precision, 71 Preparing copy, 7 Prepositions in heads, 8 rules governing, 37 _present incumbent_ to be avoided, 49 _present tense_, heads in, 8, 10 president, abbreviation of, 8 capitalization of, 17 _preventative_, prefer _preventive_ to, 24 _previously to_ preferred to _previous to_, 33 Prices written in figures, 38 _priest_, use of, 48 _princes_, capitalization of, 17 _principal_ confused with _principle_, 52 Prison record, do not print, 59 _procure_ preferred to _secure_, 30 Profanity, use of, 3 _professor_, use of, 45 _program_, spelling of, 52 _progressive_, capitalization of, 18 _prone_, meaning of, 54 Pronouns, rules governing, 27 Proper nouns and derivatives, capitalization of, 20 _prophecy_ confused with _prophesy_, 52 _proportion_ preferred to _per cent_, 24 _proven_, prefer _proved_ to, 30 _pseudonym_ preferred to _nom de plume_, 54 Punctuation, in heads, 10 inside quotation marks, 23 rules governing, 22 _purchased_, prefer _bought_ to, 30 Q Question mark, use of, 2 Quotation marks, in heads, 10 use of, 23 Quotations misapplied, 55 verify, 56 R _rabbi_, use of, 48 _racing_ time written in figures, 38 _races_, capitalization of, 19 _raise_, use of, 29, 30 Reading copy, 6 _recorder_, definition of, 55 _reformation_, capitalization of, 18 _regular monthly meeting_ to be avoided, 49 _reichstag_, capitalization of, 18 _relieved of_, prefer _robbed of_ to, 30 _religious denominations_, capitalization of, 18 _remains_, prefer _body_ to, 18 _render_ to be avoided, 55 _repertory_, spelling of, 51 Reporters, instructions to, 4 kept out of story, 54 _republican_, capitalization of, 18 Reputation, woman's, 3 _residence_, prefer _home_ to, 25 _rest_ preferred to _balance_, 25 _resides_, prefer _lives_ to, 30 _Rev._, use of, 48 _revolution_, capitalization of, 18 _revolver_ misused for _pistol_, 55 _rise_, use of, 29, 30 _river_, capitalization of, 18 _road_, capitalization of, 20 _robbed of_ preferred to _relieved of_, 20 Roman numerals, use of, 38 table of, 39 _room_, capitalization of, 18 Ross, Charles G., quoted, 6, 8 S _sable hearse_ to be avoided, 50 _sad rites_ to be avoided, 50 _saint_, abbreviation of, 44 _same, the_, use of, 27 _Savior_, spelling of, 52 Scores written in figures, 38 _Scriptural texts_, how to write, 44 _sear_ confused with _sere_, 52 _seasons_, capitalization of, 20 _sections of states_, etc., capitalization of, 18 _secure_, prefer _obtain_ to, 30 _seer_ confused with _sear_, 52 Semicolons, use of, 22 _senate_, capitalization of, 18 _senior_, abbreviation of, 43 capitalization of, 18 _sere_ confused with _seer_, 52 _set_, use of, 29, 30 _several_ preferred to _a number of_, 34 _sewage_, meaning of, 24 _sewer_, meaning of, 24 _sewerage_, meaning of, 24 _Shakespeare_, spelling of, 51 _Shakespearean_, spelling of, 51 _shape_, prefer _condition_ to, 55 _ship body_ to be avoided, 50 _sight_ confused with _site_, 52 _signature_, write _under a_, 37 _sine qua non_ to be avoided, 54 _sit_, use of, 29, 30 _site_ confused with _sight_, 52 _skilful_, spelling of, 51 Simplicity, 2, 4, 5, 11, 71 Sincerity, 5 Slang, use of, 55 punctuation of, 23 _smell_, use of, intransitively, 29 _socialist_, _-ic_, capitalization of, 18 _societies_, capitalization of, 17 _socratic_, capitalization of, 20 _so far as_ to be avoided, 33 _so_ followed by negative, 33 _solemn black_ to be avoided, 50 _so long as_, use of, 33 _some_, barred as adverb, 33 prefer _somewhat_ to, 33 _somebody_, use masculine pronoun with, 27 _somewhat_ preferred to _some_, 33 _sort of_, omit article after, 38 _S O S_, punctuation of, 43 _so that_ to be avoided, 49 _sound_, use of, intransitively, 29 Sources of information, 4 _south_, _-ern_, _-erner_, capitalization of, 18 Space, triple, 7 _spectators_, meaning of, 55 Spelling, 51 Split infinitives, 29 _square_, capitalization of, 18 _Stars and Bars_, capitalization of, 19 _Stars and Stripes_, capitalization of, 19 States, abbreviations of, 42 _station_, preferred to _depot_, 25 capitalization of, 20 Statistics, use figures in, 38 vital, 50 Stevenson, Robert Louis, quoted, 6 _stocks_, capitalization of names of, 19 _stop at hotel_ to be avoided, 30 _stork_, avoid reference to, 50 _story_, prefer _item_ to, 55 _street_, capitalization of, 20 _strata_, number of, 24 _street numbers_, writing of, 38 punctuation of, 22 _sturm und drang_ to be avoided, 54 _subpena_, spelling of, 51 Subjunctive, use of, 29 _such_, use of, as pronoun, 27 _suffraget_, spelling of, 52 _suicide_, when to use, 54 _sultan_, capitalization of, 17 Sun, the New York, words barred by, 31 Superfluous words, 49 Superlatives to be avoided, 34 _supine_, meaning of, 54 _supreme court_, capitalization of, 17 Synonyms, search for, 16 in heads, 8 misuse of, 14 T _take place_, use of, 30 _technic_, spelling of, 51 _telephone_ preferred to _phone_, 25 _temperature_, how to write, 38 _terrace_, capitalization of, 20 _terrible_, meaning of, 35 _testimony_, punctuation of, 23 _Thanksgiving Day_, capitalization of, 18 _that_, barred as adverb, 33 preferred to _as_, 28 use of, 28 _the_, capitalization of, 17 _theater_, capitalization of, 17 spelling of, 52 Thesaurus, use of, 58 _these sort_ misused, 27 _things_, names of notable, capitalization of, 18 _this_ barred as adverb, 33 _thither_ to be avoided, 55 Three rules, 22 _Tibet_, spelling of, 51 _timber_, spelling of, 52 Time, how to write, 38 _tires_, spelling of, 51 Titles, capitalization of, 17 church, 49 punctuation of, 19 rules governing, 45 _to_, different, barred, 37 in infinitives, 29 things compared, 30 _today_, spelling of, 51 _toga_, misuse of, 55 _Tolstoy_, spelling of, 51 _tomorrow_, spelling of, 51 _tory_, capitalization of, 18 _totally destroyed_ to be avoided, 49 _tots_ to be avoided, 54 _toward_, spelling of, 52 _trade unions_, plural of, 51 _transpire_, meaning of, 30 _treaties_, capitalization of, 19 _triple entente_, etc., capitalization of, 19 Trite phrases, 58 _trousers_ preferred to _pants_, 55 _true facts_ to be avoided, 49 Truth, 2, 5, 14 _Turgenieff_, spelling of, 51 _turn over_ preferred to _turn turtle_, 30 Twain, Mark, quoted, 31 _tying_, spelling of, 51 U _under a signature_ preferred, 37 Underscore _u_, 7 _union_, _-ist_, capitalization of, 18 _Union Jack_, capitalization of, 19 Unit lines in heads, 9 _university_, capitalization of, 19 _unless_ preferred to _without_, 28 _unmoral_ confused with _immoral_ 52 _unsanitary_ confused with _insanitary_, 52 Untruth, 2 _upper peninsula_, etc., capitalization of, 18 _utopia_, capitalization of, 20 V _varsity_, punctuation of, 52 Verbs, in heads, 9 rules governing, 29 _very_, eschew the word, 34 _Very Rev._, use of, 48 _vice-president_, capitalization of, 17 _viceroy_, capitalization of, 17 _violinist_, avoid feminine form of, 24 Vital statistics, 50 _viz._, use of, 44 Vocabulary, broaden the, 16 _votes_, use figures for, 38 _vilify_, spelling of, 51 _vying_, spelling of, 51 W _want_ preferred to _wish_, 30 War, first three years of, 72-74 _ward_, capitalization of, 18 _war_, capitalization of, 18 _W_ in heads, 9 _wages_, number of, 55 _way_, capitalization of, 20 Way to become original, 61 _we_, _editorial_, use of, 55 Webster, Edward Harlan, quoted, 16 Webster's dictionary, 48 _wedding_ confused with _marriage_, 50 Weights and measures, 40 _weird_, use of, 35 well known, use of, 49 _west_, _-ern_, _-erner_, capitalization of, 18 _whether, or not_, 49 preferred to _if_, 28 _while_ misused for _although_, 28 preferred to _whilst_, 55 _whilst_ to be avoided, 55 _whisky_, spelling of, 51 _White House_, capitalization of, 20 _whither_ to be avoided, 55 Whitman, Walt, quoted, 4 _wholesome_ preferred to _healthful_, 35 _who_, use of, 28 _whom_, use of, 27 _widow_, use of, 50 _widow woman_ to be avoided, 49 _wife_, use of, 50, 55 _Wilkes-Barre_, spelling of, 51 Williams, Walter, quoted, 25 _wish_ preferred to _want_, 30 _with_, book illustrated, sketches, 37 things compared, 30 _without_ misused for _unless_, 28 _woman_ preferred to _lady_, 25 Women, protection of good name of, 54 Words, pictorial power of, 16 superfluous, 49 _woolly_, spelling of, 51 _world series_, spelling of, 51 X _Xmas_, prefer Christmas to, 44 Y _years_, punctuation of, 22 Your audience, 35 Transcriber's Note: Spelling, grammar and punctuation have been preserved as they appear in the original publication except as follows: Page 22 cartridges and bandages_, _changed to_ cartridges and bandages_. Page 34 thay are saying _changed to_ they are saying Page 35 care is needed is using _changed to_ care is needed in using anything else. Lurid means a _changed to_ anything else. _Lurid_ means a Page 49 general concensus of opinion _changed to_ general consensus of opinion Page 52 Pittsburg, Cleveland, Chicago _changed to_ Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago Page 54 _de rigueur_ _changed to_ _de riguer_ Page 55 call a _revolver a gun_ _changed to_ call _a revolver a gun_ Page 61 one adjective to quality it _changed to_ one adjective to qualify it Page 78 avoid euphuisms regarding _changed to_ avoid euphemisms regarding Page 80 lines, punctuatuon and capitalization _changed to_ lines, punctuation and capitalization _democrat_, _-ic._, capitalization _changed to_ _democrat_, _-ic_, capitalization Page 101 _repertory_, spelling of, 51 In the original this entry appeared between "room" and Ross. For this ebook it has been placed in alphabetical order between render and reporters 
33828	----	Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES--PART VI, NO. 37 ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNS A PRIMER OF INFORMATION ABOUT ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNS, WITH CLASSIFIED LISTS OF THOSE IN MOST COMMON USE BY FREDERICK W. HAMILTON, LL. D. EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR UNITED TYPOTHETÆ OF AMERICA [Illustration] PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA 1918 * * * * * COPYRIGHT, 1918 UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA CHICAGO, ILL. * * * * * PREFACE The use of abbreviations and signs is often a convenience and sometimes a temptation. It is a saving of time and labor which is entirely justifiable under certain conditions, one of which is that all such short cuts should be sufficiently conventional and familiar to be intelligible to any person likely to read the printed matter in which they occur. Scientific and technical signs and abbreviations are part of the nomenclature of the subject to which they belong and must be learned by students of it. General readers are not particularly concerned with them. The use of abbreviations and signs is partly a matter of office style and partly a matter of author's preference. Certain fairly well established rules have, however, emerged from the varieties of usage in vogue. An attempt has been made in the following pages to state these rules clearly and concisely and to illustrate their application. Classified lists of the most common abbreviations and signs have been inserted and will be found useful for reference and practice. Sources of further information on these points will be found under the head of Supplementary Reading. * * * * * CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 GENERAL RULES FOR THE USE OF ABBREVIATIONS 3 DATES 3 TIME 5 OTHER ABBREVIATIONS INVOLVING NUMERALS 5 GEOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS, WITH LIST 7 ABBREVIATIONS OF NAMES, WITH LIST 10 ABBREVIATIONS OF TITLES, WITH LIST 12 SIZES OF BOOKS 18 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 19 FOOTNOTES 19 SCRIPTURAL ABBREVIATIONS 23 COMMERCIAL ABBREVIATIONS 24 MISCELLANEOUS ABBREVIATIONS 25 MONETARY SIGNS 35 MATHEMATICAL SIGNS 35 MEDICAL SIGNS 36 ASTRONOMICAL SIGNS 37 ECCLESIASTICAL SIGNS 37 PROOFREADER'S SIGNS 38 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 40 SUPPLEMENTARY READING 41 REVIEW QUESTIONS 42 * * * * * {1} ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNS INTRODUCTION The use of abbreviations is as old as the use of alphabets. In inscriptions and on coins and in other places where room is limited they have always been used in order to save space. The words GUILIELMUS QUARTUS DEI GRATIA REX BRITANNIARUM FIDEI DEFENSOR would hardly go around the circumference of a sixpence, three quarters of an inch in diameter. Therefore, we find them written GUILIELMUS IIII D: G: BRITANNIAR: REX F: D: In the manuscript period abbreviations were very extensively used. This was done partly to lighten the great labor of hand copying and partly to effect a double saving of expense, in labor and in costly material. Certain of these abbreviations were in common use and perfectly intelligible. Unfortunately the copyists did not limit their abbreviations to these, but devised others for their own use much to the discomfort of their readers, especially after the lapse of centuries. The introduction of printing removed the pressing necessity for the extensive use of abbreviations, but the actual use continued much longer than one would think. The early printed books were reproductions of manuscripts. In some cases the earliest were almost forgeries, and were probably intended to be sold as manuscripts. The types were cut in imitation of the handwriting of some well-known scribe and all his mannerisms and peculiarities were faithfully copied. An incidental result was the expansion of fonts of type by the inclusion of a great number of ligatures and of characters indicating the omission or combination of letters. Habit dies hard, and even after the type founders had freed themselves from the tyranny of manuscript printers continued to follow the habits of the copyist. The saving of material and labor still continued to be considered. The {2} methods of abbreviation in use in written matter continued to be followed in print even down to the first quarter of the last century. The result of all this abbreviation was serious and well-founded complaint about the difficulty of reading books thus printed. De Vinne gives the following astonishing example, said to be taken practically at random from a Latin copy of the Logic of Ockham printed at Paris in 1488. "Sic his e fal sm qd ad simplr a e pducibile a Deo g a e silr hic a n e g a n e pducibile a Deo." These are the abbreviations for Sicut his est fallacia secundum quid ad simpliciter. A est producibile a Deo. Ergo A est. Et similiter hic. A non est. Ergo A non est producibile a Deo. The best present usage is to use abbreviations very sparingly. Certain recognized abbreviations are used under certain conditions, but generally only under constraint of limited space. * * * * * {3} RULES FOR THE USE OF ABBREVIATIONS I. GENERAL RULES. Use no contractions or abbreviations in any place where there is room to print the words in full. All legitimate words should be spelled out in full in text matter, but abbreviations are often needed in book work for footnotes and tables and in commercial work, where many brief forms and signs are used which are commonly understood and are as intelligible as words. Certain special forms of printing such as market and stock reports, sporting news, price lists, directories, telephone directories, and the like make extensive use of abbreviations and signs. These abbreviations are of very limited use and often of only temporary life. They are not intelligible to general readers and should never be used outside the particular form of composition to which they pertain. De Vinne suggests that in the absence of printed authority (many of these abbreviations not appearing in the dictionary lists) every proofreader would do well to keep a manuscript book of unlisted abbreviations which he has to use repeatedly as a means of securing uniformity of form. II. DATES. Dates are not generally abbreviated in regular text matter; _The Declaration of Independence was signed on July the fourth, 1776._ The word _the_ is sometimes omitted. The date might be written _July fourth_ but never _July four_. The abbreviations _ult._ _inst._ and _prox._ with a numeral (meaning _the 25th of last month_, _the 25th of this month_, _the 25th of next month_) are often used in letters, but should not be used in print unless the literal reproduction of a letter is intended. {4} Do not use _st_, _d_, _rd_, or _th_ after a date given in figures; _August the sixth_, not _August 6th_. The accepted abbreviations for the months are: _Jan._ _Apr._ _July_ _Oct._ _Feb._ _May_ _Aug._ _Nov._ _Mar._ _June_ _Sept._ _Dec._ The accepted abbreviations for the days of the week are: _Sun._ _Tues._ _Thurs._ _Sat._ _Mon._ _Wed._ _Fri._ The accepted abbreviations may be used for the months when the day is given, but not when the month and year alone are given; _Jan. 15, 1916_, but _January 1916_. Some good authorities prefer the order day, month, year; _15 Jan., 1916_, but this is a matter of office style. Generally speaking the more common order is the better quite regardless of the logical character because it requires less mental effort on the part of the reader. For example in writing addresses English speaking people put the number before the street, _59 Wall St._, while others put the number after the street, _Wall St., 59_. This is the logical order, because one goes to the street and then finds the number, but it gives to the American reader a curious sensation of mentally standing on one's head. There is another set of abbreviations, known as the Dewey dates, as follows: Months Days of Week _Ja._ _Apr._ _Ju._ _O._ _Su._ _W._ _S._ _F._ _My._ _Ag._ _N._ _M._ _Th._ _Mr._ _Je._ _S._ _D._ _Tu._ _F._ These may be used in tables and in other places where very great condensation is necessary, but not elsewhere. In general, much greater abbreviation is permissible in the tables, notes, and other condensed matter than in the body of the text. {5} III. TIME. Statements of time should not be abbreviated in ordinary reading matter; _at half past two o'clock in the afternoon_. If the context makes it clear whether forenoon or afternoon is meant one may write: _at three, at seven o' clock_. This form is used statistically, in enumerations, in tables, and the like. IV. OTHER ABBREVIATIONS INVOLVING THE USE OF NUMERALS. The use of numerals and the spelling of numbers in full will be found treated at length in the Printer's Manual of Style (No. 42). As the use of the numeral is in a sense an abbreviation a few general rules may properly be given here. 1. Spell out ages; _eighty-two years and four months old_. _in his eighty-third year_. _children between the ages of six and fourteen_. 2. Spell out references to decades; _in the early eighties_. The form _in the '80s_, is very objectionable. 3. Spell out numbers of centuries, of sessions of Congress, of military bodies, of political divisions, of Egyptian Dynasties, of streets, and the like unless lack of space renders the abbreviation absolutely necessary. _Twentieth century_. _Forty-second Congress_. _One hundred and first Pennsylvania Infantry_. _Eighteenth Dynasty_. _Ninth Ward_. _Fifth Avenue_. In case numerals are used, Egyptian Dynasties are always designated by Roman numerals. Writers on Egypt usually use this form: XVIII_th Dynasty_. {6} 4. Spell out sums of money when occurring in ordinary reading matter in isolated cases: _That press cost five thousand dollars._ When several such numbers occur close together, and in all statistical matter, use figures. _Those three presses cost $2,500, $3,600, and $5,000._ 5. Spell out round numbers, that is, approximate numbers in units of 100 in numbers of less than 1000 and in units of 1000 if the numbers are more. _An army corps numbers forty thousand men._ _The Fifth Corps numbers 37,462._ _There are about five hundred officers._ Write _fifteen hundred_ and the like when the phrase is in common use, not _one thousand five hundred_. 6. Spell out all numbers, no matter how high, when they begin a sentence. _Four thousand nine hundred and sixty-four soldiers, 109 officers, and 10,000 civilians were surrendered with the fort._ 7. Spell out in ordinary reading matter all numbers of less than three digits, unless they are of a statistical or technical character or occur in groups of six or more in close connection. _There are sixty cities in the United States with a population of 100,000 or over._ _a ninety-ton engine_. _five pounds of butter_. _He lived only two years, one month, and twenty days._ _He spent 137 days in prison._ _A ratio of 16 to 1_. _The death rate varies from 1 in 15 to 1 in 65._ _Send home:_ _2 pounds of butter_ _1 pound of sugar_ _½ pound of coffee_ _¼ pound of tea_ _2 pecks of potatoes_ _1 pound of salt pork_ _2 pounds of lard_ _1 quart of milk_ {7} Treat all numbers in collected groups alike if possible, that is use either the long or the short form for all. If the largest contains three or more digits use figures for all. _They came in groups of 50, 80, 100, and even 200._ 8. Express in figures as a rule decimals, degrees, dimensions, distances, enumerations, money, (but see 4 above), percentage, weights, and the like. _.542, 98°_, _9 cubic yards_, _37 miles_, _24 pages_, _$1000_, _6 per cent_ (_or 6% but never six %_), _175 pounds_. V. GEOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS. Geographical names are ordinarily not abbreviated in text matter. The abbreviations in the subjoined lists are commonly recognized and may be used in lists, bibliographical matter, and elsewhere where condensation is desired. UNITED STATES AND TERRITORIES Ala. Alabama N. D. North Dakota Alaska Alaska Neb. Nebraska Ariz. Arizona Nev. Nevada Ark. Arkansas N. H. New Hampshire Cal. California N. J. New Jersey Colo. Colorado N. M. New Mexico Conn. Connecticut N. Y. New York D. C. District of Columbia Ohio Ohio Del. Delaware Okla. Oklahoma Fla. Florida Ore. Oregon Ga. Georgia Pa. Pennsylvania H. I. Hawaiian Islands P. I. Philippine Islands Idaho Idaho P. R. Porto Rico Ill. Illinois R. I. Rhode Island Ind. Indiana Samoa Samoa Ia. Iowa S. C. South Carolina Kan. Kansas S. D. South Dakota Ky. Kentucky Tenn. Tennessee La. Louisiana Tex. Texas Me. Maine T. H. Territory of Hawaii Mass. Massachusetts Utah Utah Md. Maryland Vt. Vermont Mich. Michigan Va. Virginia Minn. Minnesota Wash. Washington Mo. Missouri Wis. Wisconsin Mont. Montana W. Va. West Virginia N. C. North Carolina Wyo. Wyoming {8} FOREIGN COUNTRIES Aus. Austria Austral. Australasia B. A. British America Br. Col. British Columbia Can. Canada C. B. Cape Breton C. W. Canada West (Ontario) Den. Denmark E. East (London Postal District) East Isl. Eastern Islands E. C. East Central (London Postal District) E. I. East Indies Eng. England, English Fin. Finland G. B. Great Britain Glas. Glasgow Ire. Ireland It. Italy Jam. Jamaica Jap. Japan L. C. Lower Canada Man. Manitoba Mex. Mexico N. North (London Postal District) N. A. North America {9} N. B. New Brunswick, North Britain N. E. New England, Northeast (London Postal District) Neth. Netherlands N. F. Newfoundland Norw. Norway N. S. Nova Scotia N. W. Northwest (London Postal District) N. Zeal. New Zealand Ont. Ontario Pal. Palestine P. D. Postal District (London) P. E. I. Prince Edward Island Per. Persia Port. Portugal Prus. Prussia Que. Quebec Russ. Russia S. South (London Postal District) S. A. South America Scot. Scotland Sc. Pen. Scandinavian Peninsula S. E. Southeast (London Postal District) Sic. Sicily S. Isl. Sandwich Islands Soc. Isl. Society Islands S. Lat. South Latitude Sp. Spain Sw. Sweden Switz. Switzerland Syr. Syria U. C. Upper Canada (Ontario) U. K. United Kingdom V. Victoria W. Welsh, West. West (London Postal District) W. C. West Central (London Postal District) W. I. West Indies W. lon. West longitude {10} VI. NAMES. 1. Abbreviate _Saint_ in names of persons, cities, streets, churches, etc. _St. John Chrysostom_, _St. Paul_, _St. Botolph Street_, _The Church of SS_ (_Saints_) _Peter and Paul_. The word _Saint_ is now omitted in speaking of the evangelists, the apostles, or the church fathers. _The Gospel according to Luke_. _Paul's doctrine of salvation_. _Augustine's_ "_City of God_." 2. In technical matter (footnotes, references etc.) use _Co._, _Bros._, and _ampersand_ (_&_) in firm names and names of corporations. _The Rand-McNalley Co._ _Macmillan & Co._ _Harper Bros._ _New York, New Haven, & Hartford Railroad_. In text matter not of a technical character it is better not to abbreviate. _Harper Brothers have published._ _It was printed by the Rand-McNalley Company._ _The romantic history of the East India Company_. Do not use _ampersand_ except with names of persons. _John Brown & Co._ _The Brown Printing and Publishing Co._ When railroad names or other long names are abbreviated, use no spaces between the letters. _N.Y.N.H. & H.R.R._ _U.T. & F.C. of A._ 3. Do not abbreviate _United States_ except: (_a_) in immediate connection with the name of an officer in the army or navy. _Capt. John Smith, U.S.A._ _Lieut. William Brown, U.S.N._ (_b_) When it is part of the name of an organization. _First Regiment, U.S.V._ {11} (_c_) When preceding the name of a ship. _U.S.S. Texas_. 4. Christian names should be spelled in full in text matter, except in an original signature or when following copy in a quotation. The following is a list of the accepted abbreviations of the more common Christian names. Alex. Alexander Fred. Frederick And. Andrew Geo. George Anth. Anthony Herbt. Herbert Ap. Appius Hos. Hosea Arch. Archibald Jas. James Aug. August, Augustus Jona. Jonathan Benj. Benjamin Jos. Joseph C. Cæsar Josh. Joshua Cæs. Aug. Cæsar Augustus Matt. Matthew Cath. Catherine Nath. Nathaniel Chas. Charles Pet. Peter Dan. Daniel Phil. Philip, Philander Eben. Ebenezer Phile. Philemon Edm. Edmund Reg. Reginald Edw. Edward Richd. Richard Eliz. Elizabeth Robt. Robert Esd. Esdras Sam. Samuel Esth. Esther Theo. Theodore Ez. Ezra Thos. Thomas Ezek. Ezekiel Tim. Timothy Ferd. Ferdinand Wm. William Fran. Francis _Alex_, _Ben_, _Ed_, _Fred_, _Sam_, and _Tom_ are not always abbreviations and copy should be followed as regards the period. Any unusual abbreviations used by an individual should be followed in giving an original signature. _G^o. Washington_. {12} VII. TITLES. 1. As a rule titles prefixed to a name should not be abbreviated except _Mr._, _Messrs._, _Mrs._ (French _M._, _MM._, _Mme._, _Mlle._), _Dr._, _Rev._, and _Hon._ _Professor_, _Colonel_, _General_ and some others may be abbreviated when the initials of the name are used; _Professor Smith_ _Prof. J. T. Smith_ _General Grant_ _Gen. U. S. Grant_ _Hon._ and _Rev._, which are similarly used, need special attention as they are often used wrongly. The following is the correct use; _The Reverend John Smith_ (formal reference) _The Rev. John Smith_ (quotation or correspondence) _Rev. Mr. Smith_ _Rev. John Smith_ _Rev. Smith_ is wrong and should never be used except as any illiterate form may be used in a quotation. When the names of sovereigns are mentioned only occasionally such names may be given in full. _George the Fifth_, _William the Second_. When such names occur frequently, as in historical writing, they may be printed with Roman numerals without a period; _George V_, _William II_ Other titles following a name are abbreviated in accordance with the following list. A.B. or B.A. (_Artium Baccalaureus_) Bachelor of Arts Abp. Archbishop A.C. Archchancellor A.D. Archduke A.D.C. Aide-de-camp Adjt. Adjutant Adm. Admiral Admr. Administrator {13} Admx., Admrx. Administratrix Adv. Advocate Agt. Agent Aldm. Alderman A.M. or M.A. (_Artium Magister_) Master of Arts Amb. Ambassador A.P.A. American Protective Association Asst. Assistant A.T. Archtreasurer Atty. Attorney B.A. or A.B. Bachelor of Arts Bart. Baronet B.C.L. Bachelor of Civil Law B.D. (_Baccalaureus Divinitatis_) Bachelor of Divinity B.LL. (_Baccalaureus Legum_) Bachelor of Laws B.M. (_Baccalaureus Medicinæ_) Bachelor of Medicine Bp. Bishop B.R. (_Banco Regis_ or _Reginæ_) The King's or Queen's Bench Brig.-Gen. Brigadier-General Bro(s). Brother(s) B.S. Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Surgery B.V. (_Beata Virgo_) Blessed Virgin Cantab. (_Cantabrigia_) Cambridge Capt. Captain Capt.-Gen. Captain-General Cash. Cashier C.B. Companion of the Bath C.C.P. Court of Common Pleas C.E. Civil Engineer C.J. Chief Justice C.M.G. Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George Col. Colonel Com. Commander, Commodore Corp. Corporal Cor. Sec. Corresponding Secretary {14} C.S. Court of Sessions C.S. (_Custos Sigilli_) Keeper of the Seal D.C.L. Doctor of Civil Law D. D. Doctor of Divinity D.D.S. Doctor of Dental Surgery Dea. Deacon Dep. Deputy D. F. Defender of the Faith D.M. Doctor of Music Dr. Doctor D.Sc. Doctor of Science D.T. (_Doctor Theologiæ_) Doctor of Divinity D.V.M or M.D.V. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine E. (_after titles_) Edinburgh Esq. Esquire F.D. (_Fidei Defensor_) Defender of the Faith F.G.S. Fellow of the Geological Society Fr. Father F.R.G.S. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society F.R.S. Fellow of the Royal Society F.R.S.A. Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts F.S.A. Fellow of the Society of Arts G.C.B. Knight of the Grand Cross of the Bath G.C.H. Knight of the Grand Cross of Hanover G.C.M.G. Knight of the Grand Cross, Order of St. Michael and St. George Gen. General Gov. Governor Govt. Government G.R. (_Georgius Rex_) King George H.B.M. His or Her Britannic Majesty H.M. His or Her Majesty H.M.S. His or Her Majesty's Service Hon. Honorable H.R. House of Representatives H.R.E. Holy Roman Emperor H.R.H. His or Her Royal Highness H.S.H. His or Her Serene Highness {15} I.N.R.I (_Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judæorum_) Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews Insp. Inspector Insp. Gen. Inspector General I.O.O.F. Independent Order of Odd Fellows J.A. Judge-Advocate J.P. Justice of the Peace J. Prob. Judge of the Probate Jr. or Jun. Junior K. King K.A. Knight of St. Andrew, in Russia K.A.N. Knight of Alexander Newski, in Russia K.B. King's Bench; Knight of the Bath K.B.A. Knight of St. Bento d'Avis, in Portugal K.B.E. Knight of the Black Eagle, in Prussia K.C. Knight of the Crescent, in Turkey; King's Council K.C.B. Knight Commander of the Bath K.C.H. Knight Commander of Hanover K.C.M.G. Knight Commander, Order of St. Michael and St. George K.C.S. Knight of Charles III, in Spain K.E. Knight of the Elephant, in Denmark K.F. Knight of Ferdinand of Spain K.F.M. Knight of Ferdinand and Merit, in Sicily K.G. Knight of the Garter K.G.C. Knight of the Grand Cross K.G.C.B. Knight of the Grand Cross of the Bath K.G.F Knight of the Golden Fleece K.G.H. Knight of the Guelph of Hanover K.G.V. Knight of Gustavus Vasa of Sweden K.H. Knight of Hanover K.J. Knight of St. Joachim K.L.H. Knight of the Legion of Honor K.M. Knight of Malta K. Mess. King's Messenger K.M.H. Knight of Merit, in Holstein K.M.J. Knight of Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria K.M.T. Knight of Maria Theresa of Austria {16} K.N.S. Knight of the Royal North Star, in Sweden K.P. Knight of St. Patrick K.R.E. Knight of the Red Eagle, in Prussia K.S. Knight of the Sword, in Sweden K.S.A. Knight of St. Anne of Russia K.S.E. Knight of St. Esprit, in France K.S.F. Knight of St. Fernando of Spain K.S.F.M. Knight of St. Ferdinand and Merit, in Naples K.S.G. Knight of St. George of Russia K.S.H. Knight of St. Hubert of Bavaria K.S.J. Knight of St. Januarius of Naples K.S.L. Knight of the Sun and Lion, in Persia K.S.M. & S.G. Knight of St. Michael and St. George, in the Ionian Isles K.S.P. Knight of St. Stanislaus of Poland K.S.S. Knight of the Southern Star of the Brazils, Knight of the Sword, in Sweden K.S.W. Knight of St. Wladimir of Russia Kt. Knight K.T. Knight of the Thistle K.T.S. Knight of the Tower and Sword, in Portugal K.W. Knight of William of the Netherlands K.W.E. Knight of the White Eagle, in Poland L. (_after titles_) London L.C. Lord Chancellor L.C.J. Lord Chief Justice Leg. Legate Legis. Legislature Lieut. Lieutenant Lieut.-Col. Lieutenant-Colonel Lieut.-Gen. Lieutenant-General Litt. D. (_Litterarum Doctor_) Doctor of Literature LL.B. (_Legum Baccalaureus_) Bachelor of Laws LL.D. (_Legum Doctor_) Doctor of Laws M. Monsieur M.A. Master of Arts Maj. Major {17} Maj.-Gen. Major-General M.B. (_Medicinæ Baccalaureus_) Bachelor of Medicine; (_Musicæ Baccalaureus_) Bachelor of Music M. C. Member of Congress M. D. (_Medicinæ Doctor_) Doctor of Medicine Messrs. Messieurs Mgr. Manager; Monsignor Min. Plen. Minister Plenipotentiary Mlle. Mademoiselle Mme. Madame M.P. Member of Parliament M.R. Master of the Rolls Mr. Mister or Master Mrs. Mistress Mus. Doc. Doctor of Music Oxon. (_Oxoniensis_) Oxford P.C. (_Patres Conscripti_, Conscript Fathers) Senators; Privy Counsellor Ph. D. Doctor of Philosophy Ph. G. Graduate in Pharmacy P.M. Postmaster P.M.G. Postmaster-General P.R.A. President of the Royal Academy Pres. President Prov. Provost P.R.S. President of the Royal Society Q. Queen Q.M. Quartermaster R.A. Royal Academician R.E. Royal Engineers Reg. Prof. Regius Professor Rev. Reverend R.M. Royal Marines R.N. Royal Navy R.N.O. (_Riddare of Nordstjerneorden_) Knight of the Order of Polar Star R.S.S. (_Regiæ Societatis Socius_) Fellow of the Royal Society {18} Rt. Hon. Right Honorable Rt. Rev. Right Reverend Rt. Wpful. Right Worshipful R.W. Right Worthy R.W.O. (_Riddare of Wasa Order_) Knight of the Order of Wasa Sec. Secretary Sec. Leg. Secretary of Legation Serg. Sergeant Serg.-Maj. Sergeant-Major S.J. Society of Jesus S.J.C. Supreme Judicial Court Sol. Solicitor Sol. Gen. Solicitor-General Sr., Sen. Senior S.R.S. (_Societatis Regiæ Socius_) Fellow of the Royal Society S.T.D. (_Sacræ Theologiæ Doctor_) Doctor of Divinity S.T.P. (_Sacræ Theologiæ Professor_) Professor of Divinity St. Saint, Street Supt. Superintendent Tr(s). Trustee(s) Treas. Treasurer U.J.C. (_Utriusque Juris Doctor_) Doctor of both Laws V.C. Vice-Chancellor V.D.M. (_Verbi Dei Minister_) Preacher of the Word Vice-Pres. Vice-President Visc. Viscount W.S. Writer to the Signet VIII. SIZES OF BOOKS. The shorter names for book sizes are usually written out; _folio_, _quarto_, _octavo_. Beyond that they are usually abbreviated by using the Arabic numeral and _mo_, but without a period; _12 mo_, _16 mo_, etc. {19} IX. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Abbreviate the common designations of weights and measures in the metric system, as well as other symbols of measurement in common use when following a numeral; _1 m._, _5 dm._, _4 cm._, _2 mm._, _c.m._ (_cubic meter_), _c.d._, _min._ (_minute_), _sec._ (_second_), _lb._ (_pound_), _oz._ (_ounce_), _yd._, _ft._, _in._, _A._ (_Anglestrom units_), _H.P._ (_Horse power_), _C._ (_Centigrade_ [_Thermometer_]). X. FOOTNOTES. Authorities cited in footnotes should be specified in the following order: 1. The best known name of the author. Give initials only when necessary to distinguish between several authors of the same name. Set in roman lower-case unless otherwise ordered. 2. The name of the book in roman lower-case. If there is a Bibliography, or list of authorities attached to the book the names of all works referred to should there appear in full, but should be abbreviated in the notes. Otherwise, the name is sometimes written in full the first time it is referred to in a footnote and afterward abbreviated. If the book has but few references to authorities the names may be given in full in the footnotes especially when the reference is to the book as a whole and not to a particular paragraph. In such a case as this last the name is often printed in italics. Always abbreviate uniformly in the same book. 3. The number of the volume in roman numerals of capital letters. No period. 4. The numbers of the pages in Arabic figures. If there are several editions varying in subject matter and paging the edition used should be specified. If the edition has been specified in the Bibliography this information should not be repeated in the footnotes. {20} In books like the Bible, Shakespeare, Blackstone, or Milton, which have been printed in innumerable editions book, chapter and verse; act, scene and line; section and paragraph, or canto, stanza, and line must be specified. Number of paragraph only No. 68 Stanza only st. 18 Page only P. 213 Line only l. 384 Paragraph only ¶ 34 Section only § 5 Chapter only } xiv Canto only } Book only iii Book and chapter } Part and chapter } iii 2 Book and line } Act and scene } Act, scene, and line iv. 3. 45 Chapter and verse } Number and page } II 34 Volume and page } Volume and chapter IV. iv. Part, book, and chapter } II. iv. 12 Part, canto, and stanza } Chapter, section, paragraph vii. § 3, ¶ 4 Volume, part, section, paragraph } I. i. § 2, ¶ 6 Book, chapter, section, paragraph } In abbreviated references to the Bible or to the plays of Shakespeare use Arabic figures prefixed to the name to indicate part of succession of the book, play, or letter. 2 Kings II: 5 3 John 11 1 Henry VI, iii. 2. 14 {21} The following excellently chosen illustrations of good methods in handling numerous footnotes in learned works are taken from De Vinne's "Correct Composition." _From English Past and Present, by R. C. Trench_ ^1 Guest, Hist. of English Rhythms, vol. I. p. 280. ^2 Hooker, Eccles. Pol. i. 3, 5. ^3 Craik, On the English of Shakespeare, 2nd edit. p. 97. ^4 Marsh, Manual of the English Language, Engl. edit. p. 278. _From Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Murray's edition of 1881 (8 vols. 8 vo)_ ^1 Orosius, I. ii. c. 19, p. 143. ^2 Heineccius, Antiquitat. Juris Roman, tom. i, p. 96. ^3 Jornandes, de Reb. Get. c. 30, p. 654 [p. 87, ed. Lugd. B. 1597]. ^4 Ausonius (de Claris Urbibus. p. 257-262 [No. 14]). ^5 A. Thierry, Lettres sur l'Histoire de France, p. 90. ^6 Procopius, de Bell. Vanda., I. i. c. 7, p. 194 [tom. I. p. 341, ed. Bonn]. _From Hume's History of England, Cadell's edition of 1841 (6 vols. 8 vo)_ ^1 Herbert, p. 431, 432. ^4 Burnet, p. 322. ^2 Collier, vol. ii. p. 176. ^5 34 and 35 Hen. VIII. c. i. ^3 Stowe, p. 575. ^6 Mémoires du Bellay, lib. x. The comma is often omitted after the period in footnotes. The abbreviation _ch_, _p_, and _pp_, may be made in notes, but not in text matter. In lower-case text do not use _&c_, use _etc._ By-laws are often printed with side-headings _Art. 1_, _Sec. 2_, _etc._ It is better to print the words, _article_ and _section_ in full in the paragraph where they first appear and to omit the word in subsequent paragraphs, using the proper figure only. Figures used in illustrations to facilitate their understanding and explained in small text below the illustration or in the text matter itself do not have No. before them either in the illustration or in the explanation. {22} Figures and letters used as references to footnotes do not take a period. Where two or more pages are specified in the text set them thus: _Pages 24, 25, 57_ not _pp. 24-5, 57_ nor _25-57_. When the reference is to several pages continually set _pages 24 to 32_. When a period of time is expressed by the dates of two or more consecutive years, set thus: _1846-7_, _1861-5_, when there is a lapse of a year or more, set thus: _1866-7-1869-70_. Do not abbreviate into _'66-'7-'69-'70_. * * * * * {23} LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS The following lists of abbreviations will be found useful. SCRIPTURAL ABBREVIATIONS Old Testament (O.T.) Gen. Esth. Joel Exod. Job Amos Lev. Ps. (Pss.) Obad. Num. Prov. Jonah Deut. Eccles. Mic. Josh. Song of Sol. Nah. Judg. (or Cant.) Hab. Ruth Isa. Zeph. I and II Sam. Jer. Hag. I and II Kings Lam. Zech. I and II Chron. Ezek. Mal. Ezra Dan. Neh. Hos. New Testament (N.T.) Matt. Gal. Philem. Mark Eph. Heb. Luke Phil. Jas. John Col. I and II Pet. Acts I and II Thess. I, II and III John Rom. I and II Tim. Jude I and II Cor. Titus Rev. Apocrypha I and II Esd. Eccles. Bel and Dragon Tob. Bar. Pr. of Man Jud. Song of Three I, II, III and IV Rest of Esther Children Macc. Wisd. of Sol. Sus. {24} COMMERCIAL ABBREVIATIONS A1 Highest class or grade Acct. Account Advt., Ad. Advertisement Agt. Agent Amt. Amount Anon. Anonymous Ans. Answer Art. Article Av., Ave. Avenue Bal. Balance Bd. Bound Bdl. Bundle Bds. Boards Bldg. Building B.O. Buyer's Option Bro(s). Brother; Brothers Chap. Chapter C.I.F. Cost, insurance, freight Co. Company C.O.D. Cash on delivery Cr. Creditor Dept. Department Do. Ditto, the same Dr. Debtor E.E. Errors excepted E.O.D. Every other day E. & O.E. Errors and omissions excepted Etc. (_Et cætera_) and so forth Ex., Exch. Exchange Exp. Express Fgt. Freight F.O.B. Free on Board H. Hour H.P. Half pay, horse power Incor. Incorporated Ins. Insurance K.D. Knock down (_of furniture, etc._) {25} L.P. Large Paper Memo. Memorandum Mfg. Manufacturing Mfr. Manufacturer Min. Minute No. (_numero_) number O.K. All right Payt. Payment Pd. Paid Per an. (_Per annum_) by the year Per cent (_Per centum_) by the hundred Pkg. Package Pl. Plate, plates Pref. Preface Rd. Road Rem. Remarks Rep. Reports R.R. Railroad Ry. Railway Ser. Series Sq. Square S.S. Steamship, steamer T.F. Till forbidden MISCELLANEOUS ABBREVIATIONS A.C. (_Ante Christum_) before Christ A.D. (_Anno Domini_) in the year of our Lord Ad lib. (_Ad libitum_) at pleasure Adj. Adjective Adv. Adverb Æt (_Ætatis_) of age, aged A.H. (_Anno Hegiræ_) in the year of the Hegira Alt. Altitude A.M. (_Anno Mundi_) in the year of the world An. (_Anno_) in the year {26} An. A. C. (_Anno ante Christum_) in the year before Christ Anat. Anatomy Anc. Ancient Ang.-Sax. Anglo-Saxon Anom. Anomalous Anon. Anonymous Ap. Apostle Apo. Apogee Apoc. Apocalypse, Apocrypha A.R. (_Anno regni_) in the year of the reign Arch. Architecture A.R.R. (_Anno regni regis_) in the year of the reign of the king Arr. Arrival Art. Article Assoc., Assn. Association Astrol. Astrology Astron. Astronomy A.U.C. (_Anno urbis Conditæ_) in the year of the building of the city of Rome Auth. Ver. } Authorized Version of the Bible or A.V. } Av. Average Ave. Avenue B. (_Basso_) Bass; bay; born B.C. Before Christ Boul. Boulevard B.V. (_Bene Vale_) Farewell C. Cape Cæt. par. (_Cæteris paribus_) other things being equal Cap. (_caput_) Chapter C. or Cent. Centigrade Cf. (_conferre_) compare Ch. Child or children C.H. Court House Chap. Chapter {27} Circ. Circle(s) Cit. Citizen Col. Column Coll. College Comp. Companion, comparative Cong. Congress C.Q.D. Marconi Distress signal D.B. Domesday Book D.C. (_Da Capo_) From the beginning; again Dec. Declination Deg. Degree(s) Del. (_Delineavit_) he drew it Dem. Democrat D.G. (_Dei gratia_) by the grace of God; (_Deo gratias_) thanks to God D.V. (_Deo volente_) God willing E. East, Eagle(s) Ea. Each E.B. English Bible (common) Ed. Editor, Edition E.E. Errors excepted E.G. (_Exempli gratia_) by way of example Elec. Electricity E.N.E. East-northeast Ent. Entomology E.S.E. East-southeast Etal. (_Et alibi_) and elsewhere; (_et alii_) and others Etc. (_Et cætera_) and so forth Et seq. (_Et sequentia_) the following Ex. Example Exc. Exception F., Fahr. Fahrenheit (thermometer) Fec. (_Fecit_) he made it Fem. or f. Feminine Fig(s). Figure(s) Finn. Finnish {28} Fol. or f., ff. Folio(s) For. Foreign Ft. Fort Gent. Gentleman Ger. German Goth. Gothic Gr. Greek H. Husband Hdkf. Handkerchief H.e. (_Hoc est_) that is, or, this is Hist. History, Historical H.J.S. (_Hic jacet sepultus_) here lies buried H.M.P. (_Hoc monumentum posuit_) erected this monument H.R.I.P. (_Hic requiescit in pace_) here lies in peace H.S. (_Hic situs_) here lies Ibid. Ib. (_Ibidem_) in the same place Id. (_Idem_) the same I.e. (_Id est_) that is I.H.S. First letters of [Greek: IÊSOUS], Greek for _Jesus_, or _Iesus hominum salvator_, Jesus the Savior of Mankind Illus. Illustrated Imp. Imperative (mood) Incog. (_Incognito_) Unknown Indef. Indefinite Indic. Indicative (mood) Infin. Infinitive (mood) In lim. (_In limine_) at the outset In loc. (_In loco_) in the place Inst. (_instante_) the current month Int. Interest Interj. Interjection In trans. (_In transit_) On the passage Ion. Ionic Ir. Irish Irreg. Irregular {29} Isl. Island Ital. Italic Itin. Itinerary J.H.S. See I.H.S. Jour. Journal Lat. Latin, latitude L.c. (_Loco citato_) in the place cited L.l. (_Loco laudato_) in the place quoted Long. or long. Longitude L.S. (_Locus sigilli_) place of the seal LXX The Septuagint M. (_Meridies_) noon M. Married Mem. Memorandum, Memoranda Mgr. Manager Misc. Miscellaneous Mo(s). Month, months M.S. (_Memoriæ sacrum_) sacred to the memory MS. (_Manuscriptum_) manuscript MSS. Manuscripts Mt. Mount, Mont Myth. Mythology N. Noun, note(s) Nat. National Naut. Nautical N.B. (_Nota Bene_) note well Nem. con or } (_Nemine contradicente_ or _nemine dissentiente_) none nem. diss. } opposing N.L. (_Non liquet_) It does not appear N. lat. North latitude N.N.E. North-northeast N.N.W. North-northwest Nom. Nominative Nol. Pros. (_Nol prosequi_) indicates in law that a complaint will not be prosecuted N.S. New Style (After 1752) N.T. New Testament {30} N.u. Name(s) unknown N.V.M. Nativity of the Virgin Mary N.W. Northwest Ob. (_Obiit_) he or she died Obj. Objective (case) Obs. Obsolete O.F. Odd Fellow(s) O.H.M.S. On His Majesty's Service Olym. Olympiad Op. Opposite O.S. Old Style (before 1752) O.T. Old Testament P. or pp. Page or pages Par. Paragraph Par. pas. Parallel passage(s) Parl. Parliament Part. Participle Partic. Particle Pass. Passive (voice) Pen. Peninsula Pent. Pentecost Perf. Perfect (tense) Pers. Person Pers. pron. Personal pronoun Persp. Perspective Phil. Philosophy Pinx. (_Pinxit_) he painted it Pl. Plate(s) Plff. Plaintiff Plup. Pluperfect Plur. Plural P.M. (_Post Meridiem_) afternoon to midnight P.O. Post-office Pop. Population Posit. Positive P.p. Past participle P.P.C. (_Pour prendre congé_) to take leave {31} P. pr. Participle present P.R. (_Populus Romanus_) the Roman people Pref. Preface Pret. Preterite tense Pron. Pronoun Pro tem. (_Pro tempore_) for the time being Pr. p. Present participle P.S. Privy Seal P.T.O. Please turn over Pt. Point Pub. Publisher Pub. Doc. Public Documents Q. Question Q.B. Queen's Bench Q.C. Queen's College, Queen's Council Q.d. (_Quasi dicat_) as if he should say; (_Quasi dictum_) as if said; (_Quasi dixisset_) as if he had said Q.E. (_Quod est_) which is Q.E.D. (_Quod erat demonstrandum_) which was to be proved Q.E.F. (_Quod erat faciendum_) which was to be done Q.l. (_Quantum libet_) as much as you please Q. Mess. Queen's Messenger Qm. (_Quomodo_) by what means, how Q.p. or q. pl. (_Quantum placet_) as much as you please Qr. Quarter Q.S. (_Quantum sufficit_) a sufficient quantity Q.v. (_Quantum vis_) as much as you will Q.v. (_Quod vide_) which see Qy. Query R., Reaum. Reaumur (_thermometer_) R.A. Royal Academy; Royal Academician; Royal Artillery R.E. Royal Engineers Recd. Received Rect. Rector {32} Ref. Reformation, reformed Ref. Ch. Reformed Church Ref. Reference Regr. Registrar Regt. Regiment Rel. pron. Relative pronoun Rep. Representative Repub. Republican R.M. Royal Marines R.N. Royal Navy Ro. (_Recto_) Right-hand page Rom. Cath. Roman Catholic R.P. (_Res Publica_) Republic Ru. Runic S. Solo (_In Italian Music_); South S. SS. Section(s), Saint(s) S.a. (_Secundum artem_) According to Art Sax. Saxon S.C. (_Senatus Consultum_) A decree of the Senate S.C. (_In Law_) same case Sch. Schooner(s) Schol. (_Scholium_) a note Sci. Science Sculp. (_Sculpsit_) he engraved S.E. Southeast Sen. Senate, Senator Seq. or sq. (_Sequente_) and in what follows Seqq. or sqq. (_Sequentibus_) and in the following (places) Ser. Series Shak. Shakespeare Sing. Singular (number) S.J.C. Supreme Judicial Court S. lat. South latitude S.O.S. Marconi Distress Signal S.P. (_Sine prole_) without issue Sp. gr. Specific gravity {33} S.P.Q.R. (_Senatus Populusque Romanus_) the Senate and the Roman people S.R.I. (_Sacrum Romanum Imperium_) The Holy Roman Empire S.R.S. (_Societatis Regiæ Socius_) Fellow of the Royal Society S.S. Sunday School S.S.E. South-southeast S.S.W. South-southwest St. Saint, Street Stat. Statute(s) Ster. Sterling Subj. Subjunctive Subst. Substantive Su.-Goth. Suio-Gothic Super. Superfine Superl. Superlative S.W. Southwest T. Tenor (_in music_); (_Tutti_) the whole orchestra after a solo Ter. Territory Term. Termination Theor. Theorem Tr. Translator, transpose Um. Unmarried Univ. University U.S.A. United States Army U.S.M. United States Mail U.S.N. United States Navy U.S.S. United States Ship U.s. (_Ut supra_) as above Vat. Vatican V.a. Verb active V. aux. Verb auxiliary V. def. Verb defective V. dep. Verb deponent Ven. Venerable {34} V.g. (_Verbi gratia_) for example V. imp. Verb impersonal V. in. Verb intransitive V. irr. Verb irregular V.n. Verb neuter Vo. (_verso_) left-hand page Voc. Vocative Vol. Volume V.r. Verb reflexive V. tr. Verb transitive V. Vulgate (Version) W. West, wife W. lon. West longitude W.N.W. West-northwest W.S.W. West-southwest Xmas Christmas Zool. Zoology * * * * * {35} SIGNS In addition to the abbreviations, strictly so called, there are many signs used in various kinds of composition. The most common are included in the following lists. MONETARY SIGNS $ Dollar or dollars cts. Cents Gn. Guinea £ (_English_) Pound or pounds / or s Shilling or shillings d. (_Denarius_) penny or pence fr. Franc or francs c. (_French_) Centime or centimes m. (_German_) Mark or marks Pf. (_German_) Pfennig or pfennigs cr. (_Austrian_) Crown or crowns hr. (_Austrian_) Heller or hellers rub. (_Russian_) Ruble or rubles kop. (_Russian_) Kopec or kopecs kr. (_Danish_) Crown or crowns öro, öre Oro or öre £ (_Italian_) Lira or lire c. (_Italian_) Centesimo or centesimi MATHEMATICAL SIGNS + Plus - Minus ± Plus or minus [**] Minus or plus × Multiplied by {36} ÷ Divided by = Equal to [**] Not equal to [**] Identical with [**] Congruent to > Greater than < Less than [**] The difference between [**] Is equivalent to : and :: Proportion [**] Varies as [**] Approaches as a limit [**] Infinity [**] Therefore [**] Because . . . Continuation [**] The radical sign [**] Perpendicular to [**] Parallel [**] Arc of circle [**] Degree of circle [**] Minute of circle [**] Second of circle [**] Angle [**] Right angle [**] Square [**] Rectangle [**] Triangle MEDICAL SIGNS ãã (_ava_) of each [**] (_Recipe_) take [**], [**]i Ounce, one ounce [**]ss Half an ounce [**]iss One ounce and a half [**]ij Two ounces [**] Drachm [**] Scruple O (_Octarius_) Pint [**] Fluid ounce [**] Fluid Drachm _m_ Minim or drop {37} ASTRONOMICAL SIGNS Planets [**] Sun [**] Earth [**] Saturn [**] Mercury [**] Mars [**] Uranus [**] Venus [**] Jupiter [**] Neptune Phases [**] New moon [**] first quarter [**] full moon [**] last quarter Zodiacal [**] Aries, the ram [**] Libra, the scales [**] Taurus, the bull [**] Scorpio, scorpion [**] Gemini, the twins [**] Sagittarius, archer [**] Cancer, the crab [**] Capricornus, goat [**] Leo, the lion [**] Aquarius, waterman [**] Virgo, the virgin [**] Pisces, the fishes Aspects and Nodes [**] Conjunction [**] opposition [**] Quadrature [**] or [**] quintile [**] Ascending node [**] sextile [**] Descending node [**] trine ECCLESIASTICAL SIGNS [**] The Maltese cross is used before their signatures by certain dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church. It is also used in the service-books of that church to notify the reader when to make the sign of the cross. The ordinary reference mark [dagger] (the dagger) should not be used as a substitute. [**] Response in service-books. The apothecaries' sign [**] is not an entirely acceptable substitute. [**] Versicle in service-books. [**] indicates the words intoned by the celebrant. {38} PROOFREADER'S SIGNS No ¶ No new paragraph. Run in Let there be no break in the reading. ¶ Make a new paragraph. [**] Correct uneven spacing of words. [**] Strike out the marked type, word, or sentence. [**] Reverse this type. # More space where caret is marked, [**] Contract the spacing. [**] Take out all spacing. [ Move this to the left. ] Move this to the right. [**] Raise this line or letter. [**] Depress this line or letter. || Make parallel at the side with other lines. [**] Indent line an em. [**] Push down a space that blackens the proof. x Change this bruised type. w.f. Change this faulty type of wrong font. tr. Transpose words or letters underlined. l.c. Put in lower-case, or small letters. s.c. Put in small capitals. caps. Put in capitals. [**] Insert apostrophe. Superior characters are put over an inverted caret, as, [**] [**] etc.; for inferior characters the caret is put in its usual position, as in [**]. rom. Change from italic to roman. ital. Change from roman to italic. [**] Insert period. ,/ Insert comma. ;/ Insert semicolon. :/ Insert colon. =/ Insert hyphen. /--/ One-em dash. /-²-/ Two-em dash. [**] Take out cancelled character and close up. {39} Qu. or? Is this right? See to it. ^ Insert letter or word marked in margin. |||| Hair-space letters as marked. Stet Restore crossed-out word or letter. . . . . Dots put below the crossed word mean: Cancel the correction first made, and let the types stand as they were. [**] Over two or three letters. Change for the diphthong or for a logotype, as _æ_, _ffi_. [**] Straighten lines. ///// Diagonal lines crossing the text indicate that the composition is out of square. Out, see Copy Here is an omission; see copy. Corrections or textual improvements suggested to the author should be accompanied by the interrogation-point and be enclosed in parentheses or "ringed." Corrections should always be made in the margin, and never in the text: faults in the types or text to be indicated only by light pen marks. * * * * * {40} GENERAL OBSERVATIONS There are many other signs and abbreviations used in works on the various sciences. Approved modern text-books are the only safe guides to the proper use of these. In printing dialect, slang, and colloquialisms the only general rule is to follow copy. Such abbreviations as _I've_, _you'll_, _'t'was_, _'t'is n't_, and the like are more clearly expressed when a thin space is put between the words. Old Style contractions should follow the original even if special sorts have to be obtained for the purpose. Abbreviations like _dept_, _dep't_, _gov't_, _sec_, _sec'y_, _sect'y_, _pres't_, and _treas._ are indefensible. Even in letter heads and the like it is better to spell out the words in two lines. * * * * * {41} SUPPLEMENTARY READING Correct Composition. By Theodore Low De Vinne. Oswald Publishing Co., New York. The Writer's Desk Book. By William Dana Orcutt. The list of abbreviations and signs in many of the principal dictionaries may be studied with profit. Scientific text-books may be profitably used to study the abbreviations and signs used in mathematics and the sciences. * * * * * {42} QUESTIONS 1. How and why were abbreviations used before typography? 2. How did the early printers use abbreviations? 3. What is the best usage with regard to abbreviations? 4. What is the general rule for the use of abbreviations? 5. What is the difference in usage between book work and some other kinds of printing? 6. What use of abbreviations do we find in certain special work and what may be done to make their use easier? 7. What are the rules for the use of abbreviations in dates? 8. What are the common abbreviations for the names of the months and the days of the week? 9. Give the Dewey dates. 10. What is the rule for ages? 11. How do we treat references to decades? 12. How do we treat numbers of centuries and the like? 13. What is the rule for sums of money? 14. What is the rule for round numbers? 15. How do we treat numbers when they begin a sentence? 16. What is the rule about numbers of less than three digits? 17. What classes of numbers are ordinarily expressed in figures? 18. What is the usage with regard to geographical names? 19. What are the rules for names? 20. What is the usage in printing titles? 21. How do we treat names of book sizes? 22. How do we treat weights and measures? 23. Give the order of specification in footnotes. 24. Where is &c not used? 25. How are by-laws treated? {43} 26. How are figures used with illustrations? 27. What is said of the use of the period in footnotes? 28. How do we treat page references in the text? 29. How do we treat references to series of years? 30. How do we print dialect, slang, and the like? 31. How do we print such abbreviations as _I've_, _you've_, and the like? 32. What is said of certain improper abbreviations and how to avoid them? The teacher should give frequent drills in the application of these rules. Sentences containing matter which involves the use of abbreviations and signs should be given out orally and the pupil required to write them out and set them up. The pupil should be required to explain by reference to the rules the use and the omission of abbreviations and the work should be criticised by the class or by the instructor with reference to the rules. * * * * * {i} TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES The following list of publications, comprising the TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES, has been prepared under the supervision of the Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America for use in trade classes, in course of printing instruction, and by individuals. Each publication has been compiled by a competent author or group of authors, and carefully edited, the purpose being to provide the printers of the United States--employers, journeymen, and apprentices--with a comprehensive series of handy and inexpensive compendiums of reliable, up-to-date information upon the various branches and specialties of the printing craft, all arranged in orderly fashion for progressive study. The publications of the series are of uniform size, 5 × 8 inches. Their general make-up, in typography, illustrations, etc., has been, as far as practicable, kept in harmony throughout. A brief synopsis of the particular contents and other chief features of each volume will be found under each title in the following list. Each topic is treated in a concise manner, the aim being to embody in each publication as completely as possible all the rudimentary information and essential facts necessary to an understanding of the subject. Care has been taken to make all statements accurate and clear, with the purpose of bringing essential information within the understanding of beginners in the different fields of study. Wherever practicable, simple and well-defined drawings and illustrations have been used to assist in giving additional clearness to the text. In order that the pamphlets may be of the greatest possible help for use in trade-school classes and for self-instruction, each title is accompanied by a list of Review Questions covering essential items of the subject matter. A short Glossary of technical terms belonging to the subject or department treated is also added to many of the books. These are the Official Text-books of the United Typothetae of America. Address all orders and inquiries to COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U. S. A. {ii} PART I--_Types, Tools, Machines, and Materials_ 1. TYPE: A PRIMER OF INFORMATION By A. A. Stewart Relating to the mechanical features of printing types; their sizes, font schemes, etc., with a brief description of their manufacture. 44 pp.; illustrated; 74 review questions; glossary. 2. COMPOSITORS' TOOLS AND MATERIALS By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about composing sticks, galleys, leads, brass rules, cutting and mitering machines, etc. 47 pp.; illustrated; 50 review questions; glossary. 3. TYPE CASES, COMPOSING ROOM FURNITURE By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about type cases, work stands, cabinets, case racks, galley racks, standing galleys, etc. 43 pp.; illustrated; 33 review questions; glossary. 4. IMPOSING TABLES AND LOCK-UP APPLIANCES By A. A. Stewart Describing the tools and materials used in locking up forms for the press, including some modern utilities for special purposes. 59 pp.; illustrated; 70 review questions; glossary. 5. PROOF PRESSES By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about the customary methods and machines for taking printers' proofs. 40 pp.; illustrated; 41 review questions; glossary. 6. PLATEN PRINTING PRESSES By Daniel Baker A primer of information regarding the history and mechanical construction of platen printing presses, from the original hand press to the modern job press, to which is added a chapter on automatic presses of small size. 51 pp.; illustrated; 49 review questions; glossary. 7. CYLINDER PRINTING PRESSES By Herbert L. Baker Being a study of the mechanism and operation of the principal types of cylinder printing machines. 64 pp.; illustrated; 47 review questions; glossary. 8. MECHANICAL FEEDERS AND FOLDERS By William E. Spurrier The history and operation of modern feeding and folding machines; with hints on their care and adjustments. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 9. POWER FOR MACHINERY IN PRINTING HOUSES By Carl F. Scott A treatise on the methods of applying power to printing presses and allied machinery with particular reference to electric drive. 53 pp.; illustrated; 69 review questions; glossary. 10. PAPER CUTTING MACHINES By Niel Gray, Jr. A primer of information about paper and card trimmers, hand-lever cutters, power cutters, and other automatic machines for cutting paper. 70 pp.; illustrated; 115 review questions; glossary. 11. PRINTERS' ROLLERS By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about the composition, manufacture, and care of inking rollers. 46 pp.; illustrated; 61 review questions; glossary. 12. PRINTING INKS By Philip Ruxton Their composition, properties and manufacture (reprinted by permission from Circular No. 53, United States Bureau of Standards); together with some helpful suggestions about the everyday use of printing inks by Philip Ruxton. 80 pp.; 100 review questions; glossary. {iii} 13. HOW PAPER IS MADE By William Bond Wheelwright A primer of information about the materials and processes of manufacturing paper for printing and writing. 68 pp.; illustrated; 62 review questions; glossary. 14. RELIEF ENGRAVINGS By Joseph P. Donovan Brief history and non-technical description of modern methods of engraving; woodcut, zinc plate, halftone; kind of copy for reproduction; things to remember when ordering engravings. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 15. ELECTROTYPING AND STEROTYPING By Harris B. Hatch and A. A. Stewart A primer of information about the processes of electrotyping and stereotyping. 94 pp.; illustrated; 129 review questions; glossaries. PART II--_Hand and Machine Composition_ 16. TYPESETTING By A. A. Stewart A handbook for beginners, giving information about justifying, spacing, correcting, and other matters relating to typesetting. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 17. PRINTERS' PROOFS By A. A. Stewart The methods by which they are made, marked, and corrected, with observations on proofreading. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 18. FIRST STEPS IN JOB COMPOSITION By Camille DeVéze Suggestions for the apprentice compositor in setting his first jobs, especially about the important little things which go to make good display in typography. 63 pp.; examples; 55 review questions; glossary. 19. GENERAL JOB COMPOSITION How the job compositor handles business stationery, programs and miscellaneous work. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 20. BOOK COMPOSITION By J. W. Bothwell Chapters from DeVinne's "Modern Methods of Book Composition," revised and arranged for this series of text-books by J. W. Bothwell of The DeVinne Press, New York. Part I: Composition of pages. Part II: Imposition of pages. 229 pp.; illustrated; 525 review questions; glossary. 21. TABULAR COMPOSITION By Robert Seaver A study of the elementary forms of table composition, with examples of more difficult composition. 36 pp.; examples; 45 review questions. 22. APPLIED ARITHMETIC By E. E. Sheldon Elementary arithmetic applied to problems of the printing trade, calculation of materials, paper weights and sizes, with standard tables and rules for computation, each subject amplified with examples and exercises. 159 pp. 23. TYPECASTING AND COMPOSING MACHINES A. W. Finlay, Editor Section I--The Linotype By L. A. Hornstein Section II--The Monotype By Joseph Hays Section III--The Intertype By Henry W. Cozzens Section IV--Other Typecasting and Typesetting By Frank H. Smith Machines A brief history of typesetting machines, with descriptions of their mechanical principles and operations. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. {iv} PART III--_Imposition and Stonework_ 24. LOCKING FORMS FOR THE JOB PRESS By Frank S. Henry Things the apprentice should know about locking up small forms, and about general work on the stone. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 25. PREPARING FORMS FOR THE CYLINDER PRESS By Frank S. Henry Pamphlet and catalog imposition; margins; fold marks, etc. Methods of handling type forms and electrotype forms. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. PART IV--_Presswork_ 26. MAKING READY ON PLATEN PRESSES By T. G. McGrew The essential parts of a press and their functions; distinctive features of commonly used machines. Preparing the tympan, regulating the impression, underlaying and overlaying, setting gauges, and other details explained. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 27. CYLINDER PRESSWORK By T. G. McGrew Preparing the press; adjustment of bed and cylinder, form rollers, ink fountain, grippers and delivery systems. Underlaying and overlaying; modern overlay methods. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 28. PRESSROOM HINTS AND HELPS By Charles L. Dunton Describing some practical methods of pressroom work, with directions and useful information relating to a variety of printing-press problems. 87 pp.; 176 review questions. 29. REPRODUCTIVE PROCESSES OF THE GRAPHIC ARTS By A. W. Elson A primer of information about the distinctive features of the relief, the intaglio, and the planographic processes of printing. 84 pp.; illustrated; 100 review questions; glossary. PART V--_Pamphlet and Book Binding_ 30. PAMPHLET BINDING By Bancroft L. Goodwin A primer of information about the various operations employed in binding pamphlets and other work in the bindery. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 31. BOOK BINDING By John J. Pleger Practical information about the usual operations in binding books; folding; gathering, collating, sewing, forwarding, finishing. Case making and cased-in books. Hand work and machine work. Job and blank-book binding. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. PART VI--_Correct Literary Composition_ 32. WORD STUDY AND ENGLISH GRAMMAR By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about words, their relations, and their uses. 68 pp.; 84 review questions; glossary. 33. PUNCTUATION By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the marks of punctuation and their use, both grammatically and typographically. 56 pp.; 59 review questions; glossary. {v} 34. CAPITALS By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about capitalization, with some practical typographic hints as to the use of capitals. 48 pp.; 92 review questions; glossary. 35. DIVISION OF WORDS By F. W. Hamilton Rules for the division of words at the ends of lines, with remarks on spelling, syllabication and pronunciation. 42 pp.; 70 review questions. 36. COMPOUND WORDS By F. W. Hamilton A study of the principles of compounding, the components of compounds, and the use of the hyphen. 34 pp.; 62 review questions. 37. ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNS By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about abbreviations and signs, with classified lists of those in most common use. 58 pp.; 32 review questions. 38. THE USES OF ITALIC By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the history and uses of italic letters. 31 pp.; 37 review questions. 39. PROOFREADING By Arnold Levitas The technical phases of the proofreader's work; reading, marking, revising, etc.; methods of handling proofs and copy. Illustrated by examples. 59 pp.; 69 review questions; glossary. 40. PREPARATION OF PRINTERS' COPY By F. W. Hamilton Suggestions for authors, editors, and all who are engaged in preparing copy for the composing room. 36 pp.; 67 review questions. 41. PRINTERS' MANUAL OF STYLE A reference compilation of approved rules, usages, and suggestions relating to uniformity in punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, numerals, and kindred features of composition. 42. THE PRINTER'S DICTIONARY By A. A. Stewart A handbook of definitions and miscellaneous information about various processes of printing, alphabetically arranged. Technical terms explained. Illustrated. PART VII--_Design, Color, and Lettering_ 43. APPLIED DESIGN FOR PRINTERS By Harry L. Gage A handbook of the principles of arrangement, with brief comment on the periods of design which have most influenced printing Treats of harmony, balance, proportion, and rhythm; motion; symmetry and variety; ornament, esthetic and symbolic. 37 illustrations; 46 review questions; glossary; bibliography. 44. ELEMENTS OF TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGN By Harry L. Gage Applications of the principles of decorative design. Building material of typography: paper, types, ink, decorations and illustrations. Handling of shapes. Design of complete book, treating each part. Design of commercial forms and single units. Illustrations; review questions, glossary; bibliography. {vi} 45. RUDIMENTS OF COLOR IN PRINTING By Harry L. Gage Use of color: for decoration of black and white, for broad poster effect, in combinations of two, three, or more printings with process engravings. Scientific nature of color, physical and chemical. Terms in which color may be discussed: hue, value, intensity. Diagrams in color, scales and combinations. Color theory of process engraving. Experiments with color. Illustrations in full color, and on various papers. Review questions; glossary; bibliography. 46. LETTERING IN TYPOGRAPHY By Harry L. Gage Printer's use of lettering: adaptability and decorative effect. Development of historic writing and lettering and its influence on type design. Classification of general forms in lettering. Application of design to lettering. Drawing for reproduction. Fully illustrated; review questions; glossary; bibliography. 47. TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGN IN ADVERTISING By Harry L. Gage The printer's function in advertising. Precepts upon which advertising is based. Printer's analysis of his copy. Emphasis, legibility, attention, color. Method of studying advertising typography. Illustrations; review questions; glossary; bibliography. 48. MAKING DUMMIES AND LAYOUTS By Harry L. Gage A layout: the architectural plan. A dummy: the imitation of a proposed final effect. Use of dummy in sales work. Use of layout. Function of layout man. Binding schemes for dummies. Dummy envelopes. Illustrations; review questions; glossary; bibliography. PART VIII--_History of Printing_ 49. BOOKS BEFORE TYPOGRAPHY By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the invention of the alphabet and the history of bookmaking up to the invention of movable types. 62 pp.; illustrated; 64 review questions. 50. THE INVENTION OF TYPOGRAPHY By F. W. Hamilton A brief sketch of the invention of printing and how it came about. 64 pp.; 62 review questions. 51. HISTORY OF PRINTING--Part I By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the beginnings of printing, the development of the book, the development of printers' materials, and the work of the great pioneers. 63 pp.; 55 review questions. 52. HISTORY OF PRINTING--Part II By F. W. Hamilton A brief sketch of the economic conditions of the printing industry from 1450 to 1789, including government regulations, censorship, internal conditions and industrial relations. 94 pp.; 128 review questions. 53. PRINTING IN ENGLAND By F. W. Hamilton A short history of printing in England from Caxton to the present time. 89 pp.; 65 review questions. 54. PRINTING IN AMERICA By F. W. Hamilton A brief sketch of the development of the newspaper, and some notes on publishers who have especially contributed to printing. 98 pp.; 84 review questions. 55. TYPE AND PRESSES IN AMERICA By F. W. Hamilton A brief historical sketch of the development of type casting and press building in the United States. 52 pp.; 61 review questions. {vii} PART IX--_Cost Finding and Accounting_ 56. ELEMENTS OF COST IN PRINTING By Henry P. Porter The Standard Cost-Finding Forms and their uses. What they should show. How to utilize the information they give. Review questions. Glossary. 57. USE OF A COST SYSTEM By Henry P. Porter The Standard Cost-Finding Forms and their uses. What they should show. How to utilize the information they give Review questions. Glossary. 58. THE PRINTER AS A MERCHANT By Henry P. Porter The selection and purchase of materials and supplies for printing. The relation of the cost of raw material and the selling price of the finished product. Review questions. Glossary. 59. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF ESTIMATING By Henry P. Porter The estimator and his work; forms to use; general rules for estimating. Review questions. Glossary. 60. ESTIMATING AND SELLING By Henry P. Porter An insight into the methods used in making estimates, and their relation to selling. Review questions. Glossary. 61. ACCOUNTING FOR PRINTERS By Henry P. Porter A brief outline of an accounting system for printers; necessary books and accessory records. Review questions. Glossary. PART X--_Miscellaneous_ 62. HEALTH, SANITATION, AND SAFETY By Henry P. Porter Hygiene in the printing trade; a study of conditions old and new; practical suggestions for improvement; protective appliances and rules for safety. 63. TOPICAL INDEX By F. W. Hamilton A book of reference covering the topics treated in the Typographic Technical Series, alphabetically arranged. 64. COURSES OF STUDY By F. W. Hamilton A guidebook for teachers, with outlines and suggestions for classroom and shop work. {viii} ACKNOWLEDGMENT This series of Typographic Text-books is the result of the splendid co-operation of a large number of firms and individuals engaged in the printing business and its allied industries in the United States of America. The Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America, under whose auspices the books have been prepared and published, acknowledges its indebtedness for the generous assistance rendered by the many authors, printers, and others identified with this work. While due acknowledgment is made on the title and copyright pages of those contributing to each book, the Committee nevertheless felt that a group list of co-operating firms would be of interest. The following list is not complete, as it includes only those who have co-operated in the production of a portion of the volumes, constituting the first printing. As soon as the entire list of books comprising the Typographic Technical Series has been completed (which the Committee hopes will be at an early date), the full list will be printed in each volume. The Committee also desires to acknowledge its indebtedness to the many subscribers to this Series who have patiently awaited its publication. COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA. HENRY P. PORTER, _Chairman_, E. LAWRENCE FELL, A. M. GLOSSBRENNER, J. CLYDE OSWALD, TOBY RUBOVITS. FREDERICK W. HAMILTON, _Education Director_. {ix} CONTRIBUTORS FOR COMPOSITION AND ELECTROTYPES ISAAC H. BLANCHARD COMPANY, New York, N. Y. S. H. BURBANK & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. J. S. CUSHING & CO., Norwood, Mass. THE DEVINNE PRESS, New York, N. Y. R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS CO., Chicago, Ill. GEO. H. ELLIS CO., Boston, Mass. EVANS-WINTER-HEBB, Detroit, Mich. FRANKLIN PRINTING COMPANY, Philadelphia, Pa. F. H. GILSON COMPANY, Boston, Mass. STEPHEN GREENE & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. W. F. HALL PRINTING CO., Chicago, Ill. J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO., Philadelphia, Pa. MCCALLA & CO. INC., Philadelphia, Pa. THE PATTESON PRESS, New York, New York THE PLIMPTON PRESS, Norwood, Mass. POOLE BROS., Chicago, Ill. EDWARD STERN & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. THE STONE PRINTING & MFG. CO., Roanoke, Va. C. D. TRAPHAGEN, Lincoln, Neb. THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, Cambridge, Mass. FOR COMPOSITION BOSTON TYPOTHETAE SCHOOL OF PRINTING, Boston, Mass. WILLIAM F. FELL CO., Philadelphia, Pa. THE KALKHOFF COMPANY, New York, N. Y. OXFORD-PRINT, Boston, Mass. TOBY RUBOVITS, Chicago, Ill. FOR ELECTROTYPES BLOMGREN BROTHERS CO., Chicago, Ill. FLOWER STEEL ELECTROTYPING CO., New York, N. Y. C. J. PETERS & SON CO., Boston, Mass. ROYAL ELECTROTYPE CO., Philadelphia, Pa. H. C. WHITCOMB & CO., Boston, Mass. FOR ENGRAVINGS AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDERS CO., Boston, Mass. C. B. COTTRELL & SONS CO., Westerly, R. I. GOLDING MANUFACTURING CO., Franklin, Mass. HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass. INLAND PRINTER CO., Chicago, Ill. LANSTON MONOTYPE MACHINE COMPANY, Philadelphia, Pa. MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE COMPANY, New York, N. Y. GEO. H. MORRILL CO., Norwood, Mass. OSWALD PUBLISHING CO., New York, N. Y. THE PRINTING ART, Cambridge, Mass. B. D. RISING PAPER COMPANY, Housatonic, Mass. THE VANDERCOOK PRESS, Chicago, Ill. FOR BOOK PAPER AMERICAN WRITING PAPER CO., Holyoke, Mass. WEST VIRGINIA PULP & PAPER CO., Mechanicville, N. Y. 
46241	----	Internet Archive (https://archive.org) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 46241-h.htm or 46241-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46241/46241-h/46241-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46241/46241-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/somenotesonearly00morrrich SOME NOTES ON EARLY WOODCUT BOOKS, WITH A CHAPTER ON ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS, by WILLIAM MORRIS Copyright, 1902 By H. M. O'Kane [Illustration: From Terence's Eunuchus, Ulm, Conrad Dinckmut, 1486] Notes on Woodcut Books ON THE ARTISTIC QUALITIES OF THE WOODCUT BOOKS OF ULM AND AUGSBURG IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. The invention of printing books, and the use of wood-blocks for book ornament in place of hand-painting, though it belongs to the period of the degradation of mediæval art, gave an opportunity to the Germans to regain the place which they had lost in the art of book decoration during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This opportunity they took with vigour and success, and by means of it put forth works which showed the best and most essential qualities of their race. Unhappily, even at the time of their first woodcut book, the beginning of the end was on them; about thirty years afterwards they received the Renaissance with singular eagerness and rapidity, and became, from the artistic point of view, a nation of rhetorical pedants. An exception must be made, however, as to Albert Dürer; for, though his method was infected by the Renaissance, his matchless imagination and intellect made him thoroughly Gothic in spirit. Amongst the printing localities of Germany the two neighbouring cities of Ulm and Augsburg developed a school of woodcut book ornament second to none as to character, and, I think, more numerously represented than any other. I am obliged to link the two cities, because the early school at least is common to both; but the ornamented works produced by Ulm are but few compared with the prolific birth of Augsburg. It is a matter of course that the names of the artists who designed these wood-blocks should not have been recorded, any more than those of the numberless illuminators of the lovely written books of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; the names under which the Ulm and Augsburg picture-books are known are all those of their printers. Of these by far the most distinguished are the kinsmen (their degree of kinship is not known), Gunther Zainer of Augsburg and John Zainer of Ulm. Nearly parallel with these in date are Ludwig Hohenwang and John Bämler of Augsburg, together with Pflanzmann of Augsburg, the printer of the first illustrated German Bible. Anthony Sorg, a little later than these, was a printer somewhat inferior, rather a reprinter in fact, but by dint of reusing the old blocks, or getting them recut and in some cases redesigned, not always to their disadvantage, produced some very beautiful books. Schoensperger, who printed right into the sixteenth century, used blocks which were ruder than the earlier ones, through carelessness, and I suppose probably because of the aim at cheapness; his books tend towards the chap-book kind. The earliest of these picture-books with a date is Gunther Zainer's Golden Legend, the first part of which was printed in 1471; but, as the most important from the artistic point of view, I should name: first, Gunther Zainer's Speculum Humanæ Salvationis (undated but probably of 1471); second, John Zainer's Boccaccio De Claris Mulieribus (dated in a cut, as well as in the colophon, 1473); third, the Æsop, printed by both the Zainers, but I do not know by which first, as it is undated; fourth, Gunther Zainer's Spiegel des Menschlichen lebens (undated but about 1475), with which must be taken his German Belial, the cuts of which are undoubtedly designed by the same artist, and cut by the same hand, that cut the best in the Spiegel above mentioned; fifth, a beautiful little book, the story of Sigismonda and Guiscard, by Gunther Zainer, undated; sixth, Tuberinus, die geschicht von Symon, which is the story of a late German Hugh of Lincoln, printed by G. Zainer about 1475; seventh, John Bämlers Das buch der Natur (1475), with many full-page cuts of much interest; eighth, by the same printer, Das buch von den 7 Todsünden und den 7 Tugenden (1474); ninth, Bämler's Sprenger's Rosencranz Bruderschaft, with only two cuts, but those most remarkable. To these may be added as transitional (in date at least), between the earlier and the later school next to be mentioned, two really characteristic books printed by Sorg: (a) Der Seusse, a book of mystical devotion, 1482, and (b) the Council of Constance, printed in 1483; the latter being, as far as its cuts are concerned, mainly heraldic. At Ulm, however, a later school arose after a transitional book, Leonard Hol's splendid Ptolemy of 1482; of this school one printer's name, Conrad Dinckmut, includes all the most remarkable books: to wit, Der Seelen-wurzgarten (1483), Das buch der Weisheit (1485), the Swabian Chronicle (1486), Terence's Eunuchus (in German) (1486). Lastly, John Reger's Descriptio Obsidionis Rhodiæ (1496) worthily closes the series of the Ulm books. It should here be said that, apart from their pictures, the Ulm and Augsburg books are noteworthy for their border and letter decoration. The Ulm printer, John Zainer, in especial shone in the production of borders. His De Claris Mulieribus excels all the other books of the school in this matter; the initial S of both the Latin and the German editions being the most elaborate and beautiful piece of its kind; and, furthermore, the German edition has a border almost equal to the S in beauty, though different in character, having the shield of Scotland supported by angels in the corner. A very handsome border (or half-border rather), with a zany in the corner, used frequently in J. Zainer's books [by the by, in Gritsch's Quadragesimale, 1475, this zany is changed into an ordinary citizen by means of an ingenious piecing of the block], e.g., in the 1473 and 1474 editions of the Rationale of Durandus, and, associated with an interesting historiated initial O, in Alvarus, De planctu Ecclesiæ, 1474. There are two or three other fine borders, such as those in Steinhowel's Büchlein der Ordnung, and Petrarch's Griseldis (here shown), both of 1473, and in Albertus Magnus, Summa de eucharistiæ Sacramento, 1474. A curious alphabet of initials made up of leafage, good, but not very showy, is used in the De Claris Mulieribus and other books. An alphabet of large initials, the most complete example of which is to be found in Leonard Hol's Ptolemy, is often used and is clearly founded on the pen-letters, drawn mostly in red and blue, in which the Dutch 'rubrishers' excelled. [Another set of initials founded on twelfth century work occurs in John Zainer's folio books, and has some likeness to those used by Hohenwang of Augsburg in the Golden Bibel and elsewhere, and perhaps was suggested by these, as they are not very early (c. 1475), but they differ from Hohenwang's in being generally more or less shaded, and also in not being enclosed in a square.] This big alphabet is very beautiful and seems to have been a good deal copied by other German printers, as it well deserved to be. [The initials of Knoblotzer of Strassburg and Bernard Richel of Basel may be mentioned.] John Reger's Caoursin has fine handsome 'blooming-letters,' somewhat tending toward the French style. In Augsburg Gunther Zainer has some initial I's of strap-work without foliation: they are finely designed, but gain considerably when, as sometimes happens, the spaces between the straps are filled in with fine pen-tracery and in yellowish brown; they were cut early in Gunther's career, as one occurs in the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis, c. 1471, and another in the Calendar, printed 1471. These, as they always occur in the margin and are long, may be called border-pieces. A border occurring in Eyb, ob einem manne tzu nemen ein weib is drawn very gracefully in outline, and is attached, deftly enough, to a very good S of the pen-letter type, though on a separate block; it has three shields of arms in it, one of which is the bearing of Augsburg. This piece is decidedly illuminators' work as to design. Gunther's Margarita Davidica has a border (attached to a very large P) which is much like the Ulm borders in character. A genealogical tree of the House of Hapsburg prefacing the Spiegel des Menschlichen lebens, and occupying a whole page, is comparable for beauty and elaboration to the S of John Zainer above mentioned; on the whole, for beauty and richness of invention and for neatness of execution, I am inclined to give it the first place amongst all the decorative pieces of the German printers. Gunther Zainer's German Bible of c. 1474 has a full set of pictured letters, one to every book, of very remarkable merit: the foliated forms which make the letters and enclose the figures being bold, inventive, and very well drawn. I note that these excellent designs have received much less attention than they deserve. In almost all but the earliest of Gunther's books a handsome set of initials are used, a good deal like the above mentioned Ulm initials, but with the foliations blunter, and blended with less of geometrical forms: the pen origin of these is also very marked. Ludwig Hohenwang, who printed at Augsburg in the seventies, uses a noteworthy set of initials, alluded to above, that would seem to have been drawn by the designer with a twelfth century MS. before him, though, as a matter of course, the fifteenth century betrays itself in certain details, chiefly in the sharp foliations at the ends of the scrolls, etc. There is a great deal of beautiful design in these letters; but the square border round them, while revealing their origin from illuminators' work, leaves over-large whites in the backgrounds, which call out for the completion that the illuminator's colour would have given them. Bämler and the later printer Sorg do not use so much ornament as Gunther Zainer; their initials are less rich both in line and design than Gunther's, and Sorg's especially have a look of having run down from the earlier ones: in his Seusse, however, there are some beautiful figured initials designed on somewhat the same plan as those of Gunther Zainer's Bible. Now it may surprise some of our readers, though I should hope not the greatest part of them, to hear that I claim the title of works of art, both for these picture-ornamented books as books, and also for the pictures themselves. Their two main merits are first their decorative and next their story-telling quality; and it seems to me that these two qualities include what is necessary and essential in book-pictures. To be sure the principal aim of these unknown German artists was to give the essence of the story at any cost, and it may be thought that the decorative qualities of their designs were accidental, or done unconsciously at any rate. I do not altogether dispute that view; but then the accident is that of the skilful workman whose skill is largely the result of tradition; it has thereby become a habit of the hand to him to work in a decorative manner. To turn back to the books numbered above as the most important of the school, I should call John Zainer's De Claris Mulieribus, and the Æsop, and Gunther Zainer's Spiegel des Menschlichen lebens the most characteristic. Of these my own choice would be the De Claris Mulieribus, partly perhaps because it is a very old friend of mine, and perhaps the first book that gave me a clear insight into the essential qualities of the mediæval design of that period. The subject-matter of the book also makes it one of the most interesting, giving it opportunity for setting forth the mediæval reverence for the classical period, without any of the loss of romance on the one hand, and epical sincerity and directness on the other, which the flood-tide of renaissance rhetoric presently inflicted on the world. No story-telling could be simpler and more straightforward, and less dependent on secondary help, than that of these curious, and, as people phrase it, rude cuts. And in spite (if you please it) of their rudeness, they are by no means lacking in definite beauty: the composition is good everywhere, the drapery well designed, the lines rich, which shows of course that the cutting is good. Though there is no ornament save the beautiful initial S and the curious foliated initials above mentioned, the page is beautifully proportioned and stately, when, as in the copy before me, it has escaped the fury of the bookbinder. The great initial 'S' I claim to be one of the very best printers' ornaments ever made, one which would not disgrace a thirteenth century MS. Adam and Eve are standing on a finely-designed spray of poppy-like leafage, and behind them rise up the boughs of the tree. Eve reaches down an apple to Adam with her right hand, and with her uplifted left takes another from the mouth of the crowned woman's head of the serpent, whose coils, after they have performed the duty of making the S, end in a foliage scroll, whose branches enclose little medallions of the seven deadly sins. All this is done with admirable invention and romantic meaning, and with very great beauty of design and a full sense of decorative necessities. As to faults in this delightful book, it must be said that it is somewhat marred by the press-work not being so good as it should have been even when printed by the weak presses of the fifteenth century; but this, though a defect, is not, I submit, an essential one. In the Æsop the drawing of the designs is in a way superior to that of the last book: the line leaves nothing to be desired; it is thoroughly decorative, rather heavy, but so firm and strong, and so obviously in submission to the draughtman's hand, that it is capable of even great delicacy as well as richness. The figures both of man and beast are full of expression; the heads clean drawn and expressive also, and in many cases refined and delicate. The cuts, with few exceptions, are not bounded by a border, but amidst the great richness of line no lack of one is felt, and the designs fully sustain their decorative position as a part of the noble type of the Ulm and Augsburg printers; this Æsop is, to my mind, incomparably the best and most expressive of the many illustrated editions of the Fables printed in the fifteenth century. The designs of the other German and Flemish ones were all copied from it. Gunther Zainer's Spiegel des Menschlichen lebens is again one of the most amusing of woodcut books. One may say that the book itself, one of the most popular of the Middle Ages, runs through all the conditions and occupations of men as then existing, from the Pope and Kaiser down to the field labourer, and, with full indulgence in the mediæval love of formal antithesis, contrasts the good and the evil side of them. The profuse illustrations to all this abound in excellent pieces of naïve characterisation; the designs are very well put together, and, for the most part, the figures well drawn, and draperies good and crisp, and the general effect very satisfactory as decoration. The designer in this book, however, has not been always so lucky in his cutter as those of the last two, and some of the pictures have been considerably injured in the cutting. On the other hand the lovely genealogical tree above mentioned crowns this book with abundant honour, and the best of the cuts are so good that it is hardly possible to rank it after the first two. Gunther Zainer's Speculum Humanæ Salvationis and his Golden Legend have cuts decidedly ruder than these three books; they are simpler also, and less decorative as ornaments to the page, nevertheless they have abundant interest, and most often their essential qualities of design shine through the rudeness, which by no means excludes even grace of silhouette: one and all they are thoroughly expressive of the story they tell. The designs in these two books by the by do not seem to have been done by the same hand; but I should think that the designer of those in the Golden Legend drew the subjects that 'inhabit' the fine letters of Gunther's German Bible. Both seem to me to have a kind of illuminator's character in them. The cuts to the story of Simon bring us back to those of Spiegel des Menschlichen lebens; they are delicate and pretty, and tell the story, half so repulsive, half so touching, of 'little Sir Hugh,' very well. I must not pass by without a further word on Sigismund and Guiscard. I cannot help thinking that the cuts therein are by the same hand that drew some of those in the Æsop; at any rate they have the same qualities of design, and are to my mind singularly beautiful and interesting. Of the other contemporary, or nearly contemporary, printers Bämler comes first in interest. His book von den 7 Todsünden, etc., has cuts of much interest and invention, not unlike in character to those of Gunther Zainer's Golden Legend. His Buch der Natur has full-page cuts of animals, herbs, and human figures exceedingly quaint, but very well designed for the most part. A half-figure of a bishop 'in pontificalibus' is particularly bold and happy. Rupertus a sancto Remigio's History of the crusade and the Cronich von allen Konigen und Kaisern are finely illustrated. His Rosencranz Bruderschaft above mentioned has but two cuts, but they are both of them, the one as a fine decorative work, the other as a deeply felt illustration of devotional sentiment, of the highest merit. The two really noteworthy works of Sorg (who, as aforesaid, was somewhat a plagiaristic publisher) are, first, the Seusse, which is illustrated with bold and highly decorative cuts full of meaning and dignity, and next, the Council of Constance, which is the first heraldic woodcut work (it has besides the coats-of-arms, several fine full-page cuts, of which the burning of Huss is one). These armorial cuts, which are full of interest as giving a vast number of curious and strange bearings, are no less so as showing what admirable decoration can be got out of heraldry when it is simply and well drawn. To Conrad Dinckmut of Ulm, belonging to a somewhat later period than these last-named printers, belongs the glory of opposing by his fine works the coming degradation of book-ornament in Germany. The Seelen-wurzgarten, ornamented with seventeen full-page cuts, is injured by the too free repetition of them; they are, however, very good; the best perhaps being the Nativity, which, for simplicity and beauty, is worthy of the earlier period of the Middle Ages. The Swabian Chronicle has cuts of various degrees of merit, but all interesting and full of life and spirit: a fight in the lists with axes being one of the most remarkable. Das buch der Weisheit (Bidpay's Fables) has larger cuts which certainly show no lack of courage; they are perhaps scarcely so decorative as the average of the cuts of the school, and are somewhat coarsely cut; but their frank epical character makes them worthy of all attention. But perhaps his most remarkable work is his Terence's Eunuchus (in German), ornamented with twenty-eight cuts illustrating the scenes. These all have backgrounds showing (mostly) the streets of a mediæval town, which clearly imply theatrical scenery; the figures of the actors are delicately drawn, and the character of the persons and their action is well given and carefully sustained throughout. The text of this book is printed in a large handsome black-letter, imported, as my friend Mr. Proctor informs me, from Italy. The book is altogether of singular beauty and character. The Caoursin (1496), the last book of any account printed at Ulm, has good and spirited cuts of the events described, the best of them being the flight of Turks in the mountains. One is almost tempted to think that these cuts are designed by the author of those of the Mainz Breidenbach of 1486, though the cutting is much inferior. All these books, it must be remembered, though they necessarily (being printed books) belong to the later Middle Ages, and though some of them are rather decidedly late in that epoch, are thoroughly 'Gothic' as to their ornament; there is no taint of the Renaissance in them. In this respect the art of book-ornament was lucky. The neo-classical rhetoric which invaded literature before the end of the fourteenth century (for even Chaucer did not quite escape it) was harmless against this branch of art at least for more than another hundred years; so that even Italian book-pictures are Gothic in spirit, for the most part, right up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, long after the New Birth had destroyed the building arts for Italy: while Germany, whose Gothic architecture was necessarily firmer rooted in the soil, did not so much as feel the first shiver of the coming flood till suddenly, and without warning, it was upon her, and the art of the Middle Ages fell dead in a space of about five years, and was succeeded by a singularly stupid and brutal phase of that rhetorical and academical art, which, in all matters of ornament, has held Europe captive ever since. [Illustration: From John Zainer's Griseldis, Ulm, 1473] [Illustration: From Gunther Zainer's Speculum Humanæ Salvationis, Augsburg, C. 1471] [Illustration: From Gunther Zainer's Ingold, Das Golden Spiel, Augsburg, 1472] [Illustration: From John Zainer's Boccaccio de Claris Mulieribus, Ulm, 1473] [Illustration: From Gunther Zainer's Epistles and Gospels, Augsburg, C. 1474] [Illustration: From Gunther Zainer's Spiegel D. Menschl. Lebens, Augsburg, C. 1475] [Illustration: From Gunther Zainer's Tuberinus, Geschicht von Dem Heiligen Kind Symon, Augsburg, C. 1475] [Illustration: From the Æsop] THE WOODCUTS OF GOTHIC BOOKS Notes on Woodcut Books I shall presently have the pleasure of showing you in some kind of sequence a number of illustrations taken from books of the 15th, and first years of the 16th centuries. But before I do so I wish to read to you a few remarks on the genesis and the quality of the kind of art represented by these examples, and the lessons which they teach us. Since the earliest of those I have to show is probably not earlier in date than about 1420, and almost all are more than fifty years later than that, it is clear that they belong to the latest period of Mediæval art, and one or two must formally be referred to the earliest days of the Renaissance, though in spirit they are still Gothic. In fact, it is curious to note the suddenness of the supplanting of the Gothic by the neo-classical style in some instances, especially in Germany: e.g., the later books published by the great Nuremberg printer, Koburger, in the fourteen-nineties, books like the "Nuremberg Chronicle," and the "Schatzbehalter," show no sign of the coming change, but ten years worn, and hey, presto, not a particle of Gothic ornament can be found in any German printed book, though, as I think, the figure-works of one great man, Albert Dürer, were Gothic in essence. The most part of these books, in fact all of them in the earlier days (the exceptions being mainly certain splendidly ornamented French books, including the sumptuous books of "Hours"), were meant for popular books: the great theological folios, the law books, the decretals, and such like of the earlier German printers, though miracles of typographical beauty, if ornamented at all, were ornamented by the illuminator, with the single exception of Gutenberg's splendid "Psalter," which gives us at once the first and best piece of ornamental colour-printing yet achieved. Again, the dainty and perfect volumes of the classics produced by the earlier Roman and Venetian printers disdained the help of wood blocks, though they were often beautifully illuminated, and it was not till after the days of Jenson, the Frenchman who brought the Roman letter to perfection, it was not till Italian typography began to decline, that illustration by reproducible methods became usual; and we know that these illustrated books were looked upon as inferior wares, and were sold far cheaper than the unadorned pages of the great printers. It must be noted in confirmation of the view that the woodcut books were cheap books, that in most cases they were vernacular editions of books already printed in Latin. The work, then, which I am about to show you has first the disadvantage of the rudeness likely to disfigure cheap forms of art in a time that lacked the resource of slippery plausibility which helps out cheap art at the present day. And secondly, the disadvantage of belonging to the old age rather than the youth or vigorous manhood of the Middle Ages. On the other hand, it is art, and not a mere trade "article;" and though it was produced by the dying Middle Ages, they were not yet dead when it was current, so that it yet retains much of the qualities of the more hopeful period; and in addition, the necessity of adapting the current design to a new material and method gave it a special life, which is full of interest and instruction for artists of all times who are able to keep their eyes open. All organic art, all art that is genuinely growing, opposed to rhetorical, retrospective, or academical art, art which has no real growth in it, has two qualities in common: the epical and the ornamental; its two functions are the telling of a story and the adornment of a space or tangible object. The labour and ingenuity necessary for the production of anything that claims our attention as a work of art are wasted, if they are employed on anything else than these two aims. Mediæval art, the result of a long unbroken series of tradition, is preëminent for its grasp of these two functions, which, indeed, interpenetrate then more than in any other period. Not only is all its special art obviously and simply beautiful as ornament, but its ornament also is vivified with forcible meaning, so that neither in one or the other does the life ever flag, or the sensuous pleasure of the eye ever lack. You have not got to say, Now you have your story, how are you going to embellish it? Nor, Now you have made your beauty, what are you going to do with it? For here are the two together, inseparably a part of each other. No doubt the force of tradition, which culminated in the Middle Ages, had much to do with this unity of epical design and ornament. It supplied deficiencies of individual by collective imagination (compare the constantly recurring phases and lines in genuine epical or ballad poetry); it ensured the inheritance of deft craftsmanship and instinct for beauty in the succession of the generations of workmen; and it cultivated the appreciation of good work by the general public. Now-a-days artists work essentially for artists, and look on the ignorant layman with contempt, which even the necessity of earning a livelihood cannot force them wholly to disguise. In the times of art, they had no one but artists to work for, since every one was a potential artist. Now, in such a period, when written literature was still divine, and almost miraculous to men, it was impossible that books should fail to have a due share in the epical-ornamental art of the time. Accordingly, the opportunities offered by the pages which contained the wisdom and knowledge of past and present times were cultivated to the utmost. The early Middle Ages, beginning with the wonderful calligraphy of the Irish MSS., were, above all times, the epoch of writing. The pages of almost all books, from the 8th to the 15th century, are beautiful, even without the addition of ornament. In those that are ornamented without pictures illustrative of the text, the eye is so pleasured, and the fancy so tickled by the beauty and exhaustless cheerful invention of the illuminator, that one scarcely ventures to ask that the tale embodied in the written characters should be further illustrated. But when this is done, and the book is full of pictures, which tell the written tale again with the most conscientious directness of design, and as to execution with great purity of outline and extreme delicacy of colour, we can say little more than that the only work of art which surpasses a complete Mediæval book is a complete Mediæval building. This must be said, with the least qualification, of the books of from about 1160 to 1300. After this date, the work loses, in purity and simplicity, more than it gains in pictorial qualities, and, at last, after the middle of the 15th century, illuminated books lose much of their individuality on the ornamental side; and, though they are still beautiful, are mostly only redeemed from commonplace when the miniatures in them are excellent. But here comes in the new element, given by the invention of printing, and the gradual shoving out of the scribe by the punch-cutter, the typefounder, and the printer. The first printed characters were as exact reproductions of the written ones as the new craftsmen could compass, even to the extent of the copying of the infernal abbreviations which had gradually crept into manuscript; but, as I have already mentioned, the producers of serious books did not at first supply the work of the illuminator by that of the woodcutter, either in picture work or ornament. In fact, the art of printing pictures from wood blocks is earlier than that of printing books, and is undoubtedly the parent of book illustration. The first woodcuts were separate pictures of religious subjects, circulated for the edification of the faithful, in existing examples generally coloured by hand, and certainly always intended to be coloured. The earliest of these may be as old as 1380, and there are many which have been dated in the first half of the 15th century; though the dates are mostly rather a matter of speculation. But the development of book illustration proper by no means puts an end to their production. Many were done between 1450 and 1490, and some in the first years of the 16th century; but the earlier ones only have any special character in them. Of these, some are cut rudely and some timidly also, but some are fairly well cut, and few so ill that the expression of the design is not retained. The design of most of these early works is mostly admirable, and as far removed from the commonplace as possible; many, nay most of these cuts, are fine expressions of that pietism of the Middle Ages which has been somewhat veiled from us by the strangeness, and even grotesqueness which has mingled with it, but the reality of which is not doubtful to those who have studied the period without prejudice. Amongst these may be cited a design of Christ being pressed in the wine press, probably as early as the end of the 14th century, which may stand without disadvantage beside a fine work of the 13th century. The next step towards book illustration brings us to the block-books, in which the picture-cuts are accompanied by a text, also cut on wood; the folios being printed by rubbing off on one side only. The subject of the origin of the most noteworthy of these books, the "Ars Moriendi," the "Lord's Prayer," the "Song of Solomon," the "Biblia Pauperum," the "Apocalypse," and the "Speculum Humanæ Salvationis," has been debated, along with the question of the first printer by means of movable types, with more acrimony than it would seem to need. I, not being a learned person, will not add one word to the controversy; it is enough to say that these works were done somewhere between the years 1430 and 1460, and that their style was almost entirely dominant throughout the Gothic period in Flanders and Holland, while it had little influence on the German wood-cutters. For the rest, all these books have great merit as works of art; it would be difficult to find more direct or more poetical rendering of the events given than those of the "Speculum Humanæ Salvationis;" or more elegant and touching designs than those in the "Song of Solomon." The cuts of the "Biblia Pauperum" are rougher, but full of vigour and power of expression. The "Ars Moriendi" is very well drawn and executed, but the subject is not so interesting. The "Apocalypse" and "The Lord's Prayer" are both of them excellent, the former being scarcely inferior in design to the best of the Apocalypse picture MSS. of the end of the thirteenth century. We have now come to the wood-cuts which ornament the regular books of the Gothic period, which began somewhat timidly. The two examples in Germany and Italy, not far removed from each other in date, being the "Historie von Joseph, Daniel, Judith, and Esther," printed by Albrecht Pfister, at Bamberg, in 1462; and the "Meditations of Turrecremata (or Torquemada)," printed at Rome by Ulric Hahn, in the year 1467, which latter, though taken by the command of the Pope from the frescoes of a Roman Church (Sta. Maria Sopra Minerva) are as German as need be, and very rude in drawing and execution, though not without spirit. But, after this date, the school of wood-carving developed rapidly; and, on the whole, Germany, which had been very backward in the art of illumination, now led the new art. The main schools were those of Ulm and Augsburg, of Maintz, of Strasburg, of Basel, and of Nuremberg, the latter being the later. The examples which I shall presently have the pleasure of showing you are wholly of the first and the last, as being the most representative, Ulm and Augsburg of the earlier style, Nuremberg of the later. But I might mention, in passing, that some of the earlier Basel books, notably Bernard Richel's "Speculum Humanæ Salvationis," are very noteworthy; and that, in fourteen-eighties, there was a school at Maintz that produced, amongst other books, a very beautiful "Herbal," and Breydenbach's "Peregrinatio," which, amongst other merits, such as actual representations of the cities on the road to the Holy Land, must be said to contain the best executed woodcuts of the Middle Ages. Of course, there were many other towns in Germany which produced illustrated books, but they may be referred in character to one or other of these schools. In Holland and Flanders there was a noble school of woodcutting, delicately decorative in character, and very direct and expressive, being, as I said, the direct descendant of the block-books. The name of the printer who produced most books of this school was Gerard Leeuw (or Lion), who printed first at Gouda, and afterwards at Antwerp. But Colard Mansion, of Bruges, who printed few books, and was the master of Caxton in the art of printing, turned out a few very fine specimens of illustrated books. One of the most remarkable illustrated works published in the Low Countries--which I mention for its peculiarity--is the "Chevalier Deliberé" (an allegorical poem on the death of Charles the Rash), and I regret not being able to show you a slide of it, as it could not be done satisfactorily. This book, published at Schiedam in 1500, decidedly leans towards the French in style, rather than the native manner deduced from the earlier block-books. France began both printing and book illustration somewhat late, most of its important illustrated works belonging to a period between the years 1485 and 1520; but she grasped the art of book decoration with a firmness and completeness very characteristic of French genius; and also, she carried on the Gothic manner later than any other nation. For decorative qualities, nothing can excel the French books, and many of the picture-cuts, besides their decorative merits, have an additional interest in the romantic quality which they introduce: they all look as if they might be illustrations to the "Morte D'Arthur" or Tristram. In Italy, from about 1480 onward, book illustrations became common, going hand-in-hand with the degradation of printing, as I said before. The two great schools in Italy are those of Florence and Venice. I think it must be said that, on the whole, the former city bore away the bell from Venice, in spite of the famous Aldine "Polyphilus," the cuts in which, by the way, are very unequal. There are a good many book illustrations published in Italy, I should mention, like those to Ulric Hahn's "Meditations of Turrecremata," which are purely German in style; which is only to be expected from the fact of the early printers in Italy being mostly Germans. I am sorry to have to say it, but England cannot be said to have a school of Gothic book illustration; the cuts in our early printed books are, at the best, French or Flemish blocks pretty well copied. This lamentable fact is curious, considered along with what is also a fact: that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the English were, on the whole, the best book decorators. I have a few words to say yet on the practical lessons to be derived from the study of these works of art; but before I say them, I will show you, by your leave, the slides taken from examples of these woodcuts. Only I must tell you first, what doubtless many of you know, that these old blocks were not produced by the graver on the end section of a piece of fine-grained wood (box now invariably), but by the knife on the plank section of pear-tree or similar wood--a much more difficult feat when the cuts were fine, as, e.g., in Lützelberger's marvellous cuts of the "Dance of Death." [Mr. Morris then showed a series of lantern slides, which he described as follows:] 1. This is taken from the "Ars Moriendi," date about 1420. You may call it Flemish or Dutch, subject to raising the controversy I mentioned just now. 2. The "Song of Solomon," about the same date. 3. From the first illustrated book of the Ulm school. The Renowned and Noble Ladies of Boccaccio. It begins with Adam and Eve. The initial letter is very characteristic of the Ulm school of ornament. The trail of the serpent forms the S, and in the knots of the tail are little figures representing the seven deadly sins. 4. Another page from the same book. "Ceres and the Art of Agriculture." One of the great drawbacks to wood block printing in those times was the weakness of the presses. Their only resource was to print with the paper very wet, and with very soft packing, so that the block went well into the paper; but many books, and this amongst others, have suffered much from this cause. 5. Another page of the same book. The date is 1473. 6. This is from an Augsburg book. "Speculum Humanæ Vitæ," written by a Spanish bishop, which was a great favourite in the Middle Ages. It gives the advantages and disadvantages of all conditions of life. This block contains a genealogical tree of the Hapsburg family, and is an exceedingly beautiful piece of ornamental design, very well cut. 7. From the same book; representing not the "Five Alls," with which you are familiar, but the "Four Alls;" the gentleman, the merchant, the nobleman, and the poor man, who is the support of the whole lot, with his toes coming through his shoes. This is a fine specimen of printing of Gunther Zainer. The initial letters are very handsome in all these Augsburg books. 8. There is a picture of the Unjust Lawyer, from the same book, taking money from both sides. The date of this book is about 1475. 9. From "Æsop's Fables," a reproduction of the "Ulm Æsop," by Antony Sorg, of Augsburg (but the pictures are printed from the same blocks), the "Fly on the Wheel," and the "Jackdaw and Peacock." These designs for the Æsop pictures went all through the Middle Ages, with very little alteration. 10. "King Stork and King Log," from the same book. 11. This is from the Table-book of Bidpay, by Conrad Dinckmuth, who carried on the early glories of the Ulm school in a later generation; about 1486. 12. The Parrot in a Cage, with the ladies making a sham storm to cause the poor bird to be put to death. Dinckmuth did some very remarkable work: one of the best of which was a German translation of the "Eunuchus" of Terence; another the "Chronicle of the Swabians." 13. The "Schatzbehalter," published by Koburger, of Nuremberg, 1491. Although so late, there is no trace of any classical influence in the design. The architecture, for instance, is pure late German architecture. 14. From the same book, "Joshua Meeting the Angel," and "Moses at the Burning Bush." 15. A page, or part of a page, from the celebrated Nuremberg Chronicle, printed by Koburger in 1493. This is, in a way, an exception to the rule of illustrated books being in the vernacular, as it is in Latin; but there is also a German edition. 16. Another specimen of the same book. 17. From a curious devotional book, "Der Seusse," printed by Antony Sorg, at Augsburg, about 1485. 18. Another page, which shows the decorative skill with which they managed their diagram pictures. 19. An example of the Flemish school, and characteristic of the design of white and black, which is so often used both by the Florentine and the Flemish wood-cutters. It is from a life of Christ, published by Gerard Leeuw in 1487. 20. Another page from the same book. There are certainly two artists in this book, and the one on the left appears to be the more pictorial of the two; though his designs are graceful, he is hardly as good as the rougher book illustrator. Gerard Leeuw had a very handsome set of initial letters, a kind of ornament which did not become common until after 1480. 21. Another one from the same book. 22. From another Flemish book, showing how the style runs through them all. St. George and the Dragon; from "A Golden Legend," 1503. 23. One of French series, from a very celebrated book called "La Mer des Histoires." It begins the history of France a little before the deluge. It is a most beautiful book, and very large. One would think these borders were meant to be painted, as so many "Books of Hours" were, but I have never seen a copy which has had the borders painted, though, as a rule, when the borders are meant to be painted, it is not common to find one plain. 24. Another page from the same book; but the slide does not do justice to it. I will here mention that one failing of the French publishers was to make one picture serve for several purposes. The fact is, they were more careful of decoration than illustration. 25. Another French book by a French printer, the "Aubre des Batailles," which illustrates that curious quality of romance which you find in the French pictures. It is true that many of these cuts were not made for this book; in fact, they were done for another edition of the Chevalier Delibré, the Flemish edition of which I have mentioned before, for some have that name on them. 26. Another from the same book. 27. Another good example of the French decorative style. It is from Petrarch's "Remedy of either Fortune." This is the author presenting his book to the king, and is often used in these French books. 28. From another French book of about the same date (the beginning of the sixteenth century), "The Shepherd's Calendar," of which there were a great number of English editions, even as late as 1656, the cuts being imitated from these blocks. 29. A page from one of the beautiful "Books of Hours," which were mostly printed on vellum, every page of which is decorated more or less with this sort of picture. Here is the calendar, with the signs of the Zodiac, the work of the months, the saints that occur in it, and games and sports; on the other side is the Sangraal. This book is throughout in the same style--wholly Gothic. It was printed in 1498, and about twenty years after these service-books became very much damaged by having Renaissance features introduced from German artists of the time. 30. Another page from the same book. The Resurrection, and the raising of Lazarus are the principal subjects. 31. Nominally an Italian woodcut; the book was printed at Milan, but this cut is probably of German design, if not execution. 32. From a very beautiful book in the Florentine style. One of the peculiarities is the copious use of white out of black. 33. Another from the same--"The Quatre reggio," 1508. 34. Another, very characteristic of the Florentine style, with its beautiful landscape background. 35. This is one in which the ornament has really got into the Renaissance style. It is a sort of "Lucky Book," with all sorts of ways of finding your fortune, discovering where your money has gone, who is your enemy, and so on. One of the Peschia books, actually printed at Milan, but of the Venetian school. 36. From a book of the Venetian style, about the same date. I show it as an example of the carefulness and beauty with which the artists of the time combined the border work with the pictures. There is something very satisfactory in the proportion of black and white in the whole page. Now you have seen my examples, I want once more to impress upon you the fact that these designs, one and all, while they perform their especial function--the office of telling a tale--never forget their other function of decorating the book of which they form a part; this is the essential difference between them and modern book illustrations, which I suppose make no pretence at decorating the pages of the book, but must be looked upon as black and white pictures which it is convenient to print and bind up along with the printed matter. The question, in fact, which I want to put to you is this, Whether we are to have books which are beautiful as books; books in which type, paper, woodcuts, and the due arrangement of all these are to be considered, and which are so treated as to produce a harmonious whole, something which will give a person with a sense of beauty real pleasure whenever and wherever the book is opened, even before he begins to look closely into the illustrations; or whether the beautiful and inventive illustrations are to be looked on as separate pictures imbedded in a piece of utilitarianism, which they cannot decorate because it cannot help them to do so. Take, as an example of the latter, Mr. Fred. Walker's illustrations to "Philip" in the "Cornhill Magazine," of the days when some of us were young, since I am inclined to think that they are about the best of such illustrations. Now they are part of Thackeray's story, and I don't want them to be in any way less a part of it, but they are in no respect a part of the tangible printed book, and I do want them to be that. As it is, the mass of utilitarian matter in which they are imbedded is absolutely helpless and dead. Why it is not even ugly--at least not vitally ugly. Now the reverse is the case with the books from which I have taken the examples which you have been seeing. As things to be looked at they are beautiful, taken as a whole; they are alive all over, and not merely in a corner here and there. The illustrator has to share the success and the failure, not only of the wood-cutter, who has translated his drawing, but also of the printer and the mere ornamentalist, and the result is that you have a book which is a visible work of art. You may say that you don't care for this result, that you wish to read literature and to look at pictures; and that so long as the modern book gives you these pleasures you ask no more of it; well, I can understand that, but you must pardon me if I say that your interest in books in that case is literary only, and not artistic, and that implies, I think, a partial crippling of the faculties; a misfortune which no one should be proud of. However, it seems certain that there is growing up a taste for books which are visible works of art, and that especially in this country, where the printers, at their best, do now use letters much superior in form to those in use elsewhere, and where a great deal of work intending to ornament books reasonably is turned out; most of which, however, is deficient in some respect; which, in fact, is seldom satisfactory unless the whole page, picture, ornament, and type is reproduced literally from the handiwork of the artist, as in some of the beautiful works of Mr. Walter Crane. But this is a thing that can rarely be done, and what we want, it seems to me, is, not that books should sometimes be beautiful, but that they should generally be beautiful; indeed, if they are not, it increases the difficulties of those who would make them sometimes beautiful immensely. At any rate, I claim that illustrated books should always be beautiful, unless, perhaps, where the illustrations are present rather for the purpose of giving information than for that of giving pleasure to the intellect through the eye; but surely, even in this latter case, they should be reasonably and decently good-looking. Well, how is this beauty to be obtained? It must be by the harmonious coöperation of the craftsmen and artists who produce the book. First, the paper should be good, which is a more important point than might be thought, and one in which there is a most complete contrast between the old and the modern books; for no bad paper was made till about the middle of the sixteenth century, and the worst that was made even then was far better than what is now considered good. Next, the type must be good, a matter in which there is more room for excellence than those may think who have not studied the forms of letters closely. There are other matters, however, besides the mere form of the type which are of much importance in the producing of a beautiful book, which, however, I cannot go into tonight, as it is a little beside my present subject. Then, the mere ornament must be good, and even very good. I do not know anything more dispiriting than the mere platitudes of printers' ornaments--trade ornaments. It is not uncommon now-a-days to see handsome books quite spoiled by them--books in which plain, unadorned letters would have been far more ornamental. Then we come to the picture woodcuts. And here I feel I shall find many of you differing from me strongly; for I am sure that such illustrations as those excellent black and white pictures of Fred. Walker could never make book ornaments. The artist, to produce these satisfactorily, must exercise severe self-restraint, and must never lose sight of the page of the book he is ornamenting. That ought to be obvious to you, but I am afraid it will not be. I do not think any artist will ever make a good book illustrator, unless he is keenly alive to the value of a well-drawn line, crisp and clean, suggesting a simple and beautiful silhouette. Anything which obscures this, and just to the extent to which it does obscure it, takes away from the fitness of the design as a book ornament. In this art vagueness is quite inadmissible. It is better to be wrong than vague in making designs which are meant to be book ornaments. Again, as the artists' designs must necessarily be reproduced for this purpose, he should never lose sight of the material he is designing for. Lack of precision is fatal (to take up again what I have just advanced) in an art produced by the point of the graver on a material which offers just the amount of resistance which helps precision. And here I come to a very important part of my subject, to wit, the relation between the designer and the wood-engraver; and it is clear that if these two artists do not understand one another, the result must be failure; and this understanding can never exist if the wood-engraver has but to cut servilely what the artist draws carelessly. If any real school of wood-engraving is to exist again, the wood-cutter must be an artist translating the designer's drawing. It is quite pitiable to see the patience and ingenuity of such clever workmen, as some modern wood-cutters are, thrown away on the literal reproduction of mere meaningless scrawls. The want of logic in artists who will insist on such work is really appalling. It is the actual touches of the hand that give the speciality, the final finish to a work of art, which carries out in one material what is designed in another; and for the designer to ignore the instrument and material by which the touches are to be done, shows complete want of understanding of the scope of reproducible design. I cannot help thinking that it would be a good thing for artists who consider designing a part of their province (I admit there are very few such artists) to learn the art of wood-engraving, which, up to a certain point, is a far from difficult art; at any rate for those who have the kind of eyes suitable for the work. I do not mean that they should necessarily always cut their own designs, but that they should be able to cut them. They would then learn what the real capacities of the art are, and would, I should hope, give the executing artists genuine designs to execute, rather than problems to solve. I do not know if it is necessary to remind you that the difficulties in cutting a simple design on wood (and I repeat that all designs for book illustrations should be simple) are very much decreased since the fifteenth century, whereas instead of using the knife on the plank section of the wood, we now use the graver on the end section. Perhaps, indeed, some of you may think this simple wood-cutting contemptible, because of its ease; but delicacy and refinement of execution are always necessary in producing a line, and this is not easy, nay it is not possible to those who have not got the due instinct for it; mere mechanical deftness is no substitute for this instinct. Again, as it is necessary for the designer to have a feeling for the quality of the final execution, to sympathise with the engravers difficulties, and know why one block looks artistic and another mechanical; so it is necessary for the engraver to have some capacity for design, so that he may know what the designer wants of him, and that he may be able to translate the designer, and give him a genuine and obvious cut line in place of his pencilled or penned line without injuring in any way the due expression of the original design. Lastly, what I want the artist--the great man who designs for the humble executant--to think of is, not his drawn design, which he should look upon as a thing to be thrown away when it has served its purpose, but the finished and duly printed ornament which is offered to the public. I find that the executants of my humble designs always speak of them as "sketches," however painstaking they may be in execution. This is the recognised trade term, and I quite approve of it as keeping the "great man" in his place, and showing him what his duty is, to wit, to take infinite trouble in getting the finished work turned out of hand. I lay it down as a general principle in all the arts, where one artist's design is carried out by another in a different material, that doing the work twice over is by all means to be avoided as the source of dead mechanical work. The "sketch" should be as slight as possible, i.e., as much as possible should be left to the executant. A word or two of recapitulation as to the practical side of my subject, and I have done. An illustrated book, where the illustrations are more than mere illustrations of the printed text, should be a harmonious work of art. The type, the spacing of the type, the position of the pages of print on the paper, should be considered from the artistic point of view. The illustrations should not have a mere accidental connection with the other ornament and the type, but an essential and artistic connection. They should be designed as a part of the whole, so that they would seem obviously imperfect without their surroundings. The designs must be suitable to the material and method of reproduction, and not offer to the executant artist a mere thicket of unnatural difficulties, producing no result when finished, save the exhibition of a tour de force. The executant, on his side, whether he be the original designer or someone else, must understand that his business is sympathetic translation, and not mechanical reproduction of the original drawing. This means, in other words, the designer of the picture-blocks, the designer of the ornamental blocks, the wood-engraver, and the printer, all of them thoughtful, painstaking artists, and all working in harmonious coöperation for the production of a work of art. This is the only possible way in which you can get beautiful books. SOME NOTES ON THE ILLUMINATED BOOKS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. Notes on Illuminated Books The Middle Ages may be called the epoch of writing par excellence. Stone, bronze, wooden rune-staves, waxed tablets, papyrus, could be written upon with one instrument or another; but all these--even the last, tender and brittle as it was--were but makeshift materials for writing on; and it was not until parchment and vellum, and at last rag-paper, became common, that the true material for writing on, and the quill pen, the true instrument for writing with, were used. From that time till the period of the general use of printing must be considered the age of written books. As in other handicrafts, so also in this, the great period of genuine creation (once called the Dark Ages by those who had forgotten the past, and whose ideal of the future was a comfortable prison) did all that was worth doing as an art, leaving makeshifts to the period of the New Birth and the intelligence of modern civilisation. Byzantium was doubtless the mother of mediæval calligraphy, but the art spread speedily through the North of Europe and flourished there at an early period, and it is almost startling to find it as we do in full bloom in Ireland in the seventh century. No mere writing has been done before or since with such perfection as that of the early Irish ecclesiastical books; and this calligraphy is interesting also, as showing the development of what is now called by printers "lower-case" letter, from the ancient majuscular characters. The writing is, I must repeat, positively beautiful in itself, thoroughly ornamental; but these books are mostly well equipped with actual ornament, as carefully executed as the writing--in fact, marvels of patient and ingenious interlacements. This ornament, however, has no relation in any genuine Irish book to the traditional style of Byzantium, but is rather a branch of a great and widespread school of primal decoration, which has little interest in the representation of humanity and its doings, or, indeed, in any organic life, but is contented with the convolutions of abstract lines, over which it attains to great mastery. The most obvious example of this kind of art may be found in the carvings of the Maoris of New Zealand; but it is common to many races at a certain stage of development. The colour of these Irish ornaments is not very delightful, and no gold appears in them. [Example: "The Book of Kells," Trinity College, Dublin, &c.] This Irish calligraphy and illumination was taken up by the North of England monks; and from them, though in less completeness, by the Carlovingian makers of books both in France and even in Germany; but they were not content with the quite elementary representation of the human form current in the Irish illuminations, and filled up the gap by imitating the Byzantine picture-books with considerable success [Examples: Durham Gospels, British Museum, Gospels at Boulogne, &c.], and in time developed a beautiful style of illumination combining ornament with figure-drawing, and one seat of which in the early eleventh century was Winchester. [Example: Charter of foundation of Newminster at Winchester, British Museum.] Gold was used with some copiousness in these latter books, but is not seen in the carefully-raised and highly-burnished condition which is so characteristic of mediæval illumination at its zenith. It should be noticed that amongst the Byzantine books of the earlier period are some which on one side surpass in mere sumptuousness all books ever made; these are written in gold and silver on vellum stained purple throughout. Later on again, in the semi-Byzantine-Anglo-Saxon or Carlovingian period, are left us some specimens of books written in gold and silver on white vellum. This splendour was at times resorted to (chiefly in Italy) in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The just-mentioned late Anglo-Saxon style was the immediate forerunner of what may be called the first complete mediæval school, that of the middle of the twelfth century. Here the change for the better is prodigious. Apart from the actual pictures done for explanation of the text and the edification of the "faithful," these books are decorated with borders, ornamental letters, &c., in which foliage and forms human, animal, and monstrous are blended with the greatest daring and most complete mastery. The drawing is firm and precise, and it may be said also that an unerring system of beautiful colour now makes its appearance. This colour (as all schools of decorative colour not more or less effete) is founded on the juxtaposition of pure red and blue modified by delicate but clear and bright lines and "pearlings" of white, and by the use of a little green and spaces of pale pink and flesh-colour, and here and there some negative greys and ivory yellows. In most cases where the book is at all splendid, gold is very freely used, mostly in large spaces--backgrounds and the like--which, having been gilded over a solid ground with thick gold-leaf, are burnished till they look like solid plates of actual metal. The effect of this is both splendid and refined, the care with which gold is laid on, and its high finish, preventing any impression of gaudiness. The writing of this period becoming somewhat more definitely "Gothic," does not fall short of (it could not surpass) that of the previous half-century. From this time a very gradual change--during which we have to note somewhat more of delicacy in drawing and refinement of colour--brings us to the first quarter of the thirteenth century; and here a sundering of the styles of the different peoples begins to be obvious. Throughout the twelfth century, though there is a difference, it is easier to distinguish an English or French book from a German or Italian by the writing than by the illumination; but after 1225 the first glance on opening the book will most often cry out at you, German, Italian, or French-English. For the rest, the illuminations still gain beauty and delicacy, the gold is even more universally brilliant, the colour still more delicious. The sub-art of the rubricator, as distinguished from the limner and the scribe, now becomes more important, and remains so down to the end of the fifteenth century. Work of great fineness and elegance, drawn mostly with pen, and always quite freely, in red and blue counterchanged, is lavished on the smaller initials and other subsidiaries of the pages, producing, with the firm black writing and the ivory tone of the vellum, a beautiful effect, even when the more solid and elaborate illumination is lacking. During this period, apart from theological and philosophical treatises, herbals, "bestiaries," &c., the book most often met with, especially when splendidly ornamented, is the Psalter, as sung in churches, to which is generally added a calendar, and always a litany of the saints. This calendar, by the way, both in this and succeeding centuries, is often exceedingly interesting, from the representations given in it of domestic occupations. The great initial B (Beatus vir qui non) of these books affords an opportunity to the illuminator, seldom missed, of putting forth to the full his powers of design and colour. The last quarter of the thirteenth century brings us to the climax of illumination considered apart from book-pictures. Nothing can exceed the grace, elegance, and beauty of the drawing and the loveliness of the colour found at this period in the best-executed books; and it must be added that, though some work is rougher than other, at this time there would appear, judging from existing examples, to have been no bad work done. The tradition of the epoch is all-embracing and all-powerful, and yet no single volume is without a genuine individuality and life of its own. In short if all the other art of the Middle Ages had disappeared, they might still claim to be considered a great period of art on the strength of their ornamental books. In the latter part of the thirteenth century we note a complete differentiation between the work of the countries of Europe. There are now three great schools: the French-Flemish-English, the Italian, and the German. Of these the first is of the most, the last of the least, importance. As to the relations between England and France, it must be said that, though there is a difference between them, it is somewhat subtle, and may be put thus: of some books you may say, This is French; of others, This is English; but of the greater part you can say nothing more than, This belongs to the French-English school. Of those that can be differentiated with something like certainty, it may be said that the French excel specially in a dainty and orderly elegance, the English specially in love of life and nature, and there is more of rude humour in them than in their French contemporaries; but he must be at once a fastidious and an absolute man who could say the French is better than the English or the English than the French. The Norwich Psalter, in the Bodleian Library; the Arundel, Queen Mary's, and Tennison Psalters, in the British Museum, are among the finest of these English books: nothing can surpass their fertility of invention, splendour of execution, and beauty of colour. This end of the thirteenth century went on producing splendid psalters at a great rate; but between 1260 and 1300 or 1320 the greatest industry of the scribe was exercised in the writing of Bibles, especially pocket volumes. These last, it is clear, were produced in enormous quantities, for in spite of the ravages of time many thousands of them still exist. They are, one and all, beautifully written in hands necessarily very minute, and mostly very prettily illuminated with tiny figure-subjects in the initials of each book. For a short period at the end of this and the beginning of the next century many copies of the Apocalypse were produced, illustrated copiously with pictures, which give us examples of serious Gothic designs at its best, and seem to show us what wall-pictures of the period might have been in the North of Europe. The fourteenth century, the great mother of change, was as busy in making ornamental books as in other artistic work. When we are once fairly in the century a great change is apparent again in the style. It is not quite true to say that it is more redundant than its predecessor, but it has more mechanical redundancy. The backgrounds to the pictures are more elaborated; sometimes diapered blue and red, sometimes gold most beautifully chased with dots and lines. The borders cover the page more; buds turn into open leaves; often abundance of birds and animals appear in the borders, naturalistically treated (and very well drawn); there is more freedom, and yet less individuality in this work; in short the style, though it has lost nothing (in its best works) of elegance and daintiness--qualities so desirable in an ornamental book--has lost somewhat of manliness and precision; and this goes on increasing till, towards the end of the century, we feel that we have before us work that is in peril of an essential change for the worse. [In France "Bibles Historiaux," i.e., partial translations of the Bible, very copiously pictured, were one of the most noteworthy productions of the latter half of the century. The Bible taken in the tent of the French King at the battle of Poitiers, now in the British Museum, is a fine example.] The differentiation, too, betwixt the countries increases; before the century is quite over, England falls back in the race [though we have in the British Museum some magnificent examples of English illumination of the end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries, e.g., "The Salisbury Book;" a huge Bible (Harl. i., e. ix.) ornamented in a style very peculiarly English. The Wyclifite translation of the Bible at the Museum is a good specimen of this style], and French-Flanders and Burgundy come forward, while Italy has her face turned toward Renaissance, and Germany too often shows a tendency toward coarseness and incompleteness, which had to be redeemed in the long last by the honesty of invention and fitness of purpose of her woodcut ornaments to books. Many most beautiful books, however, were turned out, not only throughout the fourteenth, but even in the first half of the fifteenth century. ["The Hours of the Duke of Berry" (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris), and the "Bedford Hours," in the British Museum, both French, are exceedingly splendid examples of this period.] The first harbinger of the great change that was to come over the making of books I take to be the production in Italy of most beautifully-written copies of the Latin classics. These are often very highly ornamented; and at first not only do they imitate (very naturally) the severe hands of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but even (though a long way off) the interlacing ornament of that period. In these books the writing, it must be said, is in its kind far more beautiful than the ornament. There were so many written and pictured books produced in the fifteenth century that space quite fails me to write of them as their great merits deserve. In the middle of the century an invention, in itself trifling, was forced upon Europe by the growing demand for more and cheaper books. Gutenberg somehow got hold of punches, matrices, the adjustable mould, and so of cast movable type; Schoeffer, Mentelin, and the rest of them caught up the art with the energy and skill so characteristic of the mediæval craftsman. The new German art spread like wildfire into every country of Europe; and in a few years written books had become mere toys for the immensely rich. Yet the scribe, the rubricator, and the illuminator died hard. Decorated written books were produced in great numbers after printing had become common; by far the greater number of these were Books of Hours, very highly ornamented and much pictured. Their style is as definite as any of the former ones, but it has now gone off the road of logical consistency; for divorce has taken place between the picture-work and the ornament. Often the pictures are exquisitely-finished miniatures belonging to the best schools of painting of the day; but often also they are clearly the work of men employed to fill up a space, and having no interest in their work save livelihood. The ornament never fell quite so low as that, though as ornament it is not very "distinguished," and often, especially in the latest books, scarcely adds to the effect on the page of the miniature to which it is a subsidiary. But besides these late-written books, in the first years of printing, the rubricator was generally, and the illuminator not seldom, employed on printed books themselves. In the early days of printing the big initials were almost always left for the rubricator to paint in in red and blue, and were often decorated with pretty scroll-work by him; and sometimes one or more pages of the book were surrounded with ornament in gold and colours, and the initials elaborately finished in the same way. The most complete examples of this latter work subsidiary to the printed page are found in early books printed in Italy, especially in the splendid editions of the classics which came from the presses of the Roman and Venetian printers. By about 1530 all book illumination of any value was over, and thus disappeared an art which may be called peculiar to the Middle Ages, and which commonly shows mediæval craftsmanship at its best, partly because of the excellence of the work itself, and partly because that work can only suffer from destruction and defacement, and cannot, like mediæval buildings, be subjected to the crueller ravages of "restoration." HERE END THE NOTES ON EARLY WOOD-CUT BOOKS BY WILLIAM MORRIS. OF THIS BOOK THERE HAVE BEEN PRINTED ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY COPIES BY CLARKE CONWELL AT THE ELSTON PRESS: FINISHED THIS TWENTIETH DAY OF FEBRUARY, MDCCCCII. SOLD BY CLARKE CONWELL AT THE ELSTON PRESS, PELHAM ROAD, NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK * * * * * * Transcriber's note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. 
31006	----	http://www.archive.org/details/authorsprintingp00sauniala Transcriber's Note Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A list of corrections is found at the end of the text. A number of words were inconsistently spelled or hyphenated. A list of these words is found at the end of the text. An asterism, which is not available in the character set used for this book is indicated by "*.*". THE AUTHOR'S PRINTING AND PUBLISHING ASSISTANT. THE AUTHOR'S PRINTING AND PUBLISHING ASSISTANT Comprising Explanations of the Process of Printing Preparation and Calculation of Manuscripts Choice of Paper, Type, Binding, Illustrations, Publishing, Advertising, &C. With an Exemplification and Description of the Typographical Marks Used in the Correction of the Press London Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street 1839. W. Blatch, Printer, Grove Place, Brompton. The object of this little Work is to afford such a view of the Technical details of Printing and Publishing as shall enable Authors to form their own judgment on all subjects connected with the Publication of their Productions. The want of such a little Manual has been repeatedly suggested to the Publishers by the frequent enquiries of Authors, and they trust that the information here given will prove satisfactory. CONDUIT STREET, _March_ 1, 1839. CONTENTS. Page. Process of Printing, 1 Origin and Progress of Printing, 12 Stereotype Printing, 21 Copper Plate Printing, 25 Engraving on Wood, 25 Preparation and Calculation of Manuscript, 26 Choice of Paper, 30 Paper Making, 30 Choice of Type, 32 Correcting the Press, 39 Typographical Marks, 40 Illustrative Engravings, 50 Choice of Binding, 51 Publishing and Advertising, 53 THE AUTHOR'S PRINTING AND PUBLISHING ASSISTANT. As it is very desirable that Authors, and those who may have to give directions to the Printer, should be acquainted with the manner in which Printing is performed, it may be proper, in commencing this little work, to give in the first place a brief outline of THE PROCESS OF PRINTING. The Printing Office is divided into two branches; the one entitled the _Composing_, the other the _Press_ department. The Composing-room is furnished with a number of what are called _Cases_,[2-*] properly fitted up, which are placed before the Compositor. The Compositor then places the Manuscript[2-+] before him, and taking a small iron frame, or measure, adapted to the purpose, fixes it by a screw to the width which the Page he is to set up is intended to be, and commences the putting it into Type, in the following manner. Supposing the first words of the Manuscript to be "The City of London," he first selects the Capital Letter T, then the Lower-Case letter h, and then e, each from their respective compartments; after this he takes what is called a Space,[2-++] which is used to separate the words from each other; and thus proceeds until he comes to a Stop, which he selects in like manner, and places next to the last letter of the last word. When the frame he holds is filled, he removes the Type thus set into a larger, first to form Pages, and afterwards, when assembled together, to form Sheets. The number of Pages in each Sheet is determined by the size in which the work is to be printed:--if in Folio, four pages; if in Quarto, eight pages; if in Octavo, sixteen; if in Duodecimo, twenty-four, &c. When a sufficient number of Pages have been set to form a Sheet, they are what is called _Imposed_,[3-*] and the _Forme_ is removed to the Press-room, where the first impression, technically called the first Proof, is taken off. This Proof is then transferred to the Reading room, where it is carefully compared with the original by two persons, one reading the Manuscript, and the other the Proof-sheet, marking as he goes on any errors which may have occurred in the Setting. This first Proof is then given back to the Compositor, who has the forme again laid on the stone, and having, as it is called, unlocked it,[4-*] proceeds to make such corrections as by the marks on the proof he is directed to. When the Type has been made to correspond with the Manuscript, the first Corrected Proof is struck off, and transmitted to the Author. Should the Author not have occasion to make many alterations, he may not think it necessary to require a Second Proof; in that case he writes the word "Press" upon it, and having been again carefully read in the Office, it is then Printed off: but should it be otherwise, he writes the word "Revise" upon it, and it is again, when corrected, transmitted to him; and this as often as he may think necessary, until he adds the word "Press," which is the order for Printing off the entire number of copies of which the Edition is to consist. Thus, Sheet by Sheet,[5-*] the Printing is proceeded with: and as soon as one Sheet has been printed off, the Type used in that Sheet is distributed,[5-+] to be employed in setting up the subsequent parts of the work. From what has been said, it will be seen that the principal expense in Printing a work is the setting of the Type, arising from the fact that the many thousand[5-++] Letters, Spaces, Points, &c. of which it is composed have each to be selected, assembled, and again distributed _singly_; in doing which the greatest attention and accuracy are necessary. For the information of Authors not accustomed to Printing, it may be proper to state that the printing of the body of a work is always first in order; the Title, Preface, Contents, &c. being uniformly deferred till the completion.[6-*] The process of Printing off a work is thus conducted. The quantity of Paper for Printing the number of sheets required is first laid open. It is then in successive portions of six or eight sheets dipped into a cistern of clear water, and laid one upon the other; when the whole has been thus immersed, a board of the proper size is placed on the top, and some heavy weights are added; thus the whole becomes properly imbued with moisture, and is fit for working. Without this, the paper would neither sink into the interstices, nor receive the ink; besides which, it would be very liable to injure the Type. When therefore the Paper has been thus prepared, it is laid on a stand adjoining the Press, and the process of Printing commences. Over the surface of the Type a Roller[7-*] charged with Printing Ink is passed; the Sheet is laid on a frame which falls exactly on the forme; it is then shut down, rolled under the bed of the Press, the screw is turned which causes the weight to descend, the impression is given, and another turn of the hand delivers the Sheet Printed. It is not surprising that so powerful an engine as the Press should have attracted the combined attention of the learned and ingenious. Gentlemen have devoted much of their time to it. Among these may be mentioned Horace Walpole, who printed several of his favorite works at his seat, Strawberry Hill; Sir Egerton Brydges, at Lee Priory; and the late Earl Stanhope, at his family mansion, Chevening, Kent. To no one, probably, is the present advanced stage of Printing more indebted than to the last-named nobleman. With a natural talent for mechanical invention which no difficulty could subdue, he applied his enlightened mind with persevering ardour to a variety of useful objects, especially to the improvement of Printing. The result was not only the production of the most complete Printing Press then known, together with a variety of collateral improvements, but the increasing, if not originating, that impulse which has since carried this important branch of art so near to perfection. To those who are accustomed to Printing, and who are aware how much its beauty depends on what is called the Press-work, to produce which long practice and great manual dexterity are necessary, it might have appeared impossible that any Machine could have been invented to perform such an operation with any degree of precision and success; yet this the continued labour of mechanical ingenuity has accomplished. The Steam Printing Press is perhaps one of the most complete specimens of the perfection of mechanical contrivance ever afforded. To this the public are in a great degree indebted for that early and rapid communication of intelligence which is now brought down almost to the hour of the morning on which it is circulated. The Times Newspaper, which was the first to adopt this astonishing invention, is still printed by it with a rapidity which is scarcely conceivable.[10-*] An inspection of it cannot fail to gratify every intelligent observer. Its use has now become very general. The Steam Press, however, is chiefly applicable where large numbers, or great speed are required; for ordinary works, and fine Printing, the hand Press is still preferred, and probably ever will be. In a work like the present, it may not perhaps be deemed uninteresting to take a brief view of the ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING. There appears to be no reason to doubt that, from a very remote period in the history of the world, devices were used for the purpose of transmitting to after times the records of important events, but these are for the most part more a matter of curiosity than of positive information. Of the Origin of Printing as now practised, the Rev. Archdeacon Coxe gives the following account in his History of the House of Austria:--"It took its rise about the middle of the fifteenth century, and in the course of a few years reached that height of improvement which is scarcely surpassed even in the present times. The Invention was at first rude and simple, consisting of whole pages carved on Blocks of Wood,[12-*] and only impressed on one side of the leaf: the next step was the formation of moveable Types in Wood, and they were afterwards cut in Metal, and finally rendered more durable, regular, and elegant, by being Cast, or Founded. "The consequence of this happy and simple discovery was a rapid series of improvements in every art and science, and a general diffusion of knowledge among all orders of society. Hitherto the tedious, uncertain, and expensive mode of multiplying books by the hand of the Copyist, had principally confined the treasures of learning to Monasteries,[14-*] or to persons of rank and fortune. Yet, even with all the advantages of wealth, Libraries were extremely scarce and scanty; and principally consisted of books of devotion and superstition, legends, or the sophistical disquisitions of the schoolmen. An acquaintance with the Latin classics was a rare qualification, and the Greek language was almost unknown in Europe; but the Art of Printing had scarcely become general before it gave a new impulse to genius and a new spirit to inquiry. A singular concurrence of circumstances contributed to multiply the beneficial effects derived from this invention, among which the most considerable were the protection afforded to literature and the arts by the States of Italy, and the diffusion of Greek learning by the literati who sought an asylum in Europe after the capture of Constantinople. "A controversy has arisen concerning the first discoverer of the art of Printing, between the three towns of Haerlem, Mentz, and Strasburg, each, from a natural partiality, attributing it to their own countryman. The dispute, however, has turned rather on words than facts; and seems to have arisen from the different definitions of the word "Printing." If we estimate the discovery from the invention of the principle, the honour is unquestionably due to Laurence Coster, a native of Haerlem, who first found out the method of impressing characters on paper, by means of carved blocks of wood. If moveable types be considered as a criterion, the merit of the discovery is due to John Gutenberg, of Mentz; and Schoeffer, in conjunction with Faust, was the first who founded Types of Metal."--_Coxe_, vol. i. p. 421. 8vo. Although some attempts have been made to support a different statement, it is pretty generally admitted that William Caxton, who had lived abroad and learned the art there, was the person who introduced Printing into England; in this Stowe, Leland, and others agree, that "in the almonry at Westminster, the Abbot of Westminster erected the first Press for Book-printing that ever was in England, about the year 1471; and where Wm. Caxton, Citizen and Mercer, who first brought it into England, first practised it." The first work printed in England was "The Recueil of The Historeys of Troye," of which Caxton thus speaks:--"Thus end I this book, &c., and for as moche as in wrytyng of the same my penne is worn, myne hande wery, and myne eyen dimmed, with overmoche lokyng on the whit paper--and that age crepeth on me dayly--and also because I have promised to dyverce gentilmen and to my frendes to adresse to them as hastely as I myght this said book, therefore I have practysed and learned at my grete charge and dispense to ordayne this sayd book in prynte after the manner and forme as ye may here see, and is not wreten with penne and ynke, as other bokes ben, to thende that every man may have them att ones; for all the books of this storye named the Recule of the Historyes of Troyes thus emprynted as ye here see were begonne in oon day and also finished in oon day," &c. In another place he enumerates the works he had printed thus:--"When I had accomplished dyvers workys and historyes translated out of Frenshe into Englyshe, at the requeste of certayn lords, ladyes, and gentylmen, as the Recule of the Historyes of Troye, the Boke of Chesse, the Historye of Jason, the Historye of the Mirrour of the World, I have submysed myself to translate into English, the Legende of Sayntes, called Legenda Aurea in Latyn--and Wylyam Erle of Arondel desyred me--and promysed to take a resonyble quantyte of them--sente to me a worshipful gentylman--promising that my sayd lord should during my lyf give and grant to me a yearly fee, that is to note a bucke in sommer, and a doo in wynter," &c. It appears that Caxton continued his employment at Westminster, with considerable success, until his death, which occurred in 1491. He seems to have been extensively patronised, and to have been a person of great moral worth. He is supposed to have lived to beyond the age of eighty. Wynkyn de Worde, who was an assistant, and afterwards succeeded Caxton, was a foreigner, born in the dukedom of Lorrain. He made great improvements, especially in the form of his types. Most of his books now remaining, were printed in Fleet Street, in St. Bride's Parish, at the sign of the Sun. He died in 1534. Richard Pynson, who had been brought up under Caxton, set up a Press at Temple Bar, and was the first who obtained the patent of King's Printer; he died in 1529. After this, Printing was practised very generally, not only in London, but in many other places, especially Oxford and Cambridge, both which Universities obtained the exclusive right, which they still retain, of Printing all Bibles and Prayer Books; that is, with the exception of the person holding the patent of King's Printer, who also has this right. The principle of moveable Types having been once introduced, little room was left for improvement, beyond the slight variations in the form of the Letters, which, as a matter of taste, would always be liable to fluctuate: a comparison of works, printed at different periods, will exemplify this. An experiment was made some years since, in Logographic, or Word Printing; the Words of most frequent occurrence being cast together, instead of setting them up in single Letters; but it does not appear to have succeeded, or to have been generally adopted, though a Volume, at least, was printed on this plan, which the Publishers of this little work happen to have in their possession. In the improvement of the Printing Press, and the manufacture of Printing Ink, a larger sphere was opened, inasmuch as to the advancement of these, Printing must be ever indebted for its degrees of excellence. Printing Ink is a sort of Black Varnish, the making of which is still a secret in the hands of the manufacturers, so far as its finer qualities are concerned. Its requisites are, that it should have a sufficient, and not too great a degree of tenacity; that it should produce a perfectly black impression, and that it should dry quickly: in proportion as the Ink is deficient in these qualities, it will be liable to injure the paper, or produce specks, to surround the printing with a yellow hue, from the too great preponderance of the oily ingredients; or to soil the paper during the subsequent processes. The excellence of the Printing of Baskerville was chiefly attributable to his discoveries in the art of Ink Making. The late Mr. Bulmer, also, who printed some of the most splendid works of the last half century, was very successful in his experiments. The manufacture is now in the hands of several persons, who are eminent in this art, and who have made it a distinct branch of business. STEREOTYPE PRINTING, which is a modern improvement, is a mode of rendering a work permanent in Type, in the following manner. When the Type has been accurately corrected, the Pages of Type are properly arranged for the purpose, when a cast is taken of them in a Plaster Cement, which becomes hard when dry: into this mould melted Type Metal is poured, and thus a perfect counterpart of the Type is produced of each Page, in one solid Plate. This mode was brought into notice by the late Lord Stanhope. The first attempt to render a work thus permanent, and which appears to have been adopted solely with the view of preventing error, was made by a Printer at Leyden, about a hundred years since. He produced a Quarto Bible, Printed from solid Pages, but these were rendered solid by soldering together the backs of the Types. The present mode is, of course, a great improvement on this; as instead of incurring the heavy expense of so large a quantity of moveable Type, the same result is produced, and the Type from which the cast is taken remains uninjured, to be used again and again, for the same, or any other purpose. Stereotype Printing is thus a very valuable process, for works not liable to alteration, as Bibles, School Books, and other works of which large numbers are required, as it would be impossible to keep the moveable Types standing for such works, without a very great outlay of Capital.[22-*] Another mode of Printing, is that called LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTING, or PRINTING FROM STONE. This is also a recent invention. It was brought into England about twenty years since. Invented by M. Senefelder, of Munich. It is founded on the principles of Chemical Affinity. A Writing or Drawing is made on Stone, with an Ink prepared with a sort of unctuous ingredient--to this is applied another Ink of a contrary quality; the Ink with which the Writing or Drawing is made, remains on the Stone, while that with which the Printing is performed, separates from it, and is thus transferred to the Paper. This method has been brought to very great perfection; so much so, as to produce Prints from Drawings possessing nearly all the beauty and delicacy of Copperplate or Steel Engravings. It is also very useful in multiplying Fac-similes, as it admits of Printing from the hand-writing itself, when written with Ink prepared for the purpose. At Munich, Paris, and St. Petersburgh, this mode of Printing has been adopted in the Government Offices. All Resolutions, Edicts, Orders, &c., agreed to at the Cabinet meetings, are written down on paper, by the Secretary, with Chemical Ink, and in the space of an hour, an ample supply of copies is obtained. For Circulars, and in general, all such orders of Government as must be rapidly distributed, an invention like this is of the utmost consequence, and it is probable that eventually it will be universally employed. In time of war it would prove of the greatest use for the general staff of the Army, completely supplying the want of a field Printing-Office, and especially as it admits of greater despatch and secresy. The Commanding Officer might write his orders with his own hand, and in his presence a number of impressions might be taken by a person who could neither write nor read. In mercantile transactions, it is very generally employed where a quick and accurate multiplication of Price Lists, Letters, and Accounts, is of the utmost importance. COPPER-PLATE PRINTING. Copper, or Steel-plate Engravings, are Printed by a different process. The Copper, or Steel-plate Press, is formed of two Rollers, one placed over the other, with only a sufficient space between to allow a board to pass, when a strong force is applied. The Plate is then laid on a small fire adapted to the purpose, so as to heat it sufficiently to liquify the Ink, and cause it to diffuse itself over every part of the Engraving. It is then made perfectly clean, so as to leave no soil on the paper, except from the parts indented. It is then laid on the board, the Paper spread upon it, and a soft cloth being added, the Roller is turned by a Cross Lever, when the Print, with all its varied tints, is immediately produced. ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. Engravings on Wood, are usually Printed with the Letter Press, for which they are peculiarly adapted. The next subject which claims attention is the PREPARATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT. When a Manuscript intended for the Press has been written hastily, has many erasures and interlineations, or is otherwise to any extent rendered partially, or perhaps in some cases wholly illegible, the consequence will be, that if given into the hands of the Printer in that state, the Printing will be retarded, the expense of Printing increased, and much additional trouble occasioned to the Author, in correcting those errors, (should he discover them,) which a clearly written Manuscript would have entirely prevented. In such cases it would be decidedly preferable, indeed it has been found a saving both in time and expense, to have the whole fairly copied. In so doing there would besides be this additional advantage,--that the Manuscript might be again finally revised by the author[26-*] previously to its being put into the Printer's hands; every correction which can be made in the Manuscript being a measure strongly to be recommended in every view.[27-*] There is another point of which Authors are frequently not aware--the desirableness of their Manuscripts being written on one side only. The convenience of this is, that any Remarks, Notes, Interlineations or Directions to the Printer, may be inserted on the opposite Blank Pages; and also that in the process of Printing, it may, if needful for speed or otherwise, be divided at any given point, without danger of mistake or confusion. In all cases it is desirable that Manuscripts intended for the press should be written as much as possible, with a tolerable degree of uniformity, each Page containing about the same number of Lines, and each Line about the same number of Words. This is certainly not essential, but it will generally be very convenient, as it will at once enable the Author to judge of the probable extent of his work, and the Printer or Publisher, when the Manuscript is completed, to decide on the quantity. To write on Ruled Paper is perhaps the most effectual mode of accomplishing this. Another point to be attended to is, that Manuscripts should always be Paged. This will not only shew the quantity either in whole, or in part, without the trouble of counting, but will prevent mistake should any portion be misplaced. When a Manuscript, therefore, is about to be written or copied for the Press, it would be desirable to have prepared, a Quarto Book, Ruled, with a narrow margin, and lines across, and to have it Paged beforehand, on the right hand page only, on which page only the Manuscript should be written. It is not, however, essential that these points should be regarded, should circumstances not permit. In such cases, if legibility can be secured, other obstacles may be surmounted: there will always, however, be considerable difficulty in calculating an irregularly written Manuscript. Should a Manuscript be closely written, and insertions be necessary, it will be preferable not to interline them, but write them on a separate Paper, numbering each, and referring them to the Pages, and on the Pages to the Paper. When a Manuscript is about to be sent to the Press, it should be finally and carefully read over by the Author, who should mark any directions he may wish attended to in the Printing, and with his pen make any words plain which may happen to be obscure, by doing which, he will frequently prevent those errors of the Press which often change the sense of a passage, and are liable to escape detection. When the Manuscript has thus been prepared, the next step will be the CHOICE OF PAPER, that is, to determine on the Size of the Work. This is a question which will generally be decided by what is customary. If a work of Fiction, the size will be what is called Post 8vo. If Historical or Scientific, Demy 8vo. If Poetry, Foolscap, Post, or Demy 8vo. as may be preferred. There are, however, a variety of other sizes, regulated by the number of leaves into which the sheet may be folded, as well as by the size of the Paper adopted, which may be more readily seen than described. The size and qualities of Paper, are of every variety. PAPER MAKING. The Manufacture of Paper, as now used, is not an Art of very ancient date, probably not earlier than the thirteenth century; but of its origin nothing is certainly known. Various substances were in ancient times employed for writing, as Skins, Ivory, Lead, &c. In Egypt, from a very remote period, the inner films pressed together of the Papyrus or Biblos, a sort of Flag, or Bulrush, growing in the marshes there. From whence the word Paper is derived. Paper is made from Rags, the best from Linen Rags; thus rendering that which had become useless, an article of universal importance, and permanent value. Without this indispensable material, Printing would have been deprived of its chief auxiliary; but with it, and by the present improved system of Manufacture, the productions of the Press, and of the Paper Mill, can be carried to any extent. The Process of Paper Making is thus conducted. The Rags are first washed; then ground in the Mill with water, so as to form a Pulp; this Pulp is then conveyed to a Vat, furnished with a Mould of fine wire cloth, which takes up a sufficient quantity to form the Sheet, which, when the water has drained from it, is laid on a pile, and pressed so as to discharge the remaining moisture: it is then hung up to dry, after which, unless it has been sized in the Vat, which is the case with some kinds, it is dipped into a tub of fine size; and when again dried and pressed, is fit for use. One of the greatest modern improvements in Paper making, is Bleaching the Rags. This enables the Paper-maker to produce the finest Paper from any kind of Rags. He has only, therefore, to find such materials as will make a Paper of a strong texture, and a fine even surface, and by the Bleaching process he can produce whatever shade of Colour he may desire. A good supply of clear water is of the greatest importance in Paper Making. On this account, Paper Mills are built on clear streams. By the recent improvements in machinery, Paper can now be made with almost any required degree of rapidity. The next consideration to the size of the Paper, will be THE CHOICE OF TYPE. Type is cast of almost every conceivable variety. The sizes most in use for Books, are English, Pica, Small Pica, Long Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier, Nonpareil. The following are specimens of these various sizes:-- (_English._) [Illustration: Speaking of the art of Printing, the late Earl Stanhope observed, "I participate in the encomiums bestowed by all former eulogists on this transcendant art, which may justly be considered as the nurse and preserver of every species of knowledge; and while I look] (_Pica._) [Illustration: into history for an examination of the benefit which mankind has already derived from it, I feel equal, or even still more pleasure in anticipating that which it is yet capable of effecting, when by being perfectly unfettered all over the globe, it will give rise to, and promote a system of universal education, and] (_Small Pica._) [Illustration: when as a certain consequence of that education, all societies will direct their strenuous efforts towards bringing into complete operation, that divine morality which has for its basis this simple, but sublime maxim--Do unto another that which you would wish another should do unto you. Printing, from its commencement, has always had some opponents, actuated from selfish interest, who, in many] (_Long Primer._) [Illustration: cases, possessed such influence over their fellow-men, as to corrupt their judgments and decisions, whenever the question of its advantages or disadvantages to mankind, came to be agitated. The monks in particular, were its inveterate opposers; the great majority of them acting upon the spirit of an avowal made by the Vicar of Croydon, in a sermon preached by him at St. Paul's Cross, when he declared, "We must root out printing, or printing will root out us." Happily this superior art withstood their] (_Bourgeois._) [Illustration: hostility, and it became the main engine by which their artifices, invented to keep the people in ignorance and superstition, were detected and punished. Though much good has already resulted from the use of printing, yet much of what it is capable of still remains to be accomplished; for its utmost utility is not to be looked for while there remains any restraint] (_Brevier._) [Illustration: upon its practice throughout the world. The real Philanthropist and Philosopher, cannot but view with regret the state of persecution under which Printing labours in most of the Catholic countries in Europe, wherein it still remains subject to the control of bigotted ecclesiastics, who feel, as being still applicable to themselves, all the force of the declaration of the Vicar of Croydon. If at the present day they are not so bold as to attempt to annihilate it entirely, yet they watch over the productions of the Press, with such a] (_Nonpareil._) [Illustration: scrutinizing eye, and impose such shackles upon it, as not to permit any thing to be printed, but what has a tendency to uphold the iniquitous system of continuing the people in ignorance: even in England it cannot be disavowed that Printing has many and powerful opponents, who attack it under various pretences; sometimes upon pretended allegations of danger to the State, sometimes upon general allegations of injuring Society by its licentiousness; and there are some persons, even, so unblushing as to declare their aversion to Printing, upon the ground that it is dangerous to give a too extended education to the lower classes of the people."] It will be well to familiarize the eye with these different Sizes of Type, which may easily be done by a little practice, as it will greatly facilitate the understanding of the various technical details connected with the Press. Next to the Size of the Type, the Size of the Page will have to be decided upon. Though both these points are in a great degree regulated by custom, they are yet in practice sufficiently open to variation, to meet the case of each particular Work. Thus by the Size of the Type, and Number of Lines, a Work may be either expanded, or compressed, as may be desired. Pica is the type usually employed in Printing works of History, Biography, Travels, &c., in the Demy octavo size; Small Pica, in Novels, Romances, &c., in the Post octavo size; and Long Primer, Poetry, in the Foolscap octavo size. To take for an example, the Novel, or Romance size. The ordinary Page employed in Works of this kind, contains twenty-two Lines, each Line containing, on an average, eight Words. Three hundred such Pages are considered the proper quantity for an ordinary size Volume. If a Manuscript, therefore, should contain about two hundred Pages, each Page containing about thirty-three Lines of eight Words, it would occupy about three hundred Pages in Print. Should the Manuscript, however, contain but one hundred and eighty such Pages, then in order to form three hundred Printed Pages, each Page would have to consist of but twenty, instead of twenty-two Lines. On the above principle, it will not be difficult for an Author to form a tolerably correct idea of the extent of a Work--that is, sufficiently so for all general purposes; and the comparison may be extended to any Work of any kind thus--having first selected a Work in Print, which it is desired that in Manuscript should resemble, the Number of Words in a Line, and of Lines in a Page of each, being ascertained, if the disparity between them shall be in any specific ratio, as in the instance above, a Page of Manuscript being equal to a Page and a half of Print, the result will be immediately apparent; but should it be otherwise, a different process may be necessary: should the Manuscript contain but twenty-five, instead of thirty Lines, then the most direct mode of Calculation would be to take the three Lines per Page, by which the Manuscript would exceed the Print, and multiply the Manuscript Pages by three--this would give six hundred; these six hundred lines divided by twenty-two, the number of Lines in the Printed Page, give twenty-seven and a fraction; the whole would therefore, on this supposition, make about two hundred and twenty-seven Printed Pages, of twenty-two Lines each. There are, however, other circumstances which may affect such Calculations--as the Breaks in Chapters, Paragraphs, Conversations, &c., where the Work may have been written in Manuscript continuously. These points would, where desired, be best ascertained by having a number of Pages set up, and by then comparing them in the aggregate with the Manuscript. The next point in order, will be CORRECTING THE PRESS; and this should invariably, when possible, be done by the Author; no one can so thoroughly enter into the train of thought and expression, and to no one could the disturbance of either prove so annoying: where this cannot be done, and the task must be deputed, the Manuscript should, in all cases, be considered the Authority, and no departure be made from it, except as may have been directed, or in extreme cases. Corrections of the Press should be marked clearly; and this can never be done so satisfactorily, both to the Corrector and Printer, as by employing those Typographical Marks, which, from having been universally adopted, are, in consequence, understood by all persons connected with the Press.--The following Pages will exemplify these: First, the Proof corrected; Secondly, the Proof Revised. _Proof Corrected._ [Illustration: This page is a specimen of Lithographic Printing. The impression from the Type being first taken on Paper, in Lithographic Ink, the Corrections then added with the Pen, and the whole transferred to the Stone from which the Page is printed.] _Proof Revised._ [Illustration: In all the more celebrated nations of the ancient world, we find established those twin elements of belief, by which religion harmonizes and directs the social relations of life, viz. a faith in a future state, and in the providence of Superior Powers, who, surveying as Judges the affairs of earth, punish the wicked, and reward the good. It has been plausibly conjectured, that the fables of Elysium, the slow Cocytus, and the gloomy Hades, were either invented or allegorized from the names of Egyptian places. Diodorus assures us that by the vast catacombs of Egypt, the dismal mansions of the dead--were the temple and stream, both called Cocytus, the _foul_ canal of Acheron, and the Elysian plains; and according to the same equivocal authority, the body of the dead was wafted across the waters by a pilot, termed Charon in the Egyptian tongue. But previous to the embarkation, appointed judges on the MARGIN of the ACHERON listened to whatever accusations were preferred by the living against the deceased; and if convinced of his mis-deeds, deprived him of the rights of Sepulture.--_Athens, by Sir Lytton Bulwer_, vol. i. p. 52.] _Explanation of the Typographical Marks._ No. 1, is used to correct a _wrong letter_, drawing a line down through it, and placing the right letter before a corresponding stroke in the margin; _a wrong word_ is corrected by drawing a line across it, as in No. 2, and writing the proper word in the margin. _Where any thing has been omitted_, or is wished to be inserted, a Caret is marked at the place where it is to come in, and the word or words written in the margin, putting underneath an answering Caret. _Where a space is wanting between two words or letters_ that are intended to be separated, a parallel line must be drawn where the separation ought to be, and the mark No. 4 placed opposite in the margin. Also _where words or letters should join_, but are separated, the circumflex No. 5, must be placed under the separation, and the same mark be made in the margin. _When letters or words are set double_, and are required to be taken out, a line is drawn through the superfluous word or letter, and the mark No. 6, which is the letter _d_, an abbreviation of _dele_ (_expunge or erase_) must be placed in the margin. _A turned letter_, or one placed the wrong way upward, is noticed by making a dash under it, and placing the mark No. 7, in the margin. _Where a black mark_ is seen in any part of the line, which is occasioned by a space standing up, it is noticed by making a dash under it, and placing the mark, No. 8, in the margin. _Where two words are transposed_, the word placed wrong, should be encircled, and the mark 9, (_tr._ an abridgement of transpose,) be placed in the margin; but where several words are to be transposed, that which is intended to come first should have the figure 1 placed over it, that second 2, and so on, the mark (_tr._) being also placed opposite in the margin. _Where a new paragraph is required_, a crotchet should be made at the place where the new paragraph should begin, and a similar mark (No. 10.) be placed in the margin. Where a new paragraph should not have been made, a line should be drawn from the last word of the previous paragraph, and in the margin should be written, _No break_. _Where several lines or words are to be introduced_, they should be written at the bottom of the page, and at the place where they are to come in, a Caret should be made, from which a line should be drawn to the first word of the passage to be inserted. If a word, or words, are required to be in Capitals, Small Capitals or Italic, such word or words should be underlined--for Capitals with three lines; for Small Capitals, with two; for Italic, with one; writing opposite in the margin, _Caps._, _Small Caps._, or _Ital._ If they should be required to be altered back, a line should be drawn under the Italic, and the word _Roman_, and under the Capitals or Small Capitals, and the words _Lower-case_, written in the margin. _Where words have been erroneously struck out_, or are otherwise wished to remain, dots should be placed under them, and the word _Stet_ (_let it stand or remain_) written in the margin. _Where the Punctuation requires to be altered_, the Semicolon, Colon, or Period, should be marked and encircled in the margin, a line being drawn at the word at which either is to be placed, as in No. 15.--16 describes the manner in which the hyphen and ellipsis line are marked; and 17, that in which the Apostrophe, Inverted Comma, the Star, and other References, and Superior Letters, and Figures, are marked for insertion. Notes, if added, should have the word _Note_, with a Star, and a corresponding Star at the word to which they are referred. _Where letters or lines are altered_, they are noticed by drawing lines before and after them, as in No. 18. A little practice will soon render the use of these Marks familiar. It has been before observed, that Correcting the Press, so far as the Printers are concerned, is an extremely troublesome, and to them, the most unpleasant part of their business. It occupies much more time than could be supposed, and consequently occasions an Expense which the mere alteration of a few Words in a Page would perhaps scarcely be thought sufficient to justify. But when it is considered that every alteration disturbs the whole adjoining mass of Type, and may do so to the end of the Page, or several Pages, it will be less difficult to perceive the reason of the well ascertained fact, that Printers always greatly prefer being employed in the Setting, rather than in the Correcting department of their office. It is not uncommon for Authors, unaware of these circumstances, to deliver their Manuscript for the Press, in a very unfinished state; and in some instances, as if they actually considered that they could not satisfactorily Correct their Work, until they saw it in Print--an error which it would probably only require them to combat to overcome: it should, however, in all such cases, be distinctly understood, that the Expenses of Correcting will, if considerable, unavoidably enhance that of the Printing, and this in a ratio that would very naturally surprise those unacquainted with the subject. All errors which are not in the Manuscript, are considered as errors of the Press; the correction of which devolves on the Printer. Indeed, no proof should be submitted to the Author, until these have been made: a careful Reader in the Printing Office will also sometimes draw the Author's attention to some Word or Sentence, which appears to be susceptible of improvement, and which might otherwise have passed unnoticed; this is, however, not always done, unless requested. In Correcting a Proof, for the reasons already given, as few alterations as possible should be made; when these are, however, unavoidable, it would be advisable to observe this Rule, namely--always if possible, to insert in a Line or Page, as much as is taken out, or vice versâ; this is in a great majority of instances very practicable; and the advantage of it is, that it will avoid what is technically called _Overrunning_. This will, perhaps, be best explained by referring to the Corrected Proof (p. 40) in the 3rd line of which, it will be seen that the word _for_ is marked out, and the word _of_ inserted in its stead; which, it will be perceived by the opposite Revised Page, has occasioned no alteration beyond the line; but at line 17 there is an insertion marked without an omission; which would have rendered it necessary to carry as many lines as were inserted to the next Page, if the Page had been previously filled up in the usual way. This is called _Overrunning_, and often requires that each subsequent Page should be altered to the end of a Chapter, or if the work is continuous, to the end of all that has at that time been set in Type. There is also another point to be observed; which is, that where Revises are considered necessary, as few as possible should be required, each Revise requiring the repetition of the process already described in striking off a Proof, and which will not only occasion additional Expense, but will also frequently cause considerable delay in the progress of the Work. Generally speaking, if the Corrections are clearly marked, and not very numerous, the final Revision may be safely entrusted to the care of a skilful Printer. If any error should escape the notice of the Author, or Corrector, and be Printed off, it may be corrected by Re-printing the leaf in which it occurs, which is called a Cancel. This is, however, seldom necessary, when the error is clearly typographical. It is frequently a convenience to the Author to have two proofs of each sheet, one to be returned corrected, the other to be retained for reference. It is not, perhaps, generally known, that Works Printed in London may be corrected by Authors residing at any distance, the Proof Sheets passing and re-passing through the Post Office at Single Postage, provided they are not cut, and that the direction is Written _upon_ the Sheet. An Envelope would occasion Double Postage. It is usual also to add the words "Proof Sheet" in the corner. The various kinds of ILLUSTRATIVE ENGRAVINGS have already been slightly referred to. They are of three kinds: Engravings on Steel,[50-*] or Copper; Lithographic Drawings, or Prints from Stone; and Engravings on Wood. The first two are Printed independently of the Work; the latter in connection with it; either incorporated with the Text, or otherwise, as may be desired. Each of these modes may be employed with advantage, where Embellishment is intended, or information beyond that which description is adapted to convey. Coloured Engravings are also frequently employed in such cases. Next to the Printing a Work, is the CHOICE OF BINDING. Until a very recent period, Binding was of two kinds only--that in Paper and that in Leather. The former, called Boarding, being used for Books when first Published, or when purchased for use in that state; the latter for Books when read, or intended to form a permanent part of a Library. Binding in Leather has been carried to very great perfection; and, according to the skill employed, is susceptible of the most varied and tasteful embellishment. The Titles of Books in Boards are affixed by printed Labels--those of such as are bound in Leather in Letters worked in Gold. These latter are produced by laying a leaf of Gold on the Leather, and stamping each Letter singly, a process requiring great skill and labour. Recently a new mode has been introduced, called Cloth Binding. This is done by covering the Book with Cloth; and, by means of a strong pressure, Stamping it with some Ornamental Device Engraved for the purpose, and which is called Embossing. There is in this new method also another improvement--that of Lettering the back in Gold at one operation, which is thus effected:--instead of the mode employed in Leather Binding, of impressing each Letter singly on the Gold, the whole of the Lettering is cut on a solid piece of brass, and in this form impressed on the back at once. This is not only a great saving in time and labour, but admits also of much tasteful ornament in emblematical and other fanciful devices, which produce a very pleasing effect at a comparatively trifling cost. This latter process, now very generally adopted, and of which the Binding of this little Work, presents a Specimen, is applicable to almost all works of Science, History, Biography, Travels, &c., and not only gives to them a very superior appearance when first Published, but also, from their close imitation of Leather Binding, renders them fit to be placed at once in the Library. This mode of Binding does not, however, possess much durability, as it differs only in the exterior from the former Boarding--still, until a Book is Bound in Leather, it certainly forms a very agreeable substitute. Cloth Binding, general as its use has become, has not, however, been adopted for Novels, which are still usually published in Boards. For Annuals, and other Embellished Works, as well as many of those of a smaller size, this mode has been justly and generally preferred. PUBLISHING AND ADVERTISING. Publishing, though the last step in order, is undoubtedly one of the first in importance to most Works issuing from the Press. There may perhaps be some few exceptions, but, generally, their success must in a great degree be influenced by the mode and means adopted for their Publication. Not that it can be supposed that all Works can alike succeed; but that many fail in obtaining that degree of attention which they might otherwise have received owing to some circumstances attending the means adopted in the final step of Publication. London is undoubtedly the great emporium for Literary Works, as for almost every other species of Production. Even Printers in the country are so well aware of this, that they rarely fail to obtain the co-operation of a London Publisher in bringing out any Works in which they may venture to engage; though Works thus Published labour under the disadvantage naturally arising from their not being entirely under the management of the London Publisher. There are other reasons which render London[54-*] the peculiar, and it might be said almost the exclusive channel for Publication. In it all the branches of the Periodical Press are conducted; Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly, the various avenues to the public, not only in this vast city, but in every part of the empire, and of the world, are here open, and consequently all the vehicles for Announcements, Advertisements, and Criticisms, are here only accessible. Add to this that from London every species of literary production is constantly despatched to every part of the empire and of the world, and it will then be seen how small a probability there can be that any work not Published in London can obtain even the most moderate share of general attention. London Publishers are of two classes: those who reside at the West End of the Town, and who confine their attention to Publishing only; and those who reside in the City, and who are also engaged in Wholesale Bookselling. Wholesale Booksellers generally devote their especial attention to the supply of the Retail Trade both in Town and Country. Some make no further arrangements for Publishing than simply to supply, when applied for, such Works as their Country Correspondents, who are Printers, may have transmitted to them for that purpose; while others are Publishers to a considerable extent of what are called Standard Works--Works on Education, Science, &c., and such as are in regular and constant demand. To these, therefore, the attention of the City Booksellers is very generally directed; while that of the Publishers at the West End of the Town is almost entirely devoted to what may be called the Literature of the Day--Works of Amusement and light reading, Travels, Memoirs, Novels, Tales, Poems, and other productions of a similar character. This distinction of the two Classes of Publishers arises therefore, in the first place, from the nature of their avocations, and in the second from their peculiar Locality; the one having their Establishments in the centre of resort, for those who are engaged in Trade and Business; the other in that of Fashion and Amusement; so that there is not only a convenience but propriety in the arrangement that custom has established, that works of what may be called Current Literature should be Published at the West End of the Town, while those more immediately connected with the Business of Life should appear in the City. It is generally understood that the name of an Established Publisher operates not only as a Recommendation to those Works to which it is Prefixed, but also tends to make them known through Extensive Connexions already formed. It also tends to associate them with other Popular Works issuing from the same Establishment. There are three modes of Publishing--that in which a Work is Published entirely for, and at the expense of the Author, who thus retains the Property of the Work; that in which the Publisher takes all or part of the risk, and divides the profit; and that in which the Publisher purchases the Copyright, and thus secures to himself the entire proceeds. The First of these is the basis on which many First Productions are Published; the Second, where a certain demand can be calculated upon; and the Third, where an Author has become so popular as to ensure an extensive circulation. The first step that should be taken by an Author intending to produce a Work should be to take the opinion of an experienced Publisher, by doing which not only much unnecessary trouble may be spared, but frequently much unavailable labour and even expense. It is not at all uncommon for Authors, in the course of their reading, to become so impressed with some favourite subject as to conclude that it must prove of the same interest to others, and under this impression proceed to bestow considerable labour upon it. Had they, however, taken the course here recommended, they would probably have learned either that there was already some very similar Work, or that the production proposed would not, from some cause known perhaps only to the Publisher, be at all likely to meet with the success anticipated. These are circumstances of constant occurrence, which the Publishers of this little Work have had frequent opportunities of knowing. Generally speaking, Publishers are the most competent advisers on all subjects connected with their peculiar avocations, having constantly before them the best means of judging, and being naturally interested in the success of the Works in which they engage. Authors cannot therefore adopt a more judicious course than to commit the entire management of their Productions to their care. Many Authors, after having written their Works, consign them to oblivion, from Publishers declining, often in consequence of their own peculiar engagements, to undertake their Publication. This may be avoided by the Plan now adopted of _Publishing for Authors_, and which is more particularly referred to in a subsequent page. Advertising, as an essential part of Publication, should never be lost sight of; but it is a measure which should be judiciously regulated and cautiously pursued, or a large amount of expense may be incurred to very little purpose. Another point to be attended to, is the placing in the proper channels Copies for Review. This is a very advisable measure, as without it many of the Works issuing from the Press would not be likely to meet the eye of those engaged in the announcement of New Works. Where Authors may desire to Print only a limited number of Copies for the use of their friends, this may easily be accomplished without the least personal inconvenience, through the intervention of the Publishers. Should further information on any of the foregoing subjects be desired, the Publishers will have great pleasure in affording it on application personally, or by letter. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 2-*: Shallow frames of wood, divided into as many compartments as there are Letters, Capital, Small Capital, and ordinary (called _Lower-Case_), together with Italic, and the different Stops, Marks, and other Points employed for reference, quotations, &c.] [Footnote 2-+: Technically called Copy.] [Footnote 2-++: A blank piece of Type metal, or one without a Letter, of which there are various kinds; used also to separate the lines from each other, according as the pages may be; whether _full_, having the lines close together, or _light_, with a greater distance between them.] [Footnote 3-*: This is done by placing the several pages at proper distances on a large stone, fixed on a strongly constructed table; each Page being surrounded by blocks of wood prepared for the purpose, and when firmly wedged together in an iron frame are ready for the press, and are then called a _Forme_.] [Footnote 4-*: Driven back the wedges by which the Type is compressed and held firmly together within the iron frame, in order to allow of his separating any part of the Pages which may be necessary.] [Footnote 5-*: It is desirable to observe this, as it has sometimes been supposed that the Proof-sheets of an entire work may be furnished at once. This it will be seen could not be, in a work of any extent; as the quantity of Type required for each sheet renders it necessary that the type should be liberated as speedily as convenient, in order to facilitate the progress and completion of the Printing.] [Footnote 5-+: Taken asunder, and every Letter, Space, Point, &c. restored to its allotted compartment in the Type Case.] [Footnote 5-++: The cost of Setting the Type is regulated by the Thousand, which will explain why a full page or a smaller type is more expensive than a light or a larger.] [Footnote 6-*: From the labour required in setting the Type, it will be easily conceived that Printing must necessarily be a rather slow process: it is so generally, three or four sheets per week being usually considered tolerably good speed, allowing for the unavoidable impediments occasioned by the transmitting and correcting of Proofs, &c. On urgent occasions, however, much greater progress may be made, which is accomplished by dividing the Manuscript among a greater number of hands. The publishers of this little work have had a volume printed in the astonishingly short space of three days. It was a work by Sir Lytton Bulwer, and the effort was rendered necessary in consequence of the arrangements made for the Foreign Editions. Nearly one hundred workmen were employed in effecting it.] [Footnote 7-*: The Roller is a modern improvement. Formerly, the Inking process was performed with two large Balls, filled with wool, and covered with a sort of parchment. The Roller is a great improvement, diffusing the Ink more equally and producing a much greater uniformity of colour (as it is called) in the Printing.] [Footnote 10-*: The Newspaper Press affords a remarkable instance of the surprising effect of combined and persevering effort. Few persons, perhaps, among those who are accustomed to receive the Daily Papers, are aware of the vast amount of cost and labour constantly employed in their production. To take for an instance the Times Newspaper. To accumulate the various articles of intelligence which are there collected, persons are constantly and assiduously employed in all directions, both at home and abroad. For the Foreign department, gentlemen, men of education and address, especially fitted for their office, resident in the various foreign capitals, and who regularly transmit (when necessary, by express) the earliest accounts of important occurrences, so effectually indeed as sometimes even to precede the government couriers; so that during the late war, events of the highest importance were first promulgated through the columns of this paper.--For the daily occurrences of the metropolis and its environs, others, devoted to this particular office. For the political circles, the Courts of Law, Police Offices, Accidents, Offences, &c., others;--and for the two Houses of Parliament, expert and expeditious short-hand writers; all of whom are continually engaged in transmitting their various reports to the office with the most persevering activity, to be there arranged, condensed, and fitted to their respective columns, by the sub-editors and those employed in what is called making up the Paper; while the Editor's attention is more especially engaged in watching the progress of events, and in furnishing on the moment those remarks which are to be found in what is called the Leading Article. Thus the whole is in one day communicated, arranged, and printed; and by the same evening's post transmitted to the most distant parts of the Empire; a result which may well strike those who enter into the contemplation of the vast expenditure of effort and capital which are constantly employed for the purpose, with astonishment. In the completion of their Steam Printing Press alone, the Proprietors are said to have expended upwards of sixty thousand pounds. The daily sale of the paper is understood to be about ten thousand copies; and these, by means of the Steam Press, are printed off in the almost incredibly short space of about two hours and a half.] [Footnote 12-*: Something like this is the plan originally invented and still practised in China. The work intended to be printed is transcribed by a careful Writer upon thin transparent Paper. The Engraver glues this with its face downwards upon a smooth tablet of Pear or Apple tree, or some other hard wood; and then with Gravers and other instruments, he cuts the wood away in all those parts upon which he finds nothing traced, thus leaving the transcribed characters Embossed and ready for Printing. In this manner he prepares as many Blocks as there are written Pages. In printing they do not as in Europe use a Press; the delicate nature of their Paper would not admit of it; when once, however, their Blocks are engraved, the Paper is cut, and the Ink is ready, one man, says Du Halde, with his brush, can without fatigue print ten thousand sheets in a day. The Block is Inked with one Brush, and with another the Paper is rubbed down upon it so as to take the Impression. In this way the Printer can travel with his Ink and his Blocks, and from place to place take off as many copies as he may find occasion for. According to Chinese chronology, this art was discovered in China about fifty years before the Christian era. It seems to be especially adapted to their language, in which are employed such a vast variety of characters.] [Footnote 14-*: "Before the invention of this divine art, mankind were absorbed in the grossest ignorance, and oppressed under the most abject despotism of tyranny. The clergy, who before this era held the key of all the learning in Europe, were themselves ignorant, proud, presumptuous, arrogant, and artful; their devices were soon detected through the invention of typography. Many of them, as it may naturally be imagined, were very averse to the progress of this invention, as well as the _brief-men_, or writers, who lived by their manuscripts for the laity. They went so far as to attribute this blessed invention to the devil, and some of them warned their hearers from using such diabolical books."--_Lemoine._] [Footnote 22-*: Mr. Lodge's Peerage is perhaps the only instance in which a whole work, of that magnitude, has been kept standing in Type. This has been done for two reasons; first, because of the great expense of setting the Type afresh for each Edition; and secondly, that by being thus kept standing, it may be rendered constantly and uniformly correct, a point of the greatest importance in a work containing so large a mass of family history, the value of which so much depends on the accuracy of names and dates.] [Footnote 26-*: The Rev. Dr. Macknight, who translated anew the Apostolic Epistles, is said to have copied over with his own hand that laborious and valuable work five times, previously to his committing it to the Press.] [Footnote 27-*: The Publishers of this little work have frequently had Works committed to their care for Publication, on which the charge for Correcting has almost equalled that of the Setting of the Type, occasioned in a great degree by a want of attention to the points above referred to.] [Footnote 50-*: Engraving on Steel is a modern and highly important improvement. Previously, elaborate Engravings on Copper would lose their delicate tints after Printing a few hundred copies, but from Steel many thousand impressions may be taken without the slightest perceptible difference between the first and the last. To this is chiefly attributable the present very moderate price of beautifully Embellished Works, the use of Steel instead of Copper rendering it no longer necessary to Re-Engrave the Plates.] [Footnote 54-*: This is of course not to be understood as applying to Edinburgh and Dublin, both of which have their respective local circles, though for their English circulation they depend chiefly on London.] PUBLICATION OF WORKS FOR AUTHORS. Having been for many years engaged in conducting an extensive Publishing Business comprising the productions of the most Popular Writers, the Publishers of this little Work beg leave respectfully to state that they have, in consequence of repeated applications, now devoted a branch of their Establishment to conducting the PUBLICATION OF WORKS FOR AUTHORS, securing to them the direction and controul, as well as the entire proceeds and property of their Publications. Estimates of the Cost of large or small Editions, including Paper, Printing, &c., will be given on application personally, or by Letter addressed to Messrs. SAUNDERS and OTLEY, Publishers, Conduit Street, Hanover Square, London. PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. SAUNDERS AND OTLEY. CONDUIT STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, LONDON, ON THE FIRST OF EVERY MONTH. THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE, A Monthly Journal OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, & THE FINE ARTS. THE METROPOLITAN was commenced in 1831, Edited by THOMAS CAMPBELL, Esq., Author of "The Pleasures of Hope;" afterwards assisted by THOMAS MOORE, Esq., Author of "Lalla Rookh," &c.; and subsequently by CAPTAIN MARRYAT, R.N., Author of "Newton Forster," "The King's Own," "Peter Simple," &c. In its pages have appeared all the Popular Novels of Captain Marryat, as well as many productions of the first writers of the day, among whom may be mentioned JAMES MONTGOMERY, Esq., Author of "The World before the Flood," whose valuable "Lectures on General Literature" are to be found in its pages only. Tales by CAPTAIN CHAMIER, Articles in Prose and Verse by THOMAS CAMPBELL, Esq., and THOMAS MOORE, Esq., Papers by Sir CHARLES and Lady MORGAN, UGO FOSCOLO, Lady CLARKE, the AUTHOR of the "Kuzzilbash," WILLIAM SOTHEBY, Esq., and a great number of other distinguished writers, comprising a vast variety of ORIGINAL ARTICLES, CRITICAL NOTICES, REVIEWS, PAPERS on the FINE ARTS, LITERATURE, THE DRAMA, &c. &c. The whole forming an interesting Miscellany, as well as a valuable permanent Record of the Progress of Literature and Science, throughout the entire period from its first publication, under the auspices of its distinguished Editor. No effort is spared to perpetuate the high character which THE METROPOLITAN has attained, both at home and abroad, for its ORIGINAL PAPERS; while its Review Department will continue to receive that attention which has hitherto rendered its Criticisms so impartial and satisfactory. Orders for THE METROPOLITAN may be forwarded through any of the Booksellers or Newsmen of the United Kingdom, or for the Continent or Colonies through the Agents at the Post Office. All communications are requested to be addressed (post free) to the Editor at the Publishers. POPULAR WORKS, BY DISTINGUISHED WRITERS. PUBLISHED BY MESSRS SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, LONDON. WORKS BY SIR LYTTON BULWER, BART., M.P. I. In One Vol. Royal 8vo. THE PILGRIMS OF THE RHINE. Beautifully illustrated with Engravings, by the first artists. "This is in all respects a most superb book; the Literary contents, which are of the highest order, being fully equalled by the splendour of the pictorial embellishments."--_News._ II. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. THE STUDENT. A Series of Essays. "Great as is both the power and beauty of the Author's former works, we know none that mark the creative thinker, more than the present production. Its pages are full of new lights and happy illustrations."--_Literary Gazette._ III. In Three Vols. Post. 8vo. RIENZI, THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. "It required a master genius to trace the career of such a spirit as Rienzi's."--_Athenæum._ "It is the author's as yet greatest work."--_New Monthly._ IV. In 8vo. LETTER TO A LATE CABINET MINISTER ON THE PRESENT CRISIS. To which is added A LETTER FROM LORD BROUGHAM TO THE AUTHOR. Thirteenth Edition. V. In 8vo. THE DUCHESSE DE LA VALLIERE. A DRAMA, in Five Acts. VI. In Two Vols. 8vo. ATHENS--ITS RISE AND FALL. With Views of the Arts, Literature, and Social Life of the Athenian People. "Years of labor have not been mis-spent in the research and consideration of the subject, and the style is worthy of the best names in this elevated department of our National Literature."--_Literary Gazette._ VII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. ERNEST MALTRAVERS. "A splendid work, bearing the impress of genius stamped on every page."--_Monthly Review._ VIII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. ALICE; OR THE MYSTERIES. "The most popular of all the Author's popular Novels."--_Chronicle._ IX. In Octavo. THE LADY OF LYONS, OR LOVE AND PRIDE. A PLAY. In Five Acts. Eighth Edition. WORKS BY CAPTAIN MARRYAT, R.N. X. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. NEWTON FOSTER; OR THE MERCHANT SERVICE. XI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE KING'S OWN. XII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. PETER SIMPLE. XIII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. JACOB FAITHFUL. XIV. In Three Vols. Post. 8vo. THE PACHA OF MANY TALES. XV. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. JAPHET IN SEARCH OF A FATHER. XVI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY. *.* Most of the above Popular Works were first published in _The Metropolitan_, Edited by Captain Marryat. They have since passed through several Editions. WORKS BY MRS. JAMESON. XVII. In Two vols. Post. 8vo. MEMOIRS OF FEMALE SOVEREIGNS. XVIII. In Two Vols. Post. 8vo. CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN. With upwards of Fifty illustrative Etchings, by the Author. New and revised Edition. "A beautiful and touching commentary on the heart and mind of Woman."--_Literary Gazette._ "Two truly delightful volumes, the most charming of all the works of a charming writer."--_Blackwood._ XIX. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. VISITS AND SKETCHES AT HOME AND ABROAD. XX. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. WINTER STUDIES AND SUMMER RAMBLES IN CANADA. "We cordially recommend to all lovers of amusing anecdote these lively, elegant and most feminine volumes."--_Post._ WORKS BY MISS MARTINEAU. XXI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. SOCIETY IN AMERICA. "This book will sustain the great reputation of Miss Martineau, both as a sound scientific observer on questions of moral and political philosophy, and as a writer of first-rate descriptive powers."--_Examiner._ XXII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. RETROSPECT OF WESTERN TRAVELS. "This work of Miss Martineau's is even more interesting than her former admirable productions on America. Her descriptions are perfectly delightful."--_London and Westminster Review._ XXIII. MRS. HEMANS' LIFE, AND LETTERS. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. MEMORIALS OF MRS. HEMANS. With selections from her PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE, by H. F. CHORLEY, ESQ. Illustrated with a beautifully engraved Portrait, and a view of her House. WORKS BY THE AUTHOR OF "RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LORDS AND COMMONS." XXIV. In One Vol. Post 8vo. RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. Fifth Edition. Revised. "A work more extensively circulated and read than any that has appeared for years."--_Sun._ XXV. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. THE GREAT METROPOLIS. First Series. XXVI. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. THE GREAT METROPOLIS. Second Series. "A work of extraordinary and peculiar research."--_Monthly Repository._ XXVII. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. TRAVELS IN TOWN. "The reader is almost sure to gain from this author's various productions such an amount of useful information as it would be scarcely possible for him to gather in the same compass elsewhere."--_Metropolitan._ TRAVELS, BIOGRAPHY, MEMOIRS, &c. XXXIII. In 4to. with Portraits, Fac-similes, &c. MEMOIRS OF THE GREAT LORD BURGHLEY. With his State Papers, and Private Letters, from the Original Manuscripts. By the Rev. Dr. NARES, Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford. XXIX. In Three Vols., 8vo. with Portrait MEMOIRS, CORRESPONDENCE, AND MANUSCRIPTS OF GENERAL LA FAYETTE. Published by his Family. XXX. In One Vol. 8vo. MEMOIRS OF PRINCE LUCIEN BUONAPARTE. Written by Himself. XXXI. In One Vol. 8vo. with Portrait. MEMOIRS OF LORD HERBERT OF CHERBURY. Written by Himself. XXXII. In One Vol. 8vo. with Portrait. MEMOIRS OF SIR KENNELME DIGBY. Written by Himself. XXXIII. In One Vol. 8vo. with Portrait. MEMOIRS OF LORD LIVERPOOL. With a View of his Administration. XXXIV. In Two Vols. 8vo. with coloured Plates. RECORDS OF TRAVELS IN THE EAST. By ADOLPHUS SLADE, ESQ. XXXV. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. with coloured Plates. TRAVELS IN ALEXANDRIA, DAMASCUS, AND JERUSALEM. By Dr. HOGG. XXXVI. In Two Vols. 8vo. with coloured Plates. TRAVELS TO CONSTANTINOPLE AND GREECE. By CHARLES MACFARLANE, ESQ. XXXVII. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. with coloured Plates. EXCURSIONS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. By Sir GRENVILLE TEMPLE, BART. XXXVIII. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. with Engravings, TRAITS AND TRADITIONS OF PORTUGAL. By MISS PARDOE. XXXIX. In Two Vols. 8vo. with coloured Plates. MADRID AND ITS VICINITY. By an English Officer. XL. In Two Vols. 8vo. coloured Plates. TURKEY, GREECE, AND MALTA. By ADOLPHUS SLADE, Esq. XLI. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. coloured Plates, ALGIERS AND TUNIS. By Sir GRENVILLE TEMPLE, Bart. XLII. In Two Vols. 8vo. with Engravings, and large Maps. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ROME AND ITS VICINITY. By Sir WILLIAM GELL. XLIII. In Two Vols. 8vo. with Engravings. FRANCE IN ITS LAST REVOLUTION. By LADY MORGAN. XLIV. In Two Vols. 8vo. with Portrait. LITERARY REMAINS OF THE LATE WILLIAM HAZLITT. With Remarks on his Genius by Mr. SERJEANT TALFOURD, and Sir LYTTON BULWER, Bart. HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, &c. XLV. In Two Vols. with Maps. 8vo. Third Edition. DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. By ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE. "The very best work on the subject we have ever met with."--_Blackwood._ XLVI. In Two Vols. 8vo. LECTURES ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. By FREDERIC VON SCHLEGEL. Translated by J. H. ROBERTSON, Esq. with Life of the Author. XLVII. In One Vol. 8vo. CIVILIZATION. By the Hon. AUGUSTUS MORETON, M.P. XLVIII. In One Vol. 8vo. THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF GERMANY. By G. P. R. JAMES, Esq. Author of Memoirs of Louis XIV. &c. XLIX. In One Vol. 8vo. VINDICATION OF THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. By B. D'ISRAELI, Esq. L. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. with Engravings. THE NAVAL OFFICER'S MANUAL. By CAPTAIN GLASCOCK. R.N. LI. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. THE POETRY OF LIFE. By Miss STICKNEY. LII. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. PERICLES AND ASPASIA. By WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR, Esq. LIII. In 4to. with Twelve Original Etchings. THE ANCIENT BALLAD OF CHEVY CHASE. Illustrated by JOHN FRANKLIN, ESQ. LIV. In Three Vols. Post. 8vo. INKLINGS OF ADVENTURE. By N. P. 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By Sir GEORGE STEPHEN. LXVI. In One Vol. 8vo. with the Arms of the Peers beautifully engraved, and incorporated with the Text. THE PEERAGE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. From the Personal Communications of the Nobility. By EDMUND LODGE, ESQ. Norroy King of Arms. LXVII. In One Vol. Second Edition. THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. With a description of the Lady's Safety Hive. With Forty Illustrations. By SAMUEL BAGSTER, ESQ. LXVIII. In One Vol. 8vo. uniform with the Peerage. THE GENEALOGY OF THE PEERAGE. Containing the Ancestral History of the British Nobility. By EDMUND LODGE, Esq. Norroy King of Arms. LXIX. In One large Vol. 8vo. REMARKS AND EVIDENCE ON THE FACTORY SYSTEM. By CHARLES WING, Esq. Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary for Children. LXX. In One Vol. Post 8vo. SARTOR RESARTUS. The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröck. By THOMAS CARLYLE, ESQ. LXXI. In Three Vols. 8vo. HISTOIRE DE LA REVOLUTION DE 1688 EN ANGLETERRE. Per F. A. J. MAZURI, Inspecteur Général des Etudes. POPULAR NOVELS. LXXII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. Third Edition. ALMACKS; A NOVEL. "These volumes present perhaps the best picture of the gayest fashionable life that has ever issued from the press."--_Literary Gazette._ LXXIII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. ALLA GIORNATA. OR, TO THE DAY. A Tale of Italy. By LADY CHARLOTTE BURY. LXXIV. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. TALES OF THE MUNSTER FESTIVALS. By the Author of "The Rivals." LXXV. In Two Vols, Post 8vo. THE JOURNAL OF AN EXILE. By T. A. BOSWELL, ESQ. LXXVI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE ENGLISH IN ITALY. LXXVII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE AYLMERS. By THOMAS HAYNES BAYLEY, Esq. LXXIII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE. By the Author of "The English in Italy." LXXIX. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. RECOLLECTIONS OF A PEDESTRIAN. By the Author of "The Journal of an Exile." LXXX. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. TALES OF CONTINENTAL LIFE. By the Author of "The English in Italy." LXXXI. In Two Vols. Foolscap 8vo. THE ZENANA; OR A NEWAB'S LEISURE HOURS. By the Author of Pandurang Huri. LXXXII. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. TWO OLD MEN'S TALES. LXXXIII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. CONTI THE DISCARDED. By the Author of "Tales of a Sea-port Town." LXXXIV. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. MY AUNT PONTYPOOL. LXXXV. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. TALES OF THE WOODS AND FIELDS. By the Author of "Two Old Men's Tales." LXXXVI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE COLLEGIANS. By the Author of "Tales of the Munster Festivals." LXXXVII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE LADY ANNABETTA. By the Author of "Constance." LXXXVIII. In One Vol. Post 8vo. COUNTRY STORIES. By MISS MITFORD, Author of "Our Village." LXXXIX. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE TWO FRIENDS. By THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON. XC. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE DESULTORY MAN. By G. P. R. JAMES, Esq. Author of "Richelieu," &c. XCI. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. THE STATE PRISONER. By Miss BOYLE. XCII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE WIFE AND WOMAN'S REWARD. By the Hon. Mrs. NORTON. XCIII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. ANNE GREY. Edited by the Author of "Granby." XCIV. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. TALES OF MY NEIGHBOURHOOD. By the Author of "The Collegians." XCV. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE PILGRIMS OF WALSINGHAM. By Miss STRICKLAND. XCVI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE MAYOR OF WINDGAP. By "The O'Hara Family." XCVII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE PURITAN'S GRAVE. By the REV. PITT SCARGILL. XCVIII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. CHANCES AND CHANGES. By the Author of "Six Weeks on the Loire." XCIX. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE HAMILTONS. By the Author of "Mothers and Daughters." C. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE EXILE OF PALESTINE. By J. CARNE, Esq. Author of "Letters from the Holy Land." CI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. HUNGARIAN TALES. By Mrs. C. GORE. CII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE MARDENS AND THE DAVENTRYS. By Miss PARDOE. CIII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE WONDROUS TALE OF ALROY. By the Author of "Vivian Grey." CIV. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. COUNTRY HOUSES. CV. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE RIVALS. By The Author of "The Collegians." CVI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE ARMENIANS. By CHARLES MAC FARLANE, ESQ. CVII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. FIRST LOVE. CVIII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. POLISH TALES. By Mrs. C. GORE. CIX. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE INVASION. By the Author of "The Collegians." CX. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE BIT O' WRITIN'. By "The O'Hara Family." CXI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. WARNER ARUNDELL; OR, MEMOIRS OF A CREOLE. By D. L. JOSEPH, ESQ. CXII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE VICTIMS OF SOCIETY. By the COUNTESS of BLESSINGTON. CXIII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. FALKNER. By Mrs. SHELLEY. CXIV. In Two Vols. Post 8vo. TALES OF THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. CXV. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. THE LOST EVIDENCE. By Miss BURDON. CXVI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. MISREPRESENTATION. CXVII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. HENRY ACTON; AND OTHER TALES. By the Hon. Mrs. SAYERS. CXVIII. In Three Vols. Post. 8vo. HUSSARS, GUARDS, AND INFANTRY. By Major R. HORT. CXIX. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. AGNES DE MANSFELDT. By T. C. GRATTAN, Esq. CXX. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. FITZHERBERT. By the Author of "The Bride of Sienna." CXXI. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. MORTIMER DELMAR. By the Author of "Conrad Blessington." CXXII. In Three Vols. Post 8vo. JANET; OR A GLANCE AT HUMAN NATURE. By the Author of "Misrepresentation." POETRY. CXXIII. In Two Large Vols. with upwards of 100 Engravings, by the First Artists. THE BOOK OF GEMS. Containing Memoirs and Specimens of the Poets, From Chaucer to Cowper. By S. C. HALL, Esq. "This is in all respects so beautiful a book that it would be scarcely possible to suggest an improvement. Its contents are not for a year nor for an age, but for all time."--_Examiner._ CXXIV. In Eight Vols. with fine Engravings, by the FINDENS, From original Drawings. THE LIFE AND WORKS OF COWPER. Including his Private Correspondence. By the Rev. T. GRIMSHAWE. CXXV. In one Vol. Foolscap 8vo. New Edition. THE MESSIAH. By the Rev. R. MONTGOMERY. CXXVI. In One Vol. 8vo. ITALY; With Historical and Classical Notes, by J. E. READE, Esq. CXXVII. In One Vol. Foolscap. MELANIE; AND OTHER POEMS. By N. P. WILLIS, Esq. CXXVIII. In One Vol. Foolscap 8vo. with Portrait. THE VOW OF THE PEACOCK. By Miss LANDON. CXXIX. In One Vol. Foolscap 8vo. THE SONGS OF THE ALHAMBRA. By Miss SMITH. CXXX. In 8vo. THE STAR OF SEVILLE. By Mrs. BUTLER; Late Miss KEMBLE. CXXXI. In Foolscap 8vo. TRANQUIL HOURS. By Mrs. E. THOMAS. CXXXII. In One Vol. 8vo. HOURS AT NAPLES; AND OTHER POEMS. By Lady E. STUART WORTLEY. CXXXIII. In One Vol. Foolscap. 8vo. SATAN; A POEM. By the Rev. R. MONTGOMERY. New Edition. CXXXIV. In One Vol. Foolscap 8vo. GAZELLA; OR RILCAR THE WANDERER. A Poetical Romance. By F. WORSLEY, Esq. CXXXV. THE SERAPHIM; AND OTHER POEMS. By Miss BARRETT. CXXXVI. In One Vol. 8vo. IMPRESSIONS OF ITALY. By Lady E. STUART WORTLEY. CXXXVII. In One Vol. 8vo. THE DELUGE. A DRAMA in Twelve Scenes. By J. E. READE, Esq., Author of "Italy," and "Cain the Wanderer." CXXXVIII. In 8vo. RICHELIEU; OR THE CONSPIRACY. A PLAY, in Five Acts. By the Author of "The Lady of Lyons," "Eugene Aram," &c. PAMPHLETS. THE CABINETS COMPARED; OR AN ENQUIRY INTO THE LATE AND PRESENT ADMINISTRATIONS. THE RIGHTS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND VINDICATED. EXAMINATION OF RECENT WORKS ON CHURCH REFORM. THE CRISIS EXAMINED. BY D'ISRAELI THE YOUNGER. REPLY TO A PAMPHLET ENTITLED "WHAT HAS THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON GAINED BY THE DISSOLUTION?" HOW LONG WILL THEY LAST? A LETTER FROM A RETIRED MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. DEFECTS IN ELECTION COMMITTEES, WITH A PLAN FOR IMPROVING THEM. WHAT WAS THE OBJECT OF THE REFORM BILL? REMARKS ON THE FOREIGN RELATIONS OF ENGLAND. By MONTAGUE GORE, ESQ. AN APPEAL AGAINST THE TAMWORTH ADDRESS. SPEECH OF SIR ROBERT PEEL, ON RETIRING FROM OFFICE. THE REFORM OF THE REFORM BILL. By WM. EWART, ESQ. OBSERVATIONS ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS, BY A WHIG OF THE OLD SCHOOL. THE TIME TO SPEAK; OR, WHAT DO THE PEOPLE SAY? A LETTER TO THE QUARTERLY REVIEW ON THE COURSE AND PROBABLE TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. THE REFORM BILL PROVED TO BE AN ERROR. LORD ELDON'S SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS ON CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. AN APOLOGY FOR THE BALLOT. A LETTER TO SIR R. H. INGLIS, BY A MEMBER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. A LETTER TO LORD PALMERSTON ON BRITISH RELATIONS WITH CHINA. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND'S DEFENCE AGAINST HER REAL ENEMIES AND PRETENDED REFORMERS. OPEN VOTING BETTER THAN BALLOT. ON THE DISTURBANCES IN CANADA. BY MONTAGUE GORE, ESQ. LETTERS OF A CONSERVATIVE. BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR, ESQ. CONSIDERATIONS ON THE STATE OF THE NATION. LETTER ON THE WELLINGTON AND NELSON MEMORIALS. London: W. BLATCH, Printer, Grove Place, Brompton. * * * * * * Transcriber's Note The following typographical errors have been corrected. Page Error TOC* Origin and Progress of Printing, 11 changed to Origin and Progress of Printing, 12 TOC Stereotype Printing, 25 changed to Stereotype Printing, 21 TOC Engraving on Wood, 22 changed to Engraving on Wood, 25 TOC Paper Making, 31 changed to Paper Making, 30 TOC Illustrative Engravings, 20 changed to Illustrative Engravings, 50 TOC Choice of Binding, 49 changed to Choice of Binding, 51 TOC Publishing and Advertising, 55 changed to Publishing and Advertising, 53 30 CHOICE OF PAPER. changed to CHOICE OF PAPER, fn. 5-+ Point, &c changed to Point, &c. fn. 22-* expence changed to expense Ad XLII THE TOPOGRAPAY changed to TOPOGRAPHY Ad LXVIII THE GENEAOLOGY changed to GENEALOGY Ad LXXXVIII "Our Village. changed to "Our Village." Ad XC "Richlieu," changed to Richelieu Ad XCVIII the Loire. changed to the Loire." Ad CXXVI J. E Reade changed to J. E. Reade Pamphlets section DISSOLUTION? changed to DISSOLUTION?" *TOC is Table of Contents The following words were inconsistently spelled or hyphenated. Post. 8vo. / Post 8vo. 
48794	----	PIONEER IMPRINTS FROM FIFTY STATES BY ROGER J. TRIENENS _Descriptive Cataloging Division, Processing Department_ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON 1973 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Trienens, Roger J. Pioneer imprints from fifty States. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Printing--History--United States. 2. United States. Library of Congress. 3. Bibliography--Early printed books. I. United States. Library of Congress. II. Title. Z208.T75 686.2'0973 72-10069 ISBN 0-84444-0038-6 COVER: _A standard tray (case) of type. Frequency of a letter's use determined the size and position of the letter compartment._ For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402.--Price $4.25 Stock Number 3000-0059 Preface _Pioneer Imprints From Fifty States_ will enable readers to view the Library of Congress collections from an unaccustomed angle. It takes for its subject the Library's earliest examples of printing from within present-day boundaries of each State in the Union, providing for each in turn 1) a brief statement about the origin of printing; 2) identification of the Library's earliest examples--among them broadsides, newspapers, individual laws, almanacs, primers, and longer works; and 3) information, if available, about the provenance of these rarities. Each of the 50 sections may be consulted independently. To those who read it through, however, _Pioneer Imprints_ will give some idea of the movement of printers and presses across the Nation, as well as insight into the nature and history of the Library's holdings. The author wishes to express his indebtedness to Frederick R. Goff, Chief of the Library of Congress Rare Book Division from 1945 to 1972, who has been constantly helpful and encouraging; to Thomas R. Adams, Librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, Providence, R.I., who read the first 13 sections before their publication under the title "The Library's Earliest Colonial Imprints" in the _Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress_ for July 1967; and to Marcus A. McCorison, Director and Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass., who read the manuscript of the later sections. These scholars cannot, of course, be held responsible for any errors or faults in this bibliographical investigation. The author's indebtedness to printed sources is revealed to some extent by notes appearing at the end of each section. He is obliged for much of his information to the staffs of the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as to the following correspondents: Alfred L. Bush, Curator, Princeton Collections of Western Americana, Princeton University Library; G. Glenn Clift, Assistant Director, Kentucky Historical Society; James H. Dowdy, Archivist, St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore; Caroline Dunn, Librarian, William Henry Smith Memorial Library, Indianapolis; Joyce Eakin, Librarian, U.S. Army Military History Research Collection, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.; Arthur Perrault, Librarian, Advocates' Library, Montreal; P. W. Filby, Librarian, Maryland Historical Society; Lilla M. Hawes, Director, Georgia Historical Society; Earl E. Olson, Assistant Church Historian, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Salt Lake City; and Frank S. Richards, Piedmont, Calif. Contents _1 Massachusetts_ _3 Virginia_ _4 Maryland_ _5 Pennsylvania_ _6 New York_ _8 Connecticut_ _10 New Jersey_ _12 Rhode Island_ _14 South Carolina_ _16 North Carolina_ _18 New Hampshire_ _20 Delaware_ _21 Georgia_ _23 Louisiana_ _25 Vermont_ _27 Florida_ _29 Maine_ _30 Kentucky_ _32 West Virginia_ _34 Tennessee_ _36 Ohio_ _38 Michigan_ _39 Mississippi_ _41 Indiana_ _43 Alabama_ _44 Missouri_ _46 Texas_ _48 Illinois_ _50 Arkansas_ _52 Hawaii_ _53 Wisconsin_ _54 California_ _56 Kansas_ _58 New Mexico_ _60 Oklahoma_ _61 Iowa_ _63 Idaho_ _64 Oregon_ _66 Utah_ _68 Minnesota_ _70 Washington_ _72 Nebraska_ _74 South Dakota_ _76 Nevada_ _78 Arizona_ _80 Colorado_ _82 Wyoming_ _83 Montana_ _85 North Dakota_ _86 Alaska_ PIONEER IMPRINTS [Illustration: _The Lapwai press, brought to Idaho in 1839 to produce the first book printed in the Northwest--an Indian primer. Courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society. See page 63._] Massachusetts Stephen Daye, the first printer of English-speaking North America, established his press at Cambridge late in 1638 or early in 1639 and printed the famed _Bay Psalm Book_ there in 1640. This volume of 295 pages is the first substantial book and the earliest extant example of printing from what is now the United States. Mrs. Adrian Van Sinderen of Washington, Conn., deposited an original copy of the _Bay Psalm Book_ in the Library of Congress at a formal ceremony held in the Librarian's Office on May 2, 1966. Mrs. Van Sinderen retained ownership of the book during her lifetime; it became the Library's property upon her death, April 29, 1968. The book is properly entitled _The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre_. Of 11 extant copies this was the last in private hands, and it filled the most serious single gap in the Library's collection of early American printing. It is an imperfect copy, lacking its title page and 18 leaves. Bound in calfskin, it is one of the five copies in an original binding. Zoltán Haraszti's authoritative study _The Enigma of the Bay Psalm Book_ (Chicago, 1956) includes information about all the surviving copies. Mrs. Van Sinderen's copy was one of five that were collected by scholarly Thomas Prince of Boston (1687-1758), who bequeathed his extensive library to Old South Church. It was from the church that the Cambridge wool merchant and Bible collector George Livermore obtained it in 1849. By an exchange agreement between Livermore and the prominent bookseller Henry Stevens, 12 leaves were removed from the volume to complete another copy, which Stevens sold to James Lenox in 1855 and which now belongs to the New York Public Library. Livermore's collection, deposited at Harvard after his death, was auctioned in 1894 in Boston, his _Bay Psalm Book_ realizing $425 and going to Mrs. Van Sinderen's father, Alfred Tredway White of Brooklyn. [Illustration: (Richard Mather's _The Summe of Certain Sermons upon Genes: 15.6_, printed at Cambridge in 1652)] Before 1966 the earliest Massachusetts imprint, as well as the earliest imprint of the Nation, in the Library was Richard Mather's _The Summe of Certain Sermons upon Genes: 15.6_, printed at Cambridge in 1652. Its author was the progenitor of the powerful Mather family of New England divines, and he was among the translators contributing to the _Bay Psalm Book_. Its printer, Samuel Green, operated the first Massachusetts printing press after Stephen Daye's son Matthew died in 1649, Stephen having retired from the press in 1647. Mather's book contains his revised notes for sermons preached at Dorchester. [Illustration: (_Bay Psalm Book_)] The Library of Congress copy--one of four extant--is inscribed by an early hand, "James Blake his Booke." In the mid-19th century this copy apparently came into the possession of Henry Stevens, whereupon it was bound in full morocco by Francis Bedford at London; and it presumably belonged to the extensive collection of Mather family books that Stevens sold in 1866 to George Brinley, of Hartford, Conn.[1] The Library of Congress obtained the volume with a $90 bid at the first sale of Brinley's great library of Americana, held at New York in March 1879. [Footnote 1: See Wyman W. Parker, _Henry Stevens of Vermont_ (Amsterdam, 1963), p. 267-268.] Virginia [Illustration: (_A Collection of All the Acts of Assembly Now in Force, in the Colony of Virginia_ (1733) printed by William Parks)] A press that William Nuthead started at Jamestown in 1682 was quickly suppressed, and nothing of its output has survived. It was William Parks who established at Williamsburg in 1730 Virginia's first permanent press. Here Parks issued the earliest Virginia imprint now represented in the Library of Congress: _A Collection of All the Acts of Assembly Now in Force, in the Colony of Virginia_ (1733). Printing of this book may have begun as early as 1730. In a monograph on William Parks, Lawrence C. Wroth cites evidence "in the form of a passage from Markland's _Typographia_, which indicates that its printing was one of the first things undertaken after Parks had set up his Williamsburg press."[2] Two Library of Congress copies of this imposing folio--one of them seriously defective--are housed in the Law Library; while yet another copy, which is especially prized, is kept with the Jefferson Collection in the Rare Book Division since it belonged to the library which Thomas Jefferson sold to the Congress in 1815.[3] The 1815 bookplate of the Library of Congress is preserved in this rebound copy, and Jefferson's secret mark of ownership can be seen--his addition of his other initial to printed signatures I and T. A previous owner wrote "Robert [?] Lewis law Book" on a flyleaf at the end, following later acts bound into the volume and extending through the year 1742. He may well have been the same Robert Lewis (1702-65) who served in the House of Burgesses from 1744 to 1746.[4] The Library possesses the only known copy of another early Virginia imprint bearing the same date: Charles Leslie's _A Short and Easy Method with the Deists. The Fifth Edition_.... Printed and sold by William Parks, at his Printing-Offices, in Williamsburg and Annapolis, 1733. Inasmuch as an advertisement for this publication in the _Maryland Gazette_ for May 17-24, 1734, is headed "Lately Publish'd," it was most likely printed early in 1734 but dated old style, and so it probably followed the publication of the _Acts of Assembly_. The Library purchased the unique copy for $8 at the second Brinley sale, held in March 1880. [Footnote 2: _William Parks, Printer and Journalist of England and Colonial America_ (Richmond, 1926), p. 15.] [Footnote 3: No. 1833 in U.S. Library of Congress, _Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Compiled with Annotations by E. Millicent Sowerby_ (Washington, 1952-59).] [Footnote 4: See Sarah Travers Lewis (Scott) Anderson's _Lewises, Meriwethers and Their Kin_ (Richmond, 1938), p. 61-62.] Maryland After departing from Virginia, William Nuthead set up the first Maryland press at St. Mary's City sometime before August 31, 1685. This press continued in operation until a few years after Nuthead's widow removed it to Annapolis about 1695; yet nothing more survives from it than a single broadside and some printed blank forms. In 1700 Thomas Reading began to operate a second press at Annapolis, and his output in that year included a collection of laws which is the earliest Maryland imprint now represented in the Library of Congress. Since the Library's is the only extant copy, it is particularly regrettable that its title page and considerable portions of the text are lacking. Catalogers have supplied it with the title: _A Complete Body of the Laws of Maryland_.[5] The copy was formerly in the possession of the lawyer and diplomat John Bozman Kerr (1809-78). It might not have survived to this day were it not for his awareness of its importance, as shown in his flyleaf inscription: ? would this have been printed in M^d at so early a period as 1700--in M^d or elsewhere in the Colonies--It is dedicated to Mr Wm Bladen father, it is presumed, of Gov^r Tho^s Bladen, of whom _Pope_, the Poet, speaks so harshly--Having given much attention to M^d History I know no book--calculated to throw more light upon _manners_ & _customs_ than this printed copy of the body of M^d Law in 1700--The language of the early acts of assembly was much modified in 1715 & 1722--_Here_ the Exact words are preserved as in the original acts--Unless in some old collection in England, five thousand dollars would not procure a like copy--Many years ago there was Extant, in MS, in Charles Co Court records, as I have been told, a similar collection--This _printed_ copy is "the schedule annexed to 1699. c 46 & the act of 1700. c 8-- Sept 22^d 1858 John Bozman Kerr--of Easton, M^d Law Office, no. 30. St. Pauls St. Balt^o William Bladen, to whom the book is dedicated, was then clerk of the Upper House and had been instrumental in bringing Thomas Reading to Maryland. In fact, the records indicate that he assumed the role of publisher. If John Bozman Kerr had had access to the proceedings of the Lower House for the year 1700, he would have been most interested to find there Bladen's written proposal: That if the house are desirous the body of Laws should be printed soe that every person might easily have them in their houses without being troubled to goe to the County Court house to have recourse thereto. That the house made [sic] an Order for printeing thereof and that every County be Oblidged to take one faire Coppy endorsed and Titled to be bound up handsomely and that for the encouragement of the undertaker each County pay him therefore 2000^{lbs} of Tob^o upon delivery the said booke of Laws.... This was approved on May 9.[6] The printing was not wholly satisfactory, for on May 17 of the next year an errata list was ordered printed.[7] [Illustration: _John Bozman Kerr_, _from_ Genealogical Notes of the Chamberlaine Family of Maryland (_Baltimore, 1880_).] [Footnote 5: It is no. 7 in Lawrence C. Wroth's _A History of Printing in Colonial Maryland_ (Baltimore, 1922). Besides listing it in his bibliography, Wroth discusses the book at length on p. 22-26.] [Footnote 6: _Archives of Maryland_, vol. 24 (1904), p. 83-84.] [Footnote 7: Ibid., p. 198.] Pennsylvania Like William Nuthead, William Bradford introduced printing in more than one Colony, and he began his American career by establishing the first Pennsylvania press at Philadelphia in 1685. Here that same year he printed _Good Order Established in Pennsilvania & New-Jersey in America_, the earliest Pennsylvania imprint in the Library of Congress and the second known example of Bradford's press. The author, Thomas Budd, was a successful Quaker immigrant, who settled first at Burlington, N.J., and later at Philadelphia. He intended his description of the two Colonies to stimulate further immigration, and he printed this statement on the title page verso: It is to be noted, that the Government of these Countries is so settled by Concessions, and such care taken by the establishment of certain fundamental Laws, by which every Man's Liberty and Property, both as Men and Christians, are preserved; so that none shall be hurt in his Person, Estate or Liberty for his Religious Perswasion or Practice in Worship towards God. Because neither place nor printer is named in the book, it was long thought to have been printed at London, but typographical comparisons made during the latter part of the 19th century demonstrated conclusively that it issued from William Bradford's press. [Illustration: _The 19th-century bookseller Henry Stevens._] The Library of Congress copy was bound at London by William Pratt for the bookseller Henry Stevens. F. J. Shepard traces this much of its later provenance in his introduction to a reprint issued in Cleveland in 1902: A copy in full levant morocco, by Pratt, belonging to John A. Rice of Chicago, was sold in March, 1870, to Sabin & Sons for $155. The same copy fetched $150 at the sale of the library of William Menzies of New York (1875),[8] when it was described in Sabin's catalogue as "one of the rarest of books relating to Pennsylvania." It was again, presumably, the same copy which at the sale in New York of S. L. M. Barlow's books in 1889 brought $400, although it was still incorrectly described as printed in London. After passing through the hands of two dealers and one collector, it reached Dodd, Mead & Co., who advertised it in their November, 1900, catalogue for $700, and sold it at that price to a private collector whose name is not given. The copy was among several Americana from the library of C. H. Chubbock, a Boston collector,[9] which were sold at auction by C. F. Libbie & Co. on February 23 and 24, 1904, the Library of Congress obtaining it for $600. [Footnote 8: Sabin's catalog is dated 1875, but the sale did not occur until November 1876.] [Footnote 9: See _American Book-Prices Current_, vol. 10 (1904), p. vii.] New York William Bradford moved from Pennsylvania to New York in the spring of 1693, but what was the first product of his New York press has not been established.[10] The Library of Congress owns two Bradford imprints from this period, neither containing any indication of the place of publication. Nevertheless, both are listed in Wilberforce Eames' bibliography of early New York imprints.[11] One of them, entitled _New-England's Spirit of Persecution Transmitted to Pennsilvania, and the Pretended Quaker Found Persecuting the True Christian-Quaker, in the Tryal of Peter Boss, George Keith, Thomas Budd, and William Bradford, at the Sessions Held at Philadelphia the Nineth, Tenth and Twelfth Days of December, 1692. Giving an Account of the Most Arbitrary Procedure of That Court_, has been conjectured to be the first New York imprint (Eames 1). Eames states that the work "seems to be the joint production of George Keith and Thomas Budd, including Bradford's own account of the trial. As it mentions the next Court Session of March, 1693, it could hardly have been printed before May...." He confesses that Bradford may have printed it at Philadelphia. The Library of Congress purchased its copy--one of six recorded in the National Union Catalog--for $50 at the November 1876 auction of the library of Americana formed by a New York collector, William Menzies. The other Bradford imprint conjecturally assigned to New York is Governor Benjamin Fletcher's proclamation of April 29, 1693, prohibiting "the _Breaking of the LORDS DAY_, all _Prophane Swearing, Cursing, Drunkenness, Idleness_ and _unlawful Gaming_, and all manner of _Prophaneness_ whatsoever" (Eames 9). Eames gives no reason why this broadside should be listed as a later imprint. An eminent New Yorker, Stuyvesant Fish, presented the unique copy to the Library of Congress in 1915 and in an accompanying letter to the Librarian told how it had come into his possession: The broadside now sent you was given me by Mrs. Fish's mother, the late Mrs. William Henry Anthon, with the statement that she had found it among the papers left by her brother-in-law, Professor Charles Edward Anthon (b. Dec. 6, 1823; d. June 7, 1885). The latter was much given to collecting coins, manuscripts, &c., but no effort of mine has enabled me to learn where, when or how he became possessed of the paper. In view of the uncertain assignment of these two imprints to New York, the Library's earliest imprints naming New York as the place of publication should also be mentioned. _A Catalogue of Fees Established by the Governour and Council at the Humble Request of the Assembly_ (New-York, William Bradford, 1693) is an 11-page work printed sometime after September 20, 1693. The Library's copy, like others, is appended to Bradford's printing of _The Laws & Acts of the General Assembly_ (New-York, 1694), which in Eames' opinion was itself probably begun in 1693, perhaps as early as July or August. Among the owners of the volume containing these early imprints was the bibliographer Charles R. Hildeburn, who gave the following history in a note prefixed to an 1894 facsimile edition of _The Laws & Acts_: This [copy], lacking a title-page, was formerly part of a volume of laws and other folio tracts printed by Bradford between 1694 and 1710, which was bought at a sale at Bangs's, in New-York, about ten years ago, by the late Dr. George H. Moore, for $26. In 1890 Dr. Moore sold the volume as he bought it for $1750 to the writer, who, having supplied the title-page in facsimile, sold so much of "the Laws of 1694 as issued" as it contained to the late Mr. Tower for $600. The volume then passed by the gift of Mr. Towers's widow, with the Tower collection, to the Historical society of Pennsylvania, and, having been replaced by a perfect copy ..., was sold to Dodd, Meade & Company, of New-York for $400. From the firm last mentioned it was purchased by Mr. [Abram C.] Bernheim.[12] Now in a full morocco binding by Bradstreet's, the volume contains the bookplates of Abram C. Bernheim, who lectured on New York history at Columbia College, Henry C. Bernheim, and Russell Benedict. At the New York auction of Judge Benedict's library in 1922 Halstead H. Frost, Jr., purchased it for $3,000; yet in 1926 at an auction by the same house of "Rare Americana including the collection of the late A. R. Turner, Jr. and selections from the collection of the late Charles A. Munn," the same copy drew only $1,800. In 1931 the Library of Congress obtained it from the firm of Lathrop C. Harper for $2,929.55, and it was duly noted in the subsequent annual report as "the most precious acquisition of the year by the law library." [Illustration: _A Catalogue of Fees Established by the Governour and Council at the Humble Request of the Assembly_ (New-York, William Bradford, 1693)] [Footnote 10: Alexander J. Wall, Jr., "William Bradford, Colonial Printer," _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, 1963, vol. 73, p. 368.] [Footnote 11: _The First Year of Printing in New-York_ (New York, 1928).] [Footnote 12: P. clvii. The facsimile was made from the Bernheim copy, which apart from its missing title page was considered to be the best preserved.] Connecticut Thomas Short, who learned his trade at Boston, became Connecticut's first printer when he went to New London to do the official printing for the Colony in 1709. The Library of Congress owns two Thomas Short imprints dated 1710, and one of them is believed to be the first book printed in Connecticut: _The Necessity of Judgment, and Righteousness in a Land. A Sermon, Preached at the General Court of Election, at Hartford in the Colony of Connecticut, on May 11th. 1710. By Eliphalet Adams, Pastor of the Church in New-London_. Eliphalet Adams was an influential clergyman whose 43 years of service at New London had just begun in 1709. The work is an election sermon, of a type delivered annually at the opening of certain New England legislatures. Although not especially worthy of remembrance, it manages to suggest the ceremony of the occasion. Adams closes his sermon by addressing the Governor, Deputy Governor, and magistrates, next turning to the assembled clergy, and finally concluding: Shall I now turn my self to the _General Assembly of the Colony at present met together_. And even here I may promise my self an easie Reception, while I plead for _Judgment_ & _Righteousness_. The welfare of the Country is in a great measure Intrusted in your hands and it is indeed a matter Worthy of your best Thoughts and chiefest cares. It should be Ingraven, if not upon the Walls of your House, yet upon each of your Hearts, _Ne quid Detrimenti Respublica Capiat_, _Let the Common-wealth receive no damage_. It is in your power partly to frame Laws for the Direction & Government of the people of the Land. Now too much care cannot be taken, that they may be strictly agreable to the standing Rules of Justice & Equity, that they may not prove a grievance in stead of an advantage to the Subject; If the Rule be crooked, how shall our manners be Regular?...[13] The Library of Congress copy, in a 19th-century morocco binding, contains no evidence of provenance, but it was undoubtedly in the Library's possession by 1878, for the title is listed in the Library catalog published that year. Another copy sold at auction in 1920 for $1,775, which was the largest amount ever paid for a Connecticut imprint.[14] The Library's other Connecticut imprint with a date of 1710 is entitled _A Confession of Faith Owned and Consented to by the Elders and Messengers of the Churches in the Colony of Connecticut in New-England, Assembled by Delegation at Saybrook September 9th. 1708_.... Herein is the historic Saybrook Platform, whereby individual congregations of the Colony submitted to the firmer control of synods. There exists documentary evidence that the printing of this book did not begin until late in 1710, and apparently it was not completed until 1711.[15] Elizabeth Short, the printer's widow, was paid £50 in 1714 for binding all 2,000 copies in calfskin and birchwood covers.[16] The Library's copy retains the original binding. Of further interest is the evidence supplied by the Library's bookplate that the volume formerly belonged to Peter Force, the American historian and archivist, whose notable collection was obtained through a special Congressional appropriation in 1867. [Illustration: _Peter Force. Lithograph from life by Charles Fenderich._] [Footnote 13: P. 30-31.] [Footnote 14: See _Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America_, vol. 27 (1934), p. 4.] [Footnote 15: W. DeLoss Love, _Thomas Short the First Printer of Connecticut_ ([Hartford] 1901), p. 35-38; Thomas W. Streeter, _Americana--Beginnings_ (Morristown, N.J., 1952), p. 25-26.] [Footnote 16: Love, p. 37-38.] New Jersey [Illustration: _Anno Regni Georgii Regis Magnæ Britanniæ, Franciæ & Hiberniæ decimo, at a Session of the General Assembly of the Colony of New Jersey, begun the twenty fourth Day of September, Anno Domini 1723. and continued by Adjournments to the 30th Day of November following, at which time the following Acts were Published_. Printed by William Bradford in the City of Perth-Amboy, 1723.] In 1723 William Bradford is thought by some to have transported a press from New York to Perth Amboy, then the capital of New Jersey, to print paper currency for the Colony.[17] If this is true he was the first New Jersey printer, although printing was not established there on a permanent basis until three decades later. In any event, in 1723 Bradford produced the first book with a New Jersey imprint: _Anno Regni Georgii Regis Magnae Britanniae, Franciae & Hiberniae decimo, at a Session of the General Assembly of the Colony of New Jersey, begun the twenty fourth Day of September, Anno Domini 1723. and continued by Adjournments to the 30th Day of November following_.... Douglas C. McMurtrie distinguishes three variant issues of the edition in _A Further Note on the New Jersey Acts of 1723_ (Somerville, N.J., 1935); but the Library of Congress copy, containing 30 numbered and four unnumbered pages, represents a fourth variant. It is one of two issues (the other bearing a New York imprint) in which the type for the later pages was reset. In the section on paper money, which has a prominent place in the New Jersey laws, is an interesting sidelight on printing history: the text of an oath to be administered to the printer upon his delivery of the bills to those authorized to sign them, requiring him to declare That from the time the Letters were set, and fit to be put in the Press for Printing the Bills of Credit now by me delivered to you, until the same Bills were printed, and the Letters unset and put in the Boxes again, I went at no time out of the Room in which the said Letters were, without Locking them up, so as they could not be come at, without Violence, a false Key, or other Art then unknown to me; and therefore to the best of my Knowledge no Copies were printed off but in my Presence; and that all the Blotters and other Papers whatever, Printed by the said Letters, which set for printing the said Bills, to the best of my Knowledge are here Delivered to you together with the Stamps for the Indents, and Arms. The Library of Congress copy is bound in the midst of a folio volume of early New Jersey laws and ordinances that C. S. Hook of Atlantic City, a dealer in old law books, sold to the Library in 1925 for $2,337.50. Though dilapidated, the volume retains its original calf binding, and the names of two early owners are inscribed on its front flyleaf: "M^r Bard" and "John Wright Esq:^r" The former may well be the same Peter Bard, a Huguenot immigrant, who served as member of the Council from 1720 to 1734 and who was one of those authorized to sign the above-mentioned bills. Some authorities doubt that Bradford would have moved a press to New Jersey for only a short time and think it more likely that he actually printed the acts of 1723 in New York.[18] In that case the earliest New Jersey imprint in the Library of Congress would be an 18-page pamphlet containing an act passed on June 3, 1757, which James Parker printed at Woodbridge on the first permanent press in the Colony: ... _A Supplementary Act to the Act, Entitled, An Act for Better Settling and Regulating the Militia of this Colony of New-Jersey; for the Repelling Invasions, and Suppressing Insurrections and Rebellions; As_ [sic] _also, for Continuing Such Parts and Clauses of the Said Laws, as are not Altered or Amended by This Act_. The Library's copy, inscribed "Capt. Monrow" on its title page, probably belonged originally to John Monrow, a resident of Burlington County.[19] The Central Book Company of New York sold it to the Library for $150 in 1939. [Footnote 17: See Lawrence C. Wroth, _The Colonial Printer_ (Portland, Maine, 1938), p. 34-36.] [Footnote 18: See Streeter, _Americana--Beginnings_, no. 21, where this view is attributed to R. W. G. Vail.] [Footnote 19: See _Archives of the State of New Jersey_, 1st series, vol. 10 (1886), p. 15 and 17; H. Stanley Craig, _Burlington County, New Jersey, Marriages_, Merchantville, N.J. (1937), p. 159.] Rhode Island [Illustration: (Benjamin Franklin's _Rhode-Island Almanack for the Year 1728_)] After a stay in prison resulting from his publishing activities in Boston, James Franklin, elder brother of Benjamin, chose to settle at Newport, where he established the first Rhode Island press in 1727. When the Library of Congress acquired its unique copy of Franklin's _Rhode-Island Almanack for the Year 1728_ in 1879, it was thought to be the earliest book printed in Rhode Island. Not until 1953, when copies of two religious tracts by John Hammett came to light, was it relegated to third place. Those two tracts were printed before July 25, 1727, while Franklin's pseudonymous preface to his almanac is dated August 30 of that year.[20] * * * * * Although it may no longer be regarded as the first Rhode Island book, this small almanac nevertheless is of exceptional interest. Four years before Benjamin Franklin inaugurated _Poor Richard's Almanack_ his elder brother presented himself in this wise: Tho' I have not given you my _proper Name_, yet I assure you I have had one the greatest part of half an hundred Years; and I know of no Necessity for parting with it at this Time, since I presume my Almanack will answer all the Ends design'd without that Expence. So, wishing you a happy new Year; bid you adieu. _Poor_ ROBIN James Franklin strove to make his almanac entertaining, and he did not refrain from injecting anticlerical gibes or a bit of ribaldry. He obviously relished such pithy sayings as "More religion than honesty" and "If you cannot bite, never show your Teeth." The Library of Congress purchased its unique copy for $35 at the Brinley sale of 1879. It then had seven leaves and seemed to lack an eighth leaf at the end. Much later, George Winship, librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, reported a curious happening in an article that he contributed to _The Providence Sunday Journal_, November 19, 1911: A few weeks ago some one noticed that a leaf which was bound at the end of a book in the Boston Public Library had nothing whatever to do with that book. It was apparently a leaf of an old almanac, and after some research Alfred B. Page of the Massachusetts Historical Society Library was successful in identifying it, not only as the last leaf of the almanac for 1728, which was printed in Newport toward the end of the preceding year, but as the identical leaf which originally formed a part of the copy now belonging to the Library of Congress. The officials in Washington sent their book to Boston to make certain of the identification, and in return they have been presented with the missing member, so long separated from its proper body. On its way back to Washington, this precious little waif is making a visit to the State of its origin, and will be for a few days on exhibition at the John Carter Brown Library, in company with various of its contemporary rivals, predecessors and followers. A reprint of the almanac with an introduction by Mr. Winship, signing himself as Philohistoricus, was published at this time. And while at Boston the copy was encased in a variegated morocco binding by the Hathaway Book Binding Company on Beacon Street. [Footnote 20: See _Rhode Island History_, vol. 12 (1953), p. 33-43, 105-109.] South Carolina Printing commenced in South Carolina in 1731 when three competing printers migrated to Charleston: George Webb, Eleazer Phillips, Jr., and Thomas Whitmarsh. They were attracted by an offer of monetary aid that the government announced in order to secure a printer for the Colony. The earliest Library of Congress copies of South Carolina imprints issued from the press of Lewis Timothy (otherwise Louis Timothée), a Frenchman trained in Holland and subsequently employed by Benjamin Franklin at Philadelphia. Through an arrangement with Franklin he took over the press of Thomas Whitmarsh after the latter's death in 1733, Webb having either died or departed from Charleston and Phillips having died in 1732. The Library has three Lewis Timothy imprints dated 1736: Josiah Smith's sermon, _The Character and Duty of Minister and People_; the session laws for November 15, 1733-May 29, 1736, entitled _Acts Passed by the General Assembly of South-Carolina_; and Nicholas Trott's compilation of _The Laws of the Province of South-Carolina_. The sermon, advertised in _The South-Carolina Gazette_ for May 22, 1736, as just published, was completed first. Still earlier printing, however, is contained in the first volume of Trott's _Laws_, though the volume was not completed until September 1736. Timothy began to print the laws shortly after November 15, 1734, and the first sheets were ready in May 1735.[21] This publication in two folio volumes is a landmark of Colonial printing; it was Timothy's most ambitious undertaking by far, one he carried out with remarkable taste and skill. The title page, printed in black and red, is particularly striking. Nicholas Trott, the editor, was a learned jurist who played a leading role in South Carolina's affairs, becoming chief justice in 1703. In the preface he sets forth his guiding purpose in compiling the _Laws_: Thus I have endeavoured as much as in me lies, and have spared for no Pains, to make this Work not only useful, but plain and easy, even to the meanest Capacity, wherein if I have obtained my End, I shall not think my Labour ill bestowed: For as every Man is a Debtor to his Country, and we are not born only for our selves, so I tho't I could not do a more useful Service for the Province in which it has pleased God to cast my Lot for several years past, than to make such an _Edition_ of the Laws, as might be of general Use to all the Inhabitants thereof; that so every one being acquainted with the Laws of the Place, may readily give Obedience to the same; in which (next to their religious Duties to GOD) not only their Duty, but also their Safety and happiness doth consist. The Library of Congress owns three copies of this rare book, all lacking some pages. The copy most distinguished in its provenance bears on its title page the signature of William Bull, Jr., five times Acting Governor of South Carolina between 1760 and 1775. Also on this title page is the late 18th-century signature of one Thomas Parker. Another copy is inscribed "Thomas Farr jun^r. [another hand:] of St. Andrew's Parish 12^{th}. May 1773"; and in the following century it was given "With Edward Logan's kind regards to James Parker Esq. 18 Feb 1868." Thomas Farr can be identified as a merchant,[22] but the later names have not been traced. The third Library copy retains no marks of previous ownership. [Illustration: (Nicholas Trott's compilation of _The Laws of the Province of South-Carolina_.)] [Footnote 21: Douglas C. McMurtrie, _The First Decade of Printing in the Royal Province of South Carolina_ (London, 1933).] [Footnote 22: A. S. Salley, ed., _Marriage Notices in The South-Carolina Gazette and Its Successors_ (Baltimore, 1965), p. 21.] North Carolina The first printer active in North Carolina was James Davis, a native of Virginia, who probably received his training from William Parks at Williamsburg.[23] Davis settled at New Bern in 1749, and in the same year he began printing _The Journal of the House of Burgesses_. The earliest North Carolina imprint in the Library of Congress, printed by Davis in 1751, is carefully described in its title, _A Collection of All the Public Acts of Assembly, of the Province of North-Carolina: Now in Force and Use. Together with the Titles of all such Laws as are Obsolete, Expired, or Repeal'd. And also, an exact Table of the Titles of the Acts in Force, Revised by Commissioners appointed by an Act of the General Assembly of the said Province, for that Purpose; and Examined with the Records, and Confirmed in full Assembly_. This collection is sometimes called "Swann's Revisal" after the commissioner William Swann, who did a major part of the editing and wrote the dedication to Governor Gabriel Johnston. One of the acts, passed on March 7, 1746, begins with the preamble, "Whereas for Want of the Laws of this Province being Revised and Printed, the Magistrates are often at a Loss how to discharge their Duty, and the People transgress many of them through Want of knowing the same...." These words reflect not only a shortage of copies, but also the need to rectify discrepancies in the manuscript copies by publishing a uniform text. Davis did not complete the volume until about November 15, 1751, when he advertised it in his newspaper, _The North-Carolina Gazette_. Four distinct issues of the edition can be identified;[24] and of these, the Library of Congress owns both the third, in which the laws of 1751 and 1752 (not shown in the table) are added, and the fourth, which is like the third but with a title page dated 1752 and a new table. The Library's copy of the third issue bears on the title page the signature of Michael Payne, a resident of Edenton, N.C., who served in the State legislature during the 1780's. The Library purchased it in 1936 from Richard Dillard Dixon of Edenton for $500. The copy of the fourth issue is signed "Will Cumming" in an early hand, and it is inscribed to Samuel F. Phillips, who was Solicitor General of the United States from 1872 to 1885 and who appears to have been the latest owner of the book before its addition to the Library in 1876. [Illustration: (_A Collection of All the Public Acts of Assembly, of the Province of North-Carolina: Now in Force and Use. Together with the Titles of all such Laws as are Obsolete, Expired, or Repeal'd. And also, an exact Table of the Titles of the Acts in Force, Revised by Commissioners appointed by an Act of the General Assembly of the said Province, for that Purpose; and Examined with the Records, and Confirmed in full Assembly_. Printed by James Davis in 1751.)] [Footnote 23: See W. S. Powell's introduction to _The Journal of the House of Burgesses, of the Province of North-Carolina, 1749_ (Raleigh, 1949), p. vii.] [Footnote 24: Douglas C. McMurtrie, _Eighteenth Century North Carolina Imprints_ (Chapel Hill, 1938), p. 50.] New Hampshire [Illustration: (Nathaniel Ames' _An Astronomical Diary: or, An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord Christ, 1757_ Printed by Daniel Fowle, 1756.)] The Boston printer Daniel Fowle felt himself unjustly punished by the Massachusetts Assembly for supposedly printing an objectionable pamphlet in 1754. He consequently removed to Portsmouth in New Hampshire and started that Colony's first press in 1756. The first New Hampshire book, preceded only by issues of _The New-Hampshire Gazette_, was printed by Fowle in the same year. It is Nathaniel Ames' _An Astronomical Diary: or, An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord Christ, 1757_. The Library of Congress owns one of four known copies of a singularly interesting later issue or state of the edition, featuring on its next-to-last page a historical note printed within an ornamental border: "_The first_ Printing Press _set up in_ Portsmouth New Hampshire, _was on August_ 1756; _the_ Gazette _publish'd the 7th of October; and this_ Almanack _November following_." Almanacs written by Nathaniel Ames of Dedham, Mass., were bestsellers in mid-18th century America. This almanack for the year 1757, evidently reprinted from the Boston edition, is a somber one reflecting recent set-backs in England's conflict with France. A verse on the title page strikes the keynote: MINORCA'S gone! OSWEGO too is lost! Review the Cause: or BRITAIN pays the Cost: These sad EVENTS have silenced my Muse ... The rebound Library of Congress copy, which bears no marks of previous ownership, is listed in the Library catalog of 1878 and presumably was obtained not long before then. At about the same time the Library acquired and similarly rebound two other Daniel Fowle imprints of undetermined provenance, both of which are dated 1756 but were published later than the almanac. There is some question whether one of them, Jonathan Parsons' _Good News from a Far Country_, was begun at Boston or at Portsmouth. In any event, Fowle placed the following notice in the November 4, 1756, issue of his _Gazette_: "Good News from a far country: in seven discourses by Rev. Jonathan Parsons is soon to be published. Five of the sermons have already been set up and lack of paper prevents completion until a supply of paper arrives from London which is probable at an early date." Not until April 1757 did Fowle advertise the book for sale.[25] The other imprint dated 1756 is Samuel Langdon's _The Excellency of the Word of God, in the Mouth of a Faithful Minister_,[26] a sermon delivered on November 3 and also delayed in printing for lack of suitable paper. Both books were probably completed in the early months of 1757 but dated old style. There is a noticeable difference between the paper on which they are printed and the crude paper of the almanac, such as Fowle used for his newspaper. [Footnote 25: See _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, 1915, new series, vol. 25, p. 329.] [Footnote 26: A Library of Congress stamp on this copy is dated 1876.] Delaware James Adams of Londonderry, Ireland, after working more than seven years with Franklin and Hall in Philadelphia, established Delaware's first press at Wilmington in 1761. [Illustration: (_The Wilmington Almanack, or Ephemeries_, _for the Year of Our Lord, 1762. By Thomas Fox, Philom_.)] The Library of Congress possesses one of two extant imprints out of four that Adams is known to have issued at Wilmington in the latter part of that year: _The Wilmington Almanack, or Ephemeries_ [sic], _for the Year of Our Lord, 1762 ... By Thomas Fox, Philom_.[27] Copies, according to the title page, were also "to be had, in _Philadelphia_, of William Falkner." The publication is the first in an annual series of "Wilmington Almanacs," all printed by Adams, that were prepared for the years 1762 to 1794. The otherwise unknown author, Thomas Fox (possibly a pseudonym), brings himself to the reader's attention in this statement: Kind Reader, Having for some Years observed those Almanacks published in America; and having formerly, in Europe, learned the Use of Mr. Thomas Street's Tables, with some others, and being willing to crowd in among the rest, I have calculated an Almanack for the Year 1762.... More interesting than the colorless prose and verse selections accompanying the astronomical tables are the printer's advertisements, such as the following notice near the end of the book: BIBLES, Testaments, Psalters, Spelling-Books, Primers, Merchants blank Books, Writing-Paper, Ink, all Sorts of Blanks, _viz._, Bills of Lading, Kerry Bills, Penal Bills, Bills of Sale, Arbitration Bonds, Apprentices Indentures, Bonds with and without Judgment, to be sold at the Printing-Office in Wilmington.--Also, very good Lampblack. * * * Ready money for clean Linen Rags, at the above Office. The Library's copy of the almanac has been detached from a bound volume and bears no evidence of early ownership. It was acquired by exchange from Dodd, Mead & Company in 1908, at a valuation of $15. [Footnote 27: No. 3 in Evald Rink, _Printing in Delaware 1761-1800_ (Wilmington, 1969).] Georgia [Illustration: (_An Act to Prevent Stealing of Horses and Neat Cattle; and for the More Effectual Discovery and Punishment of Such Persons as Shall Unlawfully Brand, Mark, or Kill the Same._ Printed by James Johnston.)] An act for the provision of printing, passed by the Georgia Legislature on March 4, 1762, stated that "_James Johnston_, lately arrived in this province from _Great-Britain_, recommended as a person regularly bred to and well skilled in the art and mystery of printing, hath offered to set up a printing press in the town of _Savannah_." Employed to print the Colony's statutes, Johnston had readied the first Georgia press by April 7, 1763, when he began to publish his newspaper, _The Georgia Gazette_. From the year 1763 the Library of Congress owns several official imprints bound up in a volume of Georgia laws enacted from 1755 to 1770 and one unofficial imprint, _The South-Carolina and Georgia Almanack, for the Year of Our Lord, 1764 ... By John Tobler, Esq._ This almanac, which the distinguished collector Wymberley Jones De Renne gave the Library in 1907, was published by December 8, 1763, and probably printed very shortly before. The earliest of Johnston's many official imprints, predating all his other work except _The Georgia Gazette_, are thought to be two acts advertised in that paper on June 2, 1763. They are entitled _An Act to Prevent Stealing of Horses and Neat Cattle; and for the More Effectual Discovery and Punishment of Such Persons as Shall Unlawfully Brand, Mark, or Kill the Same_ and _An Act for Ascertaining the Qualifications of Jurors, and for Establishing the Method of Balloting and Summoning of Jurors in the Province of Georgia_. They had been passed on March 27, 1759, and April 24, 1760, and were printed in folio in four and six pages, respectively. Both acts are represented in the Library of Congress bound volume of early Georgia laws. Only two other copies of each are known to be extant. Various owners inscribed their name in this book. Joseph Stiles, who operated the Vale Royal Plantation near Savannah from 1806 until his death in 1838, owned at least the latter part of it, where his signature and that of his son, the evangelist Joseph C. Stiles, may be seen. Another owner of the same part was John C. Nicholl (1793-1863), a prominent lawyer and jurist who served as mayor of Savannah in 1836 and 1837. A later owner of the entire volume was a certain S. H. McIntire, not known to have any Savannah connections, who inscribed it in June 1878. The Library of Congress purchased it in June 1909 from the Statute Law Book Company of Washington, D.C. for $2,500. Louisiana [Illustration: (EXTRAIT De Régistres, des Audiances du Conseil Supérieur, de la Province de la Loüisiane. Du 7. May 1765. ENTRE L'ABBE DE L'ISLE DIEU, Vicaire Général du Diocèse de Québec, & de cette Province, Demandeur en Requête, le Procureur Général du Roi, joint.)] Only after printing penetrated the Thirteen Colonies did the French printer Denis Braud carry the art to Louisiana. His earliest known work, an official broadside concerning the transfer of Louisiana from French to Spanish ownership, was printed at New Orleans in 1764. The earliest Louisiana imprint in the Library of Congress is the second extant example of Louisiana printing. The Library's unique copy is a four-page, folio-sized document signed by Garic, clerk of the Superior Council of Louisiana, and headed, "EXTRAIT De Régistres, des Audiances du Conseil Supérieur, de la Province de la Loüisiane. Du 7. May 1765. ENTRE L'ABBE DE L'ISLE DIEU, Vicaire Général du Diocèse de Québec, & de cette Province, Demandeur en Requête, le Procureur Général du Roi, joint." It is a decree restricting the activities of the Capuchin friar Hilaire Genoveaux and suppressing a catechism circulated by him which apparently had also been printed at New Orleans. The title of the catechism, as preserved in the text of the decree, is _Catechisme pour la Province de la Loüisianne, &c. Rédigé par le R. P. Hilaire, Protonotaire du St. Siége & Supérieur Général de la Mission des Capucins en ladite Province, pour être seul enseigné dans sadite Mission_. The contemporary importance of the surviving document lay in its connection with a far-reaching struggle between the Jesuit and Franciscan orders over ecclesiastical authority in Louisiana. Although it contains no imprint statement naming place of publication or printer, typographical features of the document serve to identify it as the work of Denis Braud.[28] That this unique copy belonged to an official archive--presumably that of the Superior Council of Louisiana--the following manuscript additions make apparent. There is first a notation: "Joint a la lettre de M. Aubry, Command. a la Louisianne du 7. May 1765." (Aubry had succeeded d'Abbadie as commandant, or governor, after the latter's death in February 1765.) A second column in manuscript contains the same date as a filing guide and this descriptive title: "Arrest du Conseil Superieur de la Louisianne portant deffense au Pere Hilaire Capucin de simississer [_i. e._ s'immiscer] dans aucune Jurisdiction Ecclesiastique autre que celle qui lui est permise par son seul titre de superieur de la mission des RR. PP. Capucins de cette Colonie." At the end of the column is a cross reference: "Voyez les lettres de M. l'Abbe de LIsle Dieu Vicaire g[e]n[er]al de M. de Quebek en 1759 et 1760 et sa Correspond. a ce sujet." The subsequent history of this document has not been traced before October 17, 1905, when C. F. Libbie & Co auctioned it off with the library of Israel T. Hunt, a Boston physician. The Library of Congress was able to obtain it on that date for $10.45. [Footnote 28: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _Early Printing in New Orleans_ (New Orleans, 1929), p. 25-26 and 88. McMurtrie mistakenly locates the original at the New York Public Library, which owns a photostat copy.] Vermont Formed as an independent republic in 1777, Vermont in the next year appointed the brothers Alden and Judah Padock Spooner of Connecticut to be her official printers. Publications under their imprint were issued at Dresden, before and later named Hanover, in 1778 and 1779; but in February 1779 this town, along with 15 others east of the Connecticut River, returned to the jurisdiction of New Hampshire. The earliest printing from within the present borders of Vermont came from the town of Westminster, where Judah Padock Spooner and Timothy Green, son of the State Printer of Connecticut, undertook the official printing late in 1780. The Library of Congress possesses three Dresden imprints dated 1779. The first two listed here name Alden Spooner as printer, while the third names both brothers. They are Ira Allen's _A Vindication of the Conduct of the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, Held at Windsor in October 1778, Against Allegations and Remarks of the Protesting Members, With Observations on Their Proceedings at a Convention Held at Cornish, on the 9th Day of December 1778_; Ethan Allen's _A Vindication of the Opposition of the Inhabitants of Vermont to the Government of New-York, and of Their Right to Form into an Independent State. Humbly Submitted to the Consideration of the Impartial World_; and _Acts and Laws of the State of Vermont, in America_. The earliest of the three would appear to be Ira Allen's 48-page _Vindication_, known from a printer's bill of February 10, 1779, to have been produced by then in 450 copies.[29] The Library's rebound copy is inscribed "from y^e author" beneath its imprint statement, and at the head of the title page is written, "Nath^l Peabody^s Book." Nathaniel Peabody (1741-1823), a New Hampshire legislator, served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780. His book was ultimately listed in the _Catalogue of Books Added to the Library of Congress During the Year 1871_. [Illustration: _Ira Allen (1751-1814), miniature attributed to Edward G. Malbone, ca. 1795-1798. Courtesy of the Robert Hull Fleming Museum, the University of Vermont, Burlington._] The Library holds the other two Dresden imprints in duplicate. A copy of the _Acts and Laws_ was formerly in the Hazard Pamphlets, acquired with the collection of Peter Force (see p. 8, above). Ebenezer Hazard (1744-1817) was an early collector of Americana. The two copies of Ethan Allen's _Vindication_, both printed on blue paper, are in the Hazard Pamphlets, volume 47, number 3, and in Colonial Pamphlets, volume 19, number 6. The latter pamphlet volume originally formed part of Thomas Jefferson's library, obtained by the Congress in 1815 (see p. 3, above).[30] The earliest example of printing from present-day Vermont in the Library is a document printed by Judah Padock Spooner at Westminster in 1781[31]: _Acts and Laws, Passed by the General Assembly of the Representatives of the State of Vermont, at their Session at Windsor, April 1781_. In four pages, it contains only "An Act for the Purpose of emitting a Sum of Money, and directing the Redemption of the same." The Act provides for a land tax, stating in justification that "The Land is the great Object of the present War, and receives the most solid Protection of any Estate, a very large Part of which has hitherto paid no Part of the great Cost arisen in defending it, whilst the Blood and Treasure of the Inhabitants of the State has been spent to protect it, who many of them owned but a very small part thereof." The Library of Congress copy bears the following inscription: "Secry's Office 10^{th} August 1785. The preceding is a true Copy of an Act passed by the Legislature of the State of Vermont April 14^{th} 1781--Attest Micah Townsend, Secry." Although a loyalist, Micah Townsend served as secretary of state in Vermont from October 1781 until 1789.[32] The Library's copy also bears the autograph of a private owner, Henry Stevens of Barnet, Vt., first president of the Vermont Historical Society. After his death in 1867, his son Henry Stevens, the bookseller, wrote that he left his home "full of books and historical manuscripts, the delight of his youth, the companions of his manhood, and the solace of his old age."[33] To judge from its present library binding, this thin volume has been in the Library of Congress collections since the 19th century. [Footnote 29: See no. 12 in Marcus A. McCorison's _Vermont Imprints 1778-1820_ (Worcester, 1963).] [Footnote 30: No. 3146 in U.S. Library of Congress, _Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Compiled with Annotations by E. Millicent Sowerby_ (Washington, 1952-59). See also no. 498.] [Footnote 31: Imprint information supplied in McCorison, no. 47.] [Footnote 32: See Chilton Williamson, _Vermont in Quandary_ (Montpelier, 1949), p. 133. On Townsend's divulging secret intelligence to the British in April 1781, see J. B. Wilbur, _Ira Allen_ (Boston and New York, 1928), p. 183-186.] [Footnote 33: See W. W. Parker, _Henry Stevens of Vermont_ (Amsterdam, 1963), p. 21.] Florida [Illustration: FLORIDA GAZETTE. VOL. I. ST. AUGUSTINE, (E. F.) SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1821. No. 3.] Dr. William Charles Wells, one of many American loyalists who took refuge in Florida, introduced printing at St. Augustine in 1783. There he published a loyalist paper, _The East-Florida Gazette_, under the imprint of his elder brother, the Charleston printer John Wells, and with the assistance of a pressman named Charles Wright. Apart from two books of 1784 bearing John Wells' imprint and a document printed at Amelia Island in 1817 during the Spanish rule, no other Florida publications survive from the years preceding United States acquisition of the territory.[34] Richard W. Edes, grandson of the Boston printer Benjamin Edes, reestablished printing at St. Augustine, issuing the first number of his weekly paper, the _Florida Gazette_, on the day of the transfer of Florida's administration, July 14, 1821. The Library of Congress holds 10 issues, constituting the best surviving file of this paper. The earliest Florida printing in the Library is the third issue, published July 28 and the earliest issue extant. This happens to be a very curious example of printing. Of its four pages the second is half blank and the third is totally blank, the following explanation being given: TO OUR PATRONS. We are under the disagreeable necessity of issuing this number of the Gazette, in its present form, owing to a very lengthy advertisement, (occupying seven columns) being ordered out the moment the paper was ready for the Press. It being a personal controversy between Mr. _William Robertson_, and Messrs. _Hernandez, Kingsley_ and _Yonge_, Esquires, and a reply to Mr. Hernandez's publication of last week, our readers would not have found it very interesting. Its publication was countermanded on account of an amicable arrangement being made by the parties about one o'clock this day. We hope this will be a sufficient apology to our subscribers for the manner in which the Paper appears, as it is impossible for it to be issued this day in any other way, being short of hands. We pledge ourselves another instance of the kind shall never occur--and assure the public we feel much aggrieved at the imposition. The advertisement of Mr. Wm. Robertson, headed "_Caution_" and the reply by J. M. Hernandez, Esq. will be discontinued after this week, and no further altercation between the parties will be permitted thro' the medium of this Press. The printed portions of this early issue include an installment of a "Historical Sketch of Florida," extracts from various newspapers, and among others the printer's own advertisements: "COMMERCIAL BLANKS, For Sale at this Office. _Also_, Blank Deeds, Mortgages, &c. &c." "Blank Bills of Lading, For Sale at the Gazette Office" and "BOOK AND JOB PRINTING, Of every description, executed at this Office." In this century the Library bound the 10 issues into a single volume. Those dated November 24 and December 1 are addressed in ink to the Department of State at Washington. From the same year the Library of Congress holds 13 issues of _The Floridian_, published at Pensacola beginning August 18, some of which are also addressed to the Department of State. From this year, too, the Library possesses _Ordinances, by Major-General Andrew Jackson, Governor of the Provinces of the Floridas, Exercising the Powers of the Captain-General, and of the Intendant of the Island of Cuba, Over the Said Provinces, and of the Governors of Said Provinces Respectively_, printed at St. Augustine by Edes. This pamphlet-sized volume was advertised as "just published" in the September 15 issue of the _Florida Gazette_; and the Library's copy, one of two extant,[35] was autographed twice by "John Rodman Esquire" at St. Augustine. Since he once added the designation "Collector" to his name, he is readily identified as the person who placed the following announcement in the November 24 issue of the _Gazette_: "JOHN RODMAN, Attorney & Counsellor at Law, May be consulted on professional business, at his Office in the Custom-House." [Illustration: (Florida Gazette ads)] [Footnote 34: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, "The Beginnings of Printing in Florida," in _The Florida Historical Quarterly_, vol. 23 (1944-45), p. [63]-96.] [Footnote 35: See no. 36 in Thomas W. Streeter's _Americana--Beginnings_ (Morristown, N.J., 1952).] Maine [Illustration: _The Falmouth Gazette and Weekly Advertiser_ (No. 2.) Saturday, January 8, 1785. (Vol. 1.)] Benjamin Titcomb and Thomas B. Wait introduced printing in the District of Maine, then part of Massachusetts, with the first issue of _The Falmouth Gazette and Weekly Advertiser_, dated January 1, 1785. Titcomb was a native of Falmouth, now Portland, who had gained his experience at Newburyport, and Wait was formerly employed at Boston.[36] The Library of Congress possesses nine issues of _The Falmouth Gazette_ from this first year of printing in Maine. Of these the earliest is a partly mutilated copy of the second issue, dated January 8 and featuring a moralistic essay "On Entrance into Life, and the Conduct of early Manhood." This issue contains one piece of news, relayed from a Boston paper, that has importance for American printing history, namely, the arrival in this country from Ireland, "that land of gudgeons," of Mathew Carey, destined to become a leading printer and publisher at Philadelphia. Since the Library of Congress copy is inscribed "Mess^{rs} Adams & Nourse printers," it is interesting to note that one of the Falmouth news items was reprinted in their Boston paper, _The Independent Chronicle_, for January 20. Similarly, the Library's copy of the August 13 issue of the _Gazette_ is addressed in manuscript to the famous printer Isaiah Thomas at Worcester, and it retains his editorial markings for the reprinting of two sections--a news item and a poem on atheism--that subsequently appeared in the September 1 and September 8 issues of _Thomas's Massachusetts Spy; or, The Worcester Gazette_. It was largely by means of just such borrowing amongst themselves that most early American newspapers were put together. Four of the Library's nine issues, including the Isaiah Thomas copy, were purchased from Goodspeed's Book Shop for $13.50 in 1939. Four of the remaining five, including the very earliest, appear from their physical condition to have a common provenance. The five were listed initially in the 1936 edition of _A Checklist of American Eighteenth-Century Newspapers in the Library of Congress_.[37] [Footnote 36: See R. Webb Noyes, _A Bibliography of Maine Imprints to 1820_ (Stonington, Maine, 1930), p. 7.] [Footnote 37: The preface to this edition is dated June 1, 1935. A sixth issue of the _Gazette_ (March 5) listed here was later replaced by a better copy from the 1939 purchase.] Kentucky The printing history of Kentucky begins with the August 11, 1787, issue of a Lexington newspaper, _The Kentucke Gazette_. John Bradford of Fauquier County, Va., established this paper in partnership with his younger brother, Fielding. They purchased their press at Philadelphia in the spring of 1787 and transported it to Lexington by way of Pittsburgh, where the first press to cross the Alleghenies had been active since the preceding summer.[38] The earliest Kentucky imprint in the Library of Congress is _The Kentucke Gazette_ for March 1, 1788. Like five other issues of the paper, available at the Library in facsimile, this original issue opens with "Extracts from the journals of a convention begun and held for the district of Kentucky at Danville in the county of Mercer on the 17th day of September 1787." The extracts are resolutions looking towards the separation of Kentucky from Virginia, and the following one accounts for their publication in this paper: [Resolved][39] That full opportunity may be given to the good people of exercising their right of suffrage on an occasion so interesting to them, each of the officers so holding elections, shall continue the same from day to day, for five days including the first day, and shall cause these resolutions to be read immediately preceeding the opening of the election at the door of the courthouse, or other convenient place; and that Mr. Bradford be requested to publish the same in his Kentucky Gazette, six weeks successively, immediately preceeding the time of holding said elections. At a time for important decisions _The Kentucke Gazette_ served as a means of airing different opinions on statehood, independence, and constitutional questions. A long second portion of this March 1 issue is an essay on liberty and equality signed by "Republicus." Critical of certain sections of the proposed Federal Constitution, he opposes a bicameral legislature, fears undue influence of the Congress over State elections, and denounces any condoning of slavery. The remainder of the issue includes an announcement of the ice breaking up on the Ohio River, a report of an Indian raid, and an advertisement in this vein: "I have been told that a certain Jordan Harris asserted in a public and very positive manner, that I had acknowledged myself a liar and a scoundrel in a letter to maj. Crittenden." The writer, Humphrey Marshall, concludes that if said letter is published, "the public will then see who is the liar and the scoundrel." This early issue bears the name of the subscriber Richard Eastin, one of the first justices of the peace in Jefferson County.[40] The Library's only other examples of Kentucky printing from 1788 are eight additional issues of the _Gazette_, for November 8 through December 27, which have been detached from a bound volume and are still joined together. These belonged to Walter Carr, who was serving as a magistrate in Fayette County by 1792 and who in 1799 attended the convention to form the second constitution of Kentucky.[41] Nothing more can be ascertained about the acquisition of these holdings than that the March 1 issue is first listed in the 1912 edition and that the later issues are first listed in the 1936 edition of _A Checklist of American Eighteenth-Century Newspapers in the Library of Congress_. [Illustration: (THE KENTUCKE GAZETTE, March 1, 1788.)] [Footnote 38: See J. Winston Coleman, Jr., _John Bradford, Esq._ (Lexington, Ky., 1950).] [Footnote 39: Brackets in text.] [Footnote 40: J. Stoddard Johnston, _Memorial History of Louisville_ (Chicago and New York [pref. 1896]), vol. 2, p. 3.] [Footnote 41: C. R. Staples, _The History of Pioneer Lexington_ (Lexington, 1939), p. 78 and 151.] West Virginia Late in 1790 Nathaniel Willis, grandfather of the writer Nathaniel Parker Willis, established at Shepherdstown the first press within the present boundaries of West Virginia. For some years he had published _The Independent Chronicle_ at Boston, and earlier in 1790 he had been printing at Winchester, Va. At Shepherdstown Willis published _The Potowmac Guardian, and Berkeley Advertiser_ from November 1790 at least through December 1791.[42] By April 1792 he had moved to Martinsburg, where he continued publishing his newspaper under the same title. The earliest example of West Virginia printing in the Library of Congress is a broadside printed at Martinsburg in 1792. Entitled _Charter of the Town of Woodstock_ [Pa.], it consists of the printed text of a legal document in the name of one John Hopwood and dated November 8, 1791. The preamble of the document reveals its nature: Whereas I John Hopwood, of Fayette-County, and Commonwealth of _Pennsylvania_, have surveyed and laid out into convenient lots or parcels, for the purpose of erecting a Town thereon, the quantity of two hundred acres of land, being part of the tract of land on which I now live, situate in Union Township, and County aforesaid, on the great road leading from the Town of Union to Fort Cumberland, on the River Potowmack; and for the purpose of encouraging the settlement, growth, and prosperity of the said Town, as laid out agreeable to a plan and survey thereof, hereunto annexed and recorded, together with this instrument of writing, have determined to grant and confirm to all persons, who shall purchase or become proprietors of any lot or lots in the said Town, and to their heirs and assigns, certain privileges, benefits, and advantages herein after expressed and specified.... Access of the proposed town to the Potomac River is the clue to why this broadside relating to an otherwise remote location in Pennsylvania should have been printed in this part of West Virginia. The _Charter_ is the third recorded West Virginia imprint apart from newspaper issues, and the Library of Congress has the only known copy. Written on the verso is: Col. Morr[----] And other early hands have written there, "Hopwoods deeds" and "no body will have his Lotts." At the Anderson Galleries sale of Americana held at New York on November 9, 1927, the presumed same copy of the _Charter_ was sold from the library of Arthur DeLisle, M.D. (1851-1925), librarian of the Advocates' Library in Montreal.[43] It fetched $11. The Library of Congress obtained it in October 1935 from the Aldine Book Shop in Brooklyn for $35. [Illustration: (Charter of the Town of Woodstock.)] [Footnote 42: The latest extant Shepherdstown issue of _The Potowmac Guardian_, for December 27, 1791, is reported in Clarence S. Brigham, _Additions and Corrections to History and Bibliography of American Newspapers 1690-1820_ (Worcester, Mass., 1961), p. 50.] [Footnote 43: According to his obituary in the Montreal newspaper _La Presse_, December 22, 1925, Arthur DeLisle obtained a degree in medicine but never practiced that profession. "M. DeLisle s'intéressait vivement à toutes les choses de l'histoire et, par des recherches patientes et continues il fit de la bibliothèque du Barreau ce qu'elle est aujourd'hui, l'enrichissant sans cesse de livres et de documents précieux relatifs à l'histoire du droit, ainsi qu'à la biographie des juges et des avocats de Montréal depuis 1828."] Tennessee The printers George Roulstone and Robert Ferguson introduced the first Tennessee printing at Hawkins Court House, now Rogersville, with the November 5, 1791, issue of _The Knoxville Gazette_. Both men came to the Tennessee country, or Southwest Territory, by way of North Carolina. Their newspaper remained at Hawkins Court House until October 1792, while Knoxville, chosen as the seat of the Territorial government, was being constructed. The earliest Tennessee imprint in the Library of Congress is probably the eight-page official publication entitled _Acts and Ordinances of the Governor and Judges, of the Territory of the United States of America South of the River Ohio_, which according to Douglas C. McMurtrie "was certainly printed by Roulstone at Knoxville in 1793, though it bears no imprint to this effect."[44] Its contents, relating principally to the definition of separate judicial districts within the Territory, are dated from June 11, 1792, to March 21, 1793, and the printing could have been accomplished soon after the latter date. [Illustration: _Patch-repairs help to preserve not only the title page but the first page of the text, which is printed on the verso._] The Library of Congress copy is one of those afterwards prefixed to and issued with a much more extensive work printed by Roulstone in 1794: _Acts Passed at the First Session of the General Assembly of the Territory of the United States of America, South of the River Ohio, Began and Held at Knoxville, on Monday the Twenty-Fifth Day of August, M,DCC,XCIV_. The Library's volume lost its 1794 title page at an early date, and it is the exposed second leaf, the title page of 1793, that bears the inscription, "Theodorick Bland June 1st 1799." Theodorick Bland (1777-1846) was to be chancellor of Maryland for many years. His correspondence preserved by the Maryland Historical Society reveals that he practiced law in Tennessee from 1798 to 1801. From such evidence as its Library of Congress bookplate, the volume would appear to have entered the Library around the late 1870's. The earliest dated example of Tennessee printing in the Library is the _Knoxville Gazette_ for June 1, 1793, issued a month after Ferguson retired from the paper. The issue begins with a lengthy selection by Benjamin Franklin, which is prefaced in this way: Messrs. _Printers_, I beg you to publish in your next number of the Knoxville Gazette, the following extracts, from a narrative of the massacres in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania; of a number of friendly Indians, by persons unknown; written by the late Dr. _Benjamin Franklin_, whose many benevolent acts, will immortalize his memory, and published in a British Magazine,[45] in April 1764. I am your obedient servant, W.B. The subscriber was undoubtedly William Blount, the Territorial Governor appointed by President Washington in 1790, who perhaps hoped that the sympathy towards Indians expressed by Franklin might temper public reaction against Indian raids figuring so large in the local news. Readers of the same June 1 issue learned of such crimes as the scalping of a child near Nashville, and they may have been moved by the following paragraph which the editor interjected in the news reports: The Creek nation must be destroyed, or the south western frontiers, from the mouth of St. Mary's to the western extremities of Kentucky and Virginia, will be incessantly harassed by them; and now is the time. [_Delenda est Carthago._][46] Both this issue and the June 15 issue, the sole Library of Congress holdings of the _Gazette_ for the year 1793, are inscribed "Claiborne Watkins, esq^r." They probably belonged to the person of that name residing in Washington County, Va., who served as a presidential elector in 1792.[47] [Footnote 44: _Early Printing in Tennessee_ (Chicago, 1933), p. 21.] [Footnote 45: _The Gentleman's Magazine._ Franklin's _A Narrative of the Late Massacres_ was published separately at Philadelphia in the same year.] [Footnote 46: Brackets in text. Several issues carried this paragraph. See William Rule, ed. _Standard History of Knoxville, Tennessee_ (Chicago, 1900), p. 74.] [Footnote 47: See _Calendar of Virginia State Papers_, vol. 6 (1886), p. 140.] Ohio William Maxwell of New York, after failing to establish himself at Lexington, Ky., moved on to Cincinnati in the Northwest Territory and thereby became the first Ohio printer. His work at Cincinnati began with the November 9, 1793, issue of his newspaper, _The Centinel of the North-Western Territory_.[48] The earliest known Ohio book, also printed by Maxwell, is the earliest example of Ohio printing to be found at the Library of Congress: _Laws of the Territory of the United States North-West of the Ohio: Adopted and Made by the Governour and Judges, in Their Legislative Capacity, at a Session Begun on Friday, the XXIX Day of May, One Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety-Five, and Ending on Tuesday the Twenty-Fifth Day of August Following_.... Dated 1796, "Maxwell's Code," as this book is sometimes called, was not the first publication of Northwest Territory laws, others having been printed at Philadelphia in 1792 and 1794. The printer set forth a "Proposal" concerning the forthcoming work in the _Centinel_ of July 25, 1795: W. Maxwell being appointed by the legislature to print for them 200 copies of their laws, he thinks it would be greatly conducive towards the instruction and common benefit of all the citizens to extend the impression to 1000 copies.... The price, in boards, to subscribers, will be at the rate of nineteen cents for every 50 pages, and to non-subscribers, thirty cents.[49] [Illustration: _Pages from the first book printed in Ohio._] He completed the volume in 225 pages, with numerous printed sidenotes that make it easy to consult. An incidental reference to printing occurs in a law for land partition (p. 185-197) which states that land proprietors "may subscribe a writing, and publish the same in one or more of the public News-papers printed in the Territory, in the State of Kentucky, and at the seat of government of the United States, for twelve successive weeks" in order to announce the appointment of commissioners to divide their property into lots. Subsequently, advertisements were to be placed in the newspapers for six weeks to announce a balloting or drawing for the subdivided lots. [Illustration: (Northwest Territory Laws)] The Library of Congress owns two copies of this Cincinnati imprint. One, lacking the title page and final leaf, is bound in a volume of unknown provenance, possibly obtained about 1912, containing four early editions of Northwest Territory laws. The other is a separate copy, lacking the last three leaves. This more interesting copy has two inscriptions on its title page, the words written uppermost posing some difficulty: "Ex Biblioth[eca] Sem[inari]i [----] S[anc]ti Sulp[icii] Baltimoriensis"; but they make clear that this copy once belonged to the Sulpician seminary founded at Baltimore in 1791 and now named St. Mary's Seminary. A number of similarly inscribed books still retained by the seminary were once part of a special faculty library that merged with the regular seminary library about 1880. Many books from the faculty library bear signatures of individual priests who were their original owners. Thus the second inscription "Dilhet" refers to Jean Dilhet (1753-1811), a Sulpician who spent nine years in this country and was assigned to the pastorate of Raisin River (then in the Northwest Territory, in what is now Monroe County, Mich.) from 1798 to 1804. During 1804 and 1805 he worked in Detroit with Father Richard, who later established a press there (see next section).[50] Its absence from the Library's early catalogs implies that the present copy was acquired sometime after 1875. Two date stamps indicate that the Library had it rebound twice, in 1904 and 1947. [Footnote 48: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _Pioneer Printing in Ohio_ (Cincinnati, 1943).] [Footnote 49: Quoted from Historical Records Survey, American Imprints Inventory, no. 17, _A Check List of Ohio Imprints 1796-1820_ (Columbus, 1941), p. 21.] [Footnote 50: See the short biography of Dilhet in the preface to his _Etat de l'église catholique ou Diocèse des Etats-Unis de l'Amérique septentrionale.... Translated and annotated by Rev. P. W. Browne_ (Washington, D.C., 1922).] Michigan In 1796 John McCall, the earliest printer active in Michigan, issued at Detroit a 16-page Act of Congress relating to Indian affairs. Apart from blank forms printed on the same press before its removal to Canada in 1800, no other specimens of Michigan printing survive antedating the press that Father Gabriel Richard, the influential Sulpician priest, established at Detroit in 1809. Entry number 2 in the _Preliminary Check List of Michigan Imprints 1796-1850_ (Detroit, 1942)[51] describes a 12-page publication said to exist in a unique copy at the Library of Congress: _To the Honourable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States. Memorial of the citizens of the United States, situated north of an east and west line, extending thro' the southward bend of Lake Michigan, and by the Act of Congress of 30th April 1802 attached to, and made part of the Indiana Territory ..._ ([Detroit? 1802?]). This entry is, in bibliographical parlance, a ghost. Actually, the Library of Congress possesses the work only as a negative photostat of a manuscript document which is preserved at the National Archives.[52] The earliest _bona fide_ Michigan imprint in the Library of Congress is _L'Ame penitente ou Le nouveau pensez-y-bien; consideration sur les ve'rite's eternelles, avec des histoires & des exemples ..._ printed at Detroit in 1809. The printer, James M. Miller, of Utica, N. Y., was the first of three operators of Father Richard's press. This particular imprint is the fourth item in a standard bibliography of the press, which calls it "the first book of more than 24 pages printed in Detroit or Michigan."[53] As a matter of fact, it is a very substantial work of 220 pages, albeit in a small duodecimo format. It is a reprint of a devotional book first published in France in the 18th century and attributed to a prolific Jesuit author, Barthélemy Baudrand (1701-87). As head of the Catholic Church in the area, Father Richard wanted to make such religious literature available to the largely French-speaking inhabitants. [Illustration: (_L'AME PENITENTE OU LE NOUVEAU PENSEZ-Y-BIEN; CONSIDERATION SUR LES VE'RITE'S ETERNELLES, Avec des Histoires & des Exemples ..._ printed by James M. Miller at Detroit in 1809.)] The Library of Congress copy of _L'Ame penitente_, in a speckled calf binding of uncertain date, was obtained through a 1954 exchange with Edward Eberstadt & Sons. It had been offered in one of the bookselling firm's catalogs earlier that year for $500.[54] [Footnote 51: Historical Records Survey, American Imprints Inventory, no. 52.] [Footnote 52: The original is in Record Group 46 at the National Archives; the Library's photostat is in the Manuscript Division. The imaginary imprint recurs as no. 3168 in _American Bibliography, a Preliminary Checklist for 1802_, comp. by Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker (New York, 1958).] [Footnote 53: A. H. Greenly, _A Bibliography of Father Richard's Press in Detroit_ (Ann Arbor, 1955).] [Footnote 54: Catalogue 134, no. 392. Two years later the same firm offered another copy for $750, in its Catalogue 138, no. 428.] Mississippi Mississippi's first printer was Andrew Marschalk of New York, an Army lieutenant stationed at Walnut Hills, close to the eventual site of Vicksburg.[55] There, probably in 1798, he attracted attention by printing a ballad on a small press he had acquired in London. At the request of Governor Winthrop Sargent, Marschalk undertook in 1799 to print the laws of Mississippi Territory, and for that purpose he built a larger press at Natchez. Late in 1799 a second printer, Ben M. Stokes, purchased this press from Marschalk and soon commenced a weekly paper, _The Mississippi Gazette_. On May 5, 1800, James Green, a printer from Baltimore, introduced a rival paper at Natchez, _Green's Impartial Observer_. The Library of Congress earliest Mississippi imprint was designed to controvert remarks by "The Friend of the People" in _Green's Impartial Observer_ for November 1, 1800. It is a small broadside "From the Office of J. Green" that would seem to corroborate the printer's impartiality, at least in this particular dispute. Captioned "To the Public," dated November 8, 1800, and signed by eight members of the new Territorial House of Representatives, it refers to "an exaggerated estimate of the supposed expence attending the second grade of Government"; and it continues, "We therefore consider it our duty to counteract the nefarious and factious designs of the persons concerned" in the anonymous article. Mississippi's second grade of Territorial government had come about in 1800 with the creation of a legislature to enact the laws, theretofore enacted by the Governor and three judges. The authors of this broadside itemize the maximum annual expenses for operating the legislature, concluding with a comparison of the total estimates: their $2,870 as opposed to the $15,050 of "The Friend of the People." [Illustration: "To the Public," dated November 8, 1800] In addition the Library of Congress has a lengthy rebuttal to the November 8 statement on a broadside also captioned "To the Public," dated at Natchez "November 15th, 1809" (a misprint for 1800), and signed "The Friend of the People." The writer begins: Fellow-Citizens, Of all the extraordinary performances I ever beheld, the late hand-bill, signed by eight members of our house of representatives, is the _most_ extraordinary--and I doubt not that it will be considered by the country at large as the legitimate offspring of the subscribers; being replete with that unauthorized assumption of power, and those round assertions so truly characteristic--propagated for the avowed purpose of 'undeceiving the people' in a matter of the first moment, and yet not containing one authenticated fact for them to found an opinion on--but resting all upon their mere _dictum_, penetrating into future events, and proclaiming what _shall be_ the decisions of legislators not yet elected. His argument against his opponents' cost estimates touches upon certain fundamental issues, such as the threat of an aristocratic rule if the stipend for legislators is indeed kept very low. Towards the end he notes an instance of intimidation: One thing more I would observe--a very threatening letter has been written to the printer denouncing vengeance on him, if he does not deliver up the author of "_the friend of the people_"--this I take to be an attempt to frighten and preclude further investigation, but it will be of little avail when the interests of my fellow citizens are so deeply concerned. That James Green, although not named, is the printer of this second broadside can be demonstrated by typographical comparison with the January 24 and February 21, 1801 issues of _Green's Impartial Observer_, available at the Library of Congress. The two broadsides cited are the only copies recorded in Douglas C. McMurtrie's _A Bibliography of Mississippi Imprints 1798-1830_ (Beauvoir Community, Miss., 1945).[56] They bear manuscript notations, in an identical hand, that suggest use in an official archive; and the earlier broadside is stated to be "from M^r Banks, Nov^r 12^{th} 1800." Sutton Bankes, one of the eight signers, is presumably referred to here. The second broadside has, besides a brief caption in this hand, a more elegantly written address: "His Excellency Winthrop Sergent Bellemont." Bellemont was one of Governor Sargent's residences near Natchez. It is interesting that at the time Governor Sargent expressed himself privately on the earlier broadside as follows: They [the members of the House of Representatives] are undoubtedly the proper Guardians of their own honour and Conduct, but nevertheless, will not take it amiss, in a Communication intended only for themselves, that I should observe it has always been Considered derogatory to the Dignity of Public Bodies, to notice anonymous writings, in the style and Manner of the Hand Bills,--it opens a broad Avenue to Retort and Satire, with many other obvious and unpleasant Consequences.[57] [Footnote 55: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _Pioneer Printing in Mississippi_ (Atlanta, 1932); and Charles S. Sydnor, "The Beginning of Printing in Mississippi," _The Journal of Southern History_, vol. 1, 1935, p. [49]-55.] [Footnote 56: Nos. 11 and 12.] [Footnote 57: From letter dated November 12, 1800, in _The Mississippi Territorial Archives_, compiled and edited by Dunbar Rowland, vol. 1 (1905), p. 301-302.] Indiana Elihu Stout, whose family moved from New Jersey to Kentucky in 1793, probably learned printing as an apprentice to Kentucky's first printer, John Bradford. He is known to have been in Bradford's employ at Lexington in 1798, and later he worked at Nashville. Invited by Governor William Henry Harrison to do the official printing for the Indiana Territory, Stout settled at Vincennes and began publishing his newspaper, the _Indiana Gazette_, on July 31, 1804.[58] The Library of Congress' Indiana holdings begin with a copy of the second known imprint excepting newspaper issues, printed by Stout late in 1804: _Laws for the Government of the District of Louisiana, Passed by the Governor and Judges of the Indiana Territory, at Their First Session, Uegun_ [sic] _and Held at Vincennes, on Monday the First Day of October, 1804_.[59] In March 1804 Congress had divided the lands of the Louisiana Purchase into two parts, the southern part becoming the Territory of Orleans (ultimately the State of Louisiana), the northern and larger part becoming the District of Louisiana. As explained in the preamble to the first law in this collection, "the Governor and Judges of the Indiana Territory [were] authorized by an act of Congress to make Laws for the District of Louisiana." They possessed this special authority from March 1804 until March 1805. Fifteen laws make up the 136-page work. They are written in plain language, and the 10th, "Entitled a law, respecting Slaves," is a particularly engrossing social document. To illustrate, its second provision is That no slave shall go from the tenements of his master, or other person with whom he lives without a pass, or some letter or token, whereby it may appear that he is proceeding by authority from his master, employer or overseer, if he does it shall be lawful for any person to apprehend and carry him before a justice of the peace to be by his order punished with stripes, or not, in his discretion. A subsequent compilation of laws made after the District became the Territory of Louisiana is described on p. 45, below. [Illustration: (_Laws for the Government of the District of Louisiana, Passed by the Governor and Judges of the Indiana Territory, at Their First Session, Uegun and Held at Vincennes, on Monday the First Day of October, 1804_. Printed by Elihu Stout late in 1804.)] The Library has handsomely rebound its copy in ruby morocco. Formerly it must have been in a wretched state, evidenced by the extreme marginal deterioration of its now laminated pages. It contains the signature of James Mackay (1759-1822), a Scottish fur trader, surveyor, and explorer who was later remembered at St. Louis as "the first English speaking white man who ever came west of the Mississippi river," and who was appointed "Commandant of the territory of Upper Louisiana" in 1803.[60] When the territory passed from Spanish to American rule in 1804, he became a judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions,[61] in which capacity he would have needed the volume of laws. The Library's copy is one of six unrelated volumes that were purchased together for $750 from the Statute Law Book Company of Washington, D.C., in 1905. [Footnote 58: See V. C. (H.) Knerr, _Elihu Stout, Indiana's First Printer_ (ACRL microcard series, no. 48; Rochester, N.Y., 1955).] [Footnote 59: No. 2 in C. K. Byrd and H. H. Peckham, _A Bibliography of Indiana Imprints 1804-1853_ (Indianapolis, 1955).] [Footnote 60: W. S. Bryan and Robert Rose, _A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri_ (St. Louis, 1876), p. 173-174.] [Footnote 61: _Missouri Historical Society Collections_, vol. 4, no. 1 (1912), p. 20.] Alabama The earliest extant Alabama imprint is thought to be _The Declaration of the American Citizens on the Mobile, with Relation to the British Aggressions. September, 1807_, which was printed "on the Mobile" at an unspecified date. No one has yet identified the printer of this five-page statement inspired by the _Chesapeake-Leopard_ naval engagement. The next surviving evidence is a bail bond form dated February 24, 1811, and printed at St. Stephens by P. J. Forster, who is reported to have worked previously at Philadelphia.[62] A second St. Stephens printer, Thomas Eastin, founded a newspaper called _The Halcyon_ sometime in 1815, after Alabama newspapers had already appeared at Fort Stoddert (1811), Huntsville (1812), and Mobile (1813). Eastin had formerly worked at Nashville, at Alexandria, La., and at Natchez in association with Mississippi's first printer, Andrew Marschalk.[63] His work at St. Stephens included a 16-page pamphlet, which is among the three or four earliest Alabama imprints other than newspaper issues[64] and is the first specimen of Alabama printing in the Library of Congress. Headed "To the Citizens of Jackson County," it is signed by Joseph P. Kennedy and has on its final page the imprint, "St. Stephens (M.T.) Printed by Tho. Eastin. 1815." Here "M.T." denotes the Mississippi Territory, which in 1817 divided into the Alabama Territory and the State of Mississippi. St. Stephens was an early county seat of Washington County, now part of Alabama, whereas Jackson County, to whose inhabitants the author addresses himself, lies within the present Mississippi borders. [Illustration: _James Madison, President of the U--States----_ "St. Stephens (M.T.) Printed by Tho. Eastin. 1815."] Joseph Pulaski Kennedy wrote this pamphlet after an election in which he ran unsuccessfully against William Crawford of Alabama to represent Jackson County in the Territorial legislature.[65] His stated purpose is to refute "malicious falsehoods ... industriously circulated" against him before the election, foremost among them the charge that but for him Mobile Point "would never have been retaken"; and he summarizes his actions as an officer "in the command of the Choctaws of the United States" during the dangerous final stage of the War of 1812 when the town of Mobile nearly fell into British hands. The only recorded copy of this little-known pamphlet is inscribed to "James Madison President of the U States." It owes its preservation to its inclusion among the Madison Papers in possession of the Library of Congress.[66] [Footnote 62: Copies of both imprints are described under nos. 1548 and 1549 in _The Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter_ (New York, 1966-69), vol. 3. _The Declaration_ was reprinted in _The Magazine of History, with Notes and Queries_, extra no. 8 (1925), p. [45]-55.] [Footnote 63: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _A Brief History of the First Printing in the State of Alabama_ (Birmingham, 1931), p. 6.] [Footnote 64: No. 4 in Historical Records Survey. American Imprints Inventory, no. 8, _Check List of Alabama Imprints, 1807-1840_ (Birmingham, 1939); no. 3 in the section, "Books, Pamphlets, etc." in R. C. Ellison, _A Check List of Alabama Imprints 1807-1870_ (University, Ala., 1946).] [Footnote 65: See Cyril E. Cain, _Four Centuries on the Pascagoula_ ([State College? Miss., 1953-62]), vol. 2, p. 8-9 (naming Crawford only).] [Footnote 66: It is in vol. 78, leaf 22. This volume, containing printed material only, is in the Rare Book Division.] Missouri [Illustration: _Some of the subjects covered in_ The Laws of the Territory of Louisiana.] Joseph Charless, with a background of printing experience in his native Ireland, in Pennsylvania, and in Kentucky, became the first man to establish a printing press west of the Mississippi River. Meriwether Lewis, Governor of the Territory of Louisiana, was instrumental in bringing Charless to St. Louis, the Territorial capital, and there the printer launched his weekly newspaper, the _Missouri Gazette_, on July 12, 1808.[67] His awareness of his place in history is demonstrated by a copy of _Charless' Missouri & Illinois Almanac, for 1818_, printed in 1817, which the State Department Library transferred to the Library of Congress in August 1962. It is inscribed: "A tribute of respect from the first Press that ever crossed the Mississippi."[68] The earliest example of Missouri printing in the Library of Congress is _The Laws of the Territory of Louisiana. Comprising All Those Which Are Now in Force Within the Same_, printed at St. Louis by Charless with the imprint date 1808. Besides newspaper issues this was long thought to be the first Missouri imprint. A document of April 29, 1809, appearing on p. 373 proves that it was not completed until after that date, however, and recent authorities have relegated it to second or third place in terms of publication date.[69] Consisting of 376 numbered pages with a 58-page index, the book is a compilation of the laws of 1804 and 1806-08. Those of 1804 carry over from the compilation for the District of Louisiana, which is the Library's earliest Indiana imprint, and the same law on slavery quoted on p. 41, above, is among those reprinted. Typical of the later laws is "An Act Concerning Strays," from which the following section is presented for its incidental reference to printing: Sec. 4. Every person taking up a stray horse, mare or colt, shall within two months after the same is appraised, provided the owner shall not have claimed his property during that time, transmit to the printer of some public newspaper printed within this territory, a particular description of such stray or strays and the appraisment thereof, together with the district and place of residence certified by the clerk, or by the justice before whom such stray was appraised, to be inserted in such paper three weeks succesively, for the advertising of which the printer shall receive his usual and stated price for inserting advertisements in his newspaper. In 1809 the _Missouri Gazette_ was still the only newspaper available to print these advertisements. The Library of Congress must have obtained its copy of this book during the final quarter of the 19th century, when the "Law Department" stamp on the title page was in use. [Footnote 67: See David Kaser, _Joseph Charless, Printer in the Western Country_ (Philadelphia [1963]). A printed form, surviving in a copy dated in manuscript July 8, 1808, may have been printed by Charless at St. Louis; see no. 1836 in _The Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter_ (New York, 1966-69), vol. 3.] [Footnote 68: See U.S. Library of Congress, _Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions_, vol. 20 (1962-63), p. 199 and plate facing p. 197.] [Footnote 69: See Kaser, _Joseph Charless_, p. 71-74; V. A. Perotti, _Important Firsts in Missouri Imprints, 1808-1858_ (Kansas City, 1967), p. 1-4.] Texas Aaron Mower of Philadelphia set the type for volume 1, number 1, of the _Gaceta de Texas_, dated "Nacogdoches, 25 de Mayo, de 1813," which is preserved at the National Archives and is the earliest evidence of printing activity in Texas. A political dispute forced the removal of Mower's press and type from Nacogdoches to Natchitoches, in Louisiana, where this Spanish-language newspaper was actually printed and issued.[70] Other transient presses operated briefly at Galveston in 1817, at Nacogdoches in 1819, and at San Antonio de Bexar in 1823.[71] The permanent establishment of Texas printing dates from September 1829, when Godwin B. Cotten introduced a press at San Felipe and founded the _Texas Gazette_. In March 1832 he relocated at Brazoria. D. W. Anthony purchased both the press and the paper in the summer of 1832, and until July 1833 he continued to publish the paper at Brazoria under a new name, _The Constitutional Advocate and Texas Public Advertiser_. The earliest Texas printing in the Library of Congress is the number of the paper dated June 15, 1833, which offers news only from the United States and from overseas. "From the City of Mexico," writes Anthony, "we have heard nothing this week, except mere disjointed rumors from the interior. By the arrival of the next mail at San Felipe, we may reasonably expect that some certain intelligence will be received, of what the legislatures have done." Gathering news was one problem; he reveals another in the following paragraph: We are glad to be able at length, to present the ADVOCATE to our readers, on a sheet of its accustomed size. We stated before, that its being diminished two columns lately, was the consequence of a mistake made by our merchant in filling our order for paper. We now have an ample supply, and of excellent quality, so that we shall have no more apologies to offer on that score. These things, however, cost money, and that in hand, which we hope our good friends will not altogether forget. Among the advertisements is the usual "JOB PRINTING DONE AT THIS OFFICE" and also an announcement of the "CONSTITUTION OF TEXAS, With or without the Memorial, For Sale at this Office and at the stores of W. C. White, San Felipe: David Ayres, Montville: and T. W. Moore, Harrisburg." Anthony printed these historic documents shortly after the Texas convention held at San Felipe in April, and the _Advocate_ began to carry this advertisement on May 11, 1833.[72] The Library's copy of the four-page newspaper has been removed from a bound volume. Since it is inscribed "Intelligencer, W. C.," it was obviously sent to the office of the _National Intelligencer_ at Washington City, as the capital was then called. It is slightly mutilated: an item has been cut from an outer column, affecting the third and fourth pages. There is no record of the issue in _A Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress_ (1901), but its location does appear in the union list, _American Newspapers 1821-1936_ (1937). [Illustration: _Last page of_ The Constitutional Advocate and Texas Public Advertiser, _June 15, 1833_.] [Footnote 70: See Clarence S. Brigham, _History and Bibliography of American Newspapers 1690-1820_ (Worcester, 1947), p. [1069].] [Footnote 71: A reliable survey of early Texas printing is in Thomas W. Streeter's _Bibliography of Texas 1795-1845_ (Cambridge [Mass.] 1955-60), pt. 1, vol. 1, p. xxxi-lxi.] [Footnote 72: See nos. 40 and 41 in Streeter's _Bibliography of Texas_.] Illinois Illinois' first printing took place at Kaskaskia, the no longer existent Territorial capital. In 1814 Governor Ninian Edwards induced the Kentucky printer Matthew Duncan to settle there, and probably in May of that year Duncan founded a weekly newspaper, _The Illinois Herald_. The earliest Illinois imprint in the Library of Congress, listed as number 4 in Cecil K. Byrd's definitive bibliography, is _Laws of the Territory of Illinois, Revised and Digested under the Authority of the Legislature. By Nathaniel Pope_, published by Duncan in two volumes dated June 2 and July 4, 1815. Nathaniel Pope (1784-1850), who prepared this earliest digest of Illinois statutes, went to Kaskaskia upon being appointed secretary of the newly authorized Illinois Territory and did important organizational work there in the spring of 1809 before Governor Edwards' arrival. On December 24, 1814, the legislature decreed that Pope should receive $300 "for revising the laws of this Territory making an index to the same, and superintending the printing thereof."[73] The work he produced was to a large extent based on an 1807 revision of the laws of the Indiana Territory, from which Illinois had recently been separated.[74] [Illustration: (_Laws of the Territory of Illinois, Revised and Digested under the Authority of the Legislature. By Nathaniel Pope_)] Even though it paid him for his labor and authorized printing, the Illinois Legislature never enacted Pope's digest into law. Nevertheless, the work had a certain importance, as explained by its 20th-century editor, Francis S. Philbrick: "The first thing that anyone will notice who opens this volume is that Pope began the practice of topical-alphabetical arrangement to which the lawyers of Illinois have now been accustomed for more than a hundred years. At the time of its appearance the work's importance was increased by the fact that it collected, so far as deemed consistent and still in force, the laws of 1812, 1813, and 1814. These enactments--though presumably all accessible in manuscript, for a time, at the county seats, and in many newspapers--had not all appeared in book form; nor did they so appear until fifteen years ago [i. e., in 1920-21]."[75] The Library of Congress set of two rebound volumes is seriously imperfect, with numerous missing leaves replaced in facsimile. The volumes were purchased in June 1902 from the Statute Law Book Company in Washington together with a volume of Illinois session laws of 1817-18 for a combined price of $225. [Footnote 73: See _Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library_, vol. 25, 1950, p. 178.] [Footnote 74: Ibid., vol. 28, 1938, p. xviii.] [Footnote 75: Ibid., p. xxi.] Arkansas [Illustration: (_Laws of the Territory of Arkansas: Comprising the Organic Laws of the Territories of Missouri and Arkansas, with the Amendments and Supplements Annexed; All Laws of a General Nature Passed by the General Assembly of the Territory of Missouri, at the Session Held in 1818; Together with the Laws Passed by the General Assembly of the Territory of Arkansas, at the Sessions in 1819 and 1820._)] William E. Woodruff, the first Arkansas printer, was a Long Islander who served his apprenticeship at Sag Harbor with Alden Spooner, nephew of the early Vermont printer of that name. Woodruff transported printing equipment purchased at Franklin, Tenn., to the Post of Arkansas, and there, on November 20, 1819, he began to publish _The Arkansas Gazette_. He later moved his press to Little Rock, where the newspaper has continued to the present day.[76] In his _History and Bibliography of American Newspapers 1690-1820_ (Worcester, Mass., 1947) Clarence S. Brigham locates the only complete file of early issues of the _Gazette_ at the Library of Congress. It must be reported here, regretfully, that the Library released these along with later issues for exchange in July 1953 as part of a space-saving operation, after making microfilm copies for retention. Subsequently the same file, extending from 1819 to 1875, was described at length under item 649 in Edward Eberstadt and Sons' Catalog 134 (Americana) issued in 1954. Two copies of the first book published in Arkansas, printed by Woodruff at the Post of Arkansas and dated 1821, now share the distinction of being the earliest specimens of Arkansas printing in the Library. The fact that Arkansas officially separated from the Missouri Territory in July 1819 helps to explain the title of this book: _Laws of the Territory of Arkansas: Comprising the Organic Laws of the Territories of Missouri and Arkansas, with the Amendments and Supplements Annexed; All Laws of a General Nature Passed by the General Assembly of the Territory of Missouri, at the Session Held in 1818; Together with the Laws Passed by the General Assembly of the Territory of Arkansas, at the Sessions in 1819 and 1820_. In the initial issue of the _Gazette_ Woodruff claimed to have established his press entirely at his own expense. His imprint on these _Laws_ discloses his eventual employment as official "printer to the Territory," and among the resolutions of the new general assembly to be found in this volume is that of April 1, 1820, appointing Woodruff to the position. A resolution of the assembly, approved October 25, 1820, directs how official documents printed by him were to be distributed: RESOLVED ... That the governor be, and he is hereby, authorized to have printed in pamphlet form, a sufficient number of copies of the laws of the present general assembly, and all laws of a general nature passed by the general assembly of Missouri, in eighteen hundred and nineteen, and also the laws passed by the governor and judges of this territory, which have not been repealed by this general assembly; and to distribute such laws on application of those entitled to copies, in the manner herein-after provided, to wit: To the governor and secretary each one copy; to the judges of circuit and county courts, to the clerk of superior court, to the sheriff of each county, to every justice of the peace, to every constable, to the prosecuting attorney in behalf of the United States, and circuit or county court prosecuting attornies, to the territorial auditor, to the territorial treasurer, to the coroner of each county, to every member of the general assembly, each one copy: _Provided_, it shall be the duty of every officer, on his or their going out of office, to deliver the copy of the laws with [which][77] he shall have been furnished, in pursuance of this resolution, to his successor in office. _Resolved also_, That a sufficient number of copies shall be sent, by order of the governor, to the care of the several clerks of each county, in this territory, whose duty it shall be to distribute one copy to every officer or person allowed one in the foregoing part of this resolution. _Resolved also_, That the governor be, and he is hereby, authorized to draw on the territorial treasurer for the amount of expenses arising thereon, which are not otherwise provided for by law. The two copies in possession of the Library of Congress carry no marks of previous ownership. One was recorded in the _Catalogue of Additions to the Library of Congress Since December, 1833_, dated December 1, 1834.[78] Whether this was the copy which retains a late 19th-century bookplate or the copy which the Library had rebound in 1914 is uncertain. [Footnote 76: See _Wilderness to Statehood with William E. Woodruff_ (Eureka Springs, Ark., 1961); Rollo G. Silver, _The American Printer 1787-1825_ (Charlottesville, 1967), p. 140.] [Footnote 77: Brackets in text.] [Footnote 78: Page 12 (combined entry: "Laws of Arkansas, &c., &c., 1818 to 1821, 1823, and 1825").] Hawaii [Illustration: (Hawaiian Primer, printed by Elisha Loomis.)] Hawaii's first printer was a young American named Elisha Loomis, previously employed as a printer's apprentice at Canandaigua, N.Y. He arrived at Hawaii with a group of Boston missionaries in 1820; but use of the printing press that he brought with him had to be delayed owing to the lack of a written Hawaiian language, which the missionaries proceeded to devise. At a special ceremony held at Honolulu on January 7, 1822, a few copies of the earliest Hawaiian imprint were struck off: a broadside captioned "Lesson I." Its text was afterwards incorporated in a printed primer of the Hawaiian language.[79] Loomis printed 500 copies of the primer in January, and in September 1822 he printed 2,000 copies of a second edition. The latter edition is the fifth recorded Hawaiian imprint,[80] as well as the earliest to be found among the Library of Congress holdings. In 16 pages, without a title page or an imprint statement, it opens with a section headed "THE ALPHABET" and includes lists of syllables, lists of words, and elementary Hawaiian readings of a religious character consistent with their missionary purpose. The Library's copy is shelved in a special Hawaiiana Collection in the Rare Book Division. Bound with it is another rare primer in only four pages, captioned "KA BE-A-BA," which Loomis printed in 1824.[81] The small volume is in a black, half leather binding, with an old Library of Congress bookplate marked "Smithsonian Deposit." Since the final text page is date-stamped "1 Aug., 1858," the volume was probably received or bound by the Smithsonian Institution in that year. The Smithsonian transferred most of its book collection to the Library of Congress in 1866-67 and has continued to deposit in the Library quantities of material which it receives largely in exchange for its own publications. The Hawaiian rarities in this particular volume were cataloged at the Library in 1918. [Footnote 79: See T. M. Spaulding, "The First Printing in Hawaii," _The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America_, vol. 50, 1956, p. 313-327; R. E. Lingenfelter, _Presses of the Pacific Islands 1817-1867_ (Los Angeles, 1967), p. 33-44.] [Footnote 80: See H. R. Ballou and G. R. Carter, "The History of the Hawaiian Mission Press, with a Bibliography of the Earlier Publications," _Papers of the Hawaiian Historical Society_, no. 14, 1908, p. [9]-44.] [Footnote 81: The penciled note on p. [1], "Second Ed. Spelling Book," would appear to identify it with no. 10 in the Ballou and Carter bibliography.] Wisconsin [Illustration: Green-Bay Intelligencer. VOL. I. NAVARINO, WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 11, 1833. NO. 1.] "With a handful of brevier and an ounce or two of printer's ink"--as he later recollected--Wisconsin's first printer managed to produce 1,000 lottery tickets at Navarino, now the city of Green Bay, in 1827. The printer was Albert G. Ellis, who had previously worked as an apprentice at Herkimer, N.Y. He could not undertake regular printing at Navarino before obtaining a printing press in 1833; then, in partnership with another young New Yorker named John V. Suydam, he began to publish the _Green-Bay Intelligencer_.[82] The first issue of this newspaper, dated December 11, 1833, is the oldest example of Wisconsin printing known to survive, and it is represented in the Library of Congress collections. Neatly printed in fine type on a small sheet, the four-page issue shows professional competence. The publishers apologize for the type they use and for the necessity, owing to limited patronage, of commencing the _Intelligencer_ on a semimonthly basis. Their front page features an Indian story entitled "The Red Head," chosen from some "fabulous tales ... politely furnished us by a gentleman of this place, who received them from the mouths of the native narrators." Inclusion of the story accords with a stated editorial policy of giving faithful descriptions of the character and manners of the natives. Some articles in this issue concern proposed improvements on the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers that would open navigation between Green Bay and the upper Mississippi. And the question where to locate the capital of an anticipated Territory of Wisconsin is another topic of the day. The Territory was not actually created until 1836. Aside from its obviously having been detached from a bound volume, there is no visible evidence of the Library of Congress copy's past history. It does not figure in _A Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress_ (Washington, 1901); but it is registered in the union list, _American Newspapers 1821-1936_ (New York, 1937). The Library of Congress also owns the only known copy of _Kikinawadendamoiwewin or almanac, wa aiongin obiboniman debeniminang iesos, 1834_, printed at Green Bay on the _Intelligencer_ press. Its 14 leaves, printed on one side only, are within an original paper cover bearing the manuscript title "Chippewa Almanac." A document held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin reveals that in 1834 the Catholic mission at Green Bay charged "the Menominee Nation of Indians" for "an Indian Almanac rendered by signs equally useful to those among the Natives who are unable to read their language, published at Green Bay, 150 copies, $18"; and that the bill went unpaid.[83] Since the almanac was intended for use in the year 1834, it was likely printed before the end of 1833; yet there is no evidence to suggest that it predates the _Intelligencer_. At the suggestion of Douglas C. McMurtrie, the Library purchased its unique copy from the Rosenbach Company for "$375.00 less usual discount" in 1931. [Footnote 82: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _Early Printing in Wisconsin_ (Seattle, 1931).] [Footnote 83: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _The First Known Wisconsin Imprint_ (Chicago, 1934).] California [Illustration: _Conclusion of General Vallejo's message to the Governor of Alta California, which was printed on a press that had been shipped from Boston via Hawaii._] As early as 1830 Agustín V. Zamorano, executive secretary of the Mexican territory of Alta California, was using limited printing equipment to produce official letterheads. Zamorano later became proprietor of California's first regular printing press, which was shipped from Boston (via Hawaii) and set up at Monterey about July 1834. While he controlled this press--that is, until the uprising in November 1836--Zamorano appears to have employed two printers, whose names are unknown.[84] Under the revolutionary government the same press continued in operation at Monterey and at Sonoma, and the earliest California printing in the Library of Congress is the first known Sonoma issue: _Ecspocision_ [sic] _que hace el comdanante_ [sic] _general interino de la Alta California al gobernador de la misma_. It is a small pamphlet having 21 pages of text, preceded by a leaf bearing a woodcut of an eagle. The text is dated from Sonoma, August 17, 1837, and signed by Mariano G. Vallejo, beneath whose printed name is a manuscript flourish. Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807-90) held the highest military office of Alta California at the time of writing, his headquarters then being at Sonoma. In his communication to the Governor, he advocates certain commercial reforms summarized as follows in Hubert Howe Bancroft's _History of the Pacific States of North America_ (San Francisco, 1882-90): His plan was to prohibit all coasting trade by foreign vessels, and to transfer the custom-house from Monterey to San Francisco. In defence of the first, he adduced the well known practice on the part of traders of presenting themselves at Monterey with a few cheap articles for inspection, afterward taking on board from secure hiding-places the valuable part of the cargo, to be sold at other ports. Thus the revenue was grossly defrauded, leaving the government without funds. By the change proposed not only would smuggling cease and the revenues be augmented, but Californians would be encouraged to become owners of coasting vessels or to build up a system of inland communication by mule-trains.... The transfer of the custom-house was advocated on the ground of San Francisco's natural advantages, the number and wealth of the establishments tributary to the bay, and the importance of building up the northern frontier as a matter of foreign policy.[85] General Vallejo was his own printer. In a manuscript "Historia de California" he says of his pamphlet, "I wrote the attached statement of which I sent the original to the governor of the State and which I printed immediately in the small printing office that I had in Sonoma and of which I was the only employee; I had the printed copies distributed throughout all parts of California and furthermore I gave some copies to the captains of merchant ships that were going to ports in the United States of America."[86] The Library of Congress copy shows that the general left something to be desired as a printer, some pages being so poorly inked as to be scarcely legible. This copy--one of but four known to bibliographers--was previously in the possession of A. B. Thompson of San Francisco, and the Library purchased it from him in February 1904 for $15. [Footnote 84: See George L. Harding, _Don Agustin V. Zamorano_ (Los Angeles, 1934), p. 178-210; Herbert Fahey, _Early Printing in California_ (San Francisco, 1956); H. P. Hoyt, "The Sandwich Island Story of California's First Printing Press," _California Historical Society Quarterly_, vol. 35 (1956), p. 193-204.] [Footnote 85: Vol. 16 (1886), p. 87-88.] [Footnote 86: Quoted from Herbert Fahey, _Early Printing in California_, p. 27.] Kansas [Illustration: (_The Annual Register of Indian Affairs Within the Indian (or Western) Territory. Published by Isaac M'Coy. Shawanoe Baptist Mission House, Ind. Ter. January 1, 1835_)] By introducing printing at the Shawanoe mission station in the Indian Territory in March 1834, Jotham Meeker became the first printer of what is now Kansas. He had learned his trade at Cincinnati and for some years had served as a Baptist missionary and printer among various Indian tribes. The Library of Congress' earliest example of Kansas printing is the first number of _The Annual Register of Indian Affairs Within the Indian (or Western) Territory. Published by Isaac M'Coy. Shawanoe Baptist Mission House, Ind. Ter. January 1, 1835_. Isaac McCoy (1784-1846), publisher of four numbers of the _Annual Register_ between 1835 and 1838, was a prominent Baptist missionary, who also served as an Indian agent and strongly advocated the colonization of western Indians in a separate state. In this work he gives an account of the several mission stations operated by various denominations in the Indian Territory. The following passage from the first number of the _Annual Register_ deals with the printer: At the Shawanoe station is a printing press in operation, under the management of Jotham Meeker, Missionary for the Ottawas. Mr. Meeker has invented a plan of writing (not like that of Mr. Guess, the Cherokee), by which, Indians of any tribe may learn to read in their own language in a few days. The first experiment was made with a sprightly Chippewa boy, wholly ignorant of letters, and of the English language. He studied three hours each day for nine days; at the expiration of which time there was put into his hands a writing of about twenty lines, of the contents of which he had no knowledge. After looking over it a few minutes, without the aid of an instructer, the boy read off the writing, to the unspeakable satisfaction of the teacher. Upon this plan elementary school books have been prepared, and printed, viz.--In Delaware, two; in Shawanoe, two; in Putawatomie, one; and two in Otoe, besides a considerable number of Hymns, &c. The design succeeds well.[87] Jotham Meeker's surviving journal, from which extracts have been published,[88] affords an interesting view of his work from December 15, 1834, when McCoy brought him the manuscript, until January 17, 1835, when he wrote, "Finish Br. M'Coy's Ann. Reg. a work of 52 pages, including the Cover. 1000 copies." Another source of information about the _Annual Register_ is Isaac McCoy's book, _History of Baptist Indian Missions_ (Washington, New York, and Utica, 1840), wherein he states, I published it [the first number] at my own cost, and circulated it gratuitously. One was sent to each member of Congress, and to each principal man in the executive departments of Government.[89] Under the circumstances it is not surprising that three copies have made their way into the Library of Congress collections. On their respective title pages they are addressed in manuscript to "Hon Nathaniel Silsbee U.S. Sen," "Hon Jno. Cramer H. Reprs. U S," and "Hon Lucius Lyon H.R.U.S." [Footnote 87: P. 24.] [Footnote 88: In Douglas C. McMurtrie and Albert H. Allen, _Jotham Meeker Pioneer Printer of Kansas_ (Chicago, 1930), p. 45-126.] [Footnote 89: P. 481.] New Mexico The first press of New Mexico was imported overland from the United States in 1834 to print _El Crepúsculo de la libertad_, a short-lived newspaper supporting the election of its editor, Antonio Barreiro, to the Mexican congress. It was operating at Santa Fe by August 1834 with Ramón Abreu as proprietor and with Jesús María Baca as printer,[90] the latter having learned his trade in Durango, Mexico.[91] A broadside in the Library of Congress collections appears to be a genuine copy of the earliest extant issue of this press. Entitled _Lista de los ciudadanos que deberan componer los jurados de imprenta, formada por el Ayuntamiento de este capital_, it lists, in accordance with Mexican law, 90 men qualified to be jurors in cases of what the law terms "denuncias de los escritos."[92] The broadside is dated August 14, 1834, signed by "Juan Gallego, precidente--Domingo Fernandez, secretario," and carries the Ramón Abreu imprint. This copy must be one of 48 discovered in 1942 in a parcel marked "Benjamin Read Papers" at the New Mexico Historical Society. Benjamin Read (1853-1927) was an attorney who served in the New Mexico Legislature and who published a number of works on the State's history.[93] Before the find in 1942 only a single copy of the broadside was located. The authenticity of these 48 copies has been questioned, but in the opinion of the late collector Thomas W. Streeter they are originals.[94] The Library obtained its copy by exchange from Edward Eberstadt & Sons in May 1951. The Library also has the only known copy of New Mexico's first book, issued by the same press and dated 1834: _Cuaderno de ortografia. Dedicado a los niños de los señores Martines de Taos._ A metal cut on its title page, oddly depicting a moose, has been traced to a contemporary Boston specimen book, which also displays a pica type identical or very similar to that used in early New Mexican imprints.[95] Authorship of the book has been attributed to Antonio José Martínez (1793-1867), the parish priest in Taos, who arranged to have the press and the printer move there in 1835. From 1826 to 1856 Martínez taught reading, writing, and arithmetic in his parish,[96] and he undoubtedly had this work printed for the use of his own pupils. It is divided into three sections: "De las letras," "De los diptongos, uso de letras mayusculas, acentos y signos de institucion para las citas," and "De la puntuacion de la clausula."[97] The copy of this small book is soiled and worn from much thumbing. Penciled on an inner page in an early, childlike hand is the name "Jesus Maria Baldez." The Library purchased the book in 1931 from Aaron Flacks, a Chicago bookseller, for $350 on the same day that it purchased its earliest Wisconsin almanac (see p. 53, above) and likewise through the intervention of Douglas C. McMurtrie. [Illustration: (_Lista de los ciudadanos que deberan componer los jurados de imprenta, formada por el Ayuntamiento de este capital_)] [Footnote 90: See Roby Wentz, _Eleven Western Presses_ (Los Angeles, 1956), p. 11-13.] [Footnote 91: See his obituary in _The Daily New Mexican_ (Santa Fe), April 21, 1876.] [Footnote 92: Quoted from _Coleccion de ordenes y decretos de la Soberana junta provisional y soberanos Congresos generales de la nacion mexicana_, vol. 4, 1829, p. 179.] [Footnote 93: See obituary in _New Mexico Historical Review_, vol. 2, 1927, p. 394-397.] [Footnote 94: See no. 61 in his _Americana--Beginnings_ (Morristown, N.J., 1952).] [Footnote 95: See _New Mexico Historical Review_, vol. 12, 1937, p. 13.] [Footnote 96: Ibid., p. 5.] [Footnote 97: It is reproduced in its entirety in Douglas C. McMurtrie's _The First Printing in New Mexico_ (Chicago, 1929).] Oklahoma [Illustration: (_Istutsi in Naktsokv. Or The Child's Book._ By Rev. John Fleming.)] When the Cherokee Nation migrated from Georgia to the newly formed Indian Territory, John Fisher Wheeler, who had been head printer of the Cherokee Press at New Echota, proceeded to the Union Mission Station on the Grand River, near the present location of Mazie, Okla. There the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions supplied him with a new press on which in August 1835 he did the first Oklahoma printing. Wheeler had served his apprenticeship at Huntsville, Ala.[98] One of two or three extant copies of the third recorded issue of Oklahoma's first press is present in the Library of Congress collections: _Istutsi in naktsokv. Or The Child's Book. By Rev. John Fleming. Missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions._ Printed before October 31, 1835, in an edition of 500 copies, it is a 24-page primer with text in the Creek language rendered in the Pickering alphabet and with woodcut illustrations of animals and other subjects. A Creek Indian named James Perryman or Pvhos Haco ("Grass Crazy") assisted with the translation.[99] Fleming's work among the Indians has earned for him a notice in the _Dictionary of American Biography_, where his "chief claim to remembrance" is said to be "that he was the first to reduce to writing the Muskoki or Creek language, which was a task of peculiar difficulty on account of the numerous and puzzling combinations of consonants involved." The Library of Congress obtained the rare copy of its earliest Oklahoma imprint through the Smithsonian Deposit (see p. 52, above) in 1878. [Footnote 98: See Lester Hargrett, _Oklahoma Imprints 1835-1890_ (New York, 1951), p. ix-x, 1-2.] [Footnote 99: Ibid., no. 3.] Iowa [Illustration: Du Buque Visitor. "TRUTH OUR GUIDE, THE PUBLIC GOOD OUR AIM." VOL. I. DU BUQUE (LEAD MINES) WISCONSIN TERRITORY, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1837. NO. 37] The initial issue of the weekly _Du Buque Visitor_, dated May 11, 1836, is the oldest example of Iowa printing. John King, the first proprietor of this four-page newssheet, acquired the press on which it was printed at Chillicothe, Ohio. He employed William Cary Jones of Chillicothe to "perform the duties of foreman in the printing office ... and likewise such other duties in superintending the publication of the newspaper as may be required,"[100] and he employed the Virginia-born printer Andrew Keesecker, lately of Galena, Ill., to be the principal typesetter. The earliest Iowa printing represented in the Library of Congress is its partial file of the _Du Buque Visitor_, extending from January 18 to May 17, 1837.[101] On December 21, 1836, the proprietorship had passed to W. W. Chapman, an attorney, and with the issue of February 1, 1837, William H. Turner became the owner. The paper maintained a high standard throughout these changes, its issues justly displaying the motto: "Truth our guide, the public good our aim." A reduction in the size of certain issues furnishes evidence of the customary difficulty of operating a pioneer press. As the March 15 issue explains, "Within the last two months, so large an addition has been made to the subscription list of the Visitor, that our stock of paper of the usual size is exhausted, and we are constrained to issue, for a week or two, a smaller sheet. By the first boat from St. Louis we shall receive our spring and summer supply." The Library's file dates from the period when Iowa still belonged to the Wisconsin Territory. An editorial from the Library's earliest issue advocates independent status: DIVISION OF WISCONSIN TERRITORY It gives us pleasure to see that Genl. Jones, our delegate in congress, has introduced into the house of representatives a resolution, "to inquire into the expediency of establishing a seperate [sic] territorial government for that section of the present territory of Wisconsin which lies west of the Mississippi river," and the same resolution has been introduced into the senate of the United States by Dr. Linn of Missouri. We sincerely hope that these resolutions will be acted upon, and sanctioned by congress--if sanctioned, they will have a most important bearing upon the future interest and prosperity of the people on this side of the Mississippi. Yes, we would rejoice that the 'Father of Waters' should be the boundary to a new territory. The present territory of Wisconsin, is much too large, and embraces too many conflicting interests--the people on the east side of the Mississippi are jealous of those on the west side, and the west, of those on the east. Why not, under these circumstances, give to the people on each side of the Mississippi separate territorial governments? We believe that such a measure would be highly satisfactory to the people throughout the whole of Wisconsin territory. The reasons for dividing the present territory of Wisconsin are, in our opinion, well founded, for unless the people governed can be united--unless their representatives legislate for the good of the whole territory, there will not be satisfaction--there will not be harmony, & the government instituted to protect the rights of the people, will become an engine in the hands of one part to oppress the other. It is, or should be, the policy of the United States, in the establishment of temporary governments over her territories, to adopt the best and most judicious means of guarding the happiness, liberty, and property of her foster children, so that when they enter the great family of the Union, that they may be worthy of that exalted station. [Illustration: (Newspaper ads)] From later in 1837 the Library possesses _Iowa News_, which replaced the _Du Buque Visitor_ after its expiration in May, in an imperfect file extending from June 17 (the third number) to December 23. The Library also has the _Wisconsin Territorial Gazette and Burlington Advertiser_, printed at Burlington, in another incomplete file from July 10 to December 2. The Library's three files of very early Iowa newspapers have a common provenance, as most issues of each file are addressed in manuscript to the Department of State, which was in charge of Territorial affairs until 1873. These newspapers were transferred to the Library of Congress sometime before the end of the 19th century.[102] [Footnote 100: The full contract is quoted in Alexander Moffit's article, "Iowa Imprints Before 1861," in _The Iowa Journal of History and Politics_, vol. 36, 1938, p. 152-205. For a biography of Jones, see William Coyle, ed. _Ohio Authors and Their Books_ (Cleveland, 1962, p. 346).] [Footnote 101: Vol. 1, nos. 37-52; no. 47 wanting. The May 10 and May 17 issues are both numbered 52.] [Footnote 102: They are recorded in _A Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress_ (1901). In the Library's Broadside Collection (portfolio 19, no. 34) is a printed notice of the Des Moines Land Company, with text dated from Des Moines, September 4, 1837. This item cannot have been printed at Des Moines, since printing did not reach there until 1849. It is not listed in Alexander Moffit's "A Checklist of Iowa Imprints 1837-1860," in _The Iowa Journal of History and Politics_, vol. 36 1938, p. 3-95.] Idaho The first printing in Idaho--in fact, in the entire Pacific Northwest--was done in 1839 at the Lapwai mission station, by the Clearwater River, in what is now Nez Perce County. The printer was Edwin Oscar Hall, originally of New York, who on orders of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions brought to this wilderness site the same small press he had taken to the Hawaiian Islands in 1835.[103] Henry Harmon Spalding (1804-74), the missionary who had requested this press, was the author of its first issue in Idaho, an eight-page primer of the native language with an English title: _Nez-Perces First Book: Designed for Children and New Beginners_. In May 1839 Hall printed 400 copies, of which no complete examples are known to survive. An alphabet of Roman letters that Spalding utilized to convey the Indian language proved to be impractical, and in August the original edition was replaced by a revised 20-page edition of 500 copies with the same title. The Library of Congress acquired this edition, then thought to be the first Idaho book, in 1911. A few years later the bibliographer Wilberforce Eames discovered pages of the earlier edition used as reinforcements in the paper covers of the later one,[104] and on February 18, 1922, another interested bibliographer, Howard M. Ballou, wrote to the Librarian of Congress: I have had your copy at the Library of Congress examined by a friend who reports that she can distinguish that pages 5 and 6 are pasted in the front cover. If you will have the covers of the Nez Perces First Book soaked apart you will find you possess four pages of this original Oregon book. (By Oregon, of course, he meant the Oregon country at large rather than the present State.) The Library did soak apart the covers and found that it had two copies of the original leaf paged 5 and 6. One of them, released for exchange in October 1948, subsequently joined two other original leaves to form an almost complete copy in the Coe Collection at Yale University.[105] [Illustration: _A page from the original edition of the_ Nez Perces First Book.] The Library made its fortunate acquisition with a bid of $7.50 at a Philadelphia auction sale conducted by Stan V. Henkels on May 23-24, 1911. The item[106] was among a group of books from the library of Horatio E. Hale (1817-96), who served as philologist with the famed Wilkes Expedition of 1838-42. He probably obtained his copy about 1841, the year the expedition reached Oregon. [Footnote 103: See Roby Wentz, _Eleven Western Presses_ (Los Angeles, 1956), p. 23-26.] [Footnote 104: See _The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society_, vol. 23, 1922, p. 45-46.] [Footnote 105: See no. 73 (note) in Thomas W. Streeter's _Americana--Beginnings_ (Morristown, N.J., 1952).] [Footnote 106: No. 588 in the sale catalog.] Oregon [Illustration: Oregon Spectator. "Westward the Star of Empire takes its way." Vol. I Oregon City, (Oregon Ter.) Thursday, May 28, 1846. No. 9.] Medare G. Foisy performed the first Oregon printing in 1845 with type owned by the Catholic mission at St. Paul. Apparently without the benefit of a permanent press, he printed at least two official forms, and there is evidence that he produced tickets for an election held on June 3, 1845. Foisy was a French Canadian who had worked at the Lapwai mission press for Henry Harmon Spalding (see p. 63, above) during the fall and winter of 1844-45.[107] Later certain forward-looking settlers organized the Oregon Printing Association, obtained a printing press, hired a printer named John Fleming, who had migrated to Oregon from Ohio,[108] and founded the _Oregon Spectator_ at Oregon City on February 5, 1846. This was the earliest English-language newspaper in North America west of the Missouri River.[109] The earliest Oregon printing in the Library of Congress is the ninth semimonthly number of the _Oregon Spectator_, dated May 28, 1846. It is a small four-page sheet presently bound with 15 other numbers of the _Spectator_ through May 13, 1847. All bear the newspaper's motto: "Westward the Star of Empire takes its way." When this ninth number was printed, the Oregon Country was still jointly occupied by the United States and Great Britain. Shortly after, on June 15, 1846, the U.S. Senate ratified the Oregon Treaty, whereby the Oregon Country was divided at the 49th parallel. News of the ratification as reported in the New York _Gazette and Times_ of June 19 reached Honolulu in time to be printed in the _Polynesian_ of August 29, and the information was reprinted from that paper in the November 12 issue of the _Spectator_, which is included in the Library's file. The issue of May 28 has a decidedly political emphasis because of impending local elections, and among its articles is an amusing account of a meeting at which several inexperienced candidates proved embarrassingly "backward about speaking." The difficulty of obtaining information for the paper is illustrated by a section headed "Foreign News," consisting of a letter from Peter Ogden, Governor of Fort Vancouver, in which he gives a brief account of the political upheaval in Britain over the Corn Law question. He cites as the source of his information a letter he received via "an express ... from [Fort] Nesqually." He concludes, "In three or four days hence we shall receive newspapers, and I trust further particulars." The last page of this issue is given entirely to the printing of an installment of "An Act to establish Courts, and prescribe their powers and duties," which had been passed by the provisional legislature. In addition to its small volume of issues from 1846 and 1847, the Library of Congress has an incomplete volume of _Spectator_ issues from September 12, 1850, to January 27, 1852, when the paper had a larger format and appeared weekly. Evidence for the provenance of the earlier volume is the inscription, "J. B. McClurg & C.," on the issue of December 24, 1846, designating a Honolulu firm which carried this advertisement in the same _Spectator_: J. B. McClurg & Co. SHIP CHANDLERS, GENERAL AND COMMISSION MERCHANTS. JAMES B. McCLURG, } ALEXANDER G. ABELL, } HONOLULU, OAHU, HENRY CHEVER. } SANDWICH ISLANDS. Several issues in the later volume are addressed either to the "State Department" or to "Hon. Daniel Webster," who was Secretary of State at the time. The Library's _A Check List of American Newspapers_, published in 1901, records holdings only for December 12, 1850, to February 27, 1851, but all of the _Spectator_ issues look as if they have been in the Library from an early date. [Illustration: (Rules for House-Wives.)] [Footnote 107: See nos. 1-2 in George N. Belknap's _Oregon Imprints 1845-1870_ (Eugene, Ore. [1968]).] [Footnote 108: See _The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society_, vol. 3, 1902, p. 343.] [Footnote 109: See Roby Wentz, _Eleven Western Presses_ (Los Angeles, 1956), p. 27-30.] Utah [Illustration: (_Ordinances, Passed by the Legislative Council of Great Salt Lake City, and Ordered to be Printed_)] Brigham Young's nephew Brigham Hamilton Young was the first printer within the present boundaries of Utah. A manuscript "Journal History" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints records that on January 22, 1849, "Brigham H. Young and Thomas Bullock were engaged in setting type for the fifty cent bills, paper currency. This was the first typesetting in the [Salt Lake] Valley. The bills were to be printed on the press made by Truman O. Angell."[110] The Law Library of the Library of Congress keeps in a small manila envelope a remarkable group of five very early examples of Utah printing, some of which must have been issued in 1850. The one that seems to be the earliest has the title _Ordinances, Passed by the Legislative Council of Great Salt Lake City, and Ordered to be Printed_. This piece--like the others without indication of place or date of printing--may be assigned to a press from Boston which reached Salt Lake City in August of 1849 and supplanted the original homemade press. Listed as number 3 in Douglas C. McMurtrie's _The Beginnings of Printing in Utah, with a Bibliography of the Issues of the Utah Press 1849-1860_ (Chicago, 1931), it is a four-page leaflet containing nine ordinances passed between February 24 and December 29, 1849. Among them are a "Penalty for Riding Horses Without Leave, Driving Cattle Off the Feeding Range, &c." and "An Ordinance Creating an Office for the Recording of 'Marks and Brands' on Horses, Mules, Cattle, and All Other Stock." A 34-page pamphlet entitled _Constitution of the State of Deseret_ (not in McMurtrie; Sabin 98220) is obviously from the same press. Appended to the constitution, which was approved November 20, 1849, are several ordinances passed between March 9, 1849, and March 28, 1850. Another issue of this press (not in McMurtrie or Sabin) is a slightly mutilated three-page leaflet: _Rules and Regulations for the Governing of Both Houses of the General Asse{mbly} of the State of Deseret, When in Joint Session; and for Each Respective House, When in Separate Session. Adopted by the Senate and House of Representatives, December 2, 1850._ Of unspecified date is a single leaf, unrecorded and apparently unique, captioned _Standing Committees of the House_. Finally, there is among these imprints a copy of the 80-page _Ordinances. Passed by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret_, known as the "Compilation of 1851" and listed as number 8 by McMurtrie, who writes, "A copy of the 1851 volume in the library of the Church Historian's Office was used in 1919 for making a reprint, but the original has since disappeared.[111] A copy is said to be in private ownership in California." The latter is undoubtedly the one now in the Library of Congress. The only one of these extremely rare imprints to show marks of previous ownership is the "Compilation of 1851." It was autographed by Phinehas Richards, who served both as representative and as senator in the provisional legislature of the state of Deseret. Whether the other four pieces also belonged to him is not clear; in any event all five came into the hands of his son, Franklin Dewey Richards (1821-99), who for half a century was an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, becoming president of the Apostles' Quorum, and who served as Church Historian for the last 10 years of his life.[112] A Library of Congress purchase order dated October 31, 1940, reveals that these imprints were contained in a bound volume labeled "Laws of Utah--F. D. Richards"; that by agreement the Library had them removed from the volume and subsequently returned it to Mr. Frank S. Richards, in care of the San Francisco bookseller John Howell; and that the price paid for the detached items was $1,600. Frank S. Richards, an attorney residing in Piedmont, Calif., is a great-grandson of Franklin Dewey Richards, most of whose books he has given to the Bancroft Library of the University of California. [Footnote 110: Quoted from Wendell J. Ashton, _Voice in the West, Biography of a Pioneer Newspaper_ (New York, 1950), p. 367, note 17. This book is about Utah's first newspaper, the _Deseret News_, established June 15, 1850, of which the earliest original issue in the Library of Congress is dated May 31, 1851.] [Footnote 111: It is now available again at the Church Historian's Office. Another copy is in the Harvard Law Library.] [Footnote 112: See Franklin L. West, _Life of Franklin D. Richards_ (Salt Lake City [1924]).] Minnesota [Illustration (_Minnesota Chronicle and Register_ St. Paul, Minnesota Territory, Saturday, August 25, 1819. Vol. 1 No. 1)] Minnesota's first printer was James Madison Goodhue of Hebron, N.H. An Amherst College graduate, he had abandoned a legal career to run a pioneer newspaper at Lancaster, Wis. Shortly after the establishment of the Minnesota Territory, he moved his printing equipment to St. Paul, and on April 28, 1849, he founded his weekly newspaper, _The Minnesota Pioneer_. It is reported that even though he brought along two printers, Goodhue himself worked both as compositor and pressman, and further that the printing press he used at Lancaster and St. Paul was the same on which Iowa's first printing had been performed.[113] The Library of Congress' scattered file of this first Minnesota newspaper contains just one 1849 issue, dated October 25. Taking precedence as the Library's earliest example of Minnesota printing is the first issue, dated August 25, 1849, of another St. Paul paper, the _Minnesota Chronicle and Register_, which resulted from the merger of two early rivals of the _Pioneer_. In an introductory editorial the proprietors, James Hughes and John Phillips Owens, make certain claims on behalf of this paper: Our union bases us upon a foundation which renders our permanent success beyond a contingency. The combining of the two offices places us in possession of probably the best and most complete printing establishment on the Mississippi, above St. Louis. These advantages, with our practical experience in the art, the aid of health and a free good will, and a moderate share of the other requisites, we hope will enable us to give the Chronicle and Register a place in the front rank of well executed, useful and instructive newspapers.... We have two new Washington Printing Presses, with all the recent improvements attached. We defy any establishment in the Union to produce superior pieces of machinery in the way of Hand Presses. Our assortment of book and job type is also of the newest and handsomest styles, and comprises larger quantities and greater varieties than can be found this side of St. Louis. And we are happy to announce we have more coming. They also make an interesting statement of editorial policy: The Chronicle and Register have each a reputatation [sic] at home and abroad, gained during the few months of their separate existence. The views of the respective editors in regard to general politics, and the relation they bear upon these matters to our present administrations, National and Territorial, has been a matter of no concealment on the part of either. And were it not for one reason, we would here let this subject rest. But the ground Minnesota at present occupies is neutral. We have no vote in the Legislative councils of the Nation, no vote for President. Why should we then divide and distract our people upon questions that they have no voice in determining? Why array each other in separate bands as Whigs and Democrats when such a course can only show the relative strength of the two parties, without adding one iota to the prosperity and welfare of either? The measures of one or the other of the great parties of the country will receive the sanction of the next Congress, and no thanks to Minnesota for her votes. We as citizens, and as whigs, are willing to leave it for the future to determine which of these parties are to sway the destinies of our Territory. The Library has eight issues of the _Chronicle and Register_ from the year 1849, as well as later ones through February 17, 1851, all bearing its motto: "The greatest good for the greatest number." Many of the earlier issues are addressed to John M. Clayton, who was Secretary of State until July 1850, and some later issues are addressed to his successor, Daniel Webster. (The Library's file of _The Minnesota Pioneer_ also has a State Department provenance.) [Illustration: (Short newspaper items)] In addition the Library of Congress owns three official publications printed by James Madison Goodhue in 1849: _Message from the Governor of Minnesota Territory to the Two Houses of the Legislative Assembly, at the Commencement of the First Session, September 4, 1849_; _Rules for the Government of the Council of Minnesota Territory, and Joint Rules of the Council and House, Adopted at a Session of the Legislature, Commenced September 3, 1849_; and _Message of the Governor, in Relation to a Memorial from Half-Breeds of Pembina_.[114] On September 5, the day after it authorized Goodhue to do its printing, the newly formed legislature ordered the first two of these titles printed in editions of 500 and 100 copies, respectively.[115] The Library copies of both pamphlets are unbound, without marks of personal ownership. The first is an older acquisition of undetermined origin; the second a 1940 purchase from the Rosenbach Company in New York, at $165. The third title was ordered printed in 300 copies on October 1, 1849, the day the Governor's message was delivered.[116] It is a four-page leaflet, one of 73 rare American imprints that the printing historian Douglas C. McMurtrie sold to the Library for $600 in 1935. [Footnote 113: See M. W. Berthel, _Horns of Thunder, the Life and Times of James M. Goodhue, Including Selections from his Writings_ (St. Paul, 1948).] [Footnote 114: These are nos. 18, 66, and 23 in Esther Jerabek's _A Bibliography of Minnesota Territorial Documents_ (St. Paul, 1936). Unrecorded in this bibliography are two early pamphlets printed by the _Chronicle and Register_: _Courts of Record in the Territory of Minnesota; Approved Nov. 1, 1849--Took Effect Dec. 1, 1849_ and _Law of the Territory of Minnesota; Relative to the Powers and Duties of Justices. Approved November First, 1849--Took Effect December First, 1849_. The Library's copies are inscribed to Elisha Whittlesey, comptroller, U. S. Treasury Department.] [Footnote 115: See _Journal of the Council During the First Session of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Minnesota_ (St. Paul, 1850), p. 23.] [Footnote 116: Ibid., p. 51.] Washington [Illustration: (_Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, Passed at the Second Regular Session, Begun and Held at Olympia, December 4, 1854, in the Seventy-Ninth Year of American Independence_)] [Illustration: (_Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, ..._ continued)] The earliest recorded example of Washington printing is the first number of _The Columbian_, published at Olympia on September 11, 1852. The founders of this newspaper were James W. Wiley and Thornton F. McElroy, who purchased a press on which the Portland _Oregonian_ had for a short time been printed and which before that saw service in California.[117] In 1853 the Territory of Washington was created from the northern part of the Territory of Oregon, and on April 17, 1854, the new Territorial legislature elected James W. Wiley to be Washington's first official printer. The earliest specimen of Washington printing held by the Library of Congress appears to be the following example of his work, printed at Olympia in 1855: _Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, Passed at the Second Regular Session, Begun and Held at Olympia, December 4, 1854, in the Seventy-Ninth Year of American Independence_. It includes an act passed at the second session, on February 1, 1855, specifying the size and distribution of the original edition: Sec. 1. _Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington_, That the Public Printer be, and is hereby required to print in pamphlet form, six hundred copies of the laws of the present session, and a like number of the laws of the last session of the Legislative Assembly.... Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the territory to forward to each county auditor in the territory fifteen copies of the laws of each session for the use of the county officers, and two copies for each member of the Legislative Assembly, and to each officer of the Legislative Assembly, one copy of said laws. The Library owns three copies of this 75-page official document, all acquired probably during the last quarter of the 19th century. They are in old Library bindings and bear no marks of prior ownership. Among the Library's collections are five other Olympia imprints of the same year but from the press of the second official printer, George B. Goudy, who was elected on January 27, 1855. One of these, a work of more than 500 pages, the Library also holds in three copies: _Statutes of the Territory of Washington: Being the Code Passed by the Legislative Assembly, At Their First Session Begun and Held at Olympia, February 27th, 1854. Also, Containing the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Organic Act of Washington Territory, the Donation Laws, &C., &C._ The others are _Journal of the Council of the Territory of Washington: Together With the Memorials and Joint Resolutions of the First Session of {the} Legislative Assembly ..._; _Journal of the House of Representatives of the Territory of Washington: Together With the Memorials and Joint Resolutions of the First Session of the Legislative Assembly ..._; _Journal of the Council of the Territory of Washington, During the Second Session of the legislative Assembly ..._; and _Journal of the House of Representatives of the Territory of Washington: Being the Second Session of the Legislative Assembly ..._. Most official printing in the Territories was paid for by the Federal Government, and copies of many publications were sent to Washington, D.C., to meet certain administrative requirements. In some copies now at the Library of Congress visible evidence to this effect remains, as in the above-mentioned Council and House journals for the second legislative session, both inscribed to "Library State Dept." Although the Department of State continued to exercise broad supervision over the Territories at this period, supervision of their official printing was assigned, as it had been since 1842, to the Treasury Department. The cover or halftitle now bound in at the end of the above-mentioned House journal for the first legislative session bears notations made in the office of the Treasury Department's first comptroller, who exercised this particular responsibility.[118] One is a barely legible record in pencil: "Recd Oct 14/56 in letter of Sec Mason of Augt 26/56"; and another is in ink: "Finding enclosed to Sec Mason March 31/57." These notations refer to correspondence between the comptroller and the secretary of the Territory of Washington about remuneration for printing. Part of the correspondence is still retained at the National Archives (in Record Group 217). [Footnote 117: See Roby Wentz, _Eleven Western Presses_ (Los Angeles, 1956), p. 35-38.] [Footnote 118: See W. A. Katz, "Tracing Western Territorial Imprints Through the National Archives," _The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America_, vol. 59 (1965), p. 1-11. Two Minnesota documents inscribed to the comptroller are cited in footnote no. 2 on page 69.] Nebraska [Illustration: (_Laws, Resolutions and Memorials, Passed at the Regular Session of the First General Assembly of the Territory of Nebraska, Convened at Omaha City, on the 16th Day of January, Anno Domini, 1855. Together with the Constitution of the United States, the Organic Law, and the Proclamations Issued in the Organization of the Territorial Government_)] Scholarly investigation has revealed that a supposed early instance of Nebraska printing--the Mormon _General Epistle_ "written at Winter Quarters, Omaha Nation, west bank of Missouri River, near Council Bluffs, North America, and signed December 23d, 1847"--actually issued from a St. Louis press.[119] The Library of Congress copy of this imprint is consequently disqualified for discussion here, as are also the Library's three issues of the _Omaha Arrow_, beginning with the initial number dated July 28, 1854, since these issues were printed in Iowa, at Council Bluffs, before Omaha acquired its own press. Nebraska printing begins in fact with the 16th number of the _Nebraska Palladium_, issued at Bellevue on November 15, 1854. Previously issued at St. Mary's, Iowa, the paper takes pride in introducing printing to the newly formed Territory of Nebraska and identifies the men responsible: The first printers in our office, and who have set up the present number, are natives of three different states--Ohio, Virginia, and Massachusetts, namely: Thomas Morton, foreman, Columbus, Ohio (but Mr. Morton was born in England); A. D. Long, compositor, Virginia; Henry M. Reed, apprentice, Massachusetts.[120] The first Nebraska books were printed at Omaha by the Territorial printers Sherman & Strickland in 1855, and they are represented in the Library of Congress collections: _Laws, Resolutions and Memorials, Passed at the Regular Session of the First General Assembly of the Territory of Nebraska, Convened at Omaha City, on the 16th Day of January, Anno Domini, 1855. Together with the Constitution of the United States, the Organic Law, and the Proclamations Issued in the Organization of the Territorial Government; Journal of the Council at the First Regular Session of the General Assembly, of the Territory of Nebraska, Begun and Held at Omaha City, Commencing on Tuesday the Sixteenth Day January, A. D. 1855, and Ending on the Sixteenth Day of March, A. D. 1855_; and _Journal of the House of Representatives, of the First Regular Session of the General Assembly of the Territory of Nebraska ..._. These three official publications record quite fully the work of the first Nebraska Legislature, which consisted of a council of 13 and a house of 26 members. From later in the same year the Library owns still another Sherman & Strickland imprint: _Annual Message of Mark W. Izard, Governor of the Territory of Nebraska, Addressed to the Legislative Assembly, December 18, 1855_. The Governor delivered this address at the convening of the second legislature. The press on which these four books were printed had been transported to Omaha from Ohio, and it was used to produce the initial number of the _Omaha Nebraskan_, January 17, 1855.[121] On March 13, with the approval of a joint resolution which may be read in the _Laws, Resolutions and Memorials_, John H. Sherman and Joseph B. Strickland became the official printers of the Territory; and "An Act to provide for Printing and Distributing the Laws of Nebraska Territory," also approved on March 13, stipulated that a thousand copies of the laws and resolutions of the first legislature be printed. Two of the thousand copies are listed as a "present" in _Additions Made to the Library of Congress, Since the First Day of November, 1855. November 1, 1856_ (Washington, 1856).[122] They are still on the Library shelves, along with a third copy received by transfer from another Government agency in 1911. The Library received its copy of the _Journal of the Council_ in 1867 and its copy of the _Journal of the House of Representatives_ probably not much later in the 19th century.[123] The Statute Law Book Company sold the Library Governor Izard's _Annual Message_ for $22 in October 1935. [Footnote 119: See no. 65 in Thomas W. Streeter's _Americana--Beginnings_ (Morristown, N.J., 1952). The Library of Congress possesses one copy, not two as here reported.] [Footnote 120: Quoted from Douglas C. McMurtrie's "Pioneer Printing in Nebraska" in _National Printer Journalist_, vol. 50, no. 1 (January 1932), p. 20-21, 76-78.] [Footnote 121: Ibid., p. 76.] [Footnote 122: P. 99.] [Footnote 123: The latter title is indicated as wanting in a collective entry for Council and House journals in the _Catalogue of Books Added to the Library of Congress, from December 1, 1866, to December 1, 1867_ (Washington, 1868), p. 282.] South Dakota In 1858 the Dakota Land Company sent out from St. Paul to Sioux Falls a newspaper editor named Samuel J. Albright, a printer named J. W. Barnes, and a printing press which Albright later insisted was the original Goodhue press (see above, p. 68), despite conflicting accounts of its history. If his testimony is correct, the same press introduced printing in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota. It appears to have been first used at Sioux Falls to print a small election notice dated September 20, 1858; in the following summer, it was used to print South Dakota's first newspaper, _The Democrat_.[124] Establishment of the Territory of Dakota in 1861 attracted a second Dakota press to the new Territorial capital at Yankton. The earliest Dakota, or South Dakota, printing in the Library of Congress is from the newspaper associated with that press, _The Dakotian_, first published on June 6, 1861, by Frank M. Ziebach and William Freney of Sioux City, Iowa. The Library's earliest holding is the 13th number, which is dated April 1, 1862, and exhibits the paper's motto: "'Let all the Ends thou aims't at, be thy Country's, thy God's and Truth's.'--_Wolsey._" This number follows upon a transfer of the editorship and proprietorship to Josiah C. Trask of Kansas, who announces, We have secured the interest which Mr. ZIEBACH, the former publisher of this paper, held in the office, and have made extensive additions for book work, &c.--We are now engaged in executing the incidental printing of the Legislative Assembly of this Territory under peculiar disadvantages; yet we believe it will compare favorably with the work of many older Territories. We are prepared to execute any style of printing to the satisfaction of patrons. By using fine print, Trask was able to present much material in this four-page issue. Among its contents are the text of the Governor's message to the first Territorial legislature and several U.S. laws passed by the first session of the 37th Congress. The lead editorial, "What We Mean to Do," contains the following statement of policy regarding the Civil War: At present, there is no room for disagreement in politics. So far as our knowledge extends, all parties join heartily in an indorsement of the truly patriotic and conservative course adopted by the President in the management of this war. He is not a patriot who will allow any slight disagreement te [sic] turn him from a straightforward opposition to the ambitious men who are now heading a Rebellion to destroy the fairest Government ever known. Until this war is ended by a suppression of the Rebellion, unless a change is forced upon us, we shall walk with men of ALL parties, in an earnest, honest purpose to do what we can to strengthen the arms of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, in whatever acts he may deem best for the people who have called him to his present proud position. In this determination we feel that all our patrons will sustain us. The editorial concludes with an appeal to support the paper: Few persons can know the expense and care requisite for a publication like this so far West. We feel that our Territory cannot support more than one or two papers. One of these must be at the Capital, and we shall endeavor to make this one worthy the support of all. We expect to receive pecuniary encouragement from men of all parties and all parts. After a few weeks, when we are better acquainted and our paper is better known, we shall ask for the assistance which will be due us from those whom we labor to benefit. A Library of Congress bound volume contains an incomplete but substantial run of _The Dakotian_ from April 1, 1862, to December 17, 1864, without any marks of provenance. In addition the Library owns a file of South Dakota's third newspaper, _The Dakota Republican_, beginning with volume 1, number 31, published at Vermillion on April 5, 1862. This newspaper has for its motto "Our Country If Right, If Wrong, God Forgive, But Our Country Still!" The Library's issue of April 12, 1862, is inscribed "Wm H James"--this would be William Hartford James of Dakota City, Nebr., who served as Acting Governor of Nebraska in 1871-1872--and some of its 1868 and 1869 issues are inscribed "Dept of State." All of these papers are accounted for in _A Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress_ (1901). [Illustration: (_The Dakotian_)] From the year 1862 the Library also possesses four books printed at Yankton all bearing the imprint of Josiah C. Trask, Public Printer: _Council Journal of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Dakota, to which is Prefixed a List of the Members and Officers of the Council, With Their Residence, Post-Office Address, Occupation, Age, &c._; _House Journal of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Dakota, to which is Prefixed a List of the Members and Officers of the House_ ...; _General Laws, and Memorials and Resolutions of the Territory of Dakota, Passed at the First Session of the Legislative Assembly, Commenced at the Town of Yankton, March 17, and Concluded May 15, 1862. To Which are Prefixed a Brief Description of the Territory and its Government, the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, and the Act of Organizing the Territory_; and _Private Laws of the Territory of Dakota, Passed at the First Session of the Legislative Assembly_....[125] Single copies of the Council and House journals were in the Library by 1877. The Library has four copies of the _General Laws_ and _Private Laws_, bound together as issued; two copies are probably 19th-century accessions, the third came from the Department of Interior in 1900, and the fourth was transferred from an unspecified Government agency in 1925. [Footnote 124: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _The Beginnings of the Press in South Dakota_ (Iowa City, Iowa, 1933). On the disputed history of the Goodhue press, see M. W. Berthel, _Horns of Thunder_ (St. Paul, 1948), p. 26, note 3.] [Footnote 125: These are nos. 7, 9, 4, and 5, respectively, in Albert H. Allen's _Dakota Imprints 1858-1889_ (New York, 1947).] Nevada [Illustration: _Joseph T. Goodman, editor of the_ Territorial Enterprise. _Courtesy of the New York Public Library._] Nevada owes its first printing to W. L. Jernegan, who in partnership with Alfred James established a weekly newspaper, the _Territorial Enterprise_, at Genoa, then in western Utah Territory, on December 18, 1858. Jernegan had transported his printing equipment across the Sierras from Yolo County, Calif.[126] The earliest Nevada imprint in the Library of Congress dates from 1862, the year after Nevada's establishment as a separate Territory: _Second Annual Message of Governor James W. Nye, to the Legislature of Nevada Territory, November 13, 1862. Together with Reports of Territorial Auditor, Treasurer, and Superintendent of Public Instruction._ Printed at Carson City by J. T. Goodman & Co., Territorial printers, this publication has 48 pages, not including the title page printed on its yellow wrapper. Joseph T. Goodman was not only involved with official printing at this time, but he was also editing the _Territorial Enterprise_, which was then located at Virginia City and had become a daily paper. He is perhaps best remembered for launching Mark Twain on a literary career when he employed him as a reporter in August 1862.[127] Governor Nye's _Second Annual Message_ covers an important period of national history. Strongly pro-Union, it gives an optimistic account of the year's events in the Civil War and bestows high praise on Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862: "As an engine of war, its formidability is a powerful warrant of early peace, and as a measure of humanity, the enlightened world receives it with acclamations of unbounded joy." Part of the message concerns expected consequences from a bill recently passed by Congress authorizing construction of a Pacific Railroad, which would profoundly affect life in Nevada: No State nor Territory will derive such inestimable advantage from the road as the Territory of Nevada. Situated, as we are, in what, during a great portion of the year, is an almost inaccessible isolation of wealth; with mountains covered with perpetual snow frowning down directly upon us at the west, and with a series of ranges, difficult to cross, at the east of us, with a wilderness fit only for the original inhabitants of the waste, stretching away a thousand miles, and intervening between us and the frontier of agricultural enterprise; and with no means of receiving the common necessaries of life, except through the expensive freightage of tediously traveling trains of wagons; the value of the road to us will be beyond calculation. The inscription "Library Depr State" on the Library of Congress copy indicates it must have been submitted to the Department of State, which in 1862 was still in charge of the United States Territories. A date stamp on its wrapper suggests that it was transferred to the Library of Congress by December 1900, while a stamp on page 2 reveals that it was in custody of the Library's Division of Documents in September 1907. [Footnote 126: See Richard E. Lingenfelter, _The Newspapers of Nevada_ (San Francisco, 1964), p. 47-49.] [Footnote 127: See Ivan Benson, _Mark Twain's Western Years_ (Stanford University, Calif. [1938]), chapters 4-6.] Arizona [Illustration: (_The Weekly Arizonian_)] Printing began in Arizona with the establishment of _The Weekly Arizonian_, at the mining town of Tubac, on March 3, 1859. The Santa Rita Mining Company, which owned this newspaper, had imported the first press from Cincinnati, and the first printers are said to have been employees of the company named Jack Sims and George Smithson.[128] The Library of Congress file of the _Arizonian_ starts with the issue of August 18, 1859, the earliest example of Arizona printing now held by the Library. The paper had removed from Tubac to Tucson shortly before that date under rather dramatic circumstances. Edward E. Cross, its first editor, vigorously opposed a movement in favor of separating Arizona from New Mexico and organizing it as an independent territory. In attacking population statistics put forward by Sylvester Mowry, the leader of that movement, Cross impugned Mowry's character, whereupon Mowry challenged him to a duel, which was fought with rifles on July 8 without injury to either party. Mowry subsequently purchased the printing press and moved it to Tucson. Under a new editor, J. Howard Wells, the _Arizonian_'s positions were completely reversed.[129] The issue of August 18 supports the candidacy of Sylvester Mowry for delegate to Congress, in an election scheduled for September 1. In view of past events it was understandable that the paper should encourage a heavy vote, not only to demonstrate the unity of Arizonians desiring Territorial status, but also to indicate the extent of the population. The following short article relates to the recurrent topic of numbers: A SLIGHT MISTAKE We understand Col. Bonneville says he has taken the names of all the Americans, between the Rio Grande and the Santa Cruz, and they number only one hundred and eighty. Come and pay us a longer visit, Colonel, and count again. There are nearly that number in and around Tucson alone, and there are a good many of us that dislike to be denationalized in so summary a manner. The Overland Mail Company alone, employs some seventy five Americans, between here and the Rio Grande, and they justly think, they have a right to be included, as well as the farmers living on the San Pedro and the Miembres rivers, it is hardly fair to leave them out. It is nearly as bad as cutting down the Americans on the Gila and Colorado to twelve. When there are ten times that number. Try it again Colonel, for evidently there is a slight mistake, some where. In the same issue is a notice illustrating the production difficulties characteristic of a frontier press: We have to apologize to the readers of the Arizonian, for the delay in issuing this our regular number; the detention has been unavoidably caused, by the indisposition of our printer. We hope it may not occur again, and will not as far as lays in our power to prevent it. When examined as recently as 1932, a Library of Congress binding contained 10 issues of the _Arizonian_ from the year 1859, beginning July 14; however, that early issue has been missing from the binding at least since 1948. One mark of provenance occurs among the remaining issues: an inscription on the issue of August 18, the upper half of which has been cut away but which unquestionably reads, "Gov Rencher." The recipient was Abraham Rencher (1798-1883), a distinguished North Carolinian who was serving as Governor of the Territory of New Mexico in 1859. By whatever route, these issues reached the Library early enough to be recorded in _A Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress_ (1901). [Illustration: (Column from _Arizonian_)] [Footnote 128: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _The Beginnings of Printing in Arizona_ (Chicago, 1937), p. 31, note 9.] [Footnote 129: See Estelle Lutrell, _Newspapers and Periodicals of Arizona 1859-1911_ (Tucson, 1950), p. 7-8, 63-64. For more on Cross and Mowry, see Jo Ann Schmitt, _Fighting Editors_ (San Antonio, 1958), p. 1-21.] Colorado The earliest examples of Colorado printing are the first numbers of two competing newspapers, which were issued at Denver on April 23, 1859, only about 20 minutes apart.[130] Taking precedence was the _Rocky Mountain News_, published by William N. Byers & Co. and printed with equipment purchased in Nebraska. Its printers were John L. Dailey of Ohio, a member of the company, and W. W. Whipple of Michigan.[131] The Library of Congress recently acquired its earliest example of Colorado printing, a broadside entitled _Laws and Regulations of the Miners of the Gregory Diggings District_, attributed to the Byers & Co. press. Printed sometime after July 16, 1859, it is one of but two located copies of the first extant Colorado imprint other than a newspaper or newspaper extra.[132] The laws, passed at miners' meetings on June 8 and July 16, apply to the district named for John Gregory, whose successful prospecting helped to stimulate the famous Pike's Peak gold rush. They were placed in historical context by Peter C. Schank, assistant chief of the American-British Law Division in the Library of Congress, in an article announcing this acquisition: the laws themselves are intrinsically valuable because they served as a model for much succeeding legislation, not only for other mining districts, but for State and national enactments as well. Despite the promulgation of California district laws 10 years earlier, the Gregory laws, perhaps because of the district's fame, the presence of prospectors with previous experience in other mining areas, and the imminent adoption of the first national mining statute, had a unique influence on the development of mining law in this country.[133] The lower margin of the Library's copy is inscribed, "Favor of Stiles E Mills, July 20th 1863." Neither the identity of Mr. Mills nor the intervening provenance has been established. In recent years this copy belonged to Thomas W. Streeter (1883-1965) of Morristown, N. J., owner of the most important private library of Americana assembled during the 20th century. The Library of Congress paid $2,800 for the broadside at that portion of the Streeter sale held by Parke-Bernet Galleries on April 23-24, 1968.[134] Previously the Library's first example of Colorado printing was the second issue of a small newspaper sheet, _The Western Mountaineer_, published at Golden City on December 14, 1859. This newspaper was printed on the same press, actually the first to reach Colorado, that under different ownership had lost the close race to print the first newspaper at Denver. Gold is a prominent topic in this particular issue, which includes an interesting account of the prospector, George Andrew Jackson, based on information he himself supplied. The Library's copy seems to have been detached from a bound volume, probably before its listing in _A Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress_ (1901). Penciled on its front page are the name "Lewis Cass [Esquire?]" and what appears to be another name beginning with "Amos." Lewis Cass was Secretary of State at the time of publication. [Illustration: (_Laws and Regulations of the Miners of the Gregory Diggings District_)] [Footnote 130: See Douglas C. McMurtrie and Albert H. Allen, _Early Printing in Colorado_ (Denver, 1935).] [Footnote 131: See _History of the City of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado_ (Chicago, 1880), p. 395 and 641.] [Footnote 132: See no. 68 in Thomas W. Streeter's _Americana--Beginnings_ (Morristown, N.J., 1952).] [Footnote 133: U.S. Library of Congress, _The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress_, vol. 26 (1969), p. 229.] [Footnote 134: It is described under no. 2119 in _The Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter_ (New York, 1966-69), vol. 4.] Wyoming The oldest relics of Wyoming printing are June and July 1863 issues of the _Daily Telegraph_, published at Fort Bridger in what was then the Territory of Utah. The printer and publisher of this newspaper was Hiram Brundage, telegraph operator at the Fort, who had previously been associated with the Fort Kearney _Herald_ in the Territory of Nebraska.[135] No printing is known to have been performed in Wyoming between 1863 and 1867, with the possible exception of a disputed imprint dated 1866,[136] and the first permanent Wyoming press dates from the founding of the _Cheyenne Leader_ in September 1867. The earliest example of Wyoming printing in the Library of Congress is a 24-page pamphlet printed at Green River by "Freeman & Bro., book and job printers" in 1868: _A Vocabulary of the Snake, or, Sho-Sho-Nay Dialect by Joseph A. Gebow, Interpreter. Second Edition, Revised and Improved, January 1st, 1864._ It was printed on the press of the _Frontier Index_, a migratory newspaper which commenced when the Freemans bought out the Fort Kearney _Herald_ in Nebraska. This press moved westward from place to place as the Union Pacific Railroad penetrated into southern Wyoming, and it stopped at Green River for about two months in 1868.[137] The first edition of Gebow's _Vocabulary_ was printed at Salt Lake City in 1859, and the first printing of the second edition at Camp Douglas, Utah, in 1864. The vocabulary proper is prefaced only by the following statement: Mr. Joseph A. Gebow, having been a resident in the Mountains for nearly twenty years, has had ample opportunity of acquiring the language of the several tribes of Indians, and offers this sample of Indian Literature, hoping it may beguile many a tedious hour to the trader, the trapper, and to any one who feels an interest in the language of the Aborigines of the Mountains. Even for those unfamiliar with the native dialect, the words and phrases in English can be beguiling. Among the phrases chosen for translation are "Go slow, friend, don't get mad" and "You done wrong." [Illustration: (_A Vocabulary of the Snake, or, Sho-Sho-Nay Dialect by Joseph A. Gebow, Interpreter. Second Edition, Revised and Improved, January 1st, 1864._)] The present Library of Congress copy is inscribed to the Smithsonian Institution, and to judge from a date stamp it was added to the Smithsonian Library by May 1870. Later it was transferred to the Library of Congress through the Smithsonian Deposit (see above, p. 52). It is in an old library binding with the original printed wrappers bound in. [Footnote 135: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _Early Printing in Wyoming and the Black Hills_ (Hattiesburg, Miss., 1943), p. 9-10.] [Footnote 136: Ibid., p. 10, note 1.] [Footnote 137: Ibid., p. 39. On p. 48 McMurtrie argues that the pamphlet was printed in the month of October.] Montana Authorities do not agree on when or by whom Montana's first printing was undertaken. It was either at Bannack or Virginia City, both gold-mining towns, probably in October 1863.[138] The earliest Montana imprints in the Library of Congress were printed at Virginia City in 1866 by John P. Bruce, who owned _The Montana Democrat_ and was designated Public Printer. Of these, the first may be an eight-page pamphlet, _Reports of the Auditor, Treasurer, and Indian Commissioner, of the Territory of Montana_. The latest document incorporated in the text is dated February 22, 1866, and the pamphlet was printed in the office of _The Montana Democrat_ probably not long after that date. Most likely the second Montana imprint in the Library is the _Message of Governor Thomas Francis Meagher, to the Legislature of Montana Territory, Delivered on the 6th Day of March, 1866_. Three thousand copies were ordered, according to a printed note on the eighth and final page of this work. Neither of these two imprints bears any mark of provenance, and both appear to have entered the Library before the turn of the century. Another early example of Montana printing in the Library is the 22d number, dated April 12, 1866, of _The Montana Democrat_, a sizable four-page sheet displaying the paper's motto: "Be faithful in all accepted trusts." It is addressed in pencil to the State Department. From about the same time the Library can boast two copies of _Laws of the Teritory_ [sic] _of Montana, Passed at the Second Session of the Legislature, 1866. Beginning March 5, 1866, and Ending April 14, 1866_, a work of 54 pages. Although copy one is imperfect, lacking pages 49-54, it is of interest for the penciled inscription on its title page: "President Johnson." [Illustration: (REPORT OF THE AUDITOR OF THE TERRITORY OF MONTANA.)] The Library of Congress also owns three copies of a celebrated Montana book published at Virginia City in the same year by the proprietors of _The Montana Post_ press, S. W. Tilton & Co.: _The Vigilantes of Montana, or Popular Justice in the Rocky Mountains. Being a Correct and Impartial Narrative of the Chase, Trial, Capture and Execution of Henry Plummer's Road Agent Band, Together With Accounts of the Lives and Crimes of Many of the Robbers and Desperadoes, the Whole Being Interspersed With Sketches of Life in the Mining Camps of the "Far West;" Forming the Only Reliable Work on the Subject Ever Offered the Public._ The author, Prof. Thos. J. Dimsdale, was an Englishman who served Virginia City as a teacher and as editor of the _Post_, where his work originally appeared in installments. This first edition in book form contains 228 pages of text. The Library date-stamped copy one in 1874. Copy two was deposited for copyright in 1882, the year that D. W. Tilton put out a second edition. Copy three bears the signature of Henry Gannett (1846-1914), geographer of the U.S. Geological Survey and at the time of his death president of the National Geographic Society. It contains a "War Service Library" bookplate and an "American Library Association Camp Library" borrower's card (unused). The Library of Congress received the copy from an unknown source in 1925.[139] [Footnote 138: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, _Pioneer Printing in Montana_ (Iowa City, Iowa, 1932); the Introduction to McMurtrie's _Montana Imprints 1864-1880_ (Chicago, 1937); and Roby Wentz, _Eleven Western Presses_ (Los Angeles, 1956), p. 49-51.] [Footnote 139: Three Virginia City imprints dated 1866 are excluded from the present account. One of them (McMurtrie 19) cannot have been issued before January 10, 1867. The others (McMurtrie 130 and 131) were actually printed in Maine according to McMurtrie's bibliography. None of the Library of Congress copies of these imprints has a notable provenance.] North Dakota [Illustration: FRONTIER SCOUT. Capt. E. G. Adams, Editor. LIBERTY AND UNION. Lieut. C. H. Champney, Publisher Vol. 1. FORT RICE, D. T., AUGUST 10, 1865 No. 9.] As early as 1853 a printing press is said to have been at the St. Joseph mission station, site of the present town of Walhalla, but there is no evidence that the press was actually used there. The first confirmed North Dakota printing was done on a press which Company I of the 30th Wisconsin Volunteers brought to Fort Union in June 1864. In July of that year a small newspaper, the _Frontier Scout_, made its appearance at the fort, and extant issues name the Company as "proprietors" and identify (Robert) Winegar and (Ira F.) Goodwin, both from Eau Claire but otherwise unknown, as publishers.[140] Possibly antedating the _Frontier Scout_ is a rare broadside notice which either issued from the same press (not before June 17) or else could be the first extant Montana imprint.[141] With its early North Dakota newspapers the Library of Congress has a facsimile reprint of the _Frontier Scout_, volume 1, number 2 (the first extant issue), dated July 14, 1864. The Library's earliest original specimen of North Dakota printing is a copy of the _Frontier Scout_, volume 1, number 9 in a new series of issues at the paper's second location, Fort Rice. Dated August 10, 1865, this issue names Capt. E. G. Adams as editor and Lt. C. H. Champney as publisher. The Library's copy is printed on a four-page sheet of blue-ruled notebook paper. The contents of the August 10 issue are almost entirely from the pen of Captain Adams, who saw fit to run the statement: "Every article in the paper is original and sees the light for the first time." A long poem about Columbus, which he entitled "San Salvador," occupies most of the front page. More interesting is a second-page editorial headed "Indian Impolicy," rebuking the authorities in Washington for not allowing General Sully a free hand in his current operations against the Indians (whom the editor calls "these miserable land-pirates"). From this issue one gains an impression that Fort Rice must have been a dreary post. The following is under date of August 6 in a section captioned "Local Items": By the Big Horn and Spray [vessels] the Q. M. Dept. at Fort Rice receive 4500 sacks of corn. The Mail arrives. The wolves are howling on all sides tonight; we can see them, some of them are as large as year old calves. The first cat arrives at Fort Rice. There are so many rats and mice here it is a great field for feline missionaries. The Library of Congress obtained its copy of this issue of the _Frontier Scout_ through an exchange with the South Dakota Historical Society in November 1939. [Footnote 140: See Douglas C. McMurtrie, "Pioneer Printing in North Dakota," _North Dakota Historical Quarterly_, vol. 6, 1931-32, p. 221-230.] [Footnote 141: See no. 2036 in _The Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter_ (New York, 1966-69), vol. 4.] Alaska Printing is not known to have been undertaken by the Russians in Alaska,[142] nor can a broadside notice of 1854 printed by an English searching party aboard H.M.S. _Plover_ at Point Barrow[143] be properly considered as Alaskan printing. The first printing in Alaska evidently followed its transfer to United States rule on October 18, 1867. Despite the absence of a bibliography or trustworthy history of early Alaskan printing, it seems safe to say that the earliest imprints were the orders issued by the Military District of Alaska beginning with General Orders No. 1, dated October 29, 1867.[144] The District headquarters were at Sitka. There is no statement on the orders about place of printing, but it is difficult to imagine how they could have been printed elsewhere than Alaska and still have served their immediate purpose. The earliest Alaskan printing in the Library of Congress is a series of general orders dating from April 11, 1868, to July 1, 1870. These orders, printed as small sheets and leaflets, are mostly of a routine character, the majority reporting courts-martial held at Sitka. In the General Orders No. 1, of April 11, 1868, Jefferson C. Davis announces his assumption of command of the Department of Alaska, which superseded the Military District of Alaska on March 18, 1868, and he names the members of his departmental staff. The orders are printed on different kinds of paper, including blue-ruled, and many of them carry official signatures in manuscript. General Orders No. 13, of December 31, 1868, is stamped: "Received Adjutant Gen'ls Office Apr 6 1870." The whole series is bound into a volume, now destitute of both covers, which was weeded from the Army War College Library sometime after World War II. The National War College transferred it to the Library of Congress in or about 1953. Since the facts surrounding the Army press have yet to be documented, it may be well to consider the civilian printing of Alaska also. This apparently began with the initial issue of _The Alaskan Times_, dated April 23, 1869, and printed on a press obtained from San Francisco.[145] The _Times_ ceased publication in 1870. Apart from the general orders of 1868-70, the earliest Alaskan printing in the Library is its file of _The Sitka Post_ beginning with the second issue, dated November 5, 1876. The _Post_, published in a small six-page format on the 5th and 20th of each month, was the second newspaper to be printed in Alaska. Neither the _Times_ nor the _Post_ identifies its printer. Featured in the November 5 issue is "The Cavalry Fight at Brandy Station," an extract from L. P. Brockett's _The Camp, the Battle Field, and the Hospital_ (Philadelphia, 1866). Following this is a forceful editorial on "The Indian Campaign," which advocates committing a greater number of U.S. troops to the war against the Sioux. Certain advertisements in this issue are noteworthy because they relate to the paper itself. One is on the fourth page: We wish to call the Attention of all BUSINESS MEN who intend to Trade in Alaska to the fact that The Sitka Post is the Only Newspaper PUBLISHED in the TERRITORY. It is devoted entirely to the Interests of ALASKA; will never be made the organ of any party [o]r ring, political, commercial, or otherwise; and will make it its object to give the news of the TERRITORY. ALL ENTERPRISING MEN who wish to bring their BUSINESS before the Public of Alaska Territory cannot do better than by ADVERTISING in The Sitka Post. Another appears on the last page: MEN OF ENTERPRISE! TAKE NOTICE! The SITKA POST Is the only Paper printed in Alaska. It is the best medium of Advertising. It circulates in Sitka, Wrangel, Stikeen, Kodiak; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, Cal; Baltimore, Md, and Washington, D. C. Send your Advertisements to J. J. Daly Editor, Sitka Post, Sitka, A. And there is a brief appeal at the end of the last page: Wanted--More subscribers and contributors to this paper. [Illustration: (Orders issued by the Military District of Alaska)] The Library of Congress file of the _Post_ is in an old Library binding and extends from number 2 without break to the 14th and final number, dated June 5, 1877. The first page in the volume bears a Library date stamp of 1877. Also on the first page is the signature "M. Baker," preceded by the words "Purchased by" in a different hand. Thus the file was apparently assembled by Marcus Baker (1849-1903), a noted cartographer and writer on Alaska who was employed from 1873 to 1886 by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Some issues are addressed in pencil to individual subscribers, three of whom can be positively identified from company muster rolls at the National Archives as members of the 4th Artillery, U.S. Army, stationed at Sitka. They are "Ord[nance] Serg[ean]t [George] Go[l]kell"; "H[enry] Train," a corporal in Company G; and "W[illiam] J. Welch," a bugler in Company G. [Footnote 142: See Valerian Lada-Mocarski, "Earliest Russian Printing in the United States," in _Homage to a Bookman; Essays ... Written for Hans P. Kraus_ (Berlin, 1967), p. 231-233.] [Footnote 143: See no. 3525 in _The Celebrated Collection of Americana Formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop Streeter_ (New York, 1966-69), vol. 6.] [Footnote 144: See ibid., no. 3531.] [Footnote 145: Photostat copy in the Library of Congress examined.] * * * * * Transcriber's Notes The images have not been cleaned up in order to keep the worn look of the old documents. The texts within the images have not been transcribed with the exception of some titles. Image descriptions, added for convenience, are within parentheses below the images. Captions found in the original book are not enclosed in parentheses. All [sic] notes were from the original book. Retained spelling variations found in the original book. 
55919	----	_The Publication Committee of the Caxton Club certifies that this is one of an edition of two hundred and fifty-two copies printed on American hand-made paper, of which two hundred and forty are for sale, and three copies printed on Japanese vellum. The printing was done from type which has been distributed._ _This is also one of one hundred and forty-eight copies into which has been incorporated a leaf from an imperfect copy of the first edition of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," printed by William Caxton, and formerly in Lord Ashburnham's library, having been purchased for this purpose by the Caxton Club. The copies so treated comprise the three Japanese vellum copies and one hundred and forty-five of the American hand-made paper copies; all of the latter are for sale._ WILLIAM CAXTON [Illustration: BINDING WITH CAXTON'S DIES (Frontispiece, and see page 85) ] WILLIAM CAXTON BY E. GORDON DUFF, M. A. OXON. SANDARS READER IN BIBLIOGRAPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE [Illustration] CHICAGO THE CAXTON CLUB MCMV COPYRIGHT BY THE CAXTON CLUB NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE PREFACE 11 I. CAXTON'S EARLY LIFE 13 II. CAXTON'S PRESS AT BRUGES 22 III. THE EARLY WESTMINSTER PRESS 33 IV. 1480-1483 47 V. 1483-1487 56 VI. 1487-1491 70 VII. CAXTON'S DEATH 86 APPENDIX 91 INDEX 99 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PLATE PAGE BINDING WITH CAXTON'S DIES _Frontispiece_ [From the cover of a book in the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.] I. PROLOGUE FROM THE BARTHOLOMAEUS 22 This contains the verse relating to Caxton's first learning to print. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] (ERRATUM: Read _Prologue_ for _Epilogue_ on Plate I.) II. THE RECUYELL OF THE HISTORYES OF TROYE 28 Printed in Caxton's Type 1. Leaf 253, the first of the third book. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] III. EPILOGUE TO BOETHIUS 36 Printed in Caxton's Type 3. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] IV. THE DICTES OR SAYENGIS OF THE PHILOSOPHRES 38 Printed in Caxton's Type 2. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] V. CAXTON'S ADVERTISEMENT 42 Printed in Caxton's Type 3. Intended as an advertisement for the Pica or Directorium ad usum Sarum. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] VI. THE MIRROUR OF THE WORLD 50 Printed in Caxton's Type 2*. The woodcuts in this book are the first used in England. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] VII. THE MIRROUR OF THE WORLD 50 Printed in Caxton's Type 2*. This shows a diagram with the explanations filled in in MS. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] VIII. THE GAME AND PLAYE OF THE CHESSE 52 Printed in Caxton's Type 2*. The wood-cut represents the philosopher who invented the game. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] IX. LIBER FESTIVALIS 56 Printed in Caxton's Type 4*. The colophon to the second part of the book entitled "Quattuor Sermones." [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] X. CHAUCER'S CANTERBURY TALES 58 Printed in Caxton's Type 4*. This is the second edition printed by Caxton, but the first with illustrations. [From the copy in the British Museum.] XI. THE FABLES OF ESOPE 60 Printed in Caxton's Type 4*. These two cuts show the ordinary type of work throughout the book. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] XII. THE FABLES OF ESOPE 60 The wood-cut here shewn is engraved in an entirely different manner from the rest. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] XIII. THE FABLES OF ESOPE 62 Shewing the only ornamental initial letter used by Caxton. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] XIV. THE IMAGE OF PITY 66 [From the unique wood-cut in the British Museum.] XV. SPECULUM VITÆ CHRISTI 66 Printed in Caxton's Type 5. The wood-cut depicts the visit of Christ to Mary and Martha. [From the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] XVI. CAXTON'S DEVICE 70 [From an example in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] XVII. LEGENDA AD USUM SARUM 70 Printed at Paris by W. Maynyal, probably for Caxton. The book is known only from fragments. [From a leaf in the University Library, Cambridge.] XVIII. THE INDULGENCE OF 1489 72 Printed in Caxton's Type 7. This type is not mentioned by Blades in his Life of Caxton. [From a copy in the British Museum.] XIX. THE BOKE OF ENEYDOS 76 Printed in Caxton's Type 6. This page gives Caxton's curious story about the variations in the English language. [From the copy in the British Museum.] XX. ARS MORIENDI 76 Printed in Caxton's Type 6 [text] and 8 [heading]. [From the unique copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] XXI. SERVITIUM DE TRANSFIGURATIONE JESU CHRISTI 78 Printed in Caxton's Type 5. [From the unique copy in the British Museum.] XXII. THE CRUCIFIXION 78 Used by Caxton in the Fifteen Oes, and frequently afterwards by Wynkyn de Worde. [From an example in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] XXIII. THE LYF OF SAINT KATHERIN 80 Printed by W. de Worde with a modification of Caxton's Type 4*. The large initials serve to distinguish de Worde's work from Caxton's. [From the copy in the British Museum.] XXIV. AND XXV. THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID 82 Two leaves, one with the colophon, from a manuscript prepared by Caxton for the press, and perhaps in his own hand. [From the MS. in the Pepysian Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge.] PREFACE. A life of Caxton must of necessity be little more than an account of his work. As in the case of the great inventor Gutenberg, nothing but a few documents are connected with his name. In those days of tedious communication and imperfect learning, the new art was considered as merely a means of mechanically producing manuscripts, which the general public must have looked on with apathy. By the time that its vast importance was fully perceived, the personal history of the pioneers was lost. Caxton, however, indulged now and then in little pieces of personal expression in his prefaces, which, if they tell us little of his life, throw a certain amount of pleasant light on his character. In the present book I have tried to avoid as far as possible the merely mechanical bibliographical detail, which has been relegated in an abridged form to an appendix, and have confined myself to a more general description of the books, especially of those not hitherto correctly or fully described. Since William Blades compiled his great work, _The Life and Typography of William Caxton_, some discoveries have been made and some errors corrected, but his book must always remain the main authority on the subject, the solid foundation for the history of our first printer. Where I have pointed out mistakes in his book or filled up omissions, it is in no spirit of fault-finding, but rather the desire of a worker in the same field to add a few stones to the great monument he has built. E. G. D. CHAIN BRIDGE, BERWYN, May, 1902. CHAPTER I. CAXTON'S EARLY LIFE. Amongst those men to whom belongs the honour of having introduced the art of printing into the various countries of Europe, none holds a more marked or a more important position than William Caxton. This is not the place to discuss the vexed questions, when, where, or by whom the art was really discovered; but the general opinion may be accepted, that in Germany, before the year 1450, Gutenberg had thought out the invention of movable type and the use of the printing-press, and that before the end of the year 1454 a dated piece of printing had been issued. From town to town down the waterways of Germany the art spread, and the German printers passed from their own to other countries,--to Italy, to Switzerland, and to France; but in none of these countries did the press in any way reflect the native learning or the popular literature. Germany produced nothing but theology or law,--bibles, psalters, and works of Aquinas and Jerome, Clement or Justinian. Italy, full of zeal for the new revival of letters, would have nothing but classics; and as in Italy so in France, where the press was at work under the shadow of the University. Fortunately for England, the German printers never reached her shores, nor had the new learning crossed the Channel when Caxton set up his press at Westminster, so that, unique amongst the nations of Europe, England's first printer was one of her own people, and the first products of her press books in her own language. Many writers, such as Gibbon and Isaac Disraeli, have seen fit to disparage the work of Caxton, and have levelled sneers, tinged with their typical inaccuracy, at the printer and his books. Gibbon laments that Caxton "was reduced to comply with the vicious taste of his readers; to gratify the nobles with treatises on heraldry, hawking, and the game of chess [Caxton printed neither of the first two]; and to amuse the popular credulity with romances of fabulous knights and legends of more fabulous saints." "The world," he continues, "is not indebted to England for one first edition of a classic author." Disraeli, following Gibbon, writes: "As a printer without erudition, Caxton would naturally accommodate himself to the tastes of his age, and it was therefore a consequence that no great author appears among the Caxtons." And again: "Caxton, mindful of his commercial interests and the taste of his readers, left the glory of restoring the classical writers of antiquity, which he could not read, to the learned printers of Italy." It is idle to argue with men of this attitude of mind. Of what use would it have been to us, or profit to our printer, to reprint editions of the classics which were pouring forth from foreign presses, and even there, where most in demand, were becoming unsaleable? Those who wanted classics could easily and did easily obtain them from the foreign stationers. Caxton's work was infinitely more valuable. He printed all the English poetry of any moment then in existence. Chaucer he printed at the commencement of his career, and issued a new edition when a purer text offered itself. Lidgate and Gower soon followed. He printed the available English chronicles, those of Brut and Higden, and the great romances, such as the History of Jason and the Morte d'Arthur. While other printers employed their presses on the dead languages he worked at the living. He gave to the people the classics of their own land, and at a time when the character of our literary tongue was being settled did more than any other man before or since has done to establish the English language. Caxton's personal history is unfortunately surrounded by considerable obscurity. Apart from the glimpses which we catch here and there in the curious and interesting prefaces which he added to many of the books he printed, we know scarcely anything of him. Thus the story of his life wants that variety of incident which appeals so forcibly to human sympathy and communicates to a biography its chief and deepest interest. The first fact of his life we learn from the preface of the first book he printed. "I was born and lerned myn Englissh in Kente in the Weeld where I doubte not is spoken as brode and rude Englissh as is in ony place of Englond." This is the only reference to his birthplace, and such as it is, is remarkably vague, for the extent or limits of the Weald of Kent were never clearly defined. William Lambarde, in his _Perambulation of Kent_, writes thus of it: "For it is manifest by the auncient Saxon chronicles, by Asserus Menevensis, Henrie of Huntingdon, and almost all others of latter time, that beginning at Winchelsea in Sussex it reacheth in length a hundred and twenty miles toward the West and stretched thirty miles in breadth toward the North." The name Caxton, Cauxton, or Causton, as it is variously spelt, was not an uncommon one in England, but there was one family of that name specially connected with that part of the country who owned the manor of Caustons, near Hadlow, in the Weald of Kent. Though the property had passed into other hands before the time of the printer's birth, some families of the name remained in the neighbourhood, and one at least retained the name of the old home, for there is still in existence a will dated 1490 of John Cawston of Hadlow Hall, Essex. The Weald was largely inhabited by the descendants of the Flemish families who had been induced by Edward III. to settle there and carry on the manufacture of cloth. Privileged by the king, the trade rapidly grew, and in the fifteenth century was one of great importance. This mixture of Flemish blood may account in certain ways for the "brode and rude Englissh," just as the Flemish trade influenced Caxton's future career. In the prologue to _Charles the Great_, Caxton thanks his parents for having given him a good education, whereby he was enabled to earn an honest living, but unfortunately does not tell us where the education was obtained, though it would probably be at home, and not in London, as some have suggested. After leaving school Caxton was apprenticed to a London merchant of high position in the year 1438. This is the first actual date in his life which we possess, and one from which it is possible to arrive with some reasonable accuracy at his age. Although then, as now, it was customary for a man to attain his majority at the age of twenty-one, there was also a rule, at any rate in the city of London, that none could attain his civic majority, or be admitted to the freedom of the city, until he had reached the age of twenty-four. The period for which a lad was bound apprentice was based on this fact, for it was always so arranged that he should issue from his apprenticeship on attaining his civic majority. The length of servitude varied from seven to fourteen years, so it is easy to calculate that the time of Caxton's birth must lie between the years 1421 and 1428. When we consider also that by 1449 he was not only out of his apprenticeship, but evidently a man of means and position, we are justified in supposing that he served the shortest time possible, and was born in 1421 or very little later. The master to whom he was bound, Robert Large, was one of the most wealthy and important merchants in the city of London, and a leading member of the Mercers' Company. In 1427 he was Warden of his Company, in 1430 he was made a Sheriff of London, and in 1439-40 rose to the highest dignity in the city, and became Lord Mayor. His house, "sometime a Jew's synagogue, since a house of friars, then a nobleman's house, after that a merchant's house, wherein mayoralties have been kept, but now a wine tavern (1594)," stood at the north end of the Old Jewry. Here Caxton had plenty of company,--Robert Large and his wife, four sons, two daughters, two assistants, and eight apprentices. Only three years, however, were passed with this household, for Large did not long survive his mayoralty, dying on the 4th of April, 1441. Amongst the many bequests in his will the apprentices were not forgotten, and the youngest, William Caxton, received a legacy of twenty marks. On the death of Robert Large, in April, 1441, Caxton was still an apprentice, and not released from his indentures. If no specific transfer to a new master had been made under the will of the old, the executors were bound to supply the apprentices with the means of continuing their service. That Caxton served his full time we know to have been the case, since he was admitted a few years later to the Livery of the Mercers' Company, but it is clear that he did not remain in England. In the prologue to the _Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye_, written in 1471, he says: "I have contynued by the space of xxx yere for the most part in the contres of Braband, Flandres, Holand, and Zeland"; and this would infer that he finished his time of apprenticeship abroad. About 1445 or 1446 Caxton had served his time, and he became a merchant trading on his own account, and apparently with considerable success, a result naturally to be expected from his conspicuous energy. By 1450 he was settled at Bruges, and there exists in the town archives the report of a lawsuit in which he was concerned in that year. Caxton and another merchant, John Selle, had become sureties for the sum of £110 owed by John Granton, a merchant of the Staple of Calais, to William Craes, another merchant. As Granton had left Bruges without paying his debt, Craes had caused the arrest of the sureties. These admitted their liability, but pleaded that Craes should wait the return of Granton, who was a very rich man, and had perhaps already repaid the debt. The verdict went against Caxton and his friend, who were compelled to give security for the sum demanded; but it was also decreed that should Granton, on his return to Bruges, be able to prove that the money had been paid before his departure, the complainant should be fined an amount double that of the sum claimed. In 1453 Caxton paid a short visit to England in company with two fellow-traders, when all three were admitted to the Livery of the Mercers' Company. For the next ten years we can only conjecture what Caxton's life may have been, as no authentic information has been preserved. All that can be said is, that he must have succeeded in his business and have become prosperous and influential, for when the next reference to him occurs, in the books of the Mercers' Company for 1463, he was acting as governor of that powerful corporation, the Merchant Adventurers. This Company, which had existed from very early times, had been formed to protect the interests of merchants trading abroad, and though many guilds were represented, the Mercers were so much the most important, both in numbers and wealth, that they took the chief control, and it was in their books that the transactions of the Adventurers were entered. In 1462 the Company obtained from Edward IV. a larger charter, and in it a certain William Obray was appointed "Governor of the English Merchants" at Bruges. This post, however, he did not fill for long, for in the year following we find that his duties were being performed by Caxton. Up to at least as late as May, 1469, he continued to hold this high position. His work at this period must have been most onerous, for the Duke of Burgundy set his face against the importation of foreign goods, and decreed the exclusion of all English-made cloth from his dominions. As a natural result, the Parliament of England passed an act prohibiting the sale of Flemish goods at home, so that the trade of the foreign merchants was for a time paralyzed. With the death of Philip in 1467, and the succession of his son Charles the Bold, matters were entirely changed. The marriage of Charles with the Princess Margaret, sister of Edward IV., cemented the friendship of the two countries, and friendly business relations were again established. The various negotiations entailed by these changes, in all of which Caxton must have played an important part, perhaps impaired his health, and were responsible for his complaint of a few years later, that age was daily creeping upon him and enfeebling his body. Somewhere about 1469 Caxton's business position and manner of life appear to have undergone a considerable change, though we have now no clue as to what occasioned it. He gave up his position as Governor of the Adventurers and entered the service of the Duchess of Burgundy, but in what capacity is not known. In the greater leisure which the change afforded, he was able to pursue his literary tastes, and began the translation of the book which was destined to be the first he printed, _Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes_. But there is perhaps another reason which prevailed with him to alter his mode of life. He was no doubt a wealthy man and able to retire from business, and it seems fairly certain that about this time he married. In 1496 his daughter Elizabeth was divorced from her husband, Gerard Croppe, owing apparently to some quarrels about bequests; and assuming Caxton to have been married in 1469 the daughter would have been twenty-one at the time of his death. The rules of the various companies of merchants trading abroad were extremely strict on the subject of celibacy, a necessary result of their method of living. Each nation had its house, where its merchants lived together on an almost monastic system. Each had his own little bed-chamber in a large dormitory, but meals were all taken together in a common room. Caxton's duties in the service of the Duchess had most probably to do with affairs of trade, in which at that time even the highest nobility often engaged. The Duchess obtained from her brother Edward IV. special privileges and exemptions in regard to her own private trading in English wool, and she would naturally require some one with competent knowledge to manage her affairs. This, with her interest in Caxton's literary work, probably determined her choice, and under her protection and patronage Caxton recommenced his work of translation. In 1471 he finished and presented to the Duchess the translation of _Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes_, which had been begun in Bruges in March, 1469, continued in Ghent, and ended in Cologne in September, 1471. The completion of this manuscript was no doubt the turning-point in Caxton's career, as we may judge from his words in the epilogue to the printed book. "Thus ende I this book whyche I have translated after myn Auctor as nyghe as god hath gyven me connyng to whom be gyven the laude and preysyng. And for as moche as in the wrytyng of the same my penne is worn, myn hande wery and not stedfast, myn eyen dimmed with overmoche lokyng on the whit paper, and my corage not so prone and redy to laboure as hit hath ben, and that age crepeth on me dayly and febleth all the bodye, and also because I have promysid to dyverce gentilmen and to my frendes to addresse to hem as hastely as I myght this sayd book. Therefore I have practysed and lerned at my grete charge and dispense to ordeyne this said booke in prynte after the maner and forme as ye may here see. And it is not wreton with penne and ynke as other bokes ben to thende that every man may have them attones. For all the bookes of this storye named the recule of the historyes of troyes thus enprynted as ye here see were begonne in oon day, and also fynysshed in oon day." The trouble of multiplying copies with a pen was too great to be undertaken, and the aid of the new art was called in. Caxton ceased to be a scribe and became a printer. CHAPTER II. CAXTON'S PRESS AT BRUGES. In what city and from what printer Caxton received his earliest training in the art of printing has been a much debated question amongst bibliographers. The only direct assertion on the point is to be found in the lines which form part of the prologue written by Wynkyn de Worde, and added to the translation of the _De proprietatibus rerum_ of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, issued about 1495. "And also of your charyte call to remembraunce, The soule of William Caxton, the fyrste prynter of this book, In Laten tongue at Coleyn, hymself to avaunce, That every well disposed man may thereon look." As Wynkyn de Worde was for long associated with Caxton in business and became after his death his successor, it seems impossible to put aside his very plain statement as entirely inaccurate. William Blades, in his _Life of Caxton_, utterly denies the whole story. "Are we to understand," he writes, "that the editio princeps of Bartholomaeus proceeded from Caxton's press, or that he only printed the first Cologne edition? that he issued a translation of his own, which is the only way in which the production of the work could advance him in the Latin tongue? or that he printed in Latin to advance his own interests? The last seems the most probable reading. But though the words will bear many constructions, they are evidently intended to mean that Caxton printed Bartholomaeus at Cologne. Now, this seems to be merely a careless statement of Wynkyn de Worde; for if Caxton did really print Bartholomaeus in that city, it must have been with his own types and presses, as the workmanship of his early volumes proves that he had no connexion with the Cologne printers, whose practices were entirely different." [Illustration: PLATE I EPILOGUE FROM THE BARTHOLOMAEUS (see page 22) ] The meaning which Mr. Blades has read into the lines seems hardly a reasonable one. Surely, the expression "hymself to avaunce" cannot apply to the advancement of his own interests, but rather to knowledge; nor can we imagine a sensible person who wished to learn Latin entering a printing-office for that purpose. It must rather apply to the printing itself, and point to the fact that when at Cologne he printed or assisted to print an edition of the _Bartholomaeus_ in Latin in order to learn the practical details of the art. It must also be borne in mind that in 1471, when Caxton paid his visit to Cologne, printing had been introduced into few towns. Printed books were spread far and wide, and some of Schoeffer's editions have inscriptions showing that they had been bought at an early date, within a year of their issue, at Bruges; but Cologne was the nearest town where the press was actually at work, and where already a number of printers were settled. Blades adds as another argument the fact that no edition of a _Bartholomaeus_ has been found printed in Caxton's type, but when starting as a mere learner in another person's office he could hardly be expected to have type of his own. But there is an edition of the _Bartholomaeus_, which, though without date or name of place or printer, was certainly printed at Cologne about the time of Caxton's visit. It is a large folio of 248 leaves, with two columns to the page and 55 lines to a column. It is described by Dibdin in his _Bibliotheca Spenceriana_ (Vol. III., p. 180), though with his usual inaccuracy he gives the number of leaves as 238. There is little doubt that the words of Wynkyn de Worde refer to this edition. Cologne, as might be expected from its advantageous position on the Rhine, was one of the earliest towns to which the art of printing spread from Mainz. Ulric Zel, its first printer, was settled there some time before 1466, when he issued his first dated book, and by 1470 several others were at work. The study of early Cologne printing is extremely complex, for the majority of books which were produced there contain no indication of printer, place of printing, or date. Some printers issued many volumes, and their names are still unknown, so that they can only be referred to under the name of some special book which they printed; as, the "Printer of _Dictys_," the "Printer of _Dares_," and so on. M. Madden, the French writer on early printing, who had a genius for obtaining from plausible premisses the most utterly preposterous conclusions, was possessed with the idea that the monastery of Weidenbach, near Cologne, was a vast school of typography, where printers of all nations and tongues learned their art. He ends up his article on Caxton, as he ended up those on other early printers, "Je finis cette lettre en vous promettant de revenir, tôt ou tard, s'il plaît à Dieu, sur William Caxton se faisant initier à la typographie, non pas à Bruges, par Colard Mansion, comme le veut M. W. Blades, mais à _Weidenbach_, par les frères de la vie commune." As we know from Caxton's own statements, he had when at Cologne considerable leisure, which was partly employed in writing out his translation of _Le Recueil_, and like all literary persons, must have felt great interest in the new art. It was no longer a secret one, and there would be little difficulty for a rich and important man like Caxton to obtain access to a printing-office, where he might learn the practical working and master the necessary details. The mechanical part of the work was not at that time a complicated process, and would certainly not have taken long to master. Caxton no doubt learned from observation the method of cutting and the mechanism of casting type, and by a little practical work the setting up of type, the inking, and the pulling off the impression. At the close of 1471 Caxton returned to Bruges, and presented to the Duchess of Burgundy the manuscript of the _Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye_, which he had finished while at Cologne. This work, which had been undertaken at the request of the Duchess, proved to be exceedingly popular at the court. Caxton was importuned to set to work on other copies for rich noblemen. The length of time which the production of these copies would take reminded him of the excellent invention which he had seen at work at Cologne, that art of writing by mechanical means, "ars artificialiter scribendi," as the earliest printers called it, by which numerous copies could be produced at one and the same time. Mr. Blades, in common with almost every writer, assumes that printing was introduced into Bruges at a very much earlier date than there is any warrant for supposing. He speaks of Colard Mansion as having "established a press shortly after 1470 at Bruges." Other writers put back the date as much as three years earlier, confusing, as is often the case, the date of the writing of a book with the date of its printing. Colard Mansion's name does not occur in a dated colophon before 1476, in his edition of the French translation of a work of Boccaccio, and we have no reason to suppose that he began to work more than two years at the outside before this date. In the guild-books at Bruges he is entered as a writer and illuminator of manuscripts from 1454 to 1473, so that we are certainly justified in considering that he did not commence to print until after the latter date. Other writers have brought forward a mysterious and little known printer, Jean Brito, as having not only introduced the art into Bruges, but as being the inventor of printing. An ambiguous statement in one of his imprints, where he says that he learned to print by himself with no one to teach him, refers more probably to some method of casting type, and not to an independent discovery, and his method of work and other details point almost certainly to a date about 1480. Some of his type is interesting as being almost identical with a fount used a few years later in London. Now, there is one very important point in this controversy which appears to have been quite overlooked. Caxton, we may suppose, learned the art of printing about 1471 at Cologne, the nearest place to Bruges where the printing-press was then at work. But, say the opponents of this theory, his type bears no resemblance to Cologne type, so that the theory is absurd. It must, however, be remembered that in the interval between Caxton's learning the art and beginning to practice it printers had begun to work in Utrecht, Alost, and Louvain. If he required any practical assistance in the cutting or casting of type or the preparation of a press, he would naturally turn to the printers nearest to him,--Thierry Martens, with John of Westphalia at Alost, or to John Veldener or John of Westphalia (who had moved from Alost in 1474) at Louvain. Caxton's preparations for setting up a printing-press on his own account were most probably made in 1474. His assistant or partner, Colard Mansion, by profession a writer and illuminator of manuscripts, is entered as such in the books of the Guild of St. John from 1454 to 1473, when his connexion with the guild ceases. This may point to two things: he had either left Bruges, perhaps in search of printing material, or had changed his profession; and the former seems the most probable explanation. If Caxton was assisted by any outside printer in the preparation of his type, there can be little doubt that that printer was John Veldener of Louvain. Veldener was matriculated at Louvain in the faculty of medicine, July 30, 1473. In August, 1474, in an edition of the _Consolatio peccatorum_ of Jacobus de Theramo, printed by him, there is a prefatory letter addressed "Johanni Veldener, artis impressoriae magistro," showing that he was by that time a printer. He was also, as he himself tells us, a type-founder, and in 1475 he made use of a type in many respects identical with one used by Caxton. In body they are precisely the same, and in most of the letters they are to all appearance identical; and the fact of their making their appearance about the same time in the _Lectura super institutionibus_ of Angelus de Aretio, printed at Louvain by Veldener, and in the _Quatre derrenieres choses_, printed at Bruges by Caxton, would certainly appear to point to some connexion between the two printers. Furnished with a press and two founts of type, both of the West Flanders kind and cut in imitation of the ordinary book-hand, William Caxton and Colard Mansion started on their career as printers. Unlike all other early printers, Caxton looked to his own country and his own language for a model, and although in a foreign country, issued as his first work the first printed book in the English language. Other countries had been content to be ruled by the new laws forced upon them by the revival of learning. Caxton then, as through his life, spent his best energies in the service of our English tongue. The _Recuyell of the Hystoryes of Troye_, a translation by Caxton from the French of Raoul Le Fevre, who in his turn had adapted it from earlier writers on the Trojan war, was the first book to be issued. The prologue to the first part and the epilogues to the second and third contain a few interesting details of Caxton's life. That to the third contains some remarks about the printing. "Therefore I have practysed and lerned at my grete charge and dispense to ordeyne this said booke in prynte after the maner and forme as ye may here see, and it is not wreton with penne and ynke as other bokes ben to thende that every man may have them attones. For all the bookes of this storye named the recule of the historyes of troyes thus enprynted as ye here see were begonne in oon day, and also fynysshed in oon day." The wording of this sentence, which is perhaps slightly ambiguous, has caused several writers to fall into a curious error in supposing that Caxton meant to assert that the printed books were begun and finished in one day. His real meaning, of course, was, that while in written books the whole of a volume was finished before another was begun, in printed books the beginnings of all the copies of which the edition was to consist were printed off in one day, so also the last sheet of all the copies would be printed off in one day, and the whole edition finished simultaneously. The _Recuyell_ is a small folio of 352 leaves, the first being blank, and each page contains 31 lines, spaced out in a very uneven manner. The second leaf, on which the book begins, contains Caxton's prologue, printed in red ink. The book is without signatures, headlines, numbers to the pages, or catchwords. Although a considerable number of copies--some twenty in all--are still in existence, almost every one is imperfect. The very interesting copy bought by the Duke of Devonshire at the Roxburghe sale in 1812 for £1,060 10_s._ which had at one time belonged to Elizabeth, wife of Edward IV., wanted the last leaf; Lord Spencer's wanted the introduction. Blades, it should be noticed, in his lists of existing copies of Caxton's books, uses the word "perfect" in a misleading way, often taking no notice of the blank leaves being missing, which are essential to a perfect copy, and often also omitting to distinguish between a made-up copy and one in genuine original condition. [Illustration: PLATE II THE RECUYELL OF THE HISTORYES OF TROYE (see page 28) ] The finest copy is probably that formerly in the library of the Earl of Jersey, which was sold in 1885. It was described as perfect, and possessed the blank leaf at the beginning. Valued in 1756, when Bryan Fairfax's library was bought by Lord Jersey's ancestor, Mr. Child, at £8 8_s._, it produced the high price of £1,820. The next book to appear from the Bruges press was the _Game and playe of the Chess_, "In which I fynde," as Caxton says in his prologue, "thauctorites, dictees, and stories of auncient doctours philosophres poetes and of other wyse men whiche been recounted and applied unto the moralite of the publique wele as well of the nobles as of the comyn peple after the game and playe of the chesse." The original of the work was the _Liber de ludo scacchorum_ of Jacobus de Cessolis, which had been translated into French by Jean Faron and Jean de Vignay, both belonging to the order of preaching friars, but who worked quite independently of each other. Caxton appears to have made use of both versions, part of his book being translated from one and part from the other. It is a considerably shorter book than the _Recuyell_, containing only 74 leaves, of which the first and last were blank. Like the last, it is a folio, with 31 lines to the page. It is not a very scarce book, as about twelve copies are known, but of these almost every one is imperfect. The best copy known is probably that belonging to Colonel Holford, of Dorchester House, which still remains in its old binding, and another beautiful copy was obtained by Lord Spencer from the library of Lincoln Minster, the source of many rarities in the Spencer collection. The story has often been told how Dibdin, the well-known writer of romantic bibliography, persuaded the lax Dean and Chapter of Lincoln to part with their Caxtons to Lord Spencer. We must, however, give even Dibdin his due, and point out that he was quite ignorant of the transaction, which was carried out by Edwards, the bookseller. The letter from Lord Spencer to Dibdin is still in existence, in which he describes the new Caxtons he had acquired, carefully omitting to say through whom or from what source. This, however, Dibdin found out for himself some time after, and raided Lincoln on his own account. He issued a small catalogue of his purchases, under the title of _A Lincoln Nosegay_, and a few were bought by Lord Spencer, the remainder finding their way into the libraries of Heber and other collectors. The last book printed by Caxton and Mansion in partnership at Bruges was the _Quatre derrenieres choses_, a treatise on the four last things, Death and Judgment, Heaven and Hell, commonly known under the Latin titles of _De quattuor novissimis_ or _Memorare novissima_, and later issued in English by Caxton as the _Cordyale_. In this book first appears Caxton's type No. 2, which bears so strong a resemblance to the fount used by Veldener. The book is a folio of 74 leaves (not 72, as stated by Blades), and has 28 lines to the page. There is a certain amount of printing in red, which was produced in a peculiar way. It was not done by a separate pull of the press, as was the general custom, but the whole page having been set up and inked, the ink was wiped off from the portions to be printed in red, and the red colour applied to them by hand, and the whole printed at one pull. For long but one copy of this book was known, preserved in the British Museum, and bound up with a copy of the _Meditacions sur les sept pseaulmes_, to be described shortly. Some years ago, however, another copy wanting two leaves was found, and it is now in a private collection in America. This was the last book printed abroad with which Caxton had any connexion, and the new type used in it was no doubt specially prepared for him to carry to England. It contained far more distinct types than the first, which had 163, for it began with 217, which were increased on recasting to at least 254. Supplied with new type and other printing material, Caxton made his preparations to return to his own country. The exact date cannot now be determined, but it was probably early in the year 1476. It is curious that just about this time one of the Cologne presses issued the first edition of the Breviary for the use of the church of Salisbury, the use adopted by all the south of England, and it may be that Caxton, who had had dealings with the Cologne printers, may have been connected in some way with its production and publication in England. After Caxton had left Bruges his former partner, Colard Mansion, continued to print by himself. In Caxton's first type, which had been left behind at Bruges, he printed three books, _Le Recueil des histoires de Troyes_, _Les fais et prouesses du chevalier Jason_, and the _Meditacions sur les sept pseaulmes_. All three are in folio, with 31 lines to the page. As they are often confused by writers with books really printed by Caxton, and as they are produced from type which was at one time in his possession, they may perhaps merit a short description. The _Recueil_ contains 286 leaves, of which two are blank. Six copies are known, of which by far the finest was sold at the Watson Taylor sale in 1823 to Lord Spencer. It was then in its original binding and uncut, but Lord Spencer, who, like most collectors of his day, despised old bindings, had it rebound in morocco, and the edges trimmed and gilt. Another very fine copy, probably "conveyed" from some continental library, was purchased from M. Libri by the British Museum in 1844. The _Jason_ contains 134 leaves, of which the first and last two are blank. A magnificent copy, the only one in England, is in the library of Eton College, and there are two other copies, slightly imperfect, at Paris. Of the third book, the _Meditacions sur les sept pseaulmes_, only one copy is known to exist. It is in the British Museum, bound up with a copy of the _Quatre derrenieres choses_, and is quite perfect. It contains 34 leaves, the last being blank. Mansion continued for some time onwards to print at Bruges in the workshop which perhaps he had shared with Caxton, over the church porch of St. Donatus, but later in life seems to have been unsuccessful and fallen on evil times. The books which he then printed with such little success are now by the chance of fate the most sought for and valuable amongst the productions of the early continental press. CHAPTER III. THE EARLY WESTMINSTER PRESS. In 1476 Caxton returned to England and took up his residence in the precincts of Westminster Abbey, at a house with the sign of the "Red Pale" in the "almonesrye." This locality is thus described by Stow: "Now will I speake of the gate-house, and of Totehill streete, stretching from the west part of the close.... The gate towards the west is a Gaile for offenders.... On the South-side of this gate, King Henry the 7. founded an almeshouse.... Near unto this house westward was an old chappel of S. Anne, over against the which, the Lady Margaret, mother to King Henry the 7. erected an Almeshouse for poore women ... the place wherein this chappell and Almeshouse standeth was called the Elemosinary or Almory, now corruptly the Ambry, for that the Almes of the Abbey were there distributed to the poore." In the account roll of John Estenay, sacrist of Westminster from September 29, 1476, to September 29, 1477, we find, under the heading "Firme terrarum infra Sanctuarium," the entry "De alia shopa ibidem dimissa Willelmo Caxton, per annum X^s." Another account-book, still preserved at Westminster, shows that in 1483 Caxton paid for two shops or houses, and in 1484 besides these for a loft over the gateway of the Almonry, described in 1486 as the room over the road (Camera supra viam), and in 1488 as the room over the road at the entrance to the Almonry (Camera supra viam eundo ad Elemosinariam). This latter was perhaps rented as a place to store the unsold portion of his stock. The neighbourhood of the Abbey seems to have been a place much favoured by merchants of the Staple and dealers in wool, and this may have had something to do with Caxton's choice. He always continued to be a member of the Mercers' Company, and many of his fellow-members must have formed his acquaintance, or learned to esteem him, while he held his honourable and responsible post of Governor of the English nation in the Low Countries. Like himself, many were members of the Fraternity of our Blessed Lady Assumption and benefactors to the church of St. Margaret. The abbots of Westminster themselves were in the wool trade, and according to Stow had six wool-houses in the Staple granted them by King Henry VI. Some such special causes, or perhaps certain privileges obtained from Margaret, Henry VII.'s mother, who was one of the printer's patrons, must have made Caxton fix his choice on Westminster rather than on London, the great centre for all merchants, and which might have been supposed more suitable for a printer. The first book with a date issued in England was the _Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres_, which was finished on the 18th of November, 1477. That Caxton should have allowed more than a year to elapse before issuing any work from his press seems improbable, especially considering the untiring energy with which he worked. On this point a curious piece of evidence is to be found in the prologue to the edition of _King Apolyn of Tyre_, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1510. Robert Copland, an assistant of De Worde and the translator of the book, says: "My worshipful master Wynken de Worde, having a little book of an ancient history of a kyng, sometyme reigning in the countree of Thyre called Appolyn, concernynge his malfortunes and peryllous adventures right espouventables, bryefly compyled and pyteous for to here, the which boke I Robert Coplande have me applyed for to translate out of the Frensshe language into our maternal Englysshe tongue at the exhortacion of my forsayd mayster, accordynge dyrectly to myn auctor, gladly followynge the trace of my mayster Caxton, begynnynge with small storyes and pamfletes and so to other." Now, taking all the books printed by Caxton before the end of the year 1478, in number twenty-one, and considering that the first dated book was not issued until almost the end of 1477, and that Caxton had then presumably been in England for over a year, there does seem some reasonable ground for believing the statement of Copland, especially as there are amongst these early books a number which exactly answer to the description of "small storyes and pamfletes." An exactly analogous case occurs in regard to the introduction of printing into Scotland. The first printer, Andrew Myllar, while preparing for the publication of the Aberdeen Breviary, which was issued at Edinburgh in 1509-10, published in 1508 a series of small pamphlets, consisting of stories and poems by Dunbar, Chaucer, and others. As might naturally be expected, such small books were especially liable to destruction, both on account of their size and the popularity of their subjects. It is not surprising to find that the majority have been preserved to us in single copies only. All the ten Edinburgh books are unique, and almost all the early Caxton quartos, so that it is impossible under these conditions to estimate what the output of Caxton's first year's working may have been. In writing of these earliest books, it will be perhaps best to take the folios first, and then the numerous small works, since, as they all agree so exactly as regards printing, they cannot be arranged in any definite order. The first of the folios issued was most probably the _History of Jason_, translated by Caxton himself from the French version of Raoul Le Fevre immediately after he had finished those of the _Recueil_ and the _Game of Chess_. The translation was undertaken under the patronage of Edward IV., with a view to the presentation of the book when finished to the ill-fated Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward V., "to thentent he may begynne to lerne rede Englissh." The book has every appearance of having been one of the very earliest issues of the Westminster press, and at the end of 1476 or beginning of 1477 the young prince would have been about four years old, a very suitable age to begin his education. The book contains 150 leaves, of which the first and last are blank, and a full page has 29 lines. Like all early Caxtons, it has no signatures, which were not introduced until 1480; no headlines, which were rarely used; no numbers to the pages, which occur still more rarely; and no catch-words, which were never used at all. As in all other early printed books, spaces were left for the insertion of illuminated initials at the beginnings of the chapters. Now, while in contemporary French, Italian, and Low Country books such spaces were often filled with the most gracefully designed and beautifully illuminated initials, rich in scrollwork and foliage, and ornamented with coats of arms or miniatures, there is not, so far as I know, any early English book in existence containing any attempt at such decoration. As a rule, the spaces were left blank as they came from the printer. In some cases, where the paragraph marks have been filled in by the rubricator, he has roughly daubed in the initial with his brush, making no attempt at ornament, or even neatness in the letter itself. [Illustration: PLATE III EPILOGUE TO BOETHIUS (see page 37) ] Seven copies of the _Jason_ are still extant, the majority imperfect. By far the finest copy known was that sold at the Ashburnham sale in 1897, and which is now in a private collection in America. It is in the original leather binding as it issued from Caxton's workshop, and is quite uncut. This copy has generally been considered the finest Caxton in existence, and its various changes of ownership can be traced back for over two hundred years. The great admiration which Caxton had for the work of Chaucer would no doubt make him anxious to issue it from his press as soon as possible, and we may therefore ascribe to an early date the publication of the _Canterbury Tales_ and the translation of _Boethius_. The _Canterbury Tales_ is a small folio of 374 leaves, with 29 lines to the page, and so rare that it is believed that no genuine perfect copy is in existence. Blades, in his account of the book, censures Dibdin for describing the copy at Merton College, Oxford, as imperfect, which, however, in Dibdin's time it certainly was, though through the kindness of Lord Spencer the missing leaves were afterwards supplied. One other copy, complete as regards text, is in the British Museum, having formed part of the library of George III. The _Boethius_ contains 94 leaves, and is a much more common book. One copy is worthy of special mention, as it was the means of bringing to light the existence of three books printed by Caxton which up to that time were unknown. It was found by Mr. Blades in the old grammar-school library at St. Alban's, and he has left us an interesting account of its discovery. "After examining a few interesting books, I pulled out one which was lying flat upon the top of others. It was in a most deplorable state, covered thickly with a damp, sticky dust, and with a considerable portion of the back rotted away by wet. The white decay fell in lumps on the floor as the unappreciated volume was opened. It proved to be Geoffrey Chaucer's English translation of _Boecius de Consolatione Philosophiae_, printed by Caxton, in the original binding, as issued from Caxton's workshop, and uncut!" "On dissecting the covers they were found to be composed entirely of waste sheets from Caxton's press, two or three being printed on one side only. The two covers yielded no less than fifty-six half-sheets of printed paper, proving the existence of three works from Caxton's press quite unknown before." These fragments came from thirteen different books, and though other examples of one of the unknown works have been found, two, the Sarum _Horae_ and Sarum _Pica_, are still known from these fragments only. The _Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres_, though most probably by no means the first book printed in England, must still hold the important position of being the first with a definite date, November 18, 1477. The book was translated from the French by Lord Rivers, who had borrowed the original while on a voyage to the shrine of St. James of Compostella from a fellow-traveller, the famous knight Lewis de Bretaylles. Having finished his translation, he handed it to Caxton to "oversee" and to print, and the printer himself added a chapter "touchyng women." To this a quaint introduction is prefixed, in which it is pointed out that the gallant Earl had omitted the chapter, perhaps at request of some fair lady, "or ellys for the very affeccyon, love and good wylle that he hath unto alle ladyes and gentyl women." "But," continues Caxton, "for as moche as I am not in certeyn wheder it was in my lordis copye or not, or ellis peradventure that the wynde had blowe over the leef at the tyme of translacion of his booke, I purpose to wryte tho same saynges of that Greke Socrates, whiche wrote of tho women of grece and nothyng of them of this Royame, whom I suppose he never knewe." [Illustration: PLATE IV THE DICTES OR SAYENGIS OF THE PHILOSOPHRES (see page 38) ] It is curious that with one exception no copy of this first edition has a colophon. The copy in which it occurs was in Lord Spencer's library and is now at Manchester, but beyond this small addition, it varies in no way from the other copies. All the examples of the second edition, which was issued a few years later, contain a reprint of this colophon. The _Dictes_ when perfect contained 78 leaves (not, as stated by Blades, 76), of which the first and last two are blank, and though more than a dozen copies of the book are known, not one is quite perfect. In the library of Lambeth Palace is a manuscript of this work on vellum, copied from Caxton's edition, and dated December 29, 1477. It contains one poor illumination showing Earl Rivers presenting the copy to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward V. By the side of the Earl is an ecclesiastic, probably "Haywarde," the writer of the manuscript, and this figure has by some been considered, quite erroneously, to be intended for a portrait of Caxton. The _Dictes or Sayengis_ was followed shortly by another dated folio, the _Morale Proverbes of Cristyne_, issued on the 20th of February, 1478. It contains only four printed leaves, and three copies are known. The two verses added at the end of the book tell us of the author, translator, and printer, and are interesting as being the earliest printed specimen of Caxton's poetical attempts. "Of these sayynges Cristyne was aucteuresse Whiche in makyng hadde suche Intelligence That thereof she was mireur and maistresse Hire werkes testifie thexperience In frenssh languaige was writen this sentence And thus Englished dooth hit rehers Antoin Widevylle therl Ryvers. "Go thou litil quayer and recommaund me Unto the good grace of my special lorde Therle Ryveris, for I have enprinted the At his commandement, followyng eury worde His copye, as his secretaire can recorde At Westmestre, of feuerer the xx daye And of kynd Edward the xvjj yere vraye." The author, Christine de Pisan, wife of Étienne Castel, was one of the most famous women of the middle ages. Left early a widow, with but narrow means, she had three children and her own parents to provide for. Being a woman of high attainments and considerable learning, she took up the profession of literature, and for many years worked incessantly. _Les proverbes moraulx_ was written as a supplement to _Les enseignemens moraulx_, an instructive work addressed to her young son, Jean Castel, who was for some time in England in the service of the Earl of Salisbury. Another point to be noticed about this book is the date, which here, fortunately, is quite clear. Among the early printers there is very considerable variation as to the day on which the new year began. Putting on one side the foreign and considering only the English printers, the dates narrow themselves to two, January 1st and March 25th, so that any date falling between these two may be in two different years, according to the habit of the printer. For instance, March 1, 1470, will really mean 1470 if the printer began his year on January 1st. If, on the other hand, he did not begin it until March 25th, the real date will be 1471. Fortunately, Caxton frequently added to his dates the regnal year, which gives at once a definite solution. For instance, his edition of the _Cordyale_ was begun the day after Lord Rivers handed him the manuscript, on February 3, 1478, and finished on March 24th following, in the nineteenth year of Edward IV. Now, the nineteenth year of Edward IV. ran from March 4, 1479, to March 3, 1480, so that Caxton's 1478 was really 1479, and his custom was, therefore, to begin his years on the 25th of March. As has been said earlier, it is probable that Caxton began his printing in England with small pamphlets, and of these a considerable number have come down to our time, but as the majority are unique, it is impossible to conjecture how many may have utterly perished. The most considerable collection is in the University Library, Cambridge, which owns a series, originally bound in one volume, which was in the collection of Bishop Moore presented to the University in 1715 by George the First. This library was peculiarly rich in early English books; indeed, the great majority of those now at Cambridge formed part of it, and their acquisition was mainly due to the exertions of that much maligned person, John Bagford, whom Moore employed to search for such rarities, and who did so with conspicuous success. Amongst these priceless volumes one stands out pre-eminent. It was until recently in an old calf binding, lettered on the back, "Old poetry printed by Caxton," and contained eight pieces, the _Stans puer ad mensam_, the _Parvus Catho_, _The Chorle and the Bird_, _The Horse, the Shepe and the Goose_, _The Temple of Glas_, _The Temple of Brass_, _The Book of Courtesy_, and _Anelida and Arcyte_. Five of these are absolutely unique; of the others a second copy is known. These books must have caught the popular taste, for of several we find second editions issued almost at once. A second issue of the _Parvus Catho_ is known from a unique copy belonging to the Duke of Devonshire. York Cathedral possesses the only known copy (with the exception of a few leaves at Cambridge) of the second edition of _The Horse, the Shepe and the Goose_, and a unique second edition of _The Chorle and the Bird_. All these little poetical pieces agree typographically. They contain nothing but the bare text, and are without signatures, headlines, or pagination. Probably they were all issued at intervals of a few days, and not many printed, so that the second editions may have been issued only a few months after the first. There are three other early quartos to be noticed, which are of quite a different class from those just mentioned. These are the Sarum _Ordinale_, the _Propositio Johannis Russell_, and the _Infancia Salvatoris_. The Sarum _Ordinale_, or _Pica_, was a book giving the rules for the concurrence and occurrence of festivals, containing an explanation for adapting the calendar to the services of each week, in accordance with the thirty-five varieties of the almanac. This book would be in very considerable demand amongst those officiating in services, and would be a good method of attracting the attention of the priests to the new art, so that no sooner had the book been printed than Caxton struck off a little advertisement about it. "If it plese ony man spirituel or temporel to bye ony pyes of two and thre comemoracions of salisburi use enpryntid after the forme of this present lettre whiche ben wel and truly correct, late hym come to westmonester in to the almonesrye at the reed pale and he shal have them good chepe. Supplico stet cedula." The quaint Latin ending, "Pray don't tear down the advertisement," was then perhaps a customary formula attached to notices put up in ecclesiastical or legal precincts, but it might naturally be supposed that those most likely to damage or tear down advertisements would be uneducated people, who would be ignorant of Latin. [Illustration: PLATE V CAXTON'S ADVERTISEMENT (see page 42) ] When the advertisement first came before the notice of writers on printing, the existence of the _Ordinale_ was unknown, and it is amusing to read the various conjectures as to the buying of "pyes" hazarded by them. One of the most ingenious occurred in a letter from Henry Bradshaw to William Blades, which was that the syllable "co" had dropped out by accident, and that the word should read "copyes," and this appeared all the more probable, as the word "pyes" comes at the end of the first line, which is slightly shorter than the rest. This is the only specimen of an early English book advertisement known, though foreign examples are not uncommon. The _Propositio Johannis Russell_ is one of the very few pieces printed by Caxton dealing with current affairs or politics. It is the oration delivered at Ghent, early in 1470, on the occasion of the investiture of the Duke of Burgundy with the Order of the Garter. It has often been considered as one of Caxton's very earliest pieces,--perhaps printed at Bruges. Blades writes, rather vaguely: "To me it appears most likely that it was issued at Bruges at no long period after its delivery, and before Caxton's final departure for England. At that town, both with the subjects of the Duke of Burgundy and the 'English nation' there resident, it would secure a good circulation; not so if issued seven years after its delivery in another country." It could not have been printed anywhere by Caxton before 1475, and everything seems to point to its having been printed at Westminster in 1476-1477, perhaps at the instance of the author himself, then Bishop of Rochester. It is a little quarto tract of four leaves, and two copies only are known, one belonging to the Earl of Leicester at Holkham, the other, formerly in the Spencer Library, now at Manchester. This latter was originally bound up, apparently by mistake, amongst the blank leaves of a note-book used for miscellaneous manuscript treatises of the fifteenth century, which run on over the first and last blank pages of the tract itself. It appeared, unrecognized, at the Brand sale in 1807, and was described amongst the MSS., "A work on theology and religion, with five leaves at the end a very great curiosity, very early printed on wooden blocks, or type." It was bought by Lord Blandford for forty-five shillings, and purchased at his sale in 1819 by Lord Spencer for £126. Blades speaks of it as in its original binding, a quite inexplicable mistake, for it was bound between the years 1807 and 1819 in resplendently gilt morocco, double, with gauffered gilt edges! The copy at Holkham, which used to be in an old vellum wrapper, has also been rebound, and the two inner leaves, by some unfortunate mistake, transposed. Of the _Infancia Salvatoris_, a version of one of the smaller treatises among the apocryphal books of the New Testament, but one copy is known. It was in the celebrated Harleian Library, which was bought entire by Osborne in 1746. The Caxton collectors of the period seem to have passed it over, for it did not get sold, even at its very modest price, until three years later, when it was bought for the University Library of Göttingen. It is still in its old red morocco Harleian binding, with Osborne's price--15--on the fly-leaf. Another note records, "aus dem Katalogen Thomas Osborne in London d. 12 Maij 1749 (No 4179) erkauft." Blades, in his description of the book, which he had not examined, conjectured that it was made up in three quires, the first of eight leaves, the second and third of six each, making in all twenty leaves, including a blank both at beginning and end. An examination of the water-marks of the paper shows that this was not the case, and that it consisted of two quires, the first of eight leaves, the second of ten, and that there were no blank leaves. This tract, and the _Compassio lamentationis Beate Marie Virginis_, are the only two unique Caxtons in libraries outside England. Some time towards the end of 1478 Caxton recast his fount No. 2, in which almost all the books so far mentioned were printed, and added a few extra types. With this new fount he printed the _Margarita Eloquentiae_ of Laurentius de Saona, Saona being the earlier form of Savona, the birthplace of Columbus, a city not far from Genoa. At the end of the book, which contains neither name of printer nor place, is a notice that the work was completed at Cambridge on the 6th of July, 1478. In an old catalogue of books bequeathed by Archbishop Parker to the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, the entry occurs, "Rethorica nova impressa Canteb. fo. 1478." Strype, in writing his life of the Archbishop, came across this notice and communicated it to Bagford, who reported it in his turn to Tanner, the antiquary. Ames, from their information, placed it at the head of Cambridge books in his _Typographical Antiquities_, and Herbert, in his reprint, merely reproduced the account. Dibdin does not mention it, and it was not until 1861 that Henry Bradshaw, coming across it by accident, discovered that it was a genuine production of Caxton's press. The book is a folio of 124 leaves, and besides the copy at Cambridge, one other is known, now in the University Library at Upsala. On the 24th of March, 1479, was issued the _Cordyale_, a translation from the French _Quatre derrenieres choses_, by Earl Rivers. The translation, as the colophon tells us, was handed to Caxton on the day of the Purification (February 2d), and the printing was begun "the morn after the saide Purification of our blissid Lady, which was the daye of Seint Blase, Bisshop and Martir: And finisshed on the even of the annunciacion of our said bilissid Lady fallyng on the wednesday the 24 daye of Marche." The _Cordyale_ contains 78 leaves, with a blank at each end, and is not very uncommon. The second edition of the _Dictes or Sayengis_ was issued this year, and is considerably rarer than the first, only four copies being known. Its collation is exactly the same as the first, and Blades has fallen into the same mistake, and gives it two leaves too few. CHAPTER IV. 1480-1483. The year 1480 saw a considerable change in Caxton's methods of printing. Hitherto he had been content to print his books without signatures, although these were generally in use abroad, but their obvious utility appears to have impressed him, and henceforward he always printed them. The earlier books were of course signed, but the signatures were written in by hand, a very laborious process compared with setting them up with the type, and the greater clearness of the printed letter must have been an advantage to the bookbinder. About this time also he began to decorate his books with illustrations, a concession perhaps to popular taste, for his own inclination seems to have led him more to the literary than the artistic side of book production. Another matter also may have helped to bring about this change, the settlement of a rival printer in London. Two other presses had before this started in England, one at Oxford in 1478, and one at St. Alban's about a year later, but their distance rendered them little dangerous as rivals, while the nature of their productions was mainly scholastic and little suited to the popular taste. But with a press setting up work some two miles away matters were quite different. There was no knowing what it might not print. John Lettou, this first London printer, came apparently from Rome, bringing with him a small, neat gothic type, which had already been used in that city to print several books. To judge from his name, he was a native of Lithuania, of which Lettou is an old English form. He was certainly a practised workman, and his books are very foreign in appearance, and quite unlike the work of any other early English printer. Caxton's first piece of work in 1480 was a broadside _Indulgence_, issued by John Kendale by authority of Sixtus IV., to all persons who would contribute towards the defence of Rhodes, which was being besieged by the Turks. The copy in the British Museum, which is the only one at present known, is filled in with the names of Symon Mountfort and Emma, his wife, and is dated the last day of March. Another example which was in existence about 1790, but has now disappeared, was filled in with the names of Richard and John Catlyn, and dated April 16th. This _Indulgence_ begins with a wood-cut initial letter, the first to be used in England. John Kendale, in the proclamation of Edward IV. of April, 1480, which relates to this appeal for assistance, is styled "Turcopolier of Rhodes and locum tenens of the Grand Master in Italy, England, Flanders, and Ireland," and he was at a later date implicated in a plot against the King's life. He is the subject of the earliest known existing contemporary English medal, which was struck in 1480. No sooner had Caxton issued this _Indulgence_, which is printed in the large No. 2* type, and very unsuitable for that kind of work, than the rival printer, John Lettou, issued two editions printed in his small, neat type. This attracted Caxton's attention, and he immediately set to work on a new small type, No. 4, which came into use soon afterwards. Two books only in this new type are without signatures, so that they may presumably be taken to be the earliest; these are a _Vocabulary in French and English_, and a _Servitium de Visitatione Beatae Mariae Virginis_. The first is a small folio of 26 leaves, of which the first is blank, and consists of words and short phrases in the two languages, arranged in opposite columns. It is an uninteresting book to look at, but must have been useful, for it was reprinted in the fifteenth century both by Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson, and also in the early sixteenth. Four copies are known, in Bamburgh Castle, Ripon Cathedral, the Rylands Library, and an imperfect copy in the Duke of Devonshire's library. The second book, the _Servitium_, has, I think, been always wrongly described. All that now remains of it are seven leaves in the British Museum, the last being blank; and the whole book was considered to have consisted of a quire of eight leaves, the first being wanting. The _Servitium_ was a special service intended to be incorporated into the _Breviary_ and _Missal_. The Pope had announced it in 1390, but it was not until 1480 that the Archbishop of Canterbury received from the Prolocutor a proposal to order the observance of July 2d as a fixed feast of the Visitation, "sub more duplicis festi secundum usum Sarum, cum pleno servitio." The book would therefore contain the full service for the day itself, the special parts for the week days following (except the fourth which was the octave of SS. Peter and Paul), and the service for the octave. Almost the whole of the principal service, which would have occupied a considerable space, is wanting, so that it may be assumed that the book consisted originally of at least two quires, or sixteen leaves. An edition of the _Psalter_ must have been printed about this time, and is perhaps the first book in which Caxton made use of signatures; it is at any rate the only one, with the exception of _Reynard the Fox_, in which he went so far wrong as to necessitate the insertion of an extra leaf in one quire. This book, a quarto of 177 leaves, has a handsome appearance, as it is printed throughout with the formal church-type No. 3, the only complete book in which this type alone is used. The only copy known is in the British Museum, to which it came with the Royal Library, having belonged at one time to Queen Mary, whose initials are on the back of the binding. An edition of the _Book of Hours_ of Salisbury use was printed about the same time in the same type, but nothing remains of it now except two fragments found in the binding of a Caxton _Boethius_ in the Grammar School at St. Alban's, and since purchased by the British Museum. It was a quarto of the same size as the _Psalter_, and a full page contained 20 lines. On the 10th of June, 1480, Caxton finished his first edition of the _Chronicles of England_, a folio of 182 leaves, which, as he says in his preface, "Atte requeste of dyverce gentilmen I have endevourd me to enprinte." Though mainly derived from the ordinary manuscript copies, the history has been brought down to a later date, and this continuation may very well have been written by Caxton himself. In August of the same year, the _Description of Britain_ was issued. It is taken from Higden's _Polycronicon_, and was clearly intended to form a supplement to the _Chronicles_, with which it is commonly found bound up. More copies of it appear to have been printed than of the _Chronicles_, for it is found also with the second edition of the _Chronicles_, though it was not reprinted. John Lidgate's poem, _Curia Sapientiae_, or _The Court of Sapience_, a poem in seven-line stanzas, containing descriptions of animals, birds, and fishes, with a survey of the arts and sciences, was published about this time. It is a folio of 40 leaves, of which the first and last two are blank. Three copies only are known, all of which are in public libraries. [Illustration: PLATE VI THE MIRROUR OF THE WORLD (see page 51) ] [Illustration: PLATE VII THE MIRROUR OF THE WORLD (see page 51) ] Early in 1481 Caxton finished his translation of _The Mirror of the World_, and it must have been printed immediately after. The work was a commission from his friend Hugh Bryce, a fellow-member of the Mercers' Company, and who must often have met Caxton on his official visits to Bruges. In this book for the first time the printer made use of illustrations. These are of two kinds. The first consists of little pictures, rudely designed and coarsely cut, of masters engaged in teaching their pupils various sciences, or of single figures engaged in scientific pursuits. These are original and introduced by Caxton. The second series are diagrams more or less carefully copied from the MSS. In his prologue he says that there are twenty-seven figures, "without whiche it may not lightly be understande." Curiously enough, he himself goes astray, for in the first part, which should contain eight diagrams, he puts the second and third in their wrong places and omits the fourth. The nine diagrams of the second part are wrongly drawn, and in some cases misplaced, owing to the original text having been misunderstood. The diagrams of the third part are most correct, but although ten are mentioned, only nine appear. An interesting point about these diagrams is, that they have short explanations written in them in ink, and in all copies where these inscriptions are found they are in the same handwriting. Oldys, who first drew attention to this peculiarity, supposed the handwriting to be that of Caxton himself, and though this is not impossible, it is more probable that this simple and monotonous task would be done by one of his assistants. The _History of Reynard the Fox_ was translated by Caxton in 1481 from the Dutch edition printed at Gouda in 1479 by Gerard Leeu, a printer who later on at Antwerp reprinted some of Caxton's English books. The story of Reynard was extremely popular and widely spread, yet it appears that no manuscripts exist with the story in the form given by Caxton. Five copies of this book are known; one of them, the fine copy which was in the Spencer collection, is part of the spoil obtained from Lincoln Minster. A mistake of the printer necessitated the insertion of a half printed leaf in all copies between leaves 48 and 49. On the 12th of August, 1481, Caxton issued a translation of two treatises of Cicero, _De senectute_ and _De amicitia_, and a work of Bonaccursus de Montemagno, entitled _De nobilitate_. The translation of the first two into French was made by command of Louis, Duke of Bourbon, in 1405, by Laurence de Premierfait, and the last by Jean Mielot. The English translation seems to have been made by Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, at the desire of Sir John Fastolfe, for whom his son-in-law, Scrope, a kinsman of Tiptoft, had translated the _Dictes or Sayengis_. Cicero apparently did not appeal so much to the popular taste as such stories as _Reynard_, so that it is now one of the commonest of Caxton's books, some twenty-five to thirty copies being known. On the 20th of November, in the same year, appeared another romance, _The History of Godfrey of Bologne_, or _The Conquest of Jerusalem_, translated by Caxton from the French. Almost every copy known of this book is imperfect, but there is a beautiful example in the possession of Colonel Holford. It was Edward the Fourth's own copy, and at the end of the fifteenth century had come by some means into the possession of Roger Thorney, a mercer of London and a patron of Caxton's successor, Wynkyn de Worde, who printed, at his request, his edition of the _Polycronicon_. After various changes of ownership, it came into the possession of a noted collector, Richard Smith, and at his auction in 1682 was bought by the Earl of Peterborough for the not excessive sum of eighteen shillings and two pence. [Illustration: PLATE VIII THE GAME AND PLAYE OF THE CHESSE (see page 53) ] About this time two more illustrated books were issued, a third edition of Burgh's _Cato parvus et magnus_, and a second edition of the _Game of Chess_. The _Cato_ contains two wood-cuts out of the set made for the _Mirror of the World_. It is a folio of 28 leaves, of which the first was blank, and is wanting in the two known copies, those in St. John's College, Oxford, and the Spencer collection. The _Game of Chess_ contains twenty-four illustrations, but the wood-cuts used number only sixteen, for many served their purpose twice. The first cut is of the son of Nebuchadnezzar, named Evilmerodach, described in the text as "a jolly man without justice, who did do hew his father his body into three hundred pieces." Most of the remainder are pictures of the various pieces. The suggestion which has sometimes been made that Caxton's wood-cuts were engraved abroad is quite without foundation. They are very often copied from those in foreign books, but their very clumsy execution would be well within the capacity of the veriest tyro in wood-engraving. Mr. Linton suggested that they might have been cut in soft metal, but as the blocks when found in later books often have marks clearly showing that they had been injured by worm-holes, this conjecture is untenable. As with all illustrated books, most of the remaining copies of the _Game of Chess_ are more or less imperfect. The dated books of 1482 are two in number, and both historical; these are Higden's _Polycronicon_ and the second edition of the _Chronicles of England_. The first was finished on the 2d of July, and is a large, thick folio of 450 leaves. The work was originally compiled by Ralph Higden in the fourteenth century from various earlier sources, and was translated into English in 1387 by John of Trevisa, chaplain to the Earl of Berkeley. The whole of this Caxton revised, and continued the chronicle up to the year 1460, this continuation being the only important piece of Caxton's own composition which we possess. This book shares with the _Golden Legend_ the position of being the commonest of Caxton's books, and like it is unrepresented by a single absolutely perfect copy, the blank leaves, five of which occur throughout the book, being always in part wanting. A copy which belonged to Tutet contained the inscription, "Presens liber pertinet ad Willelmum Perde emptus a Willelmo Caxton, Regio impressore vicessimo Novembrio anno Regis Edwardi quarti vicessimo secundo." This would be November 20, 1482, immediately after the issue of the book. The printing of the second edition of the _Chronicles_ was finished on October 8, 1482. It agrees exactly with the first edition, and curiously enough, almost the same number of copies are known, though none are quite perfect. The _Pilgrimage of the Soul_ came out on June 8, 1483, during Edward the Fifth's short reign. It was an adaptation by Jehan de Gallopes from the larger work of Guillaume de Deguilleville, translated into English by Lidgate. Five copies are known, of which the finest is in the British Museum. I traced out some time ago the history of two copies of this book, which is worth mentioning as showing the extraordinary manner in which Caxtons were mutilated and made up. About the year 1750 there were in existence two copies, A and B. A had two leaves in the middle, 52 and 53, taken from B, and after these leaves had been taken B came into the possession of W. Herbert, the bibliographer. A still wanted one leaf at end; B wanted three at the beginning, the two taken from the middle, and the leaf at the end. In 1814 B belonged to Heber, the celebrated collector, who parted with it to Lord Spencer in exchange for some other books. In the same year Lord Spencer obtained a duplicate last leaf from the British Museum, which he added to this copy B. In 1819, at the "White Knights" sale, Lord Spencer bought copy A, took out the last leaf from B and inserted it in A, thus making A practically complete. B was then sold as a duplicate, repurchased by Heber, and is now in the splendid library formed by Mr. Christie Miller at Britwell Court. Fortunately in these days collectors are beginning to recognize that such doctored and made-up books are of little value or interest compared to genuine even if imperfect copies. Like paintings which have been "restored," the charm is gone. A few wealthy buyers who acquire libraries as part of the suitable furniture of a great house, and to whom the name and fine appearance of a rare book is all that is necessary, keep up such books to a fictitious value, but their day is slowly but surely passing and giving way to intelligent appreciation. CHAPTER V. 1483-1487. The publication of the _Liber Festivalis_ on the last day of June, 1483, marks the beginning of a new group of books, for in it first appears a recasting of type No. 4 on a slightly larger body, and with one or two different letters, thus giving us a clear date by which to divide all books in this type into two divisions. The _Liber Festivalis_, or _Festial_ as it should more properly be called, was compiled by John Mirk, canon of the abbey of St. Mary at Lilleshall, in Shropshire. It was intended, as the compiler tells us, to supply short sermons for ignorant priests to expound to their congregations on saints' days, and the stories were obtained from the _Golden Legend_ and the _Gesta Romanorum_. It was in no way a service book, though often so considered, indeed, it is included in Dickinson's _List of printed service books according to the ancient uses of the Anglican Church_, but was more in the nature of a preacher's assistant, such as are published to the present day, giving a series of headings and anecdotes applicable to particular subjects. This first edition of Caxton's differs considerably in the text from all later editions, which follow the version printed at Oxford by Rood and Hunte in 1486. It is a folio of 116 leaves, of which the first is blank, and has 38 lines to the page. With it was issued a supplement of 30 leaves, called _Quattuor Sermones_, which were homilies on such matters as the Seven Sacraments, Seven Deadly Sins, and the like. [Illustration: PLATE IX LIBER FESTIVALIS (see page 56) ] About this time was issued the _Sex Epistolae_, edited by Petrus Carmelianus, an Italian scholar settled in England, who afterwards became Latin secretary to Henry VII. The letters were published in the interest of the Venetians, who were indignant at the separate terms made between Pope Sixtus IV. and the Duke of Ferrara. This book, one of the earliest known separate publications of diplomatic correspondence, is quite different in character from any of Caxton's other books, except perhaps the _Oration_ of John Russell. The only known copy of the tract was discovered in 1874 in the Hecht-Heine Library at Halberstadt, bound up in a volume of late theological pamphlets, by Dr. Könnecke, Archivist at Marburg, and after various cautious overtures, was finally secured by the trustees for the British Museum. It is a very uninteresting-looking quarto of 24 leaves, of which the first is blank. Lidgate's _Life of Our Lady_, a folio of 96 leaves, appeared about this time. There were apparently two editions issued, one of which has almost entirely disappeared, with the exception of a few leaves, which evidently varied very considerably in the text. Blades mentions only the one edition, and in this connexion a rather curious and amusing point may be noticed. When he published his _Enemies of Books_ he was anxious to give an illustration of the ravages of a book-worm, and for this purpose gave a fac-simile of two fragments of a Caxton almost destroyed by these pests. Now, the very pages which he reproduced were from this variant edition of the _Life of Our Lady_, and yet, not thinking of comparing them with the ordinary edition, he missed the opportunity of adding another to his list of Caxtons. The second edition of Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, also ascribed to the year 1483, is an interesting book in many ways. The prologue shows very strongly how much enthusiasm Caxton took in the literary side of his work. I give the following quotation in his own words: "Whyche book I have dylygently oversen and duly examyned to thende that it be made acordyng unto his owen makyng. For I fynde many of the sayd bookes whyche wryters have abrydgyd it and many thynges left out. And in somme place have sette certayn versys that he never made ne sette in hys booke, of whyche bookes so incorrecte was one brought to me vj yere passyd whyche I supposed had ben veray true and correcte. And accordyng to the same I dyde do enprynte a certayn nombre of them whyche anon were sold to many and dyverse gentyl men of whome one gentylman cam to me and said that this book was not accordyng in many places unto the book that Gefferey chaucer had made. To whom I answered that I had made it accordyng to my copye and by me was nothyng added ne mynusshyd. Thenne he sayd he knewe a book whyche hys fader had and moche lovyd that was very trewe and accordyng unto hys owen first book by hym made; and sayd more, yf I wold enprynte it agayn he wold gete me the same book for a copye, how be it he wyst wel that hys fader wold not gladly departe fro it. To whom I said, in caas that he could gete me suche a book trewe and correcte yet I wold ones endevoyre me to enprynte it agayn. And thus we fyll at accord. And he ful gentylly gate of hys fader the said book and delyverd it to me, by whiche I have corrected my book." Besides revising his text, Caxton added illustrations. There are twenty-four of these, but several are made to do duty twice over, a common custom with early printers. Thus the "poor parson" and the "doctor of physick," the "somnour" and the "Franklin," are represented by the same cuts; while the large illustration depicting the pilgrims sitting at supper at a round table does duty in some later publications for the "Assembly of the Gods." [Illustration: PLATE X CHAUCER'S CANTERBURY TALES (see page 58) ] As might have been expected, such a book became very popular, and is now consequently very rare. Besides a few more or less imperfect copies, only one perfect one is known, now in the library of St. John's College, Oxford, which unfortunately has the cuts rudely daubed with colour. When perfect, the book should contain 312 leaves, the first being blank. Chaucer's _Troilus and Creside_ and _Hous of Fame_, as well as a little tract of six leaves called the _Curial_, were also printed about this time. September 2, 1483, is another definite date, for on that day Caxton finished an edition of Gower's well-known poem, the _Confessio Amantis_, or _Lover's Confession_, written by command of Richard II., who, meeting the poet rowing on the Thames, near London, invited him into the royal barge, and after much conversation requested him to "book some new thing." The book is a folio of 222 leaves, of which no less than four are blank, and only one copy is now in existence in which these blank leaves have been preserved. Otherwise the book is not uncommon, though nearly every copy is imperfect. An extremely fine copy, wanting only the blank leaves, is in the library of Shrewsbury School, and is mentioned here to correct an error of Blades, who goes out of his way to state, "The copy ascribed by N. Carlisle to Edward VI. Grammar School, Shrewsbury, is not from the press of Caxton." The _Life of the Holy and Blessed Virgin Saint Winifred_ is a small folio of 16 leaves, printed about this date. Caxton states that he "reduced" this book into English, but there is some difficulty as to the source from which he took it. The life of the celebrated Welsh saint was written in Latin in the twelfth century by Robert, Prior of Shrewsbury, and this Caxton may have translated, but as no copy of the manuscript is now in existence the point cannot be determined. Only three copies of the printed book are known. The book called _Caton_ was translated by the end of December, 1483, and must therefore have been printed at the beginning of 1484. The _Catonis Disticha_ was the best known school-book of the middle ages, and with the _Donatus_, was the groundwork of Latin learning over Europe. About 1480 a certain Daniel Church added a few Latin precepts to the original book, which acquired the name of _Parvus Cato_, and after his time the two are generally found together as _Cato, parvus et magnus_. In the second half of the fifteenth century it was, as Caxton himself tells us, "translated in to Englysshe by Mayster Benet Burgh, late Archdeken of Colchestre and hye chanon of saint stephens at westmestre, which ful craftly hath made it in balade ryal for the erudicion of my lord Bousher, sone and heyr at that tyme to my lord the erle of Estsex." Of this version Caxton printed three editions, which have already been noticed, but the present is a different and considerably larger work. It contains, besides the "disticha" and moral maxims, very extensive glosses or commentaries containing "histories and examples," translated by Caxton from a French original. It is a folio of 80 leaves, of which four are blank and usually wanting. About twelve copies are known, and a good example is in the Lenox Library, New York. On the 31st of January, 1484, Caxton issued the _Booke whiche the Knyght of the Toure made to the enseygnement and techyng of his doughters_. This work was compiled about the year 1371 by Geoffrey de la Tour-Landry, a literary knight of celebrated family, and was translated by Caxton, "at the request of a noble lady which hath brought forth many noble and fair daughters, which be virtuously nourished." In his preface he advises "every gentleman or woman having children desiring them to be virtuously brought forth to get and have this book," though it would in these days be considered anything but suitable for young persons,--or for the matter of that, for their elders. [Illustration: PLATE XI THE FABLES OF ESOPE (see page 61) ] [Illustration: PLATE XII THE FABLES OF ESOPE (see page 61) ] The _Fables of Aesop_ was issued on March 26th, the first day of the year 1484. This is certainly one of the finest and rarest amongst the books which Caxton printed. It begins with a large full-page frontispiece containing a figure of Æsop similar in treatment to those occurring in some foreign editions. This is found only in the copy at Windsor Castle. In the text there are no less than one hundred and eighty-five wood-cuts, the work of two or perhaps even three different engravers, one of whom apparently cut the illustrations to the second edition of the _Game of Chesse_. One illustration is engraved in quite a different manner from the rest, and was probably cut hurriedly to replace one accidentally lost or broken, and has an appearance much more resembling modern work than the others, which are simply the ordinary heavy black outline cuts of the period. A complete copy of the book should contain 144 leaves, the last two being blank, and the leaves are numbered. It was twice reprinted in the fifteenth century by Richard Pynson at London, and these two reprints are even rarer than the original, one copy of each being known, and both of them imperfect. The only perfect copy known of Caxton's edition is in the King's Library at Windsor, and was one of the very few books retained when the Royal Library was handed over to the nation by George IV. A note on the fly-leaf shows the reason for this. "Left to his Majesty by the late Mr. Hewett of Ipswich in Suffolk and delivered to Mr. Allen by Philip Broke, Esq. and Sir John Hewett, Bart. to present to the King." It is in magnificent condition and uncut. The British Museum was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a copy in 1844, which, with the one imperfection of not having the frontispiece, is in as fine condition as the Windsor copy, and in an early sixteenth-century binding by John Reynes. The third and last copy is in the Bodleian, to which it was presented in 1680, with other Caxtons, by Moses Pitt, a London bookseller. It is imperfect, wanting in all about twelve leaves. A curious broadside was published about this time, which is generally known as the _Death-bed Prayers_. It contains two prayers to be said by a priest at the bedside of dying persons, and the only known copy, which was formerly in the Spencer Library, was found bound up with a copy of the _Pilgrimage of the Soul_. The _Order of Chivalry_, which was printed in the reign of Richard III., may be ascribed to 1484. The author of the book is not known, but it was translated from the French, and agrees exactly with a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, entitled _L'Ordre de Chivallerie_, beautifully illuminated, and written in Flanders for Edward IV. Caxton used in this book and the _Aesop_ a large floriated initial letter A, the only large ornamental capital which he seems to have possessed. Five copies are known, two in the British Museum, two in the Spencer collection at Manchester, and one in a private library in America. The book, which is a small quarto, should contain 52 leaves, the first and last being blank. One copy in the British Museum and one at Manchester are complete as regards text, but neither has both blanks. [Illustration: PLATE XIII THE FABLES OF ESOPE (see page 62) ] The _Golden Legend_, Caxton's most important work, was finished, so far as regards the translation, on the 20th of November, 1483. In the second prologue the printer tells us that when beginning the translation the magnitude of the task and the heavy expenses of printing made him "halfe desperate to have accomplissd it," and he proposed to put what he had already done to one side and leave the work. The Earl of Arundel, however, encouraged him to proceed, not only by promising to take a certain number of copies when finished, but by the offer of an annual gift of a buck in summer and a doe in winter. Thus assisted, Caxton finished his translation and printed the book, and some idea of the task involved may be gathered from the fact that the work consists of 894 printed pages, each page containing two columns of 55 lines. It is illustrated with a frontispiece, eighteen large and fifty-two small wood-cuts. The translator compiled his version from three sources, for he tells us that he had beside him "a legende in frensshe, another in latyn and the thyrd in englysshe." The French edition which Caxton used has been clearly identified in a curious manner. In one or two places it contains bad misprints which Caxton translated blindly. In the life of St. Stephen the words "femmes veuves" have been misprinted "Saine venue," which Caxton renders "hole comen," in spite of the words making no sense. In the life of St. Genevieve "a name" occurs in place of "a navire," which appears in the English version as "at name" in place of "by ship." This French version is of great rarity, the only two copies known being in the British Museum and the Cambridge University Library. Fortunately, the _Golden Legend_ is one of the commonest of Caxton's books, though every copy is more or less imperfect. The finest is that which formerly belonged to Lord Spencer, which was made perfect as regards the text with leaves from other copies, and is, with the exception of these leaves, very large and in fine condition. In 1577 it belonged to Robert Hedrington, who appears to have owned many Caxtons. The three books which follow the _Golden Legend_, and which are all dated 1485, are of very great interest. These are the _Morte d'Arthur_, the _Lyf of Charles the Great_, and the _History of Paris and Vienne_, all printed in folio. Sir Thomas Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, that cycle of stories connected with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and as Sir Walter Scott called it, the best of all English romances, is perhaps the most interesting volume that Caxton ever printed. Two copies only, one perfect, the other wanting a few leaves, are now known. The first has a long and interesting pedigree. It first appeared at Dr. Bernard's sale in 1698, when it produced the magnificent sum of two shillings and ten pence, passing into the vast library of the Earl of Oxford. Osborne, the bookseller who bought that library _en bloc_, sold the volume to Bryan Fairfax for five pounds, and in 1756 it passed with the whole of his library to Mr. Child, the banker, at a valuation of two pounds, twelve shillings, and six pence. While safely preserved at Osterley at the beginning of last century, it raised the most covetous feelings in the breasts of the two great Caxtonian collectors, Lord Spencer and his nephew, the Duke of Devonshire, who both made overtures for its acquisition. It had almost been ceded to the latter in exchange for some work of art, when it was discovered that it could not legally be parted with, and it remained at Osterley until 1885, when Lord Jersey's library was sold. At this sale it was purchased by Mr. Pope for a sum little under two thousand pounds, and left England for America, where it still remains. The second copy was obtained by Lord Spencer in 1816 at the sale of the library of Mr. Lloyd of Wygfair. Both copies are in very fine condition. The complete book consists of 432 leaves, the first being blank. There are 38 lines to a page, and as these run straight across, instead, as is so often the case, being made up into two columns, the effect of the whole, with the wide margins, is very striking. Sir Thomas Malory's translation from the French was finished in the ninth year of King Edward IV.,--that is, about 1470,--but apparently no manuscript of it is now in existence. The _Life of the noble and christian prince, Charles the Great_, was translated by Caxton from an anonymous French version compiled at the request of Henry Bolomyer, Canon of Lausanne. In it the various stories and legends relating to Charlemagne have been gathered together from various sources. Caxton finished his translation on the 18th of June, when he had nearly finished the printing of the _Morte d'Arthur_, and the printing of the book was finished on the 1st of December. The only copy known, which is perfect with the exception of the last blank leaf, is in the King's Library in the British Museum. The moment Caxton had finished the translation of _Charles the Great_ he set to work on another short romance, the _History of the knight Paris and the fair Vienne_. This he finished on the 31st of August, and the book was printed by the 19th of December. Like the last, only one copy, and that quite perfect, is known; and it is also in the King's Library in the British Museum. It seems very probable that at an early date these two books were bound together, but either before or on their coming into the possession of the Earl of Oxford they were bound separately. They agree entirely in size and typographical particulars, both having 39 lines to the page in two columns. The _Paris and Vienne_ was reprinted in 1492 by Gerard Leeu at Antwerp in small folio, with illustrations. He reprinted also in the same month the _History of Jason_, and in the year following the _Chronicles of England_. The apathy in book production which seems to have immediately succeeded Caxton's death may have encouraged him to attempt printing for the English market, but his own death while his edition of the _Chronicles_ was passing through the press put an end to the trade. He printed one other English book, the _Dialogue of Salomon and Marcolphus_, of which one copy exists. This, like the rest, may have been copied from an edition printed by Caxton, but if so, all traces of it have disappeared. No dated book of 1486 is known, but several may be ascribed to this date. First the _Directorium Sacerdotum_, or _Pica_, a work compiled by Clement Maydeston, containing the rules for adapting the calendar to the services of each week in accordance with the thirty-five varieties of the Almanac. Of this book, so interesting to liturgical students, but one copy is known, now in the British Museum, a library, however, to which it should not rightly belong. The volume formed part of the collection bequeathed to the Cambridge University Library by Dr. Holdsworth in 1648, but it was stolen from there in or shortly before 1778, and soon afterwards "bought of a man introduced by Dr. Nugent" by William Bayntun, Esq., of Gray's Inn, after whose death it came into the possession of King George III., and passed with the rest of the King's Library into the British Museum. At the beginning of the book a single leaf containing a large wood-cut has been inserted which does not really belong to the volume. In the centre is a half-length figure of Our Lord with the hands crossed. Behind the head and shoulders is the cross, and on either side the spear and the reed with the sponge. Below is the text of an _Indulgence_, which in this case has been cut out, while round the whole is a framework composed of twenty-eight small square compartments, each containing some emblem of the crucifixion. These early English prints, several of which exactly similar in treatment are known, go under the name of the _Image of Pity_. [Illustration: PLATE XIV THE IMAGE OF PITY (see page 66) ] [Illustration: PLATE XV SPECULUM VITAE CHRISTI (see page 67) ] The _Directorium_ is a folio of 160 leaves, the first, which is wanting in the only known copy, having been most probably blank. About this year the first edition of Bonaventura's _Speculum Vitae Christi_ was issued, remarkable for its illustrations. These, though not large, are much more graceful in design and better in execution than any which preceded them, and are clearly the work of a new engraver. It is a curious fact that in neither edition which he printed did Caxton use the full series of these cuts, for odd illustrations appear in later books which clearly belong to the set, but which had not been made use of before. Besides the regular series, a few smaller cuts occur, much ruder in execution. These belong to a set cut for an edition of the _Horae ad usum Sarum_, but the early editions of this book are known only from fragments, so that we cannot ascertain how many there were in the original series. Several of these _Speculum_ cuts reappear in the _Royal Book_, a translation of _La Somme des vices et vertus_, published very shortly after. This book at present enjoys the distinction of having brought the highest price hitherto paid for a Caxton, a copy having been sold (March 20, 1902) for the sum of £2,225. The history of this particular copy is an interesting one. It belonged early in the seventeenth century to Thomas Archer, parson of Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire, who bequeathed it to the Church Library of St. John's, Bedford. This library was afterwards moved to St. Paul's Church, Bedford, and about 1840 transferred to the Bedford Literary Institute. The council of this Institute, entirely ignoring their moral obligations, determined to make money out of so valuable a book, and not only did they do so, but they also did their best to destroy one of the very few existing evidences of Caxton's work. The book when I examined it several years ago was in its original binding, tooled with stamps which we have many reasons for believing belonged to Caxton himself. This Bedford book afforded the strongest proof of all, for the boards of the binding were lined with unused copies of one issue of Caxton's 1481 _Indulgences_. Of these there had originally been four, two at each end, but two had been abstracted. When the book was sold the remaining two were taken out and sold separately, thus destroying for ever a most valuable piece of evidence. This book, together with one of the _Indulgences_, is now in a private library in America. A few years ago Mr. Robert Proctor, working in the library of New College, Oxford, found in the binding of a book two small slips of vellum with some printing upon them in Caxton's type No. 5. These turned out to be portions of a leaf of a hitherto unknown Caxton, an edition of the _Donatus melior_, revised by Mancinellus, printed in folio. They are also the earliest specimens of Caxton's use of vellum. The date of the book would be about 1487. In May, 1487, Caxton finished the printing of the _Book of Good Manners_, which he had translated from the French at the request of one of his friends, William Pratt, a mercer of London who had lately died. The original book was written by Jacobus Magnus or Jacques Legrand, the author of the _Sophologium_, and was evidently popular, for it was frequently reprinted, no less than four other English editions having been issued in the fifteenth century. Caxton's edition is a small folio of 66 leaves, and three copies, all in public libraries, are known. The finest is in the Cambridge University Library, and another, also perfect, is in the Royal Library at Copenhagen. This latter, which was sold by auction in 1682 for the sum of two shillings, was purchased by the Copenhagen Library in 1743 for one guinea. The third copy, wanting some leaves, is at Lambeth. So far Caxton had worked entirely with his own materials and without any assistance from outside. His work had been confined to the most ordinary kind of printing, which required no special trouble and no great variety of type or ornament. The close of the year, however, saw a change in this respect, and the first influences of the French press, which were gradually later on to assume such large proportions, began to make themselves felt. CHAPTER VI. 1487-1491. In December, 1487, Caxton issued an edition of the Sarum _Missal_, though he was not himself the printer. The work was done for him by a printer at Paris named Guillaume Maynial, about whom but little is known. He is presumed to be a relation, son, perhaps, or nephew, of George Maynial, the partner of Ulrich Gering in 1480. He printed only three books, of which this _Missal_ is the earliest, the other two being the _Statutes_ and the _Manual_ of the Church of Chartres, issued in 1489 and 1490. The only copy of this book at present known is in the library of Lord Newton. It is a folio, and when perfect should have contained 266 leaves, but of these 23 are now missing. The page is printed in two columns, with 39 lines to a column. One point which gives this book a peculiar interest is, that in it is found for the first time Caxton's well-known device. It consists of his initials, divided by his merchant's mark, with a deep ornamental border at top and bottom. Many ingenious writers have attempted to read into this mark several items of information. The merchant's mark they say is not a merchant's mark at all, but the figures 74 significant of the time when he began to print. Two small ornaments shaped like an S and C stand for Sancta Colonia, where he learned the art of printing. The mark is, however, merely an ordinary merchant's mark, which in some shape or another all printers introduced into their devices, and the letters S C merely ornamental flourishes. [Illustration: PLATE XVI CAXTON'S DEVICE (see page 70) ] [Illustration: PLATE XVII LEGENDA AD USUM SARUM (see page 71) ] Another question has been raised as to whether this device was cut in England or in France, but it has no resemblance to French work, and is almost certainly a native production. As Mr. Blades justly remarks: "Caxton, desirous of associating his press more directly with this issue than by the colophon only, which many people might overlook, probably designed his mark for the purpose of attracting attention. He no doubt stamped this device on the last blank page of the books after they had been received from abroad and before putting them into circulation." It seems not improbable that besides the _Missal_, Maynial printed for Caxton another service-book, the _Legenda_ according to the Salisbury use. The existence of this book is known only from a few odd leaves, for the most part rescued from old bindings and preserved in different libraries, but it agrees in every respect typographically with the _Missal_. The type is identical, the number of lines and size of page the same, and everything points to the same printer. Perhaps some day a copy with the colophon may be found and our doubts on the subject set at rest. About 1488 appeared a new issue of the _Golden Legend_. It is not an entire reprint of the first, but only of certain parts of it. It contains 448 leaves, being one less than the first issue, and of these 256 are reprinted and 192 are of the original edition. It is difficult to explain this reprinting, but it was probably caused by the destruction of a large part of the stock of the original issue. Caxton took the opportunity to make two improvements in the reprint. He compressed the quires signed X and Y, which contained the awkward number of nine leaves, into a single quire X of eight leaves, and instead of having a blank leaf at the end of the book he added the life of St. Erasmus. The parts of the book which are of the second issue may be readily distinguished from the first by the head-lines. In the first issue they are in the larger type No. 3; in the second, in the smaller type No. 5. On the 14th of July, 1489, Caxton finished printing a translation of the work of Christine de Pisan, entitled the _Fayts of Arms and of Chivalry_. This translation, as he tells us in the epilogue, he undertook at the express desire of Henry VII., who himself lent him the manuscript with the original French text. It is not improbable that the identical manuscript which Caxton used is one which is now in the British Museum, and which formed part of the old Royal collection. It was written for John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, who died in 1453, and by whom it was presented to Queen Margaret, and it agrees very closely in every way with Caxton's English version. Considerable doubt has been thrown on the authorship of Christine de Pisan, but apparently unjustly. In the prologues of many manuscripts, and in Caxton's edition, the writer apologizes as a woman for treating of such warlike subjects, and appeals to the goddess Minerva, saying, "I am, as thou wert, a woman Italian." A complete copy should contain 144 leaves, the first being blank, and over twenty copies are known. A perfect copy in the Cambridge University Library contains a manuscript note showing that it was bought in 1510 for three shillings and eight pence. [Illustration: PLATE XVIII THE INDULGENCE OF 1489 (see page 73) ] In 1489, also, Caxton issued two editions of an _Indulgence_ of John de Gigliis, or rather a license to confessors, giving them power to grant indulgences to any Christian person in England or Ireland who should contribute four, three, two, or even one gold florin to assist a crusade against the Turks. These _Indulgences_ are of peculiar interest, as they were printed in a new type of Caxton's, the smallest which he ever cut, and of which he never again made use. The first to draw attention to them was Archdeacon Cotton, who in the second part of his "Typographical Gazetteer" mentions one which he had found in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and which he considered to be a product of the early Oxford press. Henry Bradshaw, the University Librarian at Cambridge, obtained a photograph of it, and at once conjectured from the appearance of the type that it must have been printed by Caxton. He immediately communicated this discovery to Blades, who, however, refused to accept it as the work of Caxton's press without some further and more convincing proof, and never even alluded to either the type or _Indulgence_ in later issues of his book. The necessary proof was soon afterwards found, for Bradshaw discovered at Holkham an edition of the _Speculum Vitae Christi_, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1494, which had the side-notes printed in this type, and as De Worde inherited all Caxton's materials, this fount must have belonged to him. The _Statutes_ of the first, third, and fourth years of Henry VII. may also be put down to the end of 1489, for the fourth year of Henry VII. ended on August 21, 1489, and the _Statutes_ would no doubt be printed at once. With the exceptions just given, none of Caxton's books printed between May, 1487, and his death in 1491 bear any date, so that although all may be approximately dated, their exact order cannot be determined. One very common error in the method of arranging Caxton's books may be pointed out here, which arises from the method adopted by Blades. In his _Life of Caxton_ the books are arranged according to types, which would be an excellent plan if the use of one type had been discontinued as soon as a newer one was made. This, however, was not the case, for several were often in use at one time, and thus Blades's system, though correct in one way, is very misleading to a superficial reader. For instance, Caxton started at Westminster with types Nos. 2 and 3, and both are used in his first books, but Blades puts the books in type No. 3 after all those in type No. 2, and thus the Sarum _Ordinale_, certainly one of the earliest books printed in England, comes thirty-sixth on his list, and while one book with the printed date of 1481 is number 33, another with the printed date of 1480 is number 39. It will thus be seen that Blades's arrangement was not a chronological one, though most writers have made the mistake of thinking so, and have followed it as such, as may be seen, for instance, in the list appended to Caxton's life in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, which blindly follows Blades's arrangement without any reference to his system or mention of the types. Two interesting romances were printed about 1489, the _History of the Four Sons of Aymon_ and the _History of Blanchardyn and Eglantine_. The first was an extremely popular story both at home and on the continent; indeed, it still circulates abroad in the form of a pedler's chap-book, which perpetuates in a very mutilated state the story of Renaud, Alard, Richard, and Guichard, with their famous horse Bayard, on which all four rode at once. The early English editions of this book almost suffered extermination. The earliest edition of which a complete copy is known is that printed at London by William Copland in 1554. The colophon of this book speaks of an edition printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1504, of which no trace remains except perhaps some fragmentary leaves in the Cambridge University Library; while of the edition printed by Caxton only one copy, and that imperfect, is known. It is in folio, and probably contained when complete 278 leaves. The unique copy, wanting some leaves at the beginning, was obtained by Lord Spencer from Triphook, the bookseller, and is now, with the rest of the Spencer Library, in Manchester. The _History of Blanchardine and Eglantine_ is also known only from an imperfect copy which was in the Spencer Library. It is impossible to settle what the correct collation may have been, as the book breaks off abruptly at leaf 102 and all the remainder is wanting. As, however, the last chapter of the work is just beginning on the last remaining page, it seems probable that only the last quire is missing. On the fly-leaf is a curious note in Lord Spencer's handwriting relating to its purchase. "This book belonged to Mr. G. Mason; at whose sale it was bought by John, Duke of Roxburghe. The Duke and I had agreed not to oppose one another at the sale, but, after the book was bought, to toss up who should win it; when I lost it. I bought it at the Roxburghe sale, on the 17th of June, 1812 for £215 5_s._" At the earlier sale the Duke had paid £21 for it. This book was undertaken at the request of Margaret, Duchess of Somerset, who brought to Caxton a copy of the French version, which she had long before purchased from him, commanding him to translate it into English. During the last two years of his life at least half of Caxton's books were merely new editions of some of his earlier works, and therefore hardly call for much detailed notice. The _Dictes or Sayings_ was reprinted for the third time, and the _Directorium Sacerdotum_, _Reynard the Fox_, and the _Mirror of the World_ for the second. Of the _Directorium_ but one copy is known, which is in the Selden collection in the Bodleian. Blades remarks about it that it is "still in the original parchment wrapper as issued from Caxton's workshop." All evidence goes to prove that Caxton never made use of parchment or vellum as a binding material, and in the case of the present book it is quite clear, on close examination, that it has been made up from two imperfect copies, and that the binding is not earlier than the seventeenth century. The _Reynard the Fox_ is also unique, and buried in that almost inaccessible collection, the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge. It wants, unfortunately, the last two leaves, so that the colophon, if it had one, is wanting. The _Mirror_ is a fairly common book, and is an exact reproduction, though in different type, of the first edition. In the interval between the printing of the two editions one wood-cut had been lost or destroyed, so that the illustration for Chapter II., "Why God Made and Created the World," instead of being the correct picture of the Almighty with the globe in his hand (which Blades strangely calls "the figure of a philosopher"), is the inappropriate cut of the Transfiguration of Christ. The _Doctrinal of Sapience_, a translation from a French version of the _Manipulus Curatorum_, was doubtless printed in the latter half of 1489, as the translation had been finished on the 7th of May of that year. The book itself is not of much interest, though one copy deserves special mention. It is preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, to which it was presented by a Mr. Bryant. It is printed throughout upon vellum, and contains three leaves found in no other copy. In the text of the book, Chapter 64 is not printed, but the following heading is inserted: "Of the neclygences of the masse and of the remedyes I passe over for it apperteyneth to prestes and not to laie men. C. Lxiiij." In the Windsor copy this chapter is printed at the end of the book on three extra leaves, and ends as follows: "This chapitre to fore I durst not sette in the boke by cause it is not convenyent ne aparteynyng that every laye man sholde knowe it." [Illustration: PLATE XIX THE BOKE OF ENEYDOS (see page 77) ] [Illustration: PLATE XX ARS MORIENDI (see page 77) ] In June, 1490, Caxton finished the translation of two books, _The Art and Craft to know well to die_ and the _Eneydos_. The first is not a translation of the complete book, but merely a small abridgment, running to thirteen printed leaves in folio. Blades mentions only three copies, and curiously enough makes no mention of the peculiarly fine one which belonged to Lord Spencer, though he made a careful examination of all the Caxtons at Althorp. The _Eneydos_ is not, as might be expected from the name, a translation of Virgil's _Aeneid_, but is more in the nature of a romance founded upon it. Caxton's version was translated from "a lytyl booke in frenshe, named Eneydos," probably the work called _Le Livre des Eneydes_, printed at Lyons in 1483 by G. le Roy. The most interesting part of the work is the prologue, for in it Caxton sets out at length his views and opinions on the English language, its changes and dialects. He notes that it was rapidly altering. "And certaynly our langage now used varyeth ferre from that whiche was used and spoken when I was borne." While some were anxious to preserve the old style, others were equally wishful to introduce the new. "And thus bytwene playn rude and curious I stande abasshed, but in my judgemente the comyn termes that be dayli used ben lyghter to be understonde than the olde and auncyent englysshe." In order to make the style as good as possible, Caxton obtained the assistance of John Skelton, lately created a "poeta laureatus" at Oxford, who revised the work for the press. A second edition of the _Speculum Vitae Christi_ and the _Liber Festivalis_ belong probably to 1490. The latter book is not a reprint of the first edition, but another version, and is reprinted from the Oxford edition of 1486. The last five books printed by Caxton are theological or liturgical. The _Ars Moriendi_, a unique little quarto of eight leaves, was discovered in a volume of early tracts in the Bodleian by Henry Bradshaw, and is described by Blades in the second edition of his book. He there states that no other edition in any language is known; but it was certainly reprinted by Wynkyn de Worde. The _Fifteen Oes_, a little quarto containing fifteen prayers, each commencing with O, is known from a unique copy in the British Museum. The book was no doubt intended as a supplement to the Sarum _Book of Hours_, but no edition agreeing with it typographically is known. It differs from all other of Caxton's books in having wood-cut borders round each page of text. It also contains a beautiful wood-cut of the Crucifixion, one of a series intended for a _Book of Hours_. No doubt Caxton possessed the set, and we find it later on in the hands of Wynkyn de Worde. The _Servitium de Transfiguratione Jesu Christi_ and the _Commemoratio lamentationis Beatae Mariae Virginis_ are special issues of new services to be incorporated into the _Breviary_. The first contains 10 leaves, and is one of the very few books in which Caxton introduced printing in red. The only copy known, bound up with a unique tract printed by Pynson, and some foreign books, was formerly in the Congregational Library, London, but was purchased by the British Museum in 1862 for £200. The _Commemoratio_, a quarto of 34 leaves, is known only from the unique copy, wanting two leaves, presented to the University of Ghent by the learned librarian, Dr. Ferdinand Vander Haeghen. This little book was purchased for a trifle at a sale in Ghent and remained unrecognized for many years, until M. Campbell of The Hague identified it as a production of Caxton's press. The book generally considered to have been the last printed by Caxton consists of three treatises printed with separate signatures. These are the _Orologium Sapientiae_, the _Twelve profits of Tribulation_, and the _Rule of St. Benet_. [Illustration: PLATE XXI SERVITIUM DE TRANSFIGURATIONE JESU CHRISTI (see page 78) ] [Illustration: PLATE XXII THE CRUCIFIXION (see page 78) ] A writer in the British Museum speaking of these three books, says that they "are in most of the known copies bound together, and have been usually treated as a single volume under the title, probably dating from the eighteenth century, _A Book of Divers Ghostly Matters_. There is, however, no reason to suppose the connexion to be due to any other cause than similarity of subject and form, combined with nearly simultaneous publication." No doubt this idea commends itself to the Museum authorities, since they possess only one of the three portions, ruthlessly abstracted by a thief some years ago from a perfect copy in a private library, but unfortunately it is quite incorrect. The compiler distinctly speaks of the books having been printed together, and on account of their treating different subjects, his wish that the compilation should be called the _Book of Divers Ghostly Matters_. When complete the book consisted of 148 leaves in quarto. It contains, at the end of the second tract, a wood-cut which belongs to the series specially cut for the _Speculum Vitae Christi_, though it was not used in it. The number of books actually printed by Caxton in England, counting separate editions, is ninety-six, and with the three printed at Bruges and the _Missal_ makes altogether one hundred genuine Caxtons. Blades describes ninety-nine books, but amongst these he includes two which were certainly printed at Bruges after Caxton had left, and three printed by Wynkyn de Worde after Caxton's death, so that the number of genuine books which he describes is ninety-four. The finest collection is now, as is right, in the British Museum, which by judicious purchases in recent years has quite outstripped any possible rival. Five more books remain to be described, which although not printed by Caxton himself, were printed with his types, and have therefore often been ascribed by different writers to his press. These are the _Life of St. Katherine_, the _Chastising of God's Children_, the _Treatise of Love_, the _Book of Courtesy_, and the third edition of the _Golden Legend_. The first of these books is a small folio of 96 leaves, and contains, besides the Life of St. Katherine of Siena, the Revelations of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. The type used is a modification of Caxton's type No. 4*, recast on a slightly smaller body and with several new additions. Unlike Caxton's books which were made up in quires of eight leaves, this has been made up in quires of six. Another point which distinguishes it and the remaining books from Caxton's work is the introduction of several remarkable capital letters. These were obtained along with a fount of type and some wood-cuts from Godfried van Os, apparently about the year 1490, when he moved from Gouda to Copenhagen. The fount of type was not used until 1496, and then only for one book. The _Chastising of God's Children_, a folio of 48 leaves, printed in Caxton's type No. 6, is notable as being the first book issued at the Westminster press with a genuine title-page. It is printed in three lines, and runs as follows: "The prouffytable boke for mannes soule, And right comfortable to the body, and specyally in adversitee and trybulacyon, whiche boke is called The Chastysing of goddes Chyldern." Why so obvious an improvement as a title-page never commended itself to Caxton it is hard to say. It could not have been for want of examples, for, introduced in Germany as far back as the year 1468, they had at any rate during the last ten years of Caxton's life been in common use abroad. Even the London printer, William de Machlinia, had prefixed one to an edition of the _Treatise on the Pestilence_, by Canutus, Bishop of Aarhaus, which he printed about the year 1486. Of the _Chastising_, about twelve copies are known. [Illustration: PLATE XXIII THE LYF OF SAINT KATHERIN (see page 80) ] The _Treatise of Love_ is also a folio of 48 leaves, and agrees typographically with the _Chastising_; indeed, the two were often bound together, and are quoted by Dibdin as two parts of one book. The introduction tells us that it was translated in 1493 from French into English by a person "unperfect in such work," but no mention is made either of the original author or the translator. It was most probably printed also in 1493, for at the end of that year De Worde introduced his own type and ceased the use of Caxton's for the text of his books. At the end his first device is found, consisting of Caxton's initials and mark, much reduced in size, in black on a white ground, and apparently engraved on metal. Blades quotes four copies of this book, all of them perfect, but does not mention the copy in the University Library at Göttingen, and there are probably at least two other copies in private libraries in England. Of the _Book of Courtesy_, which, like the earlier editions, was in quarto, nothing now remains but two leaves printed on one side in the Douce collection at the Bodleian. These two leaves, which have been used at some time to line a binding, are waste proof of the beginning and end of the second and last quire of the book, which probably consisted, like the earlier edition, of 14 leaves. On the last page, under the colophon, "Here endeth a lytyll treatyse called the booke of curtesye or lytyll John. Enprynted atte westmoster," is De Worde's device printed upside down, the reason no doubt for the rejection of the sheet. The last book, the _Golden Legend_, is a small, thick folio of 436 leaves, with a number of illustrations which had been used in previous editions. The colophon is reprinted verbatim from the first edition, with the simple alteration of the date and regnal year. It ends, as do those of the preceding editions, "By me William Caxton," a circumstance which gives Blades the opportunity of remarking on the carelessness of Wynkyn de Worde. "This is only another instance," he writes, "of the utter disregard of accuracy by Wynken de Worde, who has here reprinted Caxton's colophon, with the date only altered, and thus caused what might have been a puzzling anomaly." This is, I think, hardly fair criticism. The book is the largest which Caxton translated, and the words "By me William Caxton" may apply quite as much to the translation as to the printing, and it is no doubt that De Worde retained it as applying to the former. As Caxton was but recently dead, and well known to every one, he could not possibly have intended to signify that he was the printer. One point in connexion with this book is curious. How was it that this third edition was printed when the stock of the earlier edition was not exhausted? Caxton, by his will, bequeathed a certain number to the churchwardens of St. Margaret's, to be sold for the benefit of the church, but these were not exhausted even by 1498, when a fourth edition was printed. In 1496 Caxton's son-in-law received twenty, and a number still remained in possession of his daughter. A solution of this difficulty has occurred to me, which, though it may be considered as improbable, is by no means impossible. This is, that the "legends" mentioned in the various documents were not copies of the _Golden Legend_ at all, but were copies of the _Legenda_ of Salisbury use, which, as pointed out on page 71, were probably printed for Caxton. Being a book printed specially for the use of the clergy in church, such a bequest would be very suitable. In 1496 these "legends" were valued in the law-court at thirteen shillings and four pence apiece, but the twelve copies sold by the churchwardens of Westminster between 1496 and 1500 gradually decreased in price from six shillings and eight pence in the first year to five shillings in the last. [Illustration: PLATE XXIV THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID (see page 83) ] [Illustration: PLATE XXV THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID (see page 83) ] Considering the number of Caxton's productions that are now known to us only from mere fragments, it is probable that many have disappeared altogether. Amongst these may be reckoned one of considerable importance, the _Metamorphoses of Ovid_. In the introduction to the _Golden Legend_ Caxton writes: "Whan I had parfourmed and accomplisshed dyvers werkys and hystoryes translated out of frensshe into englysshe at the requeste of certeyn lordes, ladyes and gentylmen, as thystorye of the recuyel of Troye, the book of the chesse, the hystorye of Jason, the hystorye of the myrrour of the world, the xv bookes of Metamorpheseos in whyche been conteyned the fables of ouyde, and the hystorye of godefroy of boloyn ... wyth other dyuers werkys and bookes, etc." These, like all Caxton's translations, were done for the press, so there is every reason for believing that the _Ovid_ also was printed. Fortunately we have further evidence, for in the Pepysian collection at Magdalene College, Cambridge, is a manuscript on paper bought by Pepys at an anonymous auction, which contains the last six books of the _Metamorphoses_, with the following colophon: "Translated and fynysshed by me William Caxton at Westmestre the xxij day of Apryll, the yere of our lord. M. iiijc iiijxx. And the xx yere of the Regne of kyng Edward the fourth." Though the point can never be settled, it is not unlikely that this manuscript has preserved for us a genuine specimen of Caxton's own writing, not, of course, the ordinary current hand, but the book hand used in copying manuscripts. At that time there was still a prejudice amongst the nobles against printed books, so that the presentation copy to the patron generally took the form of a neatly written manuscript. There is another interesting point to be noticed about this manuscript. It contains the autograph of Lord Lumley, who inherited the library formed by the Earls of Arundel. Now, William Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, was one of Caxton's patrons, so that it seems extremely probable that this manuscript was presented to him by Caxton himself. Another translation of which no trace remains is mentioned in the prologue to the _Four Sons of Aymon_. The only known copy of Caxton's edition is imperfect, and wants the earlier part containing this prologue, but it occurs in full in the later edition printed by William Copland in 1554, from which the following quotation is taken: "Therefore late at the request and commandment of the right noble and virtuous Earl, John Earl of Oxford, my good singular and especial lord, I reduced and translated out of French into our maternal and English tongue the life of one of his predecessors named Robert Earl of Oxford tofore said with divers and many great miracles, which God showed for him, as well in his life as after his death, as it is showed all along in his said book." What this romance may have been is difficult to say, but it probably refers to the favourite of Richard the Second, the Duke of Ireland, who was killed in France while engaged in a boar-hunt. Caxton, like all other printers at that time, numbered bookbinders amongst his workmen and issued his books ready bound. Every genuine binding from his workshop is of brown calf, ornamented with dies. His general method of covering the sides of his bindings was to make a large centre panel contained by a framework of dies. This panel was divided into lozenge-shaped compartments by diagonal lines running both ways from the frame, and in each of these compartments a die was stamped. The die most commonly found has a winged dragon or monster engraved upon it. The framework was often composed of repetitions of a triangular die pointing alternately right and left, also containing a dragon. This die is interesting, not only because the use of a triangular die was uncommon, but because it was an exact copy of one used by a London binder of the twelfth century. CHAPTER VII. CAXTON'S DEATH. The exact date of Caxton's death has never been settled, but from the position of the entry in the parish accounts relating to his burial, it would appear to have taken place towards the end of the year 1491. All the early writers fixed on 1493 as the date, no doubt because his name appears in the colophon of the edition of the _Golden Legend_ printed in that year. His will, could this be recovered, would doubtless throw light on this and many another obscure point, but the hope of finding it grows daily less and less. The ordinary repositories have been searched in vain; though it was still considered possible that it might be found amongst the large collection of documents preserved in Westminster Abbey. Mr. Scott, of the British Museum, who is at present engaged in calendaring these documents, and to whom I wrote on the subject, replied: "I believe it to be quite impossible that Caxton's will can be in the Muniment Rooms at the Abbey, because all the wills are together in one bundle, arranged chronologically, and also I have calendared, so far as I can see, all papers and deeds relating to Westminster." There is just the possibility that at some period the will, having been recognized as of supreme interest, has been removed to some place of greater security and its whereabouts forgotten. In a copy of the _Fructus Temporum_ printed by Julyan Notary in 1515, which belonged at one time to a Mr. Ballard of Cambden, in Gloucestershire, a friend of Joseph Ames, the bibliographer, there was written in a very old hand the following epitaph on Caxton: "Of your charitee pray for the soul of Mayster Wyllyam Caxton, that in hys time was a man of moche ornate and moche renommed wysdome and connyng, and decessed ful crystenly the yere of our Lord M.CCCC.Lxxxxj. "Moder of Merci shyld him from thorribul fynd And bryng hym to lyff eternall that neuyr hath ynd." There seems great probability that this is a genuine copy of a genuine inscription, for had it been a forgery of the time when it is first mentioned, early in the eighteenth century, the forger would have given the date as 1493, which was then supposed to be the date of Caxton's death, rather than 1491, the genuine date. Two years later we find in the colophon to Gerard Leeu's reprint of _Caxton's Chronicles_ the same epithets applied to him by his workmen (by one of whom he had been killed during the progress of the work) as are applied to Caxton, "a man of grete wysedom in all maner of kunnying." Of Caxton's domestic affairs we know hardly anything. A lucky discovery made by Mr. Gairdner in the Public Record Office proves that he was a married man. This is a copy of a document produced in a lawsuit relating to a separation between Gerard Croppe, a tailor of Westminster, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Caxton, and dated the 11th of May, 1496. Each was bound over, under penalty of one hundred pounds, not to vex, sue, or trouble the other about any matters relating to their marriage, and to live for the future apart, unless the said Gerard could recover the love and favour of the said Elizabeth. This having been agreed to, Gerard was to receive out of the bequest of William Caxton twenty printed Legends at thirteen shillings and four pence a Legend, giving a general quittance to the executors of William Caxton. Could the record of the original trial be recovered, the evidence of the various witnesses would no doubt afford much information. In the churchwarden's accounts of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, there occurs an entry in the year 1490. "Item atte Bureyng of Mawde Caxston for torches and tapres iij_s._ ij_d._" This has been supposed to refer to Caxton's wife, but beyond the similarity of names there is no evidence to support the conjecture. In the same way, too, the entry of a William Caxton's burial in 1479 in the parish records of St. Margaret's has caused several to conjecture that this may have been the printer's father. It appears almost certain that Caxton left no son, for all his printing material passed into the hands of Wynkyn de Worde, who had for some time been his assistant. Wynkyn de Worde, who took out letters of denization in April, 1496, is described as a printer, and a native of the Duchy of Lorraine. Many writers have mistakenly derived his name from the town of Woerden in Holland, whereas he really came from the town of Worth in Alsace, and sometimes uses the name Worth in place of Worde. The suggestion, too, that he came with Caxton from Bruges would appear improbable, for as that event took place in 1476, and De Worde did not die until 1535, he would have been too young to be an assistant. Amongst the documents, however, in Westminster Abbey is one dated 1480, relating to the giving up of a tenement by Elizabeth, wife of Wynand van Worden. If this really refers to the printer, it is clear that he must have married an Englishwoman, who would be able to hold property, which the husband, as an alien, could not. It makes it also appear probable that he was an assistant of Caxton when he established himself as an English printer in 1476, but De Worde must at that time have been a fairly young man. Several other printers have been quoted as apprentices of Caxton by different writers, but without any authority. Blades mentions Pynson, and even goes so far as to say that he used Caxton's device, a mistake which may be traced to an imperfect copy of Pynson's _Speculum Vitae Christi_ in the British Museum, formerly in the Offor Library, which has a leaf with Caxton's device inserted at the end. Although Caxton makes frequent mention of the homeliness and rudeness of his language, yet it is clear that these expressions must not be taken quite literally. He was born in the Weald of Kent, where the peasants no doubt spoke a very marked dialect, but his own English shows no signs of this. His family was not of the peasant class, and he had received a good education, though where he does not say. Living as an apprentice in the house of one of the richest and most important London merchants, and in the company of his fellow-apprentices, he would soon lose any provincialisms he might possess. His position as head of the English merchants abroad, and his confidential position at the court of the Duchess of Burgundy, could hardly have been reached by one who spoke rude and provincial language. His statements must be taken rather as expressions of the mock humility which it was the fashion of the time to insert in prefaces, especially when they were addressed to people in high rank. In the same way we must hardly take as literal his expressions as to his own want of education and learning. French and Dutch he knew fluently, and we know from his own words in the _Golden Legend_ that he could read Latin, for he made use of both a French and a Latin version in making his translation. He seems, indeed, to have been a really well-educated man of the middle classes, at a time when learning was difficult to obtain, and was generally confined to the professions and the members of the Universities. His work as a printer and a translator is the best evidence as to what manner of man he was. It shows clearly that he did not look upon the printing-press merely as a means of making money, or his publications would have been of a very different character. His mind seems to have grasped the great possibilities of his art, though he could not have foreseen the immensity of the power it was destined to become. He laboured steadily to give to the English-speaking public the literature of their country, and where a suitable book was not to be found in the vernacular, he set to work and translated it. Death found him at his work. "Thus endyth," writes his successor in the colophon of Jerome's _Vitas Patrum_, "the moost vertuouse hystorye of the devoute and right renommed lyves of holy faders lyvynge in deserte, worthy of remembraunce to all well dysposed persones, whiche hath be translated out of Frensshe in to Englysshe by Wyllyam Caxton of Westmynstre late deed, and fynysshed it at the laste daye of his lyff." APPENDIX. LIST OF CAXTON'S BOOKS, WITH COLLATIONS. [When the signatures are within brackets it denotes that the book has no printed signatures.] BOOKS PRINTED AT BRUGES. Cessolis (I. de). The game and play of the chess fol. [1475] [a-h^8, i^10]; 74 leaves. Leaves 1, 74 blank. Cordiale. Les quartre derrenieres choses fol. [1476] [a-d^8, e^10, f-i^8]; 74 leaves. Leaves 1, 74 blank. Le Fevre. The Recuyell of the histories of Troye fol. [1475] [a-o^10, p^8; A-I^10, K^8, L^6; aa-kk^10]; 352 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. BOOKS PRINTED AT WESTMINSTER. Aesop. Fables fol. 1484 a-s^8; 144 leaves. Leaves 143, 144 blank. Ars moriendi 4to [1491] A^8; 8 leaves. Art and craft to know well to die fol. 1490 A^8, B^4, B3^2; 14 leaves. Leaf 14 blank. Blanchardyn and Eglantine fol. [1489] [6] A-M^8 ... Full collation unknown. Boethius de consolatione philosophiae fol. [1478] [a-l^8, m^6]; 94 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Bonaventura. Speculum vitae Christi fol. [1486] a-s^8, t^4; 148 leaves. Leaves 1, 148 blank. Bonaventura. Speculum vitae Christi. Ed. 2 fol. [1490] a-s^8, t^4; 148 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Book of Courtesy 4to [1477] [a^8, b^6]; 14 leaves. Leaf 14 blank. Book of divers ghostly matters 4to [1491] A-M^8; 96 leaves (1-96) Seven points. A-D^8; 32 leaves (97-128) Twelve profits. aa, bb^8, cc^4; 20 leaves (129-148) Rule of St. Benet. Cato. Cato, parvus et magnus 4to [1477] [a-c^8, d^10]; 34 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Cato. Cato, parvus et magnus. [Ed. 2] 4to [1477] [a-c^8, d^10]; 34 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Cato. Cato, parvus et magnus. [Ed. 3] fol. [1481] a-c^8, d^4; 28 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Cato. Cathon. fol. [1483] [6] a-h^8, i^10; 80 leaves. Leaves 1, 6, 7, 80 blank. Caxton. Advertisement of Sarum Pica [1477] Single sheet. Cessolis (I. de). Game of chess fol. [1483] a-i^8, k, l^6; 84 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Charles the Great, Life fol. 1485 a-m^8; 96 leaves. Leaves 1, 96 blank. Chartier (Alain). The Curial fol. [1484] i, ii, iii^6; 6 leaves. Chaucer (Geoffrey). The Book of Fame fol. [1483] a-c^8, d^6; 30 leaves. Leaves 1, 30 blank. Chaucer (Geoffrey). The Canterbury Tales fol. [1478] [a-z, A-I^8, K^10, L-Q^8, R^6, S-Z^8, aa^6]; 374 leaves. Leaves 1, 266, 374 blank. Chaucer (Geoffrey). The Canterbury Tales. [Ed. 2] fol. [1484] a-t^8, v^6, aa-hh^8, ii^6, A-K^8, L^4; 312 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Chaucer (Geoffrey). Queen Anelida and the false Arcyte 4to [1477] [a^10]; 10 leaves. Chaucer (Geoffrey). The temple of brass 4to [1477] [a-c^8 ... ]. End not known. Chaucer (Geoffrey). Troilus and Creside fol. [1483] a-g^8, h^10, L-O^8, p^6; 120 leaves. Leaves 1, 119, 120 blank. Christine of Pisan. Moral proverbs fol. 1478 [A^4]; 4 leaves. Christine of Pisan. Fayts of arms and chivalry fol. 1489 [2] A-R^8, S^6; 144 leaves. Leaf 144 blank. Chronicles of England fol. 1480 [8] a-x^8, y^6; 182 leaves. Leaves 1, 9 blank. Chronicles of England. Ed. 2 fol. 1482 [8] a-x^8, y^6; 182 leaves. Leaves 1, 9 blank. Cicero (M. T.). Of old age and friendship fol. 1481 1, a^6, b-h^8, i^4; 72 leaves (1-72) Old Age. a-f^8; 48 leaves (73-120) Friendship. Leaves 1, 12, 72 blank. Commemoratio lamentationis del. B. V. Mariae 4to [1487] a-c^8, d^10; 34 leaves. Cordyale fol. 1479 [a-i^8, k^6]; 78 leaves. Leaves 1, 78 blank. Death-bed prayers fol. [1483] Single leaf. Description of Britain fol. 1480 [a-c^8, d^6]; 30 leaves. Leaf 30 blank. Dictes or sayings fol. 1477 [a-i^8, k^6]; 78 leaves. Leaves 1, 77, 78 blank. Dictes or sayings. [Variant copy with colophon.] fol. 1477 [a-i^8, k^6]; 78 leaves. Leaves 1, 77, 78 blank. Dictes or sayings. Ed. 2 fol. [1479] [a-i^8, k^6]; 78 leaves. Leaves 1, 77, 78 blank. Dictes or sayings. Ed. 3 fol. [1489] [2] A-G^8, H-I^6; 70 leaves. Leaf 70 blank. Doctrinal of Sapience fol. 1489 A-I^8, K, L^10; 92 leaves. [The Windsor copy has four extra leaves at end, the last blank.] Donatus (Ae). Donatus melior fol. [1487] Collation not known. Festum transfigurationis Jesu Christi 4to [1491] a^6, b^4; 10 leaves. Festum visitationis beate Mariae virginis 4to [1480] Collation not known. Fifteen Oes 4to [1491] a, b^8, c^6; 22 leaves. Four sons of Aymon fol. [1489] Collation not known. Godfrey of Bologne fol. 1481 a^6, b^4, 1-16^8, 17^6; 144 leaves. Leaves 1, 11 blank. Governal of Helthe 4to [1489] A, B^8, [2]; 18 leaves. Gower (John). Confessio amantis fol. 1483 [8], 1, b-z, &, A, B^8, C^6; 222 leaves. Leaves 1, 8, 9, 222 blank. Higden (Ranulph). Polycronicon fol. 1482 a, b^8, c^4, 1-28^8, 28*^2, 29-48^8, 49^4, 50, 52-55^8; 450 leaves. Leaves 1, 21, 25, 246, 450 blank. Horae ad usum Sarum 8^o [1478] Collation not known. Horae ad usum Sarum 4to [1480] Collation not known. Horae ad usum Sarum 8^o [1490] Collation not known. Horae ad usum Sarum 8^o [1490] Collation not known. Image of Pity fol. [1487] Single sheet. Image of Pity 4to [1490] Single sheet. Indulgence of John Kendale. Singular issue, 1480 no year of pontificate Single sheet. Indulgence of John Kendale. Plural issue, 1480 with year of pontificate Single sheet. Indulgence of I. de Gigliis. Singular issue, 1481 with year of pontificate Single sheet. Indulgence of I. de Gigliis. Plural issue, 1481 with year of pontificate Single sheet. Indulgence of I. de Gigliis 1489 Single sheet. Indulgence of I. de Gigliis 1489 Single sheet. Infancia Salvatoris 4to [1477] [a^8, b^10]; 18 leaves. Landry (De la Tour). The knight of the tower fol. 1484 [4] a-m^8, n^6; 106 leaves. Leaves 105, 106 blank. Lefevre (Raoul). The history of Jason fol. [1477] [a-s^8, t^6]; 150 leaves. Leaves 1, 150 blank. Legrand (I.). The book of good manners fol. 1487 a-g^8, h^10; 66 leaves. Lidgate (John). The churl and the bird 4to [1477] [a^10]; 10 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Lidgate (John). The churl and the bird. Ed. 2 4to [1477] [a^10]; 10 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Lidgate (John). Curia sapientiae fol. [1480] a-e^8; 40 leaves. Leaves 1, 39, 40 blank. Lidgate (John). The horse, the sheep and the goose 4to [1477] [a^8, b^10]; 18 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Lidgate (John). The horse, the sheep and the goose. 4to [1477] Ed. 2 [a^8, b^10]; 18 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Lidgate (John). The life of our lady fol. [1484] [2] a-l^8, m^6; 96 leaves. Leaf 96 blank. Lidgate (John). The life of our lady. Ed. 2 fol. [1484] Collation not known. Lidgate (John). The pilgrimage of the soul fol. 1483 [4] a-n^8, o^6; 114 leaves. Leaves 1, 5, 113, 114 blank. Lidgate (John). Stans puer ad mensam 4to [1477] [a^4]; 4 leaves. Lidgate (John). The temple of glass 4to [1477] [a-c^8, d^10]; 34 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Malory (Sir T.). Morte d'Arthur fol. 1485 1^8, 5^10, a-z, &, A-Z, aa-dd^8, ee^6; 432 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Maydeston (C.). Directorium sacerdotum fol. [1487] [6] a-q^8, r^10, s, t^8; 160 leaves. Maydeston (C.). Directorium sacerdotum fol. [1489] a^8, a-y^8, z^10; 194 leaves. Mirk (John). Liber festivalis fol. 1483 a-n^8, o, p^6; 116 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Mirk (John). Liber festivalis fol. [1491] a-p^8, q^2, R^8, s^6; 136 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Order of chivalry 4to [1484] a-f^8, g^4; 52 leaves. Leaves 1, 52 blank. Ordinale secundum usum Sarum 4to [1477] Collation not known. Paris and Vienne fol. 1485 a-c^8, d, e^6; 36 leaves. Leaf 36 blank. Psalterium 4to [1480] a-x (+7* incipiunt), y^8; 177 leaves. Leaves 1, 177 blank. Quattuor sermones fol. [1483] a-c^8, d^6; 30 leaves. Quattuor sermones fol. [1491] A-C^8, D^10; 34 leaves. Reynard the Fox fol. 1481 a-h (+8* your children), i^8, k, l^6; 85 leaves. Leaves 1, 85 blank. Reynard the Fox. Ed. 2 fol. [1489] [2] a-h^8, i^6; 72 leaves. Royal book fol. [1488] a-t^8, u^10; 162 leaves. Leaves 1, 162 blank. Russell (John). Propositio 4to [1478] [a^4]; 4 leaves. Saona (L. G. de). Nova rhetorica fol. [1479] [a^6, b^2, c-n^10, o^6]; 124 leaves. Sixtus IV. Sex epistolae 4to [1483] a-c^8; 24 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Statutes of Henry VII. An. 1, 3, 4 fol. [1489] a-d^8, e^10; 42 leaves. Leaves 1, 42 blank. Vincentius. The mirror of the world fol. [1481] a-m^8, n^4; 100 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Vincentius. The mirror of the world. Ed. 2 fol. [1490] a-l^8; 88 leaves. Virgilius. Eneydos fol. 1490 A^4, A3^2, B-L^8; 86 leaves. Leaves 6, 86 blank. Vocabulary in French and English fol. [1480] [a, b^8, c^10]; 26 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Voragine (I. de). The golden legend fol. 1483 AA^6, a-z, &^8, 2^6, A-V^8, X^6, Y^2 (+2*)^3, aa-ff^8, gg^6, hh, ii^8, kk^6; 449 leaves. Leaves 1, 449 blank. Voragine (I. de). The golden legend fol. [1488] AA^6, a-z, &^8, [Greek: rho]^6, A-X^8, aa-ff^8, gg^6, hh, ii^8, kk^6; 448 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Winifred, Life fol. [1485] a, b^8; 16 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. BOOKS PRINTED FOR CAXTON. Legenda secundum usum Sarum [Maynyal, Paris, fol. 1487] Collation not known. Missale secundum usum Sarum Maynyal, Paris, fol. 1487 [10] a^10, b-z, &, [Greek: rho], A-F^8, G^6; 266 leaves. Leaves 1, 11 blank (?). BOOKS PRINTED BY W. DE WORDE WITH CAXTON'S TYPES. Book of Courtesy 4to [1492] Collation not known. Chastising of God's children fol. [1492] [2] A-G^6, H^4; 48 leaves. Treatise of Love fol. [1493] A-H^6; 48 leaves. Vineis (R. de). Life of St. Katherine of Senis fol. [1493] a^8, b-p^6, q^4; 96 leaves. Voragine (I. de). The golden legend fol. 1493 [4] a-e^8, F^2, f-z, &, [Greek: rho]^8, [=e]^4, A-Y, aa-ee^8, ff^6, gg^4; 436 leaves. INDEX. PAGE A, Only ornamental initial used by Caxton, pl. XIII., 62 Aberdeen Breviary, 35 Advertisement, Caxton's, pl. V., 42, 43, 91 Aesop. _Fables. See Fables of Aesop._ Alost, Printing at, 26 Ames, Joseph, Error in _Typographical antiquities_, 45 _Anelida and Arcyte. See Queen Anelida, etc._ Angelus de Aretio. _Lectura super institutiones_, printed by Veldener at Louvain, 27 Appendix, 91-98 Archer, Thomas, 67 _Ars moriendi_, printed by Caxton, 77, 78, pl. XX. Collation, 91 _Art and Craft to know well to die_, translated and printed by Caxton, 76, 77 Collation, 91 Arundel, William Fitzalan, Earl of, 63, 84 Ashburnham sale, 1897, 37 Bagford, John, book-buyer, 41 Ballard of Camden, 86 Bamburgh castle, 49 Bartholomaeus Anglicus. _Bartholomaeus de proprietatibus rerum_, 22, 23, pl. I. Bayntun, William, of Gray's Inn, 66 Bedford Literary Institute, 67 Bernard sale, 1698, 64 Bibliothèque Nationale, Manuscript of _L'Ordre de Chevallerie_, 62 Bindings. _See_ forward, Bookbindings. Blades, William. Arguments concerning Caxton at Cologne, 22-26 Arrangement of Caxton's books by types, 73, 74 _Boethius_ at St. Alban's, 37, 38 Book-worms, 57 Dibdin censured, 37 Errors with regard to: _Ars Moriendi_, 78 _Confessio Amantis_, 59 _Dictes_, 39 _Eneydos_ (Spencer's copy), 77 _Indulgence_, 1489, 73 _Infancia Salvatoris_, 44 _Mirrour_, 76 Number of books printed by Caxton, 79 Perfect copies, 28 _Propositio Johannis Russell_, 43, 44 Pynson as apprentice, 89 _Treatise of Love_, 81 W. de Worde, 82 _Blanchardyn and Eglantine_, printed by Caxton, 74, 75, 91 Blandford, Lord, Copy of _Propositio_, 44 Boccaccio, Work printed by C. Mansion, 1476, 25 Bodleian Library, Oxford. Copies of: Advertisement for _Pica_, pl. V. _Ars moriendi_, 77, pl. XX. _Bartholomaeus_, pl. I. _Boethius_, pl. III. _Dictes_, pl. IV. _Directorium_, 75 _Mirrour_, pl. VI., VII. _Fables of Aesop_, 62 _Fifteen Oes_, pl. XXII. _Game of the Chess_, pl. VIII. _Liber Festivalis_, pl. IX. _Recuyell_, pl. II. _Boethius de consolatione philosophiae_, tr. by Chaucer, printed by Caxton, 37, 38, 91, pl. III. _Boke of Eneydos. See Eneydos._ Bolomyer, Henry, Canon of Lausanne, 65 Bonaccursus de Montemagno. _De nobilitate. See De nobilitate._ Bonaventura, St. _Speculum Vitae Christi. See Speculum, etc._ _Book of Courtesy_, printed by Caxton, 41, 92 By W. de Worde, 81, 98 _Book of divers ghostly matters_, printed by Caxton, 79, 92 _Book of Fame_ (Chaucer, G.). _See Hous of Fame_. _Book of Good Manners_, tr. and printed by Caxton, 68 _Book of Hours_ of Salisbury use. _See Horae ad usum Sarum._ Bookbindings, 38, 44, 68, 75 Caxton's method, 84, 85, frontispiece _Booke which the Knight of the Toure made_ (La Tour-Landry, G.), translated and printed by Caxton, 60, 95 Book-worms, Ravages of, 57 Bourbon, Louis, Duke of, 52 Brabant, Caxton in, 17 Bradshaw, Henry, Conjecture as to "pyes" in Caxton's advertisement, 43 Discovery of: _Ars moriendi_, 77-78 _Indulgence_ of J. de Gigliis, 73 _Margarita Eloquentiae_, 45 _Breviary_ of the Church of Salisbury, issued at Cologne, 31 _Breviary_, _Commemoratio_ and _Servitium_, intended for, 78 British Museum. Copies of: _Canterbury Tales_, 37, ed. 2, pl. X. _Charles the Great_, 65 _Directorium_, 66 _Fables of Aesop_, 61 _Fayts of Arms_ (French manuscript), 72 _Fifteen Oes_, 78 _Golden Legend_ (French version), 63 _Image of Pity_, 66, pl. XIV. _Indulgence_ of J. Kendale, 1480, 48 _Meditacions_, printed by Mansion, 32 _Order of Chivalry_, 62 _Paris and Vienne_, 65 _Psalter_, 50 _Quatre dernierres choses_, 30 _Servitium_, 78 _Sex Epistolae_, 57 _Speculum_, printed by Pynson, 89 Broadside, printed by Caxton, 62 Bruges, Caxton's press at, 17, 18, 22 _et seq._, 43 Mansion's, 25 Brut, printed by Caxton, 14 Bryce, Hugh, 51 Burgh, Benet, translator _Cato parvus et magnus_, 53, 60 _See also_ Cato. Burgundy, Duchess of, 19, 20, 25 Burgundy, Duke of, 43 Calendar, Rules for adapting to the church services, 42, 66 _See also Directorium_ and _Ordinale_. Cambridge, Caxton at, 45 Cambridge University Library, Collection of Caxton pamphlets, 41 Copies of: _Book of Good Manners_, 68 _Directorium_, 66 _Fayts of Arms_, 72 _Four Sons of Aymon_ (de Worde's), 74 _Golden Legend_ (French version), 63 _Legenda_ (Maynial), pl. XVII. Campbell of The Hague, 78 _Canterbury Tales_ (Chaucer, G.), printed by Caxton, 37 Second edition, revised and illustrated, 57-59; fac-simile pl. X. Collations, 92 Canutus, Bishop of Aarhaus. _Treatise on Pestilence_, 80 Capital letters. _See_ Initials, Woodcut. Carlisle, N., 59 Castel, Étienne and Jean, 40 _Cato parvus et magnus_ (Cato, D.), translated by B. Burgh, printed by Caxton 41, 53, 60 Collations, 92 _Caton_ or _Cathon_ (Cato D.), translated and printed by Caxton, 60 Collation, 92 Caxton, William. Advertisement, 42, 43, 91; fac-simile pl. V. Apprentices employed, 88, 89 Apprenticeship, 16, 17 Birth, 15, 16 Bookbindings. _See_ Bookbindings, in general alphabet. "Braband, Flandres, Holand, and Zealand," residence, 17 Bruges press, 17, 22 _et seq._ Collections of Caxtons. _See_ Collectors, in general alphabet; _also_ names of individual collectors. Cologne, Printing learned at (?), 22-26 Dates, Method of reckoning, 40, 41 Daughter, 20, 87 Death, 86-90 Device, 70, 71, pl. XVI. Duchess of Burgundy's service, 19, 20 Education, 16, 89, 90 England, First printer of, 13 _et seq._ Return to, 31 English language, Changes remarked in, 77 Services to, 14, 15 Spoken by, 89 Epitaph, 87 French influence first felt, 69 Gibbon and Disraeli, Sneers of, 13, 14 Handwriting, 51, 83, pl. XXV. Literary and editorial work, 53, 54, 58, 60, 90 _See also_ forward Translations. Mansion, Colard, partner, 24-27, 30 _See also_ Mansion. Marriage, 20, 87 Merchant, 17-19 Governor of Merchant Adventurers, 34 Name, Various spellings, 15 Our Blessed Lady Assumption, Member of Fraternity of, 34 Personal history, 15 _et seq._ Poetical attempts, 39, 40 Politics, 43, 57 Portrait, Illumination erroneously called, 39 Press, _Periods_: before 1476, 20-32 1476-1479, 33-46 1480-1483, 47-55 1483-1487, 56-69 1487-1491, 70-85 _Products_: List of books printed by or for Caxton, 91-97 List of books printed by De Worde, with Caxton's types, 98 Lost productions, 83, 84 Number of books printed, 79, 80 Pamphlets, 34, 35, 41-46 Reprints in later years, 75 Signatures first used, 47, 49 Statement in _Recuyell_, 20, 21 _See also_ titles of individual books. Translations: _Art and Craft to know well to die_, _Blanchardyn and Eglantine_, _Book of Good Manners_, _Book which the Knyght of the Tour made_, _Eneydos_, _Game of the Chess_, _Godfrey of Bologne_, _Golden Legend_ (most important), _Jason_, _Metamorphoses_, _Mirrour of the World_, _Oxford_ (_Life of Robert, Earl of_), _Reynard the Fox_, _Recuyell of the Hystories of Troye_, _Vitas Patrum_, _Winifred_ (_Life of St._). _See also_ these titles in general alphabet. Types. _See_ forward, in general alphabet, Types. Westminster press, 13, 33 _et seq._, 92-97 Continued by De Worde, 80-85, 98 Will, 82, 86 Cessolis, Jacobus de. _Liber de ludo scacchorum_. _See Game and playe of the Chess._ Chap-book, _Four Sons of Aymon_ in form of, 74 Charles the Bold, Marriage with Princess Margaret, 19 _Charles the Great, Life of_, translated and printed by Caxton, 16, 65, 92 Chartier Alain. _See Curial._ Chartres, Church of. _Manual_ and _Statutes_, 70 _Chastising of God's Children_, printed with Caxton's type by De Worde, 80, 81, 98 Chaucer, Geoffrey, Poems early printed by Caxton, 14 List, with collations, 92 Poems printed by A. Myllar, 35 Translation of _Boeccius_, 37, 38 _See also_, in general alphabet, _Canterbury Tales_, _Hous of Fame_, _Queen Anelida_, _Temple of Brass_, _Troilus and Creside_. _Chorle and the Bird_ (Lidgate, J.), printed by Caxton, 41, 42, 95 Christine de Pisan, Character and attainments, 39, 40 _See also Fayts of Arms, Morale Proverbes._ Chronological arrangement of Caxton's books not determined, 73 _Chronicles of England_, printed by Caxton, 50 Second edition, 53, 54 Collations, 93 Reprinted by G. Leeu, 65, 87 Church, Daniel, 60 _Churl and the Bird._ _See_ Chorle. Cicero, M. T. _Of Old Age and Friendship_, translated from _De senectute_ and _De amicitia_; printed by Caxton, 52 Collation, 93 Collations of Caxton's books, 91-97 Of De Worde's books, 98 Collectors of Caxtons: American private collector owns finest copy, 37 Only two unique Caxtons outside England, 45, 78 Made-up copies of little value to, 54 _See also_ names of individual collectors,--as, Bamburgh castle; Bedford Library Institute; Bodleian Library; British Museum; Cambridge University; Congregational Library; Copenhagen Royal Library; Devonshire, Duke of; Edward IV.; Eton College; George III.; George IV.; Ghent, University of; Göttingen University Library; Harleian Library; Heber, W.; Hedrington, R; Herbert, W.; Holland, Colonel; Jersey, Lord; Lambeth Palace Library; Leicester, Earl of; Lenox Library, New York; Lincoln Minster; Magdalene College (Cambridge); Mary, Queen of England; Merton College (Oxford); Miller, C.; Moore, Bishop; Newton, Lord; Osborne, T.; Perde, W.; Peterborough, Earl of; Pope; Ripon Cathedral; Roxburghe, J., Duke of; St. Alban's Grammar School; St. John's College, Oxford; Selden collection; Shrewsbury School; Smith, Richard; Spencer, Lord; Trinity College, Dublin; Tutet; Windsor, Royal Library at; York Cathedral. _Also_ under titles of individual books. Cologne, Controversy as to Caxton's learning to print there, 22-26 _Commemoratio Lamentationis Beatae Mariae Virginis_, printed by Caxton, 45, 78, 93 Commonest Caxtons, 53, 54 _Confessio Amantis_ (Gower, J.), printed by Caxton, 59, 94 Congregational Library, London, Copy of _Servitium_, 78 _Consolatio peccatorum._ _See_ Jacobus de Theramo. Copenhagen, Royal Library. Copy of _Book of Good Manners_, 68 Copland, Robert, assistant of De Worde, and translator of _Dictes_, 34, 35 Copland, William, printer of _Four Sons_, 74, 84 _Cordyale_, translated by Lord Rivers, from _Quatre derrenieres choses_; printed by Caxton, 40, 41, 45, 46, 93 For French edition, _see Quatre derrenieres choses_. Cotton, Archdeacon, Remarks on Caxton's _Indulgence_ type, 73 Croppe, Gerard, Separation from Caxton's daughter, 20, 87 Crucifixion, Wood-cut, pl. XXII. _Curia Sapientiae_ (Lidgate J.), printed by Caxton, 50, 95 _Curial_ (Chartier, A.), printed by Caxton, 59 Dates: Definite date, 59 First book printed with, in England, 34 None in Caxton's books, 1487-1491 (excepting _Statutes_), 73 Variations in style as to, 40, 41 _De amicitia._ _See_ Cicero. _De consolatione philosophiae. See_ Boethius. _De nobilitate_ (Bonaccursus de Montemagno), printed by Caxton, 52 _De proprietatibus rerum. See_ Bartholomaeus Anglicus. _De quattuor novissimis. See Quatre derrenieres choses._ _De senectute. See_ Cicero. Death-bed Prayers, printed by Caxton, 62, 93 Deguilleville, Guillaume, 54 _See also Pilgrimage of the Soul._ _Description of Britain_, printed by Caxton, 50, 93 Devices, Caxton's, 70, 71, pl. XVI. De Worde's, 81 Devonshire, Duke of. Copies of: _Parvus Cato_, 41 _Recuyell_, 28 _Vocabulary_, 48-49 Overtures for _Morte d'Arthur_, 64 Dibden, censured by Blades, 37 Description of _Bartholomaeus_, 23 Persuaded Dean of Lincoln to sell Caxtons, 30 Remarks on _Treatise of Love_ and _Chastising_, 81 _Dialogue of Salomon and Marcolphus_, printed by G. Leeu, 66 _Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres_, printed by Caxton, 34, 35, 38, 39, fac-simile pl. IV. Second edition, 46 Reprinted, 75 Translated by Scrope, 52 Collations, 93 Dickinson's _List of printed Service Books_, 56 _Dictionary of National Biography_, List of Caxton's books in, 74 Dies used by Caxton on bindings, 85, pl. XXVI. _Directorium Sacerdotum_, or _Pica_ (Maydeston, C.), printed by Caxton, 66, 67 Reprinted, 75 Collation, 96 Disraeli, Isaac, sneers at Caxton, 13, 14 _Doctrinal of Sapience_, translated and printed by Caxton, 76, 93 _Donatus melior_ (Donatus, Ae.), printed by Caxton, 68, 93 Douce collection, Bodleian Library, 81 Dunbar, Stories by, 35 Edward IV., Copy of _Godfrey of Bologne_, 52 Grants charter to Mercer's Company, 18, 19 Authorizes translation of _Jason_, 36 _L'Ordre de Chevallerie_, written for, 62 Proclamation concerning Rhodes, 48 Elizabeth, Wife of Edward IV, 28 _Elizabeth of Hungary, Revelations of St._, 80 _Eneydos, Boke of_, translated and printed by Caxton, 77, pl. XIX. England, Caxton first printer of, 13 First dated book in, 34 Only two unique Caxtons outside, 45, 78 English language, Caxton's remarks on changes in, 77, pl. XIX. First printed book in, 27 Services of Caxton to, 13, 14 English nation in the Low Countries. _See_ Merchant Adventurers. _Erasmus, Life of St._, added by Caxton to _Golden Legend_, 71 _Esope, Fables of. See Fables of Aesop._ Estenay, John, Sacrist of Westminster, 33 Evil-merodach, Wood-cut of, 53 _Fables of Aesop_, printed by Caxton, 61, 62, fac-simile pls. XII., XIII. Collation, 91 _Faits et prouesses du chevalier Jason. See Jason._ Fairfax, Bryan, copy of _Morte d'Arthur_, 64 Fastolfe, _Sir_ John, 52 _Fayts of Arms_ (Christine de Pisan), translated and printed by Caxton, 72 Collation, 93 Ferrara, Duke of, 57 _See also Sex Epistolae._ _Festial. See Liber Festialis._ _Festum Transfigurationis Jesu Christi. See Servitium._ _Festum Visitationis Beatae Mariae Virginis. See Servitium._ _Fifteen Oes_, printed by Caxton, 78 Cut of Crucifixion for, pl. XXII. Collation, 94 Flanders, Caxton in, 17 Flemish families in Kent, 16 Flemish goods prohibited in England, 19 _Four Sons of Aymon, History of_, printed by Caxton, 74 Collation, 94 Printed by Copland, 84 Folios, Caxton's early, 35 _et seq._ Fraternity of Our Blessed Lady Assumption, 34 _Fructus Temporum_, printed by Julyan Notary, 86 Gairdner discovers record of Caxton's marriage, 87 Gallopes, Jean de, 54 _Game and playe of the Chess_ (Cessolis, J. de), translated and printed by Caxton, 29-31, fac-simile pl. VIII. Second edition, 53 Collations, 91 George I. presents Caxton pamphlets to Cambridge, 41 George III., Copy of _Directorium_, 66 George IV., Copy of _Fables of Aesop_, 61 Germany, Origin of printing in, 13 Title-pages used in, 80 Ghent, Oration at, 1470, 43 Ghent, University of, Copy of _Commemoratio_, 78 Gibbon, Criticism of Caxton, 13, 14 Gigliis, John, 73 _See also Indulgence._ _Godfrey of Bologne, History of_, translated and printed by Caxton, 52, 94 Göttingen University Library, Copy of _Infancia Salvatoris_, 44 _Of Treatise of Love_, 81 _Golden Legend_ (Voragine, J. de), translated and printed by Caxton, 63 Second edition, 71, 72 Copies left to Caxton's son-in-law, 82, 83, 88 Introduction, 83 French and Latin version used in, 89 Third edition, reprint by De Worde, 81-83 Date of Caxton's death in colophon (?), 86 Collations, 97, 98 _Governal of Helthe_, printed by Caxton, 94 Gower, John, 14, 59 _See also Confessio Amantis._ Granton, John, debtor to Wm. Craes of Bruges, 18 Guild of St. John, 26 Gutenberg, Invention of movable type, 13 Halberstadt. Hecht-Heine Library, Copy of _Sex Epistolae_, 57 Harleian Library, Copy of _Infancia Salvatoris_, 44 Heber, Book-collector, 54, 55 Hedrington, Robert, Collector of Caxtons, 63 Henry VII., Founded almonry, 33 Loaned Caxton manuscript of _Fayts_, 72 _Statutes_, printed by Caxton. _See also Statutes._ Herbert, W., Bibliographer, 54 Higden, Ralph, 14, 50, 53 _See also Polycronicon._ _History of Blanchardyn and Eglantine. See Blanchardyn._ _History of Jason. See Jason._ _History of Reynard the Fox. See Reynard._ _History of the Four Sons of Aymon. See Four Sons, etc._ _History of the Knight Paris and the Fair Vienne. See Paris._ Holdsworth, Dr., 66 Holford, Col., Copy of _Game of the Chess_, 29 Of _Godfrey of Bologne_, 52 Holkham, Copy of _Speculum_, 1494, 73 Holland, Caxton in, 17 _Horae ad usum Sarum_, printed by Caxton, found in binding of _Boethius_, 38, 50 Wood-cuts intended for, 67 _Fifteen Oes_, supplement to, 78 Collations, 94 _Horse, the Shepe and the Goose_ (Lidgate, J.), printed by Caxton, 41, 42 Collation, 95 _Hous of Fame_ (Chaucer, G.), printed by Caxton, 59 Collation, 92 Illustrations. _See_ Wood-cuts. _Image of Pity_, 66, pl. XIV., 94 _Indulgence_ of John Kendale, printed by Caxton, 1480, 48, 94 _Indulgence_ of John de Gigliis, printed by Caxton, 1481, 68 1489, 73, pl. XVIII. Collations, 95 _Infancia Salvatoris_, printed by Caxton, 42, 44 Collation, 95 Initials, Wood-cut A, used by Caxton, 62, pl. XIII. Blank spaces usually left for, 36 First used in England, 48 Intended for _Life of St. Katherine_, printed by De Worde, 80 Jacobus de Cessolis. _See_ Cessolis. Jacobus de Theramo. _Consolatio peccatorum_, printed by Veldener, 27 Jacobus Magnus. _See_ Legrand, Jacques. _Jason, Faits et prouesses du chevalier_ (Lefevre, R.), printed by C. Mansion, 31, 32 _Jason, History of_ (Lefevre, R.), translated and printed by Caxton, 35-37, 95 Reprinted by G. Leeu, 65 Jerome, St. _Vitas Patrum_, colophon, 90 Jersey, Earl of. Copy of _Recuyell_ sold, 29 Library sold, 64 John of Westphalia, Printer, 26 John of Trevisa, 53 _Katherine, Life of St._, printed with Caxton's type by W. de Worde, 80, 98, pl. XXIII. Kendale, John, _Indulgence_ of. _See Indulgence._ Kent, Weald of, Birthplace of Caxton, 15, 16 _King Apolin of Tyre_, printed by De Worde in 1510, 34 Knight of the Tour. _See_ La Tour-Landry, G. Könnecke, Archivist at Marburg, 57 Lambarde, William. _Perambulation of Kent_, 15 Lambeth Palace Library, Copy of _Book of Good Manners_, 68 Manuscript of _Dictes_, 39 Landry, Geoffrey de la Tour-. _See_ La Tour-Landry. La Tour-Landry, Geoffrey, 60 _See also Booke which the Knyght of the Toure made._ Large, Robert, Master of Caxton, 16, 17 Laurentius de Saona. _Margarita Eloquentiae_, or, _Nova rhetorica_. _See Margarita._ _Lectura super institutiones._ _See_ Angelus de Aretio. Leeu, Gerard, Printer of Antwerp. Dutch edition of _Reynard_, 51 Reprint of _Paris and Vienne_, _History of Jason_, _Chronicles of England_, 65, 66, 87 Lefevre, Raoul, 27, 36 _See also Recueil des histoires de Troyes_ and _Recuyell_, etc. _Legenda secundum usum Sarum_, printed for Caxton, probably by Maynial, 71, 82, pl. XVII. Collation, 97 "Legends" bequeathed by Caxton, 82 Legrand, Jacques (Jacobus Magnus), 68 _See also Book of Good Manners._ Leicester, Earl of. Copy of _Propositio_, 43 Lenox Library, New York, Copy of _Caton_, 60 Le Roy, G., Printer at Lyons, 77 Lettou, John, First London printer, 47, 48 Lewis de Bretaylles, 38 _Liber de ludo scacchorum_ (Cessolis, J. de). _See Game of Chess._ _Liber Festivalis_, or _Festial_ (Mirk, J., comp.), printed by Caxton, 56, pl. IX. Second edition, 77 Collation, 96 Lidgate, John, 14, 50, 57 _See also Chorle and the Bird_, _Curia Sapientiae_, _Horse, the Shepe and the Goose_, _Life of Our Lady_, _Pilgrimage of the Soul_, _Stans puer ad mensam_, _Temple of Glass_. _Life of Charles the Great. See Charles the Great._ _Life of Our Lady_ (Lidgate, J.), printed by Caxton, 57, 95 _Life of St. Katherine of Senis. See Katherine._ _Life of the Holy and Blessed Virgin St. Winifred. See Winifred._ Lincoln Minster, Copies of _Recuyell_, 30 _Reynard_, 52 Sale of Caxtons, 30 Linton, Mr., Suggestion as to metal blocks, 53 List of Caxton's books, with collations, 91-97 _Little John. See Book of Courtesy._ _Livre des Eneydes_, printed at Lyons, 1483, by G. le Roy, 77 Lloyd, Mr., of Wygfair, Library sold, 1816, 64 London, John Lettou first printer of, 47, 48 Louvain, Printing at, 26 _Lover's Confession. See Confessio Amantis._ Low Countries, Caxton Governor of the English nation in, 34 Lumley, Lord, Autograph, 84 Lydgate. See Lidgate. _Lyf of St. Katherin. See Katherine, Life of St._ Machlinia, William de, London printer, 80 Madden, Note on Caxton at Weidenbach, 24 Made-up copies of Caxtons, 54, 55 Magdalene College, Cambridge. Pepysian collection, Copy of _Reynard the Fox_, 76 Manuscript colophon of _Metamorphoses_, 83, pls. XXIV., XXV. Malory, Sir Thomas. _See Morte d'Arthur_. Mancinellus, Revision of Donatus, 68 _Manipulus Curatorum. See Doctrinal of Sapience._ Mansion, Colard, Illuminator and writer of manuscripts, 24, 26 Press at Bruges established, 25 Partner of Caxton, 26, 27, 30 Printed alone, 25, 31, 32 Manuscript preferred to printing for presentation, 84 Margaret, Lady, mother of Henry VII., patron of Caxton, 33, 34 Margaret, Queen, 72 _Margarita Eloquentiae_ or _Nova Rhetorica_ (Laurentius de Saona), printed by Caxton, 45, 97 Martens, Thierry, Printer, 26 Mary, Queen of England, Copy of _Psalter_, 49-50 Maydeston, Clement, 66 _See also Directorium._ Maynial, or Maynyal, Printer for Caxton, 70, 71, 97, pl. XVII. Medal, Earliest known English, 48 _Meditaciones sur les sept pseaulmes_, printed by C. Mansion, 31, 32 _Memorare novissima. See Quatre derrenieres choses._ Mercers' Company, Caxton a member of, 34 Mention of, 51 Merchant Adventurers, or "English nation in the Low Countries," Caxton Governor of, 18, 19, 34 Merchant's mark in Caxton's device, 70, 71 Merton College, Oxford, Copy of _Canterbury Tales_, 37 _Metamorphoses of Ovid_, a lost product of Caxton's press, 83, pls. XXIV., XXV. Mielot, Jean, 52 Mirk, John. _See Liber Festivalis._ _Mirrour of the World_ (Vincentius), translated and printed by Caxton, 50, 51, fac-simile pls. VI., VII. Reprinted, 75, 76 Collations, 97 _Missale secundum usum Sarum_, printed for Caxton by Maynial, 70, 97 Montemagno, Bonaccursus. _See_ Bonaccursus. Moore, Bishop, Collector of Caxtons, 41 _Morale Proverbes of Cristyne_ (Christine de Pisan), translated by Earl Rivers, printed by Caxton, 39, 40, 93 _Morte d'Arthur_ (Malory, Sir T.), printed by Caxton, 63-65, 96 Mutilation of Caxtons, 54, 55 Myllar, Andrew, First printer of Scotland, 35 _New Testament. Apocrypha. Infancia Salvatoris. See Infancia._ Newton, Lord, Copy of _Missale_, 70 Notary, Julyan, Printer, 86 _Nova Rhetorica. See Margarita Eloquentiae._ Number of books printed by Caxton, 79, 80 O, Fifteen prayers commencing with. _See Fifteen Oes._ Obray, William, Governor of Merchant Adventurers, 19 _Of Old Age and Friendship._ _See_ Cicero, M. T. Oldys on handwriting of Caxton, 51 _Order of Chivalry_, printed by Caxton, 62, 96 _Ordinale secundum usum Sarum_, printed by Caxton, 42, 74, 96, pl. V. _Orologium Sapientiae_, part of _Book of divers ghostly matters_, _q. v._ Os, Gotfried van, 80 Osborne, Thomas, Bookseller. Copy of _Infancia Salvatoris_, 44 _Morte d'Arthur_, 64 Osterly, Copy of _Morte d'Arthur_, 64 Ovid. _Metamorphoses. See Metamorphoses._ Oxford, Earl of. Copies of _Charles the Great_ and _Paris and Vienne_, 65 Library sold, 64 _Oxford, Life of Robert, Earl of_, translated by Caxton, 84 Oxford, Press at, 47 Pamphlets printed by Caxton rare, 34, 35, 41-46 Parchment not used as binding material by Caxton, 75 _Paris and the fair Vienne_, translated and printed by Caxton, 65 Collation, 96 Reprinted by G. Leeu, 65 Parker, Archbishop, Books bequeathed to Corpus Christi, 45 _Parvus Cato._ _See_ Cato. Pepysian library. _See_ Magdalene College. Perde, William, Copy of _Polycronicon_, 54 Peterborough, Earl of, Copy of _Godfrey_, 52 Petrus Carmelianus, Editor of _Sex Epistolae_, 57 "Philosopher," Wood-cut, pl. VIII. _Pica. See Directorium Sacerdotum; also Ordinale secundum usum Sarum._ _Pilgrimage of the Soul_ (Deguilleville, G.), translated by Lidgate, and printed by Caxton, 54, 95 Pisan, Christine de. _See_ Christine. Pitt, Moses, 62 _Polycronicon_ (Higden, R., compiler), printed by Caxton, 53, 54, 94 Pope, American collector, Copy of _Morte d'Arthur_, 64 Pratt, William, Mercer, 68 _Prayers, Death-bed. See Death-bed prayers._ Premierfait, Laurence de, 52 Prices, Highest, paid for a Caxton, 67 _See also_ under names of individual books. Printing, Brito reputed inventor of, 25, 26 Introduced into Europe, 13 Into England, 13, 27 Prior, Robert, Reputed author of _Life of St. Winifred_, 59 Proctor, Robert, Discovery of _Donatus melior_, 68 _Propositio Johannis Russell_, printed by Caxton, 42, 44, 97 _Psalter_, printed by Caxton, with signatures, 49, 96 Pynson, Richard, not apprenticed to Caxton, 89 Reprinted _Servitium_, 49 Quartos, Almost all early ones unique, 35 _Quatre derrenieres choses_, also called _Cordiale, Memorare novissima_, or _De quattuor novissimis_, printed by Caxton and Mansion, 30 Collation, 91 For English translation printed later by Caxton, _see Cordyale_. _Quattuor Sermones_, printed by Caxton, 56, 96 _Queen Anelida and the false Arcyte_ (Chaucer, G.), printed by Caxton, 41, 92 Quires of eight leaves, Caxton's books in, 80 Record Office, Document concerning Caxton's daughter, 87 _Recueil des histoires de Troyes_ (Lefevre, R.), translated by Caxton, 19, 20, 24, 25 Printed by Mansion, 31, 32 _Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye_ (Lefevre, R.), translated by Caxton, 20, 21 Manuscript presented to Duchess of Burgundy, 25 Printed by Caxton, 17, 20, 21, 28-30, fac-simile pl. II. Collation, 91 Prices, 20-30 Red ink, Caxton's method of printing in, 30, 78 Red Pale, Sign of the, 33 _Reynard the Fox_, translated and printed by Caxton, 49, 51, 52 Reprinted, 75, 76 Collations, 96 Reynes, John, Binding by, 62 Rhodes, Besieged by Turks, 48 Richard II., Command to poet Gower, 59 Ripon Cathedral, Copy of _Vocabulary_, 48-49 Rivers, Lord, Illuminated portrait of, 39 Translator of: _Dictes_, 38, 39 _Quatre derrenieres choses_, 45 Rood and Hunte, Oxford printers, 56 Roxburghe, John, Duke of, Copy of _Blanchardyn and Eglantine_, 75 _Royal Book_, translated and printed by Caxton, sold for £2,225, 67 Binding lined with _Indulgences_, 68 Collation, 96 _Rule of St. Benet_, Part of _Book of divers ghostly matters_, _q. v._ Russell, John. _Propositio Johannis Russell. See Propositio._ St. Alban's Grammar School, Copy of _Boethius_, 37-38, 50 Press, 47 St. John's, Bedford, Church library, 67 St. John's College, Oxford, Copy of _Canterbury Tales_, 59 St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, "Bureyng of Mawde Caxston", 88 Salisbury, Church of. _Hours_, _Legends_, _Missal_, _Ordinale_. _See_, respectively, _Horae_, _Legenda_, _Missale_, _Ordinale_, _ad usum Sarum_. Saona, Laurentius de. _Nova Rhetorica. See Margarita Eloquentiae._ Sarum, Church of. _See_ Salisbury. Scotland, Andrew Myllar first printer of, 35 Scott, Sir Walter, Comment on _Morte d'Arthur_, 64 Scott, Mr., of British Museum, Remark on Caxton's will, 86 Scrope, Translator of _Dictes_, 52 Selden collection, 75 _Sermones, Quattuor. See Quattuor Sermones._ _Servitium_, or _Festum de Transfiguratione Jesu Christi_, printed by Caxton, 78, 94, pl. XXI. _Servitium_, or _Festum de Visitatione Beatae Mariae Virginis_, printed by Caxton, reprinted by De Worde and Pynson, 48, 49, 94 _Sex Epistolae_, edited by Petrus Carmelianus, printed by Caxton, 57 Shrewsbury School, Copy of _Confessio Amantis_, 59 Shrewsbury, John Talbot, Earl of, 72 Signatures adopted by Caxton, 47, 49 Sixtus IV. _Indulgence_, 48 _Sex Epistolae_, 57, 97 Skelton, John, Assisted Caxton in translation, 77 Smith, Richard, Copy of _Godfrey of Bologne_, 52 Somerset, Margaret, Duchess of, 75 _Somme des vices et vertus_ (La). For English translation, _see_ Royal Book. _Sophologium_, 68 _Speculum Vitae Christi_ (Bonaventura, St.), printed by Caxton, 67, fac-simile pl. XV. Second edition, 77 Wood-cut intended for, 79 Collations, 91 Printed by De Worde, 73 Spencer, Lord, Collection of Caxtons at Manchester, 62 Copies of: _Blanchardyn and Eglantine_, with manuscript note, 75 _Dictes_, 39 _Eneydos_, 77 _Four Sons of Aymon_, 74 _Game of the Chess_, 30 _Golden Legend_, 63 _Propositio_, 43, 44 _Recueil_, printed by Mansion, 31 _Recuyell_, 28 _Reynard_, 52 Supplied missing leaves for _Canterbury Tales_, 37 _Stans puer ad mensam_ (Lidgate, J.), printed by Caxton, 41, 96 _Statutes_ of Henry VII., printed by Caxton, 73, 97 Stow, John, Description of "almonesrye," _etc._, 33, 34 Strype, Rev. John, Life of Archbishop Parker, 45 Taylor, Watson, Sale, 31 _Temple of Brass_ (Chaucer, G.), printed by Caxton, 41, 92 _Temple of Glas_ (Lidgate, J.), printed by Caxton, 41, 96 Theological and liturgical books printed by Caxton, 77 Thorney, Roger, 52 Title-page first used at Westminster press, 80 Tour-Landry. _See_ La Tour-Landry. Trade regulations in England, 19 Translations made by Caxton. _See before under_ Caxton. _Treatise of Love_, printed with Caxton's type by De Worde, 81, 98 _Treatise on Pestilence_ (Canutus), Title-page prefixed, 80 Trinity College, Dublin, Copy of _Indulgence_, 1489, 73 Triphook, Bookseller, 74 _Troilus and Creside_ (Chaucer, G.), printed by Caxton, 59, 92 Turks, Crusade against, 73 Tutet, Copy of _Chronicles_, 54 _Twelve Profits of Tribulation_, part of _Book of divers ghostly matters_, _q. v._ Type, Invention of movable, 13 Types, Caxton's No. 1, 22 _et seq._, pl. II. No. 2, 30, 31, pl. IV. Recast, 45 No. 2*, 48, pls. VI.-VIII. No. 3, 49, pls. III., V. No. 4, 48, 49 Recast, 56 _et seq._ No. 4*, pls. IX.-XI. De Worde's modification, 80, pl. XXIII. No. 5, 68, pls. XV., XXI. No. 6, 80, pls., XIX., XX. No. 7, 72, 73, pl. XVIII. No. 8, pl. XX. Caxton's types used by Mansion, 31, 32 By De Worde, 80-82, 98 Chronological arrangement of Caxton's books by, 73, 74 Smallest used. _See_ No. 7. Upsala University Library, Copy of _Margarita Eloquentiae_, 45 Utrecht, Printing at, 26 Vander Haeghen, Dr. Ferdinand, 78 Veldener, John, printer at Louvain, 26, 27 Vellum, Copy of _Doctrinal of Sapience_ printed on, 76 Not used by Caxton for bindings, 75 Venetians, Letters in interest of, 57 Vincentius. _Mirrour of the World. See Mirrour._ Vineis, R. de. _Life of St. Katherine of Senis. See Katherine._ Virgilius. _Eneydos. See Eneydos._ Visitation, Feast of, 49 _See also Servitium._ _Vitas Patrum_ (St. Jerome), translated by Caxton, printed by De Worde, 90 _Vocabulary in French and English_, printed by Caxton, 48, 97 Voragine, Jacques de. _Golden Legend. See Golden Legend._ Waste sheets found in bindings, 38, 68 Weald of Kent, Birthplace of Caxton, 15, 16 Weidenbach, Monastery of, 24 Westminster Abbey, Caxton's will possibly preserved in, 86 Westminster press, Conducted by Caxton, 33-79 List of books printed by Caxton, 91-97 Continued by De Worde, 80-85 List of books printed by De Worde, 98 White Knights sale, 1819, 55 Windsor Royal Library, Copy of _Doctrinal of Sapience_, 76 _Fables of Aesop_, 61 _Winifred, Life of the Holy and Blessed Virgin St._, translated and printed by Caxton, 59, 97 Women, Caxton adds to _Dictes_ chapter on, 38 Wood-cuts. A, first wood-cut initial used in England, 48, 62 Caxton's first illustrations, 51 Not engraved abroad, 53 Doing double duty, 58 Special cuts mentioned: Crucifixion, pl. XXII. Caxton's device, 70, 71, pl. XVI. De Worde's device, 81 "Figure of a Philosopher", 76, pl. VIII. Transfiguration, 76 Special mention of illustrated books: _Cato parvus et magnus_, 3d ed., 53 _Canterbury Tales_, 58, pl. X. _Directorium_, 66 _Fables of Aesop_, 61, pls. XII., XIII. _Fifteen Oes_, 78, pl. XXII. _Game of Chess_, 2d ed., 53, pl. VIII. _Golden Legend_, 63 _Image of Pity_, 66, pl. XIV. _Mirrour_, 51, 76, pls. VI., VII. _Speculum_, 67, 79, pl. XV. Wool trade, Abbots of Westminster in, 34 Worde, Wynkyn de, Printer. Birth, _etc._, 88, 89 Device, 81, 88 Printed books with Caxton's type, 79 _et seq._, 88, 98 _Also Ars moriendi_, 77-78 _Four Sons of Aymon_, 74 _King Apolyn of Tyre_, 34 _Polycronicon_, 52 _Speculum_, 73 Quatrain about Caxton at Cologne, 22, pl. I. Remark on Caxton's death in _Vitas Patrum_, 90 Wood-cut used by, pl. XXII. York Cathedral, Copy of _Chorle_, 2d ed., 42 _Horse_, 41 Zel, Ulric, Printer at Cologne, 24 PRINTED FOR THE CAXTON CLUB BY R. R DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY AT THE LAKESIDE PRESS, CHICAGO [Illustration] [Advertisement pasted into the front of this Book: WITH A GENUINE LEAF PRINTED BY W. CAXTON PRESERVED AT END. 44 CAXTON (William), by E. GORDON DUFF. _With 25 full-plates of facsimiles of specimens of his work, etc._ 4to, orig. boards, uncut. _Chicago, The Caxton Club_, 1905. (SEE ILLUSTRATION, PLATE NO. XVII.) The above is one of a few special copies, each of which contains A GENUINE ORIGINAL LEAF (contained in a pocket at end), from a copy of the First Edition of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," printed by Caxton, and formerly in Lord Ashburnham's Library, having been purchased for this purpose by the Caxton Club. The Author has compiled an extremely interesting Biography of the First English Printer, avoiding, as far as possible, the merely mechanical bibliographical details (which have been relegated in an abridged form to an Appendix), and has confined himself to a more general description of the Books, especially of those not hitherto correctly or fully described, and is able to add to the Bibliographical List some discoveries and corrections, since Blades published his great work in 1861. ] Transcriber's Note: _ _ represents italic text = = represents bold text ^ indicates a superscript. Characters after ^ are to be treated as superscript until the next space or punctuation mark, unless overridden by braces. The spelling in parts of this book is from the 15th century, some centuries before spelling rules existed. The text is as printed. Sundry missing or damaged punctuation has been repaired. Both hyphenated and non-hyphenated variants of many words occur in this book. All have been retained. Illustrations which interrupted paragraphs have been moved to more convenient positions between paragraphs, and Index page numbers amended, if necessary. Page 24: 'plait' corrected to 'plaît'. "tôt ou tard, s'il plait à Dieu, sur William Caxton...." Page 93: '8' corrected to 'a'. "Cordyale fol. 1479 [a-i^8, k^6]; 78 leaves. Leaves 1, 78 blank. Page 95: 'Ed. 2' added to 2nd entry, as for similar entries above and below. "Lidgate (John). The horse, the sheep and the goose 4to [1477] [a^8, b^10]; 18 leaves. Leaf 1 blank. Lidgate (John). The horse, the sheep and the goose. Ed. 2 4to [1477] [a^8, b^10]; 18 leaves. Leaf 1 blank." Page 115: 'Somerest' corrected to 'Somerset'. "Somerset, Margaret, Duchess of, 75" 
27834	----	Paul and the Printing Press Sara Ware Bassett Little, Brown and Company [Illustration: Paul gazed up at the presses that towered high above his head. FRONTISPIECE. _See Page 179._] The Invention Series PAUL AND THE PRINTING PRESS BY SARA WARE BASSETT WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY A. O. SCOTT BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1920 Copyright, 1920, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. All rights reserved Published April, 1920 Norwood Press Set up and electrotyped by J. S. Cushing Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. "... Beneath the rule of men entirely great The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold The arch-enchanter's wand!--Itself a nothing-- But taking sorcery from the master-hand To paralyze the Caesars--and to strike The loud earth breathless!--Take away the sword-- States can be saved without it!" --BULWER-LYTTON, _Richelieu_ It gives me pleasure to acknowledge the kindness of Mr. Edwin A. Grozier, the Editor and Publisher of _The Boston Post_, and the courtesy of his employees who have offered me every assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. S. W. B. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I PAUL CAMERON HAS AN INSPIRATION 1 II THE CLASS MEETING AND WHAT FOLLOWED IT 13 III MR. CAMERON TAKES A HAND IN THE GAME 27 IV ANOTHER ALLY 41 V PAUL GIVES THANKS FOR HIS BLESSINGS 50 VI A GAME OF CARDS 61 VII A MAD TEA PARTY 74 VIII THE ROMANCE OF BOOKMAKING 86 IX PAUL EMBARKS ON ANOTHER VENTURE 101 X A DISASTER 111 XI TEMPTATION ASSAILS PAUL 125 XII TEMPORIZING 138 XIII THE CAMERONS HAVE A VISITOR 149 XIV PAUL MAKES A PILGRIMAGE TO THE CITY 162 XV THE DECISION 184 XVI AN AMAZING MIRACLE 195 XVII THE CLOUDS CLEAR 203 XVIII GRADUATION 212 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Paul gazed up at the presses that towered high above his head _Frontispiece_ "_The March Hare_!" he repeated with enthusiasm. "You've hit it, Cart!" PAGE 10 More than one dignified resident of the town struggled into an incongruous garment " 74 "But I can't take your money, Mr. Carter," gasped Paul " 136 PAUL AND THE PRINTING PRESS CHAPTER I PAUL CAMERON HAS AN INSPIRATION It was the vision of a monthly paper for the Burmingham High School that first turned Paul Cameron's attention toward a printing press. "Dad, how much does a printing press cost?" he inquired one evening as he sat down to dinner. "A _what_?" "A printing press." Mr. Cameron glanced up quizzically from the roast he was carving. "Aren't you a trifle ambitious?" Paul laughed. "Perhaps I am," he admitted. "But I have often heard you say, 'Nothing venture, nothing have.'" It was his father's turn to laugh. "Yet why does your fancy take its flight toward a printing press?" Eagerly Paul bent forward. "Why you see, sir," he explained, "ever since I was chosen President of '20 I've wanted my class to be the finest the Burmingham High ever graduated. I want it to leave a record behind it, and do things no other class ever has. There has never been a school paper. They have them in other places. Why shouldn't we?" Mr. Cameron was all attention now. "We've plenty of talent," went on Paul with enthusiasm. "Even Mr. Calder, who is at the head of the English department, asserts that. Dick Rogers has had a poem printed in the town paper--" He saw a twinkle light his father's eye. "Maybe you'd just call it a verse," the boy smiled apologetically, "but up at school we call it a poem. It was about the war. And Eva Hardy has had an essay published somewhere and got two dollars for it." "You don't say so!" "Besides, there is lots of stuff about the football and hockey teams that we want to print--accounts of the games, and notices of the matches to be played. And the girls want to boom their Red Cross work and the fair they are going to have. There'd be plenty of material." "Enough to fill a good-sized daily, I should think," remarked Mr. Cameron, chuckling. Paul took the joke good-naturedly. "How do people run a paper anyhow?" he questioned presently. "Do printing presses cost much? And where do you get them? And do you suppose we fellows could run one if we had it?" His father leaned back in his chair. "A fine printing press is a very intricate and expensive piece of property, my son," he replied. "It would take several hundred dollars to equip a plant that would do creditable work. The preparation of copy and the task of getting it out would also take a great deal of time. Considering the work you already have to do, I should not advise you to annex a printer's job to your other duties." He saw the lad's face cloud. "The better way to go at such an undertaking," he hastened to add, "would be to have your publication printed by some established press." "Could we do it that way?" "Certainly," Mr. Cameron nodded. "There are always firms that are glad to get extra work if paid satisfactorily for it." There was a pause. "The pay is just the rub," Paul confessed frankly. "You see we haven't any class treasury to draw on; at least we have one, but there's nothing in it." The two exchanged a smile. "But you would plan to take subscriptions," said the elder man. "Surely you are not going to give your literary efforts away free of charge." "N--o," came slowly from Paul. Then he continued more positively. "Oh, of course we should try to make what we wrote worth selling. We'd make people pay for it. But we couldn't charge much. Most of us have been paying for our Liberty Bonds and haven't a great deal to spare. I know I haven't." "About what price do you think you could get for a school paper?" "I don't know. I haven't thought much about it. Perhaps a dollar, or a dollar and a quarter a year. Not more than that." "And how many members would be likely to take it?" Paul meditated. "There are about fifty seniors," he said. "But of course the other three classes would subscribe--at least some of them would. We shouldn't confine the thing simply to the doings of the seniors. We should put in not only general school news but items about the lower classes as well so that the paper would interest everybody. It ought to bring us in quite a little money. Shouldn't you think we could buy a press and run it for two hundred dollars?" "Have you considered the price of paper and of ink, son?" "No; but they can't cost much," was the sanguine response. "Alas, they not only _can_ but _do_," replied his father. "Then you think we couldn't have a school paper." "I did not say that." "Well, you mean we couldn't make it pay." "I shouldn't go so far as that, either," returned Mr. Cameron kindly. "What I mean is that you could not buy a printing press and operate it with the money you would probably have at hand. Nevertheless there are, as I said before, other ways of getting at the matter. If I were in your place I should look them up before I abandoned the project." "How?" "Make sure of your proposition. Find out how many of your schoolmates would pledge themselves to subscribe to a paper if you had one. Then, when you have made a rough estimate of about how much money you would be likely to secure, go and see some printer and put the question up to him. Tell him what you would want and find out exactly what he could do for you. You've always been in a hurry to leave school and take up business. Here is a business proposition right now. Try your hand at it and see how you like it." Mr. Cameron pushed back his chair, rose, and sauntered into his den; and Paul, familiar with his father's habits, did not follow him, for he knew that from now until late into the evening the elder man would be occupied with law books and papers. Therefore the lad strolled out into the yard. His studying was done; and even if it had not been he was in no frame of mind to attack it to-night. A myriad of schemes and problems occupied his thought. Slowly he turned into the walk and presently he found himself in the street. It was a still October twilight,--so still that one could hear the rustle of the dry leaves as they dropped from the trees and blew idly along the sidewalk. There was a tang of smoke in the air, and a blue haze from smoldering bonfires veiled the fall atmosphere. Aimlessly Paul lingered. No one was in sight. Then the metallic shrillness of a bicycle bell broke the silence. He wheeled about. Noiselessly threading his way down the village highway came a thick-set, rosy-faced boy of sixteen or seventeen years of age. "Hi, Carter!" called Paul. "Hold on! I want to see you." Carter grinned; stopping his wheel by rising erect on its pedals, he vaulted to the ground. "What's up, Paul?" Without introduction Paul plunged into his subject. He spoke earnestly and with boyish eloquence. "Say, Cart, what do you think of '20 starting a school paper?" "A paper! Great hat, Kipper--what for?" Kipper was Paul's nickname. "Why, to read, man." "Oh, don't talk of reading," was Melville Carter's spirited retort. "Aren't we all red-eyed already with Latin and Roman history? Why add a paper to our troubles?" Paul did not reply. "What do you want with a paper, Kipper?" persisted Melville. "Why to print our life histories and obituaries in," he answered. "To extol our friends and damn our enemies." Carter laughed. "Come off," returned he, affectionately knocking Paul's hat down over his eyes. "Stop your kidding, Cart. I'm serious." "You really want a newspaper, Kip? _Another newspaper!_ Scott! I don't. I never read the ones there are already." "I don't mean a newspaper, Cart," explained Paul with a touch of irritation. "I mean a zippy little monthly with all the school news in it--hockey, football, class meetings, and all the things we'd like to read. Not highbrow stuff." "Oh! I get you, Kipper," replied young Carter, a gleam of interest dawning in his face. "That wouldn't be half bad. A school paper!" he paused thoughtfully. "But the money, Kip--the money to back such a scheme? What about that?" "We could take subscriptions." "At how much a subscrip, oh promoter?" "I don't know," Paul responded vaguely. "One--twenty-five per--" "Per--_haps_," cut in Melville, "and perhaps not. Who do you think, Kipper, is going to pay a perfectly good dollar and a quarter for the privilege of seeing his name in print and reading all the things he knew before?" In spite of himself Paul chuckled. "Maybe they wouldn't know them before." "Football and hockey! Nix! Don't they all go to the games?" "Not always. Besides, we'd put other things in--grinds on the Freshies--all sorts of stuff." "I say! That wouldn't be so worse, would it?" declared Melville with appreciation. He looked down and began to dig a hole in the earth with the toe of his much worn sneaker. "Your idea is all right, Kip--corking," he asserted at length. "But the ducats--where would those come from? It would cost a pile to print a paper." "I suppose we couldn't buy a press second-hand and do our own printing," ruminated Paul. "Buy a press!" shouted Carter, breaking into a guffaw. "You are a green one, Kip, even if you are class president. Why, man alive, a printing press that's any good costs a small fortune--more money than the whole High School has, all put together. I know what presses cost because my father is in the publishing business." Paul sighed. "That's about what my dad said," he affirmed reluctantly. "He suggested we get someone to print the paper for us." "Oh, we could do that all right if we had the spondulics." "The subscriptions would net us quite a sum." "How much could we bank on?" "I've no idea," Paul murmured. "I'll bet I could nail most of the Juniors. I'd simply stand them up against the wall and tell them it was their money or their life--death or a subscription to the--what are you going to call this rich and rare newspaper?" he inquired, suddenly breaking off in the midst of his harangue and turning to his companion. "I hadn't got as far as that," answered Paul blankly. "But you've got to get a name, you know," Melville declared. "You can't expect to boom something so hazy that it isn't called anything at all. _Don't you want to take our class paper_ won't draw the crowd. You've got to start with a slogan--something spectacular and thrilling. _Buy the Nutcracker!_ _Subscribe to the Fire-eater!_ _Have a copy of the Jabberwock!_ For goodness sake, christen it something! Start out with a punch or you'll never get anywhere. Why not call it _The March Hare_? That's wild and crazy enough to suit anybody. Then you can publish any old trash in it that you chose. They've brought it on themselves if they stand for such a title." Paul clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "_The March Hare!_" he repeated with enthusiasm. "You've hit it, Cart! _The March Hare_ it is! We'll begin getting subscriptions to-morrow." "You wouldn't want to issue a sample copy first, would you?" Melville suggested. "No, siree! That'll be the fun. They must go it blind. We'll make the whole thing as spooky and mysterious as we can. Nobody shall know what he is going to eat. It will be twice the sport." "But suppose after you've collected all your money you find you can't get any one to print the paper?" "We'll have to take a chance," replied Paul instantly. "If worst comes to worst we can give the money back again. But I shan't figure on doing that. We'll win out, Cart; don't you worry." [Illustration: "_The March Hare!_" he repeated with enthusiasm. "You've hit it, Cart!" _Page 10_.] "Bully for you, old man! You sure are a sport. Nothing like selling something that doesn't even exist! I see you years hence on Wall Street, peddling nebulous gold mines and watered stocks." "Oh, shut up, can't you!" laughed Paul good-naturedly. "Quit your joshing! I'm serious. You've got to help me, too. You must start in landing subscriptions to-morrow." "I! I go around rooting for your _March Hare_ when I know that not a line of it has seen printer's ink!" sniffed Melville. "Sure!" Melville grinned. "Well, you have a nerve!" he affirmed. "You're going to do it just the same, Cart." There was a compelling, magnetic quality in Paul Cameron which had won for him his leadership at school; it came to his aid in the present instance. Melville looked for a second into his chum's face and then smiled. "All right," he answered. "I'm with you, Kipper. We'll see what we can do toward fooling the public." "I don't mean to fool them," Paul retorted. "I'm in dead earnest. I mean to get out a good school paper that shall be worth the money people pay for it. There shall be no fake about it. To-morrow I shall call a class meeting and we'll elect an editorial staff--editor-in-chief, publicity committee, board of managers, and all the proper dignitaries. Then we'll get right down to work." Melville regarded his friend with undisguised admiration. "You'll make it a go, Kip!" he cried. "I feel it in my bones now. Hurrah for the _March Hare_! I can hear the shekels chinking into our pockets this minute. Put me down for the first subscription. I'll break the ginger-ale bottle over the treasury." "Shall it be a dollar, a dollar and a quarter, or an out and out one-fifty?" "Oh, put it at one-fifty. We're all millionaires and we may as well go in big while we're at it. What is one-fifty for such a ream of wisdom as we're going to get for our money?" Melville vaulted into his bicycle saddle. "Well, I'm off, Kipper," he called over his shoulder. "Got to do some errands for the Mater. So long!" "I can depend on you, Cart?" "Sure you can. I'll shout for your _March Hare_ with all my lungs. I'm quite keen about it already." Paul watched him speed through the gathering shadows and disappear round the turn in the road. Then, straightening his shoulders with resolution, he went into the house to seek his pillow and dream dreams of the _March Hare_. CHAPTER II THE CLASS MEETING AND WHAT FOLLOWED IT The following day at recess, after a noisy clamor of conversation and laughter, the class meeting came to order. "I have called you together to-day," began Paul Cameron from the platform, "to lay before 1920 a new undertaking. I am sure there is not one of you who does not want to make our class a unique and illustrious one. The Burmingham High School has never had a paper. 1920 has the great opportunity to give it one and to go down to history as its founder." He paused. "The big dailies do not appreciate us. They never write us up. Why should we not write ourselves up--chronicle our doings, that such noteworthy deeds may never be forgotten?" A ripple of laughter greeted the interrogation. Paul saw his advantage and went on. He painted in glowing terms his dream of the _March Hare_. Every instant the interest and enthusiasm of his audience increased. Once a storm of clapping broke in upon his words but he raised his hand and the noise ceased. Quietly he closed his modest speech with the suggestion that a managing board be appointed to put the project into operation, if such were the pleasure of the meeting. Before he could seat himself a dozen boys were on their feet. "Mr. President!" shouted Melville Carter. "Mr. President!" came at the same moment from Donald Hall. "Mr. President! Mr. President!" The cry rang from every corner of the room. Paul listened to each speaker in turn. 1920 was not only unanimous but insistent upon the new venture. In less time than it takes to tell it Paul himself was elected editor-in-chief, an editorial staff had been appointed, Melville Carter was voted in as business manager, and Billie Ransome as publicity agent. Nor did 1920's fervor end there. Before the meeting adjourned every person in the class had not only pledged himself to subscribe to the _March Hare_ but had promised to get one or more outside subscriptions. Paul, descending from the speaker's desk, was the center of an admiring and eager group of students. "I say, Kip, where are you going to get the paper printed?" questioned Donald Hall. "I don't know yet," replied Paul jauntily. "We'll have to see how much money we are going to have." "Why don't you get Mel Carter's father to do it? He publishes the _Echo_, and Mel is our business manager. That ought to give us some pull." Paul started. "I never thought of asking Mr. Carter," he returned slowly. "I don't believe Melville did, either. He's kind of a grouch. Still, he couldn't do more than refuse. Of course the _Echo_ is pretty highbrow. Mr. Carter might feel we were beneath his notice." "No matter," was Donald's cheerful answer. "I guess we could live through it if he did sit on us. Besides, maybe he wouldn't. Perhaps he'd enjoy fostering young genius. You said you were going to make the paper worth while and something more than an athletic journal." "Yes, I am," retorted Paul promptly. "We've got to make it tally up with what the subscribers pay for it. I mean to put in politics, poetry, philosophy, and every other sort of dope," he concluded with a smile. "You certainly are the one and only great editor-in-chief!" chuckled Donald. Then he added hastily: "There's Melville now. Why don't you buttonhole him about his father?" "I will," cried Paul, hurrying across the corridor to waylay his chum. "Hi, Cart!" Melville came to a stop. "Say, what's the matter with your father printing the _March Hare_ for us?" "What!" The lad was almost speechless with astonishment. "I say," repeated Paul earnestly, "what's the matter with your father printing the _March Hare_? He prints the _Echo_. Don't you believe he'd print our paper too?" Melville was plainly disconcerted. "I--I--don't know," he managed to stammer uneasily. "You see, the _Echo_ office is such a darn busy place. My father is driven most to death. Besides, we couldn't pay much. It wouldn't be worth the bother to the _Echo_." "Maybe not," said Paul. "But don't you think if your father knew we were trying to run a decent paper he might like to help us out? Who knows but some of us may become distinguished journalists when we grow up? There may be real geniuses in our midst--celebrities." "Great Scott, Paul, but you have got a wily tongue! You've kissed the Blarney Stone if ever man has!" But Paul was not to be cajoled from his purpose. "Won't you put it up to your Pater when you go home, Cart?" "_I_ ask him!" exclaimed Melville, drawing back a step or two. "I couldn't, Kip. Don't put me in such a hole. I wouldn't dare. Straight goods, I wouldn't. You don't know my dad. Why, he wouldn't even hear me out. He'd say at the outset that it was all rot and that he couldn't be bothered with such a scheme." "You absolutely refuse to ask him?" Melville turned a wretched face toward Paul. "I'd do most anything for you, Kip," he said miserably. "You know that. But I couldn't ask favors of my father for you or anybody else. He isn't like other people. I'd go to any one else in a minute. But Father's so--well, it would just take more nerve than I've got. He's all right, though. Don't think he isn't. It's only that he's pretty stiff. I'm afraid of him; straight goods, I am." Paul nodded. "I see." There was an awkward pause. "Would you have any objection to somebody else going to him?" "You?" "Possibly." "Not the least in the world," Melville declared. "I don't see why you shouldn't if you want to take a chance. You'll have no luck, though." "He couldn't any more than kick me out." "He'll do that all right!" Melville exclaimed, with a grin. "What if he does?" asked the editor-in-chief with a shrug of his shoulders. "Well, if you don't mind being turned down and swept out of the office before your mouth is fairly open, go ahead." "I shan't go to the office," responded Paul deliberately. "I shall go around to the house." "Good heavens!" "Why not?" "Well, I don't know why--only it makes Father as mad as hops to be disturbed about business after he gets home." "I'm not supposed to know that, am I?" "N--o." "Then I shall come to the house," reiterated Paul firmly. "Your father will have more leisure there and I think he will be more likely to listen." "He won't listen to you anywhere." "We'll see whether he will or not," said Paul. "At least I can make my try and convince myself." "It'll be no use, Kip," persisted Melville. "I hate to have you disappointed, old chap." "I shan't be disappointed," said Paul kindly. "I shan't allow myself to expect much. Even if your father does turn me down he may give me a useful pointer or two." "He won't do anything for you," Melville asserted dubiously. "He'll just have nothing to do with it." In spite of Paul's optimism he was more than half of Melville's opinion. Mr. Carter was well known throughout Burmingham as a stern, austere man whom people feared rather than loved. He had the reputation of being shrewd, close-fisted, and sharp at a bargain,--a person of few friends and many enemies. He was a great fighter, carrying a grudge to any length for the sheer pleasure of gratifying it. Therefore many a more mature and courageous promoter than Paul Cameron had shrunk from approaching him with a business proposition. Even Paul did not at all relish the mission before him; he was, however, too manly to shirk it. Hence that evening, directly after dinner, he made his way to the mansion of Mr. Arthur Presby Carter, the wealthy owner of the _Echo_, Burmingham's most widely circulated daily. Fortunately or unfortunately--Paul was uncertain which--the capitalist was at home and at leisure; and with beating heart the boy was ushered into the presence of this illustrious gentleman. Mr. Carter greeted him politely but with no cordiality. "So you're Paul Cameron. I've had dealings with your father," he remarked dryly. "What can I do for you?" Paul's courage ebbed. The question was crisp and direct, demanding a reply of similar tenor. With a gulp of apprehension the lad struggled to make an auspicious opening for his subject; but no words came to his tongue. "Perhaps you brought a message from your father," suggested the great man, after he had waited impatiently for an interval. "No, sir. Father didn't know that I was coming," Paul contrived to stammer. "I came on my own account. I wanted to know if you wouldn't like to print the _March Hare_, a new monthly publication that is soon coming out." "The _March Hare_!" repeated Mr. Carter incredulously. Paul nodded silently. "Did I hear aright?" inquired Mr. Carter majestically. "Did you say the _March Hare_?" The title took on a ludicrous incongruity as it fell from his lips. "Yes, sir," gasped Paul. "We are going to get out a High School paper and call it the _March Hare_." Mr. Carter made no comment. He seemed too stunned with amazement to do so. "We want to make it a really good paper," went on Paul desperately. "The school has never had a paper before, but I don't see why it shouldn't. We're all studying English and writing compositions. Why shouldn't we write something for publication?" "Why, indeed!" There was a note of sarcasm, or was it ridicule, in the words, that put Paul on his mettle. "We intend to make it a good, dignified magazine," he went on quickly. "We plan to have the school news and some more serious articles in it. We've got a managing board, and an editorial staff, and all the things papers have." "And why do you come to me?" "Because we need a printer." "You wish me to print this remarkable document?" Paul smiled ingenuously. "Yes, sir." There was a silence. Mr. Carter seemed too dumfounded to speak. "You see," went on the boy, "getting out a paper would give us fellows some business experience and at the same time some practice in writing. I believe we could make the thing pay, too." "How many subscribers have you?" "I had two last night--myself and another boy," Paul replied. "But to-day I have a hundred and fifty; by to-morrow I expect to add about two hundred more." "Your circulation increases rapidly," remarked Mr. Carter, the shadow of a smile on his face. "Yes, sir, it does," came innocently from Paul. "How many numbers would you wish to issue annually?" "Ten. We'd want to bring out a paper the first of each month from October to June. With our studies, that would be about all we could handle, I guess." "I guess so, too," agreed Mr. Carter caustically. "How large a paper do you plan to have?" he added an instant later. "Oh, I hadn't thought much about that. It would depend on how much space we could fill up. Perhaps twenty-five pages." The magnate nodded. It was impossible to fathom what was going on in his mind. Was he preparing to burst into a tirade of ridicule, or was he really considering the proposition? "We'd want some good sort of a cover, of course," Paul put in as an afterthought. "In colors, I suppose." "Yes, sir." "And nice paper and clear print." "Yes, indeed," said Paul, not noting the increasing sarcasm in the man's voice. "How much would you charge for an annual subscription?" "A dollar and a half." "Have you any idea what it would cost to get out a paper such as you propose?" There was a ring of contempt in the words. "No, sir." "Well, it would cost a good deal more money than you have to offer, young man." With a cruel satisfaction he saw the boy's face fall. "Then that's the end of it, I guess, so far as your firm is concerned," replied Paul, turning toward the door. "I'll have to take my proposition somewhere else." Something in the boy's proud bearing appealed to the man. It had not dawned on him until now that the lad actually considered the proposal a strictly business one. He had thought that he came to wheedle and beg, and Mr. Carter detested having favors asked of him. Calling Paul back, he motioned him to sit down. "I'm not ready to wind up this matter quite so quickly," he observed. "Let us talk the thing over a little more fully. Suppose I were to make you a proposition." Leaning forward, he took a cigar from the library table and, lighting it, puffed a series of rings into the air. "There are certain things that I want to do in Burmingham," he announced in leisurely fashion. There was a twinkle of humor beneath the shaggy brows. "Your father, for example, doesn't take the _Echo_. He has none too cordial feeling toward me personally, and in addition he says my paper is too conservative. Then there are firms that I can't get to advertise with us--business houses in the town that are not represented on our pages. And lastly, Judge Damon has constantly refused to do a set of political articles for me. Put those deals through for me, and I'll print your _March Hare_." He leaned back in his chair, regarding Paul with a provoking smile. "But how can I?" gasped Paul, bewildered. Mr. Carter shrugged his shoulders. "That's up to you," he said. "Sometimes fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Your father, for instance, will certainly want this venture of yours to succeed. Tell him that if he takes the _Echo_ instead of the _Mirror_, or in addition to it, it will be a big help to you." "But my father--" burst out Paul, then stopped suddenly. "I know he doesn't like me," put in Mr. Carter calmly. "We differ in politics and we've had one bad set-to on the subject. He won't take my paper--wouldn't do it for love or money. I know perfectly well how he feels." "So that's why you want to make him do it?" "Never you mind, sonny. I want you to get him to. That's enough," was the curt retort. Paul flushed. "And with regard to the advertising I mentioned," continued Mr. Carter, "I am sure you can easily carry that through. The Kimball and Dalrymple boys are in your class, aren't they?" "Yes, sir." "Tell them the _Echo_ wants an ad. from the firm of George L. Kimball and from Dalrymple and Company." "Oh!" "As for Judge Damon--well, if you can't manage the judge, I can't tell you how to do it. All is, I want six articles on The League of Nations. He's an authority on international law and the best man I know to handle the subject. He hasn't, however, much more use for me than your father has, and thus far has politely refused every offer I've made him." "Carl Damon is on our _March Hare_ literary staff," ventured Paul. "There you are!" declared Mr. Carter triumphantly. "Set him at his father's heels and tell him to bring me the six articles I'm after. Then you boys flax round and get me ten new firms to advertise in the _Echo_ and I'll sign a contract with you to print your _March Hare_ in good shape." The lips of the elder man curled humorously. Paul rose. "It's mighty good of you, sir," he murmured. "Don't thank me, youngster, until you've landed your bargain," protested Mr. Carter with shame-faced haste. "Remember I said that when you had fulfilled my conditions _then_ I would print your _March Hare_; I shan't do it until then." "But I am sure we can fulfill them." "You seem very certain of it." "I feel so." "Humph! Have you ever tried to get an ad?" "No, sir." "Or asked your father why he didn't take the _Echo_?" "No." "Or tried to worm an article out of Judge Damon?" Paul shook his head. "Then you've some fun ahead of you," remarked Mr. Carter, rising. "I'd wait to do my crowing if I were you." With a grim laugh and a gesture of farewell he swept the boy from the room. CHAPTER III MR. CAMERON TAKES A HAND IN THE GAME As Paul walked down the steps of the Carter mansion he felt, as did David Copperfield in the presence of the waiter, very young indeed. Had Mr. Carter simply been making game of him? And was the business world actually such a network of schemes and complexities? And how did it happen that the printing of a newspaper was such a difficult and expensive undertaking? Why should it be? Paper and ink were common enough commodities surely. All that had to be done was to print, and if a press were at hand it must be the easiest thing in the world to do that. Why did people make such a fuss over printing a paper? Thoughtfully he walked home and turned in at his own door. He was in a very sober frame of mind, unwontedly sober for him; so sober, in fact, that his father, whom he encountered in the hall, exclaimed: "Goodness me, son, you look as if your last friend on earth had perished. What's the matter?" The boy smiled faintly. "Nothing, sir." "But you'd never look like that if there weren't. Come, tell me all about it. What's the trouble?" The gray eyes of the man regarded the lad kindly. "I'm--I'm just thinking." "About what, pray? Something pretty solemn, I'll be bound," persisted his father. "Oh, I've a lot of things on my mind," answered Paul hesitatingly. "Suppose you give me a sample of one of them." "Just business," replied Paul. As the words fell with familiar cadence, Mr. Cameron laughed. How often he had met his wife's troubled inquiries with the same retort. "Business, eh! And how long is it since the burdens of business have fallen on your young shoulders?" "Since yesterday." "And already you are bowed to the earth with worry?" commented his father playfully. "Come, son, what's troubling you?" "The school paper." "Not going to be able to put it through?" "Oh, it's not that," said Paul quickly. "We are going to put it through all right, although at this moment I don't exactly see how. I had no idea it cost so much to get a paper printed." "It isn't the actual printing, so much as the typesetting and all that goes with it, that makes printing an expensive job," explained Mr. Cameron. "Just now, too, paper and ink cost a great deal, and labor is high." "Did people always have to pay so much for paper?" "People didn't always use to have paper, my son." Paul opened his eyes. "What did they print on, then?" "They didn't have printing presses, either," answered Mr. Cameron. "Long ago people did not care so much for reading as we do now. Most of them hadn't education enough to read a book or a paper if they had had one. In fact, many kings, bishops, and persons of rank could neither read nor write. Charlemagne could not sign his own name. The era before the Renaissance was an age of unbelievable ignorance. It is a marvel that with the turmoil of war and the utter lack of interest in anything intellectual any learning came out of the period." "But aren't there very old writings in some of the museums?" "Yes, we have manuscripts of very ancient date," agreed his father. "Much of the matter in them however--material such as the Norse Sagas and the Odes of Horace--were handed down by word of mouth and were not written until long after they had been chanted or sung. Poets and minstrels passed on their tales to other bards; had they not done so, Homer, Ossian, and the Sanscrit Vedas would have been lost to us. A metric arrangement of the stories was probably made to aid the singers in remembering their subject matter. You know how much easier it is to memorize something that has a swing or rhythm?" Paul nodded. "That without question accounts for the poetic form in which some of our oldest literature has come down to us," Mr. Cameron said. "Then, as good luck would have it, Roman and Greek slaves were compelled to copy many of the writings of the time on long rolls of vellum or papyrus, and in that way more of the ancient literature was preserved. There was only a small reading public in either Rome or Greece, and those who were interested in books could secure what they wished through professional scribes, or could listen to readings of the classics from the portico of some rich nobleman who had been fortunate enough to secure a copy of some rare poem or play. Often, too, such things were read in the baths, which in those days took the place of our modern clubs." "And that was the way we got our early books?" "Yes. There were slaves whose duty it was to do nothing but copy manuscripts for their masters. They were given food, shelter, and clothing in return for their labors. Of course they were not an educated class of workers, and in consequence they often made mistakes; but they served to prevent the total destruction of such classics as--" "Cæsar's Commentaries, I suppose," interrupted Paul mischievously. "Cæsar's writings would have been a great loss," declared his father good-humoredly. "Not to me! Nor Cicero's either." "But are they not all old and interesting as a relic of history?" "They are more interesting now that you have told me something about them," admitted Paul, with characteristic honesty. "Oh, you would find many interesting and even amusing incidents connected with these early writings, were you to study into the matter," continued Mr. Cameron. "Fancy, for example, a hand-written scroll of a book selling for the equivalent of two cents in our money; and fancy others not selling at all, and being used by grocers to wrap up spices and pastries. The modern author thinks he is paid little enough. What, I wonder, would he say to such treatment?" Paul laughed. "Even at a later date when the monks began copying and illuminating manuscripts there was at first no great demand for them. Learning was conceded to be the rightful possession of the rich and powerful, and whether the kings or nobles of the court could read or not, most of the books were bought by them simply as art works. Many, of course, especially the most skillfully illuminated ones, were very beautiful and were well worth owning." "But think of the time it must have taken to make them by hand!" speculated Paul. "Time was no object in those days," smiled his father. "There was nothing to hurry about. A monk would toil at a single manuscript day after day, month after month; sometimes year after year. It must have been a sleepy, tiresome business to write out even a short manuscript so carefully, to say nothing of a long one like the Bible. What wonder that the patient workers were so glad when their tedious task was done that they inscribed at the end of it a little song of thanksgiving. I remember seeing one old book in a European museum at the end of which was written: "_'This book was illuminated, bound, and perfected by Henry Cremer, vicar of the Collegiate Church of Saint Stephen in Metz, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, in the year of our Lord 1456._ "_'Thanks be to God, Hallelujah!'_ "No doubt the pious Henry Cremer was thankful for many other things besides the completion of his manuscript, but I am sure he must have been human enough to draw a sigh of relief when he put the last stroke to such a tedious piece of work. Don't you think so?" "I'll bet he was," agreed Paul. "Can't you see those patient monks alone in their dimly lighted cells, silently writing day after day?" continued Mr. Cameron. "Many a poor fellow who drudged so mechanically at his task copied the errors in the text quite as faithfully as the rest of it. In consequence, it at last became imperative to demand that the scribes work with more intelligence, and therefore at the end of a manuscript would be such an admonition as this: "_'I adjure thee who shall transcribe this book by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by His glorious coming to judge the quick and the dead, that thou compare what thou transcribest and correct it carefully according to the copy from which thou transcribest, and that thou also annex a copy of this adjuration to what thou hast written.'_ "Thus, you see, was the copyist forced to study his text and pass the caution against mistakes on to others. Nevertheless, solemn and reverent as was this warning, it did not prevent errors from slipping into the old illuminated manuscripts, and many a one is marred by misspelling or miswording." "I don't wonder it is," exclaimed Paul. "Why, the very thought that I must not make a mistake would cause me to make one. Besides, I should get so sleepy after I had written for hours that I should not know what I was doing." "Probably much of the time they didn't." Paul thought a moment. "I suppose, though, the monks were paid for their hard work, so it was only fair for them to be careful," he reflected. "On the contrary," replied his father, "they were not paid any more than were the slaves whom the Greeks and Romans employed. Their living was given them; that was all. Often the books they made were very beautiful and were sold to dignitaries of the Church or to titled persons for great sums; but any monies received from such a transaction went into the coffers of the Church and not into the monks' pockets. The Church however, in return, provided them with all they needed so they did not go entirely unrewarded. Some day when we can find time we will go to the city and hunt up some of these rare old manuscripts in the museum. You would be interested to see how exquisitely many of them are done. The initial letter, or frequently the catch word, is painted in color, and the borders are richly decorated with intricate scroll-work." "Did the monks have to design the pages as well as print them?" inquired Paul with surprise. "The same monk did not always do all the work," his father said. "Some merely inscribed the text and illuminated the first letter or word; afterward the sheets were handed to some one else who designed the decoration and sketched it in. Then it went to the colorist, who in turn illuminated, or painted, the drawing. You will find every inch of some of the more ornate manuscripts filled in with designs. The great objection to this method was that several persons handled the work and therefore in many cases the decoration had no relation whatsoever to the text; in fact, frequently it was entirely inappropriate to it." Paul smiled. "No more relation, I suppose, than the text of our school paper will have to its name: _March Hare_." "Just about the same," conceded his father with amusement. "So that's the title you've selected for your monthly?" "Yes, sir. We couldn't seem to think of anything better." "It's not bad at all. How are you coming with the project? You seem bothered." "I am--a little." "What's the matter? Haven't you money enough to induce anybody to print your publication?" "Oh, I have a printer," replied Paul confidently. "The _Echo_ is going to get it out for us." "The _Echo_!" Mr. Cameron regarded the lad incredulously. "Yes, sir." "But--but--how in the name of goodness did you pull off a bargain like that?" demanded the man. "The _Echo_ of all people! Why, I should as soon think of asking the government to do it! Their rates are enormous and they never take outside work. Are you quite sure they have agreed to do it?" "Yes. There's no mistake about it, Dad. They were perfectly serious. They made a few conditions, though." "Whom did you see?" "Mr. Carter." "Carter! Mr. Carter himself? Mr. Arthur Carter?" "Yes." "My soul and body!" murmured Mr. Cameron. "I wouldn't have believed he'd see you. You did have a nerve, son! Why, nobody ever asks a favor of Carter. I wouldn't, for a thousand dollars. It's a marvel he listened to you. And he is actually going to print your paper?" "Yes, sir--that is, under certain conditions." Paul waited an instant, then added dryly: "In fact, Dad, you're one of the conditions." "I!" The boy chuckled. "Uh-huh. He wants you to subscribe to the _Echo_." "He does, does he!" Mr. Cameron cried with indignation. "The impertinence of the man! Well, he can continue to want me to. When he finds me doing it he will be years older than he is now. What does he think? Does he expect to turn me from a broad-minded Democrat into a stand-pat Republican like himself? The old fox! He just enjoyed sending me that message, and by my own son, too. I ran against him for Mayor in 1916 and lost the fight because I wouldn't use the weapons he did. You were a little chap then and so do not remember much about it; but it was a nasty business. Since that day we've never spoken. Take his paper! I wouldn't so much as look at it if he offered it to me free of charge on a silver salver." Paul regarded his father with consternation. "But I say, Dad, if you don't help us out, it's all up with the _March Hare_." "I can't help that," blustered Mr. Cameron, striding impatiently across the hall. "Why, it's preposterous! He's making a goat of you, son, that's all. He never meant to print your paper. He simply made up a lot of conditions that he knew could never be fulfilled and sent you away with them. It was a mean trick. Just like him, too! He'd think it a great joke." "I don't believe he was joking," Paul answered slowly. "And anyway, even if he were, I don't have to take it as a joke. I can take him seriously, fulfill his contract, and make him live up to his agreement, can't I? Then if the whole thing were a joke, the joke would be on him." Mr. Cameron gazed into the boy's eager face a few seconds, then smiled suddenly. "That's not a bad idea," he observed. "We'd have Carter fast in his own trap then." "To be sure." "By Jove, Paul--if I haven't half a mind to help you out!" He slapped his son on the shoulder. "I'll do it! I declare if I won't. I'll send in my subscription to the _Echo_ to-morrow. I needn't read the thing, even if I do take it. What other tasks did the old schemer impose on you?" "I've got to get some ads for him--ten of them." "Whew!" "And I've got to ask Judge Damon for six articles on The League of Nations." "Ha, ha! That's a good one," chuckled Mr. Cameron. "The League of Nations is like a red rag to the Judge. He can't be trusted to speak of it, let alone writing about it." "Mr. Carter said Judge Damon was an expert on international law," explained Paul. "So he is, so he is! But he isn't expressing his opinion of The League of Nations, just the same." "You think he wouldn't do the articles?" "Do them? Mercy, no!" "Then I guess it was all a joke," murmured Paul, with a wistful, disappointed quiver of the lip. Mr. Cameron saw the joyousness fade from the young face. "It was contemptible for him to put up such a game on you kids!" he ejaculated. Thrusting his hands into his pockets he stared up at the ceiling. "I'm not so sure," he presently remarked slowly, "but what, if your uncle knew the circumstances, he might be coaxed into meeting Carter's demand." "Do you think so?" Again courage shone in Paul's eyes. "I'm pretty sure of it." The lad's brow became radiant. "I'll see Damon myself," went on Cameron humorously. "I'll tell him I have yielded up my preferences for the common good and that he must do the same. His son Carl is in your class, isn't he?" "Yes, sir." "Then it's as much his duty to help on 1920 as mine. He adores that boy of his. You leave him to me. I'll bring him round to our way of thinking all right." "And the ads?" "Set your classmates on their fathers," was the terse reply as the elder man clapped on his hat and left the house. Paul watched him out of sight, then sighed a happy little sigh of satisfaction. With such a sympathetic colleague to fall back upon he felt confident the _March Hare_ would succeed. CHAPTER IV ANOTHER ALLY Mr. Cameron was as good as his word. The next morning when Paul appeared at breakfast, he was greeted with the words: "Well, I won Damon over. You're to go around there this evening and he'll have a paper ready for you to the effect that in consideration of the _Echo_ printing the _March Hare_, the judge will write for the _Echo_ six articles on the pros and cons of The League of Nations. You are to get Carter to sign this agreement and then we'll lock it up in my strong box at the bank." "That's bully, Dad. It was mighty good of you to take this trouble for us." "That's all right, son. I'm always glad to help you boys out. Besides," he added whimsically, "I am not entirely philanthropic. The thing amuses me. I always enjoy beating Carter when I get the chance." Paul regarded his father affectionately. The big man seemed very human just at that moment,--little more, in fact, than a boy like himself. "Then, as I understand it, all we fellows have to do now is to round up the ten ads.," he said, dropping into his chair at the table and vigorously attacking his grape-fruit. "What ads. are you talking about, Paul?" asked his mother, who had just entered the room. "Oh, we boys down at school want to get some ads. to help publish our new paper." Mrs. Cameron listened while the plans of the _March Hare_ were unfolded to her. "Hill and Holden, the Garden Street grocers, are going to put a new coffee on the market; their man told me about it yesterday and said they were going to advertise it very extensively." "There's your chance, Paul!" cried Mr. Cameron. "Call them up this minute and nail them before they send the advertisement to the papers. We're customers of theirs and without doubt they'd just as soon send their announcement to the _Echo_ through you. Tell them they will be doing a service to the High School pupils, most of whose families' names are on their books." Paul needed no second bidding. He sprang to the telephone. A few instants later he re-entered the room with sparkling eyes. "O. K.!" he said. "I talked with one of the firm who said they would be glad to help us out. They'll prepare the ad. and let me have it to-morrow. They want a quarter of a page." "They do? Well, well, Paul! That should net the _Echo_ something," Mr. Cameron remarked. "If all the boys' mothers help them as yours has, your _March Hare_ will be a certainty by to-morrow." "You were a brick, Mater." "I just happened to recall hearing the man speak of it," returned Mrs. Cameron. Nevertheless it was quite evident that she was pleased to aid her boy. "You don't remember happening to hear any one else mention advertising, do you, my dear?" asked her husband. "I'm afraid not," was his wife's laughing reply. "Don't tease Mater, Dad," said Paul. "She's done her bit. May the others do as well." Rising from breakfast, he bent and kissed his mother affectionately. "I'm off to school!" he called. "I shall put this advertising stunt up to the business manager. He's got to expect to have something to do." "That's right, Paul," returned Mr. Cameron approvingly. "The clever business man is the one who organizes his affairs and then throws at least a part of the responsibility of carrying them out on the men in his employ. Nobody is ever interested in an undertaking in which he has no part. Share your work with the other fellow if you want to get the best out of him. Put it on his shoulders and make him feel that you expect him to do it--that you trust him to do it. He'll do ten times as much for you and he will pull with you--not against you. We're all human and like to be important. Remember that in handling men. It is one of the great secrets of success. Now off with you! You'll be late if you stand here philosophizing." Away scampered Paul. A moment later his wheel was crunching over the blue gravel of the driveway and speeding down the macadam road. Soon he was in the classroom. Excitement ran high that morning. What Cæsar did in Gaul, what Cyrus and the Silician Queen had to say to one another was of far less import to the agitated students than what the Class of 1920 did that day in Burmingham. Nevertheless the recitations dragged on somehow and by and by the geometries, Roman histories, and the peregrinations of Cyrus were tucked into the desks, and the staff of the _March Hare_ got together for a hurried business meeting in the corridor. The boys were enthusiastic that Paul had found a printer. "Hurrah for you, Kipper!" they shouted. "Good work, old man!" "Leave it to Kip!" they cried in chorus. "You'll have to get the ads.," announced Paul. "I've secured one. I leave the rest of them to you." "Right-o! We'll 'tend to them," piped Donald Hall with assurance. "My father's firm has never advertised," declared Dave Chandler. "I'll put it up to Pater when I get home." "My uncle will help us out; I bet he will," promised Oscar Hamilton. "Robey and Hamilton, you know." "The more the merrier," responded Paul gayly. "Just call me up this evening and tell me what luck you've had." "Sure, old fellow! We'll do that!" came from the boys as they dispersed. The remainder of the morning Paul mingled fragments of chemistry and Greek with visions of the _March Hare_, and the moment school was out he dashed home to complete his studying and get it out of the way that he might be free to go to see Judge Damon directly after dinner. Despite the dignity of his profession the judge was a much less formidable person to face than Mr. Arthur Presby Carter. He was a simple, kindly man, with an ingratiating smile and a keen sympathy with human nature. He was, moreover, very fond of young people. He liked all boys, seeming never to forget the fact that he himself had been one of them not so many years ago. Therefore, no sooner had Paul presented himself at the front door than he was shown into the study where, before a bright fire blazing on the hearth, the judge sat smoking. "Come in, Paul," he called cordially. "Your father told me about this undertaking of yours, and I hear I am to be one of your victims." "I'm afraid you are, sir." "Well, well! I suppose doing what we do not enjoy is good for our characters," returned the judge mischievously. "If you boys propose to do some serious writing of English and secure a little business experience, certainly your aim is a worthy one and we older folks should back you up. It's a far more sensible vent for your energy, to my mind, than so much football." "Oh, we're not going to give over our football, sir," asserted Paul with prompt candor. "No, indeed! Keep up your games by all means. But moderation is a jewel. A little football goes a good way, while business training is never amiss." "We expect to get quite a bit of business training out of issuing our paper," said Paul modestly. "And in order to do it, you young rascals are going to rope me into your schemes, are you?" demanded the judge. "Mr. Carter is." "It's the same thing--or rather it isn't the same thing, for what I would not consent to do for Mr. Carter I am going to do for you boys." Paul murmured his thanks. "Tut, tut! Say no more about it," Judge Damon commanded hastily. "My son is in the class, you know; surely I should be showing little loyalty to 1920 if I were not ready to help make it glorious; and even if I had no boy in the High School it would be the same. I should be glad to promote so worthy an undertaking." From the litter of papers on the desk the man took up a crisp white sheet which he folded carefully and slipped into an envelope. "There is a legal contract for Mr. Carter to sign," he said. "It states that in consideration of the _Echo_ Press printing ten numbers of the _March Hare_, I am to furnish Mr. Carter with six articles on the League of Nations." "It's mighty good of you, sir." The judge waved his hand. "Don't let the favor oppress you, sonny," he said. "Along with your father I am having my little joke on Carter. I'd like to see his face when you confront him with this bit of paper. He'll be bound to carry out his bargain whether he likes it or not." "You don't think he'll back down." "Carter back down! No, indeed. Mr. Carter is a man of his word. Although I differ from him on just about every possible subject, I am glad to give the devil his due. What he promises he will stick to; never fear," Judge Damon declared quickly. This prediction proved to be no idle one for when, within two or three days, Paul presented himself once more in the library of Mr. Arthur Presby Carter and placed in that august person's hand not only the ten advertisements for the _Echo_ but his father's subscription to the same paper, and the written agreement of the judge, Mr. Carter, although plainly chagrined, did not demur. On the contrary he glanced keenly at the youthful diplomat, observing grimly: "You are an enterprising young man, I will say that for you. I should not mind knowing to what methods you resorted to win these concessions from these stern-purposed gentlemen. Did you bribe or chloroform them?" The boy laughed triumphantly. "Neither, sir." "The judge, for example--I can't imagine what influence could have been brought to bear on him to have achieved such a result. I have offered him a good price for those articles and he has repeatedly refused it. And now he is going to do them for nothing." "He just wanted to help us out." "And your father?" "He was game, too." Mr. Carter was silent. "Well, I guess I can be as good a sport as they can," he observed at length. "Get your material together for your first number of the _March Hare_ and bring it over to the _Echo_ office. I'll see that one of our staff gives you a lesson on how to get it into form. Have you a typewriter?" "No, sir." "Know how to run one?" "No." "That's unlucky. We don't like to handle copy that isn't typed. It's too hard on the eyes and takes us too long. However, we must make the best of it, I suppose. Only be sure to write plainly and on but one side of the paper; and do not fold or roll your sheets. That is one thing no publisher will stand for--rolled manuscript. Remember that." "I will, sir." "I guess that's all for now. Good night, youngster." "Good night, sir." Although the leave-taking was curt it was not unkind and Paul returned home with a feeling that in spite of what he had heard of Mr. Carter's character he neither feared nor disliked the gruff man; in fact, in the sharp-eyed visage there was actually something that appealed. To his surprise the lad found himself rather liking Mr. Carter. CHAPTER V PAUL GIVES THANKS FOR HIS BLESSINGS When Paul came into the house that afternoon his father called to him from the little den off the hall. "Come here a moment, son," he cried. "I've something to show you." The boy hurried forward, all curiosity. He found his father seated before a desk on which was spread an old manuscript, brightened here and there by letters of blue or scarlet. "Strangely enough, Mr. Jordan, the curio collector, was in my office to-day and had this treasure with him. When I mentioned that I should like to have you see it, immediately, in most generous fashion, he suggested that I bring it home and show it to you. It is almost priceless and of course I demurred; but he insisted. He had just bought it at an auction in New York and was, I fancy, glad to find some one who was interested and would appreciate it. It is not complete; if it were it would be very valuable. It is just a few stray sheets from an ancient psalter. Nevertheless its workmanship is exquisite and it is well worth owning. Notice the beautiful lettering." Paul bent over the vellum pages. The manuscript, now spotted by age, was marvelously penned, being written evenly and with extreme care in Latin characters. "Were all the old books written in Latin?" he inquired with surprise. Mr. Cameron nodded. "Yes, and not only were the first manuscripts and books phrased in Latin but most of the very early printed books were written in the same language," he answered. "In those days learning was not for the general public. There was no such spirit of democracy known as now exists. It cheapened a thing to have it within the reach of the vulgar herd. Even Horace, much as we honor him, once complained because some of his odes had strayed into the hands of the common people 'for whom they were not intended.' Books, in the olden time, were held to be for only the fortunate few. The educated class considered a little learning a dangerous thing. If the people got to know too much they were liable to become unruly and less easy to handle. Therefore books were kept out of their reach. In Germany there was even a large fine and the penalty of imprisonment imposed on any one who printed, published, or bought a book translated from the Latin or Greek unless such translation had previously been censored by the authorities. Hence the people who could not read the languages were entirely cut off from all literature." "I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed Paul indignantly. "No, you never did, thank God! We live in an age and a country of freedom. But the world has not always been so easy or so comfortable a place to live in as it is now." Mr. Cameron touched the manuscript before him daintily with his finger, betraying by the gesture the reverence of the true book-lover. "This book," he remarked, "is, as you see, done on vellum. Most of the illuminators of ancient books preferred that material for their work. Papyrus such as the Romans used was too brittle to be folded or sewed, and therefore could not be bound into book form; it had to be rolled on rollers, and even then was liable to crack. It was far too perishable for bookmaking. Hence the old scribes turned to vellum, or sheepskin. But later, when the printing press came along, vellum became very unpopular indeed, because the grease in the skin spread the ink or else would not absorb it, and the harsh surface destroyed the type. Even had these difficulties not arisen, vellum would have had to be abandoned since the number of skins demanded for the making of a thick book was prohibitive. Imagine three hundred unlucky sheep offering up their skins in order to produce one of the first printed Bibles!" "Great Scott!" Paul whistled, regarding his father with incredulity. "I was as surprised as you when I read the statement," declared his father. "At that rate, where would the sheep be in a little while? All slaughtered and made into books. Fortunately the public of that day did not, as I have already explained, care much for reading; so perhaps that is the secret why some of the sheep were spared." "Why didn't they print their books on paper?" inquired Paul thoughtlessly. "Paper, you must remember, was not yet discovered; that is, it was unknown in western Europe. It had been in use in China, however, for some time; but China was not a generous country that spread its inventions to other lands. What the Chinese discovered they kept to themselves. Nor, in fact, was there any extended means of spreading such things except through the primitive methods of conquest or travel. Wars enough there were, it is true; but travel was very infrequent. Moreover, I seriously doubt if scribes would have used paper at just that period if they had had it. The first attempts at paper-making resulted in a crude, coarse product that was regarded with great scorn by the rich; and as for printed matter, the educated classes considered it a great drop from handwork and too common a thing to be purchased." "How ridiculous!" "It smacked of the masses," laughed Mr. Cameron. "Elegant persons refused to use anything so cheap. Snobbery existed among the ancients, you see, quite as extensively as in our own day, and a possession was only valuable while it was the property of the fortunate few. The instant it came within the reach of everybody it was no longer desirable in their eyes. Your snob always treasures a thing less for its intrinsic value than because other people cannot have it. So it was among the snobs that lived hundreds of years ago; the species has not materially changed. No sooner did learning become general through the use of the printing press, and become accessible to the man in moderate circumstances than it lost its savor for the rich, and many a noble boasted that he was unable to read, write, or spell. Learning suddenly became a vulgar accomplishment, a thing to be spurned, ridiculed, and avoided." "I never heard of anything so absurd!" Paul said with contempt. "It is no more absurd than is much of our present-day philosophy of life," replied Mr. Cameron. "With all our enlightenment we have not yet outgrown many of our follies." He stopped, smiling whimsically to himself. Paul bent over the richly colored pages on the table. "I don't see," he remarked, "how they ever bound such stuff as this." "The books of that early time were indeed a marvel," mused his father. "They were not at all like the books we know now. Most of them were ponderous affairs with board covers from one to two inches thick. Around many of these covers went a metal band, usually of iron, to keep the boards from warping; and in addition this band was frequently fastened across the front with a mammoth clasp. Sometimes there were even two of these bands. The corners also were protected with metal, and to guard the great volume from wear while it lay upon its side, massive, round-headed nails studded both covers. More of these big nails were set in the metal corners." "The thing must have weighed a ton!" exclaimed Paul. "A single book was a far heavier commodity than you would have cared to hold in your lap," smiled Mr. Cameron. "In fact, it was impossible to hold one of them; hence we find the old-time reading desk used as a support. It was indispensable." "But what on earth could a person do with such a book?" asked Paul. "Two or three of them would fill a room." "Almost," laughed his father. "People did not pretend to own many of them. In the first place they cost too much; and in the next place one could not have them lying about because the nails in their sides scratched the tables. Nor could they be arranged side by side on a shelf, as we arrange books now, because of the projecting nails or buttons. Their weight, too, was a menace to safety. Petrarch almost lost his leg by having a volume of Cicero which he was reading fall on it." "I always thought Cicero would much better be left alone!" cut in Paul wickedly. "Thank goodness that although I have to study Latin, I don't have to do it out of a book of that size!" "You do right to make the most of your blessings," his father answered, with a twinkle in his eye. "Such books were, to say the least, awkward to handle. Most of them were kept chained to the lecterns or desks of the churches; sometimes even to the pillars." "Chained?" "Yes, indeed," nodded Mr. Cameron. "Books were too precious and rare to risk their being stolen, as they doubtless would have been had they been left about." "I shouldn't think anybody would have wanted to carry a book big as the dictionary very far." "But suppose you were very eager to learn to read and never had the chance to lay hands on a book?" "Oh, that would be different." "That was the condition most of the persons faced who were not rich enough to purchase books, or have access to them as the scholars in the monasteries had. For at that period of history, you must recall, the Church was the custodian of learning. Priests wrote the books, copied them, had charge of such meager libraries as there were, and taught the people. There were neither schools nor libraries like ours. What wonder that the public was ignorant and illiterate?" Paul was thoughtful for a moment or two. "Maybe schools are not such a bad thing, Dad," he remarked, half in fun. "They are dreadfully inconvenient, to be sure, when you want to go and play football; still I guess we are better off with them than we should be without them." "I reckon you'd think so, were you to try the experiment of being without any," replied Mr. Cameron. "By the way, how is your football team coming on? I have not heard much about it lately." "I haven't had time to go out with the fellows for any practice work," confessed Paul, "so I am not so well up in what they are doing as I ought to be. This paper of ours keeps me hopping. We want to make the first issue a bully one--so good that everybody who hasn't subscribed will want to, double-quick. The girls are working up a fine department on Red Cross, canning, and all that sort of thing. I've allowed them three pages for articles and items. Hazel Clement is at the head of it. She's a corking girl, and her mother is going to help her some. Mrs. Clement has been on all sorts of planning boards and committees, and National Leagues and things," concluded Paul vaguely. "It would be interesting to get Mrs. Clement to write you an article some time," suggested Mr. Cameron. "Do you suppose she would?" "Certainly. She is a very public-spirited woman; moreover, she is quite as much interested in the boys and girls of Burmingham as the rest of us are, I am sure." "I've a great mind to ask her," said Paul. "If we could get one fine article a month from some parent who has something to say, it would help us tremendously. Of course, it would have to be on something the scholars would be keen on though: home gardens, or earning money, or citizenship, or making things." "I am certain that if you explained your editorial policy to some of the grown-ups they would submit manuscripts to you," returned Mr. Cameron mischievously. "You would not be obliged to bind yourself to publish them if they were not satisfactory. Editors are always at liberty to send contributions back with a slip saying that the inclosed article does not meet the needs of their paper, or else that there is no room for it." "Gee! Imagine my sending back an article that some parent had written." "If you are going to be an editor that will be part of your business. You will have to learn to discriminate between the articles that are timely, well written, interesting, and in harmony with the principles you have blocked out for your magazine." "Do you suppose Mr. Carter has to do that?" asked Paul in an awed tone. "Without question." "Then no wonder he looks as if he would freeze the blood in your veins," ejaculated the boy. "It must make him almighty severe just to keep reading stuff and sending back what he doesn't like, regardless of who wrote it." "He must keep up the standard of his paper, son. His subscribers pay good money for it and they want what they pay for. Were an editor to take pity on every poor soul who sent him an article his publication would soon be filled with every sort of trash. He has to train himself to be unprejudiced and give his readers only the best the market affords. The personal element does not enter into the matter." "I see. I hadn't thought of that side of it," Paul confessed slowly. His father watched him in silence. "I should not let this matter worry me," observed the older man presently, "for I doubt if you have so many unsolicited manuscripts that you will be troubled with returning a great number of them to their owners. And if you find yourself overrun with them you can always call in expert advice." Paul brightened. "I could ask somebody's opinion, couldn't I?" he declared. "Of course. Or you could consult with your staff." "My staff! Pooh! They wouldn't know any more about it than I did," chuckled Paul. "But you would, Dad, and so would Judge Damon. I shall come straight to you if I get stuck." "Two heads are often better than one," responded Mr. Cameron kindly. "Bring your problem home, my boy, if you find it too big for you. Together we'll thrash it out." "You certainly are a trump, Dad!" cried Paul. "I guess between us all we can make a go of the _March Hare_." "I'm sure of it!" responded his father. CHAPTER VI A GAME OF CARDS The first copy of the _March Hare_ came out amid great excitement,--excitement that spread not only through the Burmingham High School but into the home of almost every child in the town. It was a good number, exceptionally so, even as the product of an undergraduate body of students who were most of them amateurs at the writing game. A page of the magazine was given up to each of the classes and contained items of interest to freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors respectively; there was a page of alumnæ notes; another page devoted to general school news; a section on school sports; another section on girls' clubs and handicraft. The drawing master contributed a page or two on poster-making; and Mrs. Clement was prevailed upon to write a bright and practical article on the making of an iceless refrigerator. Even Mr. Carter, old newspaper warhorse that he was, was compelled to admit that the _March Hare_ was not half so mad as it was painted. In fact, he grudgingly owned to one of his employees that the new publication was quite a masterpiece for the youngsters. He had not dreamed they could do so well. It was a great surprise to him. Why, the product was quite an eye opener! A paper for general home use might not be such a bad thing in Burmingham. There was actually something in this _March Hare_ worth while for grown-ups. If the following issues continued to be of the present order of merit, the _Echo_ had nothing to blush for in fostering the scheme. As for that Paul Cameron, he was a boy worth watching. He would make his mark some day. Coming from a man who habitually said so little, such praise was phenomenal and it spurred Paul, to whom it was repeated, to increased effort. He must keep his paper up to this standard, that was certain. With such a varied group of opinions to harmonize as was represented by his editorial staff, this was not altogether an easy task. Each boy stressed the thing he was specially interested in and saw no reason for publishing anything else in the paper. Some thought more room should be given to athletics; some clamored that the "highbrow stuff" be cut out; others were for choking off the girls' articles on canning and fancy work. There were hectic meetings at which the youthful literary pioneers squabbled, and debated, and almost came to blows. But Paul Cameron was a boy of unusual tact. He heard each objector in turn and patiently smoothed away his objections until, upon a battlefield of argument from which scars of bitterness might have survived, a harmonious body of workers finally stood shoulder to shoulder, each with enthusiasm to make the particular part of the work for which he was responsible finer and more efficient. It was, as Paul declared to his colleagues, a triumph of teamwork. It had never, perhaps, come to the minds of the boys that teamwork was a term that could be applied to work as well as to play. Business and sport seemed vitally different fields of activity. Yet here they were--a group of boys pulling together, each at the post assigned him--toiling for the success of the whole body. Was it such a different thing from football or baseball after all? Business managers, authors, advertising agents, were working quite as hard to do their part as ever they had worked at right or left tackle; as first baseman, or pitcher, or catcher. The present task simply demanded a different type of energy, that was all. The same old slogan of each for the whole was applicable. Consequently every man took up his duties with a pride in his especial role on the team, and as a result the second issue of the _March Hare_ over-topped the first, and the third the second. Young people who did not go to the High School at all mailed subscriptions to the business manager; the alumnæ, now scattered in every direction, began to write for the publication to be sent them; it was good, they said, to get once more into touch with their Alma Mater. Older persons who had no children turned in applications for the _March Hare_. They had seen a copy of the paper and liked it. Into Paul's editorial sanctum articles from parents who had things to say and wished to say them gradually found their way. Many of these persons had done little writing and would not have presumed to send their attempts to a magazine of a more professional character. Mr. Lemuel Hardy, for example, submitted a humorous poem on how the grapes disappeared from his stone wall,--a poem so amusing and so good-natured yet withal containing such a pitiful little refrain of disappointment that the seniors at once took it upon themselves to see that no more of Lemuel's grapes were molested. Mrs. Wilbur wrote on raising, transplanting, and caring for currant bushes. Was it really so hard as that to bring a good crop of fruit to perfection? If so, the boy was a brute who invaded Mrs. Wilbur's garden. 1920 would see that there was no more of that! Gladys Marvin's father sent to the paper a short article on the beauty of the ordinary stones when polished and offered to polish, for a small sum, any specimen brought him. Many of the pupils of the school availed themselves of this suggestion, and before a month was out there blossomed forth a host of stones of every imaginable hue set in rings or scarfpins of silver. Stone-hunting became a craze and the geological department gained scores of pupils in consequence. One heard murmurs about quartz and crystals as one passed through the school corridors, and one came upon eager scientists comparing rings, brooches, or pendants. The drawing department was beset with pupils who wished either to make designs for jewelry, or to look over books on ancient settings for gems. Louise Clausen had a necklace she had made herself at arts and crafts class; it was set with stones she had collected--common pebbles that had been polished--and it was the envy of the entire student body. Her mother had let her melt up an old silver butter-dish to make it, she explained. Burmingham boys and girls went home _en masse_ and begged to be allowed to melt up old water pitchers, mugs, or napkin rings, and fashion jewelry. Out of the jumble of material turned in from various sources one number after another of the _March Hare_ appeared, each marked by a freshness of subject matter and a freedom of expression in such complete contrast to other publications that even such an august medium as the _Echo_ broke over its traditions to a sufficient extent to glean an idea here and there from the infant prodigy and enlarge upon it. Once no less a personage than Mr. Arthur Presby Carter himself asked of Paul permission to reprint in the columns of his paper an article that had particularly appealed to him as unique and interesting. "I tried," declared Paul, when relating the incident to his father, "not to fall all over myself when granting the permission. I told him that of course the thing was copyrighted, but that we should be glad to have him use it on the condition that he printed the source from which he had obtained it. One of his men told me afterward that we let him off too easy--that Carter was determined to have the article, and would have paid us a good sum for the privilege of republishing it. We never thought of charging him for it; we were proud as Punch to have him reprint it." Mr. Cameron laughed. Paul's frankness had always been one of the lad's greatest charms. "Pride goeth before destruction, my son," he remarked jestingly. "However, perhaps you did as well not to put a price on your product. Mr. Carter has done quite a little to boost your undertaking and you can afford to grant him a favor or two. But I will say you are getting pretty deep into newspaper work, Paul." "I do seem to be, don't I?" smiled Paul, flushing boyishly. "I'm crazy over it, too. The more you do at it the better you like it. I don't know but that when I'm through college, I'd like to go in and be a reporter. I'd like to write up fires and accidents and wear a little badge that would admit me inside the lines at parades and political meetings." "I'm afraid you'd find there was lots to it besides the badge and the pleasure of stalking under the ropes." "I suppose so; but I'd like the chance to try it. I've always envied those chaps who whispered some magic word and walked in while the rest of us waited outside." "There you go!" cried his father. "You are just as bad at wanting what other people cannot have as ever were the early book collectors!" Paul colored. "I know it," he admitted. "I'm afraid we all enjoy having a pull and getting the best of other people. It is human nature." "It is human, that is true; nevertheless, the impulse is a very selfish one," said his father. A silence fell upon the two. They were sitting in the living room and it was almost Paul's bedtime. Outside the rain was beating on the windows; but inside a fire crackled on the hearth and a crimson glow from the silken lampshade made cheery the room. "I was telling the fellows to-day some of the things you told me about early bookmaking, Dad," remarked Paul. "They wanted to know if printing came soon after the illuminated books, and who invented it. I couldn't answer their question and as yet have had no time to look up the matter. We had quite a discussion about it. Perhaps you can save me the trouble of overhauling an encyclopedia." "I've no business to save you from such an expedition," retorted Mr. Cameron with amusement. "Morally, the best thing you can do is to look up the answer to your question yourself. It is good for you. However, because the subject happens to interest me, I am going to be weak enough to reply to your query. Printing did follow the hand-illuminated and hand-penned manuscripts and books; but before printed books made their appearance, there was an interval when printers tried to say what they had to say by means of pictures. You know how we give a child a picture book as a first approach to more serious reading. He is too undeveloped to comprehend printed words; but he can understand pictures. It was just so in the olden days. The uneducated masses of people were as simple as children. Hence the pioneer printers' initial efforts were turned in the direction of playing cards, pictures for home decoration--or _images_, as they were called--and genuine picture books, where the entire story was told by a series of illustrations." Mr. Cameron paused in his narrative. "You can readily see, if you think for a moment," he presently went on, "how such an innovation came about. Paper had not been invented, and vellum was not only costly but too limited in supply to permit many books being printed. Moreover, as I told you, hand in hand with this objection was the fact that the majority of the public had no interest in learning. Their intellects were immature. They were nothing but grown-up children, and you know how children like games and picture books. Well, those are the reasons why the next step in the development of printing was in the direction of making playing cards. A coarse, thick, yellowish paper was beginning to be produced--the first crude attempt at paper-making--and on this material were engraved woodcuts of varying degrees of artistic merit. Some of the designs were merely ugly and clumsy; but some, on the other hand, were really exquisite examples of hand-coloring, unique and quaint in pattern. Thus playing cards came speedily into vogue. The finest ones were painted on tablets of ivory, or engraved on thin sheets of silver. It is interesting, too, to note that the old conventional designs then in use have, with very little modification, persisted up to the present day. Probably the playing cards in common use were printed by the same crude method as were the images, and unfortunately history has failed to unravel just what that method was. They may possibly have been stenciled. All we have been able to learn is that cards, images (which were in reality religious pictures), and stenciled altar cloths--the first primitive printing on cloth--all appeared very early in southern Europe, playing cards having their origin in Venice, where in 1400 and even before that date we read of the Venetians playing cards." "Do you suppose their games were anything like ours?" questioned Paul, much interested. "I doubt it. Probably, for example, there was no bridge whist in those days," said his father, with a chuckle. "And I'll wager, too, the Venetians were quite as happy and as well off without it. The games of the time were doubtless much more simple. But whatever they were, they proved to be so fascinating that they soon became an actual menace. Amusements were few in those dull, monotonous days, when there were neither theaters, books, moving pictures, railroads, or automobiles. One day was much like another. Therefore even the clergy welcomed a diversion and devoted so much time to cards that the recreation had to be forbidden them. Now and then some great religious movement would sweep over the land and break up card-playing; but after a little respite people always returned to it with even greater zest than before. Nor was it a wholly bad thing. In the absence of schools the games quickened the intellect and made the common people mentally more alert; the ignorant were also trained by this means to count and solve simple problems in arithmetic, of which most of them knew nothing." "That's a funny way to get arithmetic lessons," said Paul. "Yet you can see that a knowledge of numbers could be thus obtained?" "Why, yes. Of course. But I never thought of it before." "Remember that the race had reverted to its childhood during the Dark Ages," explained Mr. Cameron. "For years all its attention had been given to warfare, and learning and the arts which had been destroyed by constant strife and turmoil had to be built up again." "But to have people learn arithmetic by means of playing cards!" mused Paul. "Better that way than not at all. It helped the big result by gradually making them realize how little they knew, and making them want to know more, which was the necessary spur to learning. You will be interested also to know, since we are discussing playing cards, that the four suits are said to represent the four great social classes of society at that time. Hearts stood for the clergy; Spades (spada meaning a sword) for the nobility; Clubs for the peasantry; and Diamonds for the more prosperous citizens or burghers." "That is interesting, isn't it?" "Yes, I think so." "And the images?" "Oh, the image-prints were small religious pictures done in color," answered his father, "and I fear they were often valued far more for their brilliant hues than for their religious significance. They represented all sorts of subjects, being taken largely from incidents in the lives of the saints. You know that at that time in many countries, especially in Italy, religious dramas were presented--plays such as Everyman and Saint George and the Dragon. Hence such scenes were constantly before the people, and they were very familiar with them. The small image-prints served to perpetuate to a great extent things which they liked and knew; and the picture books, which gave not only these scenes in other form, but also reproduced stories from the Bible, did the same. No text was necessary. The picture told the tale to a people who could not read, just as the stained-glass windows and mosaics in the churches did. Everywhere the feeble literature of the period took the form either of verbal minstrelsy, drama, or pictured representations. You will recall how most of the early races first wrote in pictures instead of letters. There were hieroglyphics in Egypt; 'speaking stories' in Assyria; and picture-writing in Turkey, China, and Japan. The picture book of the time was merely an attempt to put into simple outline, by means of woodcuts, the religious drama, or dumb shows of the day. The city of Florence did much for this form of work, its _rappresentazioni_ being printed as early as 1485. Albrecht Dürer of Germany was one of the later and most skilful woodcut artists. What the ballad was to literature the woodcut was to art--simple, direct, appealing." The man paused. "The printed story awaited several necessary factors to bring it into being. One was a public that desired to read--which this one did not; another was a means by which to print reading matter; a third was suitable paper on which to print; and the fourth, but by no means the least important, a good and proper quality of ink. One after another these difficulties were done away with. If they had not been," concluded Mr. Cameron, "you would not now have been publishing such a thing as the _March Hare_." CHAPTER VII A MAD TEA PARTY It was amazing to see how the general interest in the _March Hare_ increased as the months went by. So successful was the magazine that Paul ventured an improvement in the way of a patriotic cover done in three colors--an eagle and an American flag designed by one of the juniors and submitted for acceptance in a "cover contest", the prize offered being a year's subscription to the paper. After this innovation came the yet more pretentious and far-reaching novelty of the Mad Tea Party, a supper held in the hall of the school with seventy-five-cent tickets for admission. The mothers of the pupils contributed the food, and as Burmingham boasted many an expert cook the meal spread upon the tables was indeed a royal one. The edict went forth that no guest would be admitted to the festival unless arrayed in an "Alice in Wonderland" costume, and for the sake of witnessing the fun, as well as of helping forward the fête, more than one dignified resident of the town struggled into an incongruous garment and mingled in the train of Alice, the White Queen, the Red Queen, the Duchess, Father William, and the Aged Man. Judge Damon and Mr. Cameron provoked a storm of mirth by appearing as the Walrus and the Carpenter, and Paul's mother, who was still a young and pretty woman, came as the famous Queen of Hearts. As for Mr. Carter, although he pooh-poohed the idea and made all manner of jokes about the party, he astonished the entire community by presenting himself at the last moment as the Dormouse. [Illustration: More than one dignified resident of the town struggled into an incongruous garment. _Page 74._] Such a revel had not taken place in the village for years. In fact, there had never before been any social function which brought high and low, rich and poor together in such democratic fashion. The frolic had in it a Mardi Gras spirit quite foreign to the wonted quiet and dignity of the place. "Why, we haven't had such a shaking-up in years!" ejaculated the postmaster. "Seems like we've all got better acquainted with our neighbors in this one evening than we ever did in all the rest of our lives put together. You don't get far at knowing a man if you just bow to him every day; but when you go making an ape of yourself and he goes making an ape of himself, each of you finds out how human the other one is. You've got something in common to talk about." And it was even as the old postmaster declared. Many a social barrier was broken down and forgotten as a result of the _March Hare_ carnival. Parents ceased to remember their differences by talking together about their children, a topic that never failed to bring them into sympathy. Thus the movement which had its source in an impulse to aid the youngsters proved to be of benefit also to many of the elders. Nor was this the only consequence of the event. Into the coffers of the class treasury poured undreamed-of wealth which made possible the gift of two fine pictures to the school,--one of Washington and one of Lincoln; a large cast of the Winged Victory was purchased as well, and placed in an empty niche in the assembly hall. Thus did 1920 leave behind it a memory illustrious and not to be forgotten. In the meantime Paul, absorbed in this successful undertaking, was so busy that he had scarcely leisure to eat. The editing of the paper demanded more and more time, and as new problems were constantly arising concerning its publication he did not neglect to glean from every possible direction all the information he could about printing. The mere act of preparing copy for the press opened to his alert mind a multitude of inquiries. "I read to-day," he announced to his father one evening, "that the printing press was invented by Lawrence Coster (or Lorenz Koster) of Haarlem. The book said that he went on a picnic with his family, and while idly carving his name on the trunk of a beech tree he conceived the idea that he might in the same way make individual letters of the alphabet on wooden blocks, ink them over, and thus print words." Mr. Cameron listened attentively. "Such is the old legend," he replied. "It is an interesting one and many persons believe it to this day. History, however, fails to bear out the tale. Instead, as nearly as we can find out, what Coster is really conceded to have done was not to invent printing but to be the first to make movable type, which was one of the greatest factors in the perfecting of the industry. Holland has done honor, and rightly, to the inventor by placing a statue of him at Haarlem; but the real inventor of printing was probably John Gutenburg, a native of Strasbourg, who made a printing press which, although not so elaborate as that in present use, was nevertheless a properly constructed one. Simple as it was, the principle of it is identical with that used to-day." "That is curious, isn't it?" observed Paul. "Yes. Think how long ago it was; from 1440 to 1460 he toiled at his invention. He was a versatile man, being not only skilled in polishing precious stones but also at making mirrors. The making of mirrors was a new trade in Germany for outside the borders of Venice, where the monopoly had long been held by Italian workmen, the industry was almost unknown. It is possible that Gutenburg may have used the presses and even the lead employed for molding the mirror frames to work out his metal type. Doubtless his knowledge of melting and pouring lead was derived from his mirror-making trade. We know, however, little of his experiments. He worked in secret, spending years in research and wasting other years in delays, when money to further his invention was not forthcoming. His first printing was done about 1439 or 1440, and from that time up to 1460 he was busy printing and struggling to make his work more perfect." "What did he print in those early days?" inquired Paul. "Books?" "Yes. A few pages from them remain and are to be seen at the National Library at Paris. The letters used are very coarse and uneven and are in the Latin type employed by the monks in writing their manuscripts. It is almost a romance to picture Gutenburg shut up in the old ruined monastery where he worked night and day with one of his faithful helpers--a goldsmith who had long been in his employ--and two other tried and trusty apprentices. You can see how necessary it was that he have men whom he could rely on not to divulge his secret. Probably the goldsmith's knowledge of metals was of service to his master in the undertaking; as for the joiner who had previously aided in constructing mirror frames, he made most of the tools. We don't know much about the third workman, but we do know that later one of the trio died very suddenly, and the interruption to Gutenburg's work caused great delay. Fearful that in the meantime the secret of the invention might leak out, or that the old servant's heirs might insist on having a share in the discovery, Gutenburg melted up his forms and abandoned further labor for a time. This was a great pity, for by destroying what he had done the inventor had it all to create over again later on. His rash act did, however, prove one thing which history wanted to know, and that was that Gutenburg used metal forms and not wood to make his letters." "How soon did he re-make his metal forms?" asked Paul eagerly. "Not right away," responded Mr. Cameron. "He was deeply in debt and a good deal discouraged by the death of his efficient workman on whom he was very dependent. For six years we hear no more of him. Then he appeared at Metz where he began borrowing money again, just as he had done before. He was fortunate in securing the aid needed, and it is from this period on that his best printing was done. He now branched out into more ambitious tasks, producing a copy of the Latin Bible in three volumes. This pretentious undertaking of course required a great many letters, and he found that to cut them by hand was too slow a process; moreover, the lead letters were very soft and wore down quickly. He must cast his letters in brass molds and make them of more durable metal. But alas, such an innovation was costly and his money had given out. Therefore, much as he dreaded to part with his secret, he was forced to take into partnership a rich metal worker by the name of John Faust." Mr. Cameron paused to think a moment. "It was thus that Gutenburg procured the brass for his molds; made in them letters of harder material; and printed his Bible. With the production of this masterpiece came a strange happening, too. You can see that by printing from letters cast in molds the text was more regular than was the handwork done by the priests and monks. Hence when Charles VII of France saw one of the new Bibles he was enchanted with it and eagerly bought it because of its uniform text. The next day he displayed his recently acquired treasure to the Archbishop with no little pride, and great was his astonishment when the Archbishop asserted with promptness that he himself owned a newly purchased Bible that was quite as perfect in execution. The king protested that such a miracle could not be--that no one could write by hand two such copies. To settle the dispute the Archbishop's Bible was produced and placed beside the king's, and there they were, identically the same. The dignitaries were troubled. It was not humanly possible to pen by hand two such books. Why, it would take a lifetime--more than a lifetime; nor could any penman write two manuscripts so exactly alike. To make the matter worse and more puzzling, other copies were discovered precisely like the king's and the Archbishop's. Not a line or letter varied. It was magic!" Paul laughed with pleasure. "No wonder the poor king and the stately archbishop were upset!" he said. "They were very much upset indeed," agreed his father. "It was, you must recall, a superstitious age. Everything that could not be fathomed was attributed to witchcraft. Hence witchcraft was the only explanation of the present miracle. John Faust, of whom the two royal persons had bought the books, must have sold himself to the devil. They would have the unlucky merchant brought, and if he could not satisfactorily tell how and where he had got the Bibles, he should be burned alive." "I suppose he went and told!" put in Paul indignantly. "Yes, he did. He wasn't going to forfeit his life. I fancy any of us would have done the same, too. He showed the Archbishop his press and explained how the Bibles had been printed." "It was a pity he had to." "It was something of a pity," answered Mr. Cameron. "And yet the secret must have come out sometime, I suppose, for subsequently Faust quarreled with Gutenburg and by and by set up a press of his own at Metz, and with two printing presses in the same town, and the workmen necessary to run them mingling with the populace, it was impossible to keep such an invention from the public. Gradually it became common property and it had become universal when Metz was sacked in the Franco-Prussian War, its printing rooms destroyed, and the workmen scattered." "Did that put an end to printing?" questioned Paul. "No. On the contrary it spread the art over France and Germany. By 1500 there were over fifty presses on the continent. In the meantime William Caxton, an English merchant, traveled to Holland to buy cloth, and there became so much interested in the books he saw and the tale of how they were printed that he purchased some type and, bringing it home, set up a printing press in London not far from Westminster Abbey. The first English book to be printed was dated 1474 and was called 'The Game of Chess.' Then came a Bible which was presented to the king. From this time on there was practically an end to the handwritten books made by the monks in cloisters and monasteries. Occasionally such a volume was made for the very rich because, as I told you, the elegant still considered paper and the printed book too common and cheap for their use. But with the steady improvement of ink and paper and the awakening desire of the masses to read what was printed came the dawn of religious liberty and the birth of learning." "It is a wonderful story!" cried Paul, much moved. "A book in itself, isn't it?" said his father. "It is an interesting fact, however, that Latin and the Latin text continued to be the language of the printed book for some time; this was not only because of an established precedent, but because the Renaissance in Italy revived an interest in classic literature. But by and by people demanded books in their native tongue. They wished to read something besides the classics--literature that was alive and a part of their own era. The written _novello_, or story, began to take the place of the ballads which the _trouveurs_, or minstrels who wandered from castle to castle, had chanted. One was no longer dependent on such a story-teller. The printed novel had arrived. Its form was still very crude, but it was nevertheless a story and a broader field for entertainment than was provided by the threadbare lives of the saints. Science, too, was making remarkable progress and the public was alert to read of Bacon and Galileo, as well as of Luther and Shakespeare. Had printing come earlier it would have been to a passive, indifferent populace; now it appeared in answer to the craving of a people thirsty to read of travel, invention, poetry; to consume the Tales of King Arthur, Sir John Mandeville's Travels, Sidney's 'Arcadia', Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The Elizabethans reflected in England the rebirth of literature and learning which was sweeping all Europe at the time. Printing was not the herald, nor yet the servant, of this wonderful age; but was rather its companion, going hand in hand with it and making all the wealth of thought that it had to give available to us, as well as to those of its own day." "Long live Gutenburg!" exclaimed Paul. "Yes, we owe him a great deal," agreed Mr. Cameron. "But do not become confused and attribute everything to him. He did invent type molds for casting type and thereby brought printing to the point of a practical art. He did not invent engraving on wood, as many enthusiasts acclaim; nor did he invent impressions of relief surfaces. He was not, moreover, the first to print on paper, for the makers of playing cards and image-prints had done that before him. There had also been roughly printed books before his day and printing presses, too. There had even been movable type. But Gutenburg was the first to combine these ideas so that they could be used for practical purposes. In other words, he was the first practical typographer, not the first printer. Upon the foundation that other men had built in, he reared a permanent, useful art without which there could not have been either enlightenment or education." CHAPTER VIII THE ROMANCE OF BOOKMAKING "Ever since last night, Dad," remarked Paul, the next evening at dinner, "I have been wondering how the old printers got rid of the Latin text, lettering, or whatever you call it, and got down to printing in English like ours." "You're starting on a long story," replied Mr. Cameron, glancing up from his plate. "The development of our modern type requires a volume in itself. Many scholars and many craftsmen contributed to that glorious result. It did not come all in a minute. Gutenburg's uneven Latin lettering was a far cry from our uniform, clear, well-designed variety of print. In the first place, as I told you before, good ink and good paper were necessary to beautiful text, and these Gutenburg did not have. Gradually, however, as a result of repeated experiments, paper and ink that were of practical value were manufactured. China had long been successful in printing because of the fine texture of her paper. Italy, the home of the arts, caught up Gutenburg's invention and brought not only lettering but paper-making to a marvelous degree of perfection." "Italy and China always seem to be doing things," laughed Paul. "Both nations were inventive and original," answered Mr. Cameron. "The difference between them was that while China locked all her discoveries up within her own walled cities, Italy shared her knowledge with the rest of the world and made it and herself immortal." "The Italians were a great people, weren't they?" "They were true lovers of all that was best and most beautiful," answered his father gravely. "Even their aristocracy felt it no disgrace to toil to perfect a fine art. To make that which was excellent more excellent still was the aim of rich and poor. Nobles, artisans, barefooted friars worked together towards that common goal. It was an Italian prince, Nicholas V, a man who afterward became Pope, who founded the Vatican Library and collected five thousand books, at a time, you must remember, when a book was a rare and almost priceless treasure. To him we owe the preservation of many a valuable old manuscript that might otherwise have been destroyed. Five thousand volumes was in those days a vast number to get together." "Our public libraries would not think so now," smiled Paul. "No, because at present books are so easily within reach that we scarcely appreciate them. We certainly read only a very small proportion of them." "I know I don't read many," said Paul soberly. "You will read more as you grow older, son," returned his father kindly. "But most of us are intellectually lazy; even grown-up persons devote a good part of their short lives to reading things that profit them nothing." "Things like the _March Hare_, for example," suggested Paul facetiously. "Many a worse thing than the _March Hare_, I'm afraid," his father responded. "We seem to think we have unlimited time before us, and that there is no hurry about reading the good things we mean to read before we die; so we waste our precious moments on every sort of trash--cheap novels, worthless magazines, newspaper gossip, and before we know it, our lives are gone. I overlook your being so foolish; but for me it is inexcusable. The Italians of the Renaissance did not give themselves over to such folly. They put their hearts seriously into building up their age and generation. Lorenzo de Medici dragged from the corners of Europe and Asia some two hundred Greek and Latin manuscripts. Other Florentines, Venetians, Romans collected private libraries. Princes of the land turned their wealth not to their own idle pleasure but to financing Gutenburg's invention and establishing printing presses which the culture and brain of the country controlled. There was a printing press at the Vatican itself, and scholars who were paid large salaries met in consultation concerning the literature printed. The best artists contributed their skill to the undertaking. Indeed, it was a disagreement about some theological work that Martin Luther had come from Germany to help with that sent him back home in a temper. And not only was the matter printed carefully scrutinized but also every detail of its production was thought out--the size of the page, the size of the type, the width of the margins, the quality of the paper, the variety of type to be used. What wonder that under such conditions printing was rapidly transformed from a trade to an art. When we think of the exquisite books made in this far-away day, we sigh at our present output." Mr. Cameron's face clouded, then brightened. "Nevertheless when all is said and done, books are not for the person of wealth alone. The work of the Aldi of Italy, the Elzevirs of Leyden, the Estiennes of Paris, although of finest quality, was much too expensive for universal use. For it is the subject matter inside the book which, when all is said and done, is the thing we are after, and which we are eager to spread abroad; and never in any age has every type of literature been so cheap and accessible, or the average of culture so high as now. If a person is ignorant to-day it is his own fault. Nothing stands between him and the stars but his own laziness and indifference." "_Time_, my dear Henry," interrupted Mrs. Cameron. "Do not leave out the element of time. Remember that the farther away we get from the beginning of learning, the greater accumulation there is for us to master. Like a mammoth snowball, each century has rolled up its treasure until such a mass has come down to us that it is practically impossible for us to possess ourselves of it. Sometimes when I think of all there is to know, I am depressed." "And me, too, Mater," echoed Paul. "It seems hopeless." "But there are short outs," argued Mr. Cameron. "No one expects any of us to read all the books of the past. The years have sifted the wheat from the chaff, and by a process of elimination we have found out pretty well by this time what the great books are. By classifying our subjects we can easily trace the growth and development of any of the really significant movements of the world; we can follow the path of the sciences; study the progress of the drama from its infancy to the present moment; trace the growth of the novel; note the perfecting of the poetic form. History, philosophy, the thought of all the ages is ours. That is what I mean when I say there is no excuse for persons of our era being uninformed. We are reaping the results of many unfoldings and can see things with a degree of completeness that our ancestors could not; they looked at life's problems from the bottom of the hill and got only a partial view; we are seeing them from the top, and understanding--or we should be understanding--more fully, their interrelation." "I suppose," mused Paul thoughtfully, "that those who come after us will see even farther than we." "They ought to, and I believe they will," his father answered. "_Nothing walks with aimless feet_, in my opinion. It is all part of a gigantic, divine plan. The small beginnings of the past have been the seed of to-day's harvest. We thank Gutenburg for our books. We thank such men as Nicholas V and many another of his ilk for the Vatican Library, the British Museum, the numberless foreign museums; we owe a debt to our nation for our own Congressional Library, to say nothing of the smaller ones that, through the public spirit of generous citizens, have opened their doors to our people and done so much to educate and democratize our country." There was a moment of silence. "And quite aside from the thousands of volumes written in our own language, we have access to the literature of other nations both in translation and in their mother tongue. Remember that after printing had got well under way, type in other languages--Arabic, Greek, Hebrew--had to be developed in order that the literature of other languages might augment our own." "I don't think I took that into account," remarked Paul. "Of course," continued Mr. Cameron less seriously, "not every person of the olden time was alert for learning. Human nature was much the same then as now. "I'm afraid even in the midst of all this thirst for knowledge there were those who cared far more for the outside of a book than for the inside," he continued humorously. "Books were bound in brocade, in richly ornamented leather embossed with gilt; some had covers of gold or silver studded with gems, while others were adorned with carved ivory or enamel. As time went on and the religious manuscripts written, illuminated, and bound by the monks gave place to the more elaborate productions of a printing age, ecclesiasts were not skilful enough to do the illustrating demanded, and a guild of bookbinders sprang up. Into the hands of artists outside the cloister were put the more dainty and worldly pictures required by secular text. Then followed a period when scholars who owned books were no longer forced to loan them to students to copy for their own use, as had been the case in the past. Books became less expensive and were accessible to everybody. Slowly they were got into more practical form--were made smaller and less bulky; not only outside but inside they were improved. 'The Lives of Saints' and Fox's 'Book of Martyrs' gave way first to the tales of Merlin and King Arthur in various versions, stories of Charlemagne, and romances of similar character. Copyrights being unknown, there was no law to protect a book, and hence all the adventures of the hero of any one tongue were passed on to the favorite hero of another nationality; as a result French, Italian, Spanish, and Celtic literature teem with heroes who perform marvellous deeds of identical character." Paul was amused. "Amadis of France, the popular idol of the French people, worked the same marvels as King Arthur did, only under another name. Every nation borrowed (or rather stole) from every other. It was not considered reprehensible to do so. Shakespeare worked over the Italian _novelle_ of Boccaccio, weaving them into his great English dramas, and nobody censured him. It was this craving for romance that overcame the delight in mere display and roused interest not alone in the binding of a book but in its contents. True collectors and book-fanciers still strove with one another to obtain choice, beautiful, and fabulously expensive volumes. But for the most part the book came back to its original purpose and took its place as a mouthpiece of literature." "Do you mean that books became cheap?" asked Paul. "Not what we should consider cheap--that is, not for a long time. You see, the thing that makes a book cheap is not alone the material put into it, or the price for which it can be obtained of the author; it is largely the size of the edition printed that reduces the expense of production. It is practically as much work to print fifty copies of a volume as several hundred. The labor of setting the type is the same. The circle of readers was not large enough in olden times to justify a volume being manufactured in large numbers; nor were there any methods for advertising and distributing books broadcast as there are now." "Oh," exclaimed Paul, "I see. Of course there weren't." "Advertising and distribution play a very important part in our present-day book trade," his father went on. "To-day publishers frequently announce and advertise the book of a well-known author before the manuscript is completed, sometimes even before it is written at all. They get a scenario or résumé of the story, and take orders for the book as if it were really already finished. Or with the manuscript in their hands they will often begin 'traveling it' long before it is printed. The reason for this is that in a large country like ours it takes a long time for salesmen to get about and secure orders from the various selling houses of our large cities. It means spreading a book from coast to coast. While the publisher is getting the book through the press, correcting proof, having illustrations and the colored jacket designed and printed, perhaps having posters made for advertising, his salesmen are taking orders for it by means of a condensation of the story and a dummy cover similar to the one which later will be put on the volume. Then, when the books are ready, they are shipped east and west, north and south, but are not released for sale until a given date, when all the stores begin selling them simultaneously. You can see that this is the only fair method, for it would be impossible, for example, for San Francisco to advertise a book as new, if it had been already selling in Boston for a month or so. All the selling houses must have the same chance. So a date of publication is usually set and announced. Frequently, however, long before that date an edition, or several editions of a popular book will be sold out. Booksellers will be so certain that they can dispose of a great number of volumes that they will place large orders ahead in order to be sure of securing the books they desire." "Can they always tell ahead what people will want?" inquired Paul. "No, not always. Sometimes the public will be caught by a story and it will become popular not only to the amazement of the bookseller, but to the surprise of both publisher and author as well. One cannot always prophesy what readers will like, especially if an author is new. It is a great gamble. But usually an author whose work is known and liked can safely be calculated upon to sell." "Is it much work for a publisher to get a book ready for the market after he once gets the manuscript from the author?" asked Paul. "To produce a well-printed, artistic book requires infinite care and pains," replied Mr. Cameron. "Of course a book can be rushed through. Such a thing is possible. But under ordinary conditions it is several months, sometimes a year, before the book is ready for sale. First a galley proof of the manuscript is made; by this I mean the subject matter is printed on a long strip of paper about the width of a page but several times as long. Then this proof, which is made chiefly to be sure the type is correctly set, is examined, and the errors in it are rectified. After this it is again corrected and is cut up into lengths suitable for a page. Following this the page proof is printed, care being taken that the last word at the bottom of one page joins on to the top word of the next. It is very easy to omit a word and thus mar the sense. It is also a rule of most publishing houses that the top line of each page shall be a full line, and in consequence it is often a Chinese puzzle to make the text conform to the rule. Readers often have to insert a line or take one out to meet this necessity, and sometimes an author's text is garbled as a result. No writer likes having words or whole sentences introduced or omitted; and you can't quite blame him, either, for he has to stand behind the book and receive not only what praise it may win but also the blame showered on it by both the public and the reviewers. Naturally the book--not alone the story but the style and choice of words--is assumed to be his. If he is a careful worker he has probably weighed every word that has gone into the phrasing. He therefore does not relish having his style meddled with, even for such a technicality as the filling out of a short line." "Is it really better to heed this printer's edict?" laughed Paul. "I think without question the book makes a better appearance if the rule is heeded," declared Mr. Cameron. "A printer does and should take pride in the looks of his page. The beauty of a book is quite an element in its production. After the type has been set up and corrected, and the proof paged, the next consideration is the size of the paper to be used, the quality, the texture. The width of the margins, the clearness or brilliancy of the text, the appearance and flexibility of the binding all have to do with the artistic result which is, or should be, the aim of every publisher. When all these details have been decided upon there is yet another important factor in book-producing--the item of expense. Books being no longer the property of the few, they must be within the reach of the many, and the book-manufacturer's business is to make them so. It is precisely because we have such a large reading public that America has attained her high intellectual average. Not that we are a cultured nation. By no means. What I mean is that our public school system offers education so freely, and even compels it so drastically, that there is a much smaller proportion of illiterate persons here than in most lands. Our illiterates are largely foreigners who have not been in our country long enough to become educated. Most of them have immigrated from places where they had no educational advantages, and some of them are, alas, now too old to learn. The great part of our native-born citizens can read and write, and vast numbers of them have a much broader education than that. It is by means of the wide distribution of learning and enlightenment that we hope to banish ignorance and superstition and spread patriotism and democracy. So you see books are a giant element in our national plan, and the writing and publishing of what is worthy and helpful is a service to the country. To do all this the publisher has no easy puzzle to solve--to produce what is good literature artistically, and at a price where he shall have his legitimate profit, and yet give to the public something within the range of its purse." "I guess I'd rather stick to my job on the _March Hare_!" exclaimed Paul. "I imagine it is quite big enough for you at present," smiled his father. "Between the public, and the printer, and the bookbinder the publisher is torn in many directions. And then there is the author, who, as I say, does not like his text tampered with. Firms differ greatly about this. Some publishers feel perfectly justified in going ahead and remodeling a writer's work to suit themselves; others regard an author's manuscript as a sacred possession and never change so much as a punctuation mark on it without asking permission. They may suggest changes but they will not make them. It is a point of honor with them not to do so." Mr. Cameron smoked reflectively. "Authors, however," he went on, "are not as badly off as they were before they had the copyright. Their stories can no longer be stolen with impunity as in the past. They are better paid, too. Many an olden-time author received very scant remuneration for his labor; sometimes he received none at all. Many had to beg the patronage of the rich in order to get their works printed; contracts were unfair and publishers unprincipled. The unfortunate author was the prey of vultures who cheated him at every turn. Many died in extreme poverty, only to become famous when it was too late. In our day the law has revolutionized most of these injustices, and although there are still unprincipled publishers as there are always scamps in every calling, the best class houses deal honorably with their writers, transforming the relation between author and publisher into one of friendliness and confidence rather than one of animosity and distrust." "I suppose it is policy for a publisher to be fair." "It is more than policy; it is honesty," returned Mr. Cameron. "It does, however, pay, for without the writer the publisher could not exist, and no writer is going to put his work in the hands of a person he cannot trust. It is a short-sighted man who kills the goose that lays the golden egg!" CHAPTER IX PAUL EMBARKS ON ANOTHER VENTURE "Do you know, Dad, the _March Hare_ is rapidly turning into an elephant," announced Paul to his father one morning not long after the conversation of the previous chapter. "I am having more and more copy to prepare for Mr. Carter all the time, and am doing every bit of it by hand. It takes hours to get it ready. I'm beginning to think I ought to have a typewriter. How much does one cost? Have you any idea?" "Typewriters come at all prices," his father answered. "What I should advise you to get would be one of the small, light-weight machines. They are far less expensive than the others and do excellent work." "About how much would one cost?" "Fifty or sixty dollars." Paul gave a low whistle. "That's all very well, sir," he laughed. "But where am I to get the fifty or sixty bones to pay for it?" "I don't know, my boy. That's up to you. Doesn't your business manager provide you with a typewriter?" "Not on your life!" replied Paul. "Much as ever I can wring enough money out of him to cover my incidental expenses. No, the paper isn't fitting up offices for its hard-working staff. If I get a typewriter it must be my own venture." "You would always find such a machine useful," returned his father slowly. "It would not be money thrown away." Paul glanced down thoughtfully. "I've half a mind to save up and get one," he said suddenly. "I could put my war-saving stamps into it," he added. "So you could." "I have nearly twenty-five dollars' worth of them already." "Oh, that's fine! I had no idea you had been so thrifty." Mr. Cameron looked pleased. "We fellows have been racing each other up at school to see who could get his book filled first. I'm afraid it was not all thrift," Paul explained, meeting his father's eyes with honesty. "The result, however, seems to be the same, whatever the motive," smiled the man. "Twenty-five dollars would be a splendid start toward a typewriter. You might possibly run across a second-hand machine that had not been much used and so get it for less than the regular price. I think, considering the cause is such a worthy one, I might donate ten dollars to it." "Really! Oh, I say, Dad, that would be grand. I'll pick you right up on your offer." "You may, son. I shan't pay over my ten dollars, though, until you have the rest of the money." "That's all straight; only don't forget about it." "You needn't worry. I don't expect you will give me the chance to forget even if I wanted to," replied his father teasingly. "You bet I won't. I'm going right to work to get the rest of my cash as fast as I can," responded Paul. "And I'm going to look up machines, too." "I can give you the names of one or two good makes," his father suggested. "I wish you would, Dad. You think one of the small machines you spoke of would be good enough?" "Certainly," assented Mr. Cameron. "Many persons who do a good deal of work use the little machines from preference. They take up less room and are lighter and more compact to carry about. In these days almost nobody is without a typewriter, especially persons who write to any considerable extent. Those who write for publication find a typewriter practically imperative. Editors will not fuss to decipher hand-penned copy. The time it takes and the strain on the eyes are too great. A professional writer must now turn in his manuscript neatly typed and in good form if he expects to have it meet with any attention. The old, blotted, finely written and much marked-up article is a thing of the past. Typewriters are so cheap in these days and so simply constructed that there is no excuse for people not owning and running them." "I wonder who thought out the typewriter, Dad," mused Paul. "That is a much mooted question, my boy," Mr. Cameron answered. "There is an old British record of a patent for some such device dated 1714, but the specifications regarding it are very vague and unsatisfactory; there also was an American patent taken out by William A. Burt as early as 1829. Fire, however, destroyed this paper and we have no positive data concerning it. Since then there have been over two thousand different patents on the typewriter registered at the Government Office at Washington,--so many of them that any person applying for a patent on a new variety must have a great deal of courage." "I should say so!" "Generally speaking, all typewriters resolve themselves into two styles of keyboard machine: in one the type bars strike the paper when the keys are depressed; in the other the type is arranged around a wheel which rotates in answer to the depressing of a keyboard letter, and prints the corresponding type which is thereby brought opposite the printing point. Either variety is good. It is a matter of preference. Possibly the type-bar kind is the more common. There is, too, a difference in the manner of inking the type. One machine inks the letters from an inked ribbon that is drawn along by the action of the machine between the type face and the paper; the type of the other machine is inked from an ink pad that strikes the type before it is brought in contact with the paper. Sometimes this ribbon or ink pad is black; sometimes blue, green, red, or purple. Sometimes, too, a ribbon is so constructed that it inks in two colors, which is frequently a convenience for business purposes. Text, for example, can be done in black and the numerals--prices perhaps--put in in red." "I see. I should think that would be fine," said Paul. "Now tell me one other thing: are the letters arranged in the same order on all typewriters?" "You mean the keyboards?" "Yes, I guess that is what I mean," replied Paul. "Keyboards sometimes differ in arrangement," Mr. Cameron explained. "Some keyboards have a key for each letter, and others one key for several characters. It is, however, desirable that machines should differ as little in arrangement as possible, as typists learn a universal method of letter-placing and are consequently annoyed to find the letters in an unfamiliar location on a new machine." "I can see that would upset them dreadfully," answered Paul. "Of course they could not go so fast." "Not only that, but they would make frequent mistakes," continued his father. "The most expert typists seldom look at the keys, you know. They memorize the position of the letters and then operate the machine by the touch system, or by feeling. You have often seen a person play the piano in the same fashion. It is a great advantage for a stenographer to be able to do this, for he can keep his eyes on his copy and not constantly change his eye-focus by glancing first at the manuscript and then at the machine. He can also give his entire attention to taking dictation if he so desires. The touch system is a great timesaver; it enables any one to make twice the speed." "And the bell warns them that they are approaching the end of a line, even if they don't see that they are," Paul added. "Precisely!" "It is a great scheme, isn't it--a typewriter?" declared the boy. Mr. Cameron nodded. "What wouldn't the old monks have given for one?" went on Paul mischievously. "Think of the years of work that would have saved them." "Yes, that is true. But if we had no fine old illuminated manuscripts, we would have lost much that is beautiful and interesting. There is no question, though, that typewriters accord with our generation much more harmoniously than do painfully penned manuscripts. In our day the problem is to turn out the most work in the shortest time, and the typewriter certainly does that for us. It is a very ingenious device--a marvel until one sees a modern printing press; then the typewriter seems a child's toy, a very elementary thing indeed." "I'd like to see a big press sometime," Paul observed. "I have been trying to get my nerve together to ask Mr. Carter for a permit to visit the _Echo_ printing rooms." "The _Echo_--humph!" laughed his father in derision. "Why, my boy, much as we esteem the _Echo_ here in Burmingham, it is after all only a small local newspaper and very insignificant when compared with one of the big city dailies. You should visit the press rooms of a really large paper if you want to see something worth seeing. The _Boston Post_, for example, has the largest single printing press in the world. It was built in 1906 by the Hoe Company of New York and is guaranteed to print, count, fold, and stack into piles over 700,000 eight-page papers an hour." "Great Scott, Dad!" "It is tremendous, isn't it?" "I'd like to see it." "Sometime you shall. I think such a trip could be arranged," his father replied. "In the meantime I fancy you will have all you can do to earn the money for your typewriter, purchase it, and learn to manipulate it." "I guess I shall; that's right," agreed Paul. "How am I going to get together the rest of that money! You haven't any suggestions, have you, sir?" "Not unless you want to do Thompson's work while he takes his trip West. He is going out to Indiana to see his mother and will be away a month or so; in the meantime I have got to hire another man to do the chores about the place. The lawn must be cut; the leaves raked up; the driveway kept trim and in order; and the hedge clipped. If you want to take the job I will pay you for it." "I'd have to do the work Saturdays, I suppose." "That wouldn't hurt you, would it?" Paul thought a moment. "N--o." "Undoubtedly it would interfere with your school games, the football and baseball," said his father. "Maybe a typewriter isn't worth that amount of sacrifice." "Yes, it is." "Think you want to make a try at Thompson's job?" "Yes, sir." "Then I won't hire in another man; only remember I shall expect you to stick to the bargain. I can't have you throwing up the place in a week or two." "I shan't do that." "And I can't have my work done haphazard, either," continued Mr. Cameron. "It must be done well and regularly." "Yes, sir." "You want me to give you a trial?" "Yes, Dad." "Do you want to do the whole job--the brasses indoors too?" "Yes, I may as well take on the whole thing since I am out for money," laughed Paul. "That's right. You have the proper spirit--the spirit that buys typewriters," answered his father. "I don't believe the exercise will hurt you, and at the end of it you will have something more to show than a dislocated shoulder, maybe, or a cracked cranium." "Do you think I can earn what money I shall need to make up the rest of my fifty dollars?" inquired Paul anxiously. "Can I do it in a month?" "A month of work will give you the rest of your fifty, son; have no fears. It will give you, too, all the work you will want for one while," answered Mr. Cameron. "Unless I am greatly mistaken, you will be quite ready to resign your post to Thompson when he comes back." "Perhaps I shall," Paul replied, "but if you are repenting your bargain and are trying to scare me off, Dad, it is too late. You have hired me and I mean to stick it out." "Go ahead, youngster, and good luck to you!" chuckled his father. CHAPTER X A DISASTER It was after Paul had toiled early and late and put aside enough money for the new typewriter, and even a little more, that the first calamity befell the _March Hare_. When the accounts were found to be short, it was unbelievable. Melville Carter, the business manager, who handled all the funds, was the soul of honesty as well as an excellent mathematician. His books were the pride of the editorial staff. Therefore when he was confronted with the hundred-dollar deficit, he could scarcely speak for amazement. There must be some mistake, he murmured over and over. He had kept the accounts very carefully, and not an expenditure had been made that had not been talked over first with the board and promptly recorded. There never had been a large surplus in the bank after the monthly bills were paid, but there was always a small margin for emergencies. The treasury had never before gone stone dry. But there it was! Not only was there no money in the bank, but the _March Hare_ was about fifty dollars in the hole. Paul and Melville went over and over the accounts, vainly searching for the error. But there was no error. The columns seemed to add up quite correctly. So, however, did the deposit slips from the bank. And the tragedy was that the two failed to agree. The bank had a hundred dollars less to the credit of the _March Hare_ than the books said it should have. In the meantime, at the bottom of Paul's pocket, lay a bill of fifty dollars for publishing expenses. What was to be done? The bill must be paid. It would never do to let the _March Hare_ run behindhand. To begin to run into debt was an unsafe and demoralizing policy. Paul's father had urged this advice upon him from the first. The _March Hare_ must pay its bills as it went along; then its editors would know where they stood. And so each month the boys had plotted out their expenses and kept rigidly within the amount of cash they had in reserve. They had never failed once to have sufficient money to meet their bills. In fact, their parents had enthusiastically applauded their foresight and business ability. And now, suddenly and unaccountably, here they were confronted by an empty treasury. What was to be done? Of course the bill was not large. Fifty dollars was not a tremendous sum. But when you had not the fifty, and no way of getting it, the amount seemed enormous. Then there was the balking enigma of it. How had it happened? "If we only knew what we had done with that hundred, it would not be so bad," groaned Melville. "It makes me furious not to be able to solve the puzzle." "Me, too!" Paul replied gravely. And worse than all was the humiliation of finding they were not such clever business men as they had thought themselves to be. That was the crowning blow! "A hundred dollars--think of it!" said Paul. "If it had been twenty-five! But a cool hundred, Mel!" He broke off speechlessly. "We can't be that amount short," protested Melville for the twentieth time. "We simply can't be. I have not paid one bill that the managing board has not first O.K.-ed. You know how carefully we have estimated our expenses each month. We have kept a nest-egg in the bank, too, all the time, in case we did get stuck. I can't understand it. We haven't branched out into any wild schemes. Of course, after the party we did make those presents to the school; but we looked over the ground and made sure that we could afford to do so." "We certainly thought we could," returned Paul glumly. "Probably, though, we were too generous. Wouldn't people laugh if they knew the mess we are in now!" "Well, they are not going to know it from me," growled Melville. "If I were to tell my father we were in debt he would say it was about what he expected. I wouldn't tell him for a farm down East. And how the freshmen would hoot!" "I don't think my father would kid us," Paul said slowly, "but I know he would be awfully disappointed that we had made a business foozle." "I, for one, say we don't tell anybody," Melville burst out. "I've some pride and I draw the line at having every Tom, Dick, and Harry shouting 'I told you so!' at me. What do you say, Paul, that we keep this thing to ourselves? If we have made a bull of it and got ourselves into a hole, let's get out of it somehow without the whole world knowing it." "But how?" "I don't know," Melville returned. "All I know is I'm not for telling anybody." "But this bill, Melville? What is to become of that?" "We must pay it." "_We_?" "You and I." The room was very still; then Melville spoke again. "Haven't you any ready money, Paul?" "Y--e--s." "Have you enough so that we could halve a hundred--pay the fifty-dollar deficit and put fifty dollars in the bank?" "You mean you'd pay half of it if I would?" "Yep." "I--see." "Could you manage it--fifty dollars?" "Yes. Could you, Mel?" "Well, I haven't the fifty; but I have a Liberty Bond that I could sell and get the money." "That seems a shame," objected Paul. "Oh, I don't care. I'm game. Anything rather than having the whole school twit me of messing the accounts." "I don't care about being joshed, either," declared Paul. "Still--" "Something's fussing you. What is it?" "Well, you see, Mel, I've been doing extra work at home in order to earn enough money for a typewriter. I've just got it saved up. It'll have to go into this, now." "Darned hard luck, old man! Don't do it if you don't want to. Maybe I can--" "No, you can't! I wouldn't think of having you pay the whole hundred, even if you had the money right in your hand. This snarl is as much mine as yours. We probably haven't planned right. We've overlooked something and come out short." "We might let the bill run until another month, I suppose," Melville presently suggested. Paul started up. "No. We mustn't do that on any account. We might be worse off another month. I say we clear the thing right up and start fair. If you will turn in your fifty, I will," declared he, with spirit. "Bully for you! You sure are a sport, Kip." "I don't see anything else to be done." There was nothing else. Melville's "Baby Bond" was converted into cash; Paul's typewriter sacrificed; the fifty-dollar bill was paid; and the other fifty was put into the bank. The boys kept their own council and if the _March Hare_ sensed that its reputation had trembled on the brink of ruin it gave no sign. Gayly it went on its way. People began to comment on the paper as being "snappy" and "up to date"; they called it "breezy" and "wholesome." Now and then an appreciative note from a distant graduate would make glad the editorial sanctum. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the magazine became more and more the organ of speech for the community. Persons who had never ventured into print--who, perhaps, never would have ventured--summoned up courage to send to this more modest paper articles that were received with welcome. Being first efforts and words that their authors had long desired to speak they were stamped with a freshness and spontaneity that was delightful; if at times the form was faulty it was more than compensated for by the subject matter. Furthermore, many of the contributions were of excellent quality. Then there gradually came a day when the timid _March Hare_ had more desirable material than it had room to print. A part of this was political, for the school classes in current events had aroused in the students a keen interest in international affairs. As a consequence good political articles had been eagerly sought for. Other contributions were of scientific nature and appeared from time to time in the columns devoted to such matter. The great mass of material sent in, however, was unclassified and found its way into the department labeled: _Town Suggestions_; or into the pages known as: _Our Fathers and Mothers_. Neither of these departments had originally been featured in the _March Hare_ plan; they came as a natural outgrowth of the paper. Parents had things which they wanted to say to one another or to their boys and girls. There was many a problem to be threshed out, threshed out more intimately than it could have been in a larger and more formal paper. The questions debated never failed to interest the elder part of Burmingham's population and frequently they appealed to the youngsters as well. In fact, it was not long before these departments were merged into a sort of forum where an earnest and vigorous interchange of opinions 'twixt young and old took place. And all the while that the sprightly _March Hare_ was thus leaping on to success, Mr. Arthur Presby Carter sat quietly in his office and watched the antics of this youthful upstart. He was surprised, very much surprised; indeed he had, perhaps, never been more surprised in all his life. He had long thought he knew a good deal about the make-up of a paper,--what would interest and what would not; in fact, he considered himself an expert in that sphere. He had put years of study into the matter. Even now he would not have been willing to confess that a seventeen-year-old boy had taught him anything. That would have been quite beneath his dignity. But privately he could not deny that this schoolboy adventurer had opened his eyes to a number of things he had never considered before. The _Echo_ was a conservative, old-fashioned paper that had followed tradition rather than the lead of an alert, progressive public. From a pinnacle of confident superiority it had spoken to the people, telling them what they should think, rather than giving ear to their groping and clamoring desire for a hearing. The _Echo_ never discussed questions with its readers. Its editor had never deigned to do so, so why should his publication? To bicker, argue, and debate would have been entirely at odds with its standards. People did not need to state what opinions they held; they merely needed to be told what opinions they should hold. Thus thought Mr. Arthur Presby Carter, and thus had his policy been immortalized in his paper. But now, to his amazement and chagrin, a publication had been born that was undermining his prestige and putting to naught his creeds and theories. This absurd _March Hare_ was actually becoming the authorized mouthpiece of the town. It would have been blind not to recognize the fact. Fools had indeed rushed in where angels feared to tread, as Mr. Carter himself had jeeringly asserted they sometimes did, and as a result there had come into being this unique monthly whose subscription list was constantly swelling. The publisher shrugged his shoulders. He was a shrewd business man. He had, he confessed to himself, been trapped into printing this amateur thing, and once trapped he had been game enough to live up to his contract; but he had always viewed the new magazine with a patronizing scorn. For a press of the _Echo's_ reputation to be printing a silly High School publication had never ceased to be an absurdity in his eyes. He had regarded the first issues with derision. Then slowly his disdain had melted into astonishment, respect, admiration. There evidently was a spirit in Burmingham of which he had never suspected the existence,--an intelligence, an open-mindedness, a searching after truth. Hitherto the subscribers to any paper had been represented in his mind by a long list of names in purple ink, or else, by their money equivalent. Now, suddenly, these names became persons, voices, opinions. No one could take up the _March Hare_ and not be conscious of a throbbing of hearts. It sounded through every page--that beating of hearts--fathers, mothers, girls, boys speaking with simple sincerity of the things they held dearest in their lives. Why, it was a miracle, this living flesh and blood that glowed so warmly and sympathetically through the dead mediums of paper and ink! How had the enchantment been wrought? the magnate asked himself. To be sure, he had never tried through the columns of the _Echo_ to get into actual touch with those into whose homes his paper traveled. He had never cared who they were, what they thought, or how they lived. The problems puzzling their brains were nothing to him. But he now owned with characteristic honesty that had he cared to obtain from them this free expression of opinion and learn the reactions their minds were constantly reflecting, he would have been at a loss as to how to proceed. Yet here, through the instrumentality of a mere boy, a boy the age of his own son, the elusive result had been accomplished! Where lay the magic? The _March Hare_ was not a paper that could speak with authority on any subject, nor was it a magazine of distinct literary merit. On the contrary it naïvely confessed that it was young and did not know. It explained with frankness that it had not the wisdom to speak; that instead it merely echoed the thought of its readers. It was this "echoing idea" that was new to Mr. Arthur Presby Carter. He had always spoken. To listen to the opinions of others he had considered tiresome. Very few persons had opinions that were worth listening to. Nevertheless, after dissecting the reasons for the _March Hare's_ popularity, and lopping off the minor elements of its uniqueness and wide appeal, the elder man faced the real psychological secret of the junior paper's success: it listened and did not talk; it was a dialogue instead of a monologue,--an exact reversal of his policy. Moreover, this dialogue, contrary to his previous beliefs, presented amazingly interesting opinions. Here were the past and the present generation arguing on the policy of the new America,--what its government, its statesmanship, its ideals should be. The Past was rich in advice, experience; the Present in hope, faith, courage. Youth, the citizen of to-morrow, had a thousand theories for righting the nation's faults; and some of these theories were not wholly visionary. Did his paper, Mr. Carter wondered, call out in the hearts and minds of those who read it a similar response of patriotism and high ideals? Did it reach the great human _best_ that lies deep in every individual? Alas, he feared it did not. It was too autocratic. It aimed not to stimulate but to silence discussion and it probably did so, descending upon its audience with a confident finality that admitted of no argument. The _March Hare_, on the other hand, was apologetically modest. Nobody quailed before it. Even the least of the intellectuals feared not to lift up his voice in its presence and demand a hearing. Such a novel and rare product was worth perpetuating. From a money standpoint alone the paper might become in time a paying investment. It was, of course, a bit crude at present; but the kernel was there; so, too, was the long list of subscribers,--an asset to which he was not blind. Suppose he was to buy out this schoolboy enterprise at the end of the year and take it into his own hands? Might it not be nursed into a publication that would have a lasting place in the community and become a property of value? He would improve it--that would go without saying--touch it up and polish it; doubtless he would think best to revise some of its departments; and--well, he would probably change its name and its cover design. He could not continue to perpetuate such an absurdity as that title. Perhaps he would christen it the _Burmingham Monthly_. The notion of purchasing the amateur product appealed to his sense of humor. The more he thought of it, the stronger became his desire to own the paper. Strange he had never before considered publishing a monthly magazine. Yes, he would get out the few remaining issues of the _March Hare_ under its present name and then he would buy out the whole thing for a small sum and take it over. The boys would undoubtedly be glad enough to sell it, flattered to have the chance, no doubt. A check that would provide the editorial staff with some hockey sticks or tennis shoes would without question satisfy them. What use would they have for a paper after they graduated? Thus reasoned Mr. Arthur Presby Carter to himself in the solitude and silence of his editorial sanctum. And after he had disposed of the matter to his entire satisfaction, he took up a letter from his desk and decided with the same deliberation to purchase also certain oil properties in Pennsylvania. For Mr. Arthur Presby Carter was a man of broad financial interests and a large bank account. The Echo was only one of his many business enterprises, and buying _March Hares_ or oil wells was all one to him, a means of adding more dollars to his accumulating hoard. CHAPTER XI TEMPTATION ASSAILS PAUL While Mr. Carter sat in his editorial office and thus reflected on his many business ventures Paul Cameron was also sitting in his editorial domain thinking intently. The hundred-dollar deficit in the school treasury bothered him more than he was willing to admit. It was, of course, quite possible for him to repair the error--for he was convinced an error in the _March Hare's_ bookkeeping had caused the shortage. A bill of a hundred dollars must have been paid and not recorded. Melville Carter had never had actual experience in keeping accounts, therefore was it so surprising that he had inadvertently made a mistake? Perhaps he was not so capable of handling money and keeping it straight as the class had thought when they had elected him to his post of business manager. Paying bills and rigorously noting down every expenditure was no easy task. It was a thankless job, anyway--the least interesting of any of the positions on the paper, and one that entailed more work than most. To kick at Mel would be rank ingratitude. It was not likely he had made a mess of things wittingly. Therefore the only alternative, since neither Mel's pride nor his own would permit them to confess to the muddle, was to pay the outstanding bill and slip the rest of the cash as quietly as possible into the bank. How strange it was that the sum lacking was just an even hundred dollars! Yet after all, was it so strange? It was so easy to make a mistake of one figure in adding and subtracting columns. There did not, it was true, seem to be any mistake on the books; but of course there was a mistake somewhere. It was not at all likely that the bank had made the error. Banks never made mistakes. Well, there was no use crying over spilled milk. The success of the _March Hare_ had been so phenomenal hitherto that one must put up with a strata of ill luck. He hated to give up buying his typewriter, after all the hard work he had done to earn it. He supposed he could sell his Liberty Bond as Melville was planning to do and use that money instead of the sum he had laid by. But he did not just know how to go to work to convert a Liberty Bond into cash. It was an easy enough matter to buy a bond; but where did you go to sell one? How many business questions there were that a boy of seventeen was unable to answer! If he were to ask his father how to sell the bond, it might arouse suspicion, to ask anybody else might do so too. People would wonder why he, Paul Cameron, was selling a Liberty Bond he had bought only a short time before. Burmingham was a gossipy little town. Its good news traveled fast but so also did its bad news. Any item of interest, no matter how small, was rapidly spread from one end of the village to the other. Therefore Paul could not risk even making inquiries, let alone selling his property to any one in the place. Yet he could not but laugh at the irony of the signs that confronted him wherever he went: _Buy Bonds!_ _Invest!_ There were selling booths at the bank, the library, the town hall. At every street corner you came upon them. But none of these agencies were purchasing bonds themselves. Nowhere did it say: _Sell Bonds!_ These patriots were not at their posts to add to their troubles--not they! Once it occurred to Paul to ask the cashier at the bank what people did with Liberty Bonds which they wanted to dispose of; but on second thought he realized that Mr. Stacy was an intimate friend of his father's and might mention the incident. Therefore he at length dismissed the possibility of selling his bond and thereby meeting his share of the _March Hare_ deficit. No, he must use his typewriter money. There was no escape. He chanced to be at the _Echo_ offices that day with copy for the next issue of his paper and was still rebelliously wavering over the loss of his typewriter when the door of Mr. Carter's private room opened and the great man himself appeared, ushering out a visitor. Glancing about on his return from the elevator his eye fell on Paul. "Ah, Paul, good afternoon," he nodded. "Come into my office a moment. I want to speak to you." Paul followed timidly. It was seldom that his business brought him into personal touch with Mr. Carter, toward whom he still maintained no small degree of awe; usually the affairs relative to the school paper were transacted either through the business manager of the _Echo_ or with one of his assistants. But to-day Mr. Carter was suddenly all amiability. He escorted Paul into his sanctum, and after closing the door, tipped back in the leather chair before his desk and in leisurely fashion drew out a cigar. "How is your paper coming on, Paul?" he asked, as he blew a cloud of smoke into the room and surveyed the boy through its blueness. "Very well, Mr. Carter." "Austin, our manager, tells me your circulation is increasing." "Yes, sir. It's gone up steadily from the first." "Humph!" mused Mr. Carter. "Funny thing, isn't it? It was quite a clever move of yours to set the parents to writing. Everybody likes to see himself in print; we're a vain lot of creatures. Of course, the minute you published their articles they bought them. Could not resist it!" The lad laughed. Although he did not wholly agree with the editor it did not seem necessary to tell him so. "I guess you've found your enterprise a good deal of work," went on Carter. "Well, yes. It has taken more time than I expected," Paul admitted. "You'll be glad to get rid of it when you graduate in June." The man studied the boy furtively. "Yes, I shall. It has been great fun; but it has been a good deal of care." "You're going to Harvard, I hear." "Yes, sir. Harvard was Dad's college, and it's going to be mine." "I haven't much use for colleges," growled Mr. Carter. "They turn out nothing but a grist of extravagant snobs. I never went to college myself and I have contrived to pull along and make my pile, thanks to nobody. I've a big half mind to have Melville do the same. But his mother wants him to go, and I suppose I shall have to give in and let him. It will be interesting to see what he gets out of it." Paul did not answer. He did not just know what reply to make. "So you're set on college." "Yes, sir, I am." "What's your idea?" "To know something." The man's thin lips curled into a smile. "And you expect to acquire that result at Harvard?" "I hope so." "Well, you may," remarked Mr. Carter, with a sceptical shrug of his shoulders, "but I doubt it. You will probably fritter away your time and your father's money in boat-racing, football, and fraternity dramatics; that is what it usually amounts to." "It has got to amount to more than that with me," Paul declared soberly. "Why?" "Because Dad is not rich, and hasn't the money to throw away." A silence fell upon the room. "I should think that under those circumstances you would do much better to cut out a frilly education and go to work after you finish your high school course," observed the magnate deliberately. "Suppose I were to make you a good business offer? Suppose I were to take over that school paper of yours at the end of June--" "What!" "Wait a moment. Then suppose I took you in here at a good salary and let you keep on with this _March Hare_ job? Not, of course, in precisely its present form but along the same general lines. We could make a paying proposition out of that paper, I am sure of it. It would need a good deal of improving," continued the great man in a pompous, patronizing tone, "but there is an idea there that could be developed into something worth while, unless I am very much mistaken." "B--u--t--" stammered Paul and then stopped helplessly. "The thing is not worth much as it now stands," went on Mr. Carter, puffing rings of smoke airily toward the ceiling, "but in time we could remodel it into a publication of real merit--make a winner of it." Paul did not speak. "How do you like newspaper work?" inquired Mr. Carter, shifting the subject adroitly. "Very much--the little I've seen of it." "If you were to come in here you might work up to a place on the _Echo_." The boy started. "You're a bright chap and I like you. I'd see you had a chance if you made good." "You're very kind, sir, but--" "Well, out with it! What's the matter?" "It would knock my college career all--" "Faugh! College career! Why, here is a career worth ten of it--the chance of a lifetime. I wouldn't offer it to every boy. In fact, I wouldn't offer it to any other boy I know of--not to my own son." "It's very good of you, Mr. Carter." "See here, youngster," said Mr. Carter, leaning toward Paul impressively, "when you are as old as I am you will learn that you've got to take opportunities when they come to you. The same one never comes twice. You don't want to turn down a thing of this sort until you've considered it from all sides. Think what it would mean to remodel that paper of yours with plenty of money behind you and put it on a footing with other professional magazines. That would be a feather in your cap! I could buy the _March Hare_ in--" "I'm not sure you could, Mr. Carter," replied Paul slowly. "The staff might not want to sell it." "What!" The tone was incredulous with surprise. "I don't know that we fellows would feel that we had the moral right to sell out," explained Paul quietly. "You see, although we have built up the paper it belongs to a certain extent to the school." "Nonsense!" cut in Mr. Carter impatiently. "That's absurd! The publication was your idea, wasn't it?" "Yes, at the beginning it was; but--" "They wouldn't have had it but for you, would they?" "I don't know; perhaps not," confessed the boy reluctantly. "It was your project," insisted Carter. "Yes." "Then nobody has any right to claim it." "Maybe not the right to really claim it. But all of us boys have slaved together to make it a success. It is as much their work as mine." "What do they intend to do with it?" "Pass it on to the school, I suppose. We haven't talked it over, though. We haven't got that far yet." "Well, all I can say is that if you handed it over to the school free of charge you would be darn stupid. Why not make some money out of it? Offer to sell it to the school if you think you must; but don't give it away." Paul shook his head dubiously. "The school couldn't buy it. They've nothing to buy it with." "Then you have a perfect right to sell it to somebody else," put in Mr. Carter quickly. "In the world of business, people cannot expect to get something for nothing. What you can't pay for you can't have. If the school has no money--" he broke off with a significant gesture. "Now if I offered you fellows a lump sum in June--a sum you could divide amongst you as you saw fit--wouldn't that be a perfectly fair and legitimate business deal?" "I--I--" faltered Paul. "Wouldn't it?" Mr. Carter persisted. "I suppose so," murmured Paul unwillingly. "Only, you see, I still feel that the paper should go to the school. I think the other fellows would feel so too." Nettled Mr. Carter rose and strode irritably across the room and back. Then he came to a standstill before Paul's chair and looked down with steely eyes into the lad's troubled face. "But you admitted just now that you and the staff had made the paper what it is, didn't you?" "Yes." "Then it belongs to you, doesn't it?" "In a certain sense; yes." "Now see here, Paul," began Mr. Carter. "You are the editor-in-chief of that magazine, and the head of the bunch. What you say would go with them--or it ought to. You could make them think about what you pleased. Why don't you put it up to your staff to sell the paper to me and pocket the proceeds?" "Because I don't think--" "I guess you could manage to think as I wanted you to if it were worth your while, couldn't you?" smiled the great man insinuatingly. "I don't quite--" "Turn it over in your mind. It is a straight business proposition. You land your _March Hare_ here in my office as my property at the end of June, and I will make it worth your while. Understand?" The great man eyed the lad keenly. "Not fully, I'm afraid." "But you would before I got through with you," chuckled Mr. Carter, rising. Paul rose too. He was very glad to have the interview finished. "We'll talk no more about this matter to-day," declared the editor lightly. "You think over carefully what I've said and come and see me again sometime." "All right, sir." Paul moved awkwardly toward the door. He wanted to add some word to conceal how worried, angry, and upset he really was, but he could think of nothing to say. It was ignominious to pass out of the room as if he were a whipped puppy. Men always terminated their business talks pleasantly, no matter how vexed they were with one another underneath. He must show Mr. Carter that he also could close an interview in true man's fashion. His hand was on the knob of the door now; but he turned. "Oh, by the way, Mr. Carter," he said with an off-hand air, "do you know where a person goes to sell a Liberty Bond?" It was the only topic of conversation he could think of. "Sell one?" "Yes, sir." The boy blushed. "In need of cash?" "I--yes; I'm thinking of getting rid of a fifty-dollar bond I have." "That's foolish. You'd much better keep it." Paul shook his head with sudden resolve. "I think if I can get rid of it without too much red tape, I'll let it go." "Want the money badly, eh?" "Y--e--s." "Your father know you are selling out?" "No, sir." The boy began to regret that he had spoken. "Oh--ho! So you're in a scrape, eh?" "No, it's not a scrape," protested Paul. "At least, not what you'd commonly call a scrape. It is just that--" "That you do not want to tell your father." "Not now." Mr. Carter winked. "I see," he said. He went to a drawer in his desk and innocently Paul watched his movements, wondering what he was going to do. Give him an address where he could sell his bond, no doubt. Instead Mr. Carter slipped a crisp bill from a roll in the drawer and held it toward him. [Illustration: "But I can't take your money, Mr. Carter," gasped Paul. _Page 137._] "I'll advance you fifty dollars on your bond," he said, "and no questions asked. I was a boy once myself." "But I can't take your money, Mr. Carter," gasped Paul, trying to hand the crackling bit of paper back again. "Pooh, pooh! Nonsense!" the man ejaculated, waving him off. "Call it a loan if you prefer. A loan with a bond for security is quite an ordinary business matter. It is only a trifle, anyway." "But--" "Run along! I have no more time to give to you. I have a directors' meeting at four. Ah, here's Mr. Dalton now. How are you, Dalton. Run along, youngster. Take the cash with you and welcome." Then he added in an undertone: "Just use your influence with your chums up at school, and we will say no more about this little loan. If you land the _March Hare_ in my hands the deal will be worth the fifty to me. Good night." CHAPTER XII TEMPORIZING It was not until Paul was on his way home that the full significance of Mr. Carter's action dawned upon him. He, Paul Cameron, had been bribed! He had taken from the magnate of Burmingham a sum of money in return for which he had tacitly pledged himself to use his influence to carry through a business deal which he held to be wrong, and with which he had no sympathy. To be sure, he had not done this monstrous deed voluntarily. Mr. Carter had thrust it upon him. He had been put in a difficult position and had failed to act. It was his passivity for which he now blamed himself. He should have repudiated the whole thing, hurled the odious money upon Carter's desk--since the man refused to take it back--and fled from the place. The fact that Mr. Carter had given him no opportunity to discuss the matter or refuse his offer was no excuse. He should have made the opportunity himself. The only apology he could offer for his conduct was that he was completely stunned by the happenings of the afternoon. The drama had moved too swiftly for him. Until it was over, he had not sensed its trend. Was he really so much to blame? Nevertheless, twist and excuse the fact as he would, the truth remained that there he was with the hateful fifty-dollar bill in his possession. It was appalling, terrible! He, who had always prided himself on his honesty! He had not had the least notion of precipitating such a crisis when he had inquired about selling his Liberty Bond. The query had been a purely innocent one. He had to say something, and the chance of getting information from Mr. Carter had seemed too opportune to let slip. But as he reviewed the episode of the past half hour, he saw that Mr. Carter was perfectly justified in misunderstanding him and thinking that he laid himself open to the very situation that had come about. Paul fingered the bill nervously. Fifty dollars! If he chose to use it to meet the deficit on the school paper he could now take his own savings for the new typewriter he wanted so much. Who would be the wiser? Had not Mr. Carter given him the money? It was his, his own property. To forfeit that typewriter had been a wrench. He had not dared to admit to himself how bitter had been his disappointment at giving it up. It would be a long time before he could ever again earn enough money to buy a machine. And he needed it so much--needed it right away. Suppose he did buy a typewriter next year? A dozen typewriters would never mean to him what one would mean just now. Until he had made up his mind to do without it, it had seemed an indispensable possession, and now the necessity of having it came back again with redoubled force. He reflected on the machine's myriad advantages. Wasn't it almost imperative that he buy one? Wasn't such a thing for the welfare of the school? Surely it would not be a selfish action if he expended his money for the good of others. Suppose he were to urge the fellows to sell out the _March Hare_ to Carter? After all, they were their own masters. They need not do so unless they chose. He had no authority over them. To advise was a very different thing from commanding. No matter what measure he advocated, his opinion was neither final nor mandatory. He was no autocrat or imperator before whose decree his subjects trembled. It would be absurd to credit himself with such power. And, anyway, the editorial board had never promised to bequeath the _March Hare_ to the school. If parents, teachers, pupils, the general public had assumed this, they had had no right to do so. The paper, as Mr. Carter had said, was the property of those who had created it. Were they not free to dispose of it as they chose? Yet all the while he argued thus, Paul knew, deep down in his soul, that although there had been no written or verbal agreement, the community considered the publication a permanent school property. Should it be sold to Mr. Carter and continue to be published, what chances for success would another such paper have? It would be useless for 1921 to attempt to duplicate the _March Hare_. People were familiar with it; they knew and liked it. In all probability a great portion of its regular subscribers would continue to take the magazine, regardless of who published it. That it had ceased to be a school enterprise would not influence them. They liked it for what it was, not as a philanthropy. Probably, too, with Mr. Carter behind it, the _March Hare_ would branch out and be made much more attractive. If the _Echo_ press took up the publication of such a monthly, it would, of course, be with the intention of sweeping all other competitors out of the field. It _would_ sweep them out, too. Mr. Carter would see to that. By fair means or foul he had always accomplished that which he willed to do. Another school paper running in opposition to such a power? Why, it would not have the ghost of a chance to live! Besides, who would print it? No, if Mr. Carter took over the _March Hare_, the school must say good-by to further literary attempts. But after all, was that his lookout? What concern of his would it be what became of Burmingham and 1921. They could struggle on as best they might. That was what his class had had to do. Paul walked home very slowly, turning Mr. Carter's bill in his hand as he went. How delicate its workmanship! How wonderful its dainty tracery! He had never before noticed the accuracy with which a bill was fashioned. "Who prints United States money, Dad?" he asked quite irrelevantly of his father, when next he saw him. "Our United States greenbacks? Those are engraved and printed, my son, at the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing at Washington. They are made from very fine and exquisitely prepared plates and printed on a special sort of paper. This paper has numberless little silk threads running through it which not only toughen it and prevent it from tearing but also make it almost impossible to duplicate. A counterfeiter would have to go to a deal of trouble to imitate such material." Paul nodded. He had noticed the blue threads in his fifty-dollar bill. In fact, there was not much about it that he had not noticed while twisting and turning it in his fingers. "Yes," continued his father, "our paper money and government notes are fine examples of accurate and perfect workmanship. I suppose, as they pass through our hands, we seldom consider the labor that goes into making them. From the time the designer begins his work to the moment the plates are made, tried out, and accepted, many, many hours of toil are consumed. You know, of course, that our government runs a very extensive printing plant where it uses tons of paper every year. There is no end to the government printing. The Congressional Records must be printed and filed, as must also thousands of reports from various boards and committees. Then there is stationery for official use; official documents of all sorts; catalogues; cards for government business." "I never thought of that." "Yes, indeed. Uncle Sam runs quite a jobbing office, all the details of which must be carefully systematized, too. Great care is taken that the spelling abbreviations and such details shall be uniform on all government documents. You can readily see how necessary it is that they should be. Therefore the government issues a manual for the use of its employees, a list of punctuation and capitalization marks and rules, as well as printers' marks which shall serve as a standard and must be conformed to for all government purposes." "That is interesting, isn't it?" murmured Paul. "You can readily understand that in preparing government reports and such things for the press a uniform abbreviation for the States, for example, must be used. It would be out of the question to have one person abbreviating Alabama one way and another person another. It would not only result in a slipshod lot of documents but the variation might mislead those who read it. In all such documents every detail must be the same. Moreover, often employees are far from being expert in such matters and a book to which they can refer is a great help to them. In addition, it settles all disputes arising between the clerks who make up the reports and the printers who print them; and it saves the time and labor of correcting errors." "I see." "Not only does the government printing office do a vast amount of printing for the use of the Washington authorities but it does a great deal of work for the country at large. Think, for instance, of the care and accuracy that goes into making out the United States census." "Not only care but paper and ink," laughed Paul. "All such tabulated documents consume quantities of paper," answered his father. "Directories, telephone books, circulars, and advertising matter in general demand tons and tons of paper every year, and the printing of them provides employment for hundreds of printers. As time goes on, more and more business is annually transacted by mail. The country is so tremendous and the expense of sending out salesmen to cover it so great that merchants now do much of their selling from mail-order catalogues. Many of these books are very attractive, too. A careful reproduction of the object for sale is made and the photograph sent broadcast to speak for itself. Jewelry firms issue tempting lists of their wares; china and glass dealers try to secure buyers by offering alluring pages of pictures, many of them in color; dry goods houses send out photographs of suits, hats, and clothing of all sorts. You have seen scores of such books and know how they are indexed and priced. In fact, there are commercial firms whose mail-order department is a business in itself, catalogues entirely supplanting salesmen. It is a much cheaper, wider-reaching means of selling, and often the results are quite as good as are the more old-fashioned methods. Now that artistic cuts can be reproduced with comparatively little expense this means of advertising is becoming more and more popular. Many charities annually make their appeal for funds by leaflet or card; stocks are offered to customers; your patronage to theaters, entertainments, and hotels is thus solicited. The combination of low postage rates and wide mail distribution is accountable for an almost overwhelming amount of printed business being transacted. Then, too, the mail is a great time-saver, or should be, an advantage to be considered in our busy, work-a-day world." "But people don't read half the stuff they get through the mails," said Paul. "No, of course not. If they did, they would do little else," smiled his father. "Nevertheless, they glance at it and now and then, as their eye travels over it, an item on the page catches their fancy. Any artistic advertisement will usually command attention; so will the receipt of some trifling article that is pretty or novel. Besides, it is chiefly the rushed city person who tosses the advertisement away unread. Those with more leisure, country people, perhaps, who receive little mail, usually read every word of the printed matter that reaches them. They do not have so many diversions as we do, and this printed stuff entertains them and keeps them in touch with the cities. Therefore they generally go over what is sent them quite carefully. Frequently they are miles from large shops and are forced to do much of their purchasing by mail, so such catalogues are a great convenience to them." "I can see that," Paul admitted. "Yes, indeed. Catalogues to those living in sparsely settled districts are a profound blessing. I should not be surprised to see the paper, ink, and printing business one of our largest industries. We cannot do without any of these commodities. Have you thought, for example, of the amount of material and labor that goes into producing the millions of thick telephone directories annually circulated among the subscribers? All these have to be printed somewhere." "It must be an awful piece of work to get them out, Dad." "It is. They must be printed absolutely correctly too, for an error will cause both the exchange and the subscriber no end of trouble. So it is with residence directories and many similar lists. If you consider, you can readily see that as a nation we consume an unbelievable amount of paper and ink in a year. That is why the shortage of these materials during the war caused such universal inconvenience. And not only do we demand a great deal of paper, and ink, and printer's skill in every department of our business, but being a country alert for education, we annually use a tremendous number of schoolbooks. Hundreds, thousands, millions of schoolbooks are printed each year for the purpose of educating and democratizing our growing citizens." Paul stirred in his chair uneasily. The talk had drifted back into the familiar channels of the present. Again the school, Mr. Carter, the fifty-dollar bill, and the thoughts that for the instant had taken flight now returned to his mind, bringing a cloud to his face. His father, noticing the shadow, looked kindly into the boy's eyes. "You are tired to-night, son," he said. "A little." "Not working too hard?" "No, sir. I don't think so." "Everything going all right at school?" "Yes." "Paper still booming?" "Yes, Dad. Going finely." "I am glad to hear that." Mr. Cameron waited a second. A wild impulse to take his father into his confidence seized Paul. He hesitated. Then it was too late. His father rose and with a friendly touch on his shoulder strode across the hall and into his den. "You must not overwork at your editorial desk, my boy," he called jocosely from the distant threshold. "It doesn't pay." Paul heard the door slam. The moment for confession had passed. His father had gone and he was alone with his conscience and Mr. Carter's fifty-dollar bill. CHAPTER XIII THE CAMERONS HAVE A VISITOR During the next week Paul was obliged to go several times to the _Echo_ offices and each time he went with the secret hope that he would see Mr. Carter and have the opportunity to hand back to him the hateful money that burned in his breast pocket. The chance, however, never came. The door of the great man's private room was continually closed and when the boy suggested to the clerk that he wait and talk with the publisher, he was told that Mr. Carter was engaged and could see no one that day. The thought of mailing the money occurred to Paul, but as this method of returning it seemed precarious and uncertain, he promptly abandoned the idea. For the same reason he was unwilling to leave the bill in a sealed envelope to be delivered to the editor-in-chief by one of the employees. Should a sum so immense, at least so immense in the lad's estimation, be lost, he never could replace it. Certainly he was in trouble enough already without chancing another dilemma. In the meantime he carried the bill around with him, trying in the interval to decide what to do with it. Gradually he became accustomed to having the money in his possession. It did not seem so strange a thing now as it had in the beginning. After all, fifty dollars was not such a vast sum. To a person of Mr. Carter's wealth it probably was nothing at all, an amount too trifling to cause a second thought. Besides, he had not really bound himself to Mr. Carter. He had not actually guaranteed to do anything. It was Mr. Carter who had insisted that he take the money. Unquestionably in exchange for it Paul was expected to use his influence to persuade the boys of 1920 to sell their paper; still, using one's influence did not necessarily mean that one must succeed. If he suggested the deal and it failed to go through, would he not have done all that was required of him? Mr. Carter had stipulated nothing more than that he use his influence. If the _Echo_ owner had over-estimated the power of that influence, was not that his lookout? No doubt such an understanding was quite customary in business circles and was not so important a matter as he took it to be. The more the lad thought the matter over the more plausible the retention of the money seemed. To use one's influence was surely a legitimate arrangement. It was done in politics every day of the week. Weren't individuals in high positions constantly accepting tips to put through business measures of one sort or another, regardless of whether they personally approved of them or not? To be sure, he had heard his father call such money _bribe money_, _dirty money_, and refer to the men who took it as being _bought up_. Paul knew his father scorned such proceedings. That was the reason he had lost the campaign when running for mayor against Mr. Carter in 1915. It had been an underhanded fight and almost everyone in Burmingham, regardless of party, had thought so. Mr. Carter had won the election, it is true, but it had been at the expense of the respect of the entire community. And now he, Paul Cameron, was deserting the principles for which his father stood and was accepting those of his opponent. Plainly speaking, that was what the thing amounted to. He was taking money for something he disapproved of doing; he was being a traitor to his class, to his friends, to the school. The boys on the staff of the paper respected and trusted him. They would never suspect him of treachery. Should he stand up and advocate the sale of the _March Hare_ he knew his word would have weight. If, on the other hand, he manfully presented Mr. Carter's offer as it honestly should be presented, he was practically sure that the measure would be voted down. Yet if he returned the money to Mr. Carter and refused to have anything further to do with the affair, he must forfeit his typewriter, the thing on which he had set his heart. What an unlucky snarl it was! How unfortunate that the _March Hare's_ bank account should have been muddled and its editor driven to repair an error that was not his! Had not this occurred, all would have gone smoothly and he could have thrust the odious money back in Mr. Carter's face and left his office a free man. He hated Mr. Carter, the _March Hare_, the school, and all the web of circumstances in which he was entangled! He wanted that typewriter. It seemed as if he must have it. In the meantime, the May issue of the school paper came out and preparations for the June number, the last that 1920 would publish, began. The swift passing of the days forced Paul's hand. Whichever way he was to act he must act soon now, and he found himself no nearer a decision than he had been two weeks ago. He still had Mr. Carter's money in his pocket, and he was still eyeing the Corona he longed for and which he could neither bring himself to purchase nor give up; he was, too, quite as unreconciled to doing his Alma Mater an injury as he had been before. Round and round in a circle he went, the same old arguments bringing him to the same old conclusions. There seemed to be no way out. While he was still pondering what he would do, an interesting visitor arrived at the Cameron home. This was Mr. Percy Wright, a college classmate of Paul's father and the owner of one of the largest paper mills in the State. He was a man of magnetic personality and wide business experience and Paul instantly conceived that warm admiration for him which a younger boy will often feel for an older man. A fund of amusing anecdotes rippled from Mr. Wright's tongue. It seemed as if there was no subject on which he could not converse. He had an entertaining story about almost every topic suggested and kept the entire Cameron family laughing heartily through each meal. Paul watched the stranger with fascinated eyes. How charming he was, how witty, how clever! And yet Mr. Wright was not always jesting. On the contrary, he could be very serious when his hobby of paper-making, with its many interdependent industries, was mentioned. He was, for example, in close touch with the publication of periodicals, newspapers, and books, and he immediately hailed Paul as a colleague. "So you are the editor-in-chief of a widely circulated monthly magazine, are you, my boy?" he remarked. "Well, you certainly have an enviable job. It is a pity you are not going to keep on with the work. Your father tells me he thinks you have made a great success of it." Paul colored uncomfortably. "Not that I would have you throw over your college career," added Mr. Wright quickly. "Not for a moment! But publishing work is so alluring! I have always wanted to own a newspaper and I have not yet given up hope of doing so before I die." "My paper isn't anything wonderful," said Paul modestly. "But it is a clean, good magazine of its sort. I have been looking over several copies of it since I have been here. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I call the _March Hare_ a mighty fine little publication. It's a splendid starter and I'll be bound has given you some excellent experience. Every paper has to have a beginning. All our big newspapers began on a small scale. There is some difference between one of our modern Sunday issues and the _Boston News-Letter_ of long ago." "I don't think I know what the _Boston News-Letter_ was," Paul said. "You've never seen a copy of this early Massachusetts newspaper?" "No, sir." "Well, it was a small, four-page sheet, printed in old type, and filled to a great extent with announcements of merchandise that had been shipped from England to the colonies for sale: pipes of wine, bolts of homespun, pieces of silk, consignments of china. Such things came from overseas in those days, and the arrival of the vessels that brought them was eagerly awaited by prospective purchasers, for there were few luxuries in the New World. Along with these advertisements was printed the news of the day; and that all this matter could be contained in four small pages proves how uneventful was early Massachusetts history. Now and then some great event would command more space. I recall seeing one copy of the paper with a picture of the first steam locomotive--a crude, amusing picture it was, too. Later the _Massachusetts Gazette_ appeared, and soon afterward there were other papers and other printers scattered throughout the respective States. Benjamin Franklin was in Boston, you remember, from 1723 until 1726, when he went to Philadelphia and did publishing work until 1756. A hand press identical in principle with the one he used is still preferred to this day in the large newspaper press rooms for striking off proof when the amount of it is too small to be put through a power press. The hand press is a simple and quick agent for getting a result. The ink roller is run over the type and hand pressure is applied. One could not of course print a large newspaper on such a limited scale; but for jobbing work Franklin's variety of press is still acceptable and unrivaled." "It seems funny to think of a Boston paper ever being so small," mused the boy. Mr. Wright smiled. "And not only small but of infrequent issue," said the paper manufacturer. "In 1709 there was only one daily paper published in London; twelve appeared three times a week; and three twice a week." "Great Scott!" "Yes, it is amazing, isn't it? _The Tatler_ began in 1709 and _The Spectator_ not long afterward. You must recall that the entire newspaper industry as we know it has been developed within comparatively recent years. The great daily, with its Sunday edition of pictures, colored sheets, news of classified varieties, and advertising and sporting sections, is only possible by means of the modern press which has the capacity for turning out in a short time such an immense number of papers." Paul listened, fascinated by the subject. "Gradually," went on Mr. Wright, "new brains attacked the problems of the small press, improving and enlarging it until little by little a press was built up which is so intricate and so wonderful that it almost ceases to be a machine and becomes nearly human. Boston, you know, harbors the largest printing press in the world. It is made up of 383,000 parts; it carries eight huge rolls of paper weighing from thirteen hundred to fifteen hundred pounds, four of them at each end; and in addition it has two color presses attached on which the colored supplement is printed." "How do they ever lift such heavy rolls of paper into place?" inquired Paul. "A chain is put around them and they are hoisted up by machinery," answered Mr. Wright. "The employees are warned to stand from under, too, when they are lifted, for should one of those mighty rolls fall, the person beneath might be seriously injured or perhaps killed." "How many papers can they turn out on a press of that size?" was Paul's next question. "It is possible to turn out 726,000 eight-page papers an hour or the equivalent of that quantity; the number of papers depends on the size of them, you see." "What do you suppose good Benjamin Franklin would say to that?" laughed Paul. "I fancy he would remark a number of things," Mr. Wright returned. "In fact, a modern newspaper plant, with its myriad devices for meeting the business conditions of our time, would be quite an education to Franklin, as it is to the rest of us. Did you ever see a big newspaper printed from start to finish, Paul?" "No, sir." "Ah, that's a pity. As a publisher you should be better informed on your subject," observed the elder man half teasingly. "I am going to Boston on Saturday. If your father is willing would you like to go along with me and spend the week-end in town?" The lad's eyes shone. "Would I like it!" he managed to stammer. "I've got to see some of the business houses we supply with paper," continued Mr. Wright, "and incidentally I am sure I could arrange a visit to a big newspaper office Saturday evening when they are getting out the Sunday papers and have all their presses in operation." "That would be great!" "I think you would enjoy the trip," asserted Mr. Wright. "The printing of a paper is a wonderful process to see. I have a great admiration and respect for a fine newspaper, anyway. When one considers how widely it is read and the influence it possesses for good or evil, one cannot but take off his hat to it. No agency in the community can more quickly stir up or allay strife. Public opinion to no small extent takes its cue from the papers. They are great educators, great molders of the minds of the rank and file. Let the papers whisper war or national calamity and the stock markets all over the world are affected. And that is but one of the vital influences the paper wields. The temper of the whole people is colored by what they read. Whenever the editorials of reputable papers work toward a specific goal, they usually achieve it. Have we not had a striking example of that during the present war? The insidious power of propaganda is incalculable. Fortunately our national papers are high-minded and patriotic and have directed their influence on the side of the good, quieting fear, promoting loyalty, encouraging honesty, and strengthening the nobler impulses that govern the popular mind. For people are to an extent like a flock of sheep; they give way to panic very quickly. What one thinks the next one is liable to believe. Much of this opinion is in the hands of the newspapers. At the same time, the minds of the greater thinkers of the country are often clarified by reading the opinions mirrored by the press. One cannot praise too highly the wisdom and discretion of our newspapers during the perilous days of war when a word from them might have been as a match to tinder, and when they held many important secrets in their keeping. The great dailies were loyal to the last degree and the confidence that was placed in them was never betrayed. It was unavoidable that they should possess knowledge that the rest of us did not; but they never divulged it when cautioned that to do so would be against the national welfare. The sailings of ships, the departure of troops, the names of the ports from which vessels left, the shipment of food and supplies--all tidings such as these the press withheld." "It was bully of them!" Paul exclaimed with enthusiasm. "Yes, they rendered a great service. And you must remember that it was especially difficult since there is always a keen rivalry between papers and a tremendous eagerness to be the first one with the news. Whenever a paper gets inside information of an interesting nature there is a great temptation to publish it. There have been few such offenses, however, during the present war, be it said to the newspaper men's credit. Hence it became possible for the President to grant regular interviews to the leading reporters of the country and speak to them with comparative frankness with regard to national policies without fear that what he said would be garbled and turned to mischievous ends." "I don't believe I ever thought before of the responsibility the papers had," remarked Paul soberly. "Their responsibility is immeasurable," replied Mr. Wright. "The opportunity a paper has for checking rash judgment and arousing the best that is in humanity is endless. That is why I should like to control a newspaper, that I might make it the mouthpiece of all that is highest and noblest. To my mind only persons of splendid ideals should be entrusted with the publishing of papers. If the editor is to form the opinion of the masses, he should be a man worthy of his mission." Paul toyed with his cuff-link. "So, son," concluded Mr. Wright, "you've got to be a very good person if you aim to be a newspaper man--at least, that's what I think. Any printed word is like seed; it is liable to take root you know not where. A paper voices the thought of those who produce it. Therefore it behooves its makers to consider well their thoughts." The boy winced and a flush surged to his forehead. Certainly Mr. Wright would not approve of the fifty-dollar bill which at that instant lay concealed in his pocket. As he turned to leave the room, he was very conscious of the leather pocketbook that pressed against his heart. He wished he was clear of that money. But he had already kept it more than two weeks and it was of course too late to return it now. CHAPTER XIV PAUL MAKES A PILGRIMAGE TO THE CITY The trip to Boston which Mr. Wright suggested materialized into quite as delightful an excursion as Paul had anticipated. In fact, it was an eventful journey, filled with every variety of wonderful experience. The elder man and his young guest arrived in the city Friday night in plenty of time to enjoy what Paul called _a great feed_ and afterward go to a moving-picture show. It was odd to the suburban boy to awake Saturday morning amid the rumble and roar from pavements and crowded streets. But there was no leisure to gaze from the window down upon the hurrying throng beneath, for Mr. Wright was off early to keep a business engagement and during his absence Paul was to go to the circus. Accordingly the lad hurried his dressing and was ready to join his host for breakfast promptly at eight. A league baseball game followed after lunch and with a morning and an afternoon so crammed with pleasure Paul would have felt amply repaid for the trip had no evening's entertainment followed. The evening, however, turned out to be the best part of the day; at least, when Paul tumbled into bed that night, wearied out by his many good times, he asserted that the crowning event of his holiday had given him more interesting things to think about. It was not until nine o'clock Saturday evening that they could go to the newspaper office. "Before that hour," explained Mr. Wright, "there will be very little for us to see. The compositors, of course, will previously have been busy setting type; but you can get an idea how that is done in a very short time. What I want you to see are the giant presses when they are running to their full capacity. To get out the Sunday edition of the paper the entire plant is in operation." Therefore the two travelers loitered long at dinner and at nine o'clock presented themselves at the magic spot where they were to meet one of Mr. Wright's friends who was to show them through the various departments of the press plant. When they reached this Eldorado, however, Paul was disappointed. The manager's office seemed very quiet. A dim light burned and a few men moved in and out of the adjacent rooms. Now and then a telephone jangled, or a reporter, perched on the arm of a chair or on the corner of a desk, took out a yellow sheet of paper and ran his eye over its contents. But there was none of the bustle and rush that the lad had pictured. But before Paul had had time to become really downhearted, the door of an inner office opened and a man came forward to meet them. "Ah, Wright, I'm glad to see you!" he called, extending his hand. "I'm glad to see you too, Hawley. I expect we're making you a deal of trouble and that you wish us at the bottom of the Dead Sea." "Not a bit of it!" "That's mighty nice of you," laughed Mr. Wright. "I give you my word, I appreciate it. This is my young friend Paul Cameron, the editor-in-chief of the Burmingham _March Hare_." If Mr. Hawley were ignorant of the _March Hare's_ existence or speculated at all as to what that unique publication might be, he at least gave no sign; instead he took Paul's hand, remarking gravely: "I am glad to know you, Cameron," upon the receipt of which courtesy Cameron rose fully two inches in his boots and declared with equal fervor: "I am glad to meet you too, Mr. Hawley." To have seen them one would have thought they had been boon companions at press club dinners or associates in newspaper work all their days. "I'm going to take you upstairs first," Mr. Hawley said briskly. "We may as well begin at the beginning and show you how type is set. I don't know whether you have ever seen any type-making and typesetting machines or not." "I haven't seen anything," Paul confessed frankly. The newspaper man looked both amused and pleased. "I'm rather glad of that," he remarked, "for it is much more interesting to explain a process to a person to whom it is entirely new. Formerly the method of setting type for the press was a tedious undertaking and one very hard on the eyes; but now this work is all done, or is largely done, by linotype machines that place in correct order the desired letters, grouping them into words and carefully spacing and punctuating them. The linotype operator has before him a keyboard and as he presses the keys in succession, the letter or character necessary drops into its proper place in the line that is being made up. These letters are then cast as they stand in a solid, one-line piece. With the lines thus made up, the compositors are relieved of a great proportion of their labor. Later I will show you how this is done. "In the composing room there is also the monotype, another ingenious invention, which produces single letters and prepares them for casting. With two such machines you might suppose that the compositor would have little to do. Nevertheless, in spite of each of these labor-saving devices, there are always odd jobs to be done that cannot be performed by either of these agencies; there are short articles, the making up and designing of pages, advertisements, and a score of things outside the scope of either linotype or monotype." Paul listened attentively. "After the words have been formed and the lines cast by the linotype, the separate lines are arranged by the compositors inside a frame the exact size of the page of the paper to be printed. This frame or form as we call it, is divided into columns and after all the lines of type, the cuts, and advertisements to be used are arranged inside it, so that there is no waste space, a cast is made of the entire form and its contents. This cast is then fitted upon the rollers of the press, inked, and successive impressions made from it. This, in simple language, is what we are going to see and constitutes the printing of a paper." Paul nodded. "Of course," continued Mr. Hawley, "we shall see much more than that. We shall, for example, see how cuts and advertisements are made; photographs copied and the plates prepared for transfer to the paper; color sheets in process of making; in fact, all the varied departments of staff work. But what I have told you are the underlying principles of the project. I want you to understand them at the outset so that you will not become confused." "I think I have it pretty straight," smiled Paul. "Very well, then; we'll get to work." "Not that I thoroughly understand how all this is done," added the boy quickly. "But I have the main idea and when I see the thing in operation I shall comprehend it more clearly, I am sure. You see, I don't really know much of anything about printing a paper. All I am actually sure of is that often the making up of a page is a big puzzle. I've had enough experience to find that out." "That is sometimes a puzzle for us, too," smiled Mr. Hawley. "Fitting stuff into the available space is not always easy. Usually, however, we know just how many words can be allowed a given article and can make up our forms by estimating the mathematical measurement such copy will require. When the type is set in the forms, so accurately cut are the edges, and so closely do the lines fit together, the whole thing can be picked up and held upside down and not a piece of its mosaic fall out. That is no small stunt to accomplish. It means that every edge and corner of the metal type is absolutely true and exact. If it were not, the form would not lock up, or fit together. The letters, too, are all on the same level and the lines parallel. Geometrically, it is a perfect surface." "Some picture puzzle!" Mr. Wright observed merrily. "One better than a jigsaw puzzle," said Mr. Hawley. "Our pieces are smaller." The three visitors stepped from the elevator and paused at the door of a crowded room, where many men were at work. "These are the composing rooms," explained Mr. Hawley. "Here the copy sent us by reporters and editors is set up for the press. Along the walls you will see tiers of drawers in which type of various kinds and sizes is kept. The style or design of letter is called the 'face', and there are a great many sorts of faces, as you will notice by the labels on the drawers. There is Cheltenham, Ionic, Gothic--a multitude of others. There are, in addition, almost as many sizes of letters as there are faces, the letters running from large to a very small, or agate size which is used for footnotes." He opened a drawer and Paul glanced inside it. "But the letters do not seem to be arranged with any system at all," exclaimed the boy in surprise. "I don't see how the men can ever find what they want. I should think--" He broke off, embarrassed. "You should think what?" asked Mr. Hawley good-humoredly. "Why, it just seems to me that if the letters were arranged in alphabetical order it would be a great deal easier to get them when one was in a hurry." "It would seem so on the face of it," agreed Mr. Hawley, pleased by the lad's intelligence. "Printers, however, never arrange type that way. Instead, they put in the spot nearest at hand the letters they will use oftenest. It saves time. The men soon become accustomed to the position of these and can put their hands on them quickly and without the least trouble. The largest compartments in the drawers are given over to the letters most commonly in use, such as vowels and frequently recurring consonants. The letter Z you will notice has only a small space allowed it; X, too, is not much in demand." "I see." "Take one of these letters out and examine it." Paul did so. It was a thin bar of what appeared to be lead and was an inch long. On the end of it a single letter was cast. "Besides these cases of letters, we have drawers of marks and signs arranged according to the same system, those most often in use being at the front of the drawer." "It must have taken forever to hunt up the right letters and spell out the words before linotypes were invented," mused Paul. "Yes, any amount of time was wasted that way," said Mr. Hawley. "The strain on the eyes was, too, something appalling. It is quite another matter to sit at a keyboard and with the pressure of a key assemble the proper matrices, as the type molds are called, and arrange in desired order correctly spaced and punctuated lines of type. Come over here and see how the work is done." Crossing the floor, they stood before a machine where an operator was busy fingering a keyboard as if it were a typewriter. As he touched each key, it released a letter, and at the back of the machine Paul could see the silvery gleam as the miniature bar of metal dropped down and slipped into its place in the lengthening series of words. As soon as the row increased to line length, it moved along and a new line of words was assembled. The process was fascinating and the boy watched it spellbound. "That's corking!" he at last burst out. "It is a marvelous invention, certainly," responded Mr. Hawley, delighted by the enthusiasm of the _March Hare's_ editor. "What metal is used for casting type?" inquired Paul suddenly. "It looks like lead." "It is not pure lead," Mr. Hawley answered. "That metal has been found to be much too soft; it soon wears down and loses its outline and its sharp edges. So an alloy of antimony is mixed with the lead and a composition is made that is harder and more durable." "It must be quite a stunt to get the mixture just right," remarked Paul. Again the newspaper man smiled with pleasure. It was a satisfaction to have so intelligent an audience. "You have put your finger on a very important feature of the newspaper business," he rejoined. "The man who prepares the metal solution and keeps it at just the proper degree of temperature for casting is the person to whom the printer owes no small measure of his success. When we go downstairs, we shall see how the forms that are set here are cast in two large metal sections that fit on the two halves of the cylindrical rollers of the press. A mold of the form is first made from a peculiar kind of cardboard, a sort of _papier-mâché_, and by forcing hot metal into this mold a cast, or stereotype, of the page is taken. It is from this metal stereotype that the paper is printed. After the two sections are fastened securely upon the cylinders and inked by machinery, the great webs of paper at either end of the press unroll, and as they move over the rapidly turning wheels, your daily newspaper is printed for you." "Are we going to see it done?" asked Paul eagerly. "We certainly are," said Mr. Hawley, leading the way toward the elevator. "Of course the compositors have to be very sure before the forms go to the stereotype casting room that there are no mistakes in them, I suppose," Paul ventured thoughtfully. "Yes. There is no correcting the stereotype after it is once made," replied Mr. Hawley. "Everything is corrected and any exchange of letters made before it is cast. Men who handle type constantly become very expert in detecting errors, many compositors being able to read type upside down, or in reversed order, as easily as you can read a straightforward line of printed matter." Mr. Hawley paused. "In addition to this department," he presently continued, "is the room where the plates for the color section of the paper are prepared. After the drawing for the pictures is made, it is outlined on a block of metal and afterward cut out, so that the design remains in relief; then the impression is taken with colored inks, a separate printing being made for each color in turn, except where the colors are permitted to fuse before they dry in order to produce a secondary tone. You doubtless have seen the lithograph process and know how the first printing colors all the parts of the picture that are red, for example; the next impression prints the blue parts; and the third those that are green." "Yes, I've seen posters printed." "Then you know how the work is done." "And it is for printing this colored supplement that the color-decks at each end of the big press are used?" "Precisely. We often run these colored sections of the Sunday edition off some weeks in advance, as they are independent parts of the paper and need not necessarily be turned out at the last moment as the news sections must." "I see." "We also have our designing rooms for the drawing of fashion pictures, and the illustrations to accompany advertisements. All that is a department in itself, and a most interesting branch of the work. These cuts are prepared on sheets of metal and are cast and printed as the rest of the paper is; they are set into the forms and stereotyped by the same method as the printed matter. When we want reproductions from photographs we have a photo-engraving department where by means of a very powerful electric light we can reproduce pictures of all sorts; pen-drawings, facsimiles of old prints, photographs, and every variety of picture imaginable. These are developed on a sheet of metal instead of on a glass plate and then reproduced." "That is the way you get the fine picture sheets that you enjoy so much, Paul," put in Mr. Wright. "The photo-engraving took the place of the woodcut," Mr. Hawley explained. "The process has been constantly improved until now we are able to get wonderfully artistic results." "I had no idea there were so many different departments required to get out a paper," remarked Paul slowly. "It is an awful piece of work, isn't it?" Their guide laughed. "It is quite a project," he answered. "Of course, much of it becomes routine, and we think nothing about it. But I am sure that few persons who read the papers realize the great amount of time and thought that goes into turning out a good, up-to-date, artistically illustrated newspaper. The mere mechanical toil required is enormous; and in addition to this labor there is all the bustle, rush, and rivalry attending the securing of the latest news. The editorial office has its set of problems, as you know, if you yourself get out a paper." "I've been so absorbed in the machinery that I forgot the editorial end of it for a moment," Paul said. "Don't forget it, for it is the backbone of the business," replied Mr. Hawley. "All that part of our work is conducted as systematically as the rest. Each editorial writer and reporter is detailed to his particular work and must have his copy in promptly; he must know his facts and write them up with accuracy, charm, and spirit, the articles must also have the punch that will carry them and make people interested in reading them. A writer who can't turn out this sort of stuff has no place in the newspaper world. Every article that comes in is either used, returned, or filed away and catalogued for future reference; we call the room where the envelopes containing such matter are stacked the graveyard. Every newspaper has its graveyard. Into it goes stuff that has perhaps been paid for and never printed; clippings that can be used for reference; every sort of material. We can put our hand on any article filed, at a moment's notice. Come in and see for yourself the great tiers of shelves with the contents of each shelf classified and marked." Paul followed him. There indeed was the room, its shelves reaching to its ceiling and as neatly and completely arranged as they would be in a library. Sections were given over to business interests; to well-known men and women; to accidents; to shipping; to material of every description. The visitors could not, however, delay to investigate this department, fascinating as it was. They were hurried on to another floor and were shown where all the accounts of advertisers were computed by means of an automatic device that registered the space taken by a specific firm and the price of such space. There was also a circulation department where lists of subscribers and records of their subscriptions were filed and billed. Such ingenious contrivances were new to the village boy and his eyes widened. "I think we ought to pay more for our papers," he gasped. "I had no idea that publishing a newspaper meant so much work. I don't think we pay half enough money for all this trouble." Mr. Hawley smiled. "Sometimes I don't think we do either," he said. "This is such a tremendous plant!" the boy went on breathlessly. "Our paper is more of an undertaking, then, than your _March Hare_." "Well, rather!" chuckled Paul. "I thought we had quite a proposition until I saw all this. Now the mere writing of copy seems like nothing at all. What a job it is to print the stuff after you get it!" "They say there is no better way to become cheered up than to take a peep at some other fellow's tribulations," Mr. Hawley declared. "Now suppose you go down to the press room and see some of ours at first hand." He led the way to an elevator that dropped them quickly to the basement of the building. "Do they always put the presses downstairs?" asked Paul. "Practically always, yes," replied Mr. Hawley. "It is necessary to do so because of the immense weight of the presses. The problems of the vibration of machinery and the support of its weight always govern all factory construction and the building of plants of a similar nature. Most newspaper presses are therefore placed on solid ground, or as near it as possible, in order to minimize the difficulties arising from these two conditions. Some years ago, however, the _Boston Post_ ventured an innovation by arranging its presses one over the other, three in a tier; and as the experiment has proved a success, many other large newspapers in various parts of the country have followed their example." "If floor space can be economized it must be a great saving to newspaper plants whose buildings are in the heart of a city; real estate is no small item of expense," observed Mr. Wright. "Precisely," agreed Mr. Hawley. "Yet high as were rentals and taxes, no one had had the courage to try a press constructed on another plan. It meant, of course, a new set of difficulties to solve. I happen to know, for instance, that when the floor for the sub-basement of the _Post_ was constructed, the beams were set close enough together to support a weight of four hundred pounds to each square foot of space. This was not entirely necessary but it was done as a precaution against accident. Sometimes the mammoth rolls of paper fed into the presses fall when being hoisted into place and drop with a crash. If the floor were not strong the whole fifteen hundred pounds might go through and carry everything with it. The builders wished to be prepared for an emergency of this sort." "They were wise." "They could take no chances," said Mr. Hawley gravely. "The cellars, you see, run five stories below ground. They had to dig down, down, down to get the room they needed. The disadvantage of this is that all materials and all the printed papers as well have to be hoisted to and from the ground floor, and air and water must be pumped from the street level. Nevertheless, that this can be done has been proved. The questions of heating and ventilation are the most serious ones, for in the press rooms the thermometer cannot be permitted to vary more than a few degrees, either in winter or summer; any marked difference in temperature instantly affects the flow of the ink, causing no end of trouble. For that reason we have fans and all sorts of mechanical contrivances to keep the rooms at the desired heat." "I should think you had conquered almost every imaginable difficulty," Mr. Wright remarked. "Pretty nearly," returned Mr. Hawley good-naturedly. They had now reached the lowest floor and the press rooms were a whir of noise and clatter. As the three entered, the hum of the machinery rendered further speech impossible. Paul gazed up at the presses that towered high above his head. There was the mighty machine and there were the hurrying workers, walking about it; some stood on the cement floor, and others moved here and there along the small swinging platforms that circled the upper part of the leviathan. In mid-air, held by mighty chains, hung the rolls of blank paper that were soon to be transformed into newspapers. As the vast spools of unprinted material were reeled off, the ribbons of whiteness passed like a spider's web in and out the turning wheels, and as they moved over the inked cylinders that printed them on both sides, the happenings of the world were recorded with lightning speed. In the meantime into the racks below were constantly dropping papers neatly folded,--papers that were finished and had each section arranged in its proper place; and to Paul's amazement an automatic machine counted these as they came from the press. Whenever a certain number of papers were counted out a man came forward, hoisted the lot to his shoulder and disappeared into the elevator with it; or handed it to some one whose it duty it was to load it on to a truck, carry it upstairs, and put it into one of the myriad wagons that waited at the curb for its load. As fast as these wagons were filled they dashed off, bearing the Sunday editions to railway stations for shipping, or to distributing centers throughout the city; others had wrappers put on them and were dispatched to the mailing department to be addressed and forwarded to patrons who lived out of town. "Some business, eh, Paul?" said Mr. Wright. "You bet it is!" "About one third of all the wood-pulp paper produced in America goes into newspapers and periodicals," Mr. Hawley managed to shout above the uproar of the whirling wheels. "That is where so many of our spruce, poplar, and hemlock trees go. Telephone books, telephone blanks, transfers for electric cars, city directories, play bills, consume a lot of paper; then in addition to the papers printed in English there are in America papers printed in fifty different foreign languages." "I don't wonder there was a shortage of paper during the war," stammered Paul. "It hit us pretty close," Mr. Hawley owned. "Our Sunday editions had to be curtailed a good deal, and many of the monthly publications were put out of business entirely by the high cost of paper. The monthly magazine is, you know, a great seller in rural communities. A newspaper is usually a local affair; but the monthly circulates all over the country and is not by any means confined to the district in which it is published." "It makes a nice lot of work for the Post Office Department," put in Mr. Wright jestingly. "Yes, it does," agreed Mr. Hawley. "I suppose book publishing and music publishing take more paper," mused Paul. "Yes. The printing of music is an expensive and fussy piece of work, too. It must be accurately done, and done by men who are experienced in that special kind of work. One misprint will cause a discord and throw the music out of sale. Of course if a song turns out to be popular, a small fortune is often reaped from it; but if it is not, the cost of getting it out is so great that little is netted by the publishers." They moved on into another room where it was more quiet, leaving the hum of the presses behind them. "This," explained Mr. Hawley, "is the stereotype-casting room of which I told you. It is here that the _papier-mâché_ forms made from the forms you saw in linotype are brought and cast in solid pieces for the presses. Let us watch the process. You can see how they fasten the paper impression around this mold so that the cast of it can be taken. The hot metal is run in, and pressed into every depression of the cardboard. The thickness of these semi-cylindrical casts is carefully specified and over there is a machine that pares off or smooths away all superfluous material so that they come out exactly the proper thickness; otherwise they would not fit the rollers of the press." Paul watched. Sure enough! After being cast, the sections of stereotype were put into the machine indicated and moved quickly along, being planed off as they went; when they emerged the wrong side of them was smooth and even. "This kettle or tank of hot metal," went on Mr. Hawley, pointing to a vat of seething composition, "has to be kept, as I explained to you, at a specified degree of heat if we are to get successful stereotypes of our forms. Therefore a great deal depends on the skill and judgment of the man who prepares and melts down the mixture bubbling in that kettle. Without his brain and experience there could be no newspapers." As he spoke Mr. Hawley waved a salutation to the workman in blue overalls who was studying the indicator beside the furnace. "That indicator tells the exact temperature of the melted solution in the kettle; also the temperature of the furnace. There can be no variation in heat without hindering the work of casting, and perhaps wrecking the casts and wasting a quantity of material. So on that little chap over there by the fire hangs our fate." The workman heard the words and smiled, and Paul smiled in return. "Do they make stereotypes for circular rollers and print books this same way?" he asked. "No. Most books are electrotyped, the machinery being much less complex than is the newspaper press. A rotary press cannot do such fine or accurate work." For a moment they lingered, watching the busy scene with its shifting figures. Then they stepped into the elevator and were shot up to the street level. The hands of the clock stood at eleven when at last they emerged upon the sidewalk. Paul sighed. "Tired?" "Rather, sir; aren't you?" "Well, I just feel as if I had played sixteen holes of golf," Mr. Wright replied. They laughed together. "But, Jove! It was worth it though, wasn't it?" cried Paul. "I think so." "I, too! Only," added the boy, "I still believe we ought to pay more for our newspapers." CHAPTER XV THE DECISION For the next few days after his return from Boston Paul thought and talked of little else save the great newspaper press that he had seen. Beside a project as tremendous as the publication of a widely circulated daily the _March Hare_ became a pitifully insignificant affair. Nevertheless the _March Hare_ was not to be thrust aside. It clamored for attention. Its copy came in as before from students and staff, and mixed with this material were some exceptionally fine articles from patents and distant alumnæ. Judge Damon had taken to contributing a short, crisp editorial almost every month, something of civic or national importance; and two of Burmingham's graduates who were in France sent letters that added an international flavor to the magazine. Never had the issues been so good. Certainly the monthly so modestly begun had ripened into an asset that all the town would regret to part with. In the meantime graduation was approaching and the day was drawing near when 1920 must bid good-by to the familiar halls of the school, and instead of standing and looking down from the top of the ladder, as it now did, it must set forth into the turmoil of real life where its members would once again be beginners. What an ironic transformation that would be! A senior was a person looked up to by the entire student body, a dignitary to be treated with profound respect. But once outside the sheltering walls of his Alma Mater he would suddenly become a very ordinary being who, like Samson shorn of his locks, would enter business or college a weak, timid neophyte. It seemed absurd that such a change could be wrought in so short a time. But before the day when the diplomas with their stiff white bows would be awarded, the future fate of the _March Hare_ must be decided. Every recurrence of this thought clouded Paul's brow. He still had intact Mr. Carter's fifty-dollar bill. It was as crisp and fresh as on the day the magnate of Burmingham had put it into his hand, and the typewriter Paul coveted still glistened in the window of a shop on the main street. Day after day he had vacillated between the school and that fascinating store window, and each day he had looked, envied, and come home again. It was now so late that the purchase of this magic toy would be of little use to him. Nevertheless, he wanted it. Every night when he went to bed he quieted his conscience's accusations of cowardice by arguing that the money had not been spent. But not spending it, he was forced to own, was far from being the same thing as returning it. It was strange that it should be so hard for him to part with that money! In the interim he had cashed in his war stamps and with the additional sum he had earned for doing the chores around the place he and Melville Carter had paid the bill the _March Hare_ owed and deposited the remainder of their combined cash in the bank, so that the accounts now stood even. Whatever should now become of the magazine, its slate was a clean one so far as its financial standing went. Having thus disposed of all debts and entanglements, only the adjustment of the deal with Mr. Carter remained. This was not so easily to be cleared from Paul's path. It was his first thought in the morning, his last at night. He could never escape from it. Whenever he was in jubilant mood and in a flood of boyish happiness had forgotten it, it arose like a specter to torment him. What was he going to do with that money that he had kept so long? And what was he going to say to his classmates to earn it,--for earn it he must, since he had accepted it. It was a wretched position to be in. Why hadn't he given the bill back to the great man that day in the office? Or if he had no opportunity then, why hadn't he carried it promptly to the _Echo_ building the next morning? He might have gone to Mr. Carter's house with it. There were a score of ways it might have been delivered to its rightful owner. Alas, he had been very weak, and by drifting along and taking no positive action had got himself into the dilemma in which he now floundered. It was the president of 1921 who suddenly brought him up with a sharp turn by remarking one day: "Well, Kip, you people of 1920 have certainly set us a pretty pace on the _March Hare_. I don't know whether, when it descends to us, we shall be able to keep it up to your standard or not." "Descends to you!" repeated Paul vaguely. "Yes. Of course 1920 is going to pass it on. You fellows can't very well take it with you," laughed the junior. Paul evaded a direct answer. "You never can tell which way a hare will run," he replied. "You can usually figure on the direction he will take, though," retorted the under-classman, whose name was Converse. "1920 has done the school a big service by founding the paper and outlining its policy. My father was saying only last night that the magazine was well worth putting on a permanent business basis. He said that if an experienced publishing house had the handling of it it could be made into a money-making proposition--that is if everybody, young and old, would keep up their same enthusiasm for turning in stuff so the tone of the thing was not spoiled." "I believe that, too." "It wouldn't be such a bad idea if next year we could get in an experienced hand to help us, would it?" The moment Paul dreaded had come. He summoned all his dignity. "I am not sure," he answered, "just what 1920 will decide to do with the paper when we finish the year. We may sell it." "What! You don't mean sell it to an outsider?" "We have an opportunity to do so." "But--but--how could you? It's the property of the school, isn't it?" stammered Converse. "No, not as I see it. A few of us 1920 fellows started it and have done all the work, or the bulk of it. If we choose to sell it, I don't see why we haven't a right to." "But--Great hat, Kip! You certainly wouldn't do that!" protested the junior. "Why not?" "Because--well--it would be so darn yellow," burst out the other boy. "Even if the thing is yours--why--," he broke off helplessly. "And anyway, how could you? Any number of people are interested in it." "They could keep on being interested in it." "You mean somebody else would publish it?" "Yes." "As it is now?" "Practically. They would give it a more professional touch, no doubt." "Do you think for a second that in the hands of a cut and dried publisher it would be the same?" asked Converse hotly. "Do you imagine people would send in articles to it as they do now?" "I don't see why not." "They wouldn't--not on your life! Why, the reason that everybody has pitched in and written for us was precisely because the thing was not professional, and they knew they would be free of criticism. The columns have become a sort of town forum, my father said. Do you think you could get the same people to speak out under different conditions? Judge Damon, for instance, has repeatedly refused to write for the professional press. He could get a fat sum for such editorials as he writes for us if he wanted to sell them. Father said so. Besides, what's to become of 1921 if you sell out the _March Hare_? We couldn't run a rival paper. If the _Hare_ continued, of course people would take a thing that was already established and that they knew about, especially as it had been so bully. It would end us so far as a school magazine was concerned." Paul offered no reply. "I'd call it a darn mean trick if you put such a deal over," persisted Converse indignantly, "and I guess everybody else would. I suppose you would have the legal right to sell out if you wanted to; but it has been tacitly understood from the first that the paper was started for the good of the school and would be handed down to your successors." "I don't see why everybody should jump at that conclusion." "Because it is the natural, square thing to do. Anybody would tell you so." "I don't need to take a popular vote to settle my affairs," returned Paul haughtily. "You may have to in this case," called Converse, turning on his heel. The incident left Paul nettled and disturbed, and in consequence the Latin recitation that followed went badly; so did his chemistry exam. The instant recess came he signalled to his closest literary associates and beckoning them into an empty classroom, banged the door. "See here, you chaps," he began, "I've something to put up to you. We have had an offer to sell the _March Hare_. How does the proposition strike you?" The boys regarded their leader blankly. "You mean to--to--sell it out for money?" inquired one of the group stupidly. Paul laughed. "What else could we sell it out for, fat-head?" he returned good-humoredly. "But--to sell it out for cash, as it stands--you mean that?" "Righto!" "Somebody wants to buy it?" "Yes." "Gee!" "We certainly are some little editors," chuckled Melville Carter. "Who is the bidder, Kip?" "Yes, Kip, who wants it?" came breathlessly from one and another of the group. It was evident they had no inkling who the prospective purchaser was. "Mr. Carter." "Carter--of the _Echo_?" "My father?" gasped Melville, dumfounded. "Yes, he has offered to buy us out," continued Paul steadily. "He'll give us a certain sum of money to divide between us." "But could we sell?" asked Melville slowly. "The thing is ours, isn't it?" replied Paul. "Haven't we planned it, built it up, and done all the work?" "Yes," Melville admitted in a half-convinced tone. "I suppose, in point of fact, it really is ours," remarked Donald Hall. "But it would be a rotten, low-down trick for us to sell it away from the school and from 1921, I think." "Did my father suggest it?" queried Melville. "Yes. He is quite keen on it. He says it can be made a paying proposition." There was a pause. "What do you think of the offer, Kip?" It was one of the members of the editorial staff who spoke. "I?" Paul turned crimson. The question was painfully direct. "Yes," demanded the other boys. "What do you say, Kipper? What's your opinion?" Paul looked uneasily into the faces of his friends. Their eyes were fixed eagerly upon him. In their gaze he could read confidence and respect. A flood of scorn for his own cowardice overwhelmed him. He straightened himself. "If you want to know what I honestly think," he heard himself saying, "I'd call it a beastly shame to sell out." There was a shout of approval. There was only one boy who did not join in the hubbub; it was Weldon. "How much would Carter give us apiece?" he asked. "Shut up, you old grafter!" snapped Roger Bell. "There's no use in your knowing. You're voted down already. Kip's perfectly right. We don't want the _Echo's_ money." "Tell Carter there's nothing doing," put in a high voice. "You decide, then, to bequeath the _March Hare_ to 1921 with our blessing?" asked Paul, with a laugh. "Sure we do!" "We are poor but honest!" piped Charlie Decker, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling with a gesture that brought a roar of applause. Charlie was the class joke. A gong sounded. "There's the bell!" cried somebody. "All aboard for Greek A!" Melville Carter reached across and rumpled up Donald Hall's hair. "Quit it, kiddo!" protested Donald nervously, drawing back from his chum's grasp. "What's the matter with you, all of a sudden?" demanded Melville, surprised. "Nothing! Cut it out, that's all." "Aren't you coming to Greek?" asked young Carter. "In a minute. Trot along; I want to speak to Kip." The throng filed out until only Donald and Paul were in the room. The editor-in-chief was standing alone at the window. For the first time in weeks he was drawing the breath of freedom. A weight seemed removed from his soul. He had been weak and vacillating, but when the test had come he had not been false either to himself or to his friends. That at least was something. Thinking that he was alone, he drew from his pocket the fifty-dollar bill that was to have been the price of his undoing, and looked at it. He would take it back that very day to Mr. Carter and confess that he had not fulfilled the contract the newspaper owner had tried to force upon him. A smile parted his lips. It was as he turned to leave the room that he encountered Donald Hall. The expression of the lad's face gave him a start; there was shame, regret, suffering in it. "What's the matter, Don?" Paul asked. The boy tried to speak but no words came. "You're not sick, old chap?" "No. Why?" "You look so darn queer. Anything I can do for you?" "N--o. No, I guess not. I just waited to see if you were coming along." "Yes, I'm coming right now," returned Paul briskly. "We'll both have to be hopping, or we'll be late. So long! See you later." The boys passed out into the corridor together and there fled in opposite directions. But Donald's face haunted Paul through the rest of the morning. What could be the matter with the boy? CHAPTER XVI AN AMAZING MIRACLE At the close of the session that day Paul walked with reluctant feet toward the office of the _Echo_. It was with the greatest difficulty that he had shaken off the fellows one by one,--Melville, Roger Bell, Donald Hall, Billie Ransom, and the other boys; he had even evaded Converse who, having heard the good news, came jubilantly toward him with the words: "1920 is all right! She never was yellow, and I knew she wouldn't change color at this late date." Paul smiled and passed on. Yes, he had done the square thing; he knew it perfectly well. Nor did he regret his action. On the contrary he was more light-hearted than he had been for a long time. Nevertheless he did not exactly fancy the coming interview with Mr. Carter. He had called up the _Echo_, and by a bit of good fortune had managed not only to get into touch with the editorial office but to reach the publisher himself. If the business at hand were important, Mr. Carter would see him. It was important, Paul said. Then he might come promptly at four o'clock and the magnate would give him half an hour. It was almost four now. The hands of the clock were moving toward the dreaded moment only too fast. Soon, the boy reflected with a little shiver up his spine, he would be in the bare little sanctum of the great man, facing those piercing eyes and handing back the fifty-dollar bill that had lain in his pocket for so many weeks; and he would be confessing that he had failed in his mission,--nay, worse than that, that he had not even tried to accomplish it. It would, of course, be impossible to explain how, when the crisis had come, something within him had leaped into being,--something that had automatically prevented him from doing what was wrong and forced him to do what was right. He took small credit to himself for his deed. It was his good genius that deserved the praise. He wondered idly as he went along whether this potent force had been his conscience or his soul. Well, it did not matter much; the result was the same. Conscience, soul, whatever it was, it was sending him back to Carter with that unspent bribe money. He was glad of it. Had he but done this weeks before, he would have been spared days and weeks of uncertainty and worry. He realized now that he had never felt right, felt happy about that bill. Yet although his bonds were now to be broken, and he was to be free at last, the shattering of his fetters was not to be a pleasant process. He knew Mr. Carter too well to deceive himself into imagining that the affair would pass off lightly. Mr. Carter was a proud man. He would not like having his gift hurled back into his face. Nor would he enjoy being beaten. Greater than any value he would set on the ownership of the _March Hare_ would loom the consciousness that he had been defeated, balked by a lot of schoolboys, by one boy in particular. The incident would ruffle his vanity and annoy him mightily. It was with this knowledge that Paul stepped into the elevator. How he wished there was some escape from the approaching interview! If only Mr. Carter should prove to be busy, or be out! But Mr. Carter was not busy, and he was not out! On the contrary, the clerk told Paul that the great man was expecting him and had given orders that he was to come into the office as soon as he arrived. Gulping down a nervous tremor, the lad steadied himself and put his hand on the knob of the awful ground-glass door. Once on the other side of it and all retreat would be cut off. Not that he really wished to retreat. It was only that he dreaded.... The knob turned and he was inside the room. Mr. Carter was at his desk dictating a letter; he finished the last sentence and motioned his stenographer to withdraw. He then asked Paul to sit down in the chair the girl had vacated. "Well, you've got some news for me," he began without preamble. "Yes, sir," Paul replied. "We had a class meeting to-day. I couldn't put your deal through, Mr. Carter. I'm bringing back the money." He laid the bill on the publisher's desk. Mr. Carter paid no heed to the money. Instead he kept his eyes on the boy before him, studying him through the smoke that clouded the room. "You couldn't pull it off, eh?" he said sharply. "I'm sorry to hear that. What was the trouble?" "I didn't try to pull it off." "Didn't try!" "No, sir." "You mean you didn't advise your staff to sell out?" "I spoke against it." "Against it!" snarled Carter, leaning forward in his chair. The room was breathlessly still. "You see," explained the boy, "the more I thought about it the less I approved of what you wanted me to do. I tried to think it was straight but I didn't really think so. When the fellows asked my honest opinion, I simply had to tell them the truth." Mr. Carter made no comment, nor did his eyes leave Paul's face, but he drew his shaggy brows together and scowled. "So," went on Paul desperately, "I've brought your money back to you. It's the same bill you gave me. I didn't spend it. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to." There was an awkward pause. Paul got to his feet. "I'm--I'm--sorry to have disappointed you, Mr. Carter," he murmured in a low tone as he moved across the room to go. "You have been mighty kind to us boys." The door was open and he was crossing the threshold before the man at the desk spoke; then he called: "Hold on a minute, son." Paul turned. "Shut that door." Wondering, the boy obeyed. Mr. Carter took up the greenback lying before him. "So you've been carrying that money round with you ever since I gave it to you, have you?" "Yes, sir." "It's a long time; some weeks." "Yes," stammered Paul. "I ought to have brought it back to you before." "I could charge you interest on it." The smile that accompanied the speech escaped Paul. "I'll pay whatever you think proper," he said. "Nonsense, boy! I was only joking," the publisher hastened to say. "But tell me something; what was it you wanted that money for? You must have needed it badly or you would not have been threatening to sell out your Liberty Bond." "I was going to buy a typewriter, sir." "Oh! And you didn't get it. That was a pity." The man tapped the edge of the bill he held against the desk thoughtfully. Paul waited for him to speak; but when after an interval he still remained silent the lad shifted uneasily from one foot to the other and remarked: "I guess I'll be going along, sir. The half hour you were to give me is up." Then Mr. Carter spoke. "Will you shake hands with me, my boy, before you go, or have you too poor an opinion of me for that?" "Indeed I haven't a poor opinion of you, Mr. Carter," replied Paul, with hearty sincerity. "You have always been mighty good to me. It's true I didn't like your _March Hare_ proposition but--" "Your father hasn't much use for me either, I'm afraid," Mr. Carter observed moodily. "Dad thinks you bought up the election." "He's right. I set out to win a majority in this town and I did it. But in order to beat a man as white as your father I had to resort to a pretty poor weapon. Everything was with him. Measured up side by side we weren't in the same class. He was by far the better man and I knew it. I couldn't beat him as to character but I could do it with money, and I did. It was a contemptible game. I've always despised myself for playing it. I wish you'd tell your dad so." Paul could scarcely credit his ears. "And about this school business," went on Mr. Carter--"you were just right, son. The school should continue the paper along the lines on which you have started it. It ought to remain the property of the students, too. All is, if next year they care to have the _Echo_ print it, we'll donate the labor free. The school can pay the actual cost of materials and I'll see to the rest of it. I can afford to do one decent thing for Burmingham, I guess." "Oh, Mr. Carter," gasped Paul, "that would be--" But the man interrupted him. "And there's a second-hand typewriter lying round here somewhere that you can have if you like. We are getting a new one of another make. You won't find this much worn I reckon, and I guess you can manage to get some work out of it. I'll send it round to your house to-morrow in my car." "Why, sir, I can't--" The great man put out his hand kindly. "There, there, run along! I'm busy," he said. "Don't forget my message to your father." "No, sir." Then he added hurriedly: "I don't know how to thank you, Mr. Carter." "That's all right," nodded the publisher, cutting him short. "I've always had the greatest respect for your father. Tell him from me that he needn't be ashamed of his son." With these parting words he waved Paul out of the office and the door closed. CHAPTER XVII THE CLOUDS CLEAR When, glowing with happiness, Paul turned into his gate late in the afternoon, he was surprised to find Donald Hall impatiently pacing the driveway before the house. The boy's bicycle was against the fence and it was evident that he had been waiting some time, for a bunch of lilacs tied to the handle-bar hung limp and faded in the sun. "How are you, old man," Paul called jubilantly. "What are you doing here?" "Hanging around until you should heave into sight. I must say you take your time. Your mother has been expecting you every minute since school closed." "I had to go to the _Echo_ office and so got delayed." "Did you tell Carter about the meeting?" "Yes." "How did he take it?" "He was great--corking!" "Really? I thought he'd cut up pretty rough." "So did I; but he didn't. He's more decent than I gave him credit for being. I like Carter. He's all right." "You're the first person I ever heard say so." "Perhaps people don't know him," replied Paul warmly. "You can't judge a man hot off the bat. You've got to try him out." Donald broke into a laugh. "Oh, he's been tried out all right. People know him too well; that's the trouble." Paul stiffened. "Well, all I can say is that I've found Carter mighty kind. He's treated me white. If you knew as much about him as I do you'd say so too. In the meantime I'd thank you to remember he's my friend and not run him down." There was an awkward pause. Donald dug the toe of his shoe into the gravel walk and fidgeted uneasily. Paul waited a moment, then, attributing his chum's silence to resentment, he added in a gentler tone: "I didn't mean to pitch into you so hard, old chap; it's only that Carter has been so mighty generous that I couldn't bear to have you light into him that way." Donald, however, despite the conciliatory tone, did not raise his head. Instead he continued to bore holes in the walk, automatically hollowing them out and filling them up again with the tip of his boot. Paul endured the suspense until at last he could not endure it any longer. "I say, Don, what's fussing you?" he burst out. The visitor crimsoned. "What makes you think anything is?" he asked, hedging. "Well, you wouldn't be loafing around here, digging up our whole driveway, unless there was," persisted Paul good-humoredly. "Come, out with it! You're the darndest kid for getting into messes. What's happened to you now?" There was an affectionate ring in the bantering words. Donald smiled feebly. It was true that he was usually in some scrape or other. It was not that he did mean or vicious things; Donald Hall was far too fine a lad for that. But he never could resist playing a prank, and whenever he played one he was invariably caught. Even though every other member of the crowd got away, Donald never contrived to. The boys declared this was because he was slow and clumsy. But the truth really was that he was wont, in unselfish fashion, to let every one else go first and was in consequence the unlucky victim whom the pursuers were sure to capture. The fleeing culprits were generally in too great haste to appreciate his altruism and he never enlightened them. He took his punishment, loyally refusing to peach on his chums. That was one reason Donald was such a favorite with his classmates. There was not a fellow in the school who had more friends. To be sure they called him "slow coach", "old tortoise", "fatty", and bestowed upon him many another gibing epithet, frankly telling him to his face that he was a big idiot. Nevertheless they did not conceal from him that he was the sort of idiot they all loved. Hence it followed that when Paul saw his chum in the present disturbed frame of mind he was much distressed and immediately leaped to the conclusion that for the hundredth--nay, the five hundredth--time Don had been caught in the snares of justice. "Come, come, Tortoise," he repeated; "tell a chap what's up with you." "Kip," burst out Donald with sudden vehemence, "I've done a mighty mean thing." "You!" "Yes, sir." "Bosh! You never did a mean thing in your life, kid." "But I have now," smiled the lad wanly. "They say there always has to be a first time. I didn't start out to do it, though. Still, that doesn't help matters much, for it's ended that way." "Going to let me in on it?" asked Paul, hoping to make the confession easier. "Yes, I came over on purpose to tell you, Kip. It's the queerest mix-up you ever heard of. It's worried me no end. Sometimes, it's seemed as if I was going nutty." "Fire ahead! Tell a man, can't you?" "Well, you see a while ago my father sent me to deposit some money in the bank for him--a hundred-dollar bill. I put the envelope in my pocket, carefully as could be. I remember perfectly doing it. I didn't go anywhere but straight down town, either. Well, anyhow, when I got to the bank the money was gone! It wasn't in my pocket; it wasn't anywhere about me." He stopped an instant. "You can imagine how I felt. My father had cautioned me not to lose that money on my life. I hadn't the nerve to tell him. Somehow I thought that if I could just smooth the matter over for a little while the envelope with the money in it would turn up. I was certain I couldn't have lost it." Again he paused. "At first I thought I'll sell a Liberty bond I had and put my hundred in the bank to dad's credit. Then I happened to think that my father had the bond locked up in his safe-deposit box and that I couldn't get at it without telling him. I didn't know what to do. I simply hadn't the courage to go home and tell the truth. You wouldn't like to face your father and tell him you'd lost a cool hundred of his cash for him. Besides, I was sure it wasn't lost. I felt morally certain I had somehow misplaced that envelope and that it would come to light. I hunted all day, though, through my pockets and everywhere I could think of and it didn't appear. I began to get scared. What was I going to do? When the bank statement came in my father would see right off that the money had not been deposited. And anyway, even if he didn't, it was only square to tell him what I'd done. I was casting round for a way out when that noon Mel called me and asked me if I'd do an errand for him on the way home. He wanted me to stop at the bank as I passed and put in some _March Hare_ money. It was a hundred dollars and it seemed to drop right out of the sky into my hands. I decided to deposit it to my father's credit and trust to finding the sum I'd lost to square up the school accounts." A light of understanding began to break in on Paul. He waited. "I guess you know what's coming," Donald murmured. "No, I don't." "Well, somebody does," declared the boy wretchedly. "That's what's got me fussed. I chance to know how the _March Hare_ books stood. Somebody's made good that money I took--made it good without saying a word about it." Donald, studying his friend's face, saw a gleam of satisfaction pass over it. "Kip!" he whispered, "was it you? Did you put the money back when you found it gone from the treasury?" "Mel and I divided it. We found the accounts short and of course we had to do something. We thought we'd made a mistake in the books," explained Paul. "So we turned in the sum and evened things up." "Without telling anybody?" "Yes; what was the use of blabbing it all over town?" "Gee!" Donald fumbled in his pocket. "Well, I've found the hundred, Kip. Here it is safe and sound. The envelope had slipped down through a hole in the lining of my pocket. The other day when I was hunting for my fountain pen, I discovered the rip. You bet I was glad. I'd have made that money good somehow. I wasn't going to take it. I hope you'll believe I'm not such a cad as that. But what I ought to have done was to tell my father in the first place. It's been an awful lesson to me. I've worried myself thin--I have, Kip. You needn't laugh." Nevertheless, Paul did laugh. He couldn't help it when he looked at Donald's conscience-smitten expression. Moreover he could now afford to laugh. But Donald was not so easily consoled. "I'm almighty sorry, Kip," he said. "The whole thing has been rotten. Think of you and Mel Carter turning in your cash to make the bank accounts square. Where on earth did you each get your fifty?" "Some of it was money I'd earned and put aside toward a typewriter; and the rest I got by cashing in my war stamps." "Oh, I say!" Regret and mortification overwhelmed the culprit. "It's no matter now, Don." "But it is, old chap. I suppose that knocked you out of buying your typewriter. It's a darn shame." "I was pretty sore, Don--no mistake!" admitted Paul. "But it's all right now. The accounts are O.K.; I shall get my money back; and I have a typewriter into the bargain. Mr. Carter has just given me a second-hand machine they weren't using." "Did he know about this muddle?" "Not a yip! He did know, though, that I wanted the typewriter." "Well, I'll take back all I ever said about him," cried Donald. "He's a trump! As for you, Kip--you deserve a hundred typewriters! It's all-fired good of you not to rub this in. I know I've caused you a lot of trouble and I'm sorry. That's all I can say." "Shut up, Tortoise. It's all right now," repeated Paul. "Only don't go appropriating any more funds that don't belong to you. We might jail you next time. Taking other people's cash isn't much of a stunt." "You bet it isn't!" cried Donald heartily. "When you do it you think it's going to be easy as fiddle to slip it back again; but it doesn't seem to turn out that way. Jove, but I'm glad I'm clear of this mess!" "I guess we both will sleep better to-night than we have for one while," called Paul, moving toward the house. "So long, Don!" "So long, Kipper. And don't you go losing that money. It's caused too much worry already." "I'll take care of it--don't you fuss about that. There are no rips in my coat lining." Thus they parted--the happiest pair of boys in all Burmingham. CHAPTER XVIII GRADUATION Thus did Paul's troubles dissolve in air and with the June winds blow far away. In the meantime graduation came and the essay he delivered was clicked off on Mr. Carter's typewriter which, considering the fact that it was a second-hand one, was an amazingly fresh and unscarred machine. Nor was this all. After the graduation exercises had come to a close, and the audience was passing out of the building, Mr. Cameron and the publisher of the _Echo_ came face to face in the corridor. They had not met since the famous mayoral campaign when Carter, by means of wholesale bribery, had swept all before him. Hence the present encounter was an awkward one and many a citizen of Burmingham stopped to witness the drama. Had the two men been able to avoid the clash they would undoubtedly have done so; but the hallway was narrow and escape was impossible. Here they were wedged in the crowd, each of them having come hither to see his son take his diploma. It was a day of rejoicing and no time for grudges. Melville was at his father's elbow while at Mr. Cameron's heels tagged Paul, hot, tired, but victorious. The instant the group collided the magnate's hand shot out and gripped that of the editor-in-chief of the _March Hare_. "Well, youngster, I'm proud of you!" he exclaimed. "You did well. We shall be making a newspaper man of you yet." Then, glancing up into the face of the lad's father, he added with hesitating graciousness: "I--I--congratulate you on your son, Cameron." Mr. Cameron was not to be outdone. "And I on yours, Mr. Carter. Melville is a fine boy. You must be glad that he has done so well." "Oh, Melville's not perfect," declared Mr. Carter, obviously pleased, "but he is all the boy we've got and we like him." There was a pause. "Our young representatives have done pretty well on this paper of theirs, haven't they?" remarked Mr. Carter the next moment. "They certainly have," agreed Mr. Cameron. "The _March Hare_ is a very readable and creditable little magazine. You've done both the school and the community a service, Carter, by printing it." "I've made some blunders in my life, Cameron, for which I have since been very sorry," the rich man said, looking significantly into Mr. Cameron's eyes. "But printing the _March Hare_ was not one of them, thank God! We consider the school paper well worth printing," he added in a lighter tone. "Everything the _Echo_ prints is worth while, you know." Mr. Cameron laughed at the jest. "I've been dragged into reading your august publication, you know," said he. "I subscribed to it against my will, I must own; however, I must confess that I have enjoyed it very much. If you'd change your party, Carter, and come into the proper political fold--" Mr. Carter held up his hand. "No propaganda, Cameron!" he declared good-naturedly. "We must learn wisdom of our children. Their paper is quite non-partisan. In fact," he continued, lapsing into seriousness, "the younger generation teaches us many things. I've learned a lesson or two from your son. You have put a great deal of your fineness of principle into him, Cameron. I hope you realize what a deep respect I entertain for you. I have always regretted the occurrences that parted us. If I had my life to live over again, my dear sir, there are some offenses that I should not repeat. An honor that one wins by foul means is an empty one. I took an unfair advantage of an honorable gentleman in the campaign of 1916 and I have always been sorry and longed to tell you so. I now offer you my hand. It is the only amendment I can make for the past." The apology was a handsome one and Mr. Cameron was a big enough man to be forgiving. Taking his enemy's palm in a warm grasp he said: "We all blunder sometimes, Carter." "An honest blunder is one thing; but pre-meditated meanness is quite another, Cameron. However, I appreciate your generosity. It is like you--on the same scale with the rest of your nature." Then to shift a subject that was embarrassing he remarked: "As for these young rascals of ours, I suppose a great career awaits each of them after college is over. Your son has a better brain than mine; but they are both promising fellows. I'd like to land Paul in an editorial position. He has a decided gift for such a job. Perhaps later on I may be able to help him, should he decide to take up such work permanently. I should be very proud to be of service either to you or him, Cameron." "Thank you, sir," replied Mr. Cameron courteously. Amid the pressing crowd they separated, the parents to go home in a mood of satisfaction and happiness, and the boys to continue the day's festivities with a class banquet and a dance. That banquet was a never-to-be-forgotten affair! For weeks the class officers had been planning it and no detail was omitted that could add merriment and joy to the crowning event of 1920's career. No sooner were the guests seated at the long table and the spread fairly begun than a stuffed rabbit, exquisitely decorated with the class colors, was borne into the room. This was, of course, the far-famed March Hare. Its advent was greeted with a storm of clapping. Very solemnly it was elevated in Paul's hands and amid shouts and cheers was carried by the graduating editor-in-chief to the president of 1921 where, with an appropriate speech, it was surrendered into the keeping of the incoming seniors. Then the banquet went on only to have its progress interrupted at intervals by bustling attendants who came rushing in with telegrams, special delivery letters, and telephone messages from the Hatter, the Red Queen, the Dormouse, and many another well-beloved Wonderland character. Afterward the Walrus and the Carpenter sang a song and then, with great acclaim and a crash of the orchestra, the folding doors opened and Alice herself, impersonating 1921, entered, gathered up the _March Hare_, and with a graceful little poem of farewell to 1920 took the head of the table. With a sigh glad yet regretful, Paul surrendered his place. He had longed for the day when he should be graduating from school and setting forth for college; but now that the moment had really arrived, he found himself not nearly so glad to depart from the High School as he had expected to be. Many a pleasant memory clustered about the four years he had spent in those familiar classrooms. And the comrades of those years,--he was parting from them, too. Some were scattering to the various colleges; some were going into business; others were to remain at home. Never again would they all travel the same path together. Alas, graduation had its tragic as well as its happy aspects! Perhaps some such thought as this lurked deep down in the breast of every member of 1920, but for the sake of one another, and to make the last moments they were to spend together unclouded by sadness, each bravely struggled to banish this sinister reflection. Hence the dance that followed the banquet was an uproarious affair. When one is young and all the world lies before, the conqueror Gloom is short-lived. So 1920 danced gayly until midnight, forgetful of every shadow, and when weary, sleepy, but triumphant, a half-jubilant, half-sorrowful lot of girls and boys betook themselves to their homes, it was with ringing cheers for the Burmingham High School, the class of 1920, the _March Hare_, Mr. Carter, its printer, and Paul Cameron, its editor-in-chief. [Transcriber's Note: The following errors have been corrected: List of Illustrations: The page number for the last illustration has been changed from 137 to 136. Page 77: "Strasburg" changed to "Strasbourg" (a native of Strasbourg,) Page 111: "acounts" changed to "accounts" (When the accounts were found to be short,) Page 171: "papier-maché" changed to "papier-maché" (a sort of _papier-mâché_) All other spelling and punctuation inconsistencies have been retained.] 
46113	----	TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES--PART II. No. 16 TYPESETTING A PRIMER OF INFORMATION ABOUT WORKING AT THE CASE, JUSTIFYING, SPACING, CORRECTING, MAKING-UP, AND OTHER OPERATIONS EMPLOYED IN SETTING TYPE BY HAND BY A. A. STEWART PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA 1919 COPYRIGHT, 1919 UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA CHICAGO, ILL. Composition and electrotypes contributed by The Frank D. Jacobs Company Philadelphia PREFACE There is a prevalent notion that setting type by hand is not now as important a part of the printer's vocation as it was years ago. Ingenious composing machines now perform so much of the work of putting into printable shape the literature of the world that it is often assumed the hand compositor's occupation is fast disappearing and does not offer much inducement for an ambitious young man to follow seriously. This is a mistaken notion entertained only by those who have a limited conception of printing craftsmanship and its possibilities for the exercise of individual skill. It is true that the greater part of the composition for ordinary printing is now done by machines, just as in other lines of industry machines are relieving human hands of the drudgery in large-scale production by multiplying products through mechanical operations. But that the work of the hand compositor is any less important now than it ever has been is far from the fact. Behind the great volume of machine work, and absolutely essential for any effective use of machine product, there is greater need than ever before of the hand-work and head-work of trained compositors. One of the great defects of machine composition is its lack of intelligent, trained craftsmanship in typography. Too often it is the work of machine-thinking operators rather than of intelligent compositors trained to use the machine to increase their product and make it of better effect and worth. Training in hand composition should be a prerequisite for machine keyboard operation. In no other way can the niceties of typography be so thoroughly or conveniently learned as with composing stick and type case. While hand composition is the particular kind of work the author had in mind when writing the following pages, many of the instructions and suggestions given apply directly to machine-set matter. Expertness and correctness are now demanded of all workmen; correct composition is required from the machine operator even more insistently than from the hand compositor, since the work of the former cannot be so readily rectified. The first and second volumes of this series, "Type" and "Compositor's Tools," dealing more fully with the tools and materials used, should be read in connection with this volume. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTORY 7 PRELIMINARY SUGGESTIONS 8 LEARNING THE CASE 10 UNITS FOR MEASURING 14 SPACES AND QUADS 15 A SIMPLE SPACING TABLE 17 HAIR SPACES AND JUSTIFIERS 20 LEADS AND SLUGS 21 SETTING THE COMPOSING STICK 21 USE OF THE COMPOSING RULE 24 SETTING TYPE 25 JUSTIFYING THE LINES 27 EMPTYING THE STICK 28 TYING UP THE PAGE 31 TAKING PROOFS 34 MAKING CORRECTIONS 37 IMPORTANCE OF UNIFORM SPACING 42 RULES FOR SPACING 43 SPACING OF ITALIC 48 SPACING CAPITAL LETTERS 49 WIDE SPACING 51 PARAGRAPH AND OTHER INDENTIONS 52 SETTING POETRY 55 HEADINGS 58 INITIAL LETTERS 59 MAKING UP PAGES 61 WASHING TYPE 67 DISTRIBUTING 69 SUPPLEMENTARY READING 74 REVIEW QUESTIONS 75 GLOSSARY 85 TYPESETTING _Introductory_ The best and most useful printing is that which has been done by typography; and the best typography has been, and still is, that done by type, hand-set and prepared for the press by well-trained compositors. Good typesetting must be the product of an educated, intelligent mind as well as a skillful hand. It calls for close attention to practical details. It demands the exercise of literary and artistic sense which perceives the requirements of legibility and coherence in thought and the orderly arrangement of words and lines necessary to make the printed page of the greatest usefulness. A composition of movable types has many advantages over other methods of preparing forms for printing. It offers the readiest means for securing a page of correct reading matter. The mechanical operations are relatively simple. No other process will produce so good a printing surface as quickly or as inexpensively as the typographic method. Serious faults of the original copy, in spelling, use of points, words, phrases, in paragraphing, in spacing of lines, in arrangement of headings, and other errors can be readily corrected in type. The page can be made longer by leading, or shorter by taking out leads. Any of these changes can be made with the utmost freedom, in a manner that is not practicable in any other branch of the graphic arts. The engraved plate, whether produced by mechanical or by chemical means, when once made, can be changed only in minor details. What is cut must stay; any considerable variation from the first impression can be made only by great skill and by slow processes. Typography is peculiarly the vehicle for printing literature quickly and effectively. Considering the great influence it can wield, nothing could be simpler than the tools it employs. An intelligent boy of fifteen years, after a little practice, can set type and print it with a press, and the product will be as acceptable as that done by a workman of long experience. Yet typesetting is not an occupation easily mastered. To find profit and satisfaction in the work an apprentice must acquire a broad knowledge of language and literature and develop an interest in subjects relating to art and design. Although the mechanics of his work are given the chief consideration in the following pages, he should remember that his principal working material is Language and his real tools are alphabets and words. _Preliminary Suggestions_ There are several habits which the young compositor should begin to acquire at the outset if he hopes to make his work agreeable and successful. The mention of these may seem like an unnecessary repetition of trite injunctions, but in work of the kind upon which he is engaged their practice is particularly important. The compositor's work is one of many details, and careless habits quickly lead to unprofitable results and disappointment. The chief of the good habits may be enumerated as: 1. The habit of silence while at work. A chattering person in the composing room is a nuisance. 2. The habit of keeping materials cleared up. A confusion of articles on the workstand will greatly retard his work. Keep items of the same kind grouped together as much as possible. 3. The habit of picking up at once type and other articles dropped on the floor. A type stepped on is spoiled. 4. The habit of not putting anything in the mouth with soiled hands. Always wash the hands before eating. 5. The habit of standing on both feet and not leaning over the workstand. 6. The habit of dressing so as to be comfortable and reasonably clean. [Illustration: FIG. 1 Standing at the case] A compositor should stand comfortably on both feet in front of his case, just a little to the left of the center, and the case should be adjusted to allow free motion of his right arm over the front of the case. This will enable him to shift his weight from one foot to the other occasionally as he reaches from one side of the case to the other. This habit is one that will have to be learned with some effort, but it will mean much to his health and comfort. The coat should be removed before beginning work, and the shirt sleeves should be rolled high enough to avoid interfering with the work on the galley. A work apron or a loose-fitting coat with short sleeves is advised in order to protect the front of the usual clothing and to provide an extra pocket for small articles like tying-up strings, composing rules, etc. The pocket should not, however, be a depository for types, leads, or brass rules that are usable; these articles should be distributed where they belong. _Learning the Case_ There are thirty and more different styles of type cases shown in the catalogs of dealers in printers' supplies, and some of these styles are made in different sizes. This variety may seem bewildering to the beginner who sees the case plans and realizes that a compositor must become familiar with the location of the hundreds of characters in the many boxes of the various cases. Many of the case plans shown, however, are not in common use, some of them never appearing in the average composing room. A number of them are for special material and their box arrangement is readily understood when one becomes familiar with composing room work. All unusual cases are (or should be) marked clearly, with labels on individual boxes if necessary, showing the name or shape of the character in each box. The cases used for ordinary hand composition are commonly laid out according to one of two plans: capital case and lower case. Some cases are a combination of both these plans. When the apprentice becomes thoroughly familiar with these two plans and their minor variations he will have little difficulty, if he is observing and careful, in understanding the arrangement of any other special cases which he may have to use occasionally. The plan of the common capital case is a simple alphabetical order of the letters, with the exception of J and U. The capital case is divided into two sections, each having seven boxes across and seven boxes in vertical line--forty-nine in each half of the case. Of the seven horizontal rows, only the lower four rows are used for the letters, the upper boxes being used for miscellaneous characters; or in some cases left vacant. This arrangement brings the letters AHPX in a vertical line, then BIQY, and so on, as shown in the diagram.[1] [Footnote 1: NOTE. When the early printers made their case plans I and J, and also the V and U, were treated as variants of the same symbols and no special boxes were provided for them in the capital case. Later, when the J and U were used to express distinctive sounds they were added to the case in the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth places, which explains why they are out of the usual alphabetical order. The young compositor is advised to read further information about the history of these letters under their special heads in any of the unabridged general dictionaries, such as the Standard, Century, Webster's, etc.] [Illustration: FIG. 2 (_a_) The capital case] [Illustration: FIG. 2 (_b_) The lower case] In the lower-case plan there is an irregular arrangement of the alphabet and a difference in the size of the boxes. Some letters are used much more frequently than others, and the extra quantities of these types need larger boxes. These boxes are placed in the case near the compositor's hand, while the types less frequently used are kept in boxes farther away. The pair of upper and lower cases, for many years in use as the standard cases for book composition and for large roman fonts, is being abandoned to a great extent. The increasing use of machines for book and periodical composition during the past few years is gradually eliminating the double cases which were necessary for large quantities of type when type was set solely by hand-work. Type cases in pairs are still generally used, however, and in many composing rooms they hold the chief working fonts of large as well as small sizes of type. A thorough familiarity with the box plans of the upper and lower cases should be the first acquirement of every apprentice. [Illustration: FIG. 3 The California job case] The style of case now commonly used in America is that known as the California job case, which has boxes for alphabets of both capitals and small letters and for figures, points, spaces, quads, and a few other indispensable characters like &, $, dashes, etc. This style of case is popular because it provides in a convenient single tray enough boxes for a complete font of types needed to compose English sentences. The "lay of the case" may sometimes be learned in a few hours by an alert boy; sometimes the learning may be a matter of days or even weeks, according to the opportunity and the quickness of the learner. It is a good test of the young compositor's mental quality to note the quickness and accuracy with which he learns this preliminary task. It may be safely predicted that the boy who works around a composing room for months doing odd jobs, even if he is not given special permission to set type, and fails to learn something of the case plan, through lack of interest or initiative on his part, will not prove an alert, intelligent compositor later on. Some foremen instruct the beginner to go to an old case with a composing stick and hunt for the letters until, by picking and fumbling, he manages to find those he needs for his first stickful. Another practice is to place types of a large size in the corners of the boxes of the principal letters as guides to the unfamiliar small types. Methods of this kind are slipshod and uncertain; there is sure to be an imperfect knowledge of the contents of the case, for a time at least, and consequent mixing of the types. The best method of learning the case is to draw a plan of it. This can be done by a study of the case itself before beginning to set type. Let the apprentice first copy the plan of the boxes without trying to memorize the letters in them. When the outline of the boxes is complete the letters can then be marked in place. Another way is to make a copy on a large scale from a print such as shown on page 11. When this is done the apprentice should ask the advice of his foreman or somebody familiar with the cases in his particular room, to be sure that his plan corresponds with the cases he will use. Not all cases are laid exactly alike, even if they appear to be the same at first glance. Many fonts have peculiar characters, or there may be in the case types not ordinarily belonging to the font, which are kept in some spare boxes, or for some reason changes may be desirable in the positions of the regular characters. In this, as in other matters, a safe rule for the apprentice will be: When in doubt, ask somebody who knows. It will always be wiser to proceed carefully at first and know that one is right than to work along in an uncertain, helter-skelter fashion. The drawing of plans of the different styles of cases in the room is not only a good way to learn the cases accurately but is also a good exercise in the use of pencil and type-measure; it is a simple problem in mechanical drawing which the young compositor should practice, in preparation for more advanced "layout" work which he may do later. _Units for Measuring_ The unit of measurement for types, leads, rules, and other small items used in composing a page is the _point_, approximately 1/72 of an inch, shown by the thickness of this mark:| The most used type bodies are those of 6-point and others graduated by one point up to 12-point. The amount of type in a page is measured in ems of the size of type used. An _em_ is a square of the body [Illustration: example of an em square], and varies in size with each size of type. Thus, an 8-point em is 8 points deep and 8 points wide; a 12-point em is 12 points deep and 12 points wide. The common method of measuring the quantity of type on a page is by using the em as the unit, the number of ems in the line being multiplied by the number of lines on the page. The term em is applied in many ways to type; the em dash is one cast on a square body, the em fraction is a fraction cast on a square body, and so with type borders and other characters. Before the adoption of the point system type sizes were designated by a variety of names which were meaningless so far as indicating their sizes was concerned. In the point system the size of 12-point corresponds to the old pica. Pica has been a standard type in many countries for a long time, though it has not always been uniform in size. All type founders made pica types, but all picas were not the same size in this country until after the adoption of the point system in 1887. The old names pica and nonpareil (half pica, or 6-point) still survive as convenient terms to use in naming these sizes. For convenience and economy in the composing room the leads, slugs, rules, metal and wooden furniture, wood type, and other composing material are used in lengths graduated by 12-point or pica. When leads or rules are spoken of as being twenty picas, or twenty ems, it is understood that they are twenty 12-points long. Pica gages are scales marked off in units of 12-point (and half, or 6-point). A graduated composing stick is made to set to measures of 12-point and half. It will be remembered that the point size was given as approximately 1/72 of an inch. Actually a point is .013837 of an inch, but for convenience the simpler fraction of 1/72 is sufficiently accurate for composing-room purposes. This makes the 12-point or pica 1/6 of an inch. Shop custom measures the items of a page in points, and the page itself or its chief divisions by picas. Paper, sizes and other large dimensions are measured in inches. It is important for the apprentice to learn these units of measurements and their relation to each other in order to make quick calculations for line lengths, page sizes, margins, etc. _Spaces and Quads_ Trade custom gives the name _spaces_ to the small type blanks and _quads_ to the larger type blanks. These are further specified according to their thickness or fractional part of the em, or square, as 3-to-em, 4-to-em, 5-to-em (hereafter in this treatise, for convenience, termed respectively the 3-space, 4-space, 5-space). Very thin blanks are hair spaces or justifiers. The en quad (half the square) is sometimes called the thick space.[2] The large blanks are the em quad 2-em quad, and (for types of 12-point and smaller) 3-em quad. [Footnote 2: NOTE. The 3-space is often miscalled the thick space; but as it is commonly known as the normal space (i.e. neither thick nor thin) it seems illogical to call it also a thick space. The en quad or any space thicker than the 3-space is obviously a thick space.] To the beginner the difference between some spaces and quads is not always clear because of the frequent identity of size in different type bodies. Thus, a 3-space of an 18-point font is 18x6 points, which is the same as a 3-em quad of 6-point. The difference between the two is in the position of the nicks (except where spaces and quads are cast without nicks). On the 6-point quad the nick is along the 3-em side, while on the 18-point space it is across the narrow 6-point edge. The identity in size is often a convenience, when quads or spaces of one size are exhausted, by allowing the use of pieces from another font. [Illustration: FIG. 4 10-POINT SPACES AND QUADS] The apprentice should become familiar with these regular spaces of his case at the outset. He may learn to distinguish them by putting one of each thickness side by side frequently for comparison. By doing this with each size of type as he comes to use it he will soon learn to distinguish the spaces at a glance, to select quickly the space he wants, and to sort them properly in distributing. These four regular thickness of spaces meet most of the requirements of type composition. Besides their own individual widths they may be combined into any other widths for spacing and justifying lines. The following table, showing twenty-four different widths less than the em which can be made with the four original spaces, should be studied by the beginner who is in despair because he cannot find just the right thickness to fit his line. _A Simple Spacing Table_ Taking 60 as the common denominator of the five blanks, including the em quad, which would be 60/60, the en quad is 30/60, the 3-space is 20/60, the 4-space is 15/60, and the 5-space is 12/60. By combining the various spaces the following fractions of the em square may be obtained: 5-space = 12-60ths 4-space = 15-60ths 3-space = 20-60ths 2 5-spaces = 24-60ths 4-space and 5-space = 27-60ths en quad = 30-60ths 3-space and 5-space = 32-60ths 3-space and 4-space = 35-60ths 3 5-spaces = 36-60ths 4-space and 2 5-spaces = 39-60ths 2 3-spaces = 40-60ths en and 5-space = 42-60ths 3-space and 2 5-spaces = 44-60ths en and 4-space = 45-60ths 3-4-5-spaces = 47-60ths 4 5-spaces = 48-60ths en and 3-spaces = 50-60ths 4-space and 3 5-spaces = 51-60ths 2 3-spaces and 5-space = 52-60ths en and 2 5-spaces = 54-60ths 2 3-spaces and 4-space = 55-60ths 3-space and 3 5-spaces = 56-60ths en, 4- and 5-spaces = 57-60ths 3-space, 4-space and 2 5-spaces = 59-60ths em quad = 60-60ths With a supply of the regular spaces at hand it will be seen that for average work there is ample opportunity for careful spacing and proper justification. The trouble often comes, however, because of an insufficient supply of the thinner spaces. Unfortunately in many places these are not supplied in right quantities and the usual boxes for holding them are inadequate for a proper supply. Improper distribution of the thin spaces is also responsible for the lack of a proper supply, as well as for great loss of time in sorting and hunting during composition. The point system of widths has been applied to spaces, the thickness being graduated by points and half-points, instead of the fractional division of the em. In a font of 10-point, for instance, the four ordinary spaces 5-space, 4-space, 3-space, and en quad, are respectively 2, 2-1/2, 3-1/3, and 5 points thick. In the point system there are five spaces within these limits, namely: 2, 2-1/2, 3, 4, and 5 points thick. The extra space and two intermediate widths between the 4-space and the en quad give many advantages in spacing for good composition; though as yet the use of these point-width spaces is not general in hand composition. The lack of proper boxes to keep them in the ordinary type cases is a serious drawback to their economical use. The following table shows the widths of point spaces in six common sizes of type: POINT SYSTEM OF SPACE WIDTHS ------------------------------------------------------------------ | 6-to- | 5-to- | 4-to- | 3-to- | Patent| en | em | em | em | em | em | space | quad | quad ----------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|------- 6-point | 1 | -- | 1-1/2 | 2 | 2-1/2 | 3 | 6 8-point | 1 | 1-1/2 | 2 | 2-1/2 | 3 | 4 | 8 10-point | 1-1/2 | 2 | 2-1/2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 10 12-point | 2 | 2-1/2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 12 14-point | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 14 18-point | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | -- | 9 | 18 ------------------------------------------------------------------ When type composition is to be used regularly for making moulds for electrotypes; high spaces, quads, leads, and slugs are employed instead of the ordinary low spaces and quads. These reach nearly as high as the shoulder of the type and, unlike low spaces, do not leave small holes and crevices between the words and lines into which the moulding wax is forced when moulding. Although a great deal of miscellaneous job work is moulded for electrotyping with low spaces and other blanks, the electrotyper finds it difficult to obtain the best results with forms made up in this manner. The high blank spaces make a better moulding form and are used in composing rooms where the major part of the work is electrotyped. Large hollow quads, known as quotation quads (quotation furniture, in the larger sizes), are used in place of solid quads where there are many large blanks in the form. These have the advantage of lightness in comparison with regular quads. They should be set in the form with the hollow space down, so as not to catch dirt and small particles that will be likely to come out later on the ink rollers when the form is on the press. There are occasionally places where it will be an advantage to use them hollow-side up for ease in picking them out when changing the form; but the form should never be sent to press or to the electrotype foundry with the hollow spaces up. In a font of typewriter type all characters are cast on bodies of the same width. Only one kind of space is used (or need be used) for spacing the lines. This space is the same width as the letters, so that each line contains exactly the same number of pieces. The usual size for this kind of type is 12-point and the width of the letters and the space is a little more than the en. The apprentice should notice that the 12-point typewriter space and the 12-point en quad are not the same. Script types usually need spaces and quads that are beveled on two sides near the top. The bevels are to allow for the overhanging kern of the letters. The spaces and quads are cast to fit the particular design of the face. The general practice of slug-casting machine composition is to justify the lines by _increasing_ the spaces, which explains the customary wide-spaced appearance of machine-set matter. As the same space-bands are used for all sizes on the machine, a 6-point size is spaced relatively much wider than a 10-point face. NOTE. The system of spaces here considered is that of regular foundry type fonts. Linotypes and Monotypes have systems of spacing which differ considerably from this. In Monotype composition a special unit system is used. There are 18 units in a quad, which, unlike the em quad of foundry type, in the smaller sizes is not usually an exact square. The space is 6 units, approximating the foundry 3-to-em space; the 5-unit space equaling the 4-to-em space; and the 4-unit usually a little less than the 5-to-em space. These are cast from matrices and represent fixed widths. But in the process of composition the expanding or justifying space is used to fill out the line. When the keyboard operator sees that another word or syllable can not go into the line the keys indicating the width of the spaces to fill the line are struck, the result being that all spaces are spread equally to fill the line. The actual spaces cast may be any number of units in width. On the Linotype there are three fixed spaces: the em quad, the en quad (or figure space), and the thin space, equal to a fourth of the em. The regular space is made by space-bands which can be used to make any size between a 3-to-em and double this thickness. If anything smaller than the thin space is needed, it must be put in by hand. _Hair Spaces and Justifiers_ The term _justifying_ refers to the tightening of a line to make it correspond with other lines or parts of the page, so that the whole form may be locked together compactly, with no parts loose and none too tight. The term _spacing_ refers to the blanks between the words in the lines. The term _leading_ refers to the distance between the lines in a paragraph or page of plain matter. A line of type may be well spaced but improperly justified. On the other hand, it may be badly spaced but nicely justified. There are many places where spaces thinner than the 5-space are needed, especially for letter-spacing and for careful word-spacing, as well as for tabular pages and other work requiring accurate justification. For such purposes hair spaces, copper-thins, and brass-thins are provided. The thickness of hair spaces varies according to the size of the type; the name is given generally to any cast space thinner than the 5-to-em. Copper spaces are 1/2-point in thickness and brass spaces are 1-point thick, the difference in the metal used being for easy distinction of the thicknesses. Copper and brass spaces, because of greater durability, are superior to cast metal hair spaces for hand composition. When metal thin spaces are not at hand it may be necessary to resort to pieces of paper or thin card. Spaces of this kind should be used only in exceptional cases and not at all as a common practice. There should be never more than a few pieces of paper used in justifying a line. A safe rule for the apprentice, when he thinks he cannot make his line come right without some such expedient, is to ask an experienced compositor, who will usually show him how to justify without the paper. _Leads and Slugs_ Lines of type are separated by leads and slugs. These are strips of metal lower than type-high and are furnished by dealers in labor-saving fonts and also in lengths of two feet. Leads are made 1-point, 1-1/2-point, 2-point, and 3-point thick. The 1-point size is furnished in 16-inch lengths. The 2-point is the thickness mostly used. Slugs are made usually 6-point, 12-point, 18-point, and 24-point thick, but other sizes are also made. Leads and slugs are made in two heights; one slightly less than low spaces and quads, for usual composition when the type is to be used for printing, and the other high enough to reach the shoulder of the type, for use with high spaces and quads in electrotype moulding. Leads and slugs are also made of brass, in sizes, lengths, and heights similar to the soft metal varieties. While the cost of brass material is much greater than ordinary metal strips, in some cases its greater durability makes it more economical. This is true of the 1-point and 1-1/2-point thicknesses used in standard lengths, as in newspaper and periodical pages. For occasional use in job work the soft metal leads are usually satisfactory. Strips of wood, called reglet, are sometimes used as substitutes for leads and slugs in large sizes. These are made in lengths of one yard and in sizes of 6-point (nonpareil), 12-point (pica), and 18-point. Larger sizes of the same material are known as wooden furniture. All the material mentioned under this head is commonly used in lengths graduated by the pica (12-point) and is for the most part in labor-saving fonts or assortments. Each kind should be kept, when not in use, in racks or cases with compartments for the different lengths. _Setting the Composing Stick_ The width of a type page is called its _measure_. Before commencing to set type the stick must be set to the measure required; that is, for the length of the type line. If the stick is of the modern graduated pattern which sets to standard measures by changing the movable side-piece to a slot or notch where it is fixed, the setting is a simpler matter. These sticks will no doubt be in more common use later than they are now because of their many advantages; but as there are many of the old style thumbscrew sticks (especially the kind known as the Yankee job stick) in use in composing rooms throughout the country, it is necessary to know how to adjust these correctly. The old style sticks not only require care in setting but watchfulness afterward to see that they do not change while being used for a job. The manner of setting a stick may depend upon the kind of work to be done. For job work of a few lines only, where the lines are to be locked by themselves in a chase, the stick may be set by a bunch of leads of the required length. These are placed in the stick and the movable knee setup to them loosely, so that the leads do not bind at the ends. If the job is to be enclosed in a border or rule panel the stick should be adjusted accurately to ems of 12-point or 6-point. [Illustration: FIG. 5 The Composing Stick] For ordinary measures a line of perfect 12-point quads will be a good gage. For very short measures, as in tabular column heads, 6-point quads should be used. A gage that will be more uniformly accurate is a line of 12-point letters (for short measures) or 24-point letters (for longer measures) from a font of foundry-cast type. These should be set in the stick with the nicks sideways, not in front as for composition. The body-size of cast type is the most accurate of any point-size material, and as 12-point and 24-point fonts are at hand in every composing room they furnish a convenient and reliable standard at all times. [Illustration: A row of twenty sideways ems] Usually the knee should be set lightly against the gage when the thumbscrew is tightened. A good plan is to put a slip of paper at one end of the line of quads or letters (See A, Fig. 5), and to push up the knee firmly. A line of many separate types will not fit together as solidly as a line of a few quads; to allow for a little compression in the line when it is locked up later the slight fullness is given in setting the stick. In setting measures for tabular columns and for very short lines the slip of paper is not necessary. [Illustration: FIG. 6 The Composing Stick] It is important that the outer end of the knee should be kept at a right angle to make the stick square, in order that the first and last lines of the stickful should be of exactly the same length. If there is any doubt about this, test the front of the stick by moving the gage line forward when the measure is adjusted. If the gage line is looser here than at the back, the outer end of the knee may be closed in by inserting a piece of card between the knee and the back plate, as is shown at A in Fig. 6. When the measure is set, make the thumbscrew as tight as possible with the fingers. _Do not use a wrench_, as this is liable to give unnecessary force and break the small clamp. Make it a practice to try the thumbscrew occasionally while using the stick to prevent the knee from becoming loose, as it may in case the lines are justified tightly. _Use of the Composing Rule_ Lines of type are easier handled by the aid of a composing rule. It is not practicable to set small types in the stick without some support or to set a second line immediately next to another without a lead or rule to separate them. The composing rule furnishes a smooth surface against which to place the types as they are assembled and to keep them in line while the respacing and justifying is done. The rule is also convenient for lifting lines out into the galley and for handling them in later operations. Sets of these rules can be purchased from supply houses or they may be made from a discarded strip of brass rule (2-point or 3-point), by trimming one end so as to leave a nib 10 points long. Composing rules are not used now as much as formerly, owing to the fact that hand composition is largely in the nature of job work. A compositor in a day sets a great variety of line-lengths, many of them in large types, and he dispenses with the composing rule as a needless tool, using instead the ready-at-hand leads and slugs needed for the page. In many cases this is advisable. Yet when there are many lines of one length to set and to correct and later to make up into pages, the composing rule is recommended as a useful accessory. _Setting Type_ With a correct plan of the case before him the beginner at typesetting may go at his work with confidence that one part of his work is simplified and he can devote his attention to the next steps, that is, to learn to hold the stick comfortably and to pick up the types and put them in line. [Illustration: FIG. 7 Holding the Composing Stick] The accompanying illustration shows the manner of holding the stick. Notice that it is held in the left hand, leaving the right hand free to pick up the letters. Type must be set right-handedly even by left-handed persons. The types are placed in the left corner of the stick with the nicks outward, and each type as it is placed is held gently by the thumb of the left hand. The stick is always held with the open side slightly tilted up to allow the types to lie against the composing rule, and the left thumb follows each type along the line to keep it from falling out of place. The beginner will usually try to read his first words in type by turning the stick so that the bottom of the line is toward him. This is not the way experienced compositors do, however. The printer reads his type lines up-side-down, with the top of the line toward him. In this way he reads the lines from left to right, just as he would the printed page except that the top of the type page is nearest to him. It must be remembered that any printing form is the reverse of the printed sheet. The simplest way is to reverse the page from top to bottom rather than from right to left. Just turn this page face down on the table and you can readily imagine what the types that printed it would look like. A compositor should always read his copy ahead of his setting and try to get the sense of the words. This will make it easier for him to carry in his mind a number of words at a time in advance of picking up the types. One who must constantly refer to his copy word for word will waste valuable time hunting for his place, will have greater difficulty in keeping the sequence of words, and will be far more liable to make mistakes. Concentration of mind is absolutely essential if he hopes to become a good compositor. [Illustration: FIG. 8 Example: The printer must learn to read letters and words up-side-down, as they appear in this example. (Text inverted)] The nicks on the type bodies are important in helping to pick them up in such a manner that they may be carried to the stick and put in place right side up quickly. Look for a particular type in the box and note the nick first. Select one that can be carried to the stick right side up with the fewest motions. While it is going to its place look for the next type and have the left thumb in the stick do its share of the team work. Fumbling for a type, picking it up and turning it over several times to find the nick before it can be put in the line is a habit that should be guarded against as a positive handicap. Study to avoid as much as possible all superfluous motions. Do not mistake nervous, fussy, trust-to-luck motions for speed; they are usually the reverse. Be deliberate and accurate, even if slow at the start. Learn first to do it right, then strive to do it quickly. Speed is important, but correctness is much more so. _Justifying the Lines_ Each line of type must end with a completed word or a syllable. When the line is first set, however, it rarely happens that the types fill the line snugly without more or less changing of the spaces. If a little more room is needed to take in the last letter or two of a word, the spaces are changed for thinner ones until the word is brought in. On the other hand, if there remains a little space after the last word or syllable, the spaces are increased a little until the line is full. Just when to thin space and bring in a word or syllable or when to fill out the line with wider spaces depends upon whether the composition generally is to be thin spaced or is to be wide spaced. Changing the spaces is done by pushing the top of the space from between the words with the one that is to be inserted in its place. The new space is dropped in and the old one picked out and put in the case where it belongs, the thumb in the stick meanwhile keeping the line from falling. Changing the spaces in this manner should be done with care in order to avoid injuring the face of adjoining types. Another method of changing spaces is to lift up the wrong space by an upward pressure of the left thumb and pick it out with the right thumb and forefinger, afterward inserting the new space. A line of type is well justified when it will stand up in the stick without other support than its own tightness. Lines that will fall down when the composing stick is slightly tipped forward are too loosely justified. On the other hand, they should not be so tight that they will be difficult to lift out when the stickful is taken out on the galley. Unnecessary tightness is liable to injure small types at the end of the lines. Careless compositors will sometimes force a type into place so tightly that it will shave a slight film of metal from the adjoining types, the metal remaining under the feet of the letters which will make them higher than the surrounding letters. Long lines require a little firmer justification than short ones, because the greater number of pieces, especially if the type is old, will compress more than the fewer number in the short line when they are later locked up in the chase. Leads and brass rules should not be so long that they bind tightly when they are placed in the measure. When this happens the type lines near them will rarely lock up tight without very great pressure in the chase. The beginner at composition is not at first apt to realize the importance of careful justification. It is not till later when he must lock up the types for printing that he learns why they must be exactly upright to give the proper impression and carefully fitted together to hold solidly in the form. The first point to note is that the types should be squarely on their feet in the stick when the line is justified. If they are leaning forward or backward and left this way the line will be short when the types are later straightened up on the galley or in the form. It is wise, therefore, before going to the next line to make sure that all types are on their feet when the final letter or justifying space is inserted. _Emptying the Stick_ For the first few stickfuls, until the apprentice learns how to handle the lines without _pi_-ing, leads should be put between all the lines in the stick, even if they are to be taken out later to print the type as solid matter. A lead should be put at the top of the first line and after the last line in the stick. If a composing rule is used, this may or may not be kept with the lines. Many compositors insert the composing rule at the top of the first line while lifting the lines out of the stick, as the rule gives a good surface by which to take hold of the matter. It is a good plan not to fill the stick too full before emptying. A few lines at first will be enough to practice with, until the knack of grasping the matter all around and lifting out is acquired. [Illustration: FIG. 9 Emptying the Composing Stick] The galley should be placed on the case or on an adjoining stand or inclined support, with the head turned toward the right. If the lines have been properly justified, there is no need to open the measure of the stick to extricate lines that seem very tight. In this case take out the lines separately, but keep the measure unchanged till the work is done. [Illustration: FIG. 10 The galley on the case] The stick is emptied in the following manner, as illustrated in the accompanying diagram: Lay the stick near the bottom of the galley, with the top line or back of the stick at the lower rim of the galley. The two forefingers are then placed in the stick after the last line and the two thumbs beside the top line. The second fingers, doubled up, are pressed against the ends of the lines at both sides. Thus holding the lines evenly all around, the top lines are lifted slightly with a turning motion to bring the feet of the type upward. This gives a chance for the thumbs to get a better hold down beside the top line. The small fingers are meanwhile holding the stick down against the upward motion of the matter, while the lines are taken out. The types should then be held in a horizontal position, while the compositor turns his right side to the galley. Still holding the lines firmly, he next turns them feet down in the lower corner, with the beginning of the lines at the lower rim. (Do not release hold until the matter is close against the rim of the galley, keeping the middle fingers at the ends of lines to prevent any types from dropping out of place. If any types should drop, take hold of the handful again and move it farther down the galley, pick up the loose type and then slide the lines to the head of the galley and insert the missing type.) [Illustration: FIG. 11 Holding the lines of types] When first placed on the galley the type is liable to be a little off its feet. Have a piece of good metal furniture 8 x 20 picas to place beside the lines, first at the bottom and then at the ends of the lines, and use this to square up the types on their feet. An untrained compositor is prone to use more thin spaces than are necessary, and he quickly finds that there are not enough in the case to meet his wants. He puts in extra thin spaces to fill out the line instead of changing the spaces already in for thicker ones. He inserts 5-spaces beside 3-spaces through the line because this appears the easiest way, though in the end it is neither the quickest nor the best way. When wide spacing is necessary it is usually better to change the 3-spaces for en quads, and if the line does not then quite justify to put double spaces between long words or those having tall letters. Obviously it is not wise to put in two 4-spaces when there is a plentiful supply of en quads at hand. By using two thin spaces where one thick space will suffice the supply of thin spaces is soon exhausted, while there will be an over-supply of the thicker kinds left in the case. It often happens that the same kind of composition is set by an experienced workman with half the number of thin spaces used by a novice and it will show greater uniformity in spacing and justification. Combinations of 3 5-spaces, 3 4-spaces, or 4 5-spaces should be used sparingly, and only when they are needed to justify the line. Two 3-spaces together are better than an en quad and a 5-space. There are usually more 3-spaces in the case, and they are easier to distribute than the thinner spaces. A good general rule is never to use two or more pieces of material where one piece will suffice. _Tying Up the Page_ When the composed lines are on the galley ready for proving they must be fastened temporarily. A column of type is placed on a long narrow galley in which a side-stick of wood is laid beside the lines. This is held in place by pushing in a few wooden wedges or quoins. The Hempel style of metal quoins are well adapted for this purpose. [Illustration: FIG. 12 Starting to tie up the page] When the composition is relatively small the lines are usually tied up with a cord. This is done by winding the cord several times around the matter, the number of turns depending upon the size of the page and the stoutness of the cord. Printers' supply houses call this string page cord. There is no standard thickness or brand. Any good cotton cord can be used. That which is known among twine dealers as Seine No. 12 is excellent for this purpose. Start the cord at the left top corner of the matter as it lies on the galley--that is, usually at the end of the last line. With the left hand hold an inch or less of the cord while the right hand winds it along the upper side, around the head, and down the lower side of the matter close to the rim of the galley, then back to the starting point. Here the cord is crossed over the first end so as to bind it, each turn of the cord at this point going below the preceding one. At the end of the cord turn in a loop just around the corner, pushing the cord between the types and the windings with the nib-end of the composing rule. Draw the loop up reasonably tight so that it will not slip out, and leave a short end out, to be found later when necessary to take the cord off. Hold the left hand on the page until the end of the cord is made fast, to avoid any unexpected movement of the page during the operation. When the page is fastened, move it a little from the lower rim of the galley and push the cords down to the middle of the type-height, especially if low leads, spaces, and quads are used in the matter. When the cord is tight around the upper part of the type there is liability of the page doubling up when it is pushed off to the imposing table or the proof press. [Illustration: FIG. 13 The fastened page] If the galley has a high rim there may be some difficulty in getting the cord down over the lead at the top line and along the lower edge. In this case, when the first complete turn of the cord is made move the page carefully up on the galley so that the second and succeeding windings may come under the first one. Do not leave long ends of the cord hanging out, as they are liable to get under the feet of the type and cause damage when the proof is made. Special care should be taken to keep the feet of the type free from dirt or lumps of any kind. A good practice of many compositors, after tying up pages that are not too large to allow it, is to lift the page perpendicularly and hold it in the left hand while the bottom is brushed off with the right hand, and then to wipe off the surface of the press or imposing table before laying the page down. In composing rooms where a great deal of job composition is done the time spent in tying up pages is considerable, and the work is often done carelessly. Each compositor should have at hand his own supply of page cords, kept in orderly manner for instant use. A ball of stout white twine every week or oftener costs much less than the time spent in a week to hunt for pieces of cords kept in no particular place. An assortment of the lengths most used, folded into little skeins and kept in the apron pocket, will save time and trouble. Avoid the pieced-up, knotted string around a page of type that is to be placed on the imposing table for locking up. Leave no long loose ends, but make the fastening loop so that it can be readily found after the furniture is placed around the page. Stout new rubber bands of the right length may be used for tying up pages and jobs, but they must be managed carefully, especially in taking off, to avoid squabbling the type. They are suitable only for temporary tie-ups and should not be used if the pages are to be kept standing many days. _Taking Proofs_ First proofs from composed types are taken for the purpose of correcting any errors. Later proofs are for verifying corrections and to note whether instructions have been followed in make-up and in various other matters necessary to get the type ready for printing. Proofs are sometimes taken by using a proof planer and mallet, but more commonly by means of a proof press. In any of the usual methods employed it is first necessary to spread ink on the type face with an ink roller. A small hand roller is used in combination with a smooth steel or stone surface on which to distribute the ink. The composition of the roller should be well seasoned and the roller should be well cleaned. A good grade of slow-drying black ink of the quality known as "book" ink is necessary for the usual work. A very thin ink or a very stiff ink is not suitable. The amount used should be just enough to give a clear impression of the type, and no more. This is graduated to the lightness or boldness of the face, and also to the finish of the paper. A glossy coated paper will need less ink than a machine-finish paper; while an antique-finish paper will need much more ink than either. As a general rule, proofs are made on smooth-finish paper with a minimum quantity of moderately stiff ink. [Illustration: FIG. 14 Proof Planer and Round-head Mallet] [Illustration: FIG. 15. Proof Planer and Mallet in use] A proof planer is a block of wood about 8 inches long by 3-1/2 inches wide and 2-1/2 inches high, having its face covered with a piece of thick cloth or felt. A planer proof must be made while the type is on the imposing stone or some other solid surface. When ink has been rolled on the type a sheet of thin paper, slightly damp, is laid on the type and the planer is used for taking the impression. The sheet should be dampened evenly all over with a sponge, enough to be a little limp. The unsponged side of the sheet is laid on the type very carefully to avoid slurring the impression. The proof planer, held in the left hand, is placed steadily on top, and a mallet in the right hand is used to tap the planer. If the planer does not cover the whole page, it must be lifted from one part to another until the whole surface is covered. This requires some practice, to avoid a shifting of the sheet on the type and making a double or smeared impression. A firm foundation for the type and a steady blow, graduated in force to the size of the printing surface, are necessary for a clean impression. The mallet should hit straight, without glancing sidewise, and the planer should be held level and steady. [Illustration: FIG. 16 A Proof Press] The kind of type forms adapted for proving by this method are those with paragraphs of plain matter and strong faces which will not be easily battered. Those with large open spaces and small lines, and those with delicate lines like scripts and kerned italic letters, should not be proved with a planer if another method is available. Small groups of type standing alone, like page numbers and small imprints, require very careful treatment in proving, to avoid unnecessary impression which may batter the face or break off the kerns. When it becomes necessary to take proofs of fine or small types standing without surrounding support, it is a good plan to place near the type, on two sides if possible, type-high blocks upon which the planer may rest while the impression is being tapped. The proof planer is not the common method of taking proofs, but is employed in places where there is no regular proof press, and also under conditions where a proof press cannot readily be used. The latter condition is in the case of a large form beyond the capacity of the proof press, locked up on the imposing stone, when a proof is required, either of a part or of the whole, for verification of some detail before sending the form to press for printing. [Illustration: FIG. 17 A Proof Planer] The other and more common method of taking proofs is on one or another of the several kinds of proof presses, as described in text-book No. 5 of this series, "Proof Presses," to which the reader is referred for a detailed consideration of the subject. _Making Corrections_ When a line of type has been set in the composing stick it should be read over with care, compared with copy, and any mistakes corrected before the line is justified. A habit of doing this will make cleaner proofs and save a great deal of time and expense. An error corrected at this time saves a second justification of the line. If the error is an omitted word or syllable or a word inserted twice its detection will save the probable over-running of several lines or even of a whole paragraph later. The lines should also be scanned before being taken from the stick to the galley. A turned letter or a wrong type overlooked in the first examination may be changed by lifting the line a little until the type can be picked out and the right one put in its place. [Illustration: FIG. 18 Checking lines at the case] Do not try to correct a line in the stick when another line or part of a line is in front of it. If a correction makes necessary a change of spaces or a re-justifying of the line, take out all the lines in front, then correct and justify again. This allows the stick to be held in the hand and the types can be handled in the same manner as for the original setting. This will be more convenient than to lay the stick on the case while re-spacing a line in the middle of a stickful. The use of a bodkin or tweezers is seldom necessary for correcting in the stick or on the galley, unless the type is very small and the measure is narrow. A little care in revising the lines as they are set, before the first proof is taken, will result in cleaner proofs and will reduce the time for proofreading as well as for later corrections. Even though the lines have been carefully revised while being set, errors of various kinds will probably be marked on the proof when it comes back from the proofreader. If there are many lines and a number of serious errors the corrections are made at the case. The galley is placed at one side of the case if possible, rather than on top of the case, with the head of the galley and the top of the lines toward the right. When only one stand can be used it may be well to put the type case in the rack under the working shelf and to put the galley on the shelf. This will permit free access to the case for the letters needed in correcting and will give a good resting place for the galley and composing stick. The compositor stands with his right side to the galley and works with the tops of the lines toward him. The composing rule with a nib is useful at this time. Lines in which corrections are to be made should have leads or rules beside them to help keep them from _pi_-ing during the operation. If the lines are set solid, leads or rules should be inserted temporarily and taken out when the correcting is finished. Simple errors like the exchanging of one type for another of the same width, the turning of an inverted character, or the transposition of letters or words, are corrected by pressing the line at both ends to lift it up about one-third of its height and picking out the wrong types with the finger and thumb. The line is then dropped in place and the right types put in. A line in which there is a change of the spaces or of the justification should be lifted into a composing stick of the right measure for correction. Any important change in a line of type should always be made in a stick, where accurate justification is most readily secured. First place the composing stick conveniently at hand, with its back toward the compositor. Insert the composing rule down at the top of the line in the galley, press both ends of the line together, and raise it up gently; when it is clear of the other lines turn it so that the rule is under, and then transfer to the stick. As a rule, lines of type should be carried in a position which keeps the types themselves horizontal, not perpendicular. In this manner they are supported by the lead or rule underneath. If carried with the feet of the types down they are liable to drop out unless perfectly justified and firmly held. Many careless compositors persist in correcting lines on the galley in a puttering, botchy manner which results in badly justified lines. The beginner is usually inclined to do the same thing because he has not yet learned to perform with ease and safety the trick of transferring lines back and forth from the galley to the stick. Instead of shirking this operation because it looks difficult, he should practice it until he can do it safely and quickly. A compositor who does not justify his lines properly is rated as a careless workman. If he has nothing to do with the later locking up of the forms for the foundry or the press he is prone to slight this part of his work and thus make additional duties for other workmen, as well as increase the risk of subsequent error or accident. Corrections in type matter often call for the over-running of the lines; that is, the words must be taken from one line to another, requiring changes in other lines beside the one in which the correction was marked. This procedure takes time and is costly. It means that the entire matter thus re-arranged must be revised to see that new errors have not crept in. There are two ways of handling the lines for over-running. When a few lines are to be thus changed lift them out one at a time and put them on an extra galley above the working galley, standing them in sequence along the lower rim with the nicks up. Put the first line into the stick, take out words or insert new ones as directed in the proof, then take the words in order from the galley, make any corrections called for, re-space and justify to the end. If the lines are long, a brass rule or composing rule of the right length should be used to measure off the new lines, and these may be taken into the stick a line at a time instead of a few words at a time. Another method of over-running does not require the extra galley if there is some spare room at the bottom of the matter on its own galley. Insert the rule at the top of the line where the over-run commences and move the matter down the galley a distance equal to the length of the lines and an inch farther. Take the first line into the stick. Then turn a half dozen or more of the following lines so that the nicks of the type are toward the lower rim of the galley, keeping the ends of the lines against the matter farther down. Put a piece of 4-em metal furniture at the other end of the turned lines to prevent letters from falling down. Correct the line in the stick and proceed by taking the words in order from the turned lines. If more lines are to be over-run, take them from their regular position in the galley and turn them nicks down in the same way as the first lot. The spacing of over-run lines should be done as carefully as for the original setting. Sometimes lines too thinly or too widely spaced in the original may be improved in the re-spacing. Unfortunately, much work of this kind is done in a rush and the second justification is neglected. Yet the difference in time taken to do good spacing and that spent on careless work is often very little. Hand compositors now do a great deal of correcting and page make-up on type set by machines. This work is often in the nature of specialties, yet the general rules of good spacing and justifying apply here also. Usually greater speed is required, and this means more skill and oftentimes the employment of some special facilities adapted for the particular class of work in hand. It is a rule that any lines of type pied during corrections and reset must have a mark around them on the revise proof to call attention to them for another reading to be sure that no new error has been made. _Importance of Uniform Spacing_ The beginner will realize after he has set his first few stickfuls that the part of the operation which gives him the greatest trouble is not finding the types for the words of his copy, but it is getting uniform spaces between the words to justify the lines. To the uninitiated the words of a well-set page appear to be separated with spaces of equal thickness. This is far from the fact; it is only in rare instances that several lines in a page have spaces that are exactly alike. A close examination of a page will show a great variety of white spaces between words, although the difference may not be readily recognized by the ordinary reader. In order to make the reading easy and legible the words should be spaced enough to make them quickly distinguishable at a glance. In order to make it comfortable and pleasing the words should be spaced uniformly and the lines arranged orderly, with neither undue huddling together nor unnecessary separation. Good typesetting means that the spacing must be approximately even and that the average space must be carefully proportioned to the style of the type face, the distance between the lines, and the size and shape of the page. Uniform spacing between the words in a line is always desirable. A thin space on one side of a word and a wide space on the other is an inexcusable fault. An exception is made of the space between sentences, where the ending of one and the beginning of another occurs in the same line. In this case it is customary to leave a wide space after the period. Lines should not be wide-spaced at one end and thin-spaced at the other. Absolute evenness may not be easily secured, but an appearance of uniformity may be given by observing some of the methods described further on in these pages. Good spacing means also that all the lines of a composition should be spaced as nearly alike as is practicable. The extremes of a wide-spaced line and a thin-spaced line in the same paragraph, or of a wide-spaced paragraph and a thin-spaced paragraph of similar types on the same page, should be avoided. The last line of a paragraph should not be spaced wider than the average spacing in the paragraph itself. Many compositors have a habit of wide-spacing a line which happens to have a few words in it, with the evident aim to make these few words fill the line as much as possible. This often results in lines needlessly wide-spaced. _Rules for Spacing_ The standard space between words in ordinary roman lower-case type is the 3-space. This thickness is commonly accepted as the average spacing required for legibility in a printed page to be held in the hand. It gives comfortable legibility in sizes of type from 8-point to 14-point. Smaller sizes may be spaced with an average slightly wider, like the en quad, while for large types to be read at close range the spacing may be less than the 3-space average. Wide measures, as a rule, require relatively wide spacing. Narrow measures are preferably thin-spaced, whether the lines are leaded or solid. An apparently equal spacing between all words in a line means that in some cases there must be a slight variation in the width of the actual spaces used. The size and shape of the letters at the ends of words will often affect the amount of white space, especially in the larger faces of type. There are several combinations of word endings which call for spaces thinner or thicker than the average in the line in order to make all the spaces appear equal. These little variations can be made while changing the spaces to justify the line. They need not, for the most part, take any extra time, while the resulting evenness in the spacing of the page will be noticeable. Good spacing without spending unnecessary time is usually a matter of following a few simple rules. When necessary to use thinner spaces to get a complete word or syllable in the line, put these thin spaces after a comma, or between word endings like ----e w----, ----y a----. Word endings like ----y A----, ----w v----, ----y u---- can be very thinly spaced if necessary. On the other hand, if a little extra space is needed to fill the line, increase the spaces between words ending with tall letters,----d l----, ----f b----, etc. Abbreviated words and initials with the period (Mrs. Rev. M.D. Ph.D. etc.) are places where thin spaces are properly used. A thin space is required before colons, semicolons, question marks, and exclamation marks, when these are cast on thin bodies. These points should be followed by an extra-wide space. That is, if the line is spaced with a 3-space as the average, a semicolon should have a 5-space before it and an en quad after. If the line is thin-spaced, the spaces before and after the semicolon are reduced also. In some fonts of type these punctuation marks are cast on thick bodies which furnish a slight shoulder on each side of the face of the mark. In such cases the extra spaces may not be required in ordinary composition. When a question mark or an exclamation mark finishes a sentence, it should be followed by a space equal to that used after periods in other parts of the same matter. The em dash usually should have a little space on each side of it, especially if the line is spaced with 3-spaces or wider. If the line is thin-spaced, the dash also may be set close to the adjoining words. Whenever possible avoid putting the dash at the end of the line in paragraphs; try to keep it within the line. A short line, consisting of a word or syllable of two or three letters only, should be avoided at the end of a paragraph, especially in a measure of ordinary width. In a very narrow measure it may not be avoided. Where the other lines of the page are fairly well filled this short line will make an objectionable break in the matter. If it cannot be taken back to the preceding line, a little wider spacing of these lines will allow an additional word or syllable to be brought over to lengthen the objectionable short line. It is desirable to end a paragraph with an em quad, if this is practicable, rather than fill the last line flush. Do not leave an ordinary space after the period. When justifying the last line of a paragraph or a headline in which quads are used, keep the justifying spaces next to the types. Do not put small pieces at the end of a quad line or scatter them between the large quads. They will be easier to distribute if placed after the period. Hyphenated words in a widely spaced line should have a hair space on each side of a thin hyphen; but this may not be necessary if the hyphen is cast on a thick body, as it is in some fonts. The dollar sign $ is set close to the whole numbers in printing amounts of money: $25. When specifying fractions of a dollar (in tabular columns only) put a space between the sign and the decimal: $ .25. The symbols for English money are also placed close to the figures, thus £10 5s 2d. When justifying lines some compositors commence respacing at one end of the line and increase the spaces in order till the line is full, regardless of the length of the words or the word endings, repeating this line after line. The result is that one side of the matter is spaced wider than the other--a most inexcusable fault. If a few spaces wider than the average must be used in the line, put these between long words or words with tall letters; and _vice versa_, if thin spaces are necessary, put them between short words or words with small letters. Do not wide-space short words and leave long words in the same line with thin spaces. Do not, however, if it can be avoided, allow wide spaces to be repeated nearly under each other, to produce noticeable straggling white spaces or "rivers" up and down the page. Spacing of this sort is particularly objectionable for good printing. An old-time rule required an em quad after a period before beginning another sentence in the line. This is the practice in many places now, but there is an objection to the unnecessary large white spot which it makes in the ordinary page of reading matter. As a distinction between sentences it seems too conspicuous except in matter that is wide-leaded and wide-spaced. The modern practice in good work is to reduce this space to the double 3-space or the en quad, or even to the 3-space in small pages. Another unnecessarily large space in narrow measure of solid or single-leaded lines is an em quad after the period or Roman numeral in numbered paragraphs. Where the period is used an en quad following it is sufficient. In good composition quotation marks should not be crowded close against the words which they enclose, unless the lines are close-spaced. Commas and apostrophes cast on very thin types usually need a little space between the quote-marks they form and the words they enclose, especially if they are next to tall letters. A large capital A or a sloping italic capital at the beginning may not need the separating space after the inverted commas, and a period or a comma between the last word and the final quote-mark will furnish the needed separation. "Quote-marks properly spaced." "These are not well spaced. " "'Quotes' within 'quotes' are like this." In open-spaced matter there should be a thin space between an exclamation or question mark and the final quote-mark, thus: "Do you wish to become a good compositor?" Letter-spacing, or inter-spacing, is frequently employed in headings and in job and display composition. It is rarely a good practice in ordinary lower-case composition in paragraph form. In very narrow measures, where word length or word divisions do not come right to make the lines the desired length, the letter-spacing of a few words is sometimes resorted to in order to extend the words. This should be done with care to avoid making such words conspicuous in the general appearance of the page. It is better to letter-space the whole line a little rather than to put excess spacing in one unimportant word. Black-letter, Old English, Priory Text, Cloister Black, and similar varieties should not be wide-spaced, nor should they ever be letter-spaced. The beauty of such letters, which are now used for their decorative rather than utilitarian qualities, depends upon the consistent, well-balanced relation between the white and black spaces of the composition. The compactness of the letter shapes makes words that are compact and unified. As there are relatively close spaces between the strokes of the letters, so there should be thin spaces between the words of the lines and between the lines. Wide spaces between words do not necessarily make them more legible. A comparison of the two groups of lines following will show one as easy to read as the other, while the close-spaced example is less confusing in its detail. [Illustration: Example (Black-letter): These Two Lines Are Spaced About Right These Two Lines Are Wide Spaced] _Spacing of Italic_ A paragraph of italic type is more difficult to space evenly than the same lines in roman letters. Usually the average spacing may be about the same as the companion face of roman; but more frequently than in roman types the spaces in a line may need to be of unequal thickness in order to give a uniform appearance to the spacing. Overhanging letters are frequent and when these come at the beginning or end of words they require a little more space than is used for words ending or beginning with small letters. Word pairs with letters like _--f p--_ and _--l h--_ will in most cases need wider spaces than are used between pairs like _--e w--_ and _--s A--_. Some italic capitals have extra shoulder-space on the left of the face, like _T_, _W_, _V_, which should be allowed for by thin spacing when they follow small lower-case letters. This extra shoulder is made on letters of this kind to protect the overhanging kern of an adjoining letter when words are set in capitals. Where an italic _f_, _j_, or other kerned letter comes at the beginning or end of a line a thin space should be placed outside of it to keep it from projecting beyond the side of the page, where it is easily broken off. This is important if the matter is to be moulded for electrotyping. On account of the frequency of overhanging letters italic types require very careful handling during composition, correcting, and locking up. If the kerns over-ride an adjoining type or are subjected to a slight blow of any kind they are easily broken off. _Spacing Capital Letters_ Words in capitals need wider spacing than those in lower-case of the same size. Capitals occupy more space on the type body than small letters and consequently they need a little more openness between the words and between the lines to give them a proportionate relief of white space for legibility. Roman capitals of the standard faces are often sufficiently spaced with the en quad if the words are short. Long words in a headline may need double 3-spaces, while lines of round open capitals in an open area may need the em quad. A simple rule to follow is to space wide letters with wide spaces, and thin or condensed letters with narrow spaces. This may be put another way by saying that the spacing should approximate the average width of the letters used, taking an entire alphabet as the basis. Thus, if the alphabet of capitals measures 18 ems, the average width of the letters would be 18/26ths, or approximately 2/3 of the em. Like all rules, this is subject to modifications in special cases. The shapes of the letters which end and begin the words may make it desirable to increase or decrease the spaces in some places. Word endings like --L T-- and --Y A-- should have a little thinner space than is used between those ending and beginning with full-bodied upright letters like --M R--. [Illustration: Example: VERY AGED BOTTOM RIM] In small types the inequalities in white space around letters of different shapes may not be readily seen, but in large sizes these differences increase in noticeable degree. A careful compositor will select his spaces to equalize these little differences and thus avoid the numerous inconsistent defects sure to result from mere mechanical justification of the lines. Combinations of capitals like the following example show distinctly uneven white spaces between the letters of the word. These should be equalized wherever possible by the use of thin leads or cards between the close-fitted letters. [Illustration: Example (before and after spacing): VAINLY ATTEMPTED VAINLY ATTEMPTED] This differential spacing will also be desirable in a line having abbreviations or initials. The following example spaced with en quads in every place shows an excess of white between the initials because of the presence of the periods. [Illustration: Example (before and after spacing): HON. JOHN L. SMITH MARK HARRIS, D. D. S. HON. JOHN L. SMITH MARK HARRIS, D. D. S.] A thinner space between the initials gives uniform spacing through the line. Large initials used in groups, as in college degrees and military titles, are often set close together with simply the period for separation. This style is preferred in any close-spaced matter; though for more open matter a thin space may be used after the periods. Two or more lines of capitals of the same size should be spaced as nearly alike as possible. The disproportionate spacing of the following three lines is sometimes seen, but is not pleasing: [Illustration: Example: A PRIMER OF INFORMATION ABOUT WORKING AT THE CASE AND SETTING TYPE BY HAND] Lines of small capitals of normal size are often sufficiently spaced with the 3-space and slightly wider when in paragraph form. When used in headings and open-leaded matter en-quad spacing is required. [Illustration: Examples: LINES OF SMALL CAPITALS OF NORMAL SIZE ARE OFTEN PROPERLY SPACED WITH ONE THREE-TO-EM SPACE WHEN IN PARAGRAPH FORM. IN HEADINGS AND OPEN MATTER, EN-QUAD SPACING IS REQUIRED. EXTENDED OR WIDE-FACED LETTERS NEED WIDER SPACES THAN CONDENSED OR THIN- FACED LETTERS, AS SHOWN IN THESE LINES Type of Condensed Shape should, in all ordinary conditions, be thin spaced. To select thin letters and then to wide space them is hardly logical. SPACING OF THIS KIND IS OBJECTIONABLE.] _Wide Spacing_ Letters and words huddled together so that they are not readily recognized at a glance do not make easy reading. On the other hand, very wide spacing does not necessarily result in a proportionate increase of legibility; it may even produce results as confusing as very thin spacing. [Illustration: Example: LIGHT-FACED GOTHIC THIN-SPACED IS CONFUSING TO THE EYE OF THE AVERAGE MAN OR WOMAN] A general rule affecting wide spacing is that the average distance between the words in the line should be less than the distance between the lines themselves. Notice in the above example how the words group themselves up and down the page rather than in order along the line for the eye to follow. Note also how wide spaces between the words form distinct, irregular streaks up and down the page to lead the eye away from its course along a single line at a time. [Illustration: Example: WIDE SPACING FOR EASY READING HAS LITTLE ADVANTAGE UNLESS THE LINES ARE LEADED OUT] Wide spacing for easy reading has little advantage unless the lines are leaded out in equal proportion. Double-leaded lines are well spaced with an average of an en quad. When this is used the limit of space would be the double 3-space, while the thin space would be the single 3-space. An average spacing wider than the en quad is rarely ever necessary in roman lower-case matter even if the lines are separated with more than the double leads. The only excuse for the wider spacing is the necessity for making words and syllables fill the line. In some kinds of composition wide spacing and wide leading are desirable. Wide measures and ample white space up and down the page naturally call for open spacing of type lines. Large advertisements, wall cards, placards, and other forms intended to be read at a distance farther away than the book or magazine in the hand, are properly wide-spaced and wide-leaded. Extremes in openness, however, are not safe to follow. A study of the work of the leading designers in typography will show a compact grouping of both words and lines which gives unity and orderliness with ample readability. In contrast with this the disconnected, patchy, scattered effects shown in commonplace type composition will prove that habitual wide-spacing is often unnecessary. _Paragraph and Other Indentions_ There are several styles of indention employed in type composition. These are known as (1) regular paragraph, (2) hanging indention, (3) half-diamond indention or inverted pyramid indention, with its variation of lozenge-shape formation, (4) squared indention, and (5) diagonal indention. Hanging indention is where the first line of a paragraph begins flush and the second and succeeding lines are indented, as in this paragraph. It is a common form in catalogs, tabular work, and also in poetry. Half-diamond indention is when successive lines are indented at both ends, each one being shorter than the preceding line, as shown in this paragraph. It is commonly used for title pages and display matter. INDENTIONS WHICH MAKE THE LOZENGE-SHAPED PANEL ARE OFTEN USED FOR TITLES AND BITS OF DIS- PLAY It is often advisable to indent lines at both ends, to make several short lines instead of one or two long lines. In cases of this kind the first line is not indented more than the others, as shown in this paragraph. Squared indention is used for short paragraphs in advertising matter, bits of minor display, and miscellaneous composition. Diagonal indention is when the lines of type are so arranged that they follow after each other diagonally in this style. Another manner of indenting lines, somewhat rare in this country but common in Europe, is termed French motto indention. This is usually made with small types, the paragraph being set in squared-up fashion at the right side of the page, within the measure. An indention should be enough to indicate the paragraph clearly, yet not be so wide as to make it a conspicuous white spot on the page. Its purpose is to show the reader a change of subject or a minor subdivision of the matter. The amount of indention necessary to attain this will vary in different forms of composition, and therefore only general rules can be given. The usual indention of paragraphs in plain reading matter is an em quad at the beginning of the first line. If the lines are more than average length the indention may be increased to one and a half ems, two ems, or more. Indentions of over two ems, however, are seldom allowable in ordinary reading matter like books and periodicals. Wide indentions should not be made in narrow measures; nor should indistinct, insignificant indentions be made in broad measures. Paragraphs set in 10-point or 12-point type in measures from 15 to 20 picas wide are sufficiently indented by the em quad, while 6-point type in the same measure should be indented with a two-em quad. Wide-leaded, open matter will call for a little more paragraph indention, as a rule, than is given to thin-spaced solid-line paragraphs. In pamphlets, circulars, advertisements, and job work, where wide leading and broken lines of a miscellaneous character are frequent, paragraph indentions may be wider than in book pages. On the other hand, in composition of this kind where other means of showing the commencement of a subject are used, indentions are omitted and the paragraphs begun flush at the margin. The indention of paragraphs should be uniform throughout any single book or job. It is rare that more than two different widths of indention are needed to give a clear idea of the classification of any group of subjects. A variety of indentions on the same page is confusing and often spoils the orderly arrangement of the matter which the copy writer sought to obtain. Even where there are several sizes of type on the page, if the paragraphs are the same width, the indentions should be alike. A common defect that is made conspicuous when wide indentions are made in paragraphs following each other is the occurrence of a single short word or syllable in the last line of a paragraph, as shown in this example: Every printer's apprentice should carefully read and study these simple rules for the indention and spacing of type. He should study all the books of this series. This constitutes a "bad break" and should be avoided either by thin-spacing the last two or three lines of the paragraph to take the short word back and save the line, or by over-running the lines with wider spaces to bring more words to the last line. The choice of these expedients will depend upon the openness or closeness of the composition, in many cases upon the make-up of the page. If a line can be saved, take the solitary word back; if the line is needed, space out the preceding lines, provided it may be done without making bad spacing. _Setting Poetry_ The indention of lines of poetry is sometimes a puzzling matter for the inexperienced compositor, unless he is given printed copy or carefully prepared manuscript in which the line indentions are clearly indicated. There are few rules which govern the subject and these few are sometimes ignored in practice. If the composing stick will accommodate each line of verse in a line of type the composition will be much simplified. The first consideration will be to indent the lines so that the general body of the poem is approximately near the middle of the page or column. When the lines vary in length a great deal some calculation is needed to get the right indention without going over them the second time. The longest line should be set first and the indention of the others made to accord with this. In this case some lines will be set a little at the left of the page. Indention of poetry is made with even em quads of the type used. The variations in indention are also graduated by ems; usually one em, but sometimes two, three, or more, according to the relative length of lines. The odd spaces needed for justifying are put after the last word in the line. As a rule, lines which rhyme with each other are indented alike. Pick and click Goes the type in the stick, As the printer stands at his case; His eyes glance quick and his fingers pick The type at a rapid pace. One of the commonest forms of verse is that in which the alternating lines or the second and fourth lines rhyme. In this case the second line of each pair is indented one em beyond the first. If the lines are long and the type small the indention may be two ems. (Rhyme of first and third, second and fourth lines.) When Freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of night And set the stars of glory there. (Rhyme of second and fourth lines.) There is no wrath in the stars, They do not rage in the sky; I look from the Evil Wood And find myself wondering why. In many cases, however, rhymes like those above are set without varying the indention. When the rhyme follows at certain intervals, the rhyming lines are indented alike: My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the Pilgrims' pride, From ev'ry mountain side Let freedom ring. In blank verse the indention of lines is uniform, the only consideration being to indent the lines so that the general group will be somewhere near the middle of the page. Who draws a line and satisfies his soul, Making it crooked where it should be straight? An idiot with an oyster shell may draw His lines along the sand, all wavering, Fixing no point, or pathway to a point. An idiot once removed may choose his line, Struggle, and be content; but, God be praised! Antonio Stradivari has an eye That winces at false work and loves the true, With hand and arm that play upon the tool, As willingly as any singing bird Sets him to sing his morning roundelay, Because he likes to sing and likes the song. A uniform indention is also given to poems in which the rhyme is in two adjoining lines. He spoke of the grass and flowers and trees, Of the singing birds and the humming bees; Then talked of the haying, and wondered whether The cloud in the West would bring foul weather. When a line is too long to come into the page width the surplus words are turned over to the next line; to avoid confusion this turn-over is indented differently from the beginning of a regular line commencing with a capital. Gallop and sing, gallop and sing! With the open road before, And my good horse laying his hoofs to the ground As I ride by the shouting shore. If the compositor is given any discretion in setting poetry, care should be taken to regulate the length of line and the indentions so that lines will not turn over into extra lines unnecessarily; yet, when the measure is narrow it is better to turn over an occasional long line rather than to place the whole poem out of the center. _Headings_ The usual heading, termed a center head, is set in the middle of the line. It may be in capitals of the text or in a larger size. If capitals and lower-case are used the size should be several sizes larger, or the face should be bolder. In any case a main heading should be a little more prominent than a line of the text. [Illustration: TYPESETTING] A sub-heading is a secondary heading and may be in the center of the measure or a side heading at the beginning of the line. In the latter place it may be in a line by itself, set flush, in italic, in caps. and small caps., or in small bold face; or it may be set in the first line of the paragraph, with the regular indention. [Illustration: A PRIMER OF INFORMATION] A cut-in head is set in a panel, with or without rule, after the second or third line of the first paragraph. A running head is at the top of each page of a book or other work of a number of pages. In books and pamphlets the page number is usually at the outside end of the running-head line. Box headings are enclosed in rules at the top of columns in tabular matter. In modern practice no punctuation is placed at the end of headings, except the question and quotation marks when these are required. In a heading of two or more lines where a comma or semicolon comes naturally at the end of the first or second line, its omission may change or confuse the sense of the phrase. In such cases it should be used, even if the period is left off the end of the heading. For additional comment on headings and punctuation see other title of this series: Book Composition (No. 20); also Punctuation (No. 33) and Capitals (No. 34), etc. _Initial Letters_ An initial at the beginning of a chapter or other text requires nicety of spacing and justification. In modern practice the use of initials is often overdone, being used in many cases where they might better be omitted. Before the invention of typography, and since, the initial letter has been considered the feature of a page that could be used for decorative purposes. Early manuscripts show many elaborate, beautifully colored initials done by artists and illuminators. It was the custom of early printers to leave blank spaces in their printed pages for initials to be drawn in later. In some cases a small letter was printed in the middle of a large space as a guide to the artist. These small letters would be covered by the larger letter, but sometimes they were left as printed and the decoration drawn around them to fill the space. Later the ornamental initials were cut on wood or cast in metal and printed with the text. As an initial is usually a prominent spot on a page its selection should be a matter of care. A plain letter of a style of face similar to the text is always a safe choice; an old-style letter for a text set in oldstyle roman, or a modern-cut Bodoni for Bodoni text. If the text is in italic an italic initial is more suitable than an upright letter. Extremely bold initials are not suitable for small types or light-faced text matter. The size of an initial should be considered in relation to the size of the page and the size of the type used. In small pages of type of 10-point or smaller, a two-line letter will often be large enough; while a large page will require a large initial. If the initial is an ornamental letter it should be of a similar style of ornament to a head-piece or other decoration that may be on the page. Two different styles of initials or other decorative features of a page should be avoided. In setting an initial into the beginning of a paragraph the letter is placed in the stick and the first line of text set after it. The letters of the first word are set in capitals usually, unless the first word is very long and the line of capitals is too prominent, when small capitals may be used. If the first word contains two or three letters only the next word is also set in capitals. The top of the initial should be even with the top of the first line of the text. If the initial has more shoulder than the body type, which is usually the case, a lead or more may be needed at the top of the first line. This should be properly lined up in the stick. The spacing between the initial and the text depends upon the particular letter of the alphabet used, if a plain letter, or upon the decoration around the initial. The other letters of the first word are kept close to the initial, but the beginning of the second and succeeding lines are separated from it a little. In this way the initial has a closer relation to the word to which it belongs. The space at the right of the initial, between it and the text, should be apparently equal to that below it. It should not be extra wide in either place, or it will give the initial a detached appearance. To avoid this extra wide space it may be necessary to trim off some of the shoulder from the type, especially below the face. The proper size for an initial-letter should be equal to the number of text lines which it covers. This is not always practicable when miscellaneous types are selected from other fonts. If they are to be put back in their fonts after use as initials they may not be trimmed to odd sizes of body; nor should they ever be trimmed so without express permission of the foreman. For the usual work it is possible to use an initial that is a multiple of the text size with or without leads. An 18-point letter may be used for two-line initial in an 8-point text with 2-point leads; or a 24-point letter in leaded 10-point text. The width of initials is very likely to make text lines after them of odd length rather than even picas or nonpareils. If the text is solid, this odd length of line is easily justified to the measure; but in case leads are used and even-pica leads do not fit it may be necessary to cut a few special odd-length leads to fit the lines. First, however, after the top line has been justified, put a few leads of even picas in the stick and try a short lead or two up and down beside the initial to fill in to the even-pica leads. If these extra vertical leads do not leave too much space around the initial they will do to take up the odd measure. Sometimes a thin space of a size two points larger than the text may be used. _Making Up Pages_ Make-up is the term describing the various operations of dividing composed matter into pages of uniform length, adding the headings, page numbers (folios), inserting small engravings, and otherwise preparing the pages for locking up in a chase for the press or the electrotype foundry. Newspaper pages and other large page forms of two or more columns are customarily made up on the stone or a similar flat surface in a special chase, with side-sticks and lock-up fitted for the form. Pages for books, catalogs, and other small and medium sizes are made up on a broad galley placed on the inclined top of the compositor's stand or cabinet. The compositor who does this work regularly has the working top of his stand fitted with material and conveniences which should help him to do the work without waste of time. There are several styles of make-up cabinets furnished by dealers in printers' goods. These are designed with the object of keeping near the workman a supply of leads, rules, furniture, and other articles frequently used, so that he may save steps and minutes in doing his work. It is important that the make-up galley should set firmly and that the bottom should not sag. If it is liable to move at a slight touch, or the bottom is uneven, the type lines will fall down easily, thereby adding to the care and time needed for the work. [Illustration: FIG. 19 The Make-up Galley] The galley is laid with its closed end or head at the right hand. A strip should be nailed on the shelf at the right to act as a stop to hold the galley in place while working on it, especially to prevent it from moving when the lines are pushed up to test the length of the page. The make-up compositor works with his right side inclined toward the stand, as when making corrections on the galley. The galley should not be so high as to be uncomfortable for the right arm, which must be held over it while working on the pages. The common practice in making up is to handle the pages sideways, with the top toward the right hand, so that the sequence of lines follows to the left down the galley. In this way the beginning of each line rests against the lower galley rim, and by the use of leads or rules one or any number of lines can be taken out or moved back and forth on the galley with safety. Some job compositors handle small forms with the top line along the lower rim of the galley. This method may suffice with a few lines of large type, but it is not recommended. It is not practicable for pages of many lines or for lines without leads. The galley matter should be corrected and revised before making up begins. This is important in a work of a number of pages, as any considerable changes after the pages are tied up usually require extra labor. If the revise proofs show only a few corrections, these may be made in advance, a galley or more at a time, by the make-up hand. The justification of the lines requires particular attention, and all faulty lines should be re-justified. If there are many lines requiring extra time for rectifying the fact should be reported to the foreman or the compositor at fault. Badly justified lines should not be passed over and allowed to go to the imposing stone, in the expectation that they may be rectified when the locking up is done. All justifying should be done and all corrections made as far as possible while the matter is on the galley. When there is enough composition for a number of pages a gage should be made to measure the exact length of the pages. For a few pages, like a circular or a program, an ordinary pica measure may be used, the length being defined as a given number of picas or lines. If there are to be a number of pages, a page gage should be made from a strip of reglet or brass rule. The gage should include the length of a full page, over all, from the top of the running head down to the foot slug. It may be marked on its upper edge to show the depth of the running head and any other uniform division to be repeated on several pages. For book pages set in one size of type the length should be determined by even lines of the type used and the running head. No extra leads should be put here and there between the lines or paragraphs of a regular text page; these are used only in broken pages, above and below headings, engravings, or in separating extracts, foot notes, etc. If the pages contain several sizes of type the gage should indicate the exact length of the printed face, as different sizes of type have different amounts of shoulder below the face. For example, a page set in 12-point type would have a pica slug below the last line; if the next page contained a foot note set in 8-point, with the pica slug below, and both pages were exactly the same length, the face of the 8-point note would be a point below the face of the 12-point line on the first page. In this case a 1-point lead should be taken from above the 8-point note and put between the note and the foot slug. For a book, periodical, or other work that is to be made up frequently from time to time there should be a durable steel or brass page gage, carefully marked for depth of running head, chapter sinkage, drop folio, or any other feature to be kept in uniform position. Galley matter to be made up into pages of a uniform number of lines should be first marked off with slips of card or slugs at the places where the matter breaks into pages. This is done with the page gage, making allowance for running heads and other features not yet in the matter. If the division comes badly at some places a change of a line more or less at some preceding page and a shifting of the dividing place will eliminate the awkward break. It may happen in the first casting off that a sub-head comes at the bottom of a page, or the last short line of a paragraph comes at the top of a page, or the pages divide in the middle of a short table. These objectionable divisions may usually be overcome by a change in the starting at the first page, taking a line or two from the second page, and so on to the third and succeeding pages; or, on the other hand, adding a line or two to the succeeding page. Sometimes an extra line may be made by over-running two or three lines at the end of a paragraph; or, if a line less is desirable, a short line at the end of a paragraph may be saved by a little thinner spacing of a few preceding lines. A few moments spent in casting off the matter on two or three galleys ahead of the actual making up will save a great deal of time later in case a bad division makes necessary a little change in pages already completed. Rules regarding the make-up of book pages must be general for the most part, as many things depend upon the character of the work and the conditions under which it is done. In certain kinds of fine work there are some careful details which can be overlooked in ordinary work that must be done hurriedly and economically. Yet many desirable details of good workmanship may be followed without extra expenditure of time or material if the compositor and make-up hand understand how to do them properly in the first place. A great part of the time and expense devoted to preparing composed type for printing is due to the necessity for going over the pages to correct important matters which could as well have been done right in the first place if it were not for carelessness or lack of knowledge. The desirable division in a chapter or other composition of plain matter is in the middle of a paragraph of four or preferably more than four lines. There should be at least two lines of a paragraph together on a page. There will thus be a full line at the bottom of one page and another full line at the top of the next. There are many cases, of course, where the natural division of pages will come between paragraphs. An old-time rule tried to avoid this because of the liability of losing the connection in reading from page to page; but with pages plainly numbered and with consistent running heads this rule has little value. The objection to ending a page with the end of a paragraph may often be caused by the presence of a very short line which gives a broken outline to an otherwise symmetrical page. The last line of a paragraph should not be put at the top of a page or a column. This rule may be modified in ordinary work if the last line is full length and its presence at the top of the page will avoid some other objectionable feature. The first line of a paragraph should not be left at the bottom of a page, especially if there is a short line ending the paragraph immediately above. If there is no other way of following the two preceding rules, make two facing pages a line shorter than the regular length by carrying the lines backward or forward. A short word divided by a hyphen at the end of a line should not be divided between two pages. A little respacing of the bottom line of one page and the top line of the next will usually overcome a division of this sort. In book work, the first page of the preface, introduction, table of contents, and of each chapter should be sunk uniformly about one-sixth of the distance down from the top of a full-length page. This space may be varied in different books according to choice, but the sinkage should be the same throughout any one book. These pages are always on the first side of a leaf. If they make only one page each, the back of the leaf is left blank. The style of the running head is usually specified in instructions for the work. The wording may be either (a) the title of the book on all full pages, (b) the title of the book on the left-hand pages and the chapter subject on the right-hand pages, (c) the title of a new subject which begins, with or without a sub-head, in the text below. The latter style is desirable in a book of many pages because the running heads, carefully phrased, serve as a running index of the contents of a book. First pages of chapters with sunken heads do not have running heads. The page number or folio is in the end of the running head line, the odd numbers at the right and the even numbers at the left. The folio of the first page of a chapter (which has no running head) is put at the bottom of the page in the center, where it is termed a drop folio. This drop folio should not be included in the regular length of the page, but put in the lower margin a lead or two below the text, and set in figures of a type smaller than the text of the page. The space between the running head and the text matter should be equal to a full line of quads. This is an average for plain book pages which may be varied according to the leading of the page. The running head should not appear disconnected from the page itself, nor on the other hand should it be crowded on the top line of the text, especially if there are likely to be wide gaps between paragraphs or around sub-heads. A headline or sub-head and one line of text should not be left at the bottom of a page. If it is not possible to get three lines of the paragraph at the bottom of the page, let the page go short and call attention to the irregularity. A sub-head immediately under the running head is a combination to be avoided if possible, especially if the same kind of type is used for both, as is often the case. Two or three lone lines should not be left for the last page of a chapter. Try to allow enough for a quarter of a page or more. _Washing Type_ Clean printing can not be done from dirty type. For this reason, as well as for greater ease and cleanliness in handling, it is important that type (which has to be used over and over again) should be washed as clean as possible after use. Ink should not be allowed to dry hard on a form, as it will if left over night or over an idle day. The type face should be cleaned after taking proofs. It should show a clean face while corrections are being made, and also when it goes to press or to the moulding room. Type should not be distributed back into the case until it is well cleaned after use. Benzine is now very generally used to wash ink from type, electrotypes, and other printing plates. When it can be obtained in good quality it is a convenient washing fluid for printers' use. It loosens up dry ink quickly, evaporates in a few moments, and leaves the surface dry. Benzine and other type washes are often used with a brush, but this is not a good practice. The brush cleans the ink off the face of the type, but does not carry off the ink, which is left to dry again down in the hollow parts of the form and around the shoulder of the types where the fluid has washed it. A brush soon becomes foul after repeated use; it cannot be easily cleaned; it is usually retained in this condition and while it rubs off the face it leaves greater foulness than it can take away. A soft rag rolled into a pad with a little benzine poured on its surface will loosen the ink and take it off the type clean. When the pad gets inky turn another part of the rag out to give a clean wiping surface. When the rag gets dirty enough to soil the hands throw it in the waste can and get a clean one. Quite often, after the ink has been wiped off with a rag, a fairly stiff, fine brush is needed to clean out dried ink and dirt that has accumulated in small places like the counters of the letters and the screens of halftone plates. Gasoline is a tolerable substitute for benzine when the latter cannot be obtained. It is not so satisfactory, however, because of the greasiness which it leaves on the surface after evaporation. If the form is to be re-inked immediately after cleaning this greasiness must be removed in order to ink up again for a sharp, clear impression. Kerosene may be used for washing off ink, but it also leaves a disagreeable greasy surface, even more than gasoline does. For this reason it is not satisfactory for frequent washing of type or printing forms, though it is a good wash for inking rollers. A weak lye, made from dissolved potash, was formerly used extensively for washing type forms and inking rollers, but its use has been superseded by the safer, cleaner, more convenient benzine or gasoline. It is excellent, however, for washing type forms occasionally, as after a long run on the press or after electrotype moulding, to clean off the accumulation of dried ink or of moulder's wax and blacklead. For cleaning with lye the form should be stripped of all wooden material like reglets, wood-base plates, and anything that is liable to be injured by the washing. The type should be placed on a board and set in the sink. The washing is done with a medium stiff brush, care being taken not to allow the hands to get wet with the lye, as the solution will burn and discolor the skin. After a thorough but not hard rubbing, the lye is rinsed off with running water until it has all disappeared. If the type is still a little greasy to the touch after rinsing there is still some lye to be cleared off by further rinsing. Caustic soda may be dissolved and diluted to the right strength and used in the same manner as potash lye. _Distributing Type_ The distribution of type and other material into the proper cases after use is too often improperly done. It is important, if work is to be done without waste of time, that the necessary materials should be where they can be found quickly. A cleanly distributed case of type is necessary to good typesetting. A beginner should go at the work carefully. There are several matters, as well as the lay of the case, with which he should become familiar. If he is not perfectly familiar with every box he should have a diagram of the case before him as a guide. He should take only one line at a time in his hand, at the start, and only two or three types at a time between his thumb and forefinger to drop in the boxes. Later, when he acquires facility, he can take up a number of lines and take off complete words to distribute. [Illustration: FIG. 20 Holding type in the hand for distributing] The type line is placed in the left hand, well down in the palm--not upon the ends of the thumb and finger. The nicks of the type should be upwards and the face toward him. All words should be carefully spelled, especially unfamiliar ones, before taking them from the line. In this way the learner will note the b's and d's, p's and q's, u's and n's, A's and V's. These letters are liable to be confusing at first, until one gets used to the inverted appearance of the types. The distributer must also note the slight difference in the capital I and lower-case l, in the size of small capitals and lower-case letters, and to distinguish between the o, s, w, v, x, z of the two sets of alphabets. In some fonts the difference is so slight that experienced compositors may not always be sure to distinguish them, while other fonts have these six small capitals marked with an extra nick. As a rule, the small capitals are larger and slightly thicker than the round lower-case letters. Fonts of old style figures have the figure 1 so near like the small capital I that the difference can only be noted by the thickness of the body; the figure is on an en set and the small capital a little thinner. The lower-case o and the old style cypher 0 are also easily confused. The cypher is usually rounder than the lower-case letter. The types should be dropped sidewise, with the face slightly upward, the forefinger and second finger gently pushing the types apart as each is dropped from the thumb and forefinger. Drop the type in its place lightly, spelling the letters as they are dropped. If the type is large, lay it in; do not throw it in face down. The eye should follow the hand until it drops in the right box. Special characters in the matter should be saved aside until the matter is all distributed and then put where they belong. But do not put them in the corner of a box and promise to care for them later. Types put out of sight this way are usually forgotten. A small wooden galley or shallow box kept in plain sight above the case is the best way to care temporarily for extra characters, italics, and types that belong in another case. One of the most annoying things in a composing room is the distribution of type into a case where it does not belong. This happens through carelessness which should not be tolerated. To the beginner a constant warning should be held up: Look sharp! Do not guess! Examine the nick as well as the face. Do not be misled by a general appearance of similarity. If there is any doubt about the types being returned to the case where they belong, take a letter or two from the case and place it beside a similar letter in the hand for close comparison. The distribution of advertisements and job work in which there are several sizes and faces of type calls for extra care and a little system in sorting out the lines before distribution. First select all the lines of each kind on the galley, beginning with the large sizes, bringing all the lines of one kind together for distribution at one time. This will save extra steps, save time, and give fewer chances for distributing into the wrong case. If there is much type to distribute, take it to the case in a small galley, such as a distributing galley or a typefoundry paging galley; or bring the case to the stand where the work can be done conveniently and correctly. Do not stoop down in a dark corner, or reach up to a case above the level of the eyes, and distribute at a guess. Distribute the different thicknesses of spaces in the boxes where they belong. This should be the rule in all sizes under 24-point. The 3-spaces, 4-spaces, 5-spaces, and hair spaces should be kept separate, so that they will not have to be sorted out when composition is done. Pied type in any amount should not be distributed from the hand. Set the letters in line in a composing stick, with nicks all one way, and then distribute them in the usual way. If there are several sizes, pick out the large ones first. If there is only a little type in the case before beginning distribution, this is a good time to clean out the boxes. Clean out the space and quad boxes, sort out the few spaces there may be, pick out any bits of card, paper, string, leads, broken type, etc. If the boxes are dusty, blow them out with bellows or air pump, taking the case to a place where the dust will be carried off and not go into the air to be inhaled. Neither before nor after distributing is it necessary to shake the type case violently. Rattling the type around in the case usually injures the face. A gentle shake or two will be sufficient to spread out the few remaining types in a nearly empty case or to settle down the types in a full case. Thin leads and pieces of card or paper used in letter-spacing and justification should not as a rule be left in the cases. If they are worth saving and are likely to be used again they may be kept in a spare box by themselves, not with some other spaces. Small types in solid or leaded paragraphs are easier distributed if they have been sponged with water a little time beforehand. If the types are loose and dry, the water will hold them together slightly when handled. If the matter has been standing for some time after washing and has become caked or stuck together, it may have to be loosened up by a thorough dampening which will get in between the types. New type is liable to become caked together after standing and will need some soapy water to make it distributable. SUPPLEMENTARY READING CORRECT COMPOSITION. By Theodore L. DeVinne. Published by Oswald Publishing Co., New York. PRINTING FOR SCHOOL AND SHOP. By F. S. Henry. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. TYPE SPACING. By E. R. Currier. Published by Bowles, New York. SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS The following questions, based on the contents of this pamphlet, are intended to serve (1) as a guide to the study of the text, (2) as an aid to the student in putting the information contained into definite statements without actually memorizing the text, (3) as a means of securing from the student a reproduction of the information in his own words. A careful following of the questions by the reader will insure full acquaintance with every part of the text, avoiding the accidental omission of what might be of value. These primers are so condensed that nothing should be omitted. In teaching from these books it is very important that these questions and such others as may occur to the teacher should be made the basis of frequent written work, and of final examinations. The importance of written work cannot be overstated. It not only assures knowledge of material, but the power to express that knowledge correctly and in good from. If this written work can be submitted to the teacher in printed form it will be doubly useful. QUESTIONS 1. What does good typography demand on the part of the craftsman? 2. What advantages have movable types over other methods of preparing a page for printing? 3. Wherein is typesetting easy and wherein difficult? 4. What is really the principal working material of the compositor? 5. What habits should be formed at the beginning of the young compositor's work? 6. How should the compositor stand? 7. How should the compositor dress for his work? 8. Why is it unnecessary to learn all the cases in the market? 9. What case plans is it necessary to learn? 10. What is the plan of the common capital case? 11. What is the common lower-case plan? 12. Describe the California job case. 13. What are some wrong methods of learning the case? 14. Describe a good way of learning the case. 15. What incidental advantage has this method? 16. What is the unit of measurement for type? 17. How are type bodies graduated in size, and what are the most used sizes? 18. What is an em, and how is the term applied to type? 19. How do we find the quantity of type on a page? 20. How were type sizes formerly designated? 21. What is a pica, and how is the term now used? 22. How are leads, slugs, and the like graduated in length? 23. How are point-system calculations converted into inches? 24. What are spaces and quads, and how are they commonly designated? 25. How may the apprentice learn to tell the difference in the regular spaces in his case? 26. How many regular spaces are usually found, and how may they be combined to meet most of the requirements of composition? (The instructor should exercise the apprentice in making the combinations shown in the table by asking him how he could get specified spaces.) 27. How has the system of width been applied to spaces? 28. What are high spaces and quads, and when and why used? 29. What are quotation quads, and how are they used? 30. What is the peculiarity of typewriter types and spaces? 31. What is the difference between spaces for script types and the spaces for ordinary roman types? 32. What is the meaning of the terms spacing, justifying, and leading? 33. What devices are used for spaces thinner than 5-space? Describe them fully. 34. What may be used when thin spaces are lacking, and what caution should be observed? 35. What is the first step before beginning to set type, and how is it done? 36. What may you use for a gage to set the composing stick? 37. How may you provide for compression of types in locking up? 38. How may you be sure the stick is properly squared up? 39. How do you set the knee in place and keep it there? 40. What is a composing rule, what is its use, and why is it not more frequently used? 41. How is the composing stick held? 42. In what position is the type in the stick read? 43. What should the compositor first do to his copy? 44. How is the type selected, picked up, and put in the stick? 45. How should every line of type end, and how can you make it do so? 46. Describe two methods of changing spaces. 47. When is a line well justified, and what faults are to be guarded against, and why? 48. What care should be taken with long lines, and why? 49. What care should be taken regarding leads and rules, and why? 50. Why is careful justification important? 51. What common mistakes do beginners make in the use of spaces? 52. What simple rule should be observed in this connection? 53. Why should the beginner use leads and a composing rule in setting his first stickful? 54. What care should the beginner use in filling his stick? 55. Describe fully the operation of emptying the stick? 56. What should be looked for when the type is first placed in the galley? 57. What must be done when the galley is full, and why? 58. Describe the operation fully. 59. What care should be given the feet of the type? 60. How can time be wasted in these operations and how saved? 61. For what purposes are proofs taken? 62. How is the type prepared for taking proofs? 63. How are proofs taken with a planer and mallet? 64. What kind of matter may be proved in this manner and what should not, and why? 65. What should be done to insure correctness before the stick is emptied? 66. What should be done if the correction requires change of space or re-justification? 67. Describe the process of correcting from revised proof. 68. How may simple errors, such as a wrong letter, be corrected? 69. How should important changes requiring re-justification be made? 70. How should lines of type be carried when taken out for correction? 71. What careless habit is sometimes indulged in, and what is the result? 72. What happens when the changes are extensive, such as the insertion of a new phrase or sentence? 73. Describe two ways of handling this problem. 74. What care should be taken when this kind of work is done? 75. What should be done if a line of type is pied in correcting? 76. What will the beginner find to be his greatest difficulty in setting type? 77. Are the words in a page separated by absolutely uniform spaces, and why? 78. What is necessary to make reading easy? 79. What does good typesetting require to secure this? 80. What constitutes a well-spaced line? 81. What constitutes a well-spaced paragraph? 82. What special care should be taken in spacing the last line of a paragraph? 83. What is the standard spacing between words, and how may it be varied? 84. What has the length of line to do with spacing? 85. Does even spacing always look even, and why? 86. Where may you put thin spaces in order to get a word or syllable into the line? 87. Where may you use thicker spaces to lengthen the line a little? 88. In what special places are thin spaces properly used? 89. How are punctuation marks spaced? 90. How are spaces used with the em dash? 91. What should be done when you come to the end of a paragraph, with only a few letters for the last line? 92. How should you treat the last line of a paragraph when the matter nearly or quite fills the line? 93. What care should be taken in justifying lines, such as head-lines and paragraph ends, in which quads are used? 94. Do you need spaces with hyphens? 95. How are the dollar mark and English monetary signs used? 96. What should and should not be done in re-spacing a line in order to get a good result? 97. What is the proper space between sentences? 98. What should follow the period or Roman numeral in numbered paragraphs, and why? 99. How are quote marks spaced? 100. When may spaces be used between the letters of a word? 101. Give a general rule for spacing Old English or other black letter. 102. What general rules should be followed in spacing italics? 103. What peculiarity is there in the casting of some italic capitals and what does it call for? 104. What special precautions should be used in handling kerned italics? 105. What kind of spaces do words in capitals need, and why? 106. How should you space roman capitals of standard faces? 107. What is a simple general rule for spacing, and how may it be modified? 108. How do the shapes of the several letters affect the spacing of capitals? 109. What can be done to improve the spacing of lines having abbreviations or initials? 110. How are initials in groups, such as college degrees, treated? 111. What care should be taken when there are two or more lines of capitals of the same size? 112. How are lines of small capitals spaced? 113. What relation has spacing to legibility? 114. What is the general rule about wide spacing? 115. What relation has spacing to leading? 116. What is the widest spacing ordinarily allowable in roman lower-case matter, and what permits occasional use of wider space? 117. Where are wide spacing and wide leading desirable, and what caution should be observed in using them? 118. Name and describe the several kinds of indention? 119. What is the use of indention and what excess should be avoided? 120. What is the usual paragraph indention? 121. What is the relation between indention and measure? 122. What is the relation between indention and kind of matter? 123. Should the indention of paragraphs be varied in a single book or job to suit varying matter or type, and why? 124. What common defect occurs in widely indented paragraphs, and how may it be avoided? 125. What is the first consideration in indenting poetry, and how is it secured? 126. What material is used in indenting poetry? 127. What is the relation between indention and rhyme? 128. How is blank verse indented? 129. What is the indention when the rhyme is in two adjoining lines? 130. What can you do when a line is longer than the measure? 131. Describe the setting of center heads, sub-heads, cut-in heads, running heads, and box heads. 132. How are headings punctuated in modern practice? 133. What is the purpose of the initial letter, and how has it been used? 134. What considerations govern the choice of an initial? 135. How are initials set? 136. What follows the initial? 137. How should the initial line? 138. How should the space around the initial be treated? 139. What is the relation between the size of the initial and the text lines? 140. What may be done to secure this relation, but under what restrictions? 141. What is the effect of the initial on the length of the text lines after it, and how may it be handled? 142. What is make-up? 143. How are newspaper pages and the like made up? 144. What appliances are needed for make-up? 145. How is the galley placed, and where does the make-up man stand? 146. How are the pages handled, and why? 147. What should be done before make-up begins, and why? 148. What has the make-up man to do with justification? 149. How is the length of the page measured? 150. How is the length of book pages set in one size of type determined? 151. Where may extra leads be used, and where not? 152. What should the gage indicate when the page contains several sizes of type, and why? 153. What should be used for book, periodical, or other work that is to be made up frequently from time to time? 154. What is the first step in making the galley matter into pages? 155. What difficulties are likely to occur, and how may they be met? 156. What precaution may be taken to forestall difficulties? 157. How may inexpensive work be made good work? 158. What is desirable in the division of a paragraph which runs from one page to another? 159. Is there any objection to ending paragraph and page together? 160. What should be done if the last line of a paragraph comes at the top of a page or the first line at the bottom? 161. What should be done when the last line of a page ends with a short word divided by a hyphen and finished on the next page? 162. What is the rule in book work as to the sinking of the first page of preface, chapters, and the like? 163. What styles of running head are used, and what determines the choice? 164. When is the running head omitted? 165. Where are numbers placed? 166. What is the usual space between the running head and the text, and why? 167. What positions should be avoided if possible for sub-heads? 168. What should be avoided in chapter endings? 169. Why should type be kept clean? 170. What is the best substance for cleaning type? 171. What bad method of application is often used? 172. How should the cleaning substance be applied? 173. What is sometimes needed to complete the cleaning? 174. What other substances are sometimes used for cleaning type? 175. What is the process of cleaning type with lye? 176. How should the beginner prepare himself to distribute type? 177. What is the process of distribution for a beginner? for a more experienced apprentice? 178. What matters should be especially watched in distribution? 179. How should the types be put in the boxes? 180. How should special characters be handled? 181. What particular annoyance is often caused by the distributor, and how may it be avoided? 182. How are advertisements and similar matter distributed? 183. What should be done if there is much type to distribute? 184. How should spaces be distributed? 185. How should pied type be distributed? 186. When and how should boxes be cleaned? 187. How should type be handled to prevent injury? 188. What should be done with thin leads and pieces of card or paper? 189. What may be done to make it easier to distribute small types in solid or leaded paragraphs? GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS (For additional terms pertaining to type and type composition see page 32, No. 1, of this series of books entitled "Type.") AD-MAN--A compositor who sets advertisements on a newspaper or other publication. ANTIQUE FACE--A style of type having all parts of the letters thickened, making a heavy appearance. Sample: [Illustration: Example: MODERN PRESSWORK] ARABIC NUMBERS--The ten figures in common use, in distinction from Roman numbers or those made with letters. ASTERISK--Another name for the star *, commonly used as a reference mark. AUTHOR'S PROOF--A proof sent to the author after compositor's errors have been corrected. Author's corrections are those made on such a proof when returned, usually changes from the original copy. BAD BREAK--An objectionable division of a word at the end of a line or between two paragraphs or between two pages. BATTER--Bruised letters or other faces in a type form or electrotype. BEGIN EVEN--To start the paragraph or the line without indention. BEVELED SIDESTICK--Strips of wood or metal the height of furniture, wider at one end than the other, used with wedges or quoins to tighten forms together. BLACK LETTER--A style of letter used for the first printing types, made in imitation of the hand lettering in early manuscripts; made in many variations called by different names: Old English, Caxton Black, Priory Text, Cloister Black, etc. Sample: [Illustration: Example (Black Letter): Ye Quality Book Papers] BODKIN--A long slender awl sometimes used in correcting type. BODY SIZE--The depth of the type from the top to the bottom of the line. BOOK FONT--A large quantity sufficient to set a number of pages, with a complete set of characters, as distinguished from a small or job font. BORDER--A set of characters of plain or ornamental design used for panels or frames around pages or sections of pages. BOXED, OR BOXED-IN--Lines of type or other matter enclosed in a small panel or border. BRACES--A set of characters used for connecting two or more lines or items. Sample: [Illustration: three different size horizontal braces] BRACKETS--Signs of punctuation for enclosing words, letters, figures, []. BRASS THINS--Justifying spaces 1-point thick, made of brass. BRASSES--Strips of brass to be used as leads, where more durable metal than lead is desirable. BREAK-LINE--The last line of a paragraph where quads are needed to fill out the measure. BROKEN MATTER--Type lines that have been taken apart but not distributed; pi. CALIFORNIA JOB CASE--A type case holding a complete font of capitals, lower-case letters, figures, points, etc. See page 12. CASE--In a composing room, the tray with compartments in which type is kept for composing. CAST OFF--Estimating the number of lines or pages of type a manuscript or other lot of copy will make. CAST UP--Measuring the amount of type set, usually by ems; measuring up. CLEAN PROOF--A first proof without errors or with very few unimportant errors. CLEARING AWAY--Putting surplus leads, rules, furniture, and other materials back in their places when the make-up or lock-up is completed. CLOSE SPACING--Thin spacing. CLOSE QUOTE--The final marks enclosing a quotation, usually two apostrophes:". COME IN--When the letters of a line or the words of copy are set so that they occupy a given space they are said to "come in." COMP.--Abbreviation for compositor or composition. COMPOSING--Setting type and other material to make a printing form. COMPOSING ROOM--That part of a printing establishment in which the type is set and the forms locked up for the press. COMPOSING RULE--A strip of brass or steel used in the composing stick while setting type and for handling lines. COMPOSITOR--One who sets type; according to the class of work done, he is termed a book, newspaper, ad, or job compositor. CONDENSED FACE--A type face thinner in shape than the normal; it may be light or heavy as to blackness. Sample: [Illustration: Example: CASLON BOLD CONDENSED] COPPER THIN--A very thin justifying space, 1/2-point, made from copper. COPY--Handwritten, typewritten, or printed words or designs given to the printer or engraver for reproduction. COPY CUTTER--In daily newspaper rooms, the foreman's assistant whose duty it is to arrange the copy for the compositors. He receives it from the editorial room, marks the size of type, the style of headings, etc., according to the custom of the publication, and cuts the copy into portions, or takes, so that it may be in the hands of several compositors or machine operators for composing in the quickest time. COPYHOLDER--One who holds copy and reads it aloud to the proofreader. CUT-IN LETTER--A large letter set into the beginning of a paragraph; an initial. DASH--A horizontal stroke cast on a type body of en, em, two-em, or three-em width, thus - -- ---- ------. The common dash is one em, used as a punctuation mark and for many other purposes. The apprentice should not confuse the en dash [Illustration: an en-dash, a little longer than a hyphen but shorter than the em-dash] with the hyphen -. DEAD--Said of type or other printing matter that has been used or is not to be used. Dead type is ready for distribution. DIAGONAL INDENTION--See page 53. DIS.--Abbreviation for distributing. DISPLAY--Type composition in which various sizes and faces are used, like advertisements, title pages, etc., in distinction from plain reading matter. DISTRIBUTING--Putting type back in the cases after use. DOT LEADERS--High metal quads with dots cast on their end, in distinction from hyphen or dash leaders. DOTTED RULE--Brass rule with dotted faces, for blank forms, to serve as a line upon which writing is to be done:................................. DOUBLE--Words repeated by mistake in setting; a doublet. The term double is used in many cases before other words to indicate double quantity, size, or quality. DRIVE OUT--To thick space and put the whole of the next word in the following line. DUPE--Abbreviation of duplicate; an extra first-proof of type composition which is to be paid for by the piece, or to measure up the amount of work done by a compositor or machine operator. DUTCHMAN--A joke-name for a piece of wood or toothpick driven into a line that has not been properly justified; the mark of a careless compositor. EM--The square of a type body [Illustration: em-square]. EN, one half the square, [Illustration: a rectangle one em tall but one half em (one en) wide]. EMPTY CASE--A case without sorts or letters that are needed to compose the line; it may have other letters but is empty of those required. END EVEN--To make the words fill out the line. EXTENDED FACE--Said of faces of type made extra broad; the term expanded is sometimes used. See type founders' specimen books. EXTRA CONDENSED--A type face which has been compressed very narrow. Sample: [Illustration: Example: Gothic EXTRA Condensed] EXTRACT--A passage taken from another book or another author's writings; a quotation. FAC-SIMILE--An exact reproduction of an original; often abbreviated to _fac-sim_. FAT--Composition which has many broken lines and open spaces; matter with many quads and leads, which can be set profitably by piece-work. Sometimes spelled _phat_ in printers' literature. FAT-FACE--A style of type face with very much thickened heavy lines; sometimes _full-face_. FIRST PROOF--The proof taken for correcting compositor's errors, in distinction from revise, author's proof, or subsequent proofs. FLOOR PI--Type dropped on the floor and allowed to remain until swept up. FOLIO--A page number. Also, a sheet folded once, a size of paper, a sheet containing a certain number of words. FOLLOW COPY--An instruction to follow the copy in matters of spelling, punctuation, use of capitals, italics, and other particulars, disregarding the style of the shop to a more or less degree according to necessities. FONT--A complete assortment of types of one size and face or of one class of characters, as a cap font, a small-cap font, italic font. FORM--A page or number of pages or other printing surfaces assembled for printing. FOUNDRY TYPE--Type designed and cast by regular foundries which make their chief business supplying printers; in distinction from type cast by Monotype, Linotype, and other machines in private establishments. FULL MEASURE--Type lines set the full width of the column of page in distinction from short lines or half measure. GALLEY--A shallow tray for holding type after it is set. GET IN--To thin space a line in order to make room for the last few letters of a word; to take in; opposite of drive out. GOTHIC--Type founders and printers in America use this word to name a type face of the simplest style, without serifs and with strokes of one thickness throughout [Illustration: Example: GOTHIC TYPES]. Bibliographers and scholars name certain old style forms of black letter Gothic, as representing the true Gothic character. Our so-called gothics are made in many variations and are chiefly used for newspaper and job work, but are not acceptable for book work. HAIR LINE--Said of a very delicate face, as of a brass rule or the fine connecting strokes of a letter. HAIR SPACE--A type space thinner than the 5-space. HALF-DIAMOND INDENTION--An arrangement of lines in which the second and succeeding line are indented at each end shorter than the line above; inverted pyramid style. HANGING INDENTION--When the first line is set flush at the beginning and succeeding lines indented an em or more, as in this paragraph. HIGH SPACES AND QUADS--These are used when the type is to be regularly used for moulding for electrotyping. See page 18. HEAD AND TAIL--The top and bottom margins of a book page. HELL, OR HELL-BOX--Old name for the receptacle for old or damaged type; a dumping place for discarded type. HIGH-TO-LINE--When a letter or a word is above the alignment of the rest of the line; when it is below it is _low-to-line_. HOLLOW QUADS--See Quotation. HYPHEN--Used at the ends of lines when words are divided; also for compounding words, and sometimes for leaders. See Dash. IMPOSITION--The arrangement and locking up of pages so that they will come in proper order when the sheet is folded after printing. IMPRINT--The name, with or without address, of the printer, publisher, or dealer placed on a book or other work. IN THE METAL--In type, as to correct in the metal or to revise in the metal without taking proof. INDENTION--The setting in of a line or body of type by a blank space at the beginning or left hand, as in the first line of a paragraph; also the space thus left blank. The printer's indention is not (as it is often said to be) a shortened form of indentation, but an original word from _dent_ (_dint_), "a denting in, a depression," and hence is the proper word, rather than indentation, to express the idea. --_Standard Dictionary_. INITIAL--The first letter of a word; in typesetting, a large letter set into the beginning of a paragraph. INVERTED COMMAS--The quotation marks used at the beginning of a quotation: ". JOB CASE--A type case holding a complete font of capitals and lower-case letters, figures, points, and spaces; in distinction from a pair of cases. JOB COMPOSITOR--One who sets a variety of miscellaneous work in distinction from a book or newspaper hand. JOB GALLEY--A short, wide galley, made in sizes from 6 x 10 to 15 x 22 inches. JOB TYPE--Those miscellaneous faces, usually in small fonts, used for small work; in distinction from roman and italic faces used for books, periodicals, etc. JUSTIFY--To make a line or other type composition of the proper tightness to fit the space. See page 27. KEEP UP--To capitalize words which might ordinarily begin with small letters. _Keep down_, to begin a word with a small letter. KEEP STANDING--To save type pages or forms after printing, in case of further use. KEEP UP STYLE--To follow the prescribed rules of the shop or publication regarding spelling, abbreviations, headings, capitals, punctuation, etc. See Style. KERNED LETTER--A type on which part of the face overhangs the body. LABOR-SAVING--Said of leads, rules, furniture, and other material made in sizes based on a common multiple, usually the pica. They save labor because two or more may be combined to make larger sizes, instead of cutting new material for each particular work. LAY OF THE CASE--The plan of the boxes for holding the different characters of a font. LAYING TYPE--Putting new type into the case, in distinction from distributing used type back into the case. LEAD (pronounced _led_, not _leed_)--A strip of thin metal to place between lines of type. LEADED--Type composition having leads between the lines, in distinction from solid matter, or lines without leads. LEADERS (_leeders_)--Periods or dots placed at intervals in open lines to guide the eye across to figures or words at the end, as in tables of contents, price lists, etc. Type founders cast high quads in sizes from 5-point to 18-point in several styles, like fine-dot............, two dots to an em .., hyphen - - - -, and also make leaders in brass. For occasional use a few lines of leaders may be made of periods spaced apart with spaces or quads. LEAN SETTING--Type composition that is solid and with few or no blank lines. See Fat. LETTER--Old-fashioned term for type in quantity. _Letter board_, a board or shelf for holding composed type. LIFT--When type is justified and fastened together so that it may be taken up without any pieces falling out, it is said to lift. LINING--Said of type faces which are made to align exactly along the bottom of the letters. LINING FIGURES--Modern-cut figures made in uniform size and of equal height; in distinction from the irregular old-style figures. [Illustration: Old style numbers 1234567890]: 1234567890. LIVE MATTER--Type composition or pages that are to be printed; after being printed or moulded it is _dead_ and ready for distribution. LOGOTYPE--Two or more letters cast on one body. _Ligature_, two letters joined and cast together, like [Illustration: ct-ligature]. LOW SPACES AND QUADS--Those used for composition to be printed directly from the type. See page 18. LOWER CASE--The type case holding the small letters, figures, points, spaces, etc. The part of a job case holding the lower-case font. LYE--Used for washing type. See page 69. MAKING UP--To divide composed matter into pages of equal length, add headings, notes, and other parts to prepare them for imposing and locking up. MARGINAL NOTE--A side note. MATTER--Composed type or linotype slugs. MEASURE--The width of a page, the full length of a line. MEASURING UP--Finding the amount of type set. This is done by multiplying the number of ems in one line by the total number of lines set, based in ems of the size of type used. In measuring up to find the amount of composition for making a charge therefor, headings, leads, slugs, small blocks, and other items in the matter are counted as solid lines. MOTTO INDENTION--A note or other small block of type set at one side of the page but within the measure. MUTTON FIST--A name sometimes given to the index or fist [Illustration: pointing hand, or fist]. MUTTON QUAD--The em quad. For clearer distinction in speaking the term _mutton_ is applied to the em, and the term _nut_ to the en, as mutton dash --, nut dash -. NIB--The small projection on the end of a composing rule. NICK--A notch on the side of a type, usually indicating the lower side of the letter. NIPPERS--Another name for tweezers. OFF ITS FEET--When type does not stand up squarely, but leans slightly one way. OUT--An omission of one or more words from the composition. OUT OF SORTS--When the supply of any needed character is gone the case, or the compositor, is out of sorts. See Sort. OVER-RUNNING--Taking words backward or forward from one line to another in correcting. PAGE CORD--The string used to tie up pages or small jobs of type. PAGE PAPERS--Pieces of heavy paper or card upon which tied-up pages are placed for storage when there is not enough galley space; also called page shoes. PAGINATION--The page numbering of a book or other work. PARAGRAPH MARK--One of the old-style reference marks furnished for book fonts [Illustration: paragraph symbol], being the capital P reversed. Paragraph marks are made in various forms for different kinds of type. PATENT SPACE--A special type space equal to the thickness of two 5-spaces. This space is common in 12-point and larger sizes, but not furnished with regular fonts in smaller sizes unless ordered. PI--Type thrown down, mixed, or in confusion. PICA--A size of type equal to 12-point. The common standard of measurement for leads, rules, furniture, and for width and length of pages. Six picas in length equal, approximately, a linear inch. PICK FOR SORTS--To take letters from standing matter, live or dead, when the case is empty and types are needed for work in hand. PICK UP--A heading, line, or other matter taken from a dead form and used over again. PIECED LEADS--Two or more leads placed end to end to equal a longer strip; similarly, pieced rule, pieced furniture, pieced brace, etc. PLANER--A smooth-faced block used to level the surface of a printing form on the imposing stone. POINT--The unit for measuring type bodies; a mark of punctuation. PRINTER'S DEVIL--The old-time name for the errand boy in a printing house. PROOF--A trial impression. PULL A PROOF--To take a proof on a hand press by pulling over the impression bar; hence to take a proof by any means. QUAD--A blank type larger than a space; from the word _quadrat_, a square, originally the em quadrat. QUOTATION--A large hollow quad. REFERENCE MARK--The old-style characters * [Illustration: dagger, double dagger] used in book work. The modern practice is to use superior figures ^{123} (sometimes letters ^{abc}) in the text to refer to foot notes or notes in the appendix. REGLET--Strips of wood, 6-point, 12-point, and thicker used in making up forms for the press; not desirable in type pages except in large forms. REPRINT--To set over again or to print over again. REVISE--To examine a second proof to see that corrections have been made; a proof taken for this purpose. RING MARK--A circle around a marked error to signify a special correction ordered by the proofreader or author. ROMAN TYPE--The common upright characters, in distinction from italics or black-letter. RULE--A strip of metal for printing straight lines. RULE WORK--Composition in which brass rules are largely used, as in tabular matter, box panels, etc. RUN-AROUNDS--Lines of type justified around small engravings or blocks in a page or advertisement, especially when the shape of the block requires irregular lengths of the adjoining matter. RUN IN--To avoid making a paragraph, running the sentences into one paragraph. RUN OUT AND INDENT--To begin the paragraph without indention. SETTING RULE--A composing rule. SHANK--The body part of a type, as distinguished from the face, shoulder, or feet. SIDE SORTS--The infrequently used characters of a font, q x z, etc. Also any special characters kept in an auxiliary box or sort case, like figures, fractions, or other types not provided for in the regular assortment. SIZES OF TYPE--See No. 1, of this series for additional information about type. SLUG--A thick lead, the usual sizes being 6-point and 12-point; used in making up pages. SOLID--Type lines set close together without leads. SORT--A type or character considered as a part of a font, usually a quantity of one kind. When all the letters of one kind are missing the case is _out of sorts_. When the copy calls for more than the usual number of a particular character it _runs on sorts_. SPACE OUT--To increase the spaces to fill the line. _Quad out_, to fill the line with quads after the words. SQUABBLE--A doubling up or crumbling of lines of type; a pi. STAND--A frame for holding type cases; a workstand. STANDING MATTER--Composed type in galley form or made up in pages. STICKFUL--A number of composed lines equal to that contained in a composing stick. STONE--The imposing table, usually of marble or similar fine grain, but nowadays often of polished steel. STONEMAN--One who works specially at the imposing and lock-up table. STRAIGHT MATTER--Plain paragraph composition in one kind of type; in distinction from display or job work. STYLE OF THE OFFICE--In order to maintain some consistency in practice in details of composition many composing rooms have rules, more or less variable, about spelling, division of words, compounding, use of italic, capitals, headings, paragraph indentions, and similar matters. A style card or style book may be prepared for the purpose by the proofreader or foreman. Frequently a publication set in a composing room may have a style (ordered by the editor or manager) somewhat different from the style of other work done in the same room. SUPERIORS--Small figures or letters set above the general alignment of the main line, as for references. _Inferiors_ are small figures below the alignment. TAKE--A portion of copy of one article or job that has been divided between several compositors to hasten its composition. TAKE IN--To thin space; to get in. TEXT--The body of matter on a written or printed page, as distinguished from notes, headings, engravings, or auxiliary features. _Text type_, the type in which such matter is set. The term is also applied to note one of several styles of early black-letter, as Old English Text, Priory Text, etc. THICK SPACE--The en quad is sometimes so called. Some compositors call the 3-space a thick space, ignoring the fact that the 3-space is normal, neither thick nor thin. TURN FOR SORTS--When the types in a case run short and they will be supplied later, the compositor puts in another type of the same thickness, turned bottom up, the proper letter to be inserted before printing or moulding. It is the rule, when a letter has been taken from a live page to be used immediately in another place, that a turned letter should be put in place of the one taken out to show the absence of the proper letter when an impression is taken. TURNED COMMAS--Inverted commas (") at the beginning of a quotation. TWO-LINE LETTER--A capital letter of the depth of two lines of text used as an initial at the beginning of a subject. TYPE MEASURE--A strip of strong card, wood, or steel having its edges marked with scales indicating ems of type sizes; for measuring composed matter; usually only sizes up to pica or 12-point are given. TYPOGRAPHY--The art and process of printing from movable types. It includes printing from engraved relief blocks which can be made up and printed with composed types. Also called letterpress printing. UNDERSCORE--To draw or print a line under a word or sentence. UNIT--An accepted standard of measurement; thus the point is the unit for type sizes, the pica (12-point) is the unit for widths of pages, lengths of leads, rules, furniture, etc. UPPER CASE--The capital case. WHITE OUT--To blank out a page or other space with quads or furniture. WIDE MEASURE--Lines of type that are longer than normal in relation to the size of type used; a length that would be normal for 12-point would be wide for 6-point, Generally, lines averaging over twelve words or fifty letters would be termed wide measure. WRONG-FONT--A letter or character in the line from another kind of type, due to mixing of fonts. Usually written in proof _wf_. TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES The following list of publications, comprising the TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES, has been prepared under the supervision of the Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America for use in trade classes, in course of printing instruction, and by individuals. Each publication has been compiled by a competent author or group of authors, and carefully edited, the purpose being to provide the printers of the United States--employers, journeymen, and apprentices--with a comprehensive series of handy and inexpensive compendiums of reliable, up-to-date information upon the various branches and specialties of the printing craft, all arranged in orderly fashion for progressive study. The publications of the series are of uniform size, 5 x 8 inches. Their general make-up, in typography, illustrations, etc., has been, as far as practicable, kept in harmony throughout. A brief synopsis of the particular contents and other chief features of each volume will be found under each title in the following list. Each topic is treated in a concise manner, the aim being to embody in each publication as completely as possible all the rudimentary information and essential facts necessary to an understanding of the subject. Care has been taken to make all statements accurate and clear, with the purpose of bringing essential information within the understanding of beginners in the different fields of study. Wherever practicable, simple and well-defined drawings and illustrations have been used to assist in giving additional clearness to the text. In order that the pamphlets may be of the greatest possible help for use in trade-school classes and for self-instruction, each title is accompanied by a list of Review Questions covering essential items of the subject matter. A short Glossary of technical terms belonging to the subject or department treated is also added to many of the books. These are the Official Text-books of the United Typothetae of America. Address all orders and inquiries to COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U. S. A. PART I--_Types, Tools, Machines, and Materials_ 1. =Type: a Primer of Information= By A. A. Stewart Relating to the mechanical features of printing types; their sizes, font schemes, etc., with a brief description of their manufacture. 44 pp.; illustrated; 74 review questions; glossary. 2. =Compositors' Tools and Materials= By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about composing sticks, galleys, leads, brass rules, cutting and mitering machines, etc. 47 pp.; illustrated; 50 review questions; glossary. 3. =Type Cases, Composing Room Furniture= By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about type cases, work stands, cabinets, case racks, galley racks, standing galleys, etc. 43 pp.; illustrated; 33 review questions; glossary. 4. =Imposing Tables and Lock-up Appliances= By A. A. Stewart Describing the tools and materials used in locking up forms for the press, including some modern utilities for special purposes. 59 pp.; illustrated; 70 review questions; glossary. 5. =Proof Presses= By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about the customary methods and machines for taking printers' proofs. 40 pp.; illustrated; 41 review questions; glossary. 6. =Platen Printing Presses= By Daniel Baker A primer of information regarding the history and mechanical construction of platen printing presses, from the original hand press to the modern job press, to which is added a chapter on automatic presses of small size. 51 pp.; illustrated; 49 review questions; glossary. 7. =Cylinder Printing Presses= By Herbert L. Baker Being a study of the mechanism and operation of the principal types of cylinder printing machines. 64 pp.; illustrated; 47 review questions; glossary. 8. =Mechanical Feeders and Folders= By William E. Spurrier The history and operation of modern feeding and folding machines; with hints on their care and adjustments. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 9. =Power for Machinery in Printing Houses= By Carl F. Scott A treatise on the methods of applying power to printing presses and allied machinery with particular reference to electric drive. 53 pp.; illustrated; 69 review questions; glossary. 10. =Paper Cutting Machines= By Niel Gray, Jr. A primer of information about paper and card trimmers, hand-lever cutters, power cutters, and other automatic machines for cutting paper, 70 pp.; illustrated; 115 review questions; glossary. 11. =Printers' Rollers= By A. A. Stewart A primer of information about the composition, manufacture, and care of inking rollers. 46 pp.; illustrated; 61 review questions; glossary. 12. =Printing Inks= By Philip Ruxton Their composition, properties and manufacture (reprinted by permission from Circular No. 53, United States Bureau of Standards): together with some helpful suggestions about the everyday use of printing inks by Philip Ruxton. 80pp.; 100 review questions; glossary. 13. =How Paper is Made= By William Bond Wheelwright A primer of information about the materials and processes of manufacturing paper for printing and writing. 68 pp.; illustrated; 62 review questions; glossary. 14. =Relief Engravings= By Joseph P. Donovan Brief history and non-technical description of modern methods of engraving; woodcut, zinc plate, halftone; kind of copy for reproduction; things to remember when ordering engravings. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 15. =Electrotyping and Stereotyping= By Harris B. Hatch and A. A. Stewart A primer of information about the processes of electrotyping and stereotyping. 94 pp.; illustrated; 129 review questions; glossaries. PART II--_Hand and Machine Composition_ 16. =Typesetting= By A. A. Stewart A handbook for beginners, giving information about justifying, spacing, correcting, and other matters relating to typesetting. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 17. =Printers' Proofs= By A. A. Stewart The methods by which they are made, marked, and corrected, with observations on proofreading. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 18. =First Steps in Job Composition= By Camille DeVéze Suggestions for the apprentice compositor in setting his first jobs, especially about the important little things which go to make good display in typography. 63 pp.; examples; 55 review questions; glossary. 19. =General Job Composition= How the job compositor handles business stationery, programs and miscellaneous work. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 20. =Book Composition= By J. W. Bothwell Chapters from DeVinne's "Modern Methods of Book Composition," revised and arranged for this series of text-books by J. W. Bothwell of The DeVinne Press, New York. Part I: Composition of pages. Part II: Imposition of pages. 229 pp.; illustrated; 525 review questions; glossary. 21. =Tabular Composition= By Robert Seaver A study of the elementary forms of table composition, with examples of more difficult composition. 36 pp.; examples; 45 review questions. 22. =Applied Arithmetic= By E. E. Sheldon Elementary arithmetic applied to problems of the printing trade, calculation of materials, paper weights and sizes, with standard tables and rules for computation, each subject amplified with examples and exercises. 159 pp. 23. =Typecasting and Composing Machines= A. W. Finlay, Editor Section I--The Linotype By L. A. Hornstein Section II--The Monotype By Joseph Hays Section III--The Intertype By Henry W. Cozzens Section IV--Other Typecasting and Typesetting Machines By Frank H. Smith A brief history of typesetting machines, with descriptions of their mechanical principles and operations. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. PART III--_Imposition and Stonework_ 24. =Locking Forms for the Job Press= By Frank S. Henry Things the apprentice should know about locking up small forms, and about general work on the stone. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 25. =Preparing Forms for the Cylinder Press= By Frank S. Henry Pamphlet and catalog imposition; margins; fold marks, etc. Methods of handling type forms and electrotype forms. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. PART IV--_Presswork_ 26. =Making Ready on Platen Presses= By T. G. McGrew The essential parts of a press and their functions; distinctive features of commonly used machines. Preparing the tympan, regulating the impression, underlaying and overlaying, setting gauges, and other details explained. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 27. =Cylinder Presswork= By T. G. McGrew Preparing the press; adjustment of bed and cylinder, form rollers, ink fountain, grippers and delivery systems. Underlaying and overlaying; modern overlay methods. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 28. =Pressroom Hints and Helps= By Charles L. Dunton Describing some practical methods of pressroom work, with directions and useful information relating to a variety of printing-press problems. 87 pp.; 176 review questions. 29. =Reproductive Processes of the Graphic Arts= By A. W. Elson A primer of information about the distinctive features of the relief, the intaglio, and the planographic processes of printing. 84 pp.; illustrated; 100 review questions; glossary. PART V--_Pamphlet and Book Binding_ 30. =Pamphlet Binding= By Bancroft L. Goodwin A primer of information about the various operations employed in binding pamphlets and other work in the bindery. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. 31. =Book Binding= By John J. Pleger Practical information about the usual operations in binding books; folding; gathering, collating, sewing, forwarding, finishing. Case making and cased-in books. Hand work and machine work. Job and blank-book binding. Illustrated; review questions; glossary. PART VI--_Correct Literary Composition_ 32. =Word Study and English Grammar= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about words, their relations, and their uses. 68 pp.; 84 review questions; glossary. 33. =Punctuation= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the marks of punctuation and their use, both grammatically and typographically. 56 pp.; 59 review questions; glossary. 34. =Capitals= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about capitalization, with some practical typographic hints as to the use of capitals. 48 pp.; 92 review questions; glossary. 35. =Division of Words= By F. W. Hamilton Rules for the division of words at the ends of lines, with remarks on spelling, syllabication and pronunciation. 42 pp.; 70 review questions. 36. =Compound Words= By F. W. Hamilton A study of the principles of compounding, the components of compounds, and the use of the hyphen. 34 pp.; 62 review questions. 37. =Abbreviations and Signs= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about abbreviations and signs, with classified lists of those in most common use. 58 pp.; 32 review questions. 38. =The Uses of Italic= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the history and uses of italic letters. 31 pp.; 37 review questions. 39. =Proofreading= By Arnold Levitas The technical phases of the proofreader's work; reading, marking, revising, etc.; methods of handling proofs and copy. Illustrated by examples. 59 pp.; 69 review questions; glossary. 40. =Preparation of Printers' Copy= By F. W. Hamilton Suggestions for authors, editors, and all who are engaged in preparing copy for the composing room. 36 pp.; 67 review questions. 41. =Printers' Manual of Style= A reference compilation of approved rules, usages, and suggestions relating to uniformity in punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, numerals, and kindred features of composition. 42. =The Printer's Dictionary= By A. A. Stewart A handbook of definitions and miscellaneous information about various processes of printing, alphabetically arranged. Technical terms explained. Illustrated. PART VII--_Design, Color, and Lettering_ 43. =Applied Design for Printers= By Harry L. Gage A handbook of the principles of arrangement, with brief comment on the periods of design which have most influenced printing. Treats of harmony, balance, proportion, and rhythm; motion; symmetry and variety; ornament, esthetic and symbolic. 37 illustrations; 46 review questions; glossary; bibliography. 44. =Elements of Typographic Design= By Harry L. Gage Applications of the principles of decorative design. Building material of typography: paper, types, ink, decorations and illustrations. Handling of shapes. Design of complete book, treating each part. Design of commercial forms and single units. Illustrations; review questions; glossary; bibliography. 45. =Rudiments of Color in Printing= By Harry L. Gage Use of color: for decoration of black and white, for broad poster effect, in combinations of two, three, or more printings with process engravings. Scientific nature of color, physical and chemical. Terms in which color may be discussed: hue, value, intensity. Diagrams in color, scales and combinations. Color theory of process engraving. Experiments with color. Illustrations in full color, and on various papers. Review questions; glossary; bibliography. 46. =Lettering in Typography= By Harry L. Gage Printer's use of lettering: adaptability and decorative effect. Development of historic writing and lettering and its influence on type design. Classification of general forms in lettering. Application of design to lettering. Drawing for reproduction. Fully illustrated; review questions; glossary; bibliography. 47. =Typographic Design in Advertising= By Harry L. Gage The printer's function in advertising. Precepts upon which advertising is based. Printer's analysis of his copy. Emphasis, legibility, attention, color. Method of studying advertising typography. Illustrations; review questions; glossary; bibliography. 48. =Making Dummies and Layouts= By Harry L. Gage A layout: the architectural plan. A dummy: the imitation of a proposed final effect. Use of dummy in sales work. Use of layout. Function of layout map. Binding schemes for dummies. Dummy envelopes. Illustrations; review questions; glossary; bibliography. PART VIII--_History of Printing_ 49. =Books Before Typography= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the invention of the alphabet and the history of bookmaking up to the invention of movable types. 62 pp.; illustrated; 64 review questions. 50. =The Invention of Typography= By F. W. Hamilton A brief sketch of the invention of printing and how it came about. 64 pp.; 62 review questions. 51. =History of Printing--Part I= By F. W. Hamilton A primer of information about the beginnings of printing, the development of the book, the development of printers' materials, and the work of the great pioneers. 63 pp.; 55 review questions. 52. =History of Printing--Part II= By F. W. Hamilton A brief sketch of the economic conditions of the printing industry from 1450 to 1789, including government regulations, censorship, internal conditions and industrial relations. 94 pp.; 128 review questions. 53. =Printing in England= By F. W. Hamilton A short history of printing in England from Caxton to the present time. 89 pp.; 65 review questions. 54. =Printing in America= By F. W. Hamilton A brief sketch of the development of the newspaper, and some notes on publishers who have especially contributed to printing. 98 pp.; 84 review questions. 55. =Type and Presses in America= By F. W. Hamilton A brief historical sketch of the development of type casting and press building in the United States. 52 pp.; 61 review questions. PART IX--_Cost Finding and Accounting_ 56. =Elements of Cost in Printing= By Henry P. Porter The Standard Cost-Finding Forms and their uses. What they should show. How to utilize the information they give. Review questions. Glossary. 57. =Use of a Cost System= By Henry P. Porter The Standard Cost-Finding Forms and their uses. What they should show. How to utilize the information they give. Review questions. Glossary. 58. =The Printer as a Merchant= By Henry P. Porter The selection and purchase of materials and supplies for printing. The relation of the cost of raw material and the selling price of the finished product. Review questions. Glossary. 59. =Fundamental Principles of Estimating= By Henry P. Porter The estimator and his work; forms to use; general rules for estimating. Review questions. Glossary. 60. =Estimating and Selling= By Henry P. Porter An insight into the methods used in making estimates, and their relation to selling. Review questions. Glossary. 61. =Accounting for Printers= By Henry P. Porter A brief outline of an accounting system for printers; necessary books and accessory records. Review questions. Glossary. PART X--_Miscellaneous_ 62. =Health, Sanitation, and Safety= By Henry P. Porter Hygiene in the printing trade; a study of conditions old and new; practical suggestions for improvement; protective appliances and rules for safety. 63. =Topical Index= By F. W. Hamilton A book of reference covering the topics treated in the Typographic Technical Series, alphabetically arranged. 64. =Courses of Study= By F. W. Hamilton A guidebook for teachers, with outlines and suggestions for classroom and shop work. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This series of Typographic Text-books is the result of the splendid co-operation of a large number of firms and individuals engaged in the printing business and its allied industries in the United States of America. The Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America, under whose auspices the books have been prepared and published, acknowledges its indebtedness for the generous assistance rendered by the many authors, printers, and others identified with this work. While due acknowledgment is made on the title and copyright pages of those contributing to each book, the Committee nevertheless felt that a group list of co-operating firms would be of interest. The following list is not complete, as it includes only those who have co-operated in the production of a portion of the volumes, constituting the first printing. As soon as the entire list of books comprising the Typographic Technical Series has been completed (which the Committee hopes will be at an early date), the full list will be printed in each volume. The Committee also desires to acknowledge its indebtedness to the many subscribers to this Series who have patiently awaited its publication. COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA. HENRY P. PORTER, _Chairman,_ E. LAWRENCE FELL, A. M. GLOSSBRENNER, J. CLYDE OSWALD, TOBY RUBOVITS. FREDERICK W. HAMILTON, _Education Director_. CONTRIBUTORS =For Composition and Electrotypes= ISAAC H. BLANCHARD COMPANY, New York, N. Y. S. H. BURBANK & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. J. S. CUSHING & CO., Norwood, Mass. THE DEVINNE PRESS, New York, N. Y. R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS CO., Chicago, Ill. GEO. H. ELLIS CO., Boston, Mass. EVANS-WINTER-HEBB, Detroit, Mich. FRANKLIN PRINTING COMPANY, Philadelphia, Pa. F. H. GILSON COMPANY, Boston, Mass. STEPHEN GREENE & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. W. F. HALL PRINTING CO., Chicago, Ill. J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO., Philadelphia, Pa. McCALLA & CO. INC., Philadelphia, Pa. THE PATTESON PRESS, New York, New York THE PLIMPTON PRESS, Norwood, Mass. POOLE BROS., Chicago, Ill. EDWARD STERN & CO., Philadelphia, Pa. THE STONE PRINTING & MFG. CO., Roanoke, Va. C. D. TRAPHAGEN, Lincoln, Neb. THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, Cambridge, Mass. =For Composition= BOSTON TYPOTHETAE SCHOOL OF PRINTING, Boston, Mass. WILLIAM F. FELL CO., Philadelphia, Pa. THE KALKHOFF COMPANY, New York, N. Y. OXFORD-PRINT, Boston, Mass. TOBY RUBOVITS, Chicago, Ill. =For Electrotypes= BLOMGREN BROTHERS CO., Chicago, Ill. FLOWER STEEL ELECTROTYPING CO., New York, N. Y. C. J. PETERS & SON CO., Boston, Mass. ROYAL ELECTROTYPE CO., Philadelphia, Pa. H. C. WHITCOMB & CO., Boston, Mass. =For Engravings= AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDERS CO., Boston, Mass. C. B. COTTRELL & SONS Co., Westerly, R. I. GOLDING MANUFACTURING CO., Franklin, Mass. HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass. INLAND PRINTER CO., Chicago, Ill. LANSTON MONOTYPE MACHINE COMPANY, Philadelphia, Pa. MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE COMPANY, New York, N. Y. GEO. H. MORRILL CO., Norwood, Mass. OSWALD PUBLISHING CO., New York, N. Y. THE PRINTING ART, Cambridge, Mass. B. D. RISING PAPER COMPANY, Housatonic, Mass. THE VANDERCOOK PRESS, Chicago, Ill. =For Book Paper= AMERICAN WRITING PAPER CO., Holyoke, Mass. WEST VIRGINIA PULP & PAPER CO., Mechanicville, N. Y. TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES Descriptions have been added to [Illustrations]. Superscripts are shown as ^{superscripted characters} The following changes have been made: Page 5 Leads and Slugs 20 _changed to_ Leads and Slugs 21 Page 8 Setting the Composing Stick 21 _changed to_ Setting the Composing Stick 22 Page 21 (nonpareil), 12-point (pica), and 18 point _changed to_ (nonpareil), 12-point (pica), and 18-point Page 24 If the the gage line is _changed to_ If the gage line is Page 31 It oftens happens that the _changed to_ It often happens that the Page 44 between word endings like ----e w----, y a---- _changed to_ between word endings like ----e w----, ----y a---- Page 47 at the begining may not need _changed to_ at the beginning may not need Page 53 being shorter than the preceeding _changed to_ being shorter than the preceding Page 58 or a side heading at the begining _changed to_ or a side heading at the beginning Page 59 see other title of this series _changed to_ see other titles of this series Page 91 or the compositor, is out of sorts, See Sorts. _changed to_ or the compositor, is out of sorts. See Sort. Page iii 15. =Electrotyping and Sterotyping= _changed to_ 15. =Electrotyping and Stereotyping= Page v Illustrations; review questions, glossary; bibliography. _changed to_ Illustrations; review questions; glossary; bibliography. The order of Glossary entries has been retained as they appear in the original publication, the following out of alphabetical order: Cast Up (Page 86) Extract (Page 88) Hair Line (Page 88) High-to-line (Page 89) Lay of the Case (Page 90) Logotype (Page 90) Mutton Fist (Page 91) Pi (Page 91) Pica (Page 91) Planer (Page 92) Turned Commas (Page 93) The following words were inconsistently hyphenated, and appear here as in the original: old-style/oldstyle re-spacing/respacing side-stick/sidestick 
43691	----	generously made available by The Internet Archive.) [Illustration: THE HISTORY OF THE CATNACH PRESS, AND THE TWO CATNACHS, JOHN & JAMES, FATHER & SON, _Printers_, 1769-1841.] THE HISTORY OF THE CATNACH PRESS. LARGE PAPER COPY. Only Two Hundred and Fifty Printed. Each Copy numbered and Signed [Signature: Charles Hindley.] No. ________ _Purchased by_ ____________________________________________________ _of_ ____________________________________________________ _on the ___________ day of ____________ 18_____ THE HISTORY OF THE CATNACH PRESS, AT BERWICK-UPON-TWEED, ALNWICK AND NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, IN NORTHUMBERLAND, AND SEVEN DIALS, LONDON. BY CHARLES HINDLEY, ESQ., _Editor of "The Old Book Collector's Miscellany; or, a Collection of Readable Reprints of Literary Rarities," "Works of John Taylor--the Water Poet," "The Roxburghe Ballads," "The Catnach Press," "The Curiosities of Street Literature," "The Book of Ready Made Speeches," "Life and Times of James Catnach, late of the Seven Dials, Ballad Monger," "Tavern Anecdotes and Sayings," "A History of the Cries of London--Ancient and Modern," etc._ London: CHARLES HINDLEY [THE YOUNGER,] BOOKSELLERS' ROW, ST. CLEMENT DANES, STRAND, W.C. 1886. TO MR. GEORGE SKELLY, of THE MARKET PLACE, and MR. GEORGE H. THOMPSON, of BAILIFFGATE, ALNWICK, _In the County of_ NORTHUMBERLAND, THE HISTORY OF THE CATNACH PRESS. IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR [Signature: Charles Hindley.] _St. James' Street, Brighton. Lady Day, 1886._ [Illustration: HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION OR A Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties.] [Illustration: THE CATNACH PRESS.] "'Tis education forms the common mind; Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined."--_Pope._ ----There can be little doubt that Jemmy Catnach, the printer, justly earned the distinction of being one of the great pioneers in the cause of promoting cheap literature--he was for a long time the great Mæcenas and Elzevir of the Seven Dials district. We do not pretend to say that the productions which emanated from his establishment contained much that was likely to enlighten the intellect, or sharpen the taste of the ordinary reader; but, to a great extent, they served well in creating an impetus in the minds of many to soar after things of a higher and more ennobling character. Whilst for the little folk his store was like the conjuror's bag--inexhaustible. He could cater to the taste and fancies of all, and it is marvellous, even in these days of a cheap press, to look back upon the time when this enterprising man was by a steady course of action, so paving the way for that bright day in the annals of Britain's history, when every child in the land should be educated. [Illustration] HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION OR A PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES. ----Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.--BOSWELL, _Life of Johnson_. That history repeats itself is fairly and fully exemplified by the reproduction of "THE CATNACH PRESS," the _first_ edition of which was published in 1869, and "GUARANTEED ONLY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES PRINTED."--Namely: 175 on fine, and 75 on extra-thick paper. _Each copy numbered._ The outer and descriptive title set forth that the work contained:-- "A COLLECTION of Books and Wood-cuts of James Catnach, late of Seven Dials, Printer, consisting of Twenty Books of the Cock Robin-Class, from, 'This is the House that Jack Built,' to 'Old Mother Hubbard,' (printed with great care) _specialite_ at THE CATNACH PRESS, from the old plates and woodcuts, prior to their final destruction, to which is added a selection of Catnachian wood-cuts, many by Bewick, and many of the most anti-Bewickian character it is possible to conceive." The announcement of the publication of the work was first made known through the medium of the metropolitan press, some few days prior to the copies being delivered by the book-binders, and so great was the demand of the London and American trade, that every copy was disposed of on the day of issue. The work is now eagerly sought after by book collectors who indulge in literary rarities. While engaged in collecting information for "The Catnach Press," and interviewing the producers of ballads, broadsides and chap-books, we met with a vast assemblage of street-papers and of a very varied character, which we proposed to publish in quarto form under the title of "The Curiosities of Street Literature," and when in London in 1869, still seeking for information on the subject, met by mere chance in the Strand with the street ballad singer of our youth, one Samuel Milnes, who used between the years of 1835 and 1842 to visit Fetter Lane every Thursday with the newest and most popular ballad of the day. We so often met with him at other times and places in and about London in after years that a peculiar kind of a friendly feeling grew up towards him in preference to all other street ballad singers of the time, so much so that at our meetings--and friendly greetings, we invariably purchased the ballad he was singing, or, gave him a few halfpence as a fee for having detained him from his calling--or shall we say bawling, for to tell the truth, Samuel Milnes was but a very indifferent vocalist. Time rolled on--"still on it creeps, each little moment at another's heels"--and we continued to meet our old ballad singer either in London or Brighton. The meeting with him on this particular occasion was most opportune for we wanted him. First we obtained from him "Wait for the Turn of the Tide," and "Call her back and kiss her," then the following information:-- "Oh, yes, I remember you, remember you well; particularly when I see you down at Brighton: when you treated me to that hot rum and water; when I was so wet and cold, at a little snug public-house in one of the streets that leads off the main street. I don't remember the name on it now, but I remembers the rum and water well enough; it was good. You said it would be, and so it was, and no mistake. How old am I now? Why, 59. How long have I been at it? Why, hard on fifty years. I was about nine or ten year old--no, perhaps I might have been 12 year old, when I come to think on it. Yes, about 12 year old; my mother was a widow with five children, and there was a boy in our street as used to go out singing ballads, and his mother said to my mother, 'Why don't you let your boy (that's me) go out and sing ballads like my boy.' And I said I didn't mind, and I did go out, and I've been at it ever since, so you see 'aint far short of 50 year. How many do I sell in a day? Well, not so many as I used to do, by a long way. I've sold me four and five quires a-day, but I don't sell above two and three dozen a-day now. That's all the difference you see, sir--dozens against quires. How do I live then? Why, you see I am so well-known in different parts of London, that lots and lots of people comes up to me like you always do--and say's--'How do you do, old fellow? I remember you when I was a boy, if it's a man, and when I was a girl, if it's a woman.' And says, 'So you are still selling songs, eh?' Then they give me a few coppers; some more and some less than others, and says they don't want the songs. Some days--very often--I've had more money given me than I've took for the ballads. Yes, I have travelled all over England--all over it I think--but the North's the best--Manchester, Liverpool, and them towns; but down Bath and Cheltenham way I was nearly starved. I was coming back from that way, I now remember, when I met you, sir, at Brighton that time. I buy my ballads at various places--but now mostly over the water, because I live there now and it's handiest. Mr. Such, the printer, in Union-street in the Borough. Oh! yes, some at Catnach's--leastways, it ain't Catnach's now, it's Fortey's. Yes, I remember 'old Jemmy Catnach' very well; he wa'n't a bad sort, as you say; leastways, I've heard so, but I never had anything of him. I always paid for what I had, and did not say much to him, or he to me--Writing the life of him, are you indeed? No, I can't give you no more information about him than that, because, as I said before, I bought my goods as I wanted them, and paid for them, then away on my own account and business. Well he was a man something like you--a little wider across the shoulders, perhaps, but about such a man as you are. I did know a man as could have told you a lot about "old Jemmy," but he's dead now; he was one of his authors, that is, he wrote some of the street-ballads for him, and very good ones they used to be, that is, for selling. Want some old 'Dying Speeches' and 'Cocks,' do you indeed; well, I a'nt got any--I don't often 'work' them things, although I have done so sometimes, but I mostly keep to the old game--'Ballads on a Subject.' You see them other things are no use only just for the day, then they are no use at all, so we don't keep them--I've often given them away. You'd give sixpence a piece for them, would you, indeed, sir; then I wish I had some of them. Now I come to think of it I know a man that did have a lot of them bye him, and I know he'd be glad to sell them, I don't know where he lives, but I sometimes see him. Oh! yes, a letter would find me. My name is Samuel Milnes, and I live at No. 81, Mint-street, that's in the Borough; you know, Guagar is the name at the house. Thank you, sir, I'm much obliged. Good day sir." Our next adventure--in pursuit of knowledge under difficulties--occured at Brighton in the month of August, 1869, and when we were winding our way through a maze of small streets lying between Richmond and Albion Hills, in the Northern part of the town, our ears voluntarily "pricked up," on hearing the old familiar sounds of a 'street, or running patterer' with the stereotyped sentences of "Horrible."--"Dreadful."--"Remarkable letters found on his person."--"Cut down by a labouring man."--"Quite dead."--"Well-known in the town."--"Hanging."--"Coroner's Inquest."--"Verdict."--"Full particulars."--"Most determined suicide."--"Brutal conduct."--&c., &c., _Only a ha'penny!--Only a ha'penny!_ Presently we saw the man turn into a wide court-like place, which was designated by the high-sounded name of "SQUARE," and dedicated to RICHMOND; hither we followed him, and heard him repeat the same detached sentences, and became a purchaser for--'_only a ha'penny!_' when to our astonishment we discovered a somewhat new phrase in cock or catchpenny selling. Inasmuch as our purchase consisted of the current number (253) of the _Brighton Daily News_--a very respectable looking and well printed Halfpenny Local Newspaper, and of that day's publication, and did in reality contain an account of a most determined suicide of an old and highly respected inhabitant of Brighton and set forth under the heading of:-- THE DETERMINED SUICIDE OF AN AGED ARTIST. REMARKABLE LETTERS OF DECEASED. Calling the man aside, we ventured upon a conversation with him in the following form:-- ----"Well, governor, _how does the cock fight?_" "Oh, pretty well, sir; but it ain't a cock; its a genuine thing--the days for cocks, sir, is gone bye--cheap newspapers 'as done 'em up." "Yes; we see this is a Brighton Newspaper of to-day." "Oh, yes, that's right enough--but its all true." "Yes; we are aware of that and knew the unfortunate man and his family; but you are vending them after the old manner." "That's all right enough, sir,--you see I can sell 'em better in that form than as a newspaper--its more natural like for me: I've sold between ten and twelve dozen of 'em to-day." "Yes; but how about to-morrow?" "Oh, then it will be all bottled up--and I must look for a new game, I'm on my way to London, but a hearing of this suicide job, I thought I'd work 'em just to keep my hand in and make a bob or two." To our question of "Have you got any real old 'cocks' by you?" He replied, "No, not a bit of a one; I've worked 'em for a good many years, but it 'aint much of a go now. Oh, yes, I know'd 'old Jemmy Catnach' fast enough--bought many hundreds, if not thousands of quires of him. Not old enough? Oh, 'aint I though; why I'm turned fifty, and I've been a 'street-paper' seller all my life. I knows Muster Fortey very well; him as is got the business now in the Dials--he knows his way about, let him alone for that; and he's a rare good business man let me tell you, and always been good and fair to me; that I will say of him." Having rewarded the man with a few half-pence to make him some recompense for having detained him during his business progress, we parted company. While still prosecuting our enquiries for information on the literature of the streets, we often read of, and heard mention made of, a Mr. John Morgan, as one of the "Seven Bards of the Seven Dials" and his being best able to assist us in the matter we had in hand. The first glimpse we obtained of the Poet! in print was in an article entitled "The Bards of the Seven Dials and their Effusion" and published in "THE TOWN," of 1839, a weekly journal, conducted by the late Mr. Renton Nicholson, better known as "Baron Nicholson," of Judge and Jury notoriety:-- REVIEW. _The Life and Death of John William Marchant_, who suffered the extreme penalty of the law, in front of the Debtor's door, Newgate, on Monday, July 8th, 1839, for the murder of Elizabeth Paynton, his fellow servant, on the seventeenth of May last, in Cadogan Place, Chelsea. By John Morgan. London: J. Catnach, 2 and 3, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. The work is a quarto page, surrounded with a handsome black border. "Take no thought for to-morrow, what thou shalt eat, or what thou shalt put on," says a certain writer, whose wisdom we all reverence, and then he adds "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof"--a remark particularly applicable to the bards of Seven Dials, whose pens are kept in constant employment by the fires, rapes, robberies, and murders, which, from one year's end to the other, present them with a daily allowance of evil sufficient for their subsistence. But, at present, it is only one of these poets, "John Morgan," as he modestly signs himself, whom we are about to notice; and as some of our readers may be curious to see a specimen of the poetry of Seven Dials, we shall lay certain portions of John Morgan's last effusion before them, pointing out the beauties and peculiarities of the compositions as we go along. After almost lawyer-like particularity as to dates and places, the poem begins with an invocation from the murderer in _propria personæ_. "Oh! give attention awhile to me, All you good people of each degree; In Newgate's dismal and dreary cell, I bid all people on earth farewell." Heaven forbid, say we, that _all_ the people on earth should ever get in Newgate, to receive the farewell of such a blood-thirsty miscreant. "John William Marchant is my name, I do confess I have _been to blame_." And here we must observe that the poet makes his hero speak of his offence rather too lightly, as if, indeed, it had been nothing more than a common misdemeanour. "I little thought, my dear parents kind, I should leave this earth with a troubled mind." Now this _is_ modest; he is actually surprised that his parents are at all grieved at the idea of getting rid of such a scoundrel, and well he might be. "I lived as servant in Cadogan Place, And never thought this would be my case, To end my days on the fatal tree: Good people, pray drop a tear for me." There is a playfulness about the word "drop," introducing just here after "the fatal tree," which, in our mind, somewhat diminishes the plaintiveness of the entreaty; but we must not be hypocritical. * * * * * Then comes his trial and condemnation, the account of which is most remarkable precise and pithy. "At the Old Bailey I was tried and cast, And the dreadful sentence on me was past On a Monday morning, alas! to die, And on the eight of this month of July." A marvellous particularity as to dates, intended, doubtless, to show the convicts anxiety that, although he died young, his name should live long in the minds of posterity. Then follows his farewell to father and mother, and an impudent expression of confidence that his crime will be forgiven in heaven, an idea, by-the-by, which is reported to have been confirmed by the Ordinary of Newgate, who told him that the angels would receive him with great affection; and this it was, perhaps, which induced our bard of Seven Dials to represent his hero as coolly writing poetry up to the very last moment of his existence; taking his farewell of the public in these words:-- "Adieu, good people of each degree, And take a warning, I pray, by me; The bell is tolling, and I must go, And leave this world of misery and woe." But we cannot exactly see what business the fellow--"a pampered menial," had to speak ill of the world, when he was very comfortably off in it, and might have lived long and happily if it had not been for his own wickedness; a hint which we throw out for the benefit of Mr. John Morgan, in his future effusions, trusting he will not make his heroes die grumby, when poetic justices does not require it. But we must now take our leave, with a hearty wish to the whole fraternity of Seven Dials' bards, that they may never go without a dinner for want of the means of earning it, or that, in other words, though they seem somewhat contradictory, "Sufficient unto the day may be the evil thereof." Again, the writer of an article on "Street Ballads," in the "National Review," for October, 1861, makes the following remarks:-- "This Ballad--'Little Lord John out of Service'--is one of the few which bear a signature--it is signed 'John Morgan' in the copy which we possess. For a long time we believed this name to be a mere _nom-de-plume_; but the other day in Monmouth Court, we were informed, in answer to a casual question that this is the real name of the author of some of the best comic ballads. Our informant added that he is an elderly, we may say old, gentleman, living somewhere in Westminster; but the exact whereabouts we could not discover. Mr. Morgan followed no particular visible calling, so far as our informant knew, except writing ballads, by which he could not earn much of a livelihood, as the price of an original ballad, in these buying-cheap days, has been screwed down by the publishers to somewhere about a shilling sterling. Something more like bread-and-butter might be made, perhaps, by poets who were in the habit of singing their own ballads, as some of them do, but not Mr. Morgan. Should this ever meet the eye of that gentleman (a not very probable event, we fear), we beg to apologise for the liberty we have taken in using his verses and name, and hope he will excuse us, having regard to the subject in which we are humble fellow-labourers. We could scarcely avoid naming him, the fact being that he is the only living author of street-ballads whose name we know. That self-denying mind, indifferent to worldly fame, which characterised the architects of our cathedrals and abbeys, would seem to have descended on our ballad-writers; and we must be thankful, therefore, to be able to embalm and hand down to posterity a name here and there, such as William of Wykeham, and John Morgan. In answer to our inquiries in this matter, generally, we have been told, 'Oh, anybody writes them,' and with that answer we have had to rest satisfied. But in presence of that answer, we walk about the streets with a new sense of wonder, peering into the faces of those of our fellow-lieges who do not carry about with them the external evidence of overflowing exchequers, and saying to ourselves, 'That man may be a writer of ballads.'" At every enquiry we made for information in regard to street-literature, we still continued to be referred to Mr. John Morgan as the most likely person living to supply what we needed on the subject. But the grave question arose in our own minds of the How, When, and Where: could we find out and interview this said Mr. John Morgan, Poet! First we made enquiry at the office of Mr. Taylor, Printer of Ballads, &c., 92 and 93, Brick Lane, Spitalfields, but, they "had not the least idea where we could find him. In fact they had only heard of him as a ballad-writer, and knew nothing about where he lived, never having employed him: had perhaps printed some of his ballads. Thought Mr. Such, of the Borough, might give some information, but, sure to find out all about him in the Seven Dials district." Mr. H. Such, Machine Printer and Publisher, 177, Union Street, Borough, S.E., on being applied to could give us no positive information as to the whereabout of Mr. John Morgan--he knew him, but where he lived he could not tell. Mr. Fortey or Mr. Disley, in the Dials-way, would be most likely to know. Mr. William S. Fortey, (late A. Ryle, successor to the late J. Catnach), Printer, Publisher, and Wholesale Stationer, 2 and 3, Monmouth Court, Seven Dials, London, W., on being applied to could not exactly tell where Mr. John Morgan did live, it was somewhere Westminster-way: it was very uncertain when he should next see him, because he did not sometimes call in for weeks together, yet he might by chance see him to-morrow, or the next day. Anyway, we felt that we had no right to press the question any further, more particularly so because Mr. Fortey had been very civil and obliging to us on other occasions--in fact we have been under great and lasting obligations to him, so changed the conversation. Mr. Henry Disley, Printer, 57, High Street, St. Giles', London, who we found to be a very genial sort of a man, and that he had formerly been in the service of James Catnach; he was working in his front shop at a small hand-press on some cards relative to a forthcoming FRIENDLY LEAD,[1] to be held at a public-house in the immediate neighbourhood, while Mrs. Disley was hard at work colouring some Christmas Carols, and which she did with a rapidity that was somewhat astonishing. In answer to our inquiry whether he knew of one John Morgan--who was--as we described him, "something of a song writer." Well! both Mr. and Mrs. Disley together--"did know him--should think they did." But when we came to enquire about his private address they knew nothing about that. He (Mr. Morgan) wrote ballads for them at times: often called on them--whenever he did it was always to sell a _good_ ballad he had on hand, or to tell them what _bad_ times it was with him: but as to where he lived, beyond that it was somewhere Westminster-way, they did not know--in fact, had not the least idea. But, most likely, Mr. Fortey, him in Monmouth Court, did. Yes! come to think of it, he would be sure to know. The very unsatisfactory and evasive answers received in reference to the address of Mr. John Morgan gave a zest to our zeal in the matter--so much so, that we then determined "to work the oracle" out in our way. At this time we had a near relative occupying chambers in Barnard's Inn, which we held to be a good central and lawyer-like address--one that had the "true ring," of business and substantiality about it. Yes! Barnard's Inn, Holborn, London, E.C., looked to our mind to be likely to serve our stratigical purpose to the point we desired. Having made all the preparatory arrangements, we then procured from a neighbouring stationer's shop a sheet of mourning note-paper and an envelope of large proportions, each having the very blackest and broadest of black borders we could find in stock. Then we wrote in a law-like hand:-- _No. 6, Barnard's Inn, Holborn, London, E.C., February 26, 1870._ _THIS IS TO GIVE NOTICE:--If Mr. John Morgan, ballad-writer, &c., will call at the above address on or after Wednesday next. He will hear something greatly to his advantage._ _(Signed)_ [Signature: Charles Hindley.] _Mr. John Morgan, care of............ ..............London._ The above document having been duly intrusted to Her Majesty's Post Master General for delivery, we had to abide our time for the result. We had not to wait long, for although we had appointed the next following Wednesday to communicate "_something greatly to the advantage of Mr. John Morgan_," he turned up a little sooner than we expected, or desired, by reason of his putting in an appearance at Barnard's Inn on Tuesday evening, where he arrived "happy and glorious," and made earnest enquiries for "the gentleman who had sent him a letter to say he had got a something to his advantage--perhaps a fortune! For sometimes he thought somebody would die and leave him one. Where was the gentleman who wrote him the letter? He says that I am to call here. He sent it in a black-bordered envelope for him. Where is the gentleman? See here is the letter, and all in black--black as your hat--look for yourself, sir." All the above was spoken to a friend of ours who lived on the ground-floor at the particular house in Barnard's Inn, where Mr. John Morgan had been requested to call on Wednesday. It was then only Tuesday, and that fact had to be explained; also, that the gentleman in question was not at present in his chambers on the third-floor, but would be in the morning up to 10 o'clock. Our friend on the first-floor--who had received instructions from us in the event of Mr. John Morgan turning-up while we were not at home--informed us of all that had taken place when we arrived a little later on in the evening. On the next morning preparations were made for the reception of our expectant friend--a good fire, a good breakfast, and a half-pint of "Old Tom" from Carr's well-known Establishment, St. Clement Danes, Strand. Very soon after the old clock of the ancient hall of Barnard's Inn, and all the public clocks in the surrounding neighbourhood had proclaimed aloud that the hour of 10 a.m. of that Wednesday morning had arrived, there was heard a knock at the outer door of our chamber-rooms, and on the same being opened, Mr. John Morgan announced himself as the party to whom the gentleman had sent a black-bordered letter and envelope for him to say there was a something to his advantage to be had. Then Mr. John Morgan, full of bows and scrapes, was ushered into our presence.--He was the party who had received the letter. Oh! yes, Mr. Morgan we added: take a seat sir. Yes, sir, and thank you to, he replied, at the same time sitting down and then very carefully despositing his somewhat delapidated hat under--far under--the chair. We then enquired whether he would have anything to eat, or have a cup of coffee. No! it was a little too early in the morning for eating, and coffee did not always agree with him. Or, a drop of good "Old Tom," we somewhat significantly suggested. Mr. John Morgan would very much like to have a little drop of gin, for it was a nasty raw cold morning: In answer to our enquiry whether he would prefer hot or cold water, elected to have it neat if it made no difference to us. Mr. John Morgan at our suggestion having "wet the other eye," _i.e._, taken the second glass, the real business part of the question we had met upon commenced thus:--"We have been informed that you were acquainted with, and used to write for the late James Catnach, who formerly lived in the Seven Dials, and that you can give us much of the information that we require towards perfecting a work we have in hand treating on Street Literature. If you are willing to do so, we are prepared to treat with you in a liberal manner, and that, please to at once to understand is the '_Something greatly to your advantage_ that is mentioned in the note we addressed to you.'" Here Mr. John Morgan hinted that he thought it was--or he had hoped it was, a little fortune some one had been kind enough to leave him, he always expected that old Jemmy Catnach would--after what he had done for him, have left him a bit, however small, but no such luck. Mr. Morgan expressed his willingness to give all the information he could on the subject and leave it to our generosity to pay him what we pleased, and adding that he had no doubt that we should not fall out on that score. And so we proceeded, we talked and took notes. Mr. Morgan talked and took gin. Mr. Morgan got warm--warmer and warmer--and very entertaining, his conversational powers increased wonderfully, he became very witty and laughed _ha! hah!!_ he joked and made merry at some old reminiscences in connection with old Jemmy Catnach--and admitted, that after all old Jemmy wasn't a particular bad sort--that is, when you knew him, and could handle him properly--then old Jemmy was as right as my leg! Still we continued to talk and take notes, still Mr. Morgan talked and took gin, until he emulated the little old woman who sold "Hot Codlings," for of her it is related that--"the glass she filled and the bottle she shrunk and that this little old woman in the end got----." At length it became very manifest that we should not be able to get any more information out of Mr. John Morgan on that day, so proposed for him to call again on the morrow morning and at the same time and place to pursue the thread of our narrative. Then having presented him with a portrait of Her most gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, set in gold, we volunteered to see him down stairs which we observed were very crooked--Mr. Morgan thought they were very old and funny ones: up and down like--in fact what old Charley Dibdin would have called regular "whopping old stairs!" Being safely landed from the last stone step on to the stone-paved way, we thought it advisable, for appearance sake, to conduct our friend out of Barnard's Inn by a sideway leading into Fetter-lane. After that it occurred to us that it would perhaps be better to see him to the Fleet-street end of the lane and then to put him into a Westminster omnibus, but we had reached Somerset House before one going that way came in sight. Then it was Mr. John Morgan suddenly recollected that he could not pass his old friend Short--who was Short? why surely you know Short--old Short, him as sells the wine so good and so cheap, there over the way--that's Short's--"WINES FROM THE WOOD," that's out of the cask you know, you remind me to-morrow, sir, and I'll tell you a good tale about old Short before he made such a lot of money as he has got now.--Capital chap old Short, he knows me--it's all about a song I wrote--but I'll tell you all about it to-morrow. Besides I must have change ye know for there's no one got any at my home--my landlord--There's no change about him, Oh! dear no--He's never got any change but he's always got an old account, do you see? an old account--but no matter let's go in! Respectfully, but firmly declining the kind and very pressing invitation to have "only just one drop with old Short." We left Mr. John Morgan to take care of himself for the day and to be sure to meet us on the next morning in Barnard's Inn at 10 o'clock--sharp. At length the wishful morrow came, also ten of the clock, but not so Mr. John Morgan, nor did he call at any hour during the day. But soon after 11 o'clock the next day he made his appearance, but being so stupidly drunk we gave him some money and told him to call again to-morrow. And he did, but still so muddled that we could make nothing out of him, so we somewhat curtly dismissed him and returned to Brighton. The next day the letter--of which we give a _verbatim et literatim_ copy--was received and then forwarded on to us. 90 Great Peter Street Westminister, S.W. Saturday the 5th of March 1870. My Dear and Kind Sir:--I return you my most sincere and heartfelt thanks for the Kindness I received from you and deeply I regret if I caused you any displeasure the fact is I have been greatly put about And you having been so kind as to give me refreshments it overpowered me I fell and hurt myself. And I am now destitute without a penny in the world or a friend to help me. I feel as though I offended you I hope not I think by the Little conversation we had I may be able to please you I have been considering in my doleful moments matters of importance if my kind and good friend you can favour me with a Line this Saturday Evening I will be most grateful I shall not go out waiting to hear from you I am placed in a most Sad position accept my thanks write Me a Line in answer to this Befriend me if it is possible And I will make all right and with gratitude, Anxiously waiting your kind and I trust favourable reply. [Signature: Your Hum{ble} Servt John Morgan] Charles Hindley, Esq 6 Barnard's Inn Holborn W.C. Having no desire to incur the expense of another journey to London in the matter, and believing that we had obtained sufficient information on the subject, we published, in the year 1871, a limited number of copies of our work under the title of:-- CURIOSITIES OF STREET LITERATURE: COMPRISING "COCKS," OR "CATCHPENNIES," A Large and Curious Assortment of STREET DROLLERIES, SQUIBS, HISTORIES, COMIC STORIES IN PROSE AND VERSE, BROADSIDES ON THE ROYAL FAMILY, POLITICAL LITANIES, DIALOGUES, CATECHISMS, ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, STREET POLITICAL PAPERS. A VARIETY OF "BALLADS ON A SUBJECT," _DYING SPEECHES AND CONFESSIONS_, TO WHICH IS ATTACHED THE ALL-IMPORTANT AND NECESSARY AFFECTIONATE COPY OF VERSES, AS "Come, all you feeling-hearted Christians, wherever you may be, Attention give to these few lines, and listen unto me; It's of this cruel murder, to you I will unfold, The bare recital of the same will make your blood run cold." "What hast here? ballads? I love a ballad in print, or a life; for then we are sure they are true."--_Shakespeare._ "There's nothing beats a stunning good murder, after all."--_Experiences of a Running Patterer._ LONDON: REEVES AND TURNER 196, STRAND, 1871. CURIOSITIES OF STREET LITERATURE. Guaranteed only Four Hundred and Fifty Six Copies Printed, NAMELY,-- £ s. d. 250 on Fine Toned Demy 4to Published at 1 1 0 100 on Large Post 4to, printed on one side of the paper only " 1 5 0 100 on Fine French Linear Writing Paper, printed on one side only, and in imitation of the Catnachian tea-like paper of old " 1 11 6 6 on Yellow Demy 4to paper " 2 2 0 --- 456 [Symbol: Pointing hand] EACH COPY OF EACH EDITION NUMBERED. Our work on the Curiosities of Street Literature soon ran out of print. But we continued to gather from time to time fresh information on the subject of the "Two Catnachs--John and James," and in the early part of 1876 we determined on publishing a work, to be entitled "The Life and Times of James Catnach--late of Seven Dials--Ballad Monger." And for the purpose of obtaining the verification, amendment, or denial to the several scraps of information we had obtained, we wrote to our old friend, Mr. John Morgan, on the subject, and from him we received the letters that follow:-- No. 1, Model Cottages, Little St. Anne's Lane, Great Peter Street, Westminster, London, S.W. _16th February, 1876._ Sir, I received your Letter this Morning: I have removed to above address two years and seven months, I have been in Bed seven weeks suffering from Bronchitis; but am now recovering and shall get up to-day, but the Doctor will not permit me to go out. Whatever you may require I am ready and willing to do to the utmost of my abilities, and be happy to serve you, and much regret I have not the strength to venture to ---- Street. If anything can be done by Letter or otherwise, I will willingly attend to your request, your reply will greatly oblige, [Signature: Your Hum{ble} Servt John Morgan] P.S.--Please excuse the illegible scribble as I write this in Bed. Charles Hindley, Esq., 76, Rose Hill Terrace, Brighton. No. 1, Model Cottages, Little St. Ann's Lane, Great Peter Street, Westminster, London, S.W. _17th February, 1876._ Sir, I have just received yours, 7 p.m., and in reply I beg to say that when I came to London in 1818 Catnach's Father was not living. Catnach, his Mother, and Sister Julia the youngest, resided at 2, Monmouth Court, the old woman and Julia worked at a small hand press--I joined him about 1818--his father died before.--I understood Julia went astray--the Mother Died about 1826. Anne Ryle was the widow of an Officer: a Waterloo man--with one child--had a pension. Catnach had but little type, and no stock to speak of: he had a Sister at Portsea the wife of a mate of a ship in harbour, and kept a song-shop. His Mother lived with him 7 or 8 years.--I understand about the "Horses-heads." Cox and Kean, I forget except the title and chorus:-- COX _versus_ KEAN; OR LITTLE BREECHES. "With his ginger tail he did assail, and did the prize obtain, This Merry Little Wanton Bantam Cock of Drury Lane-- LITTLE BREECHES." Ann Stanton was tried for cutting the Cock's Head off there was no verses. As regards the Sausages, Catnach printed a few lines on a quarter-sheet, that caused a great uproar, he was taken to Bow Street. Catnach had six months. There was no verses, it was quickly done. He printed the life of Mother Cummins, of Dyot Street--now, George Street, and that was knocked into "pye" in quick sticks. There was a change after he went to Alnwick in Northumberland, where he carried a small press and printed the state of the poll every day, while there he took up his freedom.[2] He came home and printed "Cubitt's Treadmill":-- "And we're all treading, tread, tread, treading, And we're all treading at fam'd Brixton Mill." and kept going forward--retired and went to Barnet, left the business to James Paul and Ann Ryle. That is many years ago. I seldom go near the Seven Dials, perhaps once in 3, 4, 5, or six months. I remember many occurrances but 56 years is a long time, I have just entered my 77th year. Anything you require as far as I can I will send and remain, [Signature: Your Hum{ble} Servt John Morgan] Charles Hindley, Esq., 76, Rose Hill Terrace, Brighton. 1 Model Cottages, Little Ann's Lane, Great Peter Street, Westminster, London, S.W. _29th February, 1876._ Dear Sir:-- If I was to go back and think of passing events it would fill a volume. First in 1820--Catnach then being very poor--at the death of George the third, and the Duke of Kent he printed an Elegy: "Mourn, Britons mourn! Your sons deplore, Our royal Sovereign is now no more." Then comes the election for Westminster: Burdett, Hobhouse, and Lamb. He had a song:-- "Oh, Cammy Hobby is the man, And so is daddy Sir Franky, O; The Hon. W. Lamb is going mad And kicking like a donkey, O." "Oh, the naughty Lamb-- The miserable sinner, O We'll have him roast and boil'd And cut him up for dinner, O." During the whole time of the election party spirit ran very high. A real lamb's head with a real rat in its mouth, was stuck upon the top of a pole. From the rat's tail hung a cock's comb. On the lamb's head was placed a lawyer's wig, surmounted with a fool's cap. On a board immediately below the head, was inscribed in front--"Behold the ratting lamb, with a cock's comb at his tail." On the other side, the inscription was-- "If silly lambs will go ratting, 'Tis fit they get this sort of batting."[3] Then came The Dog's Meat Man-Founded on fact:-- In Gray's Inn Lane, not long ago. An old maid lived a life of woe; She was fifty-three, with a face like tan, When she fell in love with a dogs'-meat man. Much she loved this dogs'-meat man, He was a good-looking dogs'-meat man; Her roses and lilies were turn'd to tan, When she fell in love wi' the dogs'-meat man. Every morning when he went by, Whether the weather was wet or dry, And right opposite her door he'd stand, And cry "dogs'-meat," did this dogs'-meat man. Then her cat would run out to the dogs'-meat man, And rub against the barrow of the dogs'-meat man, As right opposite to her door he'd stand, And cry "Dogs' Meat," did this dogs'-meat man. He said his customers, good lord! Owed him a matter of two pound odd; And she replied, it was quite scan- Dalous to cheat such a dogs'-meat man. "If I had but the money," says the dogs'-meat man, "I'd open a tripe-shop," says the dogs'-meat man, "And I'd marry you to-morrow."--She admired the plan, And she lent a _five-pound note_ to the dogs'-meat man. He pocketed the money and went away, She waited for him all next day, But he never com'd; and then she began To think she was diddled by the dogs'-meat man; She went to seek this dogs'-meat man, But she couldn't find the dogs'-meat man; Some friend gave her to understan' He'd got a wife and seven children--this dogs'-meat man. Mother Cummins lived and kept Brothels in Dyot Street, Bloomsbury Square, after, and still called George Street, named after the Prince Regent George 4th, at that time "Beggar's Opera" where the Prince and nobles resorted was at the Rose and Crown, Church Lane, St. Giles. Catnach printed her life. In the Beggar's Opera, were assembled matchmakers, beggars, prigs and all the lowest of the low. There was old black Billy Waters, with his wooden leg, dancing and playing his fiddle, and singing:-- Polly will you marry me--Polly don't you cry, Polly come to bed with me; and get a little boy. some were dipping matches, some boiling potatoes and salt herrings, some swearing, some dancing--all manners of fun, _&c._ Then comes Queen Caroline's trial; Catnach gets out a song:-- As I walked down the Greenwich-road one evening in June, I never saw so fine a sight as on that afternoon. I never saw so fine a sight, or, one half so good, As for to see Queen Caroline supported by a Wood. That Wood shall never be cut down, but stand for ever more; And he'll protect our innocent Queen Sweet Caroline on our shore. which was followed by a skit on George IVth called:-- "THE GREAT BABE IN A MESS." then another on Queen Caroline's _crin con_ case with Bergami who couldn't _remember_ nothing at all. "BERGAMI, THE _Non mi recordo_." [Illustration] Who are you? "_Non mi recordo._" What countryman are you--a foreigner or an Englishman? "_Non mi recordo._" There was something fresh everyday until the end of the Trial. Catnach then prints some "papers" belonging to J. Pitts, Printer, Gt. Saint Andrew-street, which causes a flare-up and a bother. Then comes the sheet of "Horses Heads" which heads were like Eldon, Peel, Canning, &c. Just before they were out Mr. Rockcliff, a Printer in Old Gravel Lane, Radcliff-Highway sends for me--there was bottles of whisky. Rockcliff had engaged with a man called Oliver Cromwell to get him one of the first sheets printed off Catnach's press of the "Horses Heads" and he would give him half-a-crown. Rockcliff then requested me to bring him the first sheet of "Horses Heads" and get the half-a-crown. I went and got the sheet and meets Oliver Cromwell going into Catnach's as I came out, so I got the half-a-crown. Rockcliff copies the sheet, then engaged with Lowe the Printer in Compton-street to supply all the West-end. So it went on and made plenty of bother between them. Catnach got on like a house on fire printing Religious Sheets, then came the murder of William Weare Esq. by John Thurtell, Hunt and Probert. I remember all that affair well,--Then the execution of Thurtell. A twelve-month after Probert was hanged for horsestealing. Then came the trial of Henry Fauntleroy a banker in Berner's Street Oxford Street executed for forgery. Then came Corder and Maria Marten and the Red Barn, so that is the way Catnach got on from a poor man to be a gentleman. There is many little things I may think of but close for the present and remain:-- [Signature: Your Hum{ble} Servt John Morgan] 1, Model Cottages, Little St. Ann's Lane, Great Peter Street, Westminster, London. _17th March, 1876._ Sir, I received yours. My recollection is not so good as I would wish. I think to the best of my recollection in 1819 there were some old men who had been forty-years in the streets at that time, their names were old Jack Smith, Tom Caton, old Jack Rush, Tom Anderson and a few others. When they wanted anything they made up fresh reports, and things were done without the least hesitation. As respects Mr. Pizzy the Pork Butcher, it was some of these men that went to Blackman Street, Clare Market, and created an uproar about the sausages, crowds assembled, and windows were broken, they were charged with rioting and taken to Bow Street, before--as they told me, Sir Richard Burnie, and I think Mr. Minshull. Catnach was sent to Clerkenwell for trial, and was afterwards sentenced to six months, and he served the full time. Then there was the trial of the four poor Irishmen for coining, in the first year of the mayorality of the late Sir Matthew Wood, and a lot of other things which I think would answer the purpose. About twenty-six years ago Henry Mayhew sent for me, and he began a work something like yours, but by some means it stopped. There is matters that would help to fill up a Book without going to much expense. [Signature: Your Hum{ble} Servt John Morgan] Charles Hindley, Esq., 76, Rose Hill Terrace, Brighton. At this date we were through the instrumentality of Mrs. Paul, widow of Mr. James Paul--formerly in the service of Catnach, introduced to Mrs. Elizabeth Benton, the last surviving daughter of John and Mary Catnach. Mr. Benton was assistant treasurer, and box-book keeper to Mr. Alfred Bunn, of Covent Garden and Drury Lane Theatres, Mrs. Benton, at the time being wardrobe-mistress and _costumier_. At one period Mr. and Mrs. Benton lived with Mr. Bunn in St James' Place, St. James' Street, Mrs. Benton acting in the capacity of housekeeper. During several seasons Mr. Benton was also treasurer for the proprietors of Vauxhall Gardens, afterwards he filled the same office for E. T. Smith--_Dazzle Smith!_ at Cremorne Gardens. He died abroad in 1856. The interview we had with Mrs. Benton led up to receiving the two letters that follow:-- 5, Sonderburg Road, Seven Sisters' Road, Holloway. London. _November, 13th, 1876._ Dear Sir, In reply to your letter, in which you ask if I know where my Father and mother were married, I regret to say I do not know for certain if it was in Edinburgh or Berwick-on-Tweed, but I am certain it was not in Alnwick. * * * * * I shall feel obliged for the [Alnwick] Journal, and also for the Register of Baptisms. I always understood that my father was a descendant of Catnach, King of the Picts. [Signature: I remain yours & E Benton] P.S.--The paper has not arrived--shall be glad to hear from you by return of Post. Charles Hindley, Esq., 76, Rose Hill Terrace, Brighton. 5, Sonderburg Road, Seven Sisters' Road, Holloway, London. _November 18, 1876._ Dear Sir, I am sorry I have not answered your letter before, but I have been very ill. I am sorry I can give you no more information than I have already given you, but about Mrs. Ryle and Mr. ---- I cannot exactly say, and as my niece Mrs. Harding was but a girl when her uncle died I should not like to apply to her as it would be painful. My father was dead when the Battle of Waterloo was fought, but was in Alnwick at the Battle of Trafalgar, and for some time after. My Father had 3 residences in London. 1. (only a shop) in Wardour Street, Soho Square, and ditto also Gerrard Street, and also in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square (apartments). My Father had a severe illness, also a fever of which he died. I should feel very much obliged if you could find me a copy of the Hermit of Warkworth, and I will willingly pay for it, and also Blair's Grave. I am very much obliged for the Registers, and if I can supply you with further information I will do so with pleasure. I have not heard from Mr. [Mark] Smith. [Signature: I remain Yours &c. E Benton] P.S.--I received the Paper [Alnwick Journal] with thanks. C. Hindley, Esq., 76, Rose Hill Terrace, Brighton. It was at this particular date of our history--1876--that we had the good fortune to get acquainted with Mr. George Skelly, of Alnwick--who, like ourselves, is possessed of the _cacoethes scribendi_, and was at the time supplying, _con amore_, an article to the _Alnwick Journal_, entitled "John and James Catnach," which we found to contain certain information relative to the elder Catnach, and also of the earlier portion of the life of James, of which we had no previous knowledge. At our solicitation to be allowed to make a selection from the same, we received a most courteous and gentlemanly letter, which, in addition to containing several pieces of information and answers to many queries we had put to Mr. Skelly, he wound up by saying:--"You have full liberty to make use of anything that I have written, and it will afford me much pleasure if I can further your intentions in any way." From that date, Mr. George Skelly continued to correspond with us on the subject of the "Two Catnachs," nearly up to the last moment of our going to press with our own "Life and Times of James Catnach," and to him we are greatly indebted for much of the information therein contained. And it was at his suggestion that we wrote the following letter to the _Alnwick Journal_--Mr. Skelly at the same time furnishing the local paragraph. Letter to the Editor. _To the Editor of the Alnwick Journal._ 76, Rose Hill Terrace, Brighton, June 16th, 1876. SIR,--Your townsman, Mr. George Skelly, in the concluding chapter of his excellent article of "John and James Catnach," makes mention of my name as being engaged in preparing for publication "The Life and Times of James Catnach, formerly of Seven Dials, printer of ballads, &c." Such being the fact, I shall therefore be glad if you would allow me sufficient space in the _Alnwick Journal_, to ask your readers and correspondents who possess any additional facts, sayings, doings, or letters of the two Catnachs--John and James--to supply me with the same, when I shall have much pleasure in assigning to any such contributions a proper chronological place in my work, and of acknowledging the source of the same, while all documents or books will be faithfully returned by yours, &c., &c., CHARLES HINDLEY. * * * * * JOHN AND JAMES CATNACH.--It will be seen by a correspondence in another page that Mr. Charles Hindley, of Brighton, is preparing for publication the "Life and Times of James Catnach," and he respectfully solicits from our readers any facts and scraps they may be possessed of, also the loan of any letters or books suitable for the extention of the life of the celebrated and withal eccentric printer, who, although a native of Alnwick, settled in London, and occupied a peculiar position for upwards of a quarter of a century in the Seven Dials district. We trust that our correspondent may be enabled to add to his all ready large stock of material in hand a few more items, by the publication of his letter in our columns. Mr. Hindley's work, will, it is expected, be published by Messrs. Reeves and Turner, of the Strand, London, during the coming autumn. The above letter to the _Alnwick Journal_ was the means of obtaining another valuable correspondent--Mr. George H. Thompson, also of Alnwick, who volunteered his services to aid and assist, to the best of his time and ability, in supplying all the information he possessed or could glean from his friends and acquaintances in the good old borough of Alnwick, or the county at large. And _inter alia_ copied out _verbatim_ from the Parish Register of Baptisms in St. Michael's Church all the entries in connection with the family of John and Mary Catnach and which will be found _in extenso_ at pages 2-3 of this work. Mr. George Skelly and Mr. G. H. Thompson are fortunate by their residence in Alnwick in having had the acquaintance and friendship of the late Mr. Mark Smith--James Catnach's fellow apprentice, Mr. Thomas Robertson, Mr. Tate, the local historian, and several other _Alnwick-folk_. And they have made the best possible use of the circumstance to supply us with information on the subject of our enquiry. Recently Mr. Geo. Skelly has forwarded to us an original trade invoice of John Catnach of which we here append a _fac-simile_ copy:-- [Illustration] _ALNWICK_ _Mr. Smart_, _Bought of_ J. CATNACH, 1807. _July 29._ _£ s. d._ _Printing 500 Bills_ 8 ,, 6 ---------- [Signature: Paid J. Catnach] We have now brought up the history of our pursuit of knowledge to the eve of the publication of the Life and Times of James Catnach--late of Seven Dials, Ballad-monger--which was first announced in 1878 in the manner following. YE LIFE OF JEMMY CATNACH. [Illustration] Now, my friends, you have here just printed and pub--lish--ed, the Full, True, and Particular account of the Life, Trial, Character, Confession, Condemnation, and Behaviour, together with an authentic copy of the last Will and Testament: or DYING SPEECH, of that eccentric individual "Old Jemmy Catnach," late of the _Seven Dials_, printer, publisher, toy-book manufacturer, dying-speech merchant, and ballad-monger. Here, you may read how he was bred and born the son of a printer, in the ancient Borough of Alnwick, which is in Northumberlandshire. How he came to London to seek his fortune. How he obtained it by printing and publishing children's books, the chronicling of doubtful scandals, fabulous duels between ladies of fashion, "cooked" assassinations, and sudden deaths of eminent individuals, apocryphal elopements, real or catch-penny accounts of murders, impossible robberies, delusive suicides, dark deeds and public executions, to which was usually attached the all-important and necessary "Sorrowful Lamentations," or, "Copy of Affectionate Verses," which, according to the established custom, the criminal composed, in the condemned cell, the night before his execution. Yes, my customers, in this book you'll read how Jemmy Catnach made his fortune in Monmouth Court, which is to this day in the Seven Dials, which is in London. Not only will you read how he did make his fortune, but also what he did and what he didn't do with it after he had made it. You will also read how "Old Jemmy" set himself up as a fine gentleman:--JAMES CATNACH ES--QUIRE. And how he didn't like it when he had done it. And how he went back again to dear old Monmouth Court, which is in the Seven Dials aforesaid. And how he languished, and languishing, did die--leaving all his old mouldy coppers behind him--and how being dead, he was buried in Highgate Cemetery. Furthermore, my ready-money customers, you are informed that there are only 750 copies of the work print-ed and pub-lish-ed, viz., namely that is to say;--500 copies on crown 8vo, at 12/6 each. 250 copies on demy 8vo., at 25/- each. LONDON: REEVES AND TURNER, 196, STRAND, W.C. 1878. The Seven Dials!--Jemmy Catnach and Street Literature are, as it were, so inseparably bound together that we now propose to give a short history of the former to enable us to connect our own history with the later:-- The Seven Dials were built for wealthy tenants, and Evelyn, in his _Diary_, 1694, notes: "I went to see the building near St. Giles's, where Seven Dials make a star from a Doric pillar placed in the middle of a circular area, in imitation of Venice." The attempt was not altogether in vain. This part of the parish has ever since "worn its _dirt_ with a difference." There is an air of shabby gentility about it. The air of the footman or waiting-maid can be recognised through the tatters, which are worn with more assumption than those of their unsophisticated neighbours. "You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will; But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." The Seven Dials are thus described in Gay's Trivia:-- "Where famed St. Giles's ancient limits spread, An in-railed column rears its lofty head; Here to seven streets, seven dials count their day, And from each other catch the circling ray; Here oft the peasant, with inquiring face, Bewildered, trudges on from place to place; He dwells on every sign with stupid gaze-- Enters the narrow alley's doubtful maze-- Tries every winding court and street in vain, And doubles o'er his weary steps again." This column was removed in July, 1773, on the supposition that a considerable sum of money was lodged at the base; but the search was ineffectual. Charles Knight, in his "London," writes thus of Seven Dials:-- "It is here that the literature of St. Giles's has fixed its abode; and a literature the parish has of its own, and that, as times go, of a very respectable standing in point of antiquity. In a letter from Letitia Pilkington, to the demure author of 'Sir Charles Grandison,' and published by the no less exemplary and irreproachable Mrs. Barbauld, the lady informs her correspondent that she has taken apartments in Great White Lion Street, and stuck up a bill intimating that all who have not found 'reading and writing come by nature,' and who had had no teacher to make up the defect by art, might have 'letters written here.' With the progress of education, printing presses have found their way into St. Giles's, and what with literature and a taste for flowers and birds, there is much of the 'sweet south' about the Seven Dials harmonising with the out-of-door habits of its occupants. It was here--in Monmouth Court, a thoroughfare connecting Monmouth Street with Little Earl Street--that the late eminent Mr. Catnach developed the resources of his genius and trade. It was he who first availed himself of greater mechanical skill and a larger capital than had previously been employed in the department of THE TRADE, to substitute--for the excrable tea-paper, blotched with lamp-black and oil, which characterised the old broadside and ballad printing--tolerably white paper and real printer's ink. But more than that, it was he who first conceived and carried into effect, the idea of publishing collections of songs by the yard, and giving to purchasers, for the small sum of one penny (in former days the cost of a single ballad), strings of poetry, resembling in shape and length the list of Don Juan's mistresses, which Leporello unrolls on the stage before Donna Anna. He was no ordinary man, Catnach; he patronised original talents in many a bard of St Giles's and is understood to have accumulated the largest store of broadsides, last dying speeches, ballads and other stock-in-trade of the flying stationer's upon record." Douglas Jerrold in his article on the Ballad Singer, published in "Heads of the People; or Portraits of the English"--1841, writes thus of Seven Dials and its surroundings:-- "The public ear has become dainty, fastidious, hypercritical; hence the Ballad-Singer languishes and dies. Only now and then, his pipings are to be heard * * * With the fall of Napoleon, declined the English Ballad-Singer. During the war, it was his peculiar province to vend halfpenny historical abridgments to his country's glory; recommending the short poetic chronicle by some familiar household air, that fixed it in the memory of the purchaser, who thus easily got hatred of the French by heart, with a new assurance of his own invulnerability. No battle was fought, no vessel taken or sunken, that the triumph was not published, proclaimed in the national gazette of our Ballad-Singer. If he were not the clear silver trump of Fame, he was at least her tin horn. It was he who bellowed music into news, which, made to jingle, was thus, even to the weakest understanding, rendered portable. It was his narrow strips of history that adorned the garrets of the poor; it was he who made them yearn towards their country, albiet to them so rough and niggard a mother. Napoleon lost Waterloo, and the English Ballad-Singer not only lost his greatest prerogative, but was almost immediately assailed by foreign rivals, who had well-nigh played him dumb. Little thought the Ballad-Singer, when he crowed forth the crowning triumphs of the war, and in his sweetest possible modulations breathed the promised blessings of a golden peace, that he was then, swan-like, singing his own knell; that he did but herald the advent of his own provençal destroyers. Oh muse! descend and say, did no omen tell the coming of the fall? Did no friendly god give warning to the native son of song? Burned the stars clearly, tranquilly in heaven,--or shot they madly across Primrose-hill, the Middlesex Parnassus? * * * * * Evening had gathered o'er Saint Giles's, and Seven Dials. So tranquil was the season, even publishers were touched. Catnach and Pitts sat silent in their shops; placing their hands in breeches-poke, with that serenity which pockets best convey, they looked around their walls--walls more richly decked than if hung with triumphs of Sidonian looms, arrayed with Bayeux stitchings; walls, where ten thousand thousand ballads--strips harmonious, yet silent as Apollo's unbraced strings,--hung pendulous, or crisply curling, like John Braham's hair. Catnach and Pitts, the tuneful masters of the gutter-choir, serenely looked, yet with such comprehensive glance, that look did take their stock. Suddenly, more suddenly than e'er the leaves in Hornsey wood were stirred by instant blast, the thousand thousand ballads swung and rustled on the walls; yet wind there was not, not the lightest breath. Still like pendants fluttering in a northern breeze, the ballads streamed towards Catnach, and towards Pitts! Amazing truth--yet more; each ballad found a voice! 'Old Towler' faintly growled; 'Nancy Dawson' sobbed and sighed; and, 'Bright Chanticleer' crowed weakly, dolorously, as yet in chickenhood, and smitten with the pip. At the same instant, the fiddle, the antique viol of Roger Scratch, fell from its garret-peg, and lay shivered, even as glass. A cloud fell upon Seven Dials; dread and terror chilled her many minstrels: and why--and wherefore? At that dread moment, a ministrel from the sunny south, with barrel-organ, leapt on Dover beach! Seven Dials felt the shock: her troubadours, poor native birds, were to be out-carrolled and out-quavered, by Italian opera retailed by penn'orths to them, from the barrel-organs: and prompt to follow their masters, they let the English ballad singer sing unheard. The Ballad-Singer has lost his occupation; yet should he not pass away unthanked, unrecompensed. We have seen him a useful minister in rude society; we have heard him a loud-mouthed advocate of party zeal, and we have seen him almost ground into silence by the southern troubadour. Yet was he the first music-seller in the land. Ye well-stocked, flourishing vendors of fashionable scores, deign to cast a look through plate glass at your poor, yet great original, bare-footed and in rags, singing, unabashed, amidst London wagon-wheels: behold the true decendant of the primative music-seller." Charles Dickens, as Boz, long since "sketched" the Seven Dials, and at the same time and place given us his--"Meditations in Monmouth Street":-- "Seven Dials! the region of song and poetry--first effusions, and last dying speechees: hallowed by the names of Catnach and Pitts--names that will entwine themselves with costermongers, and barrel-organs, when penny magazines shall have superseded penny yards of song, and capital punishment be unknown." Several years ago Mr. Albert Smith, who lived at Chertsey, discovered in his neighbourhood part of the Seven Dials--the column doing duty as a monument to a Royal Duchess--when he described the circumstance in a pleasant paper, entitled "Some News of a famous Old Fellow," in his "Town and Country Magazine." The communication is as follows:-- "Let us now quit the noisome mazes of St. Giles's and go out and away into the pure leafy country. Seventeen or eighteen miles from town, in the county of Surrey, is the little village of Weybridge. One of the lions to be seen at Weybridge is Oatlands, with its large artificial grotto and bath-room, which is said--but we cannot comprehend the statement--to have cost the Duke of Newcastle, who had it built, £40,000. The late Duchess of York died at Oatlands, and lies in a small vault under Weybridge Church, wherein there is a monument, by Chantrey, to her memory. She was an excellent lady, well-loved by all the country people about her, and when she died they were anxious to put up some sort of a tribute to her memory. But the village was not able to offer a large some of money for this purpose. The good folks did their best, but the amount was still very humble, so they were obligated to dispense with the service of any eminent architect, and build up only such a monument as their means could compass. Someone told them that there was a column to be sold cheap in a stonemason's yard, which might answer their purpose. It was accordingly purchased; a coronet was placed upon its summit; and the memorial was set up on Weybridge Green, in front of the Ship Inn, at the junction of the roads leading to Oatlands, to Shepperton Lock, and to Chertsey. This column turned out to be the original one from Seven Dials. The stone on which the dials were engraved or fixed, was sold with it. The poet Gay, however, was wrong when he spoke of its seven faces. It is hexagonal in its shape; this is accounted for by the fact that two of the streets opened into one angle. It was not wanted to assist in forming the monument, but was turned into a stepping stone, near the adjoining inn, to assist the infirm in mounting their horses, and there it now lies, having sunk by degrees into the earth; but its original form can still be easily surmised. It may be about three feet in diameter. The column itself is about thirty feet high and two feet in diameter, displaying no great architectural taste. It is surmounted by a coronet, and the base is enclosed by a light iron railing. An appropriate inscription on one side of the base indicates its erection in the year 1822, on the others are some lines to the memory of the Duchess. Relics undergo strange transpositions. The obelisk from the mystic solitudes of the Nile to the centre of the Place de la Concorde, in bustling Paris--the monuments of Nineveh to the regions of Great Russell Street--the frescoes from the long, dark, and silent Pompeii to the bright and noisy Naples--all these are odd changes. But in proportion to their importance, not much behind them is that old column from the crowded dismal regions of St. Giles to the sunny tranquil Green of Weybridge." We are now approaching--"The beginning of the end"--of our history. We were not taken by surprise as we know that "coming events cast their shadows before," and that:-- Often do the spirits Of great events stride on before the events, And in to-day already walks to-morrow. Therefore we were well prepared to read in the newspapers of October, 1883, the following paragraph:-- The old-established printing and publishing house formerly occupied by James Catnach, 2, Monmouth-court, Seven Dials, will soon be amongst the lost landmarks of London. The Metropolitan Board of Works have purchased the house, and it is to be pulled down to make the new street from Leicester-square to New Oxford-street. The business of the literature of the street was founded by James Catnach in 1813, who retired in 1840. The ballads and broadsides he printed, many of them illustrated with cuts by Bewick, helped to furnish the people with news and political and social ballads for generations. All that is fortold in the above has since taken place, Monmouth-court and the house and shop wherein old Jemmy Catnach established the "Catnach Press" in the year 1813 has disappeared to make way for the "New Thoroughfare" from Leicester-square to New Oxford street, and:-- THE CATNACH PRESS removed by Mr. W. S. Fortey--Catnach's successor--to Great St. Andrew-street, Bloomsbury, W.C. _O tempora! O mores!_ [Illustration: THE HISTORY OF THE CATNACH PRESS, AND THE TWO CATNACHS, JOHN & JAMES, FATHER & SON, _Printers_, 1769-1841.] [Illustration] THOMAS BEWICK, Thomas Bewick died at his house on the Windmill-Hills, Gateshead, November the 8th, 1828, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and on the 13th he was buried in the family burial-place at Ovingham, where his parents, wife, and brother were interred. [Illustration] THE CATNACH PRESS. In addition to the full title of our work--"The History of the Catnach Press"--the two Catnachs--John and James--father and son, we deem it necessary to incidentally introduce into our pages some notice of Alnwick, an ancient borough, market-town and parish of Northumberland, also a few passing remarks on the life and doings of Mr. William Davison, who, in conjunction with the elder Catnach as a business partner and subsequent successor, employed Thomas Bewick--an English artist, who imparted the first impulse to the art of wood-engraving--for many of their publications. Of the early life of John Catnach, (_Kat-nak_), the father, we have little information. He was born in 1769, at Burntisland, a royal burgh and parish of Fifeshire, Scotland, where his father was possessed of some powder-mills. The family afterwards removed to Edinburgh, when their son John was bound apprentice to his uncle, Sandy Robinson, the printer. After having duly served out his indentures, he worked for some short time in Edinburgh, as a journeyman, then started in a small business of his own in Berwick-upon-Tweed, where he married Mary Hutchinson, who was a native of Dundee, a seaport-town in Scotland. While at Berwick a son and heir, John, was born. In 1790 they removed their business to Alnwick, and during their residence there seven children were born to them and from the Register of Baptisms in St. Michael's Church we glean that four of them were baptised at one time, viz., September 24, 1797, and there described as "of John Catnach, printer, and Mary his wife: Dissenter."[?] John Catnach had been brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, and his wife as a Presbyterian. The following is taken _verbatim_ from the Parish Register:-- Sep{t.} 24, 1797. Margaret, Daug{r.} of John Catnach, printer, and Mary his Wife. Born Dec{r.} 26{th}, 1790. Dissenter. James, son of John Catnach, printer, and Mary his Wife. Born August 18{th}, 1792. Dissenter. Mary, Daug{r.} of John Catnach, printer, and Mary his Wife. Born February 26{th}, 1794. Dissenter. Nancy, Daug{r.} of John Catnach, printer, and Mary his Wife. Born Sep{r.} 2{nd}, 1795. Dissenter. May 23, 1798. Elizabeth Catnach. Born March 21, 1797, 4{th} Daughter of John Catnach, printer, native of Burnt Island, Shire of Fife, by his wife Mary Hutchinson, Native of Dundee, Angus Shire, Scotland. Dec{r.} 14, 1798. Isabella Catnach. Born Nov{r.} 2, 1798. 5th Daughter of Jn{o.} Catnach, Stationer, Nat. of Scotland, by his wife, Mary Hutchinson, Nat. of Dundee, Angus Shire, Scotland. March 28, 1800. Jane Catnach, 6{th} Daughter of John Catnach, printer, Native of Edinburgh (_sic_) by his wife Mary Hutchinson, Native of Dundee, Scotland. To the above we have to add that there were two sons--John, born to John and Mary Catnach. John I. who was born at Berwick-upon-Tweed, died August 27, 1794, aged 5 years and 7 months, and we find him duly recorded in the Register of Deaths. John II., whose name appears at the end of the inscription on a tombstone in Alnwick churchyard, and of which further mention will be made in another portion of our work, died, presumably unbaptized, March 5, 1803, aged 4 months. John Catnach was not long a resident in the borough of Alnwick before he became acquainted with many of the principal tradesmen in the place. Naturally he was of a free-and-easy disposition, and, like many of his kinsman on the Borders, was particularly fond of the social glass. The latter practice he allowed to grow upon him in such a way that it ultimately interfered very much with his business prospects, and finally hastened his death. The shop that he commenced business in, was situated in Narrowgate-street, and adjoining the old Half-Moon hostelry. In gaining access to the place one had to ascend a flight of steps. Whilst in this shop he secured a fair amount of patronage, and the specimens of printing that emanated from his press are of such a character as to testify to his qualifications and abilities in the trade which he adopted as his calling. He possessed a fond regard for the traditions and customs which for centuries had been so closely associated with the Border country. When the printing press was first introduced into Alnwick is not exactly known; but that it was considerably before the time of Catnach is certain. John Vint, the bookseller and author of the "Burradon Ghost," for several years used a press for printing purposes in the town, and Thomas Lindsay carried on a similar business at a still earlier period. John Catnach had a great relish for printing such works as would admit of expensive embellishments, which, at the time he commenced business, were exceedingly rare. The taste he displayed in the execution of his work will be best exemplified in examining some of the printed editions of the standard works which emanated from his press; and in no instance is this more characteristically set forth than in those finely printed books which are so beautifully illustrated by the masterly hand of Thomas Bewick and his accomplished and talented pupil, Luke Clennell. Notably among which are:-- 1.--"The Beauties of Natural History. Selected from Buffon's History of Quadrupeds, &c. Alnwick: J. Catnach, [n. d.] _Circa_ 1790, 12mo., pp. 92. With 67 cuts by Bewick."--Another edition. Published and Sold by the Booksellers. By Wilson and Spence, York, and J. Catnach, printer, Alnwick. (Price 1_s._ 6_d._ sewed, or 2_s._ half-bound.) [n. d.] _Circa_ 1795. The embellishments of "The Beauties of Natural History" form an unique and valuable collection. They are very small and were done at an exceedingly low price, yet every bird and animal is exquisitely brought out in the minutest detail; whilst many of the illustrations which served as "tail pieces" are gems of art. 2.--"Poems by Percival Stockdale. With cuts by Thomas Bewick. Alnwick: printed by J. Catnach. 1800." 3.--"The Hermit of Warkworth. A Northumberland Ballad. In three Fits. By Dr. Thos. Percy, Bishop of Dromore. With Designs by Mr. Craig; and Engraved on Wood by Mr. Bewick. Alnwick: Printed and Sold by J. Catnach. Sold by Lackington, Allen, and Co., London; Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hodgson, Newcastle. 1806." The Arms of the Duke of Northumberland precedes the Dedication, thus:-- [Illustration] TO HER GRACE FRANCES JULIA, DUCHESS OF NORTHUMBERLAND, _This Edition of_ THE HERMIT OF WARKWORTH, Is respectfully Inscribed By Her Grace's Obliged and Humble Servant, J. CATNACH ALNWICK, _October, 1805_. 4.--A Second Edition; of which a few copies were printed on extra thick paper, royal 8vo., to match with some of his other works, illustrated by Bewick, pp. xiv., 182, with 13 cuts. At the end of the Poem are a Postcript, a Description of the Hermitage of Warkworth, Warkworth Castle, Alnwick Castle, Alnwick Abbey, and A Descriptive Ride in Hulne Park, Alnwick: Printed and Sold by J. Catnach. Sold by Wilson and Spence, York. 1807. THE HERMIT OF WARKWORTH. [Illustration] "And now, attended by their host, The hermitage they view'd." [Illustration] With hospitable haste he rose, And wak'd his sleeping fire: And snatching up a lighted brand, Forth hied the reverend sire. * * * * [Illustration] He fought till more assistance came; The Scots were overthrown; Thus freed me, captive, from their bands, To make me more his own. The illustrations of "The Hermit of Warkworth" are, upon the whole, very creditable, and are well calculated to enhance the value of the book, but as works of art some few of them fall far short of many of Craig or Bewick's other productions. John Catnach also printed and published a series of Juvenile Works, as "The Royal Play Book: or, Children's Friend. A Present for Little Masters and Misses." "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin, &c. ADORNED WITH CUTS.--Which in many cases were the early productions of Thomas Bewick.--Alnwick: Sold Wholesale and Retail by J. Catnach, at his Toy-Book Manufactory." [Illustration] In the year 1807, John Catnach took an apprentice--a lad named Mark Smith, of whom more anon; a few months afterwards he entered into partnership with a Mr. William Davison, who was a native of Ponteland, in the county of Northumberland, but he duly served his apprenticeship as a chemist and druggist to Mr. Hind, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and for whom he ever cherished a fond regard. The union was not of long duration--certainly under two years--but it is very remarkable that two such men should have been brought together, for experience has shown that they were both morally and socially, the very opposite of each other. During the partnership: Mr. Davison held his business of chemist, &c., in Bondgate-street; while the printing and publishing continued at Narrowgate-street, and among the works published by the firm of CATNACH and DAVISON we may record:-- "The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genuis. In Two Parts. With some other Poems. By James Beattie, LL.D. With sixteen Cuts from Designs by Mr. Thurston; and engraved on Wood by Mr. Clennel, Alnwick. Printed by Catnach and Davison. Sold by the Booksellers in England and Scotland. 1807. 12mo. and Royal 8vo., pp. 142." "The Grave. A Poem. By Robert Blair. To which is added Gray's Elegy. In a Country Church Yard. With Notes Moral and Explanatory. Alnwick: Printed by Catnach and Davison. Sold by the Booksellers in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 1808. 12mo., pp. xiv., 72. With a frontispiece and other cuts by Thomas Bewick." [Illustration: _T. Bewick._] THE GRAVE. "Prone, on the lowly grave of the dear man She drops; whilst busy meddling Memory, In barbarous succession, musters up The past endearments of their softer hours Tenacious of its theme." After the dissolution of the strange partnership, Mr. Davison still prosecuted with vigour the several departments of the business; for although reared to the prescribing of physics, he had a fine taste and relish for the book trade, and the short time that he was with Catnach enabled him to acquire a good amount of valuable information on this subject. Be this as it may, he soon laid the basis of a large and lucrative business. About the first work Mr. Davison issued on his own account was:-- [Illustration] THE REPOSITORY OF SELECT LITERATURE. Being an Elegant Assemblage of Curious, Scarce, Entertaining and Instructive Pieces in Prose and Verse. Adorned with beautiful Engravings by Bewick, &c. Alnwick: Printed by W. Davison. Sold by the Booksellers in England and Scotland. 1808. This work is a fine specimen of provincial book-printing; its pages are adorned with some of Bewick's excellent cuts. There is one that we would particularly refer to, and that is "Shepherd Lubin." In size it is very small, but, like most of Bewick's pieces, sufficiently large to show the inimitable skill of the artist. The picture tells its own tale:-- "Young Lubin was a shepherd's boy, Who watched a rigid master's sheep, And many a night was heard to sigh, And may a day was seen to weep." [Illustration: _And for whole days would wander in those places she had been used to walk with Henry._] "The History of Crazy Jane, by Sarah Wilkinson, with a frontispiece by Bewick: Alnwick. Printed by W. Davison; _and Sold by all the Principal Booksellers in England and Scotland_. 1813." [Illustration: "WILLIE BREW'D A PECK O'MAUT."] "The Poetical Works of Robert Burns. Engravings on Wood by Bewick, from designs by Thurston. Alnwick: Printed by Catnach and Davison, 1808." And London: Printed for T. Cadell and Davis, Strand, 1814. With cuts previously used in Davison's publications. [Illustration] "Many of the engravings produced for Burns' Poems, are of a very superior class, and cannot be too highly commended."--_Hugo._ [Illustration: "SANDIE AND WILLIE."] "The Poetical Works of Robert Ferguson, with his Life. Engravings on Wood by Bewick. ALNWICK: Printed by W. Davison." Mr. Davison, following up the actions of his former partner, had a great regard for the standard poets. Previous to the issuing of the poems of Ferguson they had tried to imbue a better taste into the minds of the general reader, by means of publishing nothing but what was of an elevating character. And this will be seen by examining such works as Buffon, Beattie, Percy, Burns, &c. Almost simultaneously with the poems of Burns appeared those of Ferguson. Both works are uniform in size and price--_viz_: 2 vols., Foolscap 8vo.--12s. in boards; they contain some of Bewick's choicest and most exquisite wood-engravings. "The Northumberland Minstrel: A Choice Selection of Songs. Alnwick: Printed by W. Davison." There were only three numbers of this work published,[4] each of which contained 48 pages. The object of this undertaking was for the carrying out a project which at that time was becoming very popular, and consisted in bringing together in a collected form some of the best and most admired of our ballad-poetry. In fact, the object Mr. Davison had in view was only to extend what had been so successfully accomplished by Herd, Ramsay, Motherwell, Ritson, and others. Mr. Davison continued in business at Alnwick up to the time of his death, in 1858, at the ripe age of 77. He was by far the most enterprising printer that had settled in the North of England. His collection of wood blocks was very large, and it is hardly possible to form an adequate conception of the many hundreds of beautiful specimens which he possessed. He stated that he had paid Thomas Bewick upwards of five hundred pounds for various woodcut blocks. With a view of disposing of some of his surplus stock, he printed and published in 4to., a catalogue:--"NEW SPECIMENS OF CAST-METAL ORNAMENTS AND WOOD TYPES, SOLD BY W. DAVISON. ALNWICK. With impressions of 1,100 Cast Ornaments and Wood Blocks, many of the latter executed by Thomas Bewick." This Catalogue--now exceedingly rare--is of the greatest interest and utility, as it embraces a series of cuts dispersed, as Mr. Hugo plainly shows, among a considerable number of publications, and enables those who collect Bewick's pieces to detect the hand of the Artist in many of his less elaborated productions. Those of our readers who desire more information as to the many books printed by W. Davison, the Alnwick publisher, are referred to "The Bewick Collector," and the Supplement thereto, by the Rev. Thomas Hugo, M.A., &c. London: 1866-68. These volumes, illustrated by upwards of two hundred and ninety cuts, comprise an elaborate descriptive list of the most complete collection yet formed of the works of the renowned wood-engravers of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Not only to Bewick collectors, but to all persons interested in the progress of Art, and especially of wood-engraving, these volumes, exhibiting chronologically the works of the Fathers of that Art in England, cannot fail to be of the highest interest. Mr. Davison printed and published a series of Halfpenny Books; they are not only well printed, but in addition to this it is not unusual to see them illustrated by some of Thomas Bewick's choicest engravings. Mr. Hugo possessed twenty-seven in number, the titles of which he enumerates in his "Bewick Collector" and the Supplement thereto: adding the remarks that follow:-- "The cuts in these little publications are for the most part the same which were used by Davison in the other and more important works which issued from his press. The volumes are in 32mo, and in typographical excellence are far in advance of all other children's books of the period of their publication with which I am acquainted." Herewith we publish one of the series from our own private collection. The justness of Mr. Hugo's opinion will be at once seen. THE GUESS BOOK, A COLLECTION OF _INGENIOUS PUZZLES_. [Illustration] ALNWICK: Published and Sold by W. Davison. _Price One Halfpenny_, 2 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z & 3 THE GUESS BOOK. [Illustration] THE MOON. There was a thing a full month old, When Adam was no more; But ere that thing was five weeks old, Adam was years five score. 4 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] A CAT. In almost every house I'm seen, (No wonder then I'm common), I'm neither man, nor maid, nor child, Nor yet a married woman. 5 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] A CANNON. I am the terror of mankind, My breath is flame, and by its power I urge my messenger to find A way into the strongest tower. 6 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] AN OWL. My patron is Wisdom--if Wisdom you prize, In me put your confidence, borrow my eyes, Who into a mill-stone can see quite as far As the best of you all, by the light of a star. 7 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] A TOP. I ne'er offend thee, Yet thou dost me whip, Which don't amend me, Though I dance and skip; When I'm upright, Me you always like best, And barbarously whip me When I want rest. 8 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] BOOKS. With words unnumber'd I abound; In me mankind do take delight; In me much learning's to be found; Yet I can neither read nor write. 9 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] A DRUM. My sides are firmly Lac'd about, Yet nothing is within: You'll think my head Is strange indeed, Being nothing else but skin. 10 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] A SAND-GLASS. Made of two bodies join'd, Without foot or hand; And yet you will find I can both run and stand. 11 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] TIME. Ever eating, never cloying, All devouring, all destroying, Never finding full repast Till I eat the world at last. 12 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] DEATH. The gate of life, the cause of strife, The fruit of sin, When I appear, you drop a tear, And stay within. 13 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] A PAIR OF SHOES. To rich and poor We useful are; And yet for our reward, By both at last We're thrown away, Without the least regard. 14 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] A SQUIRREL. I am a busy active creature, Fashion'd for the sport of nature, Nimbly skip from tree to tree, Under a well-wrought canopy; Bid Chloe then to Mira tell What's my name and where I dwell. 15 _Guess Book._ [Illustration] A FISH. Though it be cold I wear no clothes, The frost and snow I never fear; I value neither shoes nor hose, And yet I wander far and near. [Illustration] [Illustration] [Signature: John Catnach] AT NEWCASTLE. "There is no fooling with Life, when it is once turned forty: the seeking of a Fortune then is but a desperate after-game: it is a hundred to one if a man fling three sixes, and recover all; if his hand be no luckier than mine."--_Cowley._ In or about the latter part of the year 1808, John Catnach, with his wife and family, left Alnwick for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and commenced business in a small shop in Newgate-street, and among other Works which he printed there, mention may be made of "The Battle of Chevy Chase," a selection from the works of "Dr. Samuel Johnson, in two volumes," and "The Life of John Thompson, Mariner. Written by Himself: Also, his Divine Selections, in Prose and Verse. _From esteemed Authors._ Embellished with steel Engravings. Newcastle: _Printed for the Author_. By J. Catnach, Newgate-street. 1810. 12mo., pp. lxxvi., 214. With two tail-pieces by Thomas Bewick." John Thompson, _alias_ Godfried Thomas Leschinsky, born at Riga, 1782, was a seaman. He sailed with Nelson's fleet to Copenhagen, 1801. Continuing at sea he endured many hardships from severe accidents and ill health, and was at length discharged as not being fit for his Majesty's service. In 1806, while in the Infirmary at Newcastle, one of his legs--from old injuries, rapidly mortified and had to be amputated. Subsequently, in consequence of the bones and joints of his right hand decaying, his arm was taken off below the elbow. He for years made a living out of his misfortunes and assumed piety. Catnach was induced, by specious reasoning, to undertake the printing of the book, but the eleemosynary author dying just as it was all worked off but not bound, he had the whole of the stock thrown on his hands to do the best he could with. There were between fifty and sixty claims set up by persons who averred that they had in part, or whole, paid for a copy each to the author on signing his subscription list, and most of these claims were allowed on the payment of sixpence extra: the work was subscribed for at 3s. 6d., but being extended to 20 pages more than was expected, the price was advanced to 4s. John Catnach, at Newcastle, worked attentively for awhile, but without finding his expectations realised. Alas! time and the change of scene and companions had not improved the man. He contrived to get into a great amount of debt, without the least possible chance, from his irregular mode of living, of being able to pay it off. Eventually, he made up his mind for the worst, and the downward course would seem to have been the only way open to him. From bad to worse, and from one extreme to the other, he rapidly drifted. The loose and irregular manner in which he had existed was beginning to tell upon his constitution. His business had been neglected, and his adventures were nearly at a climax. The wreck came, with a terrific blow; but it was not unlooked for. Poor Catnach was a bankrupt, and as such sent to the debtor's gaol. But just before, he had managed to send his wife and daughters to London, together with a wooden printing press, some small quantity of type, and other articles of his trade that could be hurriedly and clandestinely got together. During the five years' residence of John and Mary Catnach in Newcastle, they had one child, Isabella, burned to death, and another, Julia Dalton, born to them. Mr. Mark Smith, who had been bound apprentice to John Catnach, but by reason of whose removal from the Borough of Alnwick, the indentures had been rendered void, was then in London, serving out his time as a turnover and improver with Mr. John Walker, of Paternoster Row, and on being made acquainted with the arrival of Mrs. Catnach and her family, paid them a visit at their lodgings in a court leading off Drury-lane, and assisted in putting up the press and arranging the other few matters and utensils in connection with their tiny printing office, there to await John Catnach's release from prison and arrival in the metropolis. London life to John Catnach proved very disastrous, matters never went smoothly with him. It was evident to all his friends that he had made a great mistake in leaving the North of England. Mr. Mark Smith continued to visit the family as opportunities presented themselves. On one occasion he found them in extremely distressed circumstances, so much so, that he had to afford them some temporary relief from his slender earnings and then left the northern sojourners for the night, promising that he would return to see them at an early date. Anxious to learn how they were succeeding in the crowded metropolis, it was not many days before he again visited them, but this time he found them in a sorry plight; the landlady had distrained upon their all for arrears of rent. This was an awkward predicament; but the indomitable young Northumbrian, like the more burly Dr. Johnson of old, when his friend Oliver Goldsmith was similarly situated, resolved to do all he could to rescue him from the peril in which he was placed. Not being prepared for a case of such pressing emergency, the full debt and costs being demanded, he was compelled to borrow the required amount of Mr. Matthew Willoughby, a native and freeman of the Borough of Alnwick, then residing in London, and once more his old master was free. John Catnach then removed his business to a front shop in Soho, when, in the absence of work of a higher class, he had to resort to printing quarter-sheet ballads, here is the title and imprint of one example:-- [Illustration] TOM STARBOARD AND FAITHFUL NANCY. Tom Starboard was a lover true, As brave a tar as ever sail'd; The duties ablest seamen do Tom did, and never had fail'd. LONDON.--Printed by J. Catnach, and Sold Wholesale and Retail at No. 60, Wardour-street, Soho-square. For his wife and family he took apartments in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy-square. Again he shortly removed his business to Gerrard-street, where he had hardly got his plant into working order, when on returning home on the evening of the 29th of August, 1813, he had the misfortune to fall down and injure his leg. He was immediately taken to St. George's Hospital, Hyde-park Corner, when rheumatic fever supervened, and although placed under the skilful treatment of Dr. Young, he never rallied, his constitution being completely broken, but by means of superior medical treatment and good nursing he lingered until the 4th of December in the same year, on which day he died. Such is a brief _résumé_ of the latter years of John Catnach's life. It is apparent that, by a little application and self-denial, this man might have made for himself a name and position in the world. He possessed all the necessary talents for bringing success within his reach. The ground which he took is the same which in after years proved to be of inestimable value to hundreds of publishers who never possessed half the amount of ability and good taste in printing and embellishing books that was centred in him. After his death, and just at the time when his widow and daughters were sunk in the greatest poverty, his son James, who in after years became so noted in street literature publications, made his way to the metropolis. It appears that this extraordinary man at one time contemplated devoting his life to rural pursuits; in fact, when a youth he served for some time as a shepherd boy, quite contrary to the wish and desire of his parents. Every opportunity he could get he would run away, far across the moors and over the Northumbrian mountains, and, always accompanied with his favourite dog Venus, and a common-place book, in which he jotted down in rhymes and chymes his notions of a pastoral life.[5] Thus he would stay away from home for days and nights together. This project, however, was abandoned, and he commenced to serve as a printer in the employment of his father. It is rather remarkable that he and Mr. Mark Smith [Signature: Mr. Smith.] were both bound on the same day as apprentices to Mr. John Catnach, and that they afterwards worked together as "improvers" in their trade with:-- [Illustration: _Joseph Graham, Printer, Alnwick._] Mr. Hugo, in the Supplement to his "Bewick Collector," pp. 256 (5137), says:--"This very beautiful Cut was done by Thomas Bewick, sometime about the year 1794, for a well-known Alnwick printer." [Signature: James Catnach] "Death made no conquest of this man, For now he lives in fame, though not in life." At the time James--or, as he afterwards was popularly called "_Jemmy_," or, "_Old Jemmy_" Catnach commenced business in Seven Dials it took all the prudence and tact which he could command to maintain his position, as at that time "Johnny" Pitts,[6] of the Toy and Marble Warehouse, No. 6, Great St. Andrew street, was the acknowledged and established printer of street literature for the "Dials" district; therefore, as may be easily imagined, a powerful rivalry and vindictive jealousy soon arose between these "two of a trade"--most especially on the part of "Old Mother" Pitts, who is described as being a coarse and vulgar-minded personage, and as having originally followed the trade of a bumboat woman at Portsmouth: she "wowed wengeance" against the young fellow in the court for daring to set up in their business, and also spoke of him as a young "Catsnatch," "Catblock," "Cut-throat," and many other opprobrious terms which were freely given to the new comer. Pitts' staff of "bards" were duly cautioned of the consequences which would inevitably follow should they dare to write a line for Catnach--the new _cove_ up the court. The injunction was for a time obeyed, but the "Seven Bards of the Seven Dials" soon found it not only convenient, but also more profitable to sell copies of their effusions to both sides at the same time, and by keeping their own counsel they avoided detection, as each printer accused the other of obtaining an early sold copy, and then reprinting it with the utmost speed, which was in reality often the case, as "Both Houses" had emissaries on the constant look-out for any new production suitable for street-sale. Now, although this style of "double dealing" and competition tended much to lessen the cost price to the "middle-man" or vendor, the public in this case did not get any of the reduction, as a penny broadside was still a penny, and a quarter-sheet still a halfpenny to them, the "street-patterer" obtaining the whole of the reduction as extra profit. The feud existing between these rival publishers, who have been somewhat aptly designated as the Colburn and Bentley of the "paper" trade, never abated, but, on the contrary, increased in acrimony of temper, until at last not being content to vilify each other by "Words! words!! words!!!" alone, they resorted to printing off virulent lampoons, in which Catnach never failed to let the world know that "Old Mother Pitts" had been formerly a bumboat woman, while the Pitt's party announced that:-- "All the boys and girls around, Who go out prigging rags and phials, Know Jemmy _Catsnatch_!!! well, Who lives in a back slum in the Dials. He hangs out in Monmouth Court, And wears a pair of blue-black breeches, Where all the "Polly Cox's crew" do resort To chop their swag for badly printed Dying Speeches." But however, in spite of all the opposition and trade rivalry, Catnach persevered; he worked hard, and lived hard, and was fitted to the stirring times. The Peninsular wars had just concluded, politics and party strife ran high, squibs, lampoons, and political ballads were the order of the day, and he made money. But he had weighty pecuniary family matters to bear up with, as thus early in his career, his father's sister also joined them, and they all lived and huddled together in the shop and parlour of No. 2, Monmouth-court. He did a small and very humble trade as a jobbing master, printing and publishing penny histories, street-papers, and halfpenny songs, relying for their composition on one or two out of the known "Seven Bards of the Seven Dials," and when they were on the drink, or otherwise not inclined to work, being driven to write and invent them himself. The customers who frequented his place of business were for the most part of the lowest grades of society:--those who by folly, intemperance, and crime, had been reduced to the greatest penury. Anyone with a few coppers in his pockets could easily knock out an existence, especially when anything sensational was in the wind. The great excitement throughout the country caused by the melancholy death of the Princess Charlotte, on the sixth day of November, 1817, was an event of no ordinary description. It was, indeed, a most unexpected blow, the shining virtues, as well as the youth and beauty of the deceased, excited an amount of affectionate commiseration, such as probably had never before attended the death of any royal personage in England. The Seven Dials Press was busily engaged in working off "papers" descriptive of every fact that could be gleaned from the newspapers, and that was suitable for street sale. Catnach was not behind his compeers, as he published several statements in respect to the Princess's death, and _made_ the following lines _out of his own head_! And had, continued our informant--a professional street-ballad writer--"_wood_ enough left for as many more":-- "She is gone! sweet Charlotte's gone! Gone to the silent bourne; She is gone, She's gone, for evermore,-- She never can return. She is gone with her joy--her darling Boy, The son of Leopold, blythe and keen; She Died the sixth of November, Eighteen hundred and seventeen." The year 1818, proved a disastrous one to Catnach, as in addition to the extra burden entailed on him in family matters, he had, in the way of his trade, printed a street-paper reflecting on the private character and on the materials used in the manufacture of the sausages as sold by the pork butchers of the Drury-lane quarter in general, and particularly by Mr. Pizzey, a tradesman carrying on business in Blackmore-street, Clare-market, who caused him to be summoned to the Bow-street Police Court to answer the charge of malicious libel, when he was committed to take his trial at the next Clerkenwell Sessions, by Sir Richard Burnie, where he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment in the House of Correction, at Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex. [Signature: John Morgan] During Catnach's incarceration his mother and sisters, aided by one of the Seven Dials bards, carried on the business, writing and printing off all the squibs and street ballads that were required. In the meanwhile the Johnny Pitts' crew printed several lampoons on "Jemmy Catnach." Subjoined is a portion of one of them that has reached us, _vivâ voce_, of the aforesaid--John Morgan--professional street-ballad writer:-- "Jemmy Catnach printed a quarter sheet-- It was called in lanes and passages, That Pizzy the butcher, had dead bodies chopped, And made them into sausages. "Poor Pizzey was in an awful mess, And looked the colour of cinders-- A crowd assembled from far and near, And they smashed in all his windows. "Now Jemmy Catnach's gone to prison, And what's he gone to prison for? For printing a libel against Mr. Pizzey, Which was sung from door to door. "Six months in quod old Jemmy's got, Because he a shocking tale had started, About Mr. Pizzey who dealt in sausages In Blackmore-street, Clare-market." Misfortunes are said never to come singly, and so it proved to the Catnach family, for while Jemmy was _doing_ his six months in the House of Correction at Clerkenwell, we find in the pages of the _Weekly Dispatch_ for January 3, 1819, and under POLICE INTELLIGENCE, as follows:-- CIRCULATING FALSE NEWS.--At Bow-street, on Wednesday, Thomas Love and Thomas Howlett, were brought to the office by one of the patrole, charged with making a disturbance in Chelsea, in the morning, by blowing of horns, with a tremendous noise, and each of them after blowing his horn, was heard to announce with all the vociferation the strength of his lungs would admit of:--"The full, true, and particular account of the most cruel and barbarous murder of Mr. Ellis, of Sloane-street, which took place, last night, in the Five Fields, Chelsea." The patrole, knowing that no such horrid event had taken place, had them taken up. The papers in their possession, which they had been selling at a halfpenny each, were seized and brought to the office with the prisoners. But what is most extraordinary, the contents of the papers had no reference whatever to Mr. Ellis! They were headed in large letters, "A HORRID MURDER," and the murder was stated to have been committed at South-green, near Dartford, on the bodies of Thomas Lane, his wife, three children, and his mother. The murderer's conduct was stated very particularly, although, in fact, no such event occurred. The magistrate severely censured the conduct of the whole parties. He ordered the prisoners to be detained, and considered them to be very proper subjects to be made an example of. On Thursday these parties were again brought before the magistrate, together with Mrs. Catnach [the mother] the printer of the bills, which gave a fictitious statement of the horrid murder said to be committed at Dartford. She was severely reprimanded. The two hornblowers were also reprimanded and then discharged. The busy year of 1820 was a very important one to Catnach, in fact the turning point in his life. The Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III., and father to Queen Victoria, died on the 23rd of January--the event was of sufficient consequence to produce several "Full Particulars," for street sale. Just six days after his death, viz., on the 29th of January, 1820, George III. died, and that event set the "Catnach Press" going night and day to supply the street papers, containing "Latest particulars," &c. "Mourn, Britons mourn! Your sons deplore, Our Royal Sovereign is now no more," was the commencement of a ballad written, printed, and published by J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth-court, 7 Dials. Battledores, Lotteries, and Primers sold cheap. Sold by Marshall, Bristol, and Hook, Brighton. The royal body was committed to the family vault in St. George's Chapel at Windsor, on the 16th of February, amidst a concourse of the great and the noble of the land. The usual ceremony of proclamation and salutation announced the accession of George IV. and another important era commenced. Immediately following these events came the Cato-street conspiracy. On the 24th of February the newspapers contained the startling intelligence that, on the previous evening, a party of eleven men, headed by Arthur Thistlewood, who was already known as a political agitator, had been apprehended at a stable in Cato-street, an obscure place in the locality of Grosvenor-square, on the charge of being the parties to a conspiracy to assassinate the greater part of the King's Ministers. The truth of the intelligence was soon confirmed by the proceedings which took place before the magisterial authorities; and in due course all the parties were put on their trial at the Old Bailey, on a charge of high treason, Arthur Thistlewood, the leader, being the first tried on the 17th of April; the Lord Chief Justice Abbott presiding. The names of the other prisoners were--William Davidson, a man of colour; James Ings, John Thomas Brunt, Richard Tidd, James William Wilson, John Harrison, Richard Bradburn, James Shaw Strange, and Charles Cooper, of whom the first four, together with Thistlewood, were executed as traitors on May 1st. The Cato-street conspiracy proved a rich harvest to all concerned in the production of street literature. Catnach came in for a fair share of the work, and he found himself with plenty of cash in hand, and in good time to increase his trade-plant to meet the great demand for the street-papers that were in a few months to be published daily, and in reference to the ever-memorable trial of Queen Caroline; then it was that his business so enormously increased as at times to require three or four presses going night and day to keep pace with the great demand for papers, which contained a very much abridged account of the previous day's evidence, and taken without the least acknowledgment from an early procured copy of one of the daily newspapers. Great as was the demand, the printers of street literature were equal to the occasion, and all were actively engaged in getting out "papers," squibs, lists of various trade deputations to the Queen's levées, lampoons and songs, that were almost hourly published, on the subject of the Queen's trial. The following is a selection from one which emanated from the "Catnach Press," and was supplied to us by John Morgan, the Seven Dials bard, and who added that he had the good luck--the times being prosperous--to screw out half-a-crown from Old Jemmy for the writing of it. "Ah! sir," he continued, "it was always a hard matter to get much out of Jemmy Catnach, I can tell you, sir. He was, at most times, a hard-fisted one, and no mistake about it. Yet, sir, somehow or another, he warn't such a bad sort, just where he took. A little bit rough and ready, like, you know, sir. But yet still a 'nipper.' That's just about the size of Jemmy Catnach, sir. I wish I could recollect more of the song, but you've got the marrow of it, sir:-- 'And when the Queen arrived in town, The people called her good, sirs; She had a Brougham by her side, A Denman, and a Wood, sirs. 'The people all protected her, They ran from far and near, sirs, Till they reached the house of Squire Byng, Which was in St. James's-square, sirs. 'And there my blooming Caroline, About her made a fuss, man, And told how she had been deceived By a cruel, barbarous, husband.'" Street papers continued to be printed and sold in connection with Queen Caroline's trial up to the date of her death, in the month of August, 1821. [Illustration] A COPY OF VERSES IN PRAISE OF QUEEN CAROLINE. "Ye Britons all, both great and small, Come listen to my ditty, Your noble Queen, fair Caroline, Does well deserve your pity. Like harmless lamb that sucks its dam, Amongst the flowery thyme, Or turtle dove that's given to love: And that's her only crime. Wedlock I ween, to her has been A life of grief and woe; Thirteen years past she's had no rest, As Britons surely know. To blast her fame, men without shame, Have done all they could do; 'Gainst her to swear they did prepare A motley, perjured crew. Europe they seek for Turk or Greek, To swear her life away, But she will triumph yet o'er all, And innocence display. Ye powers above, who virtue love, Protect her from despair, And soon her free from calumny, Is every true man's prayer." J. Catnach, Printer, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. [Illustration] Immediately following the Queen's death, there were published a whole host of monodies, elegies, and ballads in her praise. Catnach made a great hit with one entitled--"Oh! Britons Remember your Queen's Happy Days," together with a large broadside, entitled "An Attempt to Exhibit the Leading Events in the Queen's Life, in Cuts and Verse. Adorned with Twelve splendid Illustrations. Interspersed with Verses of Descriptive Poetry. Entered at Stationers' Hall. By Jas. Catnach, Printer, 7 Dials. Price 2d." A copy is preserved in the British Museum. Press Mark. _Tab._ 597, _a_, 1-67, and arranged under CATNACH, from which we select two pieces as a fair sample of Jemmy's "poetry-making!"--Which please to read carefully, and "Mind Your Stops!" quoth John Berkshire. AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN. Curs'd be the hour when on the British shore, She set her foot--whose loss we now deplore; For, from that hour she pass'd a life of woe, And underwent what few could undergo: And lest she should a tranquil hour know, Against her peace was struck a deadly blow; A separation hardly to be borne,-- Her only daughter from her arms was torn! And next discarded--driven from her home, An unprotected Wanderer to roam! Oh, how each heart with indignation fills, When memory glances o'er the train of ills, Which through her travels followed everywhere In quick succession till this fatal year! Here let us stop--for mem'ry serves too well, To bear the woes which Caroline befel, Each art was tried--at last to crush her down, The Queen of England was refus'd a crown! Too much to bear--Thus robb'd of all her state She fell a victim to their hate! "They have destroy'd me,"--with her parting breath, She died--and calmly yielded unto death. Forgiving all, she parted with this life, A Queen, and no Queen--wife, and not a wife! To Heaven her soul is borne on Seraph's wings, To wait the Judgment of the KING of Kings; Trusting to find a better world than this, And meet her Daughter in the realms of bliss. CAROLINE THE INJURED QUEEN OF ENGLAND. Beneath this cold marble the "Wanderer" lies, Here shall she rest 'till "the Heavens be no more," 'Till the trumpet shall sound, and the Dead shall arise, Then the perjurer unmask'd will his sentence deplore. Ah! what will avail then? Pomp, Titles, and Birth, Those empty distinctions all levell'd will be, For the King shall be judg'd with the poor of the earth, And perhaps, the poor man will be greater than he. Until that day we leave Caroline's wrongs, Meantime, may "Repentance" her foes overtake; O grant it, kind POWER, to whom alone it belongs. AMEN. Here an end of this Hist'ry we make. _Quod._ JAS. C-T-N-H, Dec. 10th, 1821. [Illustration] In the early part of the year 1821, the British public were informed through the then existing usual advertising mediums that there was about to be published, in monthly parts, "Pierce Egan's Life in London; or, the Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., and his elegant friend Corinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic, the Oxonian, in their Rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis. Embellished with Scenes from Real Life, designed and etched by I. R. and G. Cruikshank, and enriched with numerous original designs on wood by the same Artists." And on the 15th of July, the first number, price one shilling, was published by Messrs. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, of Paternoster Row. This sample, or first instalment, of the entire work was quite enough for society to judge by. It took both town and country by storm. It was found to be the exact thing in literature that the readers of those days wanted. Edition after edition was called for--and supplied, as fast as the illustrations could be got away from the small army of women and children who were colouring them. With the appearance of numbers two and three, the demand increased, and a revolution in our literature, in our drama, and even in our nomenclature began to develope itself. All the announcements from Paternoster Row were of books, great and small, depicting life in London; dramatists at once turned their attention to the same subject, and tailors, bootmakers, and hatters, recommended nothing but Corinthian shapes, and Tom and Jerry patterns.[7] [Illustration] TOM AND JERRY. "Of Life in London, Tom, Jerry and Logic I sing." To the Strand then I toddled--the mob was great-- My watch I found gone--pockets undone: I fretted at first, and rail'd against fate, For I paid well to see "LIFE IN LONDON." As may be readily conceived; the stage soon claimed "Tom and Jerry." The first drama founded upon the work was from the pen of Mr. Barrymore, and produced--"in hot haste," at the Royal Amphitheatre, on Monday, Sept. 17, 1821. The second dramatic version was written for the Olympic Theatre, by Charles Dibden, and first played on Monday, Nov. 12, 1821. Mr. Moncrieff appeared as the third on the list of dramatists, and it was announced at the Adelphi Theatre in the following style:--"On Monday, Nov. 26th, 1821, will be presented for the first time, on a scale of unprecedented extent (having been many weeks in preparation under the superintendence of several of the most celebrated Artists, both in the _Ups and Downs_ of Life, who have all kindly come forward to assist the Proprietors in their endeavours to render the Piece a complete out-and-outer), an entirely new Classic, Comic, Operatic, Didactic, Aristophanic, Localic, Analytic, Panoramic, Camera-Obscura-ic Extravaganza-Burletta of Fun, Frolic, Fashion and Flash, in three acts, called 'TOM and JERRY; or LIFE in LONDON.' Replete with Prime Chaunts, Rum Glees, and Kiddy Catches, founded on Pierce Egan's well-known and highly popular work of the same name, by a celebrated extravagant erratic Author. The music selected and modified by him from the most eminent composers, ancient and modern, and every Air furnished with an attendant train of Graces. The costumes and scenery superintended by Mr. I. R. Cruikshank, from the Drawings by himself and his brother, Mr. George Cruikshank, the celebrated Artists of the original Work. "Corinthian Tom, Mr. Wrench; Jerry Hawthorn, Mr. John Reeve; Logic, Mr. Wilkinson; Jemmy Green, Mr. Keeley; Dusty Bob, Mr. Walbourn; African Sal, Mr. Sanders; Billy Waters, Mr. Paulo; Kate, Mrs. Baker; Sue, Mrs. Waylett, &c., &c. [Illustration: BLACK SAL AND DUSTY BOB.] Besides the authors already mentioned, Tom Dibden, Farrell, and Douglas Jerrold, each produced dramas upon the popular theme, and during the seasons of 1821-2, "Life in London" was performed with _éclat_, at ten theatres in and around the metropolis, to overflowing houses. But Pierce Egan at length became tired of the successes of the playwrights in using his book, and resolved to try his own hand at a dramatic version--or, as he termed it, to "take a leaf out of his own book,"--and the AUTHOR'S PIECE was "got up" and performed for the first time at Sadler's Wells, under the management of Mr. Egerton, on Monday, April 8, 1822, with most decided success. It was thus announced by Mrs. Egerton, in the address written for the occasion by T. Greenwood, Esq.:-- "To-night my friends, this modern taste to meet, We show you JERRY at his country seat: Then up to town transport the rustic beau, And show him 'Life in London,' HIGH and LOW." At length TOM and JERRY had been repeated so often in the Metropolis, that the performers, notwithstanding the great applause they nightly received in the above piece, absolutely became tired and worn-out with the repetition of their characters, when the following piece of satire, written by T. Greenwood, Esq., was published, entitled, "The Tears of Pierce Egan, Esq., for the Death of 'Life in London;' or, the Funeral of Tom and Jerry, dedicated to Robert and George Cruikshank, Esqs. Price Two Shillings, with an engraving by George Cruikshank." "Beat out of the Pit and thrown over the Ropes, TOM and JERRY resign'd their last breath, With them, too, expired the Managers' hopes, Who are left to deplore their sad death! "Odd and various reports of the cause are about, But the real one was _this_, I opine: They were run to a _standstill_, and, therefore, no doubt, That the cause was a rapid _decline_. "When Death showed his _Nob_, out of _Time_ they were beat, And neither would come to the _scratch_; They hung down their heads and gave up the last heat, Not prepared with the Spectre to _match_. "All wept at the FUNERAL! the FANCY and all-- Some new, but a great many mended: And EGAN, while CRUIKSHANK and _Bob_ held the pall, As _Chief-Mourner_ in person attended!!! "Their _Sprees_ and their _Rambles_ no more shall amuse, Farewell to all nocturnal parleys: The Town felt regret as the bell tolled the news, And no one rejoiced--but the _Charleys_! "A monument, too, their kind Patrons will raise, Inscribed on--'Here lies TOM and JERRY, Who, departing the _stage_ to their immortal praise, ONE THOUSAND NIGHTS made the _Town Merry_!!!' "May their souls rest in peace, since they've chosen to flit, Like other great heroes departed; May no mischief arise from the _sudden_ exit, Nor PIERCE EGAN die--_broken-hearted_!" In reference to the above, Pierce Egan states in "The Finish to the Adventures of Tom, Jerry, and Logic," that Catnach, in less than twelve hours after the publication, produced a pirated edition for street sale, for twopence. Mr. Pierce Egan, in his "_Finish_," states that he reckoned no less than sixty-five separate publications, which he enumerates _in extenso_, all derived from his own work, and adds, with his usual amount of large and small CAPITALS and _italics_--"We have been _pirated_, COPIED, _traduced_; but unfortunately, not ENRICHED by our indefatigable exertions; therefore NOTORIETY must satisfy us, instead of the smiles of FORTUNE." Jemmy Catnach, true to his line of life, soon joined what Pierce Egan designates as the "Mob of Literary Pirates," and brought out a "whole sheet" for street-sale, entitled "Life in London," with twelve woodcuts, which are reduced and very roughly executed copies of the centre figures of the original plates by the Brothers Cruikshank--but all in reverse. The letter-press matter consists of a poetical epitome of the plot and design of the original work of "Life in London." And taking it as it stands, and from whence it emanated, rather a creditable performance, particularly when we take into consideration--as duly announced by the street-patterer, that it was "Just printed and pub--lish--ed, all for the low charge of twopence." On the rarity of this Catnachian and pirated edition of "Life in London" it is superfluous to enlarge, and it is easy to account for this circumstance, if we reflect that the broadside form of publication is by no means calculated for preservation; hundreds of similar pieces printed for street-sale must have perished. The more generally acceptable a broadside or street ballad became, and was handed about for perusal, the more it was exposed to the danger of destruction. No copy of Catnach's version is preserved in the British Museum, therefore, and for the reason above stated, it must be considered as a great "Literary Rarity."[8] CUT I.--JERRY IN TRAINING FOR A SWELL. [Illustration] Now Jerry must needs be a swell, His coat must have a swallow-tail, And Mr. Snip, so handy, O, Soon rigg'd him out a Dandy, O. CUT II.--TOM AND JERRY AMONG THE LADIES. [Illustration] Ladies, your most humble servants, Tom and Jerry stand before you. Our blood is thrilling, you're so killing; At once we love you and adore you. CUT III.--JERRY LOSES AT PLAY. [Illustration] At St. James's they dine, when, flushed with new wine, To the Gaming Tables they reel, Where blacklegs and sharps, often gammon the flats, As their pockets do presently feel. CUT IV.--JERRY LEARNING TO SPAR. [Illustration] Now Jerry's become a Fancy blade, To Jackson's he often goes, And to shew his skill in the milling trade, He crack'd poor Logick's nose. CUT V.--TOM AND JERRY AT A FORTUNE-TELLER'S. [Illustration] Here lives a Fortune-Telling Gipsy, Wrinkled, crabbed, grim and old; And Tom and Jerry's fancy ladies Are gone to get their Fortunes told. CUT VI.--BEGGAR'S OPERA. TOM, JERRY, AND LOGICK AMONG THE CADGERS IN THE HOLY LAND. [Illustration] Now to keep up the spree, Tom, Jerry and Logick, Went disguis'd to the Slums in the Holy Land; Through each crib and each court, they hunted for sport, Till they came to the BEGGAR'S OPERA so named. CUT VII.--NIGHT SCENE.--TOM AND JERRY UPSETTING THE CHARLEYS. [Illustration] Hark! the watchman springs his rattle, Now the midnight lark's begun; Boxes crashing, lanthorns smashing, Mill the Charleys--oh! what fun. CUT VIII.--BROUGHT BEFORE THE MAGISTRATES. [Illustration] An' please your Worship here's three fellows Been hammering of us all about; Broke our boxes, lanthorns, smellers, And almost clos'd our peepers up. CUT IX.--TOM, JERRY, AND LOGICK IN A ROW. [Illustration] Mercy! what a din and clatter Breaks the stillness of the night, Lamps do rattle--'tis a battle, Quick, and let us see the sight. CUT X.--SCENE IN A GIN-SHOP. [Illustration] Here some are tumbling and jumping in, And some are staggering out; One's pawn'd her smock for a quartern of gin, Another, her husband's coat. CUT XI.--POOR LOGICK IN THE FLEET. [Illustration] All in the Fleet poor Logick's moor'd His swaggering's now at an end! CUT XII.--JERRY GOING BACK TO THE COUNTRY. [Illustration] Three merry boys were Logick, Tom and Jerry, And many funny larks they have seen; Farewell, gay London, the country calls me home again, The coach moves on--the play is done--Goodbye, Goodbye. _Quod._ JAS. C-N-H, March 23, 1822. How delightful Pierce Egan's book was to the youths of England, and how eagerly all its promised feasts of pleasure were devoured by them, Thackeray has told us in his "Roundabout Papers--DE JUVENTUTE" in the "Cornhill Magazine" for October, 1860. * * * * * Mr., afterwards Sir William Cubitt, of Ipswich, erected a treadmill at Brixton Gaol, and soon afterwards in other large prisons. A street ballad on the subject was issued from the "Catnach Press" and had a most unprecedented sale, keeping the pressmen and boys working for weeks-- "And we're all treading at fam'd Brixton Mill." The treadmill--that "terror to evil doers"--excited much attention, and the inventor's name gave rise to many jokes on the subject among such of the prisoners as could laugh at their own crimes, who said they were punished by the _cubit_!. THE TREADMILL. This Brixton Mill's a fearful ill, And he who brought the Bill in, Is threat'n'd by the _cribbing_ coves, That he shall have a _milling_. They say he shew'd a simple pate, To think of felons mending; As every _step_ which here they take They're still in crime _ascending_. Tom, Jerry, Logic, three prime sprigs, Find here they cannot _come_ it, For though their _fancy_ soars aloft, They ne'er will reach the _summit_. Corinthian Kate and buxom Sue Must change their _warm_ direction, For if they make one _false step_ more They'll have _Cold Bath Correction_. [Illustration: "The gallows does well: But how does it well? it does well to those that do ill."--_Hamlet_, Act v., sc. i.] There can be little doubt that Jemmy Catnach, the great publisher of the Seven Dials, had his mind mostly centred upon the chronicling of doubtful scandals, fabulous duels between ladies of fashion, "cooked" assassinations, and sudden deaths of eminent individuals, apochryphal elopements, real or catch-penny account of murders, impossible robberies, delusive suicides, dark deeds, and--though last, not least, in _his_ love--public executions, _vulgo_ "Hanging Matches," to which was usually attached the all-important and necessary "Sorrowful Lamentations," or "Copy of Affectionate Verses," which according to the established custom, the criminal composed in the condemned cell the night before his execution, after this manner:-- [Illustration] THE FLYING STATIONER, OTHERWISE PATTERER. "All you that have got feeling, I pray you now attend To these few lines so sad and true, a solemn silence lend; It is of a cruel murder, to you I will unfold---- The bare recital of the tale must make your blood run cold." "Mercy on earth I'll not implore, to crave it would be vain, My hands are dyed with human gore, none can wash off the stain, But the merits of a Saviour, whose mercy alone I crave; Good Christians pray, as thus I die, I may His pardon have." A mournful and affecting COPY OF VERSES on the death of ANN WILLIAMS, Who was barbarously and cruelly murdered by her sweetheart, W. JONES, near Wirksworth, in Derbyshire, July, 1823. William Jones, a young man aged 20, has been fully committed to Derby gaol for the murder of his sweetheart, under circumstances of unheard of barbarity. The poor victim was a servant girl, whom under pretence of marriage he seduced. On her proving with child the villain formed the horrid design of murdering her, and carried his diabolical plan into execution on Monday evening last. The following verses are written upon the occasion, giving a complete detail of this shocking affair:-- Come all false hearted young men And listen to my song, 'Tis of a cruel murder, That lately has been done On the body of a maiden fair The truth I will unfold, The bare relation of this deed Will make your blood run cold. Near Wirksworth town in Derbyshire, Ann Williams she did dwell, In service she long time had lived, Till this to her befel. Her cheeks were like the blushing rose All in the month of May, Which made this wicked young man Thus unto her did say: Nancy, my charming creature, You have my heart ensnared, My love is such I am resolved To wed you I declare. Thus by his false deluding tongue Poor Nancy was beguil'd, And soon to her misfortune, By him she proved with child. Some days ago this damsel fair Did write to him with speed, Such tenderness she did express Would make a heart to bleed. She said, my dearest William, I am with child by thee; Therefore, my dear, pray let me know When you will marry me. The following day at evening, This young man did repair, Unto the town of Wirksworth, To meet his Nancy there. Saying, Nancy dear, come let us walk, Among the flowery fields, And then the secrets of my heart To you I will reveal. O then this wicked young man A knife he did provide, And all unknown to his true love Concealed it by his side. When to the fatal spot they came, These words to her did say: All on this very night I will Your precious life betray. On bended knees she then did fall, In sorrow and despair, Aloud for mercy she did call, Her cries did rend the air; With clasped hands and uplift eyes She cried, Oh spare my life, I never more will ask you To make me your wedded wife. O then this wicked young man said, No mercy will I show; He took the knife all from his side, And pierced her body through. But still she smiling said to him While trembling with fear, Aä! William, William, spare my life, Think on your baby dear. Twice more then with the bloody knife He ran her body through, Her throat was cut from ear to ear, Most dreadful for to view; Her hands and arms and beauteous face He cut and mangled sore, While down upon her milk white breast The crimson blood did pour. He took the shawl from off her neck, And round her body tied, With pebble stones he did it fill, Thinking the crime to hide. O then into the silver stream He plunged her straightway, But with her precious blood was stained Which soon did him betray. O then this young man taken was, And into prison sent, In ratling chains he is confin'd His crime for to lament, Until the Assizes do come on When trembling he must stand, Reflecting on the deed he's done; Waiting the dread command. Now all you thoughtless young men A timely warning take; Likewise ye fair young maidens, For this poor damsel's sake. And Oh beware of flattering tongues, For they'll your ruin prove; So may you crown your future day, In comfort, joy, and love. Or take another and stereotyped example, which from time to time has served equally well for the verses _written by_ the culprit--Brown, Jones, Robinson, or Smith: "Those deeds I mournfully repent, But now it is too late, The day is past, the die is cast, And fixed is my fate. I see the hangman before me stand, Ready to seize me by the law's command; When my life is ended on the fatal tree, Then will be clear'd up all mystery." Occasionally the Last Sorrowful Lamentation contained a "Love Letter"--the criminal being unable, in some instances, to read or write, being no obstacle to the composition--written according to the street patterer's statement: "from the depths of the condemned cell, with the condemned pen, ink, and paper." This mode of procedure in "gallows" literature, and this style of composition having prevailed for from sixty to seventy years. Then they would say: "Here you have also an exact likeness of the murderer, taken at the bar of the Old Bailey by an eminent artist!" when all the time it was an old woodcut that had been used for every criminal for many years. The _block!_ opposite, to our own knowledge, served as the _counterfeit_ presentment of all popular murderers for upwards of forty years. [Illustration: LIKENESS OF THE MURDERER.] "There's nothing beats a stunning good murder after all," said a "running patterer" to Mr. Henry Mayhew, the author of "London Labour and London Poor." It is only fair to assume that Mr. James Catnach shared in the sentiment, for it is said that he made over £500 by the publication of:-- "The Full, True and Particular Account of the Murder of Mr. Weare by John Thurtell and his Companions, which took place on the 24th of October, 1823, in Gill's Hill-lane, near Elstree, in Hertfordshire:--Only One Penny." There were eight formes set up, for old Jemmy had no notion of stereotyping in those days, and pressmen had to re-cover their own tympans with sheep-skins. But by working day and night for a week they managed to get off about 250,000 copies with the four presses, each working two formes at a time. [Illustration: THURTELL MURDERING MR. WEARE.] As the trial progressed, and the case became more fully developed, the public mind became almost insatiable. Every night and morning large bundles were despatched to the principal towns in the three kingdoms. One of the many street-ballads on the subject informed the British public that:-- "Thurtell, Hunt, and Probert, too, for trial must now prepare, For that horrid murder of Mr. William Weare." The circumstances immediately attending the murder are so fully and so well detailed in the proper channels that we need not here say more than that the trial took place at Hertford on the 5th January, 1824. The prisoners who stood indicted were John Thurtell and Joseph Hunt. The latter was at the time well known as a public singer and was somewhat celebrated for the talent which he possessed. Both prisoners were found guilty, but Hunt was reprieved and subsequently ordered to be transported for life. Thurtell, who fully confessed to the crime, was executed in front of Hertford gaol on Friday, the 9th of January, 1824. As before observed, Catnach cleared over £500 by this event, and was so loth to leave it, that when a wag put him up to a joke, and showed him how he might set the thing a-going again, he could not withstand it; and so, about a fortnight after Thurtell had been hanged, Jemmy brought out a startling broad-sheet, headed, "WE ARE ALIVE AGAIN!" He put so little space between the words "WE" and "ARE" that it looked at first sight like "WEARE." Many thousands were bought by the ignorant and gullible public, but those who did not like the trick called it a "catch penny," and this gave rise to this peculiar term, which ever afterwards stuck to the issues of the "Seven Dials' Press," though they sold as well as ever. Probert, who had been mixed up in the affair, was admitted as King's evidence and discharged at the rising of the Court. He subsequently met the fate he so richly deserved, for, having been found guilty at the Old Bailey of horse stealing, he was executed there on the 20th of June, 1825. [Illustration] THE CONFESSION AND EXECUTION OF JOHN THURTELL At HERTFORD GAOL, On Friday, the 9th of January, 1824. THE EXECUTION. _Hertford, half-past twelve o'clock._ This morning, at ten minutes before twelve, a bustle among the javelin-men stationed within the boarded enclosure on which the drop was erected, announced to the multitude without that the preparations for the execution were nearly concluded. The javelin-men proceeded to arrange themselves in the order usually observed upon these melancholy but necessary occurrences. They had scarcely finished their arrangements, when the opening of the gate of the prison gave an additional impulse to public anxiety When the clock was on the stroke of twelve, Mr Nicholson, the Under-Sheriff, and the executioner ascended the platform, followed on to it by Thurtell, who mounted the stairs with a slow but steady step. The principal turnkey of the gaol came next, and was followed by Mr Wilson and two officers. On the approach of the prisoner being intimated by those persons who, being in an elevated situation, obtained the first view of him, all the immense multitude present took off their hats. Thurtell immediately placed himself under the fatal beam, and at that moment the chimes of a neighbouring clock began to strike twelve. The executioner then came forward with the rope, which he threw across it. Thurtell first lifted his eyes up to the drop, gazed at it for a few moments, and then took a calm but hurried survey of the multitude around him. He next fixed his eyes on a young gentleman in the crowd, whom he had frequently seen as a spectator at the commencement of the proceedings against him. Seeing that the individual was affected by the circumstance, he removed them to another quarter, and in so doing recognised an individual well known in the sporting circles, to whom he made a slight bow. The prisoner was attired in a dark brown great coat, with a black velvet collar, white corduroy breeches, drab gaiters and shoes. His hands were confined with handcuffs, instead of being tied with cord, as is usually the case on such occasions, and, at his own request, his arms were not pinioned. He wore a pair of black kid gloves, and the wrists of his shirt were visible below the cuffs of his coat. As on the last day of his trial, he wore a white cravat. The irons, which were very heavy, and consisted of a succession of chain links, were still on his legs, and were held up in the middle by a Belcher handkerchief tied round his waist. The executioner commenced his mournful duties by taking from the unhappy prisoner his cravat and collar. To obviate all difficulty in this stage of the proceedings, Thurtell flung back his head and neck, and so gave the executioner an opportunity of immediately divesting him of that part of his dress. After tying the rope round Thurtell's neck, the executioner drew a white cotton cap over his countenance, which did not, however, conceal the contour of his face, or deprive him entirely of the view of surrounding objects. At that moment the clock sounded the last stroke of twelve. During the whole of this appalling ceremony, there was not the slightest symptom of emotion discernible in his features; his demeanour was perfectly calm and tranquil, and he behaved like a man acquainted with the dreadful ordeal he was about to pass, but not unprepared to meet it. Though his fortitude was thus conspicuous, it was evident from his appearance that in the interval between his conviction and his execution he must have suffered much. He looked careworn; his countenance had assumed a cadaverous hue, and there was a haggardness and lankness about his cheeks and mouth, which could not fail to attract the notice of every spectator. The executioner next proceeded to adjust the noose by which Thurtell was to be attached to the scaffold. After he had fastened it in such a manner as to satisfy his own mind, Thurtell looked up at it, and examined it with great attention. He then desired the executioner to let him have fall enough. The rope at this moment seemed as if it would only give a fall of two or three feet The executioner assured him that the fall was quite sufficient. The principal turnkey then went up to Thurtell, shook hands with him, and turned away in tears. Mr Wilson, the governor of the gaol, next approached him. Thurtell laid to him, "Do you think, Mr Wilson, I have got enough fall?" Mr Wilson replied, "I think you have, Sir. Yes, quite enough." Mr Wilson then took hold of his hand, shook it, and said, "Good bye, Mr Thurtell, may God Almighty bless you." Thurtell instantly replied, "God bless _you_, Mr Wilson, God bless _you_." Mr Wilson next asked him whether he considered that the laws of his country had been dealt to him justly and fairly, upon which he said, "I admit that justice has been done me--I am perfectly satisfied." A few seconds then elapsed, during which every person seemed to be engaged in examining narrowly Thurtell's deportment His features, as well as they could be discerned, appeared to remain unmoved, and his hands, which were extremely prominent, continued perfectly steady, and were not affected by the slightest tremulous motion. Exactly at two minutes past twelve the Under-Sheriff, with his wand, gave the dreadful signal--the drop suddenly and silently fell--and JOHN THURTELL WAS LAUNCHED INTO ETERNITY. On the 10th of September, 1824, Henry Fauntleroy, of the firm of Marsh, Stracey, Fauntleroy, and Graham, bankers, in Berners-street, was apprehended in consequence of its being discovered that in September, 1820, £10,000 3 per cent stock, standing in the names of himself, J. D. Hume, and John Goodchild, as trustees of Francis William Bellis, had been sold out under a power of attorney, to which the names of his co-trustees and some of the subscribing witnesses were forged. It was soon ascertained that the extent to which this practice had been carried was enormous, no less than £170,000 stock having been sold out in 1814 and 1815 by the same fraudulent means. Every exertion was used by Mr. Fauntleroy's counsel, his case being twice argued before the Judges, but both decisions were against him; and on the 30th of November, 1824, his execution took place. The number of persons assembled was estimated at nearly 100,000. The station in society of this unfortunate man, and the long-established respectability of the banking-house, in which he was the most active partner, with the vast extent of the forgeries committed, gave to his case an intensity of interest which has scarcely ever been equalled, and during the whole time it was pending afforded plenty of work for the printers and vendors of street literature. Catnach's advanced position, which was now far beyond all his compeers, caused him to get the lion's share. Every incident in the man's character, history, and actions was taken advantage of. The sheets, almost wet from the press, were read by high and low; by those who lived and revelled in marble halls and gilded saloons, as well as by those who thronged our large towns and centres of industry. The parliamentary election of 1826, for the county of Northumberland, the principal seat of which was at Alnwick, gave early promise of being severely contested. There were four candidates in the field, namely, Henry Thomas Liddell, afterwards first Earl of Ravensworth, of Ravensworth Castle, county Durham; Mr. Matthew Bell, of Woolsingham, Northumberland; Mr. Thomas Wentworth Beaumont, and Lord Howick, afterwards Henry the third Earl Grey, K.G. The nomination of the candidates took place on Tuesday, June 20th, 1826, and the polling continued till July 6th, when the result was as follows:-- Liddell 1562 Bell 1380 Beaumont 1335 Howick 997 This contest was the greatest political event in the history of the county. It is estimated that it cost the candidates little short of £250,000. Now, as we have before observed, Mr. Mark Smith--who till the time of his death, on the 18th of May, 1881, aged 87--carried on the business of printer and bookseller at Alnwick--and James Catnach, were fellow apprentices, both being bound to learn the art of printing to the elder Catnach on the same day. This early-formed acquaintanceship continued throughout the remaining portion of Catnach's life, and whenever Mr. Mark Smith came to London in after years, he always visited Jemmy's house. It was in consequence of the continued friendship existing between Mr. Mark Smith and Jemmy Catnach that the latter had often expressed a desire to serve his fellow-apprentice, should circumstances occur to render it necessary. The Alnwick election of 1826 promised to be a good one as regarded printing, and Mr. Smith anticipating a difficulty in getting through his work, applied to Catnach to know if he could render him any assistance. The result was that Jemmy at once proffered to go to Alnwick and take with him a small hand-press. After his arrival he seldom went out of the house, as all hands worked early and late, for, besides addresses, squibs, &c., they had to get out the state of the poll every afternoon, shortly after four o'clock. The number of addresses and squibs, in prose and verse, during this memorable election was enormous. The whole, when collected together, forms four good-sized volumes. The principal printers in Alnwick at this time, and who were engaged by the candidates, were Smith, Davison, and Graham. But there was a great deal of printing done at Newcastle, Gateshead, North Shields, Morpeth, and other towns. There can be but little doubt that all who were professionally engaged at this election made a good thing out of it. The money spent upon printing alone must have been very great. And nearly all the public-houses in Alnwick were made "open houses," as well as most of those in the principal towns throughout the county. Old people talk to this day, with a degree of pride of "those good old times" that existed at the Parliamentary elections previous to the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832. As far as Catnach was concerned, he merely went to help to pay off a deep debt of gratitude owing by him to the Smith family for many past favours to his own family when they were in dire distress in _auld lang syne_. Besides, Jemmy was now getting towards that state known as being "comfortably well-to-do," and the trip was a change of air--a bit of a holiday, and a visit to the town of his birth. And as he had buried his mother in London during the early part of the year, he took the opportunity to erect in the parish churchyard, that which at once stands as a cenotaph and a tombstone, bearing the following inscription:-- "JOHN, Son of JOHN CATNACH, Printer, died August 27th, 1794, Aged 5 years & 7 months. JOHN CATNACH died in LONDON, 1813, Aged 44. MARY, his wife died Jany. 24th, 1826, Aged 60 years, Also John, Margaret, and Jane Catnach, lie here."[9] During Catnach's absence from London on the Alnwick election, his old rivals--the Pitts family--were, as usual, concocting false reports, and exhibiting lampoons, after the following manner:-- "Poor Jemmy with the son of Old Nick, Down to Northumberland he's gone; To take up his freedom at Alnwick, The why or the wherefore's known to none. "Before he went, he washed in soap and sud, The Alnwick folks they found the fiddle; Then they dragged poor Jemmy through the mud, Two foot above his middle. The above was in allusion to the old ceremony of being dragged through the dirty pool to be made a Freeman of the town of Alnwick. But, as far as Catnach was concerned, there is no truth whatever in the matter, it was simply "a weak invention of the enemy." It was in the latter part of June and the beginning of July in the same year, that Catnach was at Alnwick, and the ceremony of making freemen always took place on St. Mark's Day, April 25th, or at least two months earlier. Thus the statement of the Pitts' party was-- "As false As air, as water, as wind, as sandy earth, As fox to lamb, as wolf to heifer's calf, Pard to the hind, or step-dame to her son." Catnach, as the high priest of the literature of the streets, surrounded by trade rivals, "stood like a man at a mark with a whole army shooting at him," but he was as firm as a rock and with the strength of a giant, and, as Hyperion to a Satyr, defied them all. The destruction of the Royal Brunswick Theatre, Well-street, Wellclose-square, East London, on the 29th of February, 1828, by the falling in of the walls, in consequence of too much weight being attached to the heavy cast-iron roof, made a rare nine-day's wonder for the workers of street-papers. Fortunately the catastrophe happened in the day-time, during the rehearsal of "Guy Mannering," and only fifteen persons perished, viz:-- Mr. D. S. Maurice, a master printer, of Fenchurch-street, one of the Proprietors, Mr. J. Evans _Bristol Observer_ Miss Mary A. Feron _Actress_, Miss Freeman _Corps de ballet_, Mr. E. Gilbert _Comedian_, Mr. J. Blamire _Property Man_, Mr. G. Penfold _Doorkeeper_, Miss Jane Wall _Visitor_, Mr. J. Purdy _Blacksmith_, Messrs. J. Miles, W. Leader, A. W. Davidson, M. Miles, and J. Abbott _Carpenters_, J. Levy, _A Clothesman_ (accidentally passing). "Oh yes, sir! I remember well the falling of the Brunswick Theatre, out Whitechapel way. It was a rare good thing for all the running and standing patterers in and about ten miles of London. Every day we all killed more and more people--in our "Latest Particulars." One day there was twenty persons killed, the next day thirty or forty, until it got at last to be worked up to about a hundred, and all killed. Then we killed all sorts of people, Duke of Wellington, and all the Dukes and Duchesses, Bishops, swell nobs and snobs we could think of at the moment." [Illustration: ATROCIOUS MURDER OF A YOUNG WOMAN IN SUFFOLK. SINGULAR DISCOVERY OF THE BODY FROM A DREAM. THE RED BARN. THE SCENE OF THE MURDER, AND WHERE THE BODY OF MARIA MARTEN WAS FOUND CONCEALED.] Four years after the Thurtell and Weare affair, namely, in the month of April, 1828, another "sensational" murder was discovered--that of Maria Marten, by William Corder, in the Red Barn, at Polstead, in the county of Suffolk. The circumstances that led to the discovery of this most atrocious murder, were of an extraordinary and romantic nature, and manifest an almost special interposition of Providence in marking out the offender. As the mother of the girl had on three several nights dreamt that her daughter was murdered and buried in Corder's Red Barn, and as this proved to be the case, an additional "charm" was given to the circumstance. The "Catnach Press" was again set working both day and night, to meet the great demand for the "Full Particulars." In due course came the gratifying announcement of the apprehension of the murderer! and the sale continued unabatingly in both town and country, every "Flying Stationer" making great profits by the sale. [Illustration: LIKENESS OF WILLIAM CORDER.] The trial of Corder took place at Bury St. Edmonds, on the 7th of August, 1828, before the Lord Chief Baron (Anderson). The prisoner pleaded "_Not Guilty_," and the trial proceeded. On being called on for his defence, Corder read a manuscript paper. He declared that he deeply deplored the death of the unfortunate deceased, and he urged the jury to dismiss from their minds all that prejudice which must necessarily have been excited against him by the public press, &c. Having concluded his address, the Lord Chief Baron summed up, and a verdict of "_Guilty_" was returned. The Last Dying Speech and Confession had an enormous sale--estimated at 1,166,000, a _fac-simile_ copy of which with the "Lamentable Verses," said to have been written by Old Jemmy Catnach will be found on the next page. CONFESSION AND EXECUTION OF WILLIAM CORDER, THE MURDERER OF MARIA MARTEN. Since the tragical affair between Thurtell and Weare, no event has occurred connected with the criminal annals of our country which has excited so much interest as the trial of Corder, who was justly convicted of the murder of Maria Marten on Friday last. THE CONFESSION. "Bury Gaol, August 10th, 1828.--Condemned cell. "Sunday evening, half-past Eleven. "I acknowledge being guilty of the death of poor Maria Marten, by shooting her with a pistol. The particulars are as follows:--When we left her father's house, we began quarrelling about the burial of the child: she apprehended the place wherein it was deposited would be found out. The quarrel continued about three quarters of an hour upon this sad and about other subjects. A scuffle ensued, and during the scuffle, and at the time I think that she had hold of me, I took the pistol from the side pocket of my velveteen jacket and fired. She fell, and died in an instant. I never saw her even struggle. I was overwhelmed with agitation and dismay:--the body fell near the front doors on the floor of the barn. A vast quantity of blood issued from the wound, and ran on to the floor and through the crevices. Having determined to bury the body in the barn (about two hours after she was dead). I went and borrowed a spade of Mrs Stow, but before I went there I dragged the body from the barn into the chaff-house, and locked the barn. I returned again to the barn, and began to dig a hole, but the spade being a bad one, and the earth firm and hard, I was obliged to go home for a pickaxe and a better spade, with which I dug the hole, and then buried the body. I think I dragged the body by the handkerchief that was tied round her neck. It was dark when I finished covering up the body. I went the next day, and washed the blood from off the barn-floor. I declare to Almighty God I had no sharp instrument about me, and no other wound but the one made by the pistol was inflicted by me. I have been guilty of great idleness, and at times led a dissolute life, but I hope through the mercy of God to be forgiven. WILLIAM CORDER." Witness to the signing by the said William Corder, JOHN ORRIDGE. Condemned cell, Eleven o'clock, Monday morning, August 11th, 1828. The above confession was read over carefully to the prisoner in our presence, who stated most solemnly it was true, and that he had nothing to add to or retract from it--W. STOCKING, chaplain; TIMOTHY R. HOLMES, Under-Sheriff. THE EXECUTION. At ten minutes before twelve o'clock the prisoner was brought from his cell and pinioned by the hangman, who was brought from London for the purpose. He appeared resigned, but was so weak as to be unable to stand without support; when his cravat was removed he groaned heavily, and appeared to be labouring under great mental agony. When his wrists and arms were made fast, he was led round towards the scaffold, and as he passed the different yards in which the prisoners were confined, he shook hands with them, and speaking to two of them by name, he said, "Good bye, God bless you." They appeared considerably affected by the wretched appearance which he made, and "God bless you!" "May God receive your soul!" were frequently uttered as he passed along. The chaplain walked before the prisoner, reading the usual Burial Service, and the Governor and Officers walking immediately after him. Tho prisoner was supported to the steps which led to the scaffold; he looked somewhat wildly around, and a constable was obliged to support him while the hangman was adjusting the fatal cord. There was a barrier to keep off the crowd, amounting to upwards of 7,000 persons, who at this time had stationed themselves in the adjoining fields, on the hedges, the tops of houses, and at every point from which a view of the execution could be best obtained. The prisoner, a few moments before the drop fell, groaned heavily, and would have fallen, had not a second constable caught hold of him. Everything having been made ready, the signal was given, the fatal drop fell, and the unfortunate man was launched into eternity. Just before he was turned off, he said in a feeble tone, "I am justly sentenced, and may God forgive me." The Murder of Maria Marten. BY W. CORDER. Come all you thoughtless young men, a warning take by me, And think upon my unhappy fate to be hanged upon a tree; My name is William Corder, to you I do declare, I courted Maria Marten, most beautiful and fair. I promised I would marry her upon a certain day, Instead of that, I was resolved to take her life away. I went into her father's house the 18th day of May, Saying, my dear Maria, we will fix the wedding day. If you will meet me at the Red-barn, as sure as I have life, I will take you to Ipswich town, and there make you my wife; I then went home and fetched my gun, my pickaxe and my spade, I went into the Red-barn, and there I dug her grave. With heart so light, she thought no harm, to meet him she did go He murdered her all in the barn, and laid her body low; After the horrible deed was done, she lay weltering in her gore, Her bleeding mangled body he buried beneath the Red-barn floor. Now all things being silent, her spirit could not rest, She appeared onto her mother, who suckled her at her breast, For many a long month or more, her mind being sore oppress'd, Neither night or day she could not take any rest. Her mother's mind being so disturbed, she dreamt three nights o'er, Her daughter she lay murdered beneath the Red-barn floor; She sent the father to the barn, when he the ground did thrust, And there he found his daughter mingling with the dust. My trial is hard, I could not stand, most woeful was the sight, When her jaw-bone was brought to prove, which pierced my heart quite; Her aged father standing by, likewise his loving wife, And in her grief her hair she tore, she scarcely could keep life. Adieu, adieu, my loving friends, my glass is almost run, On Monday next will be my last, when I am to be hang'd, So you, young men, who do pass by; with pity look on me, For murdering Maria Marten, I was hang'd upon the tree. Printed by J Catnach, 2 and 3, Monmouth Court.--Cards, &c., Printed Cheap [Illustration] "Oh, she lives snug in the Holy Land, Right, tight, and merry in the Holy Land, Search the globe round, none can be found So _accommodating!_ as Old Mother Cummins--of the Holy Land." Catnach, like many others connected with the getting up of news broadsides and fly-sheets, did not always keep clear of the law. The golden rule is a very fine one, but, unfortunately, it is not always read aright; in some cases injured innocence flies at extremes. Jemmy Catnach for a long time had been living upon unfriendly terms with a party connected with the management of one of Mother Cummins's lodging-house establishments in the immediate neighbourhood, so out of spite printed a pamphlet, purporting to be the "Life and Adventures of Old Mother Cummins." Here Catnach had reckoned without his host, by reason of his not taking into consideration the extensive aristocratic and legal connection Mother Cummins had for her friends and patrons. The moment she was made acquainted with the "_dirty parjury_" that Jemmy Catnach had printed and caused to be publicly circulated, she immediately gave instructions to _her_ Attorney General to prosecute the _varmint_, when a warrant was applied for and obtained to search the premises of the Seven Dials printer. But Catnach got the news of the intended visit of the Bow Street Runners, and naturally became alarmed from having a vivid recollection of the punishment and costs in the case of the Drury-lane sausage makers, so the forme containing the libellous matter was at once broken up--"pied," that is, the type was jumbled together and left to be properly distributed on a future occasion. What stock of the pamphlets remained were hastily packed up and carried off to the "other side of the water" by John Morgan, one of Catnach's poets! while another forme, consisting of a Christmas-sheet, entitled "The Sun of Righteousness," was hurriedly got to press, and all hands were working away full of assumed innocence when the officers from Bow Street arrived at Monmouth-court, when, after a diligent search, they had very reluctantly to come to the conclusion that they were "a day behind the fair," and that the printer had been a little too sharp for them this time. But Mother Cummins did not mean to be so checkmated by Catnach and Co., and vowed to pursue him and his dirty blackguards to the end of the world and back again, and instructed her lawyers to serve him with several notices of action for libel, defamation of character, and, more particular, as she expressed it, for "_parjury_." Then Catnach became somewhat alarmed by her known vindictive disposition and long purse, that he consulted his own solicitor in the matter, who took "counsel's opinion" when an instant compromise at all costs, together with an ample apology, was recommended as the only safe way out of the dilemma; a course which was ultimately agreed to by both sides. An apology was drawn up and approved of, with the understanding that Catnach was, after paying all costs incurred to print the apology and publish the same on three several places in front of his business premises in Monmouth Court for fourteen clear days. All this--and more--Jemmy promised steadfastly to observe. Yet in effect, he evaded the conditions by printing the apology in small pica type and sticking the three copies so high up on the premises, that it would have required Sam Weller's "pair of double million magnifying gas microscopes of hextra power" to have been able to read the same. Immediately after Mother Cummins's death and funeral, March, 1828, the following announcement appeared:-- _Published this Day, Price Sixpence, embellished with a humorous Coloured Plate._ THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF MOTHER CUMMINS, The celebrated Lady Abbess of St. Giles's; with a curious Description, Regulations, &c., of her singular Establishment. An account of her Funeral, &c. Interspersed with numerous Anecdotes of Living Characters, Visitors of Mother Cummins's Nunnery,--Capt. Shiels and the Forty-four Nuns--Poll Hankey and Sir Charles Stanton,--Jane Sealey and an Illustrous Person, &c.--With an Account of some of the principal Nuns of the Establishment; particularly Mrs. Throgmorton and Lord Al...n..y--Bell Chambers and the D... of Y...,--Miss Wilkinson and Captain Featherstone--Marianne Hempstead, the Scotch Beauty--Miss Weltern Davis and the Rev. Mr. H...l..y Be..rs..d--Mary Thomas, the Female Chimney-Sweep, and Captain T...t...s, &c. THE TRIAL, SENTENCE, FULL CONFESSION, AND EXECUTION OF BISHOP & WILLIAMS, THE BURKERS. [Illustration] BURKING AND BURKERS. The month of November, 1831, will be recorded in the annals of crimes and cruelties as particularly pre-eminent, for it will prove to posterity that other wretches could be found base enough to follow the horrid example of Burke and his accomplice Hare, to entice the unprotected and friendless to the den of death for sordid gain. The horrible crime of "Burking," or murdering the unwary with the intention of selling their bodies at a high price to the anatomical schools, for the purpose of dissection, has unfortunately obtained a notoriety which will not be soon or easily forgotten. It took its horrifying appellation from the circumstances which were disclosed on the trial of the inhuman wretch Burke, who was executed at Edinburgh in 1829, for having wilfully and deliberately murdered several persons for the sole purpose of profiting by the sale of their dead bodies. APPREHENSION OF THE BURKERS. On Tuesday, November 8th, four persons vis., John Bishop, Thomas Williams, James May, and Michael Shield, were examined at Bow Street Police Office on the charge of being concerned in the wilful murder of an unknown Italian boy. From the evidence adduced, it appeared that May, _alias_ Jack Stirabout, a known resurrection-man, and Bishop, a body-snatcher, offered at King's College a subject for sale, Shield and Williams having charge of the body in a hamper, for which they demanded twelve guineas. Mr Partridge, demonstrator of anatomy, who, although not in absolute want of a subject, offered nine guineas, but being struck with its freshness sent a messenger to the police station, and the fellows were then taken into custody, examined before the magistrates, when Shield was discharged and the others ultimately committed for trial THE TRIAL. Friday, December 2nd, having been fixed for the trial of the prisoners charged with the murder of the Italian boy, the Court was crowded to excess so early as eight o'clock in the morning. At nine o'clock the Deputy Recorder, Mr Serjeant Arabin, came into the court, when the prisoners severally pleaded "Not Guilty." The Jury were then sworn, and at ten o'clock Chief Justice Tindal, Mr Baron Vaughan, and Mr Justice Littledale entered the Court, with the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs. The Bench was crowded with persons of rank, amongst whom was the Duke of Sussex. Mr Bodkin having opened the case, Mr Adolphus proceeded to state to the Jury the leading facts, as they were afterwards stated in the evidence produced. The case for the prosecution having closed, the prisoners were called upon for their defence. The prisoner Bishop in his defence stated that he was thirty-three years of age, and had followed the occupation of carrier till the last five years, during which he had occasionally obtained a livelihood by supplying surgeons with subjects. He most solemnly declared that he had never disposed of any body that had not died a natural death. Williams' defence briefly stated that he had never been engaged in the calling of a resurrectionist, but had only by accident accompanied Bishop on the sale of the Italian boy's body. May, in his defence, admitted that for the last six years he had followed the occupation of supplying the medical schools with anatomical subjects, but disclaimed ever having had anything to do with the sale of bodies which had not died a natural death. That he had accidentally met with Bishop at the Fortune of War public house on the Friday on which the body was taken for sale to Guy's Hospital. At eight o'clock the jury retired to consider their verdict and on their return they found the prisoners were Guilty of Murder. The Recorder then passed the awful sentence upon them. "That each of them be hanged on Monday morning, and their bodies be delivered over for dissection and anatomization." The prisoners heard the sentence as they had the verdict, without any visible alteration. May raised his voice, and in a firm tone said, "I am a murdered man, gentlemen." THE FULL CONFESSION OF BISHOP AND WILLIAMS. On Saturday morning Williams addressed a note to Mr Wontner, stating that he and Bishop wanted particularly to see him and Dr. Cotton, the Ordinary. In the course of the interview which immediately followed, both prisoners made a full confession of their guilt, both exculpating May altogether from being party to any of the murders. Having received the confessions, Mr Wontner immediately waited upon Mr Justice Littledale and Baron Vaughan, and upon communicating to them the statements, they said they would at once see the Home Secretary on the subject. On Sunday morning the Sheriffs visited all three of the prisoners in succession, and with the Under-Sheriffs were engaged between three and four hours in taking down the statements of the convicts. The result of all these investigations was that the same afternoon a respite during his Majesty's pleasure arrived at Newgate for May, and his sentence will be commuted to transportation for life. THE EXECUTION. During the whole of Sunday crowds of persons congregated in the Old Bailey, and the spot on which the scaffold was to be erected was covered with individuals conversing on the horrid crimes of the convicts, and in the course of the day strong posts were erected in the Old Bailey and at the ends of Newgate street Giltspur street, and Skinner street, for the purpose of forming barriers to break the pressure of the crowd. At half-past twelve o'clock the gallows was brought out from the yard, and drawn to its usual station opposite the Debtor's door. The crowd, as early as one o'clock amounting to several thousand persons, continued rapidly increasing. By some oversight three chains had been suspended from the fatal beam, and this led the crowd to suppose that May had not been respited. Mr. Wontnor, on hearing of the mistake, directed that one of the chains should be removed. The moment this was done an exclamation of "May is respited," ran through the crowd, and, contrary to the expected tokens of indignation, distinct cheers were heard amongst the crowd on witnessing this token that mercy had been shown to May. At half-past seven the Sheriffs arrived in their carriage, and in a short time the press-yard was thronged with gentlemen. The unhappy convicts were now led from their cells. Bishop cams out first, and after he was pinioned he was conducted to a seat, and the Rev. Mr. Williams sat alongside of him, and they conversed together in a low tone of voice. Williams was next introduced, and the wonderful alteration two days had effected in his appearance astonished everyone who was present at the trial. All the bold confidence he exhibited then had completely forsaken him, and he looked the most miserable wretch it is possible to conceive. He entered the room with a very faltering step, and when the ceremony of pinioning him commenced, he was so weak as to be scarcely able to stand. Everything being ready, the melancholy procession moved forward. Bishop was then conducted to the scaffold, and the moment he made his appearance the most dreadful yells and hootings were heard among the crowd. The executioner proceeded at once to the performance of his duty, and having put the rope round his neck and affixed it to a chain, placed him under the fatal beam. Williams was then taken out, and the groans and hisses were renewed. The dreadful preparations were soon completed, and in less than five minutes after the wretched men appeared on the scaffold the usual signal was given, the drop fell, and they were launched into eternity. Bishop appeared to die very soon, but Williams struggled hard. Thus died THE DREADFUL BURKERS OF 1831 Printed in London for the Venders. It may be remarked, _en passant_, that Mr. Corder, with Paragalli and Colla, the two Italian witnesses, who gave evidence as to the identity of the body, said to be that of the Italian boy, at the trial of Bishop, Williams, and May, appeared at Bow Street, in consequence of doubts being entertained by a portion of the public as to the body being that of Carlo Ferrari, to re-assert their former evidence. Mr. Corder afterwards published a statement in the "Times" newspaper, which gave scarcely the possibility of doubt that the body offered at King's College _must have been_ that of Ferrari notwithstanding the murderer's assertion to the contrary. On December the 10th, a _Post-obit_ prosecution of Williams, the Burkite murderer, took place in the Court of Excise, where he was charged, on information, with having carried on an illicit factory for making glass at No. 2, Nova Scotia Gardens, Bethnal Green. An officer proved the seizure of goods used in the manufacture of glass, at the house of the person charged, and that Bishop was at the time in company. The Court condemned the goods seized. A drama on the subject of the "Burkers" was produced at an unlicensed theatre, designated THE SHAKESPEARE, in the Kingsland Road, and not far from Shoreditch Church, and for a time was specially attractive. In the young actor, who played Carlo Ferrari, the Italian boy, might now be recognised an eminent tragedian.[10] [Illustration] Street-ballads on political subjects, though not regarded as of great interest by the whole body of the people, are still eventful among certain classes, and for such the street author and ballad singer cater. The measure of Reform by Earl Grey's administration, was proposed in the House of Commons by Lord John Russell, 1st March, 1831. On the first division, _second_ reading 22nd March, there stood for it, 302; against it, 301. Ultimately, the Bill for that session was abandoned, and Parliament dissolved. The Reform Bill of 1832 was read for the _third_ time on the 23rd of March, when the numbers stood thus:--for the Bill, 355; against it, 239--majority for it, 116. In the Lords, the Bill was carried through the Committee on the 30th of May, and read a _third_ time on the 4th of June. For the Bill, 106; against, 22--majority, 84. During the whole of the time the Reform Bills of 1831-2 were before the Houses of Parliament, the "Catnach Press," in common with other printing offices that produced street-literature, was very busy in publishing, almost daily, songs and papers in ridicule of borough-mongering and of the various rotten boroughs then in existence, but which were entirely swept away by the passing of this Bill; fifty-six boroughs in England being disfranchised, while thirty were reduced to one member only; twenty-two new boroughs were created to send two members, and twenty to send one member; other important changes were also made. Songs upon the subject were sung at every corner of the streets, to the great delight of the multitude. THE REFORM BILL. As William and _Bill_ are the same, Our King, if he "weathers the storm," Shall be called in the annals of fame, The _Glorious_ BILL _of Reform_! [Illustration] ATTACK ON KING WILLIAM IV. AT ASCOT HEATH, ON TUESDAY, THE 19TH OF JUNE, 1832. The Ascot Races for 1832 will be rendered memorable in the history of this country by reason of a stone thrown at his Majesty while on the grand stand at Ascot Races, which hit him on the forehead. The man by whom it was thrown was immediately secured, and proved to be Dennis Collins, a seaman with only one leg, formerly a pensioner of Greenwich Hospital, from whence he had been dismissed for ill-conduct. On his examination he confessed he committed the outrage in revenge because no notice had been taken of petitions which he had sent to the Lords of the Admiralty and the King. He was committed to Reading gaol to take his trial, which took place at Abingdon, on August 22nd. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on the fifth count, that of intending some bodily harm to his Majesty, but not guilty of the intent to kill. Mr. Baron Gurney passed sentence on the prisoner, that he _be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution_, and being hung by his _neck_ until dead, his _head_ be afterwards _severed from his body_, and his body _divided into four pieces_, and disposed of as his Majesty should think fit. His sentence was afterwards respited. Nothing better than the above circumstance could have suited the producers and workers of street-literature. King William and Queen Adelaide were very popular at the time. "Yes, sir, we all did well out of that job of the wooden-legged sailor and old King Billy. It lasted out for months. We had something fresh nearly every day. We killed old Billy five or six times; then we made out that the sailor-chap was a love-child of the Sailor King and Madame Vestris; then that he was an old sweetheart of Queen Adelaide's, and that he was jealous and annoyed at her a jilting of him and a-marrying of old King Billy, and so on. But it was an awful sell, and a robbery to us all, because they didn't hang and cut the chap up into four quarters--that would have been a regular Godsend to us chaps, sir. But I think old Jemmy Catnach, as it was, must have cleared pretty nigh or quite fifty pounds for himself out of the job. A-talking about Madame Vestris, sir, reminds me that once we had a song about her, and the chorus was:-- "'A hundred pounds reward For the man that cut the legs above the knees Belonging to Madame Vestris.'" [Illustration] The year 1837 produced two sensational murders and executions. The first case--that of Pegsworth--made a great stir, particularly in the east part of London. It was on the evening of the 9th of January, 1837, that a most atrocious and cold-blooded murder was committed in Ratcliff Highway. The individual who suffered was Mr. John Holliday Ready, who for some time carried on the trade of a tailor, draper, and milliner. John Pegsworth, was a messenger in the tea department of St. Katherine's Docks, he had formerly kept a small tobacconist's shop in the same street, and had contracted a debt of £1 with Mr. Ready, who being unable to obtain payment, took out a summons against him in the Court of Requests, Osborne-street, Whitechapel. The court gave judgement against Pegsworth for the full amount and costs, which he was ordered to pay by instalments. On the evening of the same day Pegsworth proceeded to a cutler's shop in Shadwell, where he bought a large pig-knife, armed with which he immediately repaired to the house of Mr. Ready for the purpose of executing his diabolical intention. He entered the shop, and having spoken to Mrs. Ready, passed on to the parlour and got into conversation with Mr. Ready. Pegsworth, although pressingly asked to do so, declined taking a seat, and after he had been talking about ten minutes in a calm and collected manner on the subject of the debt and the misfortunes he had met with in business, he pointedly asked Mr. Ready if he intended to enforce the payment of the debt? Ready said he should be compelled to issue an execution against his goods if the money was not paid. The words had scarcely left the lips of the unfortunate man than Pegsworth uttered some exclamation which is supposed to have been "Take that!" and plunged the knife with great force into his breast up to the hilt. Ready called out to his wife, "O, I am stabbed!" fell back in his chair, and almost immediately expired. Mrs. Ready, who saw Pegsworth move his arm, but was not aware her husband was stabbed until she saw him fall back, screamed aloud for assistance, and several of her neighbours rushed into the shop for the purpose of securing the murderer, who did not make the least attempt to escape, but having completed his purpose, withdrew the knife from the body of his victim, laid it on the table, and calmly awaited the arrival of the police. Pegsworth was tried at the Central Criminal Court of London on the 12th of February, and found guilty of wilful murder, and was executed in front of the debtor's door in the Old Bailey on the 9th of March following. * * * * * During the whole of the time that was occupied in the trial and execution of Pegsworth, a circumstance took place which excited an extraordinary sensation throughout the metropolis and its neighbourhood--namely, the discovery near the Pine Apple Gate, Edgware Road, of the trunk of a human being, tied up in a sack, dismembered of the arms, legs, and head. The utmost vigilance was exercised to trace out the murderer, but for several days no light was thrown upon the transaction. At length, on the 6th of January, as a barge was passing down the Regent's Canal, near Stepney, one of the eastern environs of London, the bargeman, to his unspeakable horror, fished up what proved to be a human head. Proper notice of this circumstance was forwarded to the police. It was now very generally supposed the head would prove to belong to the body found in the Edgware road, although at a distance of nearly five miles, and this conjecture proved to be correct. On the second of February the remaining portions of the human being was discovered in a sack in an osier bed, near Cold Harbour Lane, Camberwell. These mutilated remains were carefully matched together, and at length recognised as those of a Mrs. Brown, and suspicion fell, and justly so, upon James Greenacre and his paramour Sarah Gale. In respect to the last two murders we have cited, Mr. Henry Mayhew received from an old "running patterer" the following statement--"Pegsworth was an out-and-out lot. I did tremendous with him, because it happened in London, down Ratcliff Highway--that's a splendid quarter for working--there's plenty of feeling--but, bless you, some places you go to you can't move nohow, they've hearts like paving stones. They wouldn't have 'the papers' if you'd give them to 'em--especially when they knows you. Greenacre didn't sell so well as might have been expected, for such a diabolical out-and-out crime as he committed; but you see he came close after Pegsworth, and that took the beauty off him. Two murderers together is no good to nobody." In the Greenacre tragedy Catnach did a great amount of business, and as it was about the last "popular murder" in which he had any trade concern, we give a statement in respect to the sale of "Execution Papers," of the chief modern '_popular_' murders, thus:-- Of Rush murder 2,500,000 copies. Of the Mannings 2,500,000 " Of Courvoisier 1,666,000 " Of Greenacre 1,650,000 " Of Corder (Maria Marten) 1,166,000 " Of the Five Pirates (Flowery Land) 290,000 " Of Müller 280,000 " So that the printers and publishers of "Gallows" Literature in general, and "The Catnach Press" in particular must have reaped a golden harvest for many a long day, even when sold to the street patterers at the low rate of 3d. per _long_ dozen. [Illustration] LIFE, TRIAL, CONFESSION, & EXECUTION OF JAMES GREENACRE, FOR THE EDGEWARE ROAD MURDER. [Illustration] On the 22nd of April, James Greenacre was found guilty of the wilful murder of Hannah Brown, and Sarah Gale with being accessary after the fact. A long and connected chain of evidence was produced, which showed, that the sack in which the body was found was the property of Mr. Ward; that it was usually deposited in a part of the premises which led to the workshop, and could without observation have been carried away by him; that the said sack contained several fragments of shavings of mahogeny, such as were made in the course of business by Ward; and that it contained some pieces of linen cloth, which had been patched with nankeen; that this linen cloth matched exactly with a frock which was found on Greenacre's premises, and which belonged to the female prisoner. Feltham, a police-officer, deposed, that on the 25th of March he apprehended the prisoners at the lodgings of Greenacre; that on searching the trowsers pockets of that person, he took therefrom a pawnbroker's duplicate for two silk gowns, and from the fingers of the female prisoner two rings, and also a similar duplicate for two veils, and an old-fashioned silver watch, which she was endeavouring to conceal; and it was further proved that these articles were pledged by the prisoners, and that they had been the property of the deceased woman.--Two surgeons were examined, whose evidence was most important, and whose depositions were of the greatest consequence in throwing a clear light on the manner in which the female, Hannah Brown, met with her death. Mr. Birtwhistle deposed, that he had carefully examined the head; that the right eye had been knocked out by a blow inflicted while the person was living; there was also a cut on the cheek, and the jaw was fractured, these two last wounds were, in his opinion, produced after death; there was also a bruise on the head, which had occurred after death; the head had been separated by cutting, and the _bone sawed nearly through_, and then broken off; then were the marks of a saw, which fitted with a saw which was found in Greenacre's box. Mr. Girdwood, a surgeon, very minutely and skilfully described the appearances presented on the head, and showed incontestibly, that the head had been severed from the body _while the person was yet alive_; that this was proved by the retraction, or drawing back, of the muscles at the parts where they were separated by the knife, and further, by the blood-vessels being empty, the body was drained of blood. This part of the evidence produced a thrill of horror throughout the court, but Greenacre remained quite unmoved. After a most impressive and impartial summing up by the learned Judge, the jury retired, and, after the absence of a quarter of an hour, returned into court, and pronounced a verdict of "Guilty" against both the prisoners. The prisoners heard the verdict without evincing the least emotion, or the slightest change of countenance. After an awful silence of a few minutes, the Lord Chief Justice said they might retire, as they would be remanded until the end of the session. They were then conducted from the bar, and on going down the steps, the unfortunate female prisoner kissed Greenacre with every mark of tenderness and affection. The crowd outside the court on this day was even greater than on either of the preceding; and when the result of the trial was made known in the street, a sudden and general shout succeeded, ans continued huzzas were heard for several minutes. THE EXECUTION. At half past seven the sheriff arrived in his carriage, and in a short time the press-yard was thronged with gentlemen who had been admitted by tickets. The unhappy convict was now led from his cell. When he arrived in the press-yard, his whole appearance pourtrayed the utmost misery and spirit-broken dejection; his countenance haggard, and his whole frame agitated; all that self-possesion and fortitude which he displayed in the early part of his imprisonment, had utterly forsaken him, and had left him a victim of hopelessness and despair. He requested the executioner to give him as little pain as possible in the process of pinioning his arms and wrists; he uttered not a word in allusion to his crime; neither did he make any dying request, except that his spectacles might be given to Sarah Gale; he exhibited no sign of hope; he showed no symptom of reconciliation with his offended God! When the venerable ordinary preceded him in the solemn procession through the vaulted passage to the fatal drop, he was so overcome and unmanned, that he could not support himself without the aid of the assistant executioner. At the moment he ascended the faithless floor, from which he was to be launched into eternity, the most terrific yells, groans, and cheers were vociferated by the immense multitude surrounding the place of execution. Greenacre bowed to the sheriff, and begged he might not be allowed to remain long in the concourse; and almost immediately the fatal bolt was withdrawn, and, without a struggle he became a lifeless corse.--Thus ended the days of Greenacre, a man endowed with more than ordinary talents, respectably connected, and desirably placed in society; but a want of probity, an absolute dearth of principle, led him on from one crime to another, until at length he perpetrated the sanguinary deed which brought his career to an awful and disgraceful period, and which has enrolled his name among the most notorious of those who have expiated their crime on the gallows. On hearing the death-bell toll, Gale became dreadfully agitated; and when she heard the brutal shouts of the crowd of spectators, she fainted, and remained in a state of alternate mental agony and insensibility throughout the whole day. After having been suspended the usual time, his body was cut down, and buried in a hole dug in one of the passages of the prison, near the spot where Thistlewood and his associate were deposited. Catnach received a very indifferent education, and that little at the establishment of Mr. Goldie, in Alnwick, where his attendance was very irregular, and this drawback assisted very much in blunting his relish for the higher walks of literature. The father had not carried out the heavenly injunction so much practised in Scotland, by giving to his son the best of blessings--"a good education." Jemmy had a tenacious love of money, and this propensity he retained throughout life. As a man of business he was rough and brusque in his manners, but this mattered little, as his trade lay amongst a class who were low and insensitive in their habits and modes of living. The productions issued at the "Catnach Press" were not destined to rank high in the annals of literature; and they bear a sorry appearance when placed alongside of several works of a similar kind, which were printed at the same period in many parts of the kingdom. In this respect Jemmy Catnach was very unlike his father, for, whilst the former had a niggardly turn in all his dealings, the latter was naturally inclined to the reverse. One class of literature which Jemmy Catnach made--by reason of greater mechanical skill and a larger capital than his rivals--almost his own, was children's farthing, halfpenny, and penny books. Among the great many that he published we select from our own private collection, those that follow as a fair sample. Many other nursery books of a similar kind might be mentioned as some of the chief attractions that emanated from the "Catnach Press," and which, to the juvenile population, were more eagerly welcomed than the great sensational three-volume novels are by many in our day. "THE CATNACH PRESS." [Illustration] A COLLECTION OF JUVENILE BOOKS. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JAMES CATNACH, LATE OF MONMOUTH COURT, SEVEN DIALS, LONDON. [Illustration: JAMES CATNACH TO HIS JUVENILE READERS. Little Boys and Girls will find At CATNACH'S something to their mind, From great variety may choose, What will instruct them and amuse; The prettiest plates that you can find, To please at once the eye and mind, In all his little books appear, In natural beauty, shining clear, Instruction unto youth when given, Points the path from earth to heaven. He sells by Wholesale and Retail. To suit all moral tastes can't fail.] Nurse Love-Child's LEGACY [Illustration] LONDON: Printed by J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. 2 [Illustration] The Lion and the unicorn, Were fighting for the crown, The lion beat the unicorn, All round about the town, Some gave them white bread And some gave them brown, Some gave them plum cake And sent them out of town. 3 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] What is the news of the day, Good neighbour I pray, They say the balloon, Is gone up to the moon. 4 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] The little mouse Doth skip and play, He runs by night, And sleeps by day. 5 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] This is the Cat That killed the Cock, For waking her At five o'clock. 6 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] And this is the Dog That bit the thief, For stealing all His master's beef. 7 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] Who comes here A Grenadier, What do you want A pot of beer, Where's your money I've forgot. Get you gone You drunken sot. 8 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] Be not a glutton when you eat, But spare some for the needy, Or people will, when filled with meat, Say, like a wolf, you are greedy. 9 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] There was a little man, And he had a little gun, And his bullets were made of lead, He shot John Sprig Thro' the middle of his wig, And knock'd it off his head. 10 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] Now what do you think Of little Jack Jingle, Before he was married, He used to live single. But after he married, To alter his life, He left off living single And lived with his wife. 11 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. Tom Trueby was a good and sensible boy, who neither played the truant nor kept company with naughty children. He did not like tossing up nor chuck up farthing, because he thought it might lead him to love gaming, when he was grown up; but he liked very well to play at ball or top, and most particularly at marbles, at which he was very clever, never cheated, and played so well that he used to teach the neighbouring children. 12 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] And here you see him instructing Master Manly, a Baronet's son in the place, as he did in matters of more consequence, and behaved so well towards him, that he was his friend all his lifetime. 13 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. Fire-Works and Crackers. [Illustration] Fire-Works are things that look very pretty when they are properly managed by those who understand them, but children ought to take care how they meddle with gunpowder lest they should hurt themselves or other people. 14 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. Tom Hazard for example was always fond of playing with serpents crackers &c. At one time he was near doing damage by his fireworks falling into a cellar, and at another time as you see in the cut he so much frightened one of his schoolfellows that he fell down, and put his ancle out, for which Tom was severely corrected and you must own he richly deserved it. [Illustration] 15 NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] See the Mother, Good and mild, How she plays With her dear Child. NURSE LOVECHILD'S LEGACY. [Illustration] See the Maid By kindness led, To feed the Fowls With crumbs of bread. FINIS. J. Catnach, Printer. THE GOLDEN PIPPIN. [Illustration] LONDON: Printed by J. Catnach. 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. 2 THE Lord's Prayer. [Illustration] Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven, Give us this Day our daily Bread, and forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us, and lead us not into Temptation, but deliver us from Evil. For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the Glory, for ever and ever. Amen. [Illustration] 3 [Illustration] A Was an Arch Boy. [Illustration] B A Beauty was. 4 [Illustration] C A comely Wench but Coy. [Illustration] D A Dainty Lass. 5 [Illustration] E Loved Eggs, and eat his fill. [Illustration] F Was full and fat. 6 [Illustration] G Had Grace and wit at will. [Illustration] H Wore a Gold Lace Hat. 7 [Illustration] I Stands for little Jackys name. [Illustration] K For Kitty Fair. 8 [Illustration] L Loved Learning & got fame. [Illustration] M Was his Mother dear. 9 [Illustration] N Was naughty & oft crying. [Illustration] O An Only Child. 10 [Illustration] P Was pretty Peggy sighing. [Illustration] Q Was a Quaker mild. 11 [Illustration] R Was Rude, & in disgrace. [Illustration] S Stands for Sammy Still. 12 [Illustration] T For ever talked a-pace. [Illustration] V Was fond of Veal. 13 [Illustration] W He watched the house & hall. [Illustration] X Does like a Cross appear. 14 [Illustration] Y A Youth well shaped & tall. [Illustration] Z Whips up the Rear. 15 Let all good children come to me, And I'll learn them their A B C [Illustration] And when your Great Letters you know, Then I'll teach you the Small also. [Illustration] J. Catnach, Printer. JERRY DIDDLE, AND HIS FIDDLE. [Illustration] _If you are bad I pray reform, And praise will all Your acts adorn._ London: Printed by J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. 2 JERRY DIDDLE. Bought a fiddle, To play to little boys, He wax'd his string, And began to sing, Youth is the time for joys. [Illustration] He went to a pig, and play'd a jig. 3 The pigs did grunt for joy, Till the farmer came out, And made a great rout, Saying "Off, or I'll cane you, my boy." [Illustration] He met an old woman to market a prancing, He took out his fiddle, and set her a dancing. 4 She broke all her eggs, And dirtied her butter; At which her old husband Began for to splutter. [Illustration] Oh! then, said Jerry, I'll soon make you merry. 5 And the way with his fiddle he led, The old man heard the tune, As he sat in his room, And danc'd on top of his head. [Illustration] 6 [Illustration] He next met a barber, With powder and wig, He play'd him a tune, And he shaved an old pig. 7 [Illustration] Then up in his arms He carried the boar, And went to the ale-house, To dance on the floor. 8 [Illustration] He met an old man, With beer in a can, And a bundle of clothes on his shoulder, He bade Jerry play, And threw all away, To astonish each gaping beholder. 9 [Illustration] He went to a tailor, Who was ill in bed; When he got up to dance, With a goose on his head. 10 [Illustration] He went to a fishwomen, Tippling of gin, When she like a top, Began for to spin. 11 [Illustration] The publican star'd, As he fill'd out the glasses, But when Jerry play'd, He danc'd with the lasses. 12 [Illustration] He next met an old man, With beard white and long, Who laugh'd at poor Jerry, And scoff'd at his song. 13 [Illustration] His name was Instruction, The friend of the wise, Who teaches good youth, To win honor's prize. 14 [Illustration] He broke Jerry's fiddle, And taught him to read, And told him that honor Would daily succeed. 15 [Illustration] Jerry now is a lad At school always true, The joy of his friends, And a pattern for you. [Illustration] Be instructed by him, To avoid folly's snare, And your bosom thro' life, Will escape every care. FINIS. JUMPING JOAN. [Illustration] Here am I, little Jumping Joan, When nobody's with me, I'm always alone. London: Printed by J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. 2 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Joan had a dog, and Joan had a cat, Look at them both, see How pretty they're sat. 3 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Joan she lov'd skipping, And was not at a loss, At jumping or hopping, Or going a cross. 4 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Joan had a parrot Could chatter and bawl, But Joan could talk faster, And longer withal. 5 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Joan's dog, Prinny, No learning did lack, He'd carry Poll in his mouth And Puss on his back. 6 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] As Joan lov'd jumping, She learned her cat, Look at them both, And see what they're at. 7 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Here's Pussy a washing Joan's linen you know, She could wash for herself A long while ago. 8 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Now Prinny, Joan's dog, To market would go, But what he'll bring back, I'm sure I don't know. 9 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Here's Pussy drest out Like a lady so gay, She's going to court, if She finds but the way. 10 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Here's Prinny and Pussy To dancing have got, While Joan plays a tune On the lid of a pot. 11 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Here's Joan with a whip, Taking very long strides, And vows if she finds 'em, She'll bang both their hides. 12 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Here's Prinny with gun, Sword and gorget so smart, He's going to France, To fight Bonaparte. 13 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] And Joan's threat had fill'd Poor Prin with alarms, He said he'd not fight, And so grounded his arms. 14 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Then Puss in a fright Ran back to the house, She pull'd off her clothes, And has just caught a mouse. 15 _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] Then Joan she came in, Call'd the cat saucy puss, And said Prin was a puppy, To frighten her thus. _Jumping Joan._ [Illustration] They fell on their knees, Her pardon to crave, And promis'd in future, They'd better behave. J. Catnach, Printer. [Illustration] This Milk Maid and Book for a halfpenny. [Illustration] TO THE Juvenile Reader. Little Boys and Girls will find At CATNACH'S something to their mind. From great variety may choose, What will instruct them and amuse; The prettiest plates that you can find, To please at once the eye and mind, In all his little books appear, In natural beauty, shining clear, Instruction unto youth when given, Points the path from earth to heaven. He sells by Wholesale and Retail, To suit all moral tastes can't fail. THE Butterfly's Ball, AND Grasshopper's Feast. [Illustration] _Come take up your hats, And away let us haste, To the Butterfly's Ball, Or the Grasshoppers Feast._ J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. [Illustration] THE BUTTERFLY'S BALL AND Grasshopper's Feast. [Illustration] The trumpeter Gad-fly, Has summon'd the crew, And the revels are now, Only waiting for you. [Illustration] On the smooth shaved grass, By the side of a wood. Beneath a broad oak, Which for ages had stood. [Illustration] See the children of earth, And the tenants of air, To an evening's amusement, Together repair. [Illustration] And there came the Beetle, So blind and so black, And carried the Emmet, His friend on his back. [Illustration] And there came the Gnat, And the Dragon-fly too, And all their relations-- Green, orange and blue. [Illustration] And there came the Moth With her plume of down, And the Hornet with jacket Of yellow and brown. [Illustration] Who with him the Wasp, His companion did bring, But they promised that evening To lay by their sting. [Illustration] The sly little Dormouse, Peep'd out of his hole, And led to the feast, His blind cousin the Mole. [Illustration] And the Snail with his horns, Peeping out of a shell. Came fatigued with the distance, The length of an ell. [Illustration] A Mushroom the table, And on it was spread, A water-dock leaf, Which their table-cloth made. [Illustration] The viands were various, To each of their taste, And the Bee brought the honey, To sweeten the feast [Illustration] With steps most majestic, The Snail did advance, And he promised the gazers A minuet to dance. [Illustration] But they all laugh'd so loud, That he drew in his head, And went in his own Little chamber to bed. [Illustration] Then as the evening gave way To the shadows of night, Their watchman the glow-worm Came out with his light. [Illustration] So home let us hasten, While yet we can see, For no watchman is waiting, For you or for me. J. Catnach, Printer. [Illustration] A halfpenny Pay and take honest Tray. Let all good children come to me, And I'll learn them their A B C [Illustration] [Illustration: THE _Easter Gift_; BEING A USEFUL TOY FOR _Little Miss & Master_ TO LEARN THEIR ABC J. Catnach, Printer, 2, & 3, Monmouth-Court, 7 Dials.] [Illustration] A Was an Archer and shot at a frog, But missing his mark shot into a bog. [Illustration] B Was a Butcher and had a great dog, Who always went round the streets with a clog. [Illustration] C Was a Captain so brave and so grand, He headed in buff the stately train'd band. [Illustration] D Was a Drunkard and lov'd a full pot, His face and his belly shew'd him a great sot. [Illustration] E Was an Esquire, both lofty and proud, His servant was softy though he was full loud. [Illustration] F Was a Farmer and followed the plough, And gathered good from the sweat of his brow. [Illustration] G Was a Gamester, and oft would he play, A poor single ace against a bold tray. [Illustration] H Hunted the buck, and likewise the doe, The hart and the fox, and also the roe. [Illustration] I Was an Image set up at Rome, Many that see it were better at home. [Illustration] J Was a Joiner and built him a house, A little time after there came in a mouse. [Illustration] K Was a King, who would drink and carouse, Affrighted was he at a stand and a mouse. [Illustration] L Was a Lady that lov'd a fine tree, Though none understood it so little as she. [Illustration] M Was a Merchant to foreign lands gone. To bring home fine tea and rich silks anon. [Illustration] N Was a Noble of birth and high power, To the poor most gentle, to the haughty most sour. [Illustration] O With her Oysters, a delicate cry. Come buy my sweet Oyster, come buy, come buy. [Illustration] P Was a Parson, and wore a black gown, For goodness and virtue of high renown. [Illustration] Q Was a Quaker, both stiff and upright, In yea and nay they chiefly delight. [Illustration] R Was a Robber on the highway, For which he's been hung this many a day. [Illustration] S Was a Sailor and liv'd in a ship, He made the Spaniards and French for to skip. [Illustration] T Was Tom Tinker and mended a kettle, While he was hammering was deaf as a beetle. [Illustration] U Was an Undertaker at work for his bread. The living must pay, though he works for the dead. [Illustration] V Was a Vintner that loved his pottle, Went seldom to bed without his full bottle. [Illustration] W Was a Watchman, to guard the warehouse, That rogues did not strip it of every souse. [Illustration] X Was expensive, and so became poor, With his little dog begged from door to door. [Illustration] Y Was a Youngster that lov'd not his school, But trundled his hoop though out of all rule. [Illustration] Z Was a Zany that look'd like a fool, With his long tassell'd cap he was the boy's fool. And when your great letters you know, Then I'll teach you the small ones also. [Illustration] Printed by J. Catnach. THE Tragical Death OF AN _Apple Pie_, [Illustration] Who was Cut to Pieces AND EATEN BY _Twenty-Five Gentlemen_, WITH WHOM All Little People OUGHT TO BE ACQUAINTED PRINTED BY J. PAUL & Co., LONDON; _2 & 3, Monmouth Court_. [Illustration] An apple pie when it looks nice, Would make one long to have a slice, And if its taste should prove so too, I fear one slice would scarcely do, So to prevent my asking twice, Pray mamma, cut a good large slice. [Illustration] THE LIFE AND DEATH OF AN APPLE PIE. [Illustration] A An Apple-pie. B Bit it. [Illustration] C Cut it. D Dealt it. [Illustration] E Did eat it. F Fought for it. [Illustration] G Got it. H Had it. [Illustration] J Join'd for it. K Kept it. [Illustration] L Long'd for it. M Mourned for it. [Illustration] N Nodded at it. O Open'd it. [Illustration] P Peeped into it. Q Quartered it. [Illustration] R Ran for it. S Stole it. [Illustration] T Took it. V View'd it. [Illustration] W Wanted it. XYZ and & All wished for a piece in hand. [Illustration] At last they every one agreed, Upon the apple pie to feed; But as there seem'd to be so many, Those who were last might not have any, Unless some method there was taken That every one might have their bacon, They all agreed to stand in order, Around the apple pie's fine border, Take turn as they in hornbook stand From great A down to &, In equal parts the pie divide, As you may see on the other side. [Illustration] _A curious Discourse that passed between the Twenty-five Letters at dinner time._ A 1. Says, A, give me a good large slice. B 2. Says B, a little bit but nice. C 3. Says C, cut me a piece of crust. D 4. Take it, says D, 'tis dry as dust. E 5. Says E, I'll eat it fast, who will? F 6. Says F, I vow I'll have my fill. G 7. Says G, give it me both good and great. H 8. Says H, a little bit I hate. I 9. Says I, I love the juice the best. K 10. And K, the very same confess'd. L 11. Says L, there's nothing more I love. M 12. Says M, it makes your teeth to move. N 13. N notic'd what the others said, O 14. O, others plates with grief survey'd. P 15. P prais'd the cook up to the life. Q 16. Q quarrell'd because he'd a bad knife. R 17. Says R, it runs short I'm afraid. S 18. S, silent sat and nothing said. T 19. T, thought that talking might lose time. U 20. U understood it at meals a crime. W 21. W wish'd there had been a quince in. X 22. Says X, those cooks there's no convincing. Y 23 Says Y, I'll eat, let others wish. Z 24. Z sat as mute as any fish. & 25. While & he lick'd the dish. Having concluded their discourse and dinner together, I have nothing more to add; but if my little readers are pleased with what they have found in this book they have nothing to do but to run to J. Paul & Co's., 2, & 3, Monmouth Court; 7 Dials, where they may have a great variety of books not less entertaining than this of the same size and price. [Illustration] But that you may not think I leave you too abruptly, I here present you with the picture of dame Dumpling, who made the Apple pie you have been reading about; she has several more in her basket, and she promised that if you are good children you shall never go to bed supperless while she has one left. But as good people always ask a blessing, as a token that you are good and deserve a pie, you must learn the two following Graces, that one be said before your meals, and the other after. * * * * * _Grace before Meat._ Good Lord, bless us, and these thy creatures, to our use, which we are about to receive, of thy bounteous liberality, through Jesus Christ our Lord. _Amen._ _Grace after Meat._ We thank thee, O Lord, for all the benefits of this time, and of our whole lives. Make us thankful for all thy mercies now, and for evermore. _Amen._ [Illustration] THE TEN COMMANDMENTS PUT INTO SHORT RHYME. 1. Thou shalt have no other God but me. 2. Before no idol bow thy knee. 3. Take not the name of God it vain. 4. Nor dare the Sabbath-day profane. 5. Give both thy parents honour due. 6. Take heed that thou no murder do. 7. Abstain from words and deeds unclean. 8. Steal not, tho' thou art poor and mean. 9. Tell not a wilful lie, nor love it. 10. What is thy neighbour's, dare not covet. J. Paul & Co., Printers. OLD MOTHER HUBBARD AND HER WONDERFUL DOG. [Illustration] Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard To get the poor dog a bone; But when she came there the cupboard was bare, And so the poor dog had none. LONDON: Printed by J. CATNACH, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. [Illustration] She went to the baker's to buy him some bread, When she came back the dog was dead. Ah! my poor dog, she cried, oh, what shall I do? You were always my pride--none equal to you. [Illustration] She went to the undertaker's to buy him a coffin, When she came back, the dog was laughing. Now how this can be quite puzzles my brain, I am much pleased to see you alive once again. [Illustration] She went to the barber's to buy him a wig, When she came back he was dancing a jig. O, you dear merry grig, how nicely you're prancing; Then she held up the wig, and he began dancing. [Illustration] She went to the sempstress to buy him some linen, When she came back the dog was spinning. The reel, when 'twas done, was wove into a shirt, Which served to protect him from weather and dirt. [Illustration] To market she went, to buy him some tripe, When she came back he was smoking his pipe. Why, sure, cried the dame, you'd beat the great Jocko. Who before ever saw a dog smoking tobacco? [Illustration] She went to the alehouse to buy him some beer, When she came back he sat on a chair. Drink hearty, said Dame, there's nothing to pay, 'Twill banish your sorrow and moisten your clay. [Illustration] She went to the fruiterer's to buy him some fruit, When she came back he was playing the flute. Oh, you musical dog, you surely can speak: Come, sing me a song, then he set up a squeak. [Illustration] She went to the tavern for white wine and red, When she came back he stood on his head. This is odd, said the dame, for fun you seem bred, One would almost believe you'd wine in your head. [Illustration] The dog he cut capers, and turned out his toes, 'Twill soon cure the vapours, he such attitude shows. The dame made a curtsey, the dog made a bow, The dame said, Your servant, the dog said Bow wow. [Illustration] THE Royal Book. [Illustration] OF Nursery Rhymes. A present for little Masters and Misses. A Good Book to Instruct and Amuse. [Illustration] Pussy-Cat, pussy-cat, where have you been? I've been up to London to look at the queen. Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, what did you there? I frighten'd a little mouse under the chair. London: Published by RYLE and PAUL, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Seven Dials. NURSERY RHYMES. [Illustration] See-saw, sacradown, Which is the way to London town? One foot up, and the other down, And that is the way to London town. [Illustration] Hey diddle, the cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see the sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon. Ding, dong, bell! Pussy's in the well. Who put her in? Little Johnny Green. Who pulled her out? Little Johnny Snout, What a naughty boy was that, To drown poor pussy cat, Who never did him any harm, And kill'd the mice in his father's barn. [Illustration] Jack and Jill went up the hill, To get a pail of water: Jack fell down and broke his crown, And Jill came tumbling after. [Illustration] Cock a doodle do, The dame has lost her shoe, And master's lost his fiddle stick And don't know what to do. Simple Simon met a pieman, Going to the fair! Says Simple Simon to the pieman, Let me taste your ware. [Illustration] Says the pieman unto Simon First give me a penny; Says Simple Simon to the pieman, I have not got any. Once Simon made a great snow ball And brought it in to roast, He laid it down before the fire, And soon the ball was lost. [Illustration] He went to ride a spotted cow, That had a little calf, She threw him down upon the ground And made all the people laugh. Now Simple Simon went a fishing, For to catch a whale, But all the water he had got Was in his mother's pail. [Illustration] He went to catch a dickey bird And thought he could not fail Because he had a bit of salt, To put upon his tail. He went to see if cherries ripe, Did grow upon a thistle, He pricked his finger very much, Which made poor Simon whistle. [Illustration] He went to take a bird's nest, 'Twas built upon a bough, A branch gave way, down Simon fell Into a dirty slough. Simon was sent to market, To buy a joint of meat, He tied it to his horse's tail, To keep it clean and sweet. [Illustration] He went to slide upon the ice, Before the ice would bear, Then he plunged in above his knees, Which made poor Simon stare. He went to shoot a wild duck, But the duck flew away, Says Simon I can't hit him, Because he would not stay. [Illustration] Then Simple Simon went a hunting, For to catch a hare, He rode an ass about the street, But could not find one there. He went for water in a seive, But soon it all run through, And went all o'er his clothes, Which made poor Simon rue. [Illustration] He washed himself with blacking ball, Because he had no soap, And then said to his mother I'm a beauty now I hope. He went to eat some honey, Out of the mustard pot, It bit his tongue until he cried, That was all the good he got. [Illustration] Simple Simon cutting his mother's bellows open to see where the wind lay. JACK JINGLE. [Illustration] Little Jack Jingle, Played truant at school, They made his bum tingle For being a fool; He promised no more Like a fool he would look But be a good boy and attend to his book. [Illustration] See little Jack Jingle Learning his task, He's a very good boy, If the neighbours should ask, To school he does run, And no truant does play, But when school is done, He can laugh and be gay. [Illustration] Here sulky Sue, What shall we do. Turn her face to the wall, Till she comes to; If that should fail, A touch with the cane Will do her good, When she feels the pain. [Illustration] Now Suky never pouts, Never frowns, never flouts, But reads her book with glee, Then dances merrily, No girl so good as she, In all the country; Cheerfully doth all things do, She lost the name of sulky Sue. [Illustration] Jack Jingle went 'prentice, To make a horse-shoe, He wasted the iron, Till it would not do, His master came in, And began for to rail; Says Jack, the shoe's spoil'd, But 'twill still make a nail. [Illustration] Little Jack Jingle, Went to court Suky Shingle, Says he, shall we mingle Our toes in the bed; Fye! Jacky Jingle, Says little Suke Shingle, We must try to mingle, Our pence for some bread. [Illustration] Suke Shingle when young, Did what others have done, She could dirty two clouts, While her mother wash'd one. But now grown a stout wench, With her pail and her mop, If she don't clean the board, She can make a great slop. [Illustration] Suky you shall be my wife, And I'll tell you why; I have got a little pig, And you have got a sty; I have got a dun cow, And you can make good cheese, Suky will you have me? Say yes, if you please. DEATH & BURIAL OF COCK ROBIN. [Illustration] Who kill'd Cock Robin? I said the sparrow, With my bow and arrow. I kill'd Cock Robin. Who caught his blood? I, said the fish, With my little dish-- I caught his blood. [Illustration] This is the fish That held the dish. Who saw him die? I, said the fly With my little eye-- I saw him die. [Illustration] This is the fly That saw him die. Who made his shroud? I, said the beetle, With my little needle-- I made his shroud. [Illustration] This is the beetle, With his little needle. Who'll be the Parson? I, said the rook, With my little book-- I will be the Parson. [Illustration] Here is Parson Rook, Reading his book. Who'll carry the coffin? I, said the Kite, If it's not in the night-- I'll carry the coffin. [Illustration] Behold the Kite, How he takes his flight. Who'll be the clerk? I, said the Lark, If its not in the dark-- I will be the clerk. [Illustration] Behold how the Lark, Says Amen like a clerk. Who will carry the link? I, said the linnet: I'll fetch it in a minute-- I will carry the link. [Illustration] The Linnet with a light, Altho' it is not night. LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. [Illustration] And now her riding hood is on, How pretty she does look; _Mamma_ made it to keep her warm Because she learn'd her book; So be good girls all who hear this And boys be good also, And your _Mammas_ will give you all Great coats and hoods, I know. [Illustration] You see this pot of butter nice, And likewise this plum-cake, Which little _Biddy's_ dear _mamma_ For _grandmamma_ did make: Who lived in a little house, A mile or two away, And _Red Riding Hood_ must take them, To _Grandmamma_ next day [Illustration] The morning come--the hood put on, The pot and cake she took, _Biddy_, good bye--good bye, _mamma_ And then her hand she shook: And so set off for _grandmamma's_ _Mamma_ stood at the door, And watched her little _Biddy_ till She could see her no more. [Illustration] Now in the road to _grandma's_ house, A lonesome wood there lay, And _Goffip Wolf_ popp'd from a bush, And stopp'd her in the way He was a fierce and cruel beast, And would have eat her there, But turning of his head about, He found he did not dare. [Illustration] I'm going to my _grandmamma's_, She is not very well, With cake and pot of butter; Says _Wolf_ where does she dwell? In yonder house, by yonder mill Good bye--I cannot stay-- And with her pretty finger, she Pointed out the way. [Illustration] The _Wolf_ got first to grandma's door, And knocked toc, toc, toc; Who is that, said _grandmamma_, That at the door doth knock; 'Tis your _grandaughter_, said the _Wolf_ And mimic'd Biddy's voice, _Mamma_ has sent you a plumb cake, And pot of butter nice. [Illustration] Now _grandmamma_ being very ill, She on the bed did lie, And called out, the bobbin pull, And up the latch will fly; The bobbin pull'd, up flew the latch, The _Wolf_ popp'd in his head And soon he eat up _grandmamma_ And then got into bed. [Illustration] Toc, toc, toc, at _grandma's_ door Knocked _Little Red Riding Hood_, Who's there, says _Wolf_, and with a voice, Like _grandma's_ as he could; 'Tis your _grandaughter_, little _Bid_ With cake and pot of butter; The bobbin pull, the latch will fly, The wicked _Wolf_ did mutter. CINDERELLA. [Illustration] Here Cinderella you may see A beauty bright and fair, Her real name was Helena, Few with her could compare Besides she was so very good, So affable and mild, She learned to pray and read her book, Like a very good child. [Illustration] Her mother-in-law you see, One of the worst of hags, Who made her do all drudgery work. And clothed her in rags; And after she had done her work, Her mother-in-law would tell her The cinders she might sit among, Then call'd her Cinderella. [Illustration] These are her two sisters-in-law, Both deformed & ordinary, Altho' they dress as fine as queens, Which you may think extraordinary; But neither of them scarce can read, Nor pray to God to bless'em They only know to patch and paint, And gaudily to dress'em, [Illustration] This is the king's fine gallant son, Young, handsome, straight and tall He invited all the ladies round For to dance at his ball; Which when the ugly sisters heard They dress'd themselves so fine, And off they set, being resolv'd At this grand ball to shine. [Illustration] Her god-mother came to lend her aid, And her power is not small To help her god-daughter to go To this fine prince's ball. This coach was once a pumpkin, By the fairy changed from that, The footmen once were lizards green, The coachman once a rat. [Illustration] Now having danced with the prince, He led her to her place, While all the ladies at the ball Envied her handsome face; Behold the clock now striking twelve, Out Cinderella run, And happily got out of door Just as the clock had done. [Illustration] But in her haste to get away, One of her slippers fell, Which the young prince himself pick'd up, And it pleased him so well, That straight he offer'd a reward, It was ten thousand pound, To any person that could tell Where the owner could be found. [Illustration] And now the sisters tried in vain The slipper to get on; Said Cinderella, let me try, Dear sisters, when you've done; She tried, and on it went with ease To the foot of Cinderella, Said She, I think the slipper's mine, See here I've got the fellow. THE CHILD'S NEW YEAR'S GIFT. [Illustration] _A pair of Spectacles._ Without a bridle or a saddle, Across a thing I ride and straddle. And those I ride by help of me, Tho' almost blind are made to see. [Illustration] _A pair of Stays._ My legs I can venture, To say within bound, Are twelve, if not more, Tho' they ne'er touch the ground; If you search for my eyes, More than thirty you'll find And strange to be told They are always behind. [Illustration] _A Pin._ And tho' I'm a brazen-fac'd sharper at best, No lady without my aid can be drest, When I'm wanted, I'm dragg'd by the head to my duty And am doomed to be slave to the dress of a beauty. [Illustration] _A letter M._ I'm found in most countries, Yet not in earth or sea, I am in all timber, Yet not in any tree, I am in all metals, Yet, as I am told, I am not in iron, lead, Brass, silver, nor gold. [Illustration] _A Pair of Snuffers._ A mouth I have got, that's not whiter than ink. And all I devour doth most nauseously stink; So much valued am I, that by none I'm refused, And the light shines the brighter whenever I'm used. [Illustration] _A Watch._ My form is beauteous to allure the sight My habit gay, of colour gold & white, When ladies take the air, it is my pride, To walk with equal paces by their side, I near their persons constantly remain, A favourite slave, bound in a golden chain. [Illustration] _A Wheelbarrow._ No mouth, no eyes, nor yet a nose, Two arms, two feet, and as it goes, The feet don't touch the ground, But all the way the head runs round. And tho' I can both speak and go alone, Yet are my motions to myself unknown. [Illustration] _A Salamander._ What all consumes best pleases me, I covet that which others flee, Strange thing to tell, unhurt I lie And live, where all the world would die. Printed by A. Ryle & Paul. THE GOOD CHILD'S ILLUSTRATED ALPHABET OR FIRST BOOK. [Illustration] LONDON: Published by RYLE & PAUL, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Seven Dials. [Illustration: A] Was an Archer, Who shot at a frog. [Illustration: B] Was a Butcher, And kept a great dog. [Illustration: C] Was a Captain, All covered with lace. [Illustration: D] Was a Drunkard And had a red face. [Illustration: E] Was an Esquire, With insolent brow. [Illustration: F] Was a Farmer, And Followed the plough. [Illustration: G] Was a Gamester, Who had but ill-luck. [Illustration: H] Was a Huntsman, And hunted a buck. [Illustration: I] Was an Inn-keeper, Who loved to bouse. [Illustration: J] Was a Joiner, And built up a house. [Illustration: K] Was King William, Once governed this land. [Illustration: L] Was a Lady, who Had a white hand. [Illustration: M] Was a Miser, And hoarded up gold. [Illustration: N] Was a Nobleman, Gallant and bold. [Illustration: O] Was an Oyster-wench, And went about town. [Illustration: P] Was a Parson, and Wore a black gown. [Illustration: Q] Was a Queen, Who was fond of flip. [Illustration: R] Was a Robber, And wanted a whip. [Illustration: S] Was a Sailor, Who spent all he got. [Illustration: T] Was a Tinker, And mended a pot. [Illustration: U] Was a Usurer, A miserly elf. [Illustration: V] Was a Vinter, who Drank all himself. [Illustration: W] Was a Watchman, And guarded the door. [Illustration: X] Was Expensive, And so became poor. [Illustration: Y] Was a Youth, Who did not love school. [Illustration: Z] Was a Zany, A silly old fool. THE ALPHABET. The Letters promiscuously arranged. D B C F G E H A X U Y M V W N K P J O Z Q I S L T R z w x o c l y b b f p s m q n v h k r t g e j a u i Double and Triple Letters. fi fl ff ffi ffl fi fl fff ffi fl Diphthongs, &c. AE OE æ oe & &c. Æ OE ae oe and _et cætera_ Arabic Numerals. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Roman Numerals. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. [Illustration] THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF DICK TURPIN. [Illustration] London: W. S. FORTEY, PRINTER & PUBLISHER, MONMOUTH COURT, BLOOMSBURY, W.C. THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF DICK TURPIN. RICHARD TURPIN was born at Hempstead, in Essex, where his father kept the sign of the Bell; and after being the usual time at school, he was bound apprentice to a butcher in Whitechapel, but did not serve out his time, for his master discharged him for impropriety of conduct, which was not in the least diminished by his parents' indulgence in supplying him with money, which enabled him to cut a figure round the town, among the blades of the road and the turf, whose company he usually kept. His friends, thinking that marriage would reclaim him, persuaded him to marry, which he did with one Hester Palmer, of East Ham in Essex, but he had not long been married before he became acquainted with a gang of thieves, whose depredations terrified the whole county of Essex, and the neighbourhood of London. He joined sheep stealing to foot-pad robbery; and was at last obliged to fly from his place of residence for stealing a young heifer, which he killed and cut up for sale. Soon after, he stole two oxen from one Farmer Giles, of Plaistow, and drove them to a Butcher's slaughtering house, near Waltham Abbey. He was followed there, but made his escape out of the window of the house where he was, just as they were entering the door. He now retreated into the Hundreds of Essex, where he found more security: he adopted a new scheme; and that was to rob the smugglers, but he took care not to attack a gang, only solitary travellers, this he did with a colour of justice, for he pretended to have a deputation from the Customs, and demanded their property in the king's name. He again joined the gang with whom he had before connected himself, the principal part of those depredations were committed upon Epping Forest, &c. But this soon becoming an object of magisterial enquiry, he again returned to the solitude of the country, with some more of the gang, and they became notorious deer-stealers, and Turpin being a good shot, sent many a buck up to his connections in London. DICK TURPIN. 3 They next determined to commence house-breakers; and in this they were much encouraged by joining with Gregory's gang, as it was then called, a company of desparadoes that made the Essex and adjacent roads very dangerous to travel. Somehow or other, Turpin became acquainted with the circumstances of an old woman, that lived at Laughton, that kept a great quantity of cash by her; whereupon they agreed to rob her; and when they came to the door, Wheeler knocked and Turpin and the rest forcing their way into the house, blindfolded the eyes of the old woman and her maid, and tied the legs of her son to the bedstead, but not finding the wished-for booty, they held a consultation, as they were certain she must have a considerable sum concealed. Turpin told her he knew she had money, and it was in vain to deny it, for have it they would. The old lady persisted that she had none, but Turpin insisting she had money, he swore he would put her on the fire. She continued obstinate and endured for some time, when they took her off the grate, and robbed her of all they could find, upwards of four hundred pounds. They next proceeded into Surrey, where Turpin and his company robbed Mr. Sheldon's house, near Croydon Church, where they arrived about seven o'clock in the evening. They secured the coachman in the stable. His master hearing some strange voices in the yard, was proceeding to know the cause, when he was met by Turpin, who seizing hold of him compelled him to show them the way into the house, when he secured the door, and confined the rest of the family in one room, here they found but little plate and no cash. From Mr. Sheldon's person they took eleven guineas, two of which Turpin returned him, begged pardon for what they had done, and wished him a good night. These robberies hitherto had been carried on entirely on foot, with only the occasional assistance of a hackney coach but now they aspired to appear on horse-back, for which purpose they hired horses at the Old Leaping Bar in Holborn, from whence they set out about two o'clock in the afternoon, and arrived at the Queen's Head, Stanmore, where they staid to regale themselves. It was by this means that Wood, the master of the horse, had so good an opportunity of observing the horses, as to remember the same again when he saw them afterwards in Bloomsbury, where they were taken. About five they went from Mr. Wood's to Stanmore and staid from six until seven and then went together for Mr. Lawrence's, about a mile from thence, where they got about half-past seven. On their arrival at Mr. Lawrence's they alighted from their horses at the gate; whereupon Fielder knocked at the door, and calling out Mr. Lawrence. The man servant thinking it to be some of the neighbours, opened the door, upon which they all rushed in with pistols, and seizing Mr. 4 DICK TURPIN [Illustration] Lawrence and his man, threw a cloth over their faces then fell to rifling their pockets, out of which they took one guinea, and about fifteen shillings in silver, with his keys. They said they must have more, and drove Mr. Lawrence up stairs, where coming to a closet, they broke open the door, and took out from thence two guineas, ten shillings, a silver cup, 13 silver spoons, and two gold rings. They then rifled the house of all they could get, linen, table cloths, shirts, and the sheets off the bed, and trod the beds under feet, to discover if any money was concealed therein. Suspecting there was more money in the house, they then brought Mr. Lawrence down again, and threatened to cut his throat, and Fielder put a knife to it, as though he intended to do it; to make him confess what money was in the house. One of them took a chopping bill, and threatened to cut off his leg: they then broke his head with their pistols, and dragged him about by the hair of his head. Another of them took the kettle off the fire, and flung it upon him; but it did no other harm just wetting him, because the maid had just before taken out the greater part of the boiling water, and filled it again with cold. After this they dragged him about again, swearing they would "do for him" if he did not immediately inform them where the rest of the money was hid. They then proceeded to make a further search; and then withdrew; threatening to return again in half an hour, and kill every one DICK TURPIN. 5 [Illustration] they found loose. So saying they locked them in the parlour and threw the keys down the area. Turpin by this robbery got but little, for out of the 26_l_, they took in the whole, he distributed it among them all but three guineas and six shillings and six pence. A proclamation was issued for the apprehension of the offenders, and a pardon and 50_l_ was offered to any of the party who would impeach his accomplices, which however, had no effect. The white Hart in Drury-lane was their place of rendezvous. Here they planned their nightly visits, and here they divided their spoil, and spent the money they acquired. The robbery being stated to the officers of Westminster, Turpin set off to Alton, where he met with an odd encounter, which got him the best companion he ever had, as he often declared. King, the highwayman, as he was returning from this place to London, being well dressed and mounted, Turpin seeing him have the appearance of a substantial gentleman, rode up to him, and thinking him a fair mark, bid him stand and deliver, and therewith producing his pistols, King fell a laughing at him, and said "what dog rob dog! Come, come, brother Turpin, if you don't know me, I know you, and shall be glad of your company." After a mutual communication of circumstances to each other, they agreed to keep company, and divide good or ill fortune as the trumps might turn up. In fact King was true to him to the last, which was for more than three years. They met with various fortunes; but being too well known to 6 DICK TURPIN. remain long in one place, and as no house that knew them would receive them in it, they formed the resolution of making themselves a cave, covered with bevins and earth, and for that purpose pitched upon a convenient place, enclosed with a thicket, situated on the Waltham side of Epping, near the sign of the King's Oak. In this place Turpin lived, ate, drank, and lay, for the space of six years, during the first three of which he was enlivened by the drollery of his companion, Tom King, who was a fellow of infinite humour in telling stories, and of an unshaken resolution in attack or defence. One day, as they were spying from their cave, they discovered a gentleman riding by, that King knew very well to be a rich merchant near Gresham College. This gentleman was in his chariot, and wife with him; his name was Bradele. King first attacked him on the Laughton road; but he being a man of great spirit, offered to make resistence, thinking there was but one; upon which King called Turpin, and bid him hold the horses' heads. They proceeded first to take his money, which he readily parted with, but demurred a good while about his watch, being the dying bequest of his father. King was insisting to take it away, when Turpin interposed, and said, they were more gentlemen than to deprive anyone of their friend's respect which they wore about them, and bid King desist from his demand. On the day after this transaction they went to the Red Lion ale house, in Aldersgate street, where they had not been more than half an hour, when Turpin heard of the approach of the chief constable and his party; they mounted each their horse; but before King could get fairly seated he was seized by one of the party, and called on Dick to fire. Turpin replied, "If I do, I shall hit you." "Fire, if you are my friend." said King--Turpin fired, but the ill-fated ball took effect in King's breast. Dick stood a moment in grief, but self-preservation made him urge his mare forward to elude his pursuers; it was now he resolved on a journey to York, and raising himself in his saddle, he said, "By G--, I will do it." Encouraged by "Harkaway Bess," she flew on. Astonishing to relate, he reached York the same evening and was noticed playing at bowls in the bowling-green with several gentlemen there, which circumstance saved him from the hands of justice for a time. His pursuers coming up and seeing Turpin, knew him; and caused him to be taken into custody; one of them swore to him and the horse he rode on, which was the identical one he arrived upon in that city; but on being in the stable, and its rider at play, and all in the space of four-and-twenty hours, his alibi was admitted; for the magistrates of York could not believe it possible for one horse to cover the ground, being upwards of 190 miles, in so short a space. DICK TURPIN. 7 For the last two years of his life he seems to have confined his residence to the county of York, where he appears to be a little known. He often accompanied the neighbouring gentlemen in their parties of hunting and shooting; and one evening, on a return from an expedition of the latter kind, he saw one of his landlord's cocks in the street, which he shot. The next day Mr. Hall received a letter from Robert Appleton, Long Sutton, with this account:--that the said John Palmer had lived there about three quarters of a year, and had before that been once apprehended, and made his escape, and that they had a strong suspicion he was guilty of horse-stealing. Another information gave notice, that he had stolen a horse from Captain Dawson, of Ferraby; his horse was that which Turpin rode on when he came to Beverley, and which he stole from off Hickinton Fen in Lincolnshire. He wrote to his father upon being convicted, to use his interest to get him off for transportation, but his fate was at hand, his notoriety caused application to be ineffectual. After he had been in prison five months, he was removed from Beverley to York Castle to take his trial. When on his trial his case seemed much to affect the hearers. He had two trials, upon both of which he was convicted upon the fullest evidence. After a long trial the Jury brought in their Verdict and found him Guilty. He was carried in a cart to the place of execution, on Saturday, April, 7th, 1739. He behaved himself with amazing assurance and bowed to the spectators as he passed. It was remarkable that as he mounted the ladder, his right leg trembled, on which he stamped it down with an air, and with undaunted courage looked round about him; and after speaking near half an hour to the topman, threw himself off the ladder, and expired in about five minutes. [Illustration] W. S. Fortey, Printer, Monmouth Court, Bloomsbury. "THE CATNACH PRESS," (ESTABLISHED 1813.) WILLIAM S. FORTEY, (Sole Successor to the late J. Catnach.) Printer, Publisher, AND WHOLESALE STATIONER, 2 & 3, MONMOUTH COURT, SEVEN DIALS, LONDON, W.C. The Cheapest and Greatest Variety in the Trade of Large Coloured Penny Books; Halfpenny Coloured Books; Farthing Books; Penny and Halfpenny Panoramas; School Books; Penny and Halfpenny Song Books; Memorandum Books; Poetry Cards; Lotteries; Ballads (4000) and Hymns; Valentines; Scripture Sheets; Christmas Pieces; Twelfth Night Characters; Carols; Book and Sheet Almanacks, Envelopes, Note Paper, &c. W. S. FORTEY begs to inform his Friends and the Public generally, that after 19 years service he has succeeded to the business of his late employers (A. Ryle & Co.), and intends carrying on the same, trusting that his long experience will be a recommendation, and that no exertion shall be wanting on his part to merit a continuance of those favours that have been so liberally bestowed on that Establishment during the last 46 years. 1859. [Illustration] THE LONG SONG-SELLER. SONGS AND SONG LITERATURE. "Old songs, old songs--what heaps I knew, From 'Chevy Chase' to 'Black-eyed Sue'; From 'Flow, thou regal, purple stream,' To 'Rousseau's melancholy Dream!' I loved the pensive 'Cabin Boy,' With earnest truth and real joy. To greet 'Tom Bowling' and 'Poor Jack'; And, oh! 'Will Watch,' the 'Smuggler' bold, My plighted troth thou'lt ever hold." ELIZA COOK. "Songs! Songs! Songs! Beautiful songs! Love songs! Newest songs! Old songs! Popular songs! Songs, _Three Yards a Penny_!" was a "standing dish" at the "Catnach Press," and Catnach was the Leo X. of street publishers. And it is said that he at one time kept a fiddler on the premises, and that he used to sit receiving ballad-writers and singers, and judging of the merits of any production which was brought to him, by having it sung then and there to some popular air played by his own fiddler, and so that the ballad-singer should be enabled to start at once, not only with the new song, but also the tune to which it was adapted. His broad-sheets contain all sorts of songs and ballads, for he had a most catholic taste, and introduced the custom of taking from any writer, living or dead, whatever he fancied, and printing it side by side with the productions of his own clients. He naturally had a bit of a taste for old ballads, music, and song writing; and in this respect he was far in advance of many of his contemporaries. To bring within the reach of all the standard and popular works of the day, had been the ambition of the elder Catnach; whilst the son was, _nolens volens_, incessant in his endeavours in trying to promulgate and advance, not the beauty, elegance, and harmony which pervades many of our national airs and ballad poetry, but very often the worst and vilest of each and every description--in other words, those most suitable for street-sale. His stock of songs was very like his customers, diversified. There were all kinds, to suit all classes. Love, sentimental, and comic songs were so interwoven as to form a trio of no ordinary amount of novelty. At ordinary times, when the Awfuls and Sensationals were flat, Jemmy did a large stroke of business in this line. It is said that when the "Songs--_Three-yards-a-penny_"--first came out and had all the attractions of novelty, some men sold twelve or fourteen dozen on fine days during three or four of the summer months, so clearing between 6s. and 7s. a day, but on the average about 25s. a week profit. The "long songs," however, have been quite superseded by the "Monster" and "Giant Penny Song Books." Still there are a vast number of half-penny ballad-sheets worked off, and in proportion to their size, far more than the "Monsters" or "Giants." As a rule there are but two songs printed on the half-penny ballad-sheets--generally a new and popular song with another older ditty, or a comic and sentimental, and "adorned" with two woodcuts. These are selected without any regard as to their fitness to the subject, and in most cases have not the slightest reference to the ballad of which they form the head-piece. For instance:--"The Heart that can feel for another" is illustrated by a gaunt and savage looking lion; "When I was first Breeched," by an engraving of a Highlander _sans culotte_; "The Poacher" comes under the cut of a youth with a large watering-pot, tending flowers; "Ben Block" is heralded by the rising sun; "The London Oyster Girl," by Sir Walter Raleigh; "The Sailor's Grave," by the figure of Justice; "Alice Grey" comes under the very dilapidated figure of a sailor, or "Jolly Young Waterman;" "Bright Hours are in store for us yet" is _headed_ with a _tail-piece_ of an urn, on which is inscribed FINIS! "The Wild Boar Hunt," by two wolves chasing a deer; "The Dying Child to its Mother," by an Angel appearing to an old man; "Autumn Leaves lie strew'd around," by a ship in full sail; "Cherry Ripe," by Death's Head and Cross Bones; "Jack at the Windlass," falls under a Roadside Inn; while "William Tell" is presented to the British public in form and style of an old woman nursing an infant of squally nature. Here follow a few examples of the style, also that of some of the ballad-sheets: together with various _verbatim_ imprints used by "THE CATNACH PRESS," chronologically arranged from _circa_ 1813 to the present time. [Illustration] THE GALLANT _SAILOR_. London: Printed by J. Catnach, and sold Wholesale and Retail at No. 60, Wardour Street, Soho Square. Farewell thou dear and Gallant Sailor, Since thou and I have parted been, Be thou constant and true hearted, And I will be the same to thee. CHORUS. May the winds and waves direct thee, To some wishful port design'd, If you love me, don't deceive me, But let your heart be as true as mine. * * * * * When oft times my fancy tells me, That in battle thou art slain, With true love I will requite thee, When thou dost return again. May the winds, &c. [Illustration] O RARE TURPIN. Printed by J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. Sold by J. Sharman, Cambridge, Bennet, Brighton; & R. Harris, Salisbury. As I was riding over Hunslow Moor, There I saw a lawyer riding before, And I asked him if he was not afraid, To meet bold Turpin that mischievous blade. CHORUS.--I asked him if he was not afraid, To meet bold Turpin that mischievous blade. Says Turpin to the lawyer and for to be cute, My money I have hid all in my boot, Says the lawyer to Turpin they mine can't find, For I have hid mine in the cape of my coat behind. I rode till I came to a powder mill, Where Turpin bid the lawyer for to stand still, For the cape of your coat it must come off, For my horse is in want of a new saddle cloth. Now Turpin robbed the lawyer of all his store, When that's gone he knows where to get more, And the very next town that you go in, Tell them you was robb'd by the bold Turpin. [Illustration] MOUNTAIN MAID. Printed by J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. Travellers and Shopkeepers supplied with Sheet Hymns. Patters, and Slip Songs as Cheap and Good as any Shop in London. The Mountain Maid from her bower has hied, And speed to the glassy river's side, Where the radiant mead shone clear and bright, And the willows wav'd in the silver light. On a mossy bank lay a shepherd swain, He woke his pipe to tuneful strain, And so blythely gay were the notes he play'd, That he charm'd the ear of the Mountain Maid. She step'd with timid fear oppress'd, While soft sighs swell her gentle breast, He caught her glance, and mark'd her sigh, And triumph laugh'd in his sparkling eye. So softly sweet was the tuneful ditty, He charmed her tender heart to pity; And so blithely gay were the notes he play'd, That he gain'd the heart of the Mountain Maid. [Illustration] MEET ME IN THE WILLOW GLEN J. Catnach, Printer, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. Cards, &c. Printed Cheap. [Symbol: Pointing hand] Country Shops and Travellers supplied. Meet me in the willow glen, Where the silvery moon is beaming, Songs of love I'll sing thee then, When all the world is dreaming. Meet me in the willow glen. When the silver moon is beaming, Songs of love I'll sing thee then, If you meet me in the willow glen. No prying eye shall come love. No stranger foot be seen. And the busy village hum, love, Shall echo through the glen. Meet me, &c. [Illustration] DRINK TO ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES. J. Catnach, Printer, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. Sold by W. Marshall. Sold by T. Pierce, Southborough. (Cards Printed Cheap.) Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine, Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I'll not look for wine; The thirst that from my soul doth rise, Doth ask a drink divine; But might I of Jove's nectar sip, I would not change for thine. [Illustration] The Mistletoe Bough Printed by J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. Sold by Pierce, Southborough, Bennet, Brighton; and Sharman, Cambridge. The mistletoe hung in the castle hall, The holly branch shone on the old oak wall, The baron's retainers were blithe and gay, And keeping their Christmas holiday. The baron beheld with a father's pride, His beautiful child, young Lovell's bride: While she with her bright eyes, seemed to be The star of the goodly company. Oh! the mistletoe bough! "I'm weary of dancing now," she cried! "Here tarry a moment--I'll hide--I'll hide, And, Lovell, be sure thou'rt the first to trace The clue to my secret lurking place." Away she ran--and her friends began Each tower to search, and each nook to scan; And young Lovell cried, "Oh! where dost thou hide? I'm lonesome without thee, my own dear bride." Oh! the mistletoe bough! [Illustration] THE _Rose will Cease to Blow_. Printed by J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. Sold by T. Batchelor, 14, Hackney Road Crescent; W. Marshall, Bristol. Sold by Bennet and Boyes, Brighton. The rose will cease to blow, The eagle turn a dove, The streams will cease to flow, Ere I will cease to love. The sun shall cease to shine, The world shall cease to move, The stars their light resign, Ere I will cease to love. [Illustration] I'M A TOUGH True Hearted Sailor. J. Catnach, Printer, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials, & at 14, Waterloo Road, (late Hill's). Country Shops, and Travellers supplied. I'm a tough true-hearted sailor, Careless and all that, d'ye see, Never at the times a railer-- What is time or tide to me? All must die when fate must will it, Providence ordains it so; Every bullet has its billet, Man the boat, boys--Yeo, heave, yeo! Life's at best a sea of trouble, He who fears it is a dunce, Death, to me, an empty bubble, I can never die but once, Blood, if duty bids, I'll spill it, Yet I have a tear for woe, Every bullet has its billet, &c. [Illustration] WHEN BIBO THOUGHT FIT. Printed and Sold by J. CATNACH, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. When Bibo thought fit from the world to retreat, As full of champagne as an egg's full of meat; He wak'd in the boat, and to Charon he said, He would be rowed back, for he was not yet dead. 'Trim the boat, and sit quiet,' stern Charon replied-- 'You may have forgot--you were drunk when you died!' [Illustration] THE SUN That Lights the ROSES. A. Ryle and Co., Printers, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Seven Dials, and 35, Hanover Street, Portsea, where upwards of 4000 different sorts of ballads are continually on sale together with 40 new penny song books. Tho' dimple cheeks may give delight Where rival beauties blossom; Th'o balmy lips to love invite, To extacy the bosom. Yet sweeter far yon summer sky, Whose blushing tints discloses, Give me the lustre beaming eye, The Sun that lights the Roses. [Illustration] THE Woodpecker. London:--Printed by J. Paul & Co., 2 & 3, Monmouth Court. I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curl'd Above the green elms, that a cottage was near, And I said if there's peace to be found it the world, A heart that is humble might hope for it here. CHORUS. Every leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound, But the woodpecker tapping in the hollow beech tree. And here in this lone little wood, I exclaim'd, With a maid who was lovely to soul and to eye, Who would blush when I prais'd her, and weep if I blam'd, How blest could I live, and how calm could I die. Every leaf, &c. [Illustration] YE Topers All. London:--Published by Ryle and Paul, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials. Where an immense number of songs are always ready. Ye topers all drink to the soul, Of this right honest fellow; Who always loved a flowing bowl, And would in death be mellow. The lamp of life be kindled up, With spirit stout and glowing; His heart inspired thus with a cup, Ascends where nectar's flowing. [Illustration] Death of Nelson. London:--Ryle & Co., Printers, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Bloomsbury. RECITATIVE. O'er Nelson's tomb, with silent grief oppress'd Britannia mourns her hero now at rest. But these bright laurels ne'er shall fade with years, Whose leaves are water'd by a Nation's tears. AIR. 'Twas in Trafalgar's bay, We saw the Frenchmen lay, Each heart was bounding then; We scorned the foreign yoke-- Our ships were British oak, And hearts of oak our men, Our Nelson mark'd them on the wave, Three cheers our gallant seamen gave, Nor thought of home or beauty; Along the line this signal ran-- "England expects that every man This day will do his duty!" [Illustration] THE SCARLET FLOWER. A. Ryle & Co., Printers, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Bloomsbury. She's gentle as the zephyr, That sips of every sweet, She fairer than the fairest lily, In nature's soft retreat; Her eyes are like the crystal brok, As bright and clear to see? Her lips outshine the Scarlet Flow'r Of bonny Ellerslie. [Illustration] THE THORN. London:--Printed at the "Catnach Press" by W. Fortey, (late A. Ryle) 2 & 3, Monmouth Court. Bloomsbury. (Established 1813.) The Oldest and Cheapest House in the World for Ballads, (4,000 sorts) Song Books, &c. From the white blossomed sloe, My dear Chloe requested, A sprig her fair breast to adorn; No by heavens I exclaimed, may I perish If ever I plant in that bosom a thorn. When I shewed her the ring and implored her to marry She blushed like the dawning of morn, Yes I'll consent she replyed if you'll promise, That no jealous rival shall laugh me to scorn, No by heavens I exclaim'd may I perish, If ever I plant in that bosom a thorn. BANKS OF THE NILE. [Illustration] Printed at the "Catnach Press" by W. FORTEY, Monmouth Court, Bloomsbury, the Oldest House in the World for Ballads (4,000 sorts) Song Books, &c. &c. Hark! I hear the drums a beating--no longer can I stay, I hear the trumpets sounding, my love I must away, We are ordered from Portsmouth many a long mile, For to join the British soldiers on the banks of the Nile. Willie, dearest Willie, don't leave me here to mourn, You'll make me curse and rue the day that ever I was born, For the parting of my own true love is parting of my life, So stay at home dear Willie, and I will be your wife. I will cut off my yellow locks, and go along with you, I will dress myself in velveteens, and go see Egypt too I will fight or bear your banner, while kind fortune seems to smile, And we'll comfort one another on the banks of the Nile. Poor Crazy JANE. [Illustration] London:--Printed at the "Catnach Press" by W. S. Fortey, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Bloomsbury. (Established 1813.) The Oldest and Cheapest House in the World for Ballads, Song Books, Children's Spelling & Reading Books, Panorama Slips, Almanacks, Valentines, Hymns, Toy Cards, Poetry Cards, Lotteries, Characters, Note Paper, Envelopes, &c. [Symbol: Asterism] Shopkeepers and Hawkers supplied on the lowest terms. Why fair maid in every feature, Are such signs of fear expressed, Can a wandering wretched creature, With such horror fill thy breast. Do my frenzied looks alarm thee, Trust me, sweet, thy fears are vain, Not for Kingdom would I harm thee, Shun not then poor crazy Jane. Fondly my young heart believed him, Which was doomed to love but one; He sighed, he vowed, and I believed him, He was false, and I'm undone. From that hour has reason never, Had her empire o'er my brain, Henry fled, with him for ever Fled the wits of Crazy Jane. [Illustration] "It was Christmas morning--dear Christmas morning When bright angels and men kept watch for its dawning-- And merrily Christmas bells were out ringing, And blithely the children their carols were singing-- 'Twas a hundred years agone--or more." From time immemorial the ballad singer, with his rough and ready broad-sheet, has travelled over the whole surface of the country in all seasons and weathers, yet there was one time of the year, however, when he went out of his every-day path and touched on deeper matters than accidents, politics, prize fights, sporting matches, murders, battles, royalty, famous men and women. Christmas time brought, both to him and his audience, its witness of the unity of the great family of heaven and earth, its story of the life and death of Him in whom that unity stands. Several examples, of Christmas carols and Scripture-sheets, bearing Catnach's imprint lie before us, thanks to the kindness of Mr. W. S. Fortey, Catnach's successor; these broadsides bear several distinctive marks which show that it was an object of more than ordinary care to publishers and ballad singers. In the first place, these Christmas sheets are double the size of the ordinary broad-sheet--measuring 30 inches by 20--and contain four or five carols--generally one long narrative ballad, and three or four short pieces. Each of them having two or three large woodcuts and several of smaller sizes, and having the following distinctive titles--The Trial of Christ. Faith, Hope, and Charity. Our Saviour's Love. The Tree of Life. The Crucifixion. The Saviour of Mankind. The Messiah. The Harp of Israel. The Saviour's Garland. Divine Mirth. And The Life of Joseph, to which is appended:-- LONDON: PRINTED AND SOLD BY J. CATNACH, 2, MONMOUTH COURT, 7, DIALS, WHERE MAY BE HAD THE FOLLOWING SHEETS, WITH CUTS. The Last Day, Our Saviour's Letter, The Son of Righteousness, Travels of the Children of Israel, Glory of Solomon, The Morning Star, The Noble Army of Martyrs, Christmas Gambols, The Hertfordshire Tragedy, and a Variety of Others are in a state of forwardness for the Press. [Illustration] "Looking at these Christmas broad-sheets," says the writer of an article on street-ballads, in the "National Review," for October, 1861, "it would really seem as if the poorest of our brethren claimed their right to higher nourishment than common for their minds and souls, as well as for their bodies, at the time of year when all Christendom should rejoice. And this first impression is confirmed when we examine their contents. In all those which we have seen, the only piece familiar to us is that noble old carol 'While shepherds watched their flocks by night,' where the rest come from, we cannot even conjecture; but in the whole of them there is not one which we should wish were not there. We have been unable to detect in them even a coarse expression; and of the hateful narrowness and intolerance, the namby-pamby, the meaningless cant, the undue familiarity with holy things, which makes us turn with a shudder from so many modern collections of hymns, there is simply nothing. "Account for it how we will, there is the simple fact. Perhaps it may lead us to think somewhat differently of those whom we are in the habit of setting down in the mass as little better than heathens. We cannot conclude this article better than by giving an extract or two from these Christmas broad-sheets." [Illustration] [Illustration] "The Saviour's Garland, a choice Collection of the most esteemed Carols," has the usual long narrative ballad, which begins: "Come, all you faithful Christians That dwell upon the earth,-- Come celebrate the morning Of our dear Saviour's birth: This is the happy morning,-- This is the happy morn Whereon, to save our ruined race, The Son of God was born." And after telling simply the well-known story, it ends: "Now to him up ascended, Then let your praises be, That we His steps may follow, And He our pattern be; That when our lives are ended We may hear His blessed call: 'Come, Souls, receive the Kingdom Prepared for you all.'" [Illustration] Another, "The Star of Bethlehem, a collection of esteemed Carols for the present year," opens its narrative thus: "Let all that are to mirth inclined Consider well and bear in mind What our good God for us has done, In sending His beloved Son. Let all our songs and praises be Unto His heavenly Majesty; And evermore amongst our mirth Remember Christ our Saviour's birth. The twenty-fifth day of December We have great reason to remember; In Bethlehem, upon that morn, There was a blessed Saviour born," &c. One of the short pieces, by no means the best, we give whole: "With one consent let all the earth The praise of God proclaim, Who sent the Saviour, by whose birth To man salvation came. All nations join and magnify The great and wondrous love Of Him who left for us the sky, And all the joys above. But vainly thus in hymns of praise We bear a joyful part, If while our voices loud we raise, We lift not up our heart. We, by a holy life alone, Our Saviour's laws fulfil; By those His glory is best shown Who best perform His will. May we to all His words attend With humble, pious care; Then shall our praise to heaven ascend, And find acceptance there." We do not suppose that the contents of these Christmas broad-sheets are supplied by the same persons who write the murder-ballads, or the attacks on crinoline. They may be borrowed from well known hymn books for anything we know. But if they are borrowed, we must still think it much to the credit of the selectors, that, where they might have found so much that is objectionable and offensive, they should have chosen as they have done. We only hope that their successors, whoever they may be who will become the caterers for their audiences, will set nothing worse before them. Christmas broad-sheets formed an important item in the office of the "Catnach Press," as the sale was enormous, and Catnach always looked forward for a large return of capital, and a "good clearance" immediately following the spurt for Guy Fawkes' speeches, in October of each year. But although the sale was very large, it only occupies one "short month." This enabled them to make Carols a stock job, so that when trade in the Ballad, Sensational, "Gallows," or any other line of business was dull, they used to fill up every spare hour in the working off or colouring them, so as to be ready to meet the extraordinary demand which was sure to be made at the fall of the year. [Illustration] Like most of the old English customs, Christmas-carol singing is fast dying out. Old peripatetic stationers well remember the rich harvest they once obtained at Christmas times by carol selling. Now there are very few who care to invest more than a shilling or two at a time on the venture; whereas in times long past, all available capital was readily embarked in the highly-coloured and plain sheets of the birth of our Saviour, with the carol of "Christians awake," or "The Seven Good Joys of Mary:"-- "The first good joy our Mary had, It was the joy of one, To see her own Son, Jesus, To suck at her breast-bone. To suck at her breast-bone, God-man, And blessed may He be Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, To all eternity." [Illustration] Now, whether carol singing has degenerated with carol poetry, and consequently the sale of Christmas carols diminished is a question we need not enter upon; but when we turn to the fine old carols of our forefathers, we cannot help regretting that many of these are buried in the records of the long past. Here are a couple of verses of one, said to be the first carol or drinking-song composed in England. The original is in Anglo-Norman French:-- "Lordlings, from a distant home, To seek old Christmas are we come, Who loves our minstrelsy-- And here unless report mis-say, The greybeard dwells; and on this day Keeps yearly wassail, ever gay With festive mirth and glee. * * * * * Lordlings, it is our host's command, And Christmas joins him hand in hand, To drain the brimming bowl; And I'll be foremost to obey, Then pledge we, sirs, and drink away, For Christmas revels here to day, And sways without control. Now _wassail_ to you all! and merry may you be, And foul that wight befall, who drinks not health to me." One can well imagine the hearty feeling which would greet a party of minstrels carolling out such a song as the above in Christmas days of yore; and then contrast the picture with a _troupe_ from St. Giles's or Whitechapel bawling out "God Rest you Merry Gentlemen!" The very thought of the contrast sends a shudder through the whole human system; and no wonder the first were received with welcome feasting, and the latter driven "with more kicks than half-pence" from the doors. In an old book of "Christmasse Carolles newely emprinted at London, in the fletestrete at the sygne of the Sonne by Wynkyn de Worde. The yere of our Lorde, m.d.xxi. Quarto." Is a carol on "Bryngyng in the Bore's Head":-- "The bore's head in hand bring I, With garlandes gay and rosemary, I pray you all synge merely, _Qui estis in convivio_. The bore's head, I understande Is the chiefe servyce in this lande, Loke wherever it be fande, _Servite cum Contico_. Be gladde, lordes, both more and lasse, For this hath ordayned our stewarde, To chere you all this Christmasse The bore's head with mustarde." [Illustration] With certain alterations, this carol is still, or at least was very recently, retained at Queen's College, Oxford, and sung to a cathedral chant of the psalms. It would occupy too much space to search into the origin of Christmas carols. They are doubtless coeval with the original celebrations of Christmas, first as a strictly Romish sacred ceremony, and afterwards as one of joyous festivity. [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] This "Moral-Sheet" entitled "THE STAGES OF LIFE: or, The various Ages and Degrees of Human Life explained by these Twelve different Stages, from our Birth to our Graves," had a great sale. [Illustration] INFANCY _To 10 Years old._ "His vain delusive thoughts are fill'd With vain delusive joys-- The empty bubble of a dream, Which waking change to toys." _From 10 to 20 Years old._ "His heart is now puff'd up, He scorns the tutor's hand; He hates to meet the least control And glories to command." _From 20 to 30 Years old._ "There's naught here that can withstand The rage of his desire, His wanton flames are now blown up, His mind is all on fire." _From 30 to 40 Years old._ "Look forward and repent Of all thy errors past, That so thereby thou may'st attain True happiness at last." _From 40 to 50 Years old._ "At fifty years he is Like the declining sun, For now his better half of life, Man seemeth to have run." _From 50 to 60 Years old._ "His wasted taper now Begins to lose its light, His sparkling flames doth plainly show 'Tis growing towards night." _From 60 to 70 Years old._ "Perplex'd with slavish fear And unavailing woe, He travels on life's rugged way With locks as white as snow." _From 70 to 80 Years old._ "Infirmity is great, At this advanced age, And ceaseless grief and weakness leagued, Now vent their bitter rage." _From 80 to 90 Years old._ "Life's 'Vital Spark'--the soul, Is hovering on the verge Of an eternal world above, And waiting to emerge." [Illustration] _From 90 to 100 Years old._ "The sun is sinking fast Behind the clouds of earth, Oh may it shine with brighter beams, Where light receiv'd her birth." [Illustration: Printed by J. CATNACH, ***2,*** _Monmouth-Court, 7 Dials_, LONDON.] Catnach was now at the height of his fame as a printer of ballads, Christmas-pieces, carols, lotteries, execution papers, dying speeches, catchpennies, primers and battledores, and his stock of type and woodcuts had very considerably increased to meet his business demands. And it may be said that he was the very Napoleon of buyers at sales by auction of "printers' stock." On one occasion, when lot after lot was being knocked down to him, one of the "Littlejohn crew" of "knock-out-men" of the period, observed to the auctioneer, "Why, sir, Mr. Catnach is buying up all the lots." "Yes," replied the auctioneer, "And what's more, Mr. Catnach will pay for them and clear away all his lots in the morning;" then adding somewhat pointedly, "which is a thing I can't say of all parties who attend my sales." But although we are informed, _vivâ voce_ of a contemporary, that Jemmy Catnach was so large a buyer at sales by auction of "printers' stock," we may, with some degree of safety, come to the conclusion that he could have only bought such lots that would be considered by other master printers as worthless, and that it was the apparent cheapness that would be the incentive for his buying up all the worn-out and battered letter, for Jemmy was a man who hated "innowations" as he used to call improvements, and he, therefore, had a great horror in laying out his money in new and improved manufactured type, because, as he observed, he kept so many standing forms, and when certain sorts ran short he was not particular, and would tell the boys to use anything which would make a good shift. For instance, he never considered a compositor could be aground for a lowercase "l" while he had a figure "1" or a cap "I" to fall back upon; by the same rule, the cap. "O" and figure "0" were synonymous with "Jemmy;" the lowercase "p," "b," "d," and "q," would all do duty for each other in _turn_, and if they could not always find Roman letters to finish a word with, why the compositor knew very well that the "reader" would not mark out Ita_lic_, nor wrong founts. From a small beginner in the world, Catnach was soon able to see his way clear to amass a fortune. He had now established his reputation as a man of enterprise, and he was very sensitive to maintain a sort of shabby-genteel appearance. It was amusing, especially when over his glass, to hear him describe the effect the "awfuls" had on the public. The proprietor of any of our leading journals could not have felt prouder than did Catnach, as he saw drafted from his press the many thousands of varied productions. We will now briefly allude to the wood-blocks which Catnach had in his possession, and which served for the purpose of illustrating during the time that he had been in business. He had a large collection, such as they were; but as works of art they had little or no pretension, being, upon the whole, of the oddest and most ludicrous character. Those that were intended for the small books were very quaint--as we have shown by the fac-similed specimens we have given--whilst the larger portion, which were chiefly intended for the "awfuls," were grotesque and hideous in their design and execution. No more ghastly sight could be imagined than one of Jemmy's embellishments of an execution. It would appear that for the last discharge of the law he had a large collection of blocks which would suit any number of victims who were about to undergo the dread penalty. It mattered little how many Jack Ketch was going to operate upon, wood-blocks to the exact number were always adopted, in this particular the great "Dying Speech Merchant" would seem to have thought that his honour and reputation were at stake, for he had his network so formed as to be able to secure every information of news that was passing between the friends of the culprits and the prerogative of the Crown. But we are informed that upon one occasion he was nearly entrapped. Three victims were upon the eve of being executed, and in those days--and in later times--it was not an uncommon thing to see the confession and dying speech printed one or two days previous to the event. This we are told by those in the trade was almost necessary, in order that the sheets might be ready for the provinces almost as soon as the sentence of the law had been carried out. It so happened that on the night previous to an execution, one of the culprits was reprieved. It was solely by a piece of good luck that Catnach heard of it. Several sheets had been struck off; and Jemmy was often chaffed about hanging three men instead of two; but our informant assures us that the error was corrected before any of the impressions were dispatched from the office. Had they gone before the public in their original state, the _locus standi_ of the great publisher in Monmouth Court would have been greatly imperilled. To those who are fond of the fine arts, _in usum vulgi_, Catnach's embellishments will afford a fund of amusement. Amongst the lot were several well known places, the scenes of horrible and awful crimes, engravings of debauchery and ill-fame, together with an endless number of different kinds, suitable at the shortest possible notice, to illustrate every conceivable and inconceivable subject. The Seven Dials in general, and "The Catnach Press" in particular, had no dread of copyright law--the principal Librarian of the British Museum, Stationers', or any other Hall in those days--and as wood engravings were not to be had then so quickly or cheaply as now-a-days, Jemmy used at times to be his own engraver, and while the compositors were setting up the types, he would carve out the illustration on the back of an old pewter music plate, and by nailing it on to a piece of wood make it into an improvised stereo-plate off-hand, for he was very handy at this sort of work, at which also his sister, with his instruction, could assist; so they soon managed to rough out a figure or two, and when things were dull and slack they generally got one or two subjects ready in stock, such as a highwayman with crape over his face, shooting a traveller, who is falling from his horse near a wide-spreading old elm tree, through which the moon was to be seen peeping; not forgetting to put the highwayman in top boots and making him a regular dandy. This was something after the plan of the artists of the cheap illustrated papers of the present day, who generally anticipate events sometime beforehand to be ready with their blocks. As a proof of this, the editor of the "London, Provincial, and Colonial Press News," says "I happened to call one day on an artist for the 'Illustrated Press,' and found him busily engaged in sketching a funeral procession with some twenty coffins borne on the shoulders of men who were winding their way through an immense crowd. Upon inquiry, I was told that it was intended for the next week's issue, and was to represent the funeral of the victims of the late dreadful colliery explosion, for although the inquest was only then sitting, and all the bodies had not yet been found, there was sure to be a funeral of that kind when it was all over, and as they did not know how many bodies were to be buried at one time, it was very cleverly arranged to commence the procession from the _corner of the block_, and so leave it to the imagination as to how many more coffins were coming in the rear; something after the plan of a small country theatre, when representing Richard the Third, and in the battle scene, after the first two or three of the army had made their appearance, to cry 'halt!' very loudly to all those behind who were not seen, and leave the spectators to guess how many hundreds their were to come." For the illustrating of catchpennies, broadsides, and street-literature in general, particular kinds of wood-cuts were required. In most cases one block was called upon to perform many parts; and the majority of metropolitan printers, who went in for this work, had only a very limited number of them. Very often the same cuts were repeated over and over again, and made to change sides as one another, and that simply to make a little variation from a ballad or broadside that had been printed at the same office on the day, week, or month previous. It mattered little what the subject was, it required some adornment, in the shape of illustration, to give effect to it. The catchpennies, especially those connected with the awful, were in general very rough productions. A lover strangling his sweetheart with a long piece of rope. A heartless woman murdering an innocent man. Vice punished and virtue rewarded, and similar subjects, were always handled in such a manner as to create a degree of excitement, sympathy, and alarm. The broadsides, generally adorned with some rough outline of the royal arms of England, a crowned king or queen, as the subject might be, received their full share of consideration at the hands of the artist. Scions of royal blood, and those connected with the court, were often painted in colours glaring and attractive, whilst the matter set forth in the letterpress was not always the most flattering or encouraging. CATCH-PENNY:--Any temporary contrivance to obtain money from the public; penny shows, or cheap exhibitions. Also descriptions of murders, fires, and terrible accidents, &c., which have never taken place. Hotton's: _Slang Dictionary_. AN ACCOUNT OF THE DREADFUL APPARITION That appeared last night to Henry ---- in this street, of Mary ----, the shopkeeper's daughter round the corner, in a shroud, all covered in white. The castle clock struck one--the night was dark, drear, and tempestuous.--Henry sat in an antique chamber of it, over a wood fire, which in the stupor of contemplation, he had suffered to decrease into a few lifeless embers; on the table by him lay the portrait of Mary--the features of which were not very perfectly disclosed by a taper, that just glimmered in the socket. He took up the portrait, however, and gazing intensely upon it, till the taper, suddenly burning brighter, discovered to him a phenomenon he was not less terrified than surprised at.--The eyes of the portrait moved;--the features from an angelic smile, changed to a look of solemn sadness; a tear stole down each cheek, and the bosom palpitated as with sighing. [Illustration] Again the clock struck _one!_--it had struck the same hour but ten minutes before.--Henry heard the castle gate grate on its hinges--it slammed too--the clock struck one again--and a deadly groan echoed through the castle. Henry was not subject to superstitious fears--neither was he a coward;--yet a hero of romance might have been justified in a case like this, should he have betrayed fear.--Henry's heart sunk within him--his knees smote together, and upon the chamber door being opened, and his name uttered in a hollow voice, he dropped the portrait to the floor; and sat, as if rivetted to the chair, without daring to lift up his eyes. At length, however, as silence again prevailed, he ventured for a moment to raise his eyes, when--my blood freezes as I relate it--before him stood the figure of Mary in a shroud--her beamless eyes fixed upon him with a vacant stare; and her bared bosom exposing a most deadly gash. "Henry!--Henry!!--Henry!!!" she repeated in a hollow tone--"Henry! I come for thee! thou hast often said that death with me was preferable to life without me; come then, and enjoy with me all the ecstacies of love these ghastly features, added to the contemplation of a charnel-house, can inspire;" then grasping his hand with her icy fingers, he swooned; and instantly found himself--stretched on the hearth of his master's kitchen; a romance in his hand, and the house dog by his side, whose cold nose touching his hand, had awaked him. FRIENDS It is with feelings of the deepest regret that we are at present compelled, for the support of our friends and families, to offer this simple, but true tale to your notice, trusting, at the same time, that you will be pleased to purchase this paper, it being the only means at present to support the tender thread of our existence, and keep us and our families from utter starvation which at present surrounds us. PRICE ONE PENNY. _Printed for Author and Vendor._ [Illustration] MURDER OF CAPTAIN LAWSON. [Illustration] CRUEL AND INHUMAN MURDER, LAST NIGHT. [Illustration] THE SCARBOROUGH TRAGEDY. Giving an Account how Susan Forster, a Farmer's Daughter, near Scarborough, was seduced by Mr. Robert Sanders, a Naval Officer, under promise of Marriage.--How she became Pregnant, and the wicked hardened and cruel Wretch appointed her to meet him at a well-known, retired spot, which she unhappily did, and was basely Murdered by him, and buried under a Tree--and of the wonderful manner in which this base Murder was brought to light, and he committed to Gaol. Young virgins fair of beauty bright, And you that are of Cupid's fold, Unto my tragedy give ear, For it's as true as e'er was told. In Yorkshire, liv'd a virgin fair, A farmer's only daughter dear, And a young sea-captain did her ensnare, Whose station was her father near. Susannah was this maiden's name, The flower of all that country, This officer a courting came, Begging that she his love would be. Her youthful heart to love inclin'd Young Cupid bent his golden bow, And left his fatal dart behind, Which prov'd Susannah's overthrow. Ofttimes at evening she would repair, Close to the borders of the sea, Her treach'rous love would meet her there, The time it passed most pleasantly. And while they walked the sea-banks over, To mark the flowing of the tide, He said he'd be her constant lover, And vow'd that she should be his bride. * * * * * He did confess--they dug the ground while hundreds came to view, And here the murder'd corpse they found, of her who lov'd so true; In irons now in Prison strong lamenting he does lie; And, by the laws condemn'd ere long, most justly he will die. J. CATNACH, Printer, 2, Monmouth-court, 7 Dials. [Illustration] HORRID MURDER, COMMITTED BY A YOUNG MAN ON A YOUNG WOMAN. George Caddell became acquainted with Miss Price and a degree of intimacy subsisted between them, and Miss Price, degraded as she was by the unfortunate step she had taken, still thought herself an equal match for one of Mr. Caddell's rank of life. As pregnancy was shortly the result of their intimacy, she repeatedly urged him to marry her, but he resisted her importunities for a considerable time. At length she heard of his paying addresses to Miss Dean, and threatened in case of his non-compliance, to put an end to all his prospects with that young lady, by discovering everything that had passed between them. Hereupon he formed a horrid resolution of murdering her, for he could neither bear the thought of forfeiting the esteem of a woman whom he loved, nor of marrying one who had been as condescending to another as to himself. So he called on Miss Price on a Saturday and requested her to walk with him in the fields on the following day, in order to arrange a plan for their intended marriage. Miss Price met him at the time appointed, on the road leading to Burton, at a house known by the name of the "Nag's Head." Having accompanied her supposed lover into the fields, and walked about till towards evening, they sat down under a hedge, where after a little conversation, Caddell suddenly pulled out a knife and cut her throat, and made his escape, but not before he had waited till she was dead. In the distraction of his mind he left behind him the knife with which he perpetrated the deed, and his Case of Instruments. On the following morning, Miss Price being found murdered in the field, great numbers went to take a view of her body, among whom was the woman of the house where she lodged, who recollected that she said she was going to walk with Mr. Caddell, on which the instruments were examined and sworn to have belonged to him. He was accordingly taken into custody. J. CATNACH, Printer, Monmouth Court. [Illustration] THE SECRETS REVEALED, OR THE FASHIONABLE LIFE OF LORD & LADY ******. [Illustration] DREADFUL MURDER BY A SOLDIER, YESTERDAY MORNING. THE LIVERPOOL TRAGEDY. [Illustration] Showing how a Father and Mother barbarously Murdered their own Son. A few days ago a sea-faring man, who had just returned to England after an absence of thirty years in the East Indies, called at a lodging-house, in Liverpool, for sailors, and asked for supper and a bed; the landlord and landlady were elderly people, and apparently poor. The young man entered into conversation with them, invited them to partake of his cheer, asked them many questions about themselves and their family, and particularly of a son who had gone to sea when a boy, and whom they had long given over as dead. At night the landlady shewed him to his room, and when she was leaving him he put a large purse of gold into her hand, and desired her to take care of it till the morning, pressed her affectionately by the hand, and bade her good night. She returned to her husband and shewed the accursed gold: for its sake they mutually agreed to murder the traveller in his sleep. In the dead of the night, when all was still, the old couple silently creeped into the bed room of their sleeping guest, all was quiet: the landlady approached the bedside, and then cut his throat, severed his head from his body; the old man, upwards of seventy years of age, holding the candle. They put a washing-tub under the bed to catch his blood, and then ransacking the boxes of the murdered man they found more gold, and many handsome and costly articles, the produce of the East Indies, together, with what proved afterwards, to be a marriage certificate. In the morning early, came a handsome and elegantly dressed lady, and asked, in a joyous tone, for the traveller who arrived the night before. The old people seemed greatly confused, but said he had risen early and gone away. "Impossible!" said the lady, and bid them go to his bed-room and seek him, adding, "you will be sure to know him as he has a mole on his left arm in the shape of a strawberry. Besides, 'tis your long lost son who has just returned from the East Indies, and I am his wife, and the daughter of a rich planter long settled and very wealthy. Your son has come to make you both happy in the evening of your days, and he resolved to lodge with you one night as a stranger, that he might see you unknown, and judge of your conduct to wayfaring mariners." The old couple went up stairs to examine the corpse, and they found the strawberry mark on its arm, and they then knew that they had murdered their own son, they were seized with horror, and each taking a loaded pistol blew out each other's brains. PRINTED BY J. CATNACH.--Sold by Marshall, Bristol. Just Published.--A Variety of Children's Books, Battledores, Lotteries, and a quantity of Popular Songs set to Music. Cards, &c., Printed cheap. [Illustration] THE LIFE, TRIAL, CHARACTER, CONFESSION, BEHAVIOUR, AND EXECUTION OF JAMES WARD, Aged 25, who was hung in the front of the Gaol, For the wilful Murder he committed on the Body of his own Wife. [Illustration] To which is added a Copy of Affectionate Verses which he composed in the Condemned Cell The night before his EXECUTION. PRINTED AT LONDON. PRICE ONE PENNY. [Illustration] THE ARREST OF THE PRISONER. "For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ." The prisoner was arrested while drinking with his companions in a public-house, and after two Magistrates had heard the evidence he was fully committed to the Assizes to be tried before my Lord Judge and a British Jury, at the County Hall. [Illustration] THE TRIAL! "Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein." At an early hour on the morning of the trial, the Court was crowded to excess, the Judge taking his seat at nine o'clock. The Prisoner on being placed at the bar, pleaded "Not Guilty," in a firm tone of voice. The Trial lasted many hours, when, having been found 'GUILTY.' the learned Judge addressed the prisoner as follows:-- "Prisoner, you have been found guilty of a most cold-blooded Murder, a more deliberate murder I never heard of. You and your wife had been to a neighbouring town, and were returning home, when you did it. She was found in a ditch. I cannot hold out the slightest hope of mercy towards you in this case." During this address the whole court was melted into tears. His Lordship then put on the black cap and passed the sentence as usual, holding out no hope of mercy to the prisoner. [Illustration: THE COUNTY GAOL.] [Illustration: THE HOME OF THE GOOD MAN.] "Sundry blessings hang about his Throne, that speak him full of Grace." LETTER WRITTEN BY THE PRISONER AFTER HIS CONDEMNATION. Condemned Cell. DEAR SISTER, When you receive this you will see that I am condemned to die; my Father and Mother are coming to take their last farewell, and I should very much liked to have seen you, but knowing that you are on the eve of bringing into the world another to your family, I beg that you will refrain from coming; if that you do serious may be the consequences, therefore, dear Sister, do not attempt to come. I hope that no one will upbraid you for what I have done; So God bless you and yours; farewell! dear Sister, for ever. J. WARD. [Illustration] THE EXECUTION. "A threefold cord is not quickly broken." The Execution of the above prisoner took place early this morning at eight o'clock, the people flocking to the scene at an early hour. As the period of the wretched man's departure drew near, the chaplain became anxious to obtain from him a confession of the justice of his sentence. He acknowledged the justice of his sentence, and said he was not fit to live, and that he was afraid to die, but he prayed to the Lord for forgiveness, and hoped through the merits of his Saviour that his prayer would be heard. Having received the sacrament, the executioner was not long in performing his office. The solemn procession moved towards the place of Execution, the chaplain repeating the confession words, "In the midst of life we are in death." Upon ascending the platform he appeared to tremble very much. The cap being drawn over his eyes and the signal given, the wretched man was launched into eternity. He died almost without a struggle. After the body had hanged the usual time it was cut down and buried according to the sentence in the gaol. [Illustration] THE HOME OF THE BAD MAN. "One Sin doth another provoke." COPY OF VERSES. Come all you feeling hearted christians, wherever you may be, Attention give to these few lines, and listen unto me; Its of this cruel murder, to you I will unfold, The bare recital of the same will make your blood run cold. Confined within a lonely cell, with sorrow I am opprest, The very thought of what I've done, deprives me of rest; Within this dark and gloomy cell in the County Gaol I lie, For murder of my dear wife I am condemned to die. For four long years I'd married been, I always lov'd her well, Till at length I was overlooked, oh shame for me to tell; By Satan sure I was beguiled, he led me quite astray, Unto another I gave way on that sad unlucky day. I well deserve my wretched fate, no one can pity me, To think that I in cold blood could take the life away; I took a stake out of the hedge and hit on the head, My cruel blows I did repeat until she were dead. I dragged the body from the stile to a ditch running by, I quite forgot there's one above with an all-seeing eye, Who always brings such deeds to light, as you so plainly see, I questioned was about it and took immediately. The body's found, the inquest held, to prison I was sent, With shame I do confess my sin, with grief I do repent; And when my trial did come on, I was condemned to die, An awful death in public scorn, upon the gallows high. While in my lonely cell I lie, the time draws on apace, The dreadful deeds that I have done appear before my face; While lying on my dreadful couch, those horrid visions rise, The ghastly form of my dear wife appears before my eyes. Oh may my end a warning be now unto all mankind, And think of my unhappy fate and bear me in your mind; Whether you are rich or poor, young wives and children love, So God will fill your fleeting days with blessings from above. [Illustration] THE BURNING SHAME. OR [Illustration] MORALITY ALARMED IN THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD. JUST PUBLISHED PRICE ONE PENNY. [Illustration] A short time since, some of the moral-mending crew of Parsons, Magistrates, Quakers, Shakers, Puritans, Old Maids, and highly respectable, and, now retired from active business "Young Ladies," who now assume a virtue, though they have it not, and a variety of other goodly persons ever ready to compound for sins they are inclined to, by exposing those they have no mind to, living not 50 miles hence, determined on reforming doings, manners, and customs:-- IN THIS TOWN! and a meeting in consequence took place at "Rosebud Cottage" the residence of Miss Mary Ann Lovitt, when, as a first step, it was determined to remove the facilities and _accommodation_ afforded a certain--_You-know-what!_ crime very general _in this neighbourhood_ by hunting out of the town:-- A CERTAIN LADY ABBESS!! who keeps a very genteel house for the _accommodation_ of "single young men and their wives" and one who never offends, or bores her patrons by asking for a sight of their 'Marriage Certificates.' At the meeting, the armchair was taken by the Rev. John ---- ---- ---- B.A., of this parish, Mr. Churchwarden Smith, and Mr. J. Brown, the draper, supporting him on either side; when a variety of methods were suggested for the removal of the alledged social evil, one thought _entreaty_ might best answer, another was for _force_, a third recommended the Religious Tract Society, while a fourth was for the aid of the Very Rev. Rowland H------l, Miss A. and Miss B. were both loud in their praise of the Rev. Jabez B------g, mention was made of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, at length the Reverend Divine Chairman was called on for his opinion, when he--conscious of the integrity and purity of his own life and _experience!_ at once pronounced:-- A BURNING SHAME!!! as the only effectual remedy for the ever increasing evil. This was indeed a harsh measure, and some of the worthies looked a variety of colours on the occasion, but as none had the moral courage for personal character sake to oppose the parson's proposition, it was carried unanamously. A board bearing on it in legible characters:-- BEWARE OF A BAD HOUSE!!!! was soon prepared, and with a lanthorn attached, was paraded before the house of the fair--but frail duenna's mansion. It did not remain long in this position as the following letter from the lady abbess of the _Agapemone!_ soon had its deserved effect:-- GENTLEMEN:--"If the board and lanthorne is not removed from the front of my house in one hour from this time, I will publish the _name_, _profession_, and _address_, of every _gentleman_--together with that of the _lady_ accompaning him who has visited my "_Establishment for Young Ladies_" during the last six months. Some of your worships know on whom this would fall heaviest." Yours with thanks for past favours, AUNT. It is almost needless to say that the _board and lanthorne_ were very soon removed, and, that, the old, and _accommodating_ lady is doing a good business again:-- THUS CONSCIOUS DOES MAKE COWARDS OF US ALL. [Illustration] THE FULL, TRUE AND PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE [Illustration] EXTRAORDINARY MARRIAGE That took place in THIS TOWN on Thursday last. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE VENDORS. PRICE ONE PENNY. [Illustration] "Who would have thought he had been a-- He was such--a nice young man." About a week since, a dashing young blade, dressed in the very height of the prevailing fashion, having long black and curly hair, together with a pair of out-and-out slap-up whiskers and moustaches, and calling himself Count de Coburgh Aingarpatzziwutchz, and professing to be a foreigner and a man of enormous fortune, and one of the _haut ton!_ took up his lodging at the principal inn, The ---- Arms, in this town, where the swell foreigner looking blade soon made a great stir among the ladies of the place; the old, the young, the tall, the short, the fair, and the dark, were all alike smitten over head and ears in love with the distinguished visitor, but none seemed to make so much impression upon his heart as Mary Jane Jemima S----w, the youngest of the landlord's daughters of The ----Arms Inn, of this town. She is well known in this neighbourhood to be very handsome, with light brown hair all in ringlets, light blue eyes, a fine aquiline nose, and of a tall and commanding figure, aged about sweet 17 years of age, and very tender. The foreign Count! soon won the affections of the young lady, and while she was all cock-a-hoop at the thought of having such a fine handsome young blade for a husband, all the other women of the town, old and young, were ready to tear out her eyes and boil them in their own blood with womanly vexation and revenge, and spoke of the intended bridegroom as the Count _Don't-know-who_! On Thursday the bells of the old parish church rang merrily ding!-dong!!-ding!!! and the happy couple were married, our old and respected Rector officiating; assisted by his Curate, Rev. Mr. ----, and all the parish was gay from one end to the other. [Illustration] A few hours after the ceremony had taken place, whilst the happy couple were feasting on all of the very best with their friends and relations, a stranger, fat and greasy, and looking like a master or journeyman butcher in his Sunday clothes, and about forty years of age, and black whiskers, made his appearance, and not being acquainted with the occasion that brought the party together, without hesitation exclaimed, loud enough to be heard by all in the room, "Well, brother-blade, you are a lucky fellow! the business about Sal Saunders is all settled to our satisfaction, the lawyer made a good job of it for you, poleaxed the lot on the other side in prime style, and skinned 'em alive, so you may now return home to Whitechapel and put on your blue apron and steel."--The company stood aghast, the bride fainted, and all was confusion. At length it came out that the newly-married man had a wife and four children at home, and that his visit to the above town was in consequence of a woman swearing a child to him. In the midst of the confusion which this discovery occasioned, the bridegroom and his brother slaughterman from Whitechapel--which is in London--made a sudden retreat, and--have not since been heard of. THE EFFECTS OF LOVE. SAD SHOCKING NEWS! CRUEL SEDUCTION: DREADFUL WARNING TO ALL YOUNG WOMEN IN THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD TO BEWARE OF YOUNG MEN'S DELUDING AND FLATTERING TONGUES. The following melancholy account of her cruel seduction and desertion by her base lover was forwarded to that very worthy man Mr. ---- a churchwarden, well-known and respected by all in this neighbourhood by Miss S----h W----r, the night before she committed suicide. Young lovers all I pray draw near, Sad shocking news you soon shall hear, And when that you the same are told, It will make your very blood run cold. Miss S----h W---- Is my name, I brought myself to grief and shame, By loving one that ne'er loved me, My sorrow now I plainly see. Mark well the words that will be said, By W---- E---- I was betray'd, By his false tongue I was beguil'd At length to him I proved with child. At rest with him I ne'er could be, Until he had his will of me, To his fond tales I did give way, And did from paths of virtue stray. My grief is more than I can bear, I am disregarded every where, Like a blooming flower I am cut down, And on me now my love does frown. Oh! the false oathes he has sworn to me, That I his lawful bride should be, May I never prosper night, or day, If I deceive you, he would say. But now the day is past and gone, That he fix'd to be married on, He scarcely speaks when we do meet, And strives to shun me in the street. I did propose on Sunday night, To walk once more with my heart's delight, On the Umber's banks where billows roar, We parted there to meet no more. His word was pledged unto me, He never shall prosper nor happy be, The ghost of me and my infant dear, They both shall haunt him every where. William dear when this you see, Remember how you slighted me, Farewell vain world; false man adieu, I drown myself for love of you. As a token that I died for love, There will be seen a milk-white dove, Which over my watery tomb shall fly, And there you'll find my body lie. These cheeks of mine once blooming red, Must now be mingled with the dead, From the deep waves to a bed of clay, Where I must sleep till the Judgement Day. A Joyful rising then I hope to have, When Angels call me from the grave Receive my soul, O Lord most high, For broken hearted I must die. Grant me one favour that's all I crave, Eight pretty maidens let me have, Dress'd all in white a comely show, To carry me to the grave below. Now all young girls I hope on earth, Will be warned by my untimely death, Take care sweet maidens when you are young, Of men's deluding--flattering tongue. PRINTED IN LONDON FOR THE VENDERS. SHOCKING RAPE AND DREADFUL MURDER OF TWO LOVERS. [Illustration] SHOWING HOW JOHN HODGES, A FARMER'S SON, COMMITTED A RAPE UPON JANE WILLIAMS, AND AFTERWARDS MURDERED HER AND HER LOVER, WILLIAM EDWARDS, IN A FIELD NEAR PAXTON. This is a most revolting murder. It appears Jane Williams was keeping company, and was shortly to be married to William Edwards, who was in the employment of Farmer Hodges. For some time a jealousy existed in John Hodges, who made vile proposals to the young girl, who although of poor parents was strictly virtuous. The girl's father also worked on Farmer Hodges' estate. On Thursday last she was sent to the farm to obtain some things for her mother, who was ill; it was 9 o'clock in the evening when she set out, a mile from the farm. Going across the fields she was met by the farmer's son, who made vile proposals to her, which she not consenting to, he threw her down, and accomplished his vile purpose. In the meantime her lover had been to her house, and finding she was gone to the farm, went to meet her. He found her in the field crying, and John Hodges standing over her with a bill-hook, saying he would kill her if she ever told. No one can tell the feelings of the lover, William Edwards. He rushed forward, when Hodges, with the hook, cut the legs clean from his body, and with it killed the poor girl, and then run off. Her father finding she did not return, went to look for her, when the awful deeds were discovered. Edwards was still alive, but died shortly afterwards from loss of blood, after giving his testimony to the magistrates. The farmer's son was apprehended, and has been examined and committed to take his trial at the next assizes. Thousands of persons followed the unfortunate lovers to the grave, where they were both buried together. COPY OF VERSES. Jane Williams had a lover true And Edwards was his name, Whose visits to her father's house, Had welcome now became. In marriage soon they would be bound, A loving man and wife, But John Hodges, a farmer's son With jealousy was rife. One night he met her in the fields, And vile proposals made; How can I do this wicked thing, Young Jane then weeping said. He quickly threw her on the ground, He seized her by surprise, And did accomplish his foul act Despite her tears and cries. Her lover passing by that way, Discovered her in tears, And when he found what had been done He pulled the monster's ears. Young Hodges with the bill-hook, Then cut young Edwards down; And by one fatal blow he felled Jane Williams on the ground. There side by side the lovers lay Weltering in their blood: Young Jane was dead, her lover lived, Though ebb'd away life's flood. Old Williams sought his daughter dear, When awful to relate, He found her lifeless body there, Her lover's dreadful fate. Now in one grave they both do lie, These lovers firm and true, Who by a cruel man were slain Who'll soon receive his due. In prison now he is confined, To answer for the crime. Two lovers that he murdered, Cut off when in their prime. [Illustration] _A Funny_ DIALOGUE BETWEEN A FAT BUTCHER And A [Illustration] MACKEREL _In Newport Market_ Yesterday. BUTCHER.--Well, Mr. Mackerel, pray let me ask you how you come to show your impudent face among those who don't want to see you or any of your crew? MACKEREL.--That my company is not agreeable to many such as you I very well know; but here I am, and will keep my place in spite of you. Don't think to frighten me with your lofty looks, Mr. Green. You are an enemy to the poor, I am their true friend, and I will be in spite of you. BUTCHER.--I will soon see the end of you and your vain boasting. What's the poor to me? MACKEREL.--I and thousands of my brethren are come to town for the sole good of the industrious poor. We will soon pull down your high prices, your pride and consequence, and Melt your fat off your overgrown Carcass. I am their sworn friend, and although you are biting off your tongue with vexation, yet I am determined they shall have a cheap Meal--good, sweet, and wholesome--put that in your pipe and smoke it. BUTCHER.--Aye, aye. You are a saucy set, confound you altogether. Oddzbobs, I wish the Devil had the whole of your disagreeable tribe. MACKEREL.--I would advise you, Mr. Green, not to show your teeth when you can't bite. Millions of my friends are on their way to town to make the poor rejoice. We have had a fine seed time, everything looks promising. Meat must and will come down. The poor will sing for joy, and you may go hang yourself in your garters. [Illustration] Catnach, Printer, 2, Monmouth Court, Cards, Bills, &c., Printed on Low Terms. Catnach, to the day of his retirement from business in 1838, when he purchased the freehold of a disused public-house, which had been known as the Lion Inn, together with the grounds attached at Dancer's Hill, South Mimms, near Barnet, in the county of Middlesex, worked and toiled in the office of the "Catnach Press," in which he had moved as the pivot, or directing mind, for a quarter of a century. He lived and died a bachelor. His only idea of all earthly happiness and mental enjoyment was now to get away in retirement to a convenient distance from his old place of business, so to give him an opportunity occasionally to go up to town and have a chat and a friendly glass with one or two old paper-workers and ballad-writers, and a few others connected with his peculiar trade who had shown any disposition to work when work was to be done. To them he was always willing to give or advance a few pence or shillings, in money or stock, and a glass-- "Affliction's sons are brothers in distress; A brother to relieve, how exquisite the bliss!" But Jemmy knew the men that were "skulkers," as he termed them, and there was no coin, stock, or a glass for them. He invariably drank whiskey, a spirit not in general demand in England in those days. Gin was then, as now, the reigning favourite with the street folks. When the question was put to him in reference to his partiality to whiskey, he always replied--the Scotch blood proudly rising in his veins, and with a strong Northumberland burr, which never wholly forsook him, particularly when warmed by argument or drink--that, "He disdained to tipple with 'stuff,' by means of which all the women of the town got drunk. I am of Catnach. Yes! there's Catnach blood in me. Catnach--King Catnach--Catnach, King of the Picts. We descend in a right straight line from the Picts. That's the sort of blood-of-blood that flows in the veins of all the true-bred Catnachs." Jemmy would be for continually arguing when in his cups, and the old and the more artful of the street-folk would let him have all the say and grandeur that he then felt within him on the subject, well knowing that they would be much more likely to have their glasses replenished by agreeing with him than by contradicting him. Even in his sober moments Jemmy always persisted, right or wrong, that the Catnachs, or Catternachs, were descended direct from a King of the Picts. Yet, what is somewhat anomalous, he was himself a rigid churchman and a staunch old Tory, "one of the olden time," and "as full of the glorious Constitution as the first volume of Blackstone." On Catnach's retirement from the business, he left it to Mrs. Annie Ryle, his sister, charged, nevertheless, to the amount of £1,000 payable at his death to the estate of his niece, Marion Martha Ryle. In the meanwhile Mr. James Paul acted as managing man for Mrs. Ryle. This Mr. Paul--of whom Jemmy was very fond, and rumour saith, had no great dislike to the mother--had grown from a boy to a man in the office of the "Catnach Press." He was therefore, well acquainted with the customers, by whom he was much respected; and it was by his tact and judgment that the business was kept so well together. He married a Miss Crisp, the daughter of a publican in the immediate neighbourhood. Catnach did not long enjoy or survive his retirement. After the novelty of looking, as the poet Cowper puts it, and no doubt in his case found it, "Through the loop-holes of retreat, to see the stir of the Great Babel, and not feel the crowd," had worn itself out, "James Catnach, Gentleman, formerly of Monmouth Court, Monmouth Street, Printer," grew dull in his "Old Bachelor's Box;" he was troubled with hypochondriasis, and a liver overloaded with bile, and was further off than ever from being a happy man. He had managed to rake and scrape together--as far as we can get any knowledge--some £5,000 or £6,000, although £10,000 and upwards is mostly put down to him. However, he had grabbed for and caught a fair amount of "siller and gold," but it failed to realize to him-- An elegant sufficiency, content, Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, Ease and alternate labour, useful life, Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven! No! all he had realized was that unenviable position so popularly known as of a man not knowing what to do with himself. His visits to town were now much more frequent and of longer duration, and for hours he would sit and loiter about the shops and houses of his old neighbours, so that he might catch a glimpse, or enjoy a friendly chat with his old friends and customers. At length he got sick at heart, "wearied to the bone," and sighed for the bustle of London Life. From the following letter written to his sister, Mrs. Ryle, in 1840, and now before us, we glean something of his state of mind and bodily health:-- July, 4th, 40. Dear Sister,-- I have been very ill for these last three weeks. I was obliged to send for Dr. Morris to cup me, which did some good for a few days, since then the pains have gone into my breast and ribs, and for the last three days I have kept my bed, and could take nothing but a little tea and water-gruel. I wish you to procure me 6 Bills to stick on my window shutters, outside and in, "This House to be Let," and send them with 1/2lb Tea as soon as possible--but do not send them by Salmon's Coach, for he will not leave them at Jackson's as Wild does, but sends a boy with it, which costs me double porterage. I feel the loss of my jelly now I am so ill, and can eat little or nothing, it would have done my throat good. I have a great crop of black and red berries [currants] if you choose I will send them up, and you can make some jelly for us both; let me know as soon as you can, say Wednesday morning and I will make the Postwoman call for the parcel at Jackson's. I also wish you to enquire of Carr what is the lowest he will take for the rooms over Mrs. Morgan, by the 1/2 year. I have nothing more to say but to be remembered to Mary and Paul, and remain [Signature: Yours truly James Catnach] Pray send a paper of the execution of the Valet, and the trial of Oxford--Mrs. Westley has not sent me 1 paper since I was last in town--neither has Thornton. Mrs. Ryle, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Compton Street, London. Ultimately Catnach hired the rooms he speaks about in the body of his letter to his sister, which were on the first floor of No. 6, Monmouth Court. All the vacant space in his old premises being now fully occupied by Mrs. Ryle, and her assistants, now "the humble cottage fenc'd with osiers round," which to his leisure afforded no pleasure, was entirely deserted, and in London he fretted out the remaining portion of his life. He soon grew peevish, and his brain got a little out of balance, then he listlessly wandered in and out of the streets, courts, and alleys, "infirm of purpose." On stormy days and nights to stand and view the lightning from Waterloo Bridge was his special delight, and wonder. His temper and liver were now continually out of order, and which whiskey, even "potations pottle deep," failed to relieve. At length he died of jaundice, in the very London court in which he had muck'd and grubbed for the best part of his life, on the first day of February, 1841. Like other great men of history he has several _locales_ mentioned as his final resting-place--Hornsey, Barnet, South Mimms, &c. _Urbes, certarunt septem de patria Homeri, Nulla domus vivo patria fuit._ Seven cities strove whence Homer first should come, When living, he no country had nor home:--_Tom Nash, 1599._ Seven Grecian cities vied for Homer dead, Through which the living Homer begged his bread. Seven cities vied for Homer's birth, with emulation pious,--Salamis, Samos, Colophon, Rhodes, Argos, Athens, Chios.--_From the Greek._ But Catnach lies buried in Highgate Cemetery, in one of the two plots that Mrs. Ryle purchased sometime previous to her brother's death. The official number of the grave is 256, SQUARE 29, over which is placed a flat stone, inscribed:-- IN MEMORY OF JAMES CATNACH, _Of Dancer's Hill_. DIED 1ST FEBRUARY, 1841, Aged 49. ANNE RYLE, Sister to the above, and widow of Joseph Ryle, who died in India, 10th October, 1823. She died 20th April, 1870, Aged 75. _Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord._ The freehold in the other plot of ground, after Catnach's death, was transferred to Mr. Robert Palmer Harding, the accountant of London, who married Catnach's niece. The stone records the death of ELIZABETH CORNELIA, third daughter of Robert Palmer Harding and Marion Martha Harding, born 9 June, 1848, died 8 of November, 1848; and GREVILLE, second son of the above, born 29 May, 1856, died 3 September, 1856. This grave is now numbered 5179. We have been thus minute in respect to Catnach's grave, from the circumstance of our having received so many contradictory statements as to its whereabouts. But however, we have removed all doubt from our mind by a personal visit to the Highgate Cemetery where under the guidance of the very civil and obliging superintendent of the grounds, Mr. W. F. Tabois, we were conducted to the spot we required, then introduced to Mr. Marks, the sexton, "here man and boy thirty years," and whom we found very intelligent and communicative on various _subjects_-- "From _grave_ to gay, from lively to severe." After Catnach's death, Mr. James Paul entered into partnership with Mrs. Ryle, and then the business was carried on under the title and style of A. Ryle and Paul. In 1845 the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Paul receiving £800 in settlement. He then entered into the public line taking the Spencer's Arms, at the corner of the Monmouth Court. A son that was born to him in 1847, he had christened James Catnach Paul. He died in the year 1870, just six weeks after Mrs. Ryle, and lies buried in the next grave but one to Catnach and his sister. After Mr. Paul had left the business it was carried on as Ryle & Co., and ultimately became the property of Mr. W. S. Fortey, who still carries on the old business in the same quarter. For the purpose of clearing up, if possible, some contradictory statements, a few years ago we made personal search through the musty-fusty red-tapeism of Doctor's Commons for the Will and Testament--or "LAST DYING SPEECH" of "James Catnach, of Dancer's Hill, South Mimms, in the county of Middlesex, Gentleman, formerly of Monmouth Court, Monmouth Street, Printer," an office copy of which, together with Probate and Administration Act, we give below, by which it will be seen that the Personal Effects are sworn to as under three hundred pounds. But this gives us no idea of the value of his "Freehold, Copyhold, or Leasehold Estate" mentioned in the body of the Will. "Extracted from the principal Registry of Her Majesty's Court of Probate. "In the Prerogative Court of Canterbury-- "This is the last Will and Testament of me JAMES CATNACH of Dancers Hill, South Mimms in the County of Middlesex Gentleman formerly of Monmouth Court Monmouth Street Printer I direct that my just debts funeral and testamentary expences be paid as soon as conveniently may be after my decease and subject thereto I give devise and bequeath all my real and personal Estate whatever and wheresoever and of what nature or kind soever to my Sister Anne the Widow of Joseph Ryle now residing in Monmouth Court aforesaid her heirs executors and administrators according to the nature and qualities thereof respectively In trust nevertheless for her Daughter Marion Martha Ryle her heirs executors administrators and assigns respectively when she shall attain the age of twenty one years absolutely with power in the meantime to apply the rents interest dividends or proceeds thereof for and towards the maintenance education and advancement of the said Marion Martha Ryle and notwithstanding the private means of my said Sister may be adequate to such purpose but if the said Marion Martha Ryle shall depart this life before she shall attain the age of twenty one years then I give devise and bequeath all my said real and personal Estate to my said Sister her heirs executors administrators and assigns absolutely I hereby direct that during the minority of the said Marion Martha Ryle it shall be lawful for the said Anne Ryle her heirs executors administrators to demise or lease all or any part of my freehold copyhold or leasehold Estate for any term consistent with the tenure thereof not exceeding twenty one years so that on every such demise the best yearly rent be reserved that can be obtained for the property which shall be therein comprised without taking any fine or premium and so that the tenant or lessee be not made dispunishable for waste I hereby nominate constitute and appoint my said Sister sole Executrix of this my Will and hereby revoking all former and other Wills by me at any time heretofore made I declare this to be my last Will and Testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand the twenty second day of January one thousand eight hundred and thirty nine--JAMES CATNACH--Signed and acknowledged by the above named James Catnach as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us present at the same time who in his presence and the presence of each other have hereunto set our names as Witnesses--William Kinsey 13 Suffolk St. Pall Mall Solr.--Wm. Tookey his Clerk." [THE PROBATE AND ADMINISTRATION ACT.] "EXTRACTED from the principal Registry of Her Majesty's Court of Probate. "In the Prerogative Court of Canterbury-- April, 1842. "JAMES CATNACH--On the second day of April administration (with the Will annexed) of the Goods Chattels and Credits of James Catnach formerly of Monmouth Court Monmouth Street Printer but late of Dancers Hill South Mimms both in the county of Middlesex Gentleman deceased was granted to William Kinsey Esquire the Curator or Guardian lawfully assigned to Marion Martha Ryle Spinster a Minor the Niece and usufructuary Universal Legate until she shall attain the age of twenty one years and the absolute Universal Legatee on attaining that age named in the said Will for the use and benefit of the said minor and until she shall attain the age of twenty one years have been first sworn duly to administer Anne Ryle Widow the Sister sole Executrix Universal Legatee In trust and the contingent universal Legatee named in the said Will and also the natural and lawful Mother and next of kin of the said minor having first renounced the probate and execution of the said Will and the Letters of administration (with the said Will annexed) of the goods of the said deceased and also the Curation or Guardianship of the said Minor and consented (as by Acts of Court appear)-- _EFFECTS UNDER THREE HUNDRED POUNDS._ It is gratifying to be able to record that what the late Mr. Catnach was to the masses in the way of news provider some fifty years ago, the penny papers are now, with this exception, that the former tended to lower and degrade their pursuit after knowledge, the latter, on the contrary, improve and elevate them while they amuse and instruct all who peruse their contents. With the march of intellect, and the thirst for knowledge blended with the desire for truth, out went, to a great extent, the penny broad-sheet. Several persons made the attempt to revive it long after the death of the great original Jemmy Catnach, but without success. [Illustration: FINIS.] [Illustration: THE INDEX.] [Symbol: Pointing hand] The be-all and the end-all here. INDEX. Adelaide, Queen, 89 A Funny Dialogue, 294 Alnwick--The Borough of, 1 " St. Michael's Church, 2 " Parish Register, 2 " Catnach's shop in, 3 " Register of Death, 3 " Printing Press in, 4 " The Catnach Press, 4 " The Castle, 6 " The Abbey, 6 " Davison's business, 9 " Election at, 74 Attack on William IV, 88 Ballads:--Banks of the Nile, 239 " Crazy Jane, 240 " Death of Nelson, 236 " Drink to me eyes, 228 " Gallant Sailor, 224 " Meet me Willow Glen, 227 " Mistletoe Bough, 229 " Mountain Maid, 226 " O Rare Turpin, 225 " Rose will cease to blow, 230 " Scarlet Flower, 237 " Sun that lights Roses, 233 " The Thorn, 238 " True Hearted Sailor, 231 " When Bibo though fit, 232 " Woodpecker, The, 234 " Ye Topers all, 235 Benton, Mrs. _nee_ Elizabeth Catnach, 38 Bewick, T., wood-engraver, 14 Bewick Collector, The, 16 Bewick:--See BOOKS Bewick's Illustrations--See BOOKS. Bishop and Williams, 84 Black Sal and Dusty Bob, 45 Books printed by John Catnach:-- " Beauties of Natural History 4 " Chevy Chase, 34 " Cock Robin, 8 " Dr. Johnson's Works, 34 " Hermit of Warkworth, 5 " Life of Thompson, 34 " Stockdale's Poems, 4 ----By Catnach and Davison:-- " Beattie's Minstrel, 9 " Blair's Grave, 9 " Burn's Poems, 13 " Gray's Elegy, 9 ----By Davison:-- " Crazy Jane, 12 " Ferguson's Poems, 14 " Guess Book, The, 17, 32 " Halfpenny Books, 16 " Northumberland Minstrel, 15 " Repository, The, 11 ----Illustrated by Bewick. " Beauties of Natural History, 4 " Burn's Poems, 13 " Blair's Grave, 9 " Hermit of Warkworth, 5 " Repository, The, 11 " Stockdale's Poems, 4 Brown, Mrs., murdered, 91 Brunswick Theatre, The, 77 Burkers, The, 84 Burnie, Sir Richard, 43 Burradon Ghost, The, 4 Caroline, Queen, The trial of, 46 Verses on, 47, 48, 50 Death of, 49, 51 Cato Street Conspiracy, The, 45, 46 Catchpennies:--Apparition, The, 261 " Burning Shame, 281 " Cruel Murder, 264 " Execution of Ward, 273 " Extraordinary Marriage, 285 " Horrid Murder, 267 " Liverpool Tragedy, 270 " Murder by a Soldier, 269 " Murder of Capt. Lawson 264 " Murder of Two Lovers, 291 " Secrets Revealed, 269 " Scarborough Tragedy, 265 " Shocking News, 289 " Shocking Rape, 291 Catnach, John--the father, born 1 " Married, 2 " At Alnwick, 3, 4, 5, 8 " At Newcastle, 33 " A Bankrupt, 35 " In London, 35, 36 " Death of, 37 Catnach, James, born 1792, 2 " His early life, 38 " Arrives in London, 40 " Imprisoned for 6 months, 43 " Queen Caroline, 47 " Verses on Caroline, 48 " Life in London, 57, 63 " At Alnwick, 75, 76 " And Mother Cummins, 81 " His education, 94 " Nursery books, 94 " Christmas Carols, 242 " His Woodcuts, 257 " Dying Speeches, 258 " His Retirement, 295 " At Dancer's Hill, 296 " Letter to his sister, 297 " Return to London, 298 " Death of, 299 " Will of the, 301 Charlotte, The Princess of, 42 " " " Death of, 43 Christmas Carols, 241 to 255 Collins, Dennis, 88 Copy of Affectionate Verses, 65, 66, 67, 68, 80, 292 Clennell, Luke, 4 Corder, Wm., The murderer, 79 " " Execution of, 80 Cruikshank, George, 54 Cruikshank, Robert, 55 Cubitt's Treadmill, 64 Cummins "Mother", 81 and Catnach, 81-2-3 Davison of Alnwick:-- Davison and Catnach, 1 " Partnership, 9-11 " His chemistry, 9 " Death of, 15 Dennis Collins, 88 Earl Grey, 87 Executions--Public of:-- Bishop and Williams, 85 Courvoisier, 92 Corder, 92 Fauntleroy, Mr. H., banker, 73 Five Pirates, The, 92 Greenacre, 92 Muller, 92 Mannings, 92 Pegsworth, 91 Thurtell, 72 False News, circulating of, 14 Flying Stationer, The, 66 Fortey, Mr., 242-300 George the III, death of, 45 George the IV, 45 Goldie, Mr., of Alnwick, 94 Graham, printer, Alnwick, 39 Greenacre and Gale, 91 Gurney, Mr. Baron, 89 Haines, Mrs. _nee_ Mary Catnach, 38 "Hanging Matches", 65 Hugo, Rev. Thomas, 13, 15 " his Bewick collector, 16, 39 Jane Williams, 292 Juvenile Books:-- A Apple Pie, 177 Butterfly's Ball, 163 Cinderella, 203 Cock Robin, 199 Easter Gift, The, 171 Golden Pippin, The, 113 Good Child's Alphabet, 207 Guess Book, The, 17 Jack Jingle, 197 Jerry Diddle, 129 Jumping Joan, 145 Mother Hubbard, 187 New Year's Gift, 205 Nurse Love-child's, 97 Nursery Rhymes, 193 Red Riding Hood, 201 Simple Simon, 195 Kent, Duke of, his death, 45 Life in London, by Pierce Egan, 52 on the Stage, 54 Catnach's version 57, 63 Thackeray on, 64 Likeness of the Murderer, 69 " " William Corder, 79 Lindsay, Printer, &c., 4 Long, Song Seller, The, 221 Marten, Maria, Murder of, 78 " " Verses on, 80 Mayhew's "London Labour", 69, 92 Morgan, John, Poet!, 43, 47, 82 Paul, Mr., 296, 300 Pitts, John, 40 " Old Mother, 41 Pizzey, Sausage Maker, The 43, 44 Pocock, Mr. C. J. of Brighton, 57 Red Barn, The, 78 Reform Bill, The, 87 Ryle, Mrs. Anne, 296, 297 " death of, 299 " Marion Martha, 296 Sarah Gale, 91 Seven Dials, The Bards of, 40, 41 " " The Trade in, 42 " " and Queen Caroline, 47 Shocking Rape and Murder, 291 Smith, Mark, of Alnwick:-- " Apprenticed to Catnach, 9 " in London, 35 " in Alnwick, 74 " his autograph, 39 " the death of, 74 Songs, 3 yards-a-penny, 222 Thistlewood, The Conspirator, 46 Thompson, John, Life of, 34 Thurtell, and Weare, 70 " Execution of, 72 Tom and Jerry, 53, 55 " the Tears of, 55 Treadmill, The, 64 Vestris, Madame, 89 Vint, John, Printer, &c., 4 Walker, Mr., Paternoster Row, 35 Weare, Mr., Murder of, 70 William the IV, 88 Willoughby family Alnwick, 36 [Illustration] FOOTNOTES: [1] FRIENDLY LEAD, a gathering at a low public-house, for the purpose of assisting some one who is "in trouble," _i.e._, in prison, or who has just "come out of trouble," or who is in want of a "mouthpiece" to defend him, and so forth. [2] This is an error--See page 76. [3] The numbers at the close of the Poll on Saturday, 24th March, at three o'clock, stood as under:-- Sir Francis Burdett 5,327 J. Cam Hobhouse, Esq. 4,884 Hon. W. Lamb 4,436 [4] Mr. George Skelly--_Alnwick_. [5] At an interview which we had in 1877 with [Signature: E Benton] _Née._ Elizabeth Catnach, the last survivor of the family of John and Mary Catnach, she informed us that the MS. book alluded to above, remained in the family for many years, and was last known to be in the possession of the sister Mary--Mrs. Haines, of Gosport, to the date of about 1863. [6] Pitts, a modern publisher of love garlands, merriments, penny ballads, "Who, ere he went to heaven, Domiciled in Dials Seven!"-- G. DANIEL'S "Democritus in London." [7] The late John Camden Hotten's Introduction to the new edition of "Life in London." Chatto & Windus: Piccadilly. [8] Our thanks are due, and are hereby given to Mr. Crawford John Pocock, of Cannon Place, Brighton, for the loan and use of his--what we feel almost inclined to consider--unique copy of Catnach's broadside of "Life in London." [9] The above copied, _verbatim_ At our request, by Mr. George Skelly, of Alnwick. [10] E. L. Blanchard, in an article entitled, "Vanished Theatres," in the _Era Almanack_, 1877. Transcriber's Notes: Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}. The original text includes various symbols that are represented as [Symbol: description] in this text version. 
33413	----	[ Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation; changes (corrections of spelling and punctuation) made to the original text are listed at the end of this file. Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. Bold text has been marked with =equals signs=. Greek text has been transliterated and marked with +plus signs+. ] THE STORY OF BOOKS The Useful Knowledge Library PLANT LIFE. By Grant Allen. ARCHITECTURE. By P. L. Waterhouse. THE STARS. By G. F. Chambers, F.R.A.S. THE SOLAR SYSTEM. By George F. Chambers, F.R.A.S. FOREST AND STREAM. By James Rodway. THE MIND. By Prof. J. M. Baldwin. THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD. By the Rev. E. D. Price, F.G.S. EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE EAST. By Robert E. Anderson, M.A., F.A.S. THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS. By M. M. Pattison Muir, M.A. A PIECE OF COAL. By E. A. Martin. THE EARTH IN PAST AGES. By H. G. Seeley, F.R.S. BIRD-LIFE. By W. P. Pycraft. GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY. By Joseph Jacobs. PRIMITIVE MAN. By Edward Clodd. THOUGHT AND FEELING. By Frederick Ryland, M.A. THE BRITISH RACE. By John Munro. GERM LIFE. By H. W. Conn. ANIMAL LIFE. By B. Lindsay. COTTON PLANT. By F. Wilkinson, F.G.S. ECLIPSES. By G. F. Chambers, F.R.A.S. ELECTRICITY. By J. Munro. WEATHER. By G. F. Chambers, F.R.A.S. WILD FLOWERS. By Rev. Prof. Henslow. LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON [Illustration: EARLY PRINTERS AT WORK.] THE STORY OF BOOKS BY GERTRUDE BURFORD RAWLINGS Author of "The Story of the British Coinage" HODDER AND STOUGHTON PUBLISHERS, LONDON CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. Introductory 9 II. The Preservation of Literature 13 III. Books and Libraries in Classical Times 26 IV. Books in Mediæval Times 36 V. Libraries in Mediæval Times 56 VI. The Beginning of Printing 70 VII. Who Invented Moveable Types? 81 VIII. Gutenberg and the Mentz Press 89 IX. Early Printing 103 X. Early Printing in Italy and some other Countries 110 XI. Early Printing in England 118 XII. Early Printing in Scotland 131 XIII. Early Printing in Ireland 138 XIV. Book Bindings 144 XV. How a Modern Book is Produced 159 Postscript 164 Index 166 ILLUSTRATIONS Early Printers at Work Frontispiece PAGE Page from the Book of Kells 38 Part of Page from the Book of Kells 39 Page from the Lindisfarne Gospels 44 Page from the Biblia Pauperum 76 Type of the Mentz Indulgence 95 Page from the Mazarin Bible 98 Type of the Mazarin Bible 99 Type of the Subiaco Lactantius 111 Type of the Aldine Virgil, 1501 114 Type of Caxton's Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres, Westminster, 1477 123 Boys Learning Grammar 125 Caxton's Device 127 Type of Wynkyn de Worde's Higden's Polychronicon, London, 1495 129 Myllar's Device 132 Title Page of O'Kearney's Irish Alphabet and Catechism 140 Upper Cover of Melissenda's Psalter 149 THE STORY OF BOOKS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY The book family is a very old and a very noble one, and has rendered great service to mankind, although, as with other great houses, all its members are not of equal worth and distinction. But since books are so common nowadays as to be taken quite as matters of course, probably few people give any thought to the long chain of events which, reaching from the dim past up to our own day, has been necessary for their evolution. Yet if we look round on our bookshelves, whether we measure their contents by hundreds or by thousands, and consider how mighty is the power of these inanimate combinations of "rag-paper with black ink on them," and how all but limitless their field of action, it is but a step further to wonder what the first books were like. Given the living, working brain to fashion thoughts and create fancies, to whom did it first occur to write a book, what language and characters and material did he use, when did he write, and what did he write about? And although these questions can never be answered, an attempt to follow them up will lead the inquirer into many fascinating bye-ways of knowledge. It is not, however, the purpose of these pages to deal at length with the ancient history of the _manuscript_ book, but, after briefly noticing the chief links which connect the volumes of to-day with primeval records, to present to the reader a few of the many points of interest offered by the modern history of the _printed_ book. * * * * * =The Beginning of Writing.=--Books began with writing, and writing began at the time when man first bethought himself to make records, so that the progenitor of the beautiful handwriting and no less beautiful print of the civilised world is to be looked for in the rude drawing which primeval man scratched with a pointed flint on a smooth bone, or on a rock, representing the beast he hunted, or perhaps himself, or one of his fellows. The exact degree of importance he attached to these drawings we cannot hope to discover. They may have been cherished from purely æsthetic motives, or they may have served, at times, a merely utilitarian end and acted, perhaps, as memoranda. However this may be, these early drawings are the germs from which sprang writing, the parent of books, and liberator of literature, that great force of which a book is but the vehicle. How these drawings were gradually changed into letters, in other words, the story of the alphabet, has been already told in this series by Mr Edward Clodd, and therefore we need not deal further with the subject here. Writing once learned, and alphabets once formulated, the machinery for making books, with the human mind as its mainspring, was fairly in motion. "Certainly the Art of Writing," says Carlyle, "is the most miraculous of all things man has devised.... With the art of Writing, of which Printing is a simple, an inevitable and comparatively insignificant corollary, the true reign of miracles for mankind commenced." That these words only express the feeling of our far away ancestors, a cursory glance into the mythology of various peoples will prove. For wherever there is a tradition respecting writing, that tradition almost invariably, if not always, connects the great invention with the gods or with some sacred person. The Egyptians attributed it to Thoth, the Babylonians and Assyrians to Nebo, the Buddhists to Buddha, the Greeks to Hermes. The Scandinavians honoured Odin as the first cutter of the mysterious runes, and the Irish derived their ogham from the sacred Ogma of the Tuatha de Danaan. And it is noteworthy how, from time immemorial, writing, and the making of books, have been considered high and honourable accomplishments, and how closely they have ever been connected with the holy functions of priesthood. * * * * * =Materials for Writing and Books.=--The early forms of books were various, and, to modern eyes, more or less clumsy. Wood or bark was one of the oldest substances used to receive writing. Stone was no doubt older still, but stone inscriptions are outside our subject. The early Greeks and Romans employed tablets of soft metal, and wooden leaves coated with wax, when they had anything to write, impressing the characters with a stilus. Thus Pausanius relates that he saw the original copy of Hesiod's _Works and Days_ written on leaden tablets. The wooden leaves, when bound together at one side, foreshadowed the form of book which is now almost universal, and were called by the Romans _caudex_, or _codex_ (originally meaning a tree-stump), in distinction to the _volumen_, which was always a parchment or papyrus roll. The oldest manuscript in existence, however, is on papyrus, which, as is well known, was the chief writing-material of the ancient world. Although the discovery that skins of animals, when properly prepared, formed a convenient and durable writing-material, was made at a very early date, the papyrus held its own as the writing-material of literary Egypt, Greece, and Rome, until about the fourth or fifth century of our era. The books of Babylonia and Assyria took the form of thick clay tablets of various sizes. The wedge-shaped characters they bore were made by impressing the wet, soft clay with a triangular-pointed instrument of wood, bone, or metal. The tablet was then baked, and as recent discoveries prove, rendered exceedingly durable. It is a matter of conjecture as to whether the form of the original documents of the Old Testament was that of the Babylonian tablets, or of the Egyptian papyrus rolls, or of rolls of parchment. Perhaps all three were employed by the various biblical writers at different times. It is stretching a point, perhaps, to include among writing materials the tablets of bamboo bark which bore the earliest Chinese characters, since the inscriptions were carved. The Chinese, however, soon discarded such primitive uses, and the paper which is so indispensable to-day was invented by them at a very early date, though it remained unknown to Europe until the Arabs introduced it about the tenth century, A.D. One of the earliest extant writings on paper is an Arabic "Treatise on the Nourishment of the Human Body," written in 960 A.D., but it seems to have been printing which really brought paper into fashion, for paper manuscripts are rare compared with those of parchment and vellum. CHAPTER II THE PRESERVATION OF LITERATURE It is easier to find the beginning of writing than the beginning of literature. Although we know for certain that the ancient nations of the world had books and libraries, that they preserved traditions, stored records and knowledge, and assisted memory by means of their tablets, their monuments, and their papyri, we shall probably never know when the art of writing was first applied to strictly literary purposes, and still less likely is it that we shall ever discover when works of the imagination were first recorded for the edification of mankind. It is not very rash, however, to assume that as soon as the art had developed the ancients put it to much the same uses as we do, except, perhaps, that they did not vulgarise it, and no one wrote who had not something to write about. But we are not without specimens of antique literatures. Egypt has preserved for us many different specimens of her literary produce of thousands of years ago--historical records, works of religion and philosophy, fiction, magic, and funeral ritual. Assyria has bequeathed to us hundreds of the clay books which formed the great royal library at Nineveh, books of records, mythology, morals, grammar, astronomy, astrology, magic; books of reference, such as geographical tables, lists of temples, plants, birds, and other things. In the Old Testament we have all that now remains of Israelitish writings, and the early literatures of China and India are also partly known to us. After these the writings of Greece and Rome are of comparatively recent origin, and moreover, they are nearer to us in other respects besides the merely chronological. The literature of Greece, dating from the far Homeric age, grew up a strong and beautiful factor in Greek life, and Rome, drawing first her alphabet and then her literature from the land before which she stooped, even while she conquered it, passed them on as an everlasting possession to the peoples of the western world. The fact of the literary pre-eminence of Greece partly helps to explain why Greek manuscripts form the bulk of the early writings now extant. In considering how early literature has been preserved, therefore, we are hardly concerned with Egyptian papyri or cuneiform tablets, but with the writings of Greece and Rome, or writings produced under Greek or Roman influence. And it is curious that while the libraries and books of older nations have survived in comparatively large numbers, there should be no Greek literary manuscripts older than about 160 B.C., and even these are very fragmentary and scarce. The earliest Latin document known is dated 55 A.D., and is an unimportant wax tablet from Pompeii. For this lack of early documents many causes are responsible, and those who remember that it is not human beings only who suffer from the vicissitudes inseparable from existence will wonder, not that we have so few ancient writings in our present possession, but that we have any. The evidence of many curious and interesting discoveries of manuscripts made from time to time goes to show that accident, rather than design, has worked out their preservation, and that the civilised world owes its present store of ancient literature more to good luck than good management, to use a handy colloquialism. It is true, of course, that in early days there were many who guarded books as very precious things, but in times of wars and tumults people would naturally give little thought to such superfluities. Fire and war have been the agencies most destructive of books, in the opinion of the author of _Philobiblon_, but carelessness and ignorance, wanton destruction and natural decay, are also accountable for some part of the great losses which have wasted so large a share of the literary heritage, and although we are deeply indebted to monastic work for the transmission of classic lore as well as of Christian compositions, we can hardly conclude that the monkish scribes wrote solely for the benefit of posterity. Their immediate purpose, no doubt, and naturally so, was much narrower, and identified the service of God with the enrichment of their houses. Besides, they did not hesitate to erase older writings in order that they might use the parchment again for their own, whenever it suited them to do so. Before noting some of the ways by which ancient literature has come down to the present day, let us for a moment transport ourselves into the past, and see how a wealthy Roman lover of letters would set about gathering a collection of books. Having no lack of means, all that is best in the literary world will be at his service. He will first take care that the works of every Greek writer which can possibly be obtained, as well as those of Roman authors, are represented in his library by well-written papyrus rolls containing good, correct texts. If he can obtain old manuscripts or original autographs of famous writers, so much the better; but whereas ordinary volumes will cost him comparatively little, on these he must expend large sums. If a book on which he has set his heart is not to be purchased, he may be able to obtain the loan of it, so that it may be transcribed for him by his _librarius_ or writing-slave. If he can neither borrow nor purchase what he desires, he may commission the bookseller to send for it to Alexandria, where there is an unrivalled store of books and many skilled scribes ready to make copies of them. But it is not easy to estimate with any degree of certainty the quantity of literary material available, say, at the time of the establishment of the first public library in Rome, which was probably about 39 B.C. Books were common and booksellers flourished. Greek and Roman writings were preserved on papyrus, not neglected or lost, and the various parts of what we now call the Old Testament probably existed in the Hebrew synagogues. We may, perhaps, assume that the Roman book collector, did he choose to take the necessary trouble, might add to his collection some of the writings of ancient Egypt. But no doubt Greek and Latin authors only are of value in his eyes. At this point it is dangerous to speculate further, and we must leave the imaginary Roman, and, advancing to our own time, where we are on surer ground, ask what remnants of old records and literature have come down to us, and how have they been preserved? It will be disappointing news, perhaps, to those to whom the facts are fresh, that no original manuscript of any classical author, and no original manuscript of any part of the Bible, Old Testament or New, has yet come to light. Nothing is known of any of these documents except through the medium of copies, and in some cases very many copies indeed intervene between us and the original. For instance, the oldest Homeric manuscript known, with the exception of one or two fragments, is not older than the first century B.C., and the most ancient Biblical manuscript known, a fragment of a Psalter, is assigned to the late third or early fourth century A.D. The earliest New Testament manuscript extant, the first leaf of a book of St Matthew's Gospel, is also no older than the third century. It is curious, too, that no ancient Greek manuscripts have been found either in Greece or Italy excepting some rolls discovered in the ruins of Herculaneum. One reason for this is no doubt the fact that when Roman armies assailed Athens and other Greek cities they despoiled them not only of their statues and works of art, but of their books as well. These went to furnish the libraries of Rome, though it is probable that certain of them found their way back to Greece in company with some of Rome's own literary produce when Constantine set up his capital and founded a library at Byzantium. Another means by which Greek manuscripts left the country was afforded by the eagerness of Ptolemy II. to extend the great library of Alexandria, to which end he bought books in all parts of Greece, and particularly in Athens and Rhodes. The Roman libraries did not survive the onslaughts of the barbarians, who seem to have carried out a very thorough work of destruction in the Eternal City. But it is not unlikely that in some cases books, among other portable treasures, were carried away when their owners sought refuge in less troubled localities, such as Constantinople or Alexandria. Still, the fact remains that the contents of the Roman libraries have disappeared, and that for the ancient manuscripts now in our possession we are indebted to the tombs, the temples, the monasteries, and the sands of Egypt. Sometimes--to show the strange adventures of some of these manuscripts--the cartonnage cases in which mummies of the later period were enclosed, were made of papyrus documents, which apparently had been treated as waste paper and put to all sorts of undignified uses. The two oldest classical papyri known, consisting of fragments of Plato's _Phoedo_ and of the _Antiope_ of Euripides, were recovered from mummy-cases, and are supposed to date from the third century B.C. Other important Greek texts which have been preserved by Egypt are Aristotle's _Constitution of Athens_, the _Mimes_ of Herodas, the _Odes_ of Bacchylides, the _Gospel_ and _Apocalypse_ of Peter, the Book of Enoch, &c. But here we have to take into consideration a new and important factor in literary as in other matters--the spread of Christianity. With such obvious exceptions as the cuneiform records, or the Egyptian writings, and similar remains, the bulk of the manuscripts (as manuscripts, not as compositions) is the work of (Christian) religious houses, and it is easy to see that we owe much to the labours of the monks and ecclesiastics who have transmitted to us not only the earliest and most valuable works of the Church's own writers, but also the chief part of the literature of Greece and Rome. As Mr Falconer Madan says in his _Books in Manuscript_, "the number and importance of the MSS. of Virgil and the four Gospels is greater than of any other ancient authors whatever," and it is safe to assume that all these Gospel MSS., and perhaps all the Virgil MSS. also, were the handiwork of churchmen. As an example of the manuscript treasures yielded by Egypt may be instanced the find at Behnesa, a village standing on the site of the Roman city of Oxyrhynchus, one of the chief centres of early Christianity in Egypt. Here, in 1896, Mr B. P. Grenfell and Mr A. S. Hunt, searching for papyri on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund, lighted upon one of the richest hunting-grounds yet discovered. The result of their excavations was that about 270 boxes of manuscripts were brought to England, while 150 of the best rolls were left at the Cairo Museum. I am unable to give the size of the boxes, but Professor Flinders Petrie's statement that "the publication of this great collection of literature and documents will probably occupy a decade or two, and will place our knowledge of the Roman and early Christian age on a new footing," will testify to the extent and importance of the find. In this collection the document which excited most interest was a papyrus leaf bearing some scraps of Greek, to which the name of +LOGIA IÊSOU+, or Sayings of our Lord, has been given. This leaf is at present assigned to a date between 150 and 300 A.D. The Logia are eight in number, and while three of them are closely similar to certain passages in the Gospels, the rest are new. Another valuable document was the fragment of St Matthew's Gospel alluded to above, which, written in the third century, is a hundred years older than any New Testament manuscript hitherto known. Classical documents also were found in great numbers, and included a new _Ode_ of Sappho, which, however, is unfortunately imperfect. It was transcribed probably about the third century A.D. Many Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic manuscripts have been recovered from the numerous monasteries of Palestine, Asia Minor, and Egypt. Several travellers who have managed to overcome the suspicion of the monks and their unwillingness to open their literary hoards to strangers, or to part with any of the volumes, have found immense numbers of books hidden under dust and rubbish in vaults and cellars or stowed away in chests, where they were probably thrust at some time when danger threatened them. Books written in these monasteries themselves in earlier days, or brought thither from other monasteries further east, have thus lain forgotten or neglected for centuries, or, if they were noticed at all, it was only that they might be put to some ignoble use. Thus some were found acting as covers to two large jars which had formerly held preserves. "I was allowed to purchase these vellum manuscripts," says the author of _Monasteries of the Levant_, "as they were considered to be useless by the monks, principally, I believe, because there were no more preserves in the jars." In another case some large volumes were found in use as footstools to protect the bare feet of the monks from the cold stone floor of their chapel. As we have already seen, Christian scribes not only preserved the writings of the Fathers of the Church, as well as the Holy Scriptures, but also directed much of their attention to the classic works of poetry and philosophy. In every monastery from Ireland to Asia Minor, from Seville to Jerusalem, the work of transcribing and transmitting sacred and secular literature was carried on, and had we at the present day one half of the fruits of this labour we should be rich indeed. But we have also seen that many causes have contributed to the destruction of old writings, of which carelessness and ignorance are by no means the least. The well-known story of Tischendorf's discovery of the oldest copy of the New Testament in existence,[1] in a basket of fuel at a monastery near Mount Sinai is but a single example, and that a modern one, of the dangers to which these ancient books were liable, and to which they too often fell victims. The danger was long ago recognised, however, and a canon of the third Council of Constantinople, held in 719 A.D., enacted "That nobody whatever be allowed to injure the book of the Old and New Testament, or those of our holy preachers and doctors, nor to cut them up, nor to give them to dealers in books, or perfumers, or any other person to be erased, except they have been rendered useless by moths or water or in some other way. He who shall do any such thing shall be excommunicated for one year." The same Council also ordered the burning of heretical books. [1] The Codex Sinaiticus, now at St Petersburg. With the revival of learning in the fourteenth century there came an awakened interest in ancient writings. They were eagerly sought for in the monasteries of Europe, and the learned of Italy were especially instrumental in recovering the neglected classical works. It has been said that almost all the classical authors were discovered or rediscovered either in Italy or through the researches of Italians. Petrarch, with whose name the Renaissance is inseparably associated, and a contemporary of our Richard de Bury, took great pains to form a collection of the works of Cicero, whose _Epistles_ he was fortunate enough to rescue from destroying oblivion. He tells us that when he met strangers, and they asked him what he desired from their country, he would reply, "Nothing, but the works of Cicero." He also sent money to France, Germany, Spain, Greece, and England that these books might be bought for him, and if while travelling he came across any ancient monastery he would turn aside and explore its book treasures. Poggio Bracciolini, a learned Italian of the fifteenth century, has also made himself famous by his ardent pursuit of the remains of classical literature, and by aiding the interest in them which the Renaissance had awakened. He searched Europe for manuscripts to such good purpose that he unearthed a valuable text of Quintilian's _Institutes_, "almost perishing at the bottom of a dark neglected tower," in the monastery of St Gall, and recovered many other classical writings by his industry, including some of the _Orations_ of Cicero; Lucretius; Manilius, and others. He also rescued the writings of Tertullian. We may perhaps believe that even by this time the surviving treasures of the old storehouses of literature have not yet been all brought to light. Renan discovered in the large collection of manuscripts still preserved in the monastery of Monte Casino in Italy, some unpublished pages of Abelard's _Theologia Christiana_, and other valuable finds besides, and it is quite possible that many more surprises are awaiting an enterprising and diligent searcher. But although the monasteries had so large a share in the work of the preservation of literature, the monks themselves wrought harm as well as good, for in their zeal to record sacred compositions they frequently destroyed older and often more valuable documents by scraping off the original writing and substituting other. This was done for economy's sake, when writing material was costly, and parchments thus treated are known as palimpsests. Owing to this reprehensible practice, many literary treasures have been irretrievably lost. Our Anglo-Saxon literature, for instance, is not represented by any contemporary copies. The Anglo-Norman writers had a contempt for the old English manuscripts, and turned them into palimpsests without the slightest idea that there could be any value in them, and attached far more importance to the writing they themselves were about to make. Thus it happens that we are in the same position with regard to Anglo-Saxon literature as with regard to classical authors. No original documents exist, and it is known to us solely through copies, single copies, in most cases. Beowulf, for instance, is represented only by a manuscript of the first half of the eleventh century, and Caedmon by a manuscript of the tenth century. With the invention and spread of the knowledge of printing, however, the risk of loss was greatly reduced. Such ancient writings as came into the printer's hands were given a fresh lease of life which in many cases was of indefinite length, or rather, of practically eternal duration. But the fact of being printed was not invariably a safeguard. Some of the works of the early printers have disappeared completely, and many are represented only by single copies. The strange history of the British Museum copy of the famous _Book of St Albans_, will serve to show the vicissitudes with which the relics of the past have to contend in their journey down the ages. At the end of the last century the library of an old Lincolnshire house was overhauled by someone who disdainfully turned out of it all unbound books, and had them destroyed. A few of the condemned books, however, were begged by the gardener. Among them was the Book of St Albans. At the gardener's death his son threw away some of the rescued volumes, but kept the "Book." At the son's death, his widow sold such books as he had left, to a pedlar, for the sum of ninepence. The pedlar re-sold them to a chemist in Gainsborough for shop-paper, but observing the strange wood-cuts in the "Book," the chemist offered it to a stationer for a guinea. The stationer would not purchase, but said he would display it in his window as a curiosity. Here it attracted attention, and five pounds was offered for it by a gentleman in the neighbourhood. The stationer, finding the volume an object of desire, gave the chemist two pounds for it and eventually sold it to a bookseller for seven guineas. Of this bookseller the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville bought it for seventy pounds, and bequeathed it to the British Museum with the rest of his magnificent library. This story I give on the authority of Mr Blades, who also, to instance the way in which books travel about and turn up in odd places, relates that a brother of Bishop Heber's, who had been for years seeking for a book printed by Colard Mansion, but without success, one day received a fine copy from the bishop, who had bought it from a native on the banks of the Ganges. CHAPTER III BOOKS AND LIBRARIES IN CLASSICAL TIMES In literary Greece and Rome, so far as we can tell from the somewhat meagre information handed down to us, literature was pursued for her own sake, and filthy lucre did not enter into the calculations of authors, who appear to have been satisfied if their works met with the approval of those who were competent to judge of them. Literature walked alone, and had not as yet entered into partnership with commerce. The writing of books for pecuniary profit is a wholly modern development, and even now it is more often an aspiration than a realisation. In those days, when an author desired to make known a work, he would read it aloud to an invited party of friends. This reading of original compositions became in time a common item of the programme provided by a host for the entertainment of his guests, and it is not difficult to imagine that such a custom was often subjected to grave abuse, from the guests' point of view. Later, the private reading developed into the public lecture. Lectures of this kind became very frequent in Rome, and we are told that it was looked upon as a sort of festival when a fashionable author announced a reading. But we are also told that some of the audience often treated a lecturer of mediocre merit with scant courtesy, entering late and leaving early, and frequently they who applauded most were those who had listened least. The public reading is recorded of a poem composed by Nero. It was read to the people on the Capitol, and the manuscript, which was written in letters of gold, was afterwards deposited in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. If a work happened to attract attention by reason of its author's reputation or its own merit, it was copied by students or others who had heard and admired it. This was the only way in which literary productions could be dispersed and made known to the public at large, or a collection of books be gathered together. As the literary taste developed, those who were sufficiently wealthy kept slaves whose sole business it was to copy books, which books might be either the original works of their master, who by this means disseminated his compositions, or the works of others, for the benefit of their master's library. These slaves, being of necessity well educated and skilful scribes, were purchased at high prices and held in great esteem by their owners. But obviously it was only the rich who could command such service, and ordinary folk had to resort to the bookseller. The booksellers of Athens and Rome were those who made copies of books, or employed slaves to make them, and sold or let them on hire to those who had need of them. The author had no voice in these matters. There was nothing to prevent anyone who borrowed or otherwise got possession of his work from making copies of the manuscript if he chose, and making money from the copies if he could. "Copyright" was a word unknown in those days, and for centuries after. The booksellers advertised their wares by notices affixed to the door-posts of their shops, giving the names of new or desirable works, and sometimes read these works aloud to their friends and patrons. Their shops were favourite places of resort for persons of leisure and literary tastes. Copyists of books retained a high place in the order of things literary until the introduction of printing, and without their labours we should know nothing of ancient literature, seeing that no original manuscript of any classical author has survived. And apart from its purely literary value, which is variable, the work of the early mediæval scribes in many instances reaches a high artistic standard, and exhibits marvellous skill in an accomplishment now numbered among the lost arts. On the subject of libraries, as on all literary matters in ancient times, hardly any solid information is available. But we know that Egypt was to the fore in this respect as in so many others. Yet of all the collections of books which, since they are frequently alluded to in the inscriptions, she undoubtedly possessed, stored in her kings' palaces and her temple archives, there is only one which is mentioned in history, and that by a single historian. According to Diodorus Siculus, this library was made by Osymandyas, who was king of Egypt at a date which has not been precisely determined. He tells us that its entrance exhibited the inscription: "Place of Healing for the Soul," or, as it has been variously rendered, "Balsam for the Soul," or, "Dispensary of the Mind." Although doubt has been thrown on the perfect accuracy of the historian in introducing the name of Osymandyas in this connection, modern Egyptologists have identified the plan of the library with a hall of the great "palace temple" of Rameses II., the "Ramesium" or "Memnonium" at Thebes. The door-jambs of this hall utter their own testimony to its ancient use, for they bear the figures of Thoth, the god of writing, and Saf, a goddess who is accompanied by the titles "Lady of Letters" and "Presider over the Hall of Books." Astle, in _The Origin and Progress of Writing_, says that the books and colleges of Egypt were destroyed by the Persians, but Matter, on the other hand, in _L'École d'Alexandrie_, declares that the temple archives were in existence in the Greek and Roman periods. Probably Astle's statement is not intended to be as sweeping as it appears. Babylonia and Assyria also had their libraries. According to Professor Sayce (_The Higher Criticism and the Monuments_) they were "filled with libraries, and the libraries with thousands of books." The royal library already referred to as furnishing so rich a treasure of cuneiform tablets, was begun by Sennacherib, who reigned 705-681 B.C., and completed by Assur-bani-pal, who reigned about 668-626 B.C. There were libraries, too, in Palestine, in early days, but we know nothing of them. They may have been archives or places where records were kept, rather than libraries as we understand the term. The name of Kirjath-sepher, a city near Hebron, means "city of books," and survives from pre-Israelitish times. By the Jews, records and "the book of the law" were preserved in the temple. Almost as scanty are the accounts of the libraries of ancient Greece. The tyrant Pisistratus, 537-527 B.C., has been credited, traditionally, with the establishment in Athens of the first public library, but although he encouraged letters and the preservation of literature there is no good reason for accepting the tradition as authentic. But of all libraries those of Alexandria were the largest and most celebrated, and yet, notwithstanding their eminence, the accounts relating to them are confused and contradictory. Alexandria, which, although situated in Egypt, was a Greek and not an Egyptian city, was founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C., and rapidly rose to a high position. Its buildings, its learning, its luxury, and its books, became world-famous. The first library was established by Ptolemy Soter, a ruler of literary tastes, about 300 B.C., and was situated in that part of the city known as the Bruchium. Copyists were employed to transcribe manuscripts for the benefit of the institution, and it is said that under Ptolemy Euergetes all books brought into Egypt were seized and sent to the library to be transcribed. The copies were returned to the owners, whose wishes were evidently not consulted, in place of the originals, which went to enrich the store in the great library. Ptolemy Philadelphus is said to have supplemented Soter's library by another, which was lodged in the Temple of Serapis, but it has been conjectured, with more probability, that the Serapeum collection began with the temple archives, to which the Ptolemies made additions from time to time; these additions, as some have affirmed, including part of Aristotle's library. But here, also, contradictions are encountered, and it seems impossible to say exactly whether this statement refers to Aristotle's autograph writings, or to copies of them, or to manuscripts of other authors' works formerly in his possession. It was Ptolemy Philadelphus, we are told by Galen, who gave the Athenians fifteen talents, a great convoy of provisions, and exemption from tribute, in exchange for the autographs and originals of the tragedies of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Two other libraries also helped to make up the glory of Alexandria; one in the Sebasteum, or Temple of Augustus, and one in connection with the Museum. The latter, however, was a much later foundation. The museum or university itself, had been instituted by Ptolemy Soter, and though it was quite distinct from the library which is associated with his name, there was doubtless some relationship between the two. Her museum and libraries, and the encouragement she offered to learning, combined to set Alexandria at the head of the literary world, and to make her "the first great seat of literary Hellenism" (Jebb). She was also the centre of the book industry, that is, of the reproduction of books, as distinguished from their first production. This was owing in a large measure to the number of professional copyists attracted by the facilities afforded to them, and to the fact that the papyrus trade had its headquarters here. Another famous library of this period was that of the Kings of Pergamus, founded by Attalus I., who reigned from 241 to 197 B.C. Between Pergamus and Alexandria there was vigorous competition. In the end, however, Alexandria had the satisfaction of seeing her rival completely humbled, for Antony presented the books of Pergamus, stated to have been about two hundred thousand in number, to Cleopatra, who added them to Alexandria's treasures. At least, so says Plutarch, but Plutarch's authority for the statement was Calvisius, whose veracity was not above suspicion. How the enormous accumulation of manuscripts gathered by Alexandria came to perish so utterly is not clear. The Romans accidentally fired the Bruchium when they reduced the city, but according to several accounts there were still a goodly number of books remaining at the time of the Saracen invasion in 638 A.D. The story of the Caliph Omar's reply to a plea for the preservation of the books is well known. "If they contain anything contrary to the word of God," he is reported to have said, "they are evil; if not, they are superfluous," and forthwith he had them distributed among the four thousand baths of the city, which they provided with fuel for six months. But several authorities doubt this story, and assert that long before Omar's time the Alexandrian libraries had ceased to exist. Though very far from being as full as could be wished, the accounts of libraries in Rome are more numerous than any relating to libraries in other parts of the ancient world. Besides the collections of books made by private persons, which in one or two instances were generously opened to the public by the owner, there were the imperial libraries, and the more strictly public libraries. Among the emperors whose names are especially associated with the gathering and preservation of books are Augustus, Tiberius and Trajan. Julius Cæsar had formed a scheme for the establishment of a public library, but it is not clear whether it was ever carried out or no. Domitian, to replace the library in the Capitol, which had been destroyed, sent scholars abroad to collect manuscripts and to copy some of those at Alexandria. Under Constantine the Roman public libraries numbered twenty-nine, and were very frequently lodged in the temples. Last in point of date come the libraries of Byzantium, the city which the Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D. made the capital of the eastern portion of the empire, and named after himself. He at once began to gather books there, and his successors followed his example. Thus various libraries were established, and those which survived the fires which occurred from time to time in the city, existed until its capture by the Turks in 1452. On this occasion, and also after the assault by the Crusaders in 1203, the libraries probably suffered. It is said, too, by some that Leo III. wantonly destroyed a large number of books, but the assertion cannot be proved. Among the lost treasures of Constantinople was "the only authentic copy" of the proceedings of the Council of Nice, held in 325 A.D. to deal with the Arian heresy. The ultimate fate of the imperial library at Constantinople yet remains a problem. Some are of opinion that it was destroyed by Amurath IV., and that none but comparatively unimportant Arabic and other Oriental manuscripts make up the Sultan's library. Some believe that, in spite of repeated assertions to the contrary on the part of Turkish officials and others, there somewhere lies a secret hoard, neglected and uncared for, perhaps, but nevertheless existent, of ancient and valuable Greek manuscripts. The Seraglio has usually been considered to be the repository of this hoard, and access to the Seraglio is very difficult and almost impossible to obtain. In the year 1800 Professor Carlyle, during his travels in the East, took enormous pains and used every means in his power to reach the bottom of the mystery surrounding the Seraglio treasures. He was assured by every Turkish officer whom he consulted on the subject that no Greek manuscripts existed there; and when by dint of influence in high quarters and much patience and perseverance he at length gained permission to examine the Seraglio library, he found that it consisted chiefly of Arabic manuscripts, and contained not a single Greek, Latin, or Hebrew writing. The library, or such part of it as the Professor was shown, was approached through a mosque, and consisted of a small cruciform chamber, measuring only twelve yards at its greatest width. One arm of the cross served as an ante-chamber, and the other three contained the book-cases. The books were laid on their sides, one on the other, the ends outward. Their titles were written on the edges of the leaves. The result of the Professor's researches went to confirm the belief held by so many that no Greek manuscripts had survived. On the other hand, the jealousy and suspicion of the Turks would render it at least possible that despite the apparent straightforwardness with which Mr Carlyle was treated, there were stores of manuscripts which were kept back from him. A final touch of mystery was given to this fascinating subject by a tradition concerning a certain building in Constantinople which had been closed up ever since the time of the Turkish conquest in the fifteenth century. Of the existence of this building Professor Carlyle was certain. The tradition asserted that it contained many of the former possessions of the Greek emperors, and among these possessions Professor Carlyle expected that the remains of the imperial library would be found, if such remains existed. Of other libraries of olden times, such as those of Antioch and Ephesus, or those in private possession in the country houses of Italy and Gaul, and which perished at the hands of the barbarians, it is not necessary to speak more fully. It is sufficient to point out that they existed, and that though we possess few details as to their furniture or arrangement, we are justified in concluding that the latter, at any rate, were luxuriously appointed. It must not be inferred, however, that all the books which disappeared from these various centres were of necessity destroyed. Many, and particularly some of the Byzantine manuscripts, were dispersed over Europe, and survive to enrich our libraries and museums of to-day. CHAPTER IV BOOKS IN MEDIÆVAL TIMES The books of the Middle Ages are a special subject in themselves, since they include all the illuminated manuscripts of Ireland, England and the Continent. We can therefore do little more than indicate their historical place in the story of books. We have only to look at a mediæval illuminated manuscript to understand how books were regarded in those days, and with what lavish expenditure of time and skill the quaint characters were traced and the ornaments designed and executed. And having looked, we gather that books, being rare, were appreciated; and being sacred, were reverenced; and that it was deemed a worthy thing to make a good book and to make it beautiful. Sometimes the monkish artist's handiwork had a result not foreseen by him, for we read that when St Boniface, the Saxon missionary who gave his life to the conversion of Germany, wrote to ask the Abbess Eadburga for a missal, he desired that the colours might be gay and bright, "even as a glittering lamp and an illumination for the hearts of the Gentiles." It is easy to imagine how the brilliant pages would attract the colour-loving barbarians, and prepare the way for friendly advances. It is probable that the custom of ornamenting books with drawings was derived from the Egyptians by the Greeks, and from the Greeks by the Romans, among whom decorated books were common, although they are known to us chiefly by means of copies preserved in Byzantine and Italian manuscripts of a more recent period. These, and a few examples dating from the time of Constantine, exhibit a style evidently derived from classical models. A survey of mediæval books properly begins with the early Irish manuscripts, which stand at the head of a long and glorious line stretching, chronologically, from the seventh century of our era to the fifteenth. Although it is not known where the art was born to which these wonderful productions of Celtic pen-craft owe their origin, it is Ireland, nevertheless, which has provided us with the earliest and finest examples of this work, the marvels of skill and beauty which, summed up, as it were, in the Book of Kells, the Book of Durrow, and others, set the Irish manuscripts beyond imitation or rivalry. [Illustration: PAGE FROM THE BOOK OF KELLS (_reduced._)] [Illustration: PART OF PAGE FROM THE BOOK OF KELLS (_exact size._)] Most of these books are Psalters, or Gospels, in Latin, while the remainder consist of missals and other religious compilations, and of them all the Book of Kells is the most famous. It was written in the seventh century, and probably indicates the highest point of skill reached by the Irish artist-scribes, or as regards its own particular style of ornamentation, by any artist-scribes whatever. It is a book of the Gospels written (in Latin) on vellum, and the size of the volume, of the writing, and of the initial letters is unusually large. The leaves measure 13½ x 9½ inches. The illustrations represent various incidents in the life of Christ, and portraits of the Evangelists, accompanied by formal designs. Ornamentation is largely introduced into the text, and the first few words of each Gospel are so lavishly decorated and have initial letters of such size that in each case they occupy the whole of a page. The book just described was preserved at Kells until the early part of the seventeenth century. It then passed into Archbishop Ussher's possession, and finally into the library of Trinity College, Dublin, where it is now treasured. Of course it is impossible to give here a reproduction of a page of this marvellous book in its proper size and colours. Our illustrations, however, may convey a little idea of the accuracy and minuteness of the work, which, it is hardly necessary to say, was done entirely by hand, and will serve as a text for a brief summary of the chief features of Irish book art. The design here shown is composed of a diagonal cross set in a rectangular frame, having in each angle a symbol of one of the four Evangelists. The colours in this design, as reproduced by Professor Westwood in his _Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts_, principally consist of red, dark and light mauve, green, yellow, and blue-grey. The animals depicted are quaint, but not ridiculous, and the figure of St Matthew, in the upper angle of the cross, though stiff and ungraceful, is less peculiar than other figures in the book. The Irish artist was always more successful in designing and executing geometrical systems of ornamentation than in representing living figures. The interlacing, which forms a large part of the design under consideration, is a characteristic of Celtic work. The regularity with which the bands pass under and over, even in the most complicated patterns, is very remarkable, and errors are rarely to be detected. The spirals which occupy the four panels at the ends and sides of the frame are also typical of this school of art. The firmness and accuracy of their drawing testify to the excellent eyesight as well as to the steady hand and technical skill of the artist. The prevailing feature of Celtic ornament as shown in illuminated manuscripts is the geometrical nature of the designs. The human figure when introduced into the native Irish books is absurdly grotesque, for its delineation seems to have been beyond the artist's skill, or, more correctly, to have lain in another category, and to have belonged to a style distinct from that in which he excelled. At a later period, figure drawing became a marked characteristic of English decorated manuscripts, and English artists attained to a high degree of skill in this branch of their art. Bright colours were employed in the Irish manuscripts, but gold and silver are conspicuous by their absence, and did not appear in the manuscripts of these islands until Celtic art had been touched by continental influence. The tradition that the Book of Kells was written by the great St Columba himself, reminds us that at this period nearly all books were the handiwork of monks and ecclesiastics, and in all monasteries the transcribing of the Scriptures and devotional works was part of the established order of things. Columba, we know, was a famous scribe, and took great pleasure in copying books. He is said to have transcribed no less than three hundred volumes, and all books written by him were believed to be miraculously preserved from danger by water. As an instance of this, Adamnan relates the following story:-- "A book of hymns for the office of every day in the week, and in the handwriting of St Columba, having slipt, with the leathern satchel which contained it, from the shoulder of a boy who fell from a bridge, was immersed in a certain river in the province of the Lagenians (Leinster). This very book lay in the water from the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord till the end of the Paschal season, and was afterwards found on the bank of the river" uninjured, and as clean and dry as if it had never been in the water at all. "And we have ascertained as undoubted truth," continues Adamnan, "from those who were well informed in the matter, that the like things happened in several places with regard to books written by the hand of St Columba;" and he adds that the account just given he received from "certain truthful, excellent, and honourable men who saw the book itself, perfectly white and beautiful, after a submersion of so many days, as we have stated." By Irish missionaries the art of book writing was taught to Britain, chiefly through the school of Lindisfarne, where was produced the famous Lindisfarne Gospels, or Book of St Cuthbert. This magnificent work, which is one of the choicest treasures of the British Museum, was as highly esteemed by its contemporaries as by ourselves, though perhaps not for quite the same reasons. Tradition has it that when Lindisfarne was threatened by the Northmen and the monks had to fly, they took with them the body of St Cuthbert, in obedience to his dying behest, and this book. They attempted to seek refuge in Ireland, but their boat had scarcely reached the open sea when it met a storm so violent that through the pitching of the little vessel the book fell overboard. Sorrowfully they put back, but during the night St Cuthbert appeared to one of the monks and ordered him to seek for the book in the sea. On beginning their search, they found that the tide had ebbed much further than it was wont to do, and going out about three miles they came upon the holy book, not a whit the worse for its misadventure. "By this," says the old historian, "were their hearts refreshed with much joy." And the book was afterwards named in the priory rolls as "the Book of St Cuthbert, which fell into the sea." [Illustration: PAGE FROM THE LINDISFARNE GOSPELS (_reduced._)] This notable volume is an excellent example of Celtic book art in the beginning of its transition stage, a stage which marks the approach to the two schools which were the result of the combination of Celtic and continental influences in the hands of intelligent and skilful Anglo-Saxon scribes--the Hiberno-Saxon and the English schools. It contains the four Gospels written in Latin, and arranged in double columns, each Gospel being preceded by a full-page formal design of Celtic work and a full-page portrait of the Evangelist. The conjunction of these two distinct styles of ornament forms one of the chief points of interest in the book. The formal designs of interlaced, spiral, and key patterns, so characteristic of Celtic work, show its near kinship to the Irish books, while the portraits prove an almost equally close connection with Roman and Byzantine models. There is reason to believe that the classical element is due to the influence of an Italian or Byzantine book or books brought to Lindisfarne by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, and his friend Adrian, an Italian abbot, when the archbishop visited the island for the purpose of consecrating Aidan's church. The Lindisfarne Gospels accompanied St Cuthbert's body to Durham in 995, but rather more than a century later was restored to Lindisfarne, and remained there until the monastery which had replaced St Aidan's foundation was dissolved at the Reformation. It is then lost sight of until it reappears in the famous Cotton Library, with which it is now possessed by the nation. The English school of illumination had its chief seat at Winchester. Its work is characterised by its figure drawing, and while the foliage ornament introduced, together with the gold which was largely used in the Winchester manuscripts, indicate continental influence, the interlaced and other patterns are derived from the Irish school. Of this class of manuscript the Benedictional of Æthelwold, in the Duke of Devonshire's library, may serve as a typical example. It was written for Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, by his chaplain Godemann, towards the end of the tenth century. Were it practicable to offer the reader a reproduction of one of its pages, it would be seen that it exactly illustrates what has just been said. Its figure drawing and foliated ornamentation are among its most striking features. The Norman Conquest opened up the English school of art more widely to continental influence, with the result that towards the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries the English manuscripts were unsurpassed by any in Europe. As a typical specimen of the illuminations of this period, we may with propriety select one which has been described by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson as "the very finest of its kind," and "probably unique in its combination of excellence of drawing, brilliance of illumination, and variety and extent of subjects." It is a Psalter dating from the fourteenth century, and known as Queen Mary's Psalter, because a customs officer of the port of London, who intercepted it as it was about to be taken out of the country, presented it to the Queen in 1553. This magnificent book is now in the British Museum. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a large number of Bibles and Psalters were written, and made up the greater part of the book-output of the larger monasteries, to which we are indebted for all our fine pieces of manuscript work. Indeed, most of the decorated manuscripts of this period are occupied with the Scriptures, services, liturgies, and other matters of the kind, and on such the best work was lavished. Later, however, the growing taste for romances and stories induced a corresponding tendency to decorate these secular manuscripts too, and some very fine work of this class was produced, especially in France. The books of the chronicles of England and of France, written in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were also largely adorned with painted miniatures. Nearly all the writing of Europe was done in the religious houses. In most of the larger monasteries there was a scriptorium, or writing-room, where Bibles, Psalters, and service books, and patristic and classical writings were transcribed, chronicles and histories compiled, and beautiful specimens of the illuminator's art carefully, skilfully, and lovingly executed. Books, however, were not only written in the monasteries, but read as well. The rule of St Benedict insisted that the steady reading of books by the brethren should form part of the daily round. Archbishop Lanfranc, also, in his orders for the English Benedictines, directed that once a year books were to be distributed and borrowed volumes to be restored. For this purpose, the librarian was to have a carpet laid down in the Chapter House, the monks were to assemble, and the names of those to whom books had been lent were to be read out. Each in turn had to answer to his name, and restore his book, and he who had neglected to avail himself of his privilege, and had left his book unread, was to fall on his face and implore forgiveness. Then the books were re-distributed for study during the ensuing year. This custom was generally followed by all the monasteries of Lanfranc's time. Richard Aungervyle, Bishop of Durham, born in 1281 at Bury St Edmund's, and therefore usually known as Richard de Bury, gives a vivacious picture of the attitude of a book-lover of the Middle Ages in his _Philobiblon_, or _Lover of Books_. He there sings the praises of books, and voices their lament over their ill-treatment by degenerate clerks and by the unlearned. He also tells how he gathered his library, which was then the largest and best in England. _Philobiblon_ is written in vigorous and even violent language, and is worth quoting. Books, according to this extravagant eulogy, are "wells of living water," "golden urns in which manna is laid up, or rather, indeed, honeycombs," "the four-streamed river of Paradise, where the human mind is fed, and the arid intellect moistened and watered." "You, O Books, are the golden vessels of the temple, the arms of the clerical militia, with which the missiles of the most wicked are destroyed, fruitful olives, vines of Engedi, fig-trees knowing no sterility, burning lamps to be ever held in the hand." Then the books are made to utter their plaint because of the indignity to which they are subjected by the degenerate clergy. "We are expelled from the domiciles of the clergy, apportioned to us by hereditary right, in some interior chamber of which we had our peaceful cells; but, to their shame, in these nefarious times we are altogether banished to suffer opprobrium out of doors; our places, moreover, are occupied by hounds and hawks, and sometimes by a biped beast: woman, to wit ...; wherefore this beast, ever jealous of our studies, and at all times implacable, spying us at last in a corner, protected only by the web of some long-deceased spider, drawing her forehead into wrinkles, laughs us to scorn, abuses us in virulent speeches, points us out as the only superfluous furniture in the house, complains that we are useless for any purpose of domestic economy whatever, and recommends our being bartered away forthwith for costly head dresses, cambric, silk, twice-dipped purple garments, woollen, linen, and furs." After this terrible picture of feminine ignorance and malevolence, it is refreshing to turn to the achievements of the pious Diemudis, by way of contrast. Diemudis was a nun of Wessobrunn in Bavaria, who lived in the eleventh century. Nuns are not often referred to as writers, but of this lady it is recorded that she wrote "in a most beautiful and legible character" no less than thirty-one books, some of which were in two, three, and even six volumes. These she transcribed "to the praise of God, and of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, the patrons of this monastery." Although the greater part of the book-writing of this time was done in the monasteries and by monks and ecclesiastics, there were also secular professional writers, a class who had followed this occupation from very early days. They consisted of antiquarii, librarii, and illuminators, though sometimes the functions of all three were performed by one person. They were employed chiefly by the religious houses, to assist in the transcription and restoration of their books, and by the lawyers, for whom they transcribed legal documents. The antiquarii were the highest in rank, for their work did not consist merely of writing or copying, but included the restoration of faulty pages, the revision of texts, the repair of bindings, and other delicate tasks connected with the older and more valuable books which could not be entrusted to the librarii or common scribes. On the whole, the production of books was more of an industry in those days than we should believe possible, unless we admit that the Dark Ages were not quite as dark as they have been painted. "There was always about us in our halls," says Richard de Bury, who no doubt was a munificent patron of all scribes and book-workers, "no small assemblage of antiquaries, scribes, bookbinders, correctors, illuminators, and generally of all such persons as were qualified to labour in the service of books." Books of a great size were frequently monuments of patience and industry, and sometimes half a lifetime was devoted to a single volume. Books therefore fetched high prices, though they were not always paid for in money. In 1174 the Prior of St Swithun's, Winchester, gave the Canons of Dorchester in Oxfordshire, for Bede's Homilies and St Augustine's Psalter, twelve measures of barley, and a pall on which was embroidered in silver the history of St Birinus' conversion of the Saxon King Cynegils. A hundred years later a Bible "fairly written," that is, finely written, was sold in this country for fifty marks, or about £33. At this period a sheep cost one shilling. In the time of Richard de Bury a common scribe earned a halfpenny a day. About 1380 some of the expenses attending the production of an _Evangeliarium_, or book of the liturgical Gospels, included thirteen and fourpence for the writing, four and threepence for the illuminating, three and fourpence for the binding, and tenpence a day for eighteen weeks, in all fifteen shillings, for the writer's "commons," or food. The book-writers or copyists became, later, the booksellers, very much as they did in old Rome. Sometimes they both wrote and sold the books, and sometimes the sellers employed the writers to write for them, or the writers employed the sellers to sell for them. Publishers as yet did not exist. Practically the only method of publication known consisted of the reading of a work on three days in succession before the heads of the University, or other public judges, and the sanctioning of its transcription and reproduction. The booksellers were called "stationers," either because they transacted their business at open stalls or stations, or perhaps from the fact that _statio_ is low Latin for _shop_; and since they were also the vendors of parchment and other writing-materials, the word "stationer" is still used to designate those who carry on a similar trade to-day. As early as 1403 there was already formed in London a society or brotherhood "of the Craft of Writers of Text-letter," and "those commonly called 'Limners,'" or Illuminators, for in that year they petitioned the Lord Mayor for permission to elect Wardens empowered to see that the trades were honourably pursued and to punish those of the craft who dealt disloyally or who rebelled against the Wardens' authority. This petition was granted. By 1501 the Company of Stationers was established, and it is highly probable that this was only the Brotherhood of Text-writers and Limners under the more general designation. The well-known names of Paternoster Row, Amen Corner, Ave Maria Lane, and Creed Lane still remain to show us where the London stationers who sold the common religious leaflets and devotional books of the day had their stalls, close to St Paul's Cathedral, and in some cases even against the walls of the Cathedral itself, and where, too, the makers of beads and paternosters plied their trade. And Londoners at least will not need to be reminded that at this very moment Paternoster Row is almost entirely inhabited by sellers of books, religious and otherwise. There is also a queer open-air stall on the south side which serves to carry on the ancient tradition of the place. Societies similar to that of the Text-Writers and Limners of London also existed on the Continent, and especially at Bruges, in which city literature and book-production flourished under the patronage of Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, who himself gave constant employment to numerous writers, copyists, translators, and illuminators in the work of building up his famous library. The members of the Guild of St John the Evangelist in Bruges represented no less than fifteen different trades or professions connected with books and writing. They included: Booksellers, Printsellers, Painters of vignettes, Painters, Scriveners and copiers of books, Schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, Illuminators, Printers, Bookbinders, Curriers, Cloth shearers, Parchment and vellum makers, Boss carvers, Letter engravers, Figure engravers. Of course, the printers here mentioned would at first be block-printers only, as will be shown presently. And it is worth noticing that in all this long list, which cannot be called at all exclusive, there is no mention of authors. The mediæval booksellers were not all permitted to ply their trade in their own way. Since the supply of books for the students depended on them, the Universities of Paris, Oxford, and elsewhere deemed it their duty to keep them under control, having in view the maintenance of pure texts and the interests of the students, at whose expense the booksellers were not to be permitted to fatten. By the rules of the University of Paris the bookseller was required to be a man of wide learning and high character, and to bind himself to observe the laws regarding books laid down by the University. He was forbidden to offer any transcript for sale until it had been examined and found correct; and were any inaccuracy detected in it by the examiner, he was liable to a fine or the burning of the book, according to the magnitude of his error. The price of books was also fixed by the University, and the vendor forbidden to make more than a certain rate of profit on each volume. Again, the bookseller could not purchase any books without the sanction of the University, for fear that he might be the means of disseminating heretical or immoral literature. Later, it was made obligatory on him to lend out books on hire to those who could not afford to buy them, and to expose in his shop a list of these books and the charges at which they were to be had. The poor booksellers, thus hedged about with restrictions, often joined some other occupation to that of selling manuscripts in order to make both ends meet, but when this practice came to the notice of the University they were censured for degrading their noble profession by mixing with it "vile trades." But presumably no such rules as the above hampered the booksellers of non-university towns, such as London. The control assumed by the Universities over the book trade presently extended to interference with original writings and a censorship of literature. With the introduction of printing and the consequent increase of books and of the facilities for reproducing them this censorship was taken up by the Church. Ecclesiastical censorship, however, was not the outcome of the Universities' assumption of control over the book trade. It sprang from the jealousy of the clergy, who opposed the spread of knowledge among the people--some, perhaps, because they knew that knowledge in ignorant hands is dangerous, and others because they feared their own prestige might suffer. This feeling existed before printing, though printing brought it to a head. For instance, in 1415 the penalty in this country for reading the Scriptures in the vernacular was forfeiture of land, cattle, body, life, and goods by the offenders and their heirs for ever, and that they should be condemned for heretics to God, enemies to the Crown, and most errant traitors to the land. They were refused right of sanctuary, and if they persisted in the offence or relapsed after a pardon were first to be hanged for treason against the King and then burned for heresy against God. Thus the clergy upheld and encouraged a censorship of the press. As early as 1479 Conrad de Homborch, a Cologne printer, had issued a Bible accompanied by canons, etc., which was "allowed and approved by the University of Cologne," and in 1486 the Archbishop of Mentz issued a mandate forbidding the translation into the vulgar tongue of Greek, Latin, and other books, without the previous approbation of the University. Finally, in 1515, a bull of Leo X. required Bishops and Inquisitors to examine all books before they came to be printed, and to suppress any heretical matter. The Vicar of Croydon, preaching at St Paul's Cross about the time of the spread of the art of printing, is said to have declared that "we must root out printing or printing will root out us." But an ecclesiastical censorship over the English press was not established until 1559, when an Injunction issued by Queen Elizabeth provides that, because of the publication of unfruitful, vain, and infamous books and papers, "no manner of person shall print any manner of boke or paper ... except the same be first licenced by her maiestie ... or by .vi. of her privy counsel, or be perused and licensed by the archbysshops of Cantorbury and Yorke, the bishop of London," etc. The Injunction extended also to "pampheletes, playes, and balletes," so that "nothinge therein should be either heretical, sedicious, or vnsemely for Christian eares." Classical authors, however, and works hitherto commonly received in universities and schools were not touched by the Injunction. CHAPTER V LIBRARIES IN MEDIÆVAL TIMES During the rule of the Arabs in Northern Africa and in Spain, thousands of manuscripts were gathered together in their chief cities, such as Cairo and Cordova, and many Arabic-Spanish and Moorish writings have been preserved in the Escurial Library, though a large part of this library was burnt in 1671. With these exceptions, the collections of books belonging to the various religious houses were practically the only libraries of early mediæval times. These collections, to begin with, were very small; so small, indeed, that there was no need to set apart a special room for them. Library buildings were not erected till the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries, when the accumulation of books rendered them necessary, and those which are found in connection with old foundations will always prove to have been added later. It is said, however, that Gozbert, abbot of St Gall in the ninth century, who founded the library there by collecting what was then the large number of four hundred books, allotted them a special room over the scriptorium. But as a rule the books were kept in the church, and then, as the number increased, in the cloisters. The cloister was the common living-room of the monks, where they read and studied, and carried out most of their daily duties. The books were either stored in presses, though no such press remains to show us upon what pattern they were built, or in recesses in the wall, probably closed by doors. Two of these recesses may be seen in the cloisters at Worcester. In Cistercian houses, says Mr J. W. Clark, to whose Rede Lecture (1894) I am indebted for these details, this recess developed "into a small square room without a window, and but little larger than an ordinary cupboard. In the plans of Clairvaux and Kirkstall this room is placed between the chapter-house and the transept of the church; and similar rooms, in similar situations, have been found at Fountains, Beaulieu, Tintern, Netley, etc." The books were placed on shelves round the walls. When the cloister windows came to be glazed, so as to afford better protection from the weather for the persons and things within the cloister, they were occasionally decorated with allusions to the authors of the books in the adjacent presses. Sometimes _carrells_ were set up in the cloister, a carrell being a sort of pew, in which study could be conducted with more privacy than in the open cloister. The carrell was placed so that it was closed at one end by one of the cloister windows and remained open at the other. Examples still survive at Gloucester. The arrangement of the libraries which were subsequently added to most of the larger monasteries in the fifteenth century is unknown, as none of the furniture or fittings seem to have come down to the present day either in this country or in France or Italy. But Mr Clark thinks that the collegiate libraries will give us the key to the plan of the monastic libraries, since the rules relating to the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge were framed on those which obtained in the "book-houses" of the religious foundations. From these collegiate libraries we gather that it was customary to chain the books, so that they might be accessible to all and yet secure from those who might wish to appropriate them temporarily or otherwise. The shelf to which the volumes were fastened took the form or an "elongated lectern or desk," at which the reader might sit. Pembroke College and Queens' College, Cambridge, had desks of this type, which was also in use on the Continent. In some places the desks were modified by the addition of shelves above or below. Mr Falconer Madan, in his _Books in Manuscript_, quotes the following account, which he translates from the Latin register of Titchfield Abbey, written at the end of the fourteenth century, and which shows the care and method with which the books were kept: "The arrangement of the library of the monastery of Tychefeld is this:--There are in the library of Tychefeld four cases (_columnæ_) in which to place books, of which two, the first and second, are in the eastern face; on the southern face is the third, and on the northern face the fourth. And each of them has eight shelves (_gradus_), marked with a letter and number affixed on the front of each shelf.... So all and singular the volumes of the said library are fully marked on the first leaf and elsewhere on the shelf belonging to the book, with certain numbered letters. And in order that what is in the library may be more quickly found, the marking of the shelves of the said library, the inscriptions in the books, and the reference in the register, in all points agree with each other. Anno domini, MCCCC." Then is shown the order in which the books lie on the shelves. Briefly, the sequence of subjects and books is as follows:--Bibles, Bibles with commentary, theology, lives of saints, sermons, canon law, commentaries on canon law, civil law, medicine, arts, grammar, miscellaneous volumes, logic and philosophy, English law, eighteen French volumes, and a hundred and two liturgical volumes. Titchfield Abbey owned altogether over a thousand volumes. The monastic librarian, as we should call him, was known as the _armarius_, since he had charge of the _armaria_ or book-presses. He frequently united this office to that of precentor or leader of the choir, for at first the service-books were his chief care. It was his business to make the catalogue, to examine the volumes from time to time to see that mould or book-worms or other dangers were not threatening them, to give out books for transcription, and to distribute the various writing-materials used in the scriptorium or writing-room. He had also to collate such works as were bound to follow one text, such as Bibles, missals, monastic rules, etc. To these duties he often added that of secretary to the abbot and to the monastery generally. Many catalogues of monastic libraries are extant, and several belonging to continental foundations were compiled at a very early period. Of the library of St Gall, founded by the Abbé Gozbert in 816, a contemporary catalogue still exists. The St Gall library contained four hundred volumes, a large number for those days, and, moreover, was provided with a special room, a chamber over the scriptorium. It is not easy to see why in this and other cases of the co-existence of a library and a scriptorium one room was not made to do duty for both. But to return to the catalogues. Another early example is that of the Abbey of Clugni, in France, made in 831, and forming part of an inventory of the Abbey property. The Benedictine Abbey of Reichenau, on the Rhine, had four catalogues compiled in the ninth century--two of the books in the library, one of certain transcriptions made and added thereto, and one of additions to the library from other sources. Among English monastic book-lists, there is one of Whitby Abbey, which appears to have been made in 1180, and the library of Glastonbury Abbey, which excited the wonder and admiration of Leland, and which was started by St Dunstan round a nucleus of a few books formerly brought to the Abbey by Irish missionaries, was catalogued in 1247 or 1248. Catalogues of the books at Canterbury (Christ Church and St Augustine's monastery), Peterborough, Durham, Leicester, Ramsey, and other foundations are also known, and these, with the notices of Leland, form our only sources of information as to these various literary storehouses. As regards their contents, the Scriptures, missals, service-books, and similar manuscripts formed the larger part of the monastic libraries, but besides these they included copies of patristic and classical works, devotional and moral writings, lives of saints, chronicles, books on medicine, grammar, philosophy, logic, and, later, romances and fiction were admitted into this somewhat austere company. The catalogue of the "boc-house" of the monastery of St Augustine at Canterbury, written towards the close of the fifteenth century, names many romantic works, including the _Four Sons of Aymon_, _Guy of Warwick_, _The Book of Lancelot_, _The Story of the Graal_, _Sir Perceval de Galois_, _The Seven Sages_, and others, and of some of these there is more than one copy. Books were frequently lent to other monasteries, or to poor clerks and students. It was considered a sacred duty thus to share the benefits of the books with others; but sometimes the custodians of the precious volumes, aware of the failures of memory to which book-borrowers have ever been peculiarly liable, were so averse from running the risk of lending that the libraries were placed under anathema, and could not be lent under pain of excommunication. But the selfishness and injustice of such a practice being recognised, it was formally condemned by the Council of Paris in 1212, and the anathemas annulled. Anathemas were also pronounced against any who should steal or otherwise alienate a book from its lawful owners. But as even in mediæval days there were those who loved books better than honesty, the loan of a volume was accompanied by legal forms and ceremonies, and the borrower, whatever his station or character, had to sign a bond for the due return of the work, and often to deposit security as well. Thus, when about 1225 the Dean of York presented several Bibles for the use of the students of Oxford, he did so on condition that those who used them should deposit a cautionary pledge. Again, in 1299, John de Pontissara, Bishop of Winchester, borrowed from the convent of St Swithun the _Bibliam bene glossatum_, i.e. the Bible with annotations, and gave a bond for its return. And in 1471, when books had become much more common, no less a person than the King of France, desiring to borrow some Arabian medical works from the Faculty of Medicine at Paris, had not only to deposit some costly plate as security, but to find a nobleman to act as surety with him for the return of the books, under pain of a heavy forfeit. Many of the great monastic libraries owed their origin to the liberality of one donor, usually an ecclesiastic. Among other libraries destroyed by the Danes was the fine collection of books at Wearmouth monastery, made by Benedict Biscop, the first English book collector, who was so eager in the cause of books that he is said to have made no less than five journeys to Rome in order to search for them. Part of his library was given to the Abbey at Jarrow, and shared the same fate as the books at Wearmouth. One of the earliest English libraries was that of Christ Church, _i.e._ the Cathedral, at Canterbury. On the authority of the Canterbury Book, a fifteenth century manuscript preserved at Cambridge, this library began with the nine books said to have been brought from Rome by St Augustine. These nine books were a Bible in two volumes, a Psalter, a Book of Gospels, the Lives of the Apostles, the Lives of the Martyrs, and an Exposition of the Gospels and Epistles. This collection was enriched by the magnificent scriptural and classical volumes brought from the continent by Archbishop Theodore in the seventh century. Under Archbishop Chicheley, in the fifteenth century, this library was provided with a dwelling of its own, built over the Prior's Chapel, and containing sixteen bookcases of four shelves each. At this time a catalogue was already in existence, made by Prior Eastry at the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century, and records about three thousand volumes. The monastery of St Mary's at York owned a library which was founded by Archbishop Egbert. Egbert's pupil Alcuin, whom Charlemagne charged with the care of the educational interests of his empire, soon after taking up his residence at St Martin's at Tours, desired the emperor to send to Britain for "those books which we so much need; thus transplanting into France the flowers of Britain, that the garden of Paradise may not be confined to York, but may send some of its scions to Tours." Richard de Bury, the famous old book collector or bibliomaniac to whom reference has already been made, bequeathed his books, which outnumbered all other collections in this country, to the University of Oxford, where they were housed in Durham College, which he had endowed. He has left an interesting account of how he gathered his treasures, which may fitly be quoted here. Aided by royal favour, he tells us, "we acquired a most ample facility of visiting at pleasure and of hunting as it were some of the most delightful coverts, the public and private libraries both of the regulars and the seculars.... Then the cabinets of the most notable monasteries were opened, cases were unlocked, caskets were unclasped, and astonished volumes which had slumbered for long ages in their sepulchres were roused up, and those that lay hid in dark places were overwhelmed with a new light.... Thus the sacred vessels of science came into the power of our disposal, some being given, some sold, and not a few lent for a time." The embassies with which he was charged by Edward III. gave him opportunity for hunting continental coverts also. "What a rush of the flood of pleasure rejoiced our hearts as often as we visited Paris, the paradise of the world!... There, in very deed, with an open treasury and untied purse-strings, we scattered money with a light heart, and redeemed inestimable books with dirt and dust." Richard de Bury also furthered his collection by making friends of the mendicant friars, and "allured them with the most familiar affability into a devotion to his person, and having allured, cherished them for the love of God with munificent liberality." The affability and liberality of the good bishop attained their object, and the devoted friars went about everywhere, searching and finding, and whenever he visited them, placed the treasures of their houses at his disposal. Although the mendicant orders were originally forbidden property of any kind, this rule was afterwards greatly relaxed, especially as regards books, and in Richard de Bury's time the friars had amassed large libraries and were well-known as keen collectors. In France it was not an uncommon practice for a monastery to levy a tax on its members or its dependent houses for the increase of its library, and in several houses it was customary for a novice to present writing materials at his entry and a book at the conclusion of his novitiate. As early as the close of the eleventh century Marchwart, Abbot of Corvey in North Germany, made it a rule that every novice on making his profession should add a book to the library. The monastic libraries met their doom at the time of the Reformation and of the suppression of the religious houses. Nearly all the books at Oxford, including the gifts of Richard de Bury, were burnt by the mob, and under Elizabeth the royal commissioners ordered the destruction of all "capes, vestments, albes, missals, books, crosses, and such other idolatrous and superstitious monuments whatsoever." Since those who ought to have been more enlightened classed missals and books among idolatrous and superstitious monuments, it is not to be wondered at that the ignorant and undiscriminating mob should glory in their wanton destruction. Books that escaped the fire or the fury of the mob were put to various uses as waste paper. They were employed for "scouring candlesticks and cleaning boots," for the wrapping up of the wares of "grocers and soap-sellers," and were exported by shiploads for the use of continental bookbinders. On the continent, too, fire, wars, plunder, and suppression dispersed or destroyed many of the monastic collections. A comparatively recent instance of book destruction caused by the fury of the rabble is afforded by the great losses undergone by Bristol Cathedral library in the riots which took place in connection with the passing of the Reform Bill. The palace was set on fire, and the library, which was lodged in the Chapter-house, was brought out and most of the volumes hurled into the flames. Others were thrown into the river, into ditches, and about the streets, and although about eleven hundred were subsequently recovered from second-hand clothes dealers and marine stores, only two copies and one set remained intact. As a natural consequence of the revival of learning in the fourteenth century, private libraries began to increase in size and in number, and the collection of books was no longer left to monks and priests. King John of France gathered a little library, some say of only twenty volumes, which laid the foundation of the great Royal Library, now the Bibliothèque Nationale. These he bequeathed to his son, Charles V., who increased the number to nine hundred, for his known fondness for books and reading obtained for him presentation volumes from many of his subjects. His books included works of devotion, astrology, medicine, law, history, and romance, with a few classical authors. Most of them were finely written on vellum, and sumptuously bound in jewelled and gold-bedecked covers. They were lodged in three rooms in the Louvre, in a tower called "La Tour de la libraire." These rooms had wainscots of Irish [bog?] oak, and ceilings of cypress "curiously carved." According to Henault, the library of the Louvre was sent to England by the Duke of Bedford while Regent of France, and only a few volumes afterwards found their way back to Paris. One of the finest libraries of this period was possessed by Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy. It contained nearly two thousand volumes, mostly magnificent folios clothed in silk and satin, and ornamented with gold and precious stones. Books were now the fashion, the fashionable possessions, the fashionable gifts, among those who were wealthy enough to afford them. Louis de Bruges, Seigneur de la Gruthyse, was another famous collector, whose books were no less splendid in their size, beauty and costliness, than those of the Duke of Burgundy. His collection was afterwards added to the Royal Library, and some of its treasures still exist in the Bibliothèque Nationale. The rich and cultured of Italy were also busily collecting books and forming libraries. A library was made by Cardinal Bessarion at a cost of thirty thousand sequins, and afterwards became the property of the church of St Mark at Venice. Venice already possessed a small collection of books given to it by Petrarch, but the gift was so little thought of that it lay neglected in the Palazzo Molina until some of the volumes had crumbled to powder, and others had petrified, as it were, through the damp. Of English collectors of this period Richard de Bury was the most famous. As has already been stated, he possessed the largest number of books in the country, and these he bequeathed to the University of Oxford. The Aungervyle Library, as it was called, was destroyed at the Reformation. Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, also had a very fine collection. He preferred romances, however, to theology or law, and his library contained many such works. At his death he bequeathed it to the Abbey of Bordesley, in Worcestershire. The English kings had not as yet paid much attention to books. Eleven are mentioned in the wardrobe accounts as belonging to Edward I., and not until the time of Henry VII. was any serious consideration given to the formation of the Royal Library. Among the more famous continental book collectors of a later period were Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and Frederick, Duke of Urbino. The library of the King of Hungary perhaps excelled all others in its size and splendour. It is said to have contained nearly fifty thousand volumes, but only a comparatively small number survived the barbarous attack of the Turks, who stole the jewels from the bindings and destroyed the books themselves. The Duke of Urbino's library was scarcely less magnificent, and was distinguished by its completeness. All obtainable works were represented, and no imperfect copies admitted. The duke had thirty-four transcribers in his service. After the monastic libraries had been destroyed, and when old ideas were beginning to give place to new, the restrictions formerly placed on the reading of the Scriptures by the people at large were withdrawn. In an Injunction, dated 1559, Elizabeth ordered that the people were to be exhorted to read the Bible, not discouraged, and she directed the clergy to provide at the parish expense a book of the whole Bible in English within three months, and within twelve months a copy of Erasmus' Paraphrases upon the Gospels, also in English. These books were to be set up in the church for the use and reading of the parishioners. The chain is not mentioned in the Injunction, but was probably adopted as a matter of course. Chained books in churches thus became common, and besides the Bible, very generally included copies of Fox's _Book of Martyrs_ and Jewel's _Apology for the Church of England_. The chained books at St Luke's, Chelsea, consist of a Vinegar Bible, a Prayer Book, the Homilies, and two copies of the _Book of Martyrs_. The custom of chaining books, as we have seen, was followed in the college libraries, and obtained also in church libraries in England and on the continent. Among the still existing libraries whose books are thus secured are those of Hereford Cathedral and Wimborne Minster in England, and the church of St Wallberg at Zutphen, in Holland. The last, however, was not always chained, and thereby hangs a tale. Once upon a time the Devil, having a spite against the good books of which it was composed, despoiled it of some of its best volumes. The mark of his cloven hoof upon the flagged floor gave the clue to the identity of the thief, whereupon the custodians of the books had them secured by chains sprinkled with holy water, by which means the malice of the Evil One was made of none effect. CHAPTER VI THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING The germs of the invention which, in spite of Carlyle's somewhat slighting reference, has proved itself hardly less momentous in the world's history than the conception of the idea of writing, are to be found in the stamps with which the ancients impressed patterns or names upon vases or other objects, or in the device and name-bearing seals which were in common use among the nations of antiquity. But these stamps and seals could be used only to impress some plastic material, not to make ink or other marks upon paper; and for the first example of printing, as we understand the word, we must look to China, where, it is said, as early as the sixth century, A.D., engraved wooden plates were used for the production of books. The Chinese, however, kept their invention to themselves, or at any rate it spread no further than Japan, until many years later; and although in the tenth century the knowledge of printing was carried as far as Egypt, Europeans seem to have made the discovery for themselves, quite independently of help from the East, both as regards block-printing and the use of moveable type. In Europe, as in China, the first printing was done by means of a block, that is, a slab of wood on which the design was carved in relief, and from which, when inked, an impression could be transferred to paper or other material. This process is known as block-printing, and in Europe was principally used for the production of illustrations, the text, which came to be added later, being accessory and subordinate to the picture. The first European block-prints are pictures of saints, roughly printed on a leaf of paper and usually rudely coloured. Heinecken, whose _Idée general d'une Collection complette d'Estampes_ (1771) is still a standard work, is of opinion that pictures of this class were first executed by the old makers of playing-cards, and that the playing-cards themselves were printed from wood and not drawn separately by hand. In this case the cards should rank as the earliest examples of block-printing, or wood-engraving. Heinecken has not been alone in entertaining this opinion, but, on the other hand, there are some who consider that the portraits represent the first woodcuts, and that the early playing-cards were drawn and painted by hand. The single-leaf portraits of saints were produced chiefly, or perhaps solely, in Germany, and examples are now rare. It is curious that most of those which have survived to the present day have been found in German religious houses, pasted inside the covers of old books, and thus shielded from the destruction to which their fragile nature rendered them liable. One specimen, which has the reputation of being the earliest extant with which a date can be connected, is the well-known St Christopher, which represents the saint carrying the child Christ over a stream, after an old legend. This specimen bears the date 1423, and was discovered pasted in the cover of a mediæval manuscript in the monastery at Buxheim, in Swabia, and is now in the John Rylands Library at Manchester. The date, however, may be only that of the engraving of the block, and not the year of printing. A theory was put forward by Mr H. F. Holt, at the meeting of the British Archaeological Association in 1868, that this St Christopher, so far from being the earliest known specimen of printing of any sort, belonged to a period subsequent to the invention of typography, and that the date 1423 refers only to the jubilee year of the saint, and not to the execution of the print. He also held that the block-books, to which we refer below, were not the predecessors of type-printed books, as they are usually considered to be, but merely cheap substitutes for the costly works of the early printers. But these theories, though not disproved, do not receive the support of bibliographers in general. Another early woodcut is the Brussels Print, which is in the Royal Library at Brussels. It is ostensibly dated 1418, but although this date is accepted by some, it has most probably been tampered with, and therefore the position of the print is at least doubtful. It is of Flemish origin, and represents the Virgin and Child, accompanied by SS. Barbara, Catharine, Veronica and Margaret. Other prints exist which are not dated, and it is quite possible that some of these may be older than the St Christopher, though no definite statements as to their date can be made. It is certain, however, that the art of block-printing was known in the closing years of the fourteenth century, and that it was practised thenceforward until about 1510, that is, some years after the invention of typography. In many manuscripts of the period, printed illustrations were inserted by means of blocks, either to save time, or because the scribe's skill did not extend to drawings. These early woodcuts were the forerunners of the better known block-books, which also, according to Heinecken, were at first the work of the card-makers. Block-books consisted of prints accompanied by a descriptive or explanatory text, both text and illustration being printed from the same block. Since they were intended for the moral instruction of those whose education did not fit them for the study of more elaborate works, they generally deal with Scriptural and religious subjects. The earliest of all the block-books was the _Biblia Pauperum_, or "Bible of the Poor," so called because it was designed for the edification of persons of unlearned minds and light purses, who could neither have afforded the high prices demanded for ordinary manuscript copies, nor have read such copies had they owned them. The _Biblia Pauperum_, however, exactly met their want. It is not so much a book to read, as a book to look at. It has a text, it is true, but the text is subordinate to the pictures. The _Biblia Pauperum_ is on paper, as paper was cheaper than vellum and considered quite good enough for the purpose. One side only of each leaf was printed, two pages being printed from one block, and the sheets folded once and arranged in sequence, not "quired" or "nested." The resulting order was that of two printed pages face to face, followed by two blank pages face to face. The illustrations are of scenes from sacred history, and portraits of Biblical personages, accompanied by explanatory Latin or German texts in Gothic characters. The original designer and compiler of this favourite block-book is unknown, but he certainly worked on lines laid down by some much older author and artist, for manuscript works of similar nature existed at least as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century. The earliest known instance of a composition of the kind, however, is a series of enamels on an antependium or altar-frontal in the St Leopold Chapel at Klosterneuburg, near Vienna, which originally contained forty-five pictures dealing with Biblical subjects, arranged in the same order as in the _Biblia Pauperum_, and which were executed by Nicolas de Verdun, in 1181. Some attribute the inception of the _Biblia Pauperum_ to Ansgarius, first Bishop of Hamburg, in the ninth century, others to Wernher, a German monk of the twelfth century, but it seems unlikely that the point will ever be decided. The _Biblia Pauperum_ is usually supposed to have been first printed xylographically in Holland, and type-printed editions were issued later from Bamberg, Paris and Vienna. To modern eyes the illustrations of this book are strange and wonderful indeed. "The designer certainly had no thought of irreverence," says De Vinne, "but many of the designs are really ludicrous. Some of the anachronisms are: Gideon arrayed in plate-armour, with mediæval helmet and visor and Turkish scimitar; David and Solomon in rakish, wide-brimmed hats bearing high, conical crowns; the translation of Elijah in a four-wheeled vehicle resembling the modern farmer's hay-wagon. Slouched hats, puffed doublets, light legged breeches and pointed shoes are seen in the apparel of the Israelites who are not represented as priests or soldiers. Some houses have Italian towers and some have Moorish minarets, but in none of the pictures is there an exhibition of pointed Gothic architecture." [Illustration: PAGE FROM THE BIBLIA PAUPERUM (SECOND EDITION).] Our illustration gives a reduced representation of a page from the second edition of the _Biblia Pauperum_, dating from about 1450. The middle panel shows Christ rising from the tomb, and the wonder and fear of the Roman guards; the left-hand panel shows Samson carrying off the gates of the city of Gaza, and the right-hand panel the disgorging of Jonah by the whale. The upper part of the text shows how that Samson and Jonah were types of Christ, and the four little figures represent David, Jacob, Hosea, and Siphonias (Zephaniah), the texts on the scrolls being quotations from their words. The accompanying rhymes are as follows:-- Obsessus turbis: Sampson valvas tulit urbis. Quem saxum texit: ingens tumulum Jesus exit. De tumulo Christe: surgens te denotat iste. (In the midst of crowds, Samson removes the gates of the city. The anointed Jesus, whom the stone covered, rises from the tomb. This man [Jonah] rising from the tomb, denotes Thee, O Christ!) Another very popular block-book, of German origin, was the curious compilation known as _Ars Moriendi_--the Art of Dying--or, as it is sometimes called, _Temptationes Demonis_, or Temptation of Demons. It describes how dying persons are beset by all manner of temptations, the final triumph of the good, and the sad end of the wicked, with suitable emotions on the part of the attendant angels, and the hideous demons by which the temptations are personified. This work was greatly in vogue in the fifteenth century, and after the invention of type-printing was reproduced in various parts of France, Italy, Germany and Holland. The only block-book without illustrations was the _Donatus de octibus partibus orationis_, or Donatus on the Eight Parts of Speech, shortly known as Donatus. It was _the_ Latin grammar of the period, and was the work of Donatus, a famous Roman grammarian of the fourth century. Large numbers were printed both from blocks and from type, but xylographic fragments are scarce, and none are known of any date before the second half of the fifteenth century. Yet it is believed that probably more copies of this work were printed than of any other block-book whatever. Besides its lack of illustrations, the xylographic Donatus is unique among block-books from the fact that it was printed on vellum and not on paper, and (another unusual feature) on both sides of the leaf. Vellum was dear, and had to be made the most of, and no doubt was used only because a paper book would have fared badly at the hands of the schoolboys. Only one block-book is known to have been printed in France, and that is _Les Neuf Preux_, or the Nine Champions. The nine champions are divided into three groups: first, classical heroes--Hector, Alexander and Julius Cæsar; next, Biblical heroes--Joshua, David and Judas Maccabæus; and lastly, heroes of romance--Arthur, Charlemagne and Godefroi of Boulogne. The portraits of these celebrities are accompanied by verses. This block-book dates from about 1455. Other block-books were the _Speculum Humanæ Salvationis_, _the Apocalypse of St John_, _the Book of Canticles_, _Defensorium Inviolatæ Virginitatis Beatæ Mariæ Virginis_, _Mirabilia Romæ_; various German almanacks, and a _Planetenbuch_, this last representing the heavenly bodies and their influence on human life. The last of the block-books, so far as is known, was the _Opera nova contemplativa_, which was executed at Venice about 1510. From one point of view the _Speculum Humanæ Salvationis_, or Mirror of Salvation, is the most curious of its kind. It is looked upon as the connecting link between block-books proper and type-printed books. Its purpose seems to have been to afford instruction in the facts and lessons of the Christian religion, beginning with the fall of Satan. It is founded on an old and once popular manuscript work sometimes ascribed to Brother John, a Benedictine monk of the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Four so-called "editions" of the _Speculum_ are known, two of which are in Latin rhyme, and two in Dutch prose, all four having many points in common and standing apart from the later and dated editions afterwards produced in Germany, Holland, and France. In these early copies the body of the work consists of a text printed from moveable types, with a block-printed illustration at the head of each page. But one of the Latin editions is remarkable for having twenty pages of the text printed from wood blocks. How and why these xylographic pages appear in a book whose remaining forty-two pages are printed from types is a mystery. They are inserted at intervals among the other leaves, and for this and other reasons it is considered improbable that they were printed from blocks originally intended for a block-book, to help to eke out a not very plentiful stock of type. Moreover, no entirely xylographic _Speculum_ exists to lend colour to such a theory. The time and place of origin of the _Speculum_ are unknown, and bibliographers are not agreed as to the order in which the several "editions" appeared. But such evidence as exists points to Holland as the home of the printed _Speculum_, and those who believe that Coster of Haarlem invented typography, credit him with having produced it. Block-books are nearly all of German, Dutch, or Flemish workmanship. As a rule the illustrations are roughly coloured by hand. The method by which they were printed is generally supposed to have been that of laying a dampened sheet of paper on the inked block, and rubbing it with a dabber or frotton until the impression was worked up. But De Vinne, in his _History of Printing_, says that there are practical reasons against the correctness of this view, and considers it more probable that a rude hand-press was used. Those who wish to see some modern examples of block-printing may be referred to the books printed by the late William Morris at the celebrated Kelmscott Press at Hammersmith. The title-pages and initial words of these volumes were executed by means of wood blocks, and are as beautiful examples of block-printing as the texts of the works they adorn are of typography. All the Kelmscott printing, whose history, though most interesting, is nevertheless outside the present subject, was done by hand presses. CHAPTER VII WHO INVENTED MOVEABLE TYPES? The wood-block, however, was merely a stepping-stone to the greatest of all events in the history of printing, the invention of moveable types; that is, of letters formed separately, which, after being grouped into words, and sentences, and paragraphs, could be redistributed and used again for all sorts of books. Here once more our Chinese friends were ahead of the rest of the world, for, more than four centuries before German printers existed, Picheng, a Chinese smith, had shown his countrymen how to print from moveable types made of burnt clay. But the process which was to prove of such untold value to those who employed the simple Roman alphabet was almost useless to the Chinese, since the immense number of their characters rendered the older method the less tedious and cumbersome of the two. In China and Japan, therefore, the use of moveable types was of short duration. In Europe, however, when the art of printing from moveable types once became known, the case was very different. Once upon a time, as a magnate of the city of Haarlem was walking in a wood near the city, he idly cut some letters on the bark of a beech tree. It then suddenly occurred to him that these letters might be impressed upon paper; whereupon he made some impressions of them for the amusement of his grandchildren. This, we have learned from our youth up, is how the art of printing came to be discovered. But unfortunately, this legend is not to be relied upon. As a matter of fact, the first inventor of printing is unknown, and even as regards moveable types it is impossible to say with absolute certainty when or by whom the idea was first conceived. Daunon, in his _Analyse des Opinions diverses sur l'origine de l'Imprimerie_, tells us that no less than fifteen towns claim to be the birthplace of printing, and that a still larger number of persons have been put forward as its inventors, from Saturn, Job, and Charlemagne downwards. The arguments for or against the pretensions of Saturn, Job, and Charlemagne, and, indeed, of the majority of the personages whose names have been mentioned in this connection, do not call for notice. For although the first printer is not known, many believe that they can point him out with tolerable certainty, and in the fierce battle which has raged round the question of the identity of the inventor of moveable types, two names alone have been used as the respective war-cries of the opposing armies. One is Johann Gutenberg of Mentz, and the other, Laurenz Coster of Haarlem. Although the balance of opinion is now, and always has been, in favour of Gutenberg, the battle has been long and furious. The diligence of the disputants in collecting data in support of their theories has been equalled only by the vigour and ferocity with which some of their number have maintained their opinions. Each side has charged the other with forging evidence, and ink and abuse have been freely poured out in the cause of typographical truth. Yet though sought for during several centuries, no conclusive proof has been discovered by either side; typographical truth remains in her well, and the identity of the inventor of moveable types seems almost as hard to determine as that of the man in the iron mask or the writer of the letters of Junius. The partisans of Coster have been as eminent and as able as those of Gutenberg, and thus the unlearned enquirer finds it difficult to declare for one rather than the other, without investigating for himself all the ins and outs of this involved subject. Even then, without some previous bias in one or the other direction, he would probably find himself halting between two opinions. Such an investigation is obviously out of the question here, and even were it practicable it could hardly be lipped that where so many doctors disagree our modest effort would produce any valuable result. We shall therefore do no more than briefly set forth some of the chief arguments on either side as fairly as may be, but without attempting an exhaustive examination of the evidence, first, however, declaring ourselves as followers of the majority and partisans of Gutenberg, by way of sheet anchor. Those who advocate the claims of Holland against Germany largely base their belief on the existence of various printed books and fragments of Dutch origin, undated, and affording no clue to the time and place at which they were printed, or to their printer, whether Coster or another. It is much more likely, they say, that these were the first rude attempts at typography, and that they gave the idea to the Mentz printers, who forthwith improved upon it, than that the Mentz printers should have given the idea to the Dutch, who, so far from improving upon it, produced these clumsy imitations of fine German work. And Mr Hessels, who made a complete examination of the evidence in favour of Gutenberg, was unable to say either that Gutenberg invented type-printing, or that he did not invent it. On the other hand, "it is certainly possible," say the writers of the _Guide to the British Museum_, "that actual printing may have been previously executed in Holland; although, to our minds, the improbability of the printers who are asserted to have produced _Donatus_ and the _Speculum_ from moveable types ten years before Gutenberg having produced nothing but the like kind of work for nearly twenty years after him outweighs all the arguments which have been advanced in support of their claim. It is at all events certain that, without some very direct and positive evidence on the other side, mankind will continue to regard Gutenberg as the parent of the art, and Mainz as its birthplace." Within recent years a claim for the honour of the invention has been put forward on behalf of quite another part of the world. Some early fifteenth century documents discovered at Avignon make unmistakable references to printing, and not to xylography, and from them we learn that Procopius Waldfoghel, a silver-smith of Prague, was engaged in printing at Avignon in 1444, and had undertaken to cut a set of Hebrew types for a Jew whom he had previously instructed in the art of printing. No specimens of his work are known, and it is therefore impossible to say exactly to what process these records refer, but it has been conjectured that it may have been some method of stamping letters from cut type, and not from cast type by means of a press. Since Coster is the hero of the well-known story quoted above, and since as regards our present purpose there is less to be said of him than of Gutenberg, we will briefly recapitulate what is known about him, and the foundations on which his fame as a typographer rests, before dealing more at length with Gutenberg and the Mentz press. It does not seem easy to account for the existence of what the partisans of Gutenberg contemptuously term the Coster legend. It has been conjectured, somewhat plausibly, that Haarlem's jealousy of the superiority and fame of Mentz and its printers began very early, and arose from the narrow vanity of those Haarlemers who imagined that the first printing press in Haarlem must necessarily be the first printing press in the world. However this may be, the legend arose, and waxed strong, and many believed in it. Laurenz Janssoen, or Coster, was born in Haarlem about 1370. He is said to have held various high offices, such as sheriff, treasurer, officer of the city guard, and especially that of Coster to the great church of Haarlem. Coster means sacristan or sexton, but the position was one of far greater honour than is now associated with it. But another account, which is supported by all the available records, represents him as a tallow-chandler, and subsequently as an innkeeper, and if he had anything at all to do with the great church, it was only that he supplied it with candles. But whether chandler or coster, nothing is heard of him as a printer until 1568, more than a hundred years after his alleged success in printing from types--in itself a strange fact, since if Coster were the inventor, why were the Mentz printers allowed to appropriate all the credit to themselves, unchallenged by Coster's kinsfolk or countrymen, and supported by the opinions of sixty-two writers, including Caxton, the chronicler Fabian, Trithemius, and the compilers of the Cologne and Nuremberg chronicles? It is true that "few sometimes may know when thousands err," but silence is no proof of truth, and if Coster's representatives possessed the truth, how came they to withhold it from a deluded world? Although Coster is not named till 1568, the claims of Haarlem to be the birthplace of printing had been put forward (for the first time) some years earlier by Jan Van Zuyren in a work on the Invention of Typography, of which only a fragment remains. The claims of Haarlem, he says, "are at this day fresh in the remembrance of our fathers, to whom, so to express myself, they have been transmitted from hand to hand from their ancestors." Thus, though probably writing in all good faith, Van Zuyren bases his statements on nothing better than tradition. "The city of Mentz," he goes on to say, "without doubt merits great praise for having been the first to publish to the world, in a becoming garb, an invention which she received from us, for having perfected and embellished an art as yet rude and imperfect.... It is certain that the foundations of this splendid art were laid in our city of Haarlem, rudely, indeed, but still the first." Coornhert, an engraver, and a partner of Van Zuyren, repeats the same statements, and on the same basis, in the preface to a translation of Cicero which he published in 1561, but is acute enough to see that the case for Haarlem is nearly hopeless. "I am aware," he says, "that in consequence of the blameable neglect of our ancestors, the common opinion that this art was invented at Mentz is now firmly established, that it is in vain to hope to change it, even by the best evidence and the most irrefragable proof." He proceeds to declare his conviction of the justice of Haarlem's claim, because of "the faithful testimonies of men alike respectable from their age and authority, who not only have often told me of the family of the inventor, and of his name and surname, but have even described to me the rude manner of printing first used, and pointed out to me with their fingers the abode of the first printer. And therefore, not because I am jealous of the glory of others, but because I love truth, and desire to pay all tribute to the honour of our city which is justly her due, I have thought it incumbent upon me to mention these things." Yet it is strange that he did not think it incumbent upon him to mention the name and surname of the inventor, since he had been told them so often. Hadrian Junius, said to have been the most learned man in Holland after Erasmus, is the first to give to the world the fully-developed legend of Coster. This he does in his _Batavia_, which was finished in 1568 and published posthumously twenty years later. It is he who first mentions Coster by name, and gives the story of the walk in the woods. He relates how Coster devised block-printing, and calling in the help of his son-in-law, Thomas Peter, produced the block-book _Speculum Humanæ Salvationis_, and then advanced to types of wood, then to types of lead, and finally to types of lead and tin combined. Prospering in his new art, he engaged numerous workmen, one of whom, probably named Johann Faust, as soon as he had mastered the process of printing and of casting type, stole his master's types and other apparatus one Christmas Eve, and fled to Amsterdam, thence to Cologne, and finally to Mentz. For all this Junius also adduces no better authority than hearsay, but nevertheless it is his statements which have brought Coster to the front and given him such reputation as he now enjoys. No books bearing Coster's name are known, though this in itself is no argument against him, for the name of Gutenberg himself is not found in any of his own productions. It is not only highly improbable that Coster was the first printer, but also doubtful whether he printed anything at all. But those who think otherwise consider that the idea of printing occurred to him about 1428 or 1430, and that he executed, among other books, the _Biblia Pauperum_, the _Speculum_, the _Ars Moriendi_, and _Donatus_. The people of Holland still retain their faith in Coster. Statues have been erected, medals struck, tablets put up, and holidays observed in his honour. CHAPTER VIII GUTENBERG AND THE MENTZ PRESS Johann or Hans Gutenberg was born at Mentz in or about the year 1400. His father's name was Gensfleisch, but he is always known by his mother's maiden name of Gutenberg or Gutemberg. It was customary in Germany at that time for a son to assume his mother's name if it happened that she had no other kinsman to carry it on. Of Gutenberg's early life, of his education or profession, we know nothing. But we know that his family, with many of their fellow-citizens, left Mentz when Gutenberg was about twenty years of age, on account of the disturbed state of the city. They probably went to Strasburg, but this is uncertain. In 1430 Gutenberg's name appears among others in an amnesty, granted to such of the Mentz citizens as had left the city, by the Elector Conrad III., but apparently he continued to live in Strasburg. Two years later he visited Mentz, probably about a pension granted by the magistrates to his widowed mother. This is practically all that is known of the earlier part of Gutenberg's life. It is curious that nearly all the recorded information concerning Gutenberg is in connection either with lawsuits or with the raising of money. From the contracts for borrowing or repaying money into which he entered, we gather that he was always hard pressed, and that his invention ran away with a good deal of gold and paid back none. Gutenberg cast his bread on the waters, and it is we who have found it. The first known event of his life which directly concerns our subject is a lawsuit brought against him by Georg Dritzehn. Mr Hessels implies, though he does not actually state, that he suspects the authenticity of the records of this trial. But no proof of their falsity can be adduced, and the integrity of the documents otherwise remains unquestioned. They cannot now, however, be subjected to further examination, for they were burnt in 1870 at the time of the siege of Strasburg. The action in question was brought against Gutenberg in 1439 by Georg Dritzehn, the brother of one Andres Dritzehn, deceased, for the restitution of certain rights which he considered due to himself as his brother's heir. From the testimony of the witnesses as set down in the records of the trial, we gather that Gutenberg had entered into partnership with Hans Riffe, Andres Dritzehn, and Andres Heilmann; and one of the witnesses deposed that Dritzehn, on his death-bed, asserted that Gutenberg had concealed "several arts from them, which he was not obliged to show them." This did not please them, so they made a fresh arrangement with Gutenberg and further payments into the exchequer, to the end that Gutenberg "should conceal from them none of the arts he knew." Again, Lorentz Beildeck testified that after Andres Dritzehn's death, Gutenberg sent him to Claus, Andres' brother, to tell him "that he should not show to anyone the press which he had under his care," but that "he should take great care and go to the press and open this by means of two little buttons whereby the pieces would fall asunder. He should, thereupon, put those pieces in or on the press, after which nobody could see or comprehend anything." Besides this, Hans Niger von Bischoviszheim said that Andres Dritzehn applied to him for a loan, and when witness asked him his occupation, answered that he was a maker of looking-glasses. Later on, a pilgrimage "to Aix-la-Chapelle about the looking-glasses" is mentioned. By these records, from Mr Hessels' translation of which the above quotations are taken, two things at least are made clear. First, that Gutenberg was in possession of the knowledge of an art unknown to his companions, which he was desirous of keeping to himself, and which those not in the secret wished to learn; and secondly, that a press containing some important and mysterious "pieces," which was not to be exhibited to outsiders until the pieces had been separated, played a prominent part in this secret work. The "looking-glasses," apparently, were imaginary, and intended for the misleading of too curious enquirers. But it has been ingeniously suggested that the word _spiegel_, or looking-glass, was a cryptic reference to the _Spiegel onser Behoudenisse_, or _Mirror of Salvation_, and that Gutenberg and his assistants were engaged in preparing the printed _Speculum_ for sale at the forthcoming fair held on the occasion of the pilgrimages to Aix-la-Chapelle in 1439. This part of his plan, however, was frustrated by the postponement of the fair for a year. It is hardly to be doubted that the researches privately conducted in the deserted convent of St Arbogastus, where Gutenberg dwelt, concerned the great invention usually linked with his name. Were this probability an absolute certainty, then Strasburg might successfully dispute with Mentz the title of birthplace of the art of printing. But to what stage Gutenberg carried his labours in the old convent, or how far he proceeded towards the goal of his ambition, is not known, though it has been conjectured that possibly he and those in his confidence got as far as the making of matrices for types, and that perhaps even the types used for the earliest extant specimens of type-printing were cast there, although not used until Gutenberg had returned to Mentz. On the other hand, there are many who think that matrices and punches are due to the ingenuity of Peter Schoeffer, to whom reference is made below. When Gutenberg left Strasburg for Mentz is not known, but he was in the latter city in 1448, as is testified by a deed relating to a loan which he had raised. His constant pecuniary difficulties resulted in his entering into partnership, in 1450, with the goldsmith Johann Fust, or Faust, a rich burgher of Mentz, who contributed large loans towards the working expenses, and was evidently to share in the profits of the press. Fust or Faust, the printer of Mentz, has sometimes been identified with the Faust of German legend. The dealings in the black art related of the one have also been ascribed to the other by various story-tellers, some of whom say that in Paris Faust the printer narrowly escaped being burnt as a wizard for selling books which looked like manuscripts, and yet were not manuscripts. The first printed letters, it should be observed, were exactly copied from the manuscript letters then in vogue. The first really definite recorded event in the history of Gutenberg's printing was a lawsuit brought against him by Fust, in 1455, when Gutenberg had to give an account of the receipts and expenditure relating to his work, and to hand over to Fust all his apparatus in discharge of his debt. The partnership was of course dissolved, Gutenberg left Mentz, and Fust continued the printing assisted by Peter Schoeffer. Schoeffer was a servant of Fust's, who had further associated himself with the establishment by marrying Fust's daughter, and to him some attribute the improvement of the methods then employed by devising matrices and punches for casting metal types. It has even been suggested that this device of his, communicated to Fust, induced the latter to rid himself of Gutenberg by demanding repayment of his advances when Gutenberg was unable to meet the call, and that having gained possession of his partner's apparatus, he was able, with the help of Schoeffer and his inventions, to carry on the work to his own profit and glory. But it is difficult to know whether to look upon Fust as a grasping and treacherous money-lender, or as a prudent and enterprising man of business. However this may be, at the time of the lawsuit the work of years was already perfected, printing with moveable types was now an accomplished thing, and the great Mazarin Bible, if not finished, was at any rate on the point of completion. The earliest extant specimens of printing from types, however, are assigned to the year 1454. These are some Letters of Indulgence issued by Pope Nicholas V. to the supporters of the King of Cyprus in his war with the Turks. They consist of single sheets of vellum, printed on one side only, and measuring _c._ 11 x 7 inches. They fall into two classes, of each of which there were various issues; that is to say, (1) those containing thirty lines, and (2) those containing thirty-one lines. The thirty-line Indulgence is printed partly in the type used for the Mazarin Bible. The thirty-one-line Indulgence is partly printed in type which is the same as that used for books printed by Albrecht Pfister at Bamberg, and for a Bible which disputes with the Mazarin Bible the position of the first printed book. Who printed these Indulgences is not certainly known. Both emanated from the Mentz press, and it is not unreasonable to believe that both were executed by Gutenberg, since the Mazarin Bible is most probably his work, and since the types used by Pfister were perhaps at one time possessed by Gutenberg. Still, the point is not clear, and the more general view is that they were the work of two different printers. Some attribute the thirty-line Indulgence to Schoeffer, on the ground that some of its initial letters are reproduced in an Indulgence of 1489 known to be of Schoeffer's workmanship. Yet there seems no reason why Schoeffer in 1489 should not have made use of Gutenberg's types--indeed, it is very probable that he had every chance of doing so, as may be seen from the above account of the dissolution of partnership between Gutenberg and Fust. [Illustration: TYPE OF THE MENTZ INDULGENCE (30-line, _exact size_).] Those who assign the thirty-line specimen to Schoeffer consider the thirty-one-line specimen to be Gutenberg's work. "And though we have no proof of this," says Mr E. Gordon Duff, who holds this view, "or indeed of Gutenberg's having printed any book at all, there is a strong weight of circumstantial evidence in his favour." It may be taken for granted, then, although proof is wanting, that Gutenberg printed at least one of these Indulgences, and perhaps both. In any case, these are the first productions of the printing-press to which a definite date can be assigned. Some of them have a printed date, and in other copies the date has been inserted in manuscript. The earliest specimens of each class belong to the year 1454. The next production of the Mentz press, as is generally believed, is the beautiful volume known as the Gutenberg Bible, or the Mazarin Bible, because it was a copy in the library of Cardinal Mazarin which first attracted attention and led bibliographers to enquire into its history. It illustrates a most remarkable fact--that is, the extraordinary degree of perfection to which the art of printing attained all but simultaneously with its birth. Even though we cannot tell how long Gutenberg experimented before producing this book, it is none the less amazing that as a specimen of typographic art the Mazarin Bible has never been excelled even by the cleverest printers and the most modern and elaborate apparatus. It was probably not begun before 1450, the year when Gutenberg and Fust joined forces, and was completed certainly not later than 1456. This latter date is fixed by a colophon written in the second volume of the copy in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, which informs us that "this book was illuminated, bound, and perfected by Heinrich Cremer, vicar of the collegiate church of St Stephen in Mentz, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, in the year of our Lord 1456. Thanks be to God. Hallelujah." A similar note is affixed to the first volume. It is believed by competent authorities that this and all very early printed books were printed one page at a time, owing to an inadequate supply of type, a process exceedingly slow and productive of numerous small variations in the text. The work of printing the Mazarin Bible was in all probability interrupted to allow of the execution of the more immediately needed Letters of Indulgence, in certain parts of which, as we have said, some of the types used in the Mazarin Bible are employed. We must not omit to mention here another Bible issued from Mentz about this time. It has thirty-six lines to a column, and is therefore known as the thirty-six line Bible, in distinction to the forty-two line or Mazarin Bible. It exhibits a larger type, and is regarded by some as the first book printed at the Mentz press, and, for all that can be proved to the contrary, it is so. Although the point is still undecided, this volume may at any rate be safely regarded as contemporary with the Mazarin Bible. [Illustration: PAGE FROM THE MAZARIN BIBLE (_reduced_).] The Mazarin Bible is in Latin, and printed in the characters known as Gothic, or black letter. These were closely modelled on the form of the handwriting used at that time for Bibles and kindred works. It is in two volumes, and each page, excepting a few at the beginning, has two columns of forty-two lines, and each is provided with rubrics, inserted by hand, while the small initials of the sentences have a touch of red, also put in by hand. Some copies are of vellum, others of paper. But henceforward the use of vellum declines. [Illustration: TYPE OF THE MAZARIN BIBLE (_exact size_).] The Mazarin Bible is usually considered to be the joint work of Gutenberg and Fust. Mr Winter Jones has conjectured that the metal types used in early printing were cut by the goldsmiths, and that Fust's skill, as well as his money, were pressed into Gutenberg's service. But if, as some have thought, Fust provided money only, while Gutenberg was the working partner, then Fust would hardly have been concerned in its actual production until 1455, when he and Gutenberg separated. Even then--supposing the book to have been still unfinished--it is quite possible that Schoeffer did the work. But no one is able to decide the exact parts played by those three associated and most noted printers of Mentz; conjecture alone can allot them. Gutenberg returned to Mentz in 1456, and made a fresh start, aided financially by Dr Conrad Homery. Here again we are confronted with a want of direct evidence, and can point to no books as certainly being the work of Gutenberg. But there are good reasons for believing that under this new arrangement he printed the _Catholicon_, or Latin grammar and dictionary, of John of Genoa; the _Tractatus racionis et conscientiæ_ of Matthæus de Cracovia; _Summa de articulis fidei_ of Aquinas; and an Indulgence of 1461. There is a colophon to the _Catholicon_ which may possibly have been written by Gutenberg, which runs as follows:-- "By the assistance of the Most High, at Whose will the tongues of children become eloquent, and Who often reveals to babes what He hides from the wise, this renowned book, the _Catholicon_, was printed and perfected in the year of the Incarnation 1460, in the beloved city of Mentz (which belongs to the illustrious German nation, whom God has consented to prefer and to raise with such an exalted light of the mind and free grace, above the other nations of the earth), not by means of reed, stile, or pen, but by the admirable proportion, harmony, and connection of the punches and types." A metrical doxology follows. A few other and smaller works have also been believed to have been executed by Gutenberg at this time, but with no certainty. In 1465 Gutenberg was made one of the gentlemen of the court to Adolph II., Count of Nassau and Archbishop of Mentz, and presumably abandoned his printing on acceding to this dignity. In 1467 or 1468 Gutenberg died, and thus ends the meagre list of facts which we have concerning the life and career of the first printer. To nearly every question which we might wish to ask about Gutenberg and his work, one of two answers has to be given--"It is not known," or "Perhaps." He does not speak for himself, and none of his personal acquaintance, or his family, if he had any, speak for him. We have no reason to believe that his work brought him any particular honour, and certainly it brought him no wealth. It has been suggested, however, that the post offered to him by the Archbishop was in recognition of his invention, since there is no other reason apparent why the dignity was conferred. But we may well conclude this account of Gutenberg with De Vinne's words, that "there is no other instance in modern history, excepting, possibly, Shakespeare, of a man who did so much and said so little about it." Fust, the former partner of Gutenberg, died in 1466, leaving a son to succeed him in the partnership with Schoeffer, and Schoeffer died about 1502. Of his three sons (all printers), the eldest, Johann, continued to work at Mentz until about 1533. The most notable books issued by Fust and Schoeffer were the Psalter of 1457, and the Latin Bible of 1462. The Bible of 1462 is the first Bible with a date. The Psalter of 1457 is famous as being the first printed Psalter, the first printed book with a date, the first example of printing in colours, the first book with a printed colophon, and the first printed work containing musical notes, though these last are not printed but inserted by hand.[2] The colour printing is shown by the red and blue initials, but by what process they were executed has been the subject of much discussion. They are generally supposed to have been added after the rest of the page had been printed, by means of a stamp. The colophon is written in the curious Latin affected by the early printers, and Mr Pollard offers the following as a rough rendering:-- "The present book of Psalms, adorned with beauty of capitals, and sufficiently marked out with rubrics, has been thus fashioned by an ingenious invention of printing and stamping, and to the worship of God diligently brought to completion by Johann Fust, a citizen of Mentz, and Peter Schoffer of Gernsheim, in the year of our Lord, 1457, on the Vigil of the Feast of the Assumption." [2] The first printed musical notes appear in de Gerson's _Collectorium super Magnificat_, printed at Esslingen in 1473 by Conrad Fyner. These two printers also produced, in 1465, an edition of the _De Officiis_ of Cicero, which shares with the _Lactantius_, printed in the same year at Subiaco, near Rome, by Sweynheim and Pannartz, the honour of exhibiting to the world the first Greek types, and with the same printers' Cicero _De Oratore_, that of being the first printed Latin classic, unless an undated _De Officiis_, printed at Cologne by Ulrich Zel about this time, is the real "first." CHAPTER IX EARLY PRINTING Wherever typography originated, it was from Mentz that it was taught to the world. The disturbances in that city in 1462 drove many of its citizens from their homes, and the German printers were thus dispersed over Europe. Within a little more than twenty years from the time of the first issue from the Mentz printing-press, other presses were established at Strasburg, Bamberg, Cologne, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Spires, Ulm, Lubeck, and Breslau; Basle, Rome, Venice, Florence, Naples, and many other Italian cities; Paris and Lyons; Bruges; and, in 1477, at Westminster. Before the end of the fifteenth century eighteen European countries were printing books. Italy heads the list with seventy-one cities in which presses were at work, Germany follows with fifty, France with thirty-six, Spain with twenty-six, Holland with fourteen; and after these England's four printing-places--Westminster, London, Oxford, and St Albans--make a somewhat small show. Some other countries, however, had but one printing-town. With the possible exception of Holland, England and Scotland are the only countries which are indebted to a native and not (as in every case save that of Ireland) to a German for the introduction of printing. The early printers were more than mere workmen. They were usually editors and publishers as well. Some of them were associated with scholars who did the editorial work: Sweynheim and Pannartz, for instance, the first to set up a press in Italy, had the benefit of the services of the Bishop of Aleria, and their rival, Ulric Hahn, enjoyed for a while the assistance of the celebrated Campanus. Aldus Manutius, too, the founder of the Aldine press at Venice, though himself a literary man and a learned editor, availed himself of the help of several Greek scholars in the revising and correcting of classical texts. The exact relations of these editors to the printers, however, is not known. The English printer, Caxton, who also was a scholar, usually, though not invariably, edited his publications himself. The first printers were also booksellers, and sold other people's books as well as their own. Several of their catalogues or advertisements still exist. The earliest known book advertisements are some issued by Peter Schoeffer, one, dating from about 1469, giving a list of twenty-one books for sale by himself or his agents in the several towns where he had established branches of his business, and another advertising an edition of St Jerome's _Epistles_ published by Schoeffer at Mentz in 1470. An advertisement by Caxton is also extant, and being short, as well as interesting, may be quoted here. It is as follows:-- If it plese ony man spirituel or temporel to bye ony pyes,[3] of two and thre comemoracios of salisburi vse enpryntid after the forme of this preset lettre whiche ben wel and truly correct, late hym come to westmonester in to the almonesrye at the reed pale and he shal haue them good chepe. Supplico stet cedula. [3] The Pye, or Pica, directed how saints'-days falling in Lent, Easter, Whitsuntide, and the octave of Trinity, were to be observed with respect to the "commemorations" of these seasons. The date of this notice is about 1477 or 1478. Other extant examples of early advertisements are those of John Mentelin, a Strasburg printer, issued about 1470, and of Antony Koburger, of Nuremberg, issued about ten years later. In 1495 Koburger advertised the Nuremberg Chronicle. Early printed books exhibit a very limited range of subject, and were hardly ever used to introduce a new contemporary writer. Theology and jurisprudence in Germany, and the classics in Italy, inaugurated the new invention, and lighter fare was not served to the patrons of printed literature until a later date. Italy made the first departure, and took up history, romance, and poetry. France began with the classics, and then neglected them for romances and more popular works, but at the same time became noted for the beautifully illuminated service-books produced at Paris and Rouen, and which supplied the clergy of both France and England. England, who received printing twelve years after Italy and seven years after France, made more variety in her books than any. Caxton's productions consist of works dealing with subjects of wider interest, even if less learned and improving--romances, chess, good manners, _Æsop's Fables_, the _Canterbury Tales_, and the _Adventures of Reynard the Fox_. From what sort of type the Bible usually considered to be the first printed book was produced is not known. Some competent authorities think that wooden types were used. Others are in favour of metal, and like the late Mr Winter Jones, scout the notion of wooden types and consider them "impossible things." But Skeen, in his _Early Typography_, declares that hard wood would print better than soft lead, such as Blades hints that Caxton's types were made of, and to illustrate the possibility of wooden types prints a word in Gothic characters from letters cut in boxwood. The objections made to types of this nature are that they would be too weak to bear the press, could never stand washing and cleaning, and would swell when wet and shrink when dried. Some have thought that the early types were made by stamping half-molten metal with wooden punches, and so forming matrices from which the types were subsequently cast. As we have already noticed in connection with the Mazarin Bible, the forms of the types were copied from the Gothic or black letter characters in which Bibles, psalters, and missals were then written. When Roman type was first cut is uncertain. The "R" printer of Strasburg, whose name is unknown, and whose works are dated only by conjecture, may have been the first to use it. It was employed by Sweynheim and Pannartz in 1467, and by the first printers in Paris and Venice. It was brought to the greatest perfection by Nicolas Jenson, a Frenchman working in Venice. Caxton never employed it, and it was not introduced into England until 1509. In that year Richard Pynson, a London printer and a naturalised Englishman, though Norman by birth, used some Roman type in portions of the _Sermo Fratris Hieronymi de Ferrara_, and in 1518 he produced _Oratio Ricardi Pacaei_, which was entirely printed in these characters. Had the idea of the title-page, in the modern sense of the term, a very obvious idea, as it seems to us, occurred to the first printers, we should not have to sharpen our wits on the hundred and one doubtful points with which the subject of early bibliography bristles. To-day, the title-page not only introduces the book itself, but declares the name of the writer and the publisher, and the time and place of publication. But during the first sixty years of printing title-pages were rare, and the old methods followed by the scribes in writing their manuscript books still obtained. The subject matter began with "Incipit" or "Here beginneth," etc., according to the language in which the work was written, and such information as the printer considered it desirable to impart was contained in the colophon, or note affixed to the end of the book. More often than not these colophons are irritatingly reticent, and withhold the very thing we want to know. At other times they are informing, and in some cases amusing. Dr Garnett has suggested that as a literary pastime some one might do worse than collect fifteenth-century colophons into a volume, for the sake of their biographical and personal interest, but I am not aware that his idea has been carried out. Two colophons have already been quoted here, the first printed colophon (see p. 103) and one which is possibly from the pen of Gutenberg (see p. 101). A quaint specimen found in a volume of Cicero's _Orationes Philippicæ_, printed at Rome by Ulrich Hahn, about 1470, descends to puns. It is in Latin verse, and supposed by some to have been written by Cardinal Campanus, who edited several of Hahn's publications. It informs the descendants of the Geese who saved the Capitol, that they need have no more fear for their feathers, for the art of Ulrich the _Cock_ (German _Hahn_ = Latin _Gallus_ = English _Cock_) will provide a potent substitute for quills. A colophon to Cicero's _Epistolæ Familiares_, printed at Venice in 1469 by Joannes de Spira, declares with pardonable pride that he had printed two editions of three hundred copies in four months. The first book with any attempt at a title-page is the _Sermo ad Populum Predicabilis_, printed at Cologne in 1470 by Arnold Therhoernen, but a full title-page was not generally adopted till fifty years later. The first English title-page is very brief, and reads as follows:-- A passing gode lityll boke necessarye & behouefull agenst the Pestilence. This gode lityll boke, written by Canutus, Bishop of Aarhaus, was printed in London about 1482 by Machlinia. A later development of the title-page was a full-page woodcut, headed by the name of the work, as in the =Kynge Richarde cuer du lyon=, printed in 1528 by Wynkyn de Worde. The same woodcut does duty in another of the same printer's books for Robert the Devil. Early title-pages in Latin sometimes render the names of familiar places of publication in a very unfamiliar form. London may appear as Augusta Trinobantum, Edinburgh as Aneda, Dublin as Eblana. Some towns are easily recognised by their Latin names, such as Roma or Venetiæ; others are less obvious, such as Moguntia, or Mentz; Lutetia, or Paris; Argentina, or Strasburg. Several places had more than one Latin form of name. London, for example, was also Londinum, and Edinburgh, Edemburgem. Pagination, or numbering of the pages, was first introduced by Arnold Therhoernen, in the same book in which he gives us the first title-page, and to which reference has already been made. He did not place the figures at the top corner, however, but in the centre of the right hand margin. The practice of printing the first word of a leaf at the foot of the leaf preceding, as a guide for the arrangement of the sheets, was first employed by Vindelinus de Spira, of Venice, in the _Tacitus_ which he printed about 1469. CHAPTER X EARLY PRINTING IN ITALY AND SOME OTHER COUNTRIES The new invention found more favour in Italy than in any other country, for more presses were established there than anywhere else. The printers, however, were all Germans, and before 1480 about 110 German typographers were at work in twenty-seven Italian cities. They kept the secrets of their trade well to themselves, and not till 1471 was any printing executed by an Italian. In May of that year the _De Medicinis Universalibus_ of Mesua was executed at Venice by Clement of Padua, who accomplished the truly wonderful feat of teaching himself how to print. Another Italian, Joannes Phillipus de Lignamine, printed at Rome some time before July 26, 1471, and it is therefore uncertain whether he or Clement of Padua was the first native printer of Italy. The first press established in Italy was that set up in the Benedictine monastery of St Scholastica at Subiaco, a few miles from Rome, by two German typographers, Conrad Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz. There they issued Cicero's _De Oratore_ in 1465, the first book printed in Italy. In their petition to the Pope, referred to below, they say that they had printed a _Donatus_, presumably before the Cicero, but no such work is known, and some have thought it was only a block-book. In the same year they issued the works of Lactantius, "the Christian Cicero," the first dated book executed in Italy. It is also one of the earliest books to adopt a more elaborate punctuation than the simple oblique line and full stop in general use. The _Lactantius_ has a colon, full stop, and notes of admiration and interrogation. Both these books are printed in a pleasing type which is neither Gothic nor Roman, but midway between the two. [Illustration: TYPE OF THE SUBIACO LACTANTIUS (_exact size._)] Two years later Sweynheim and Pannartz removed to Rome, where their countryman, Ulric Hahn, was already at work, and prosecuted their business with so much energy, and apparently so little prudence or regard to the works of other printers, that at the end of five years they had printed no less than 12,475 sheets which they could not sell, and were in such financial straits that they petitioned the Pope for assistance for themselves and their families. Whether they obtained it is unknown, but the partnership was soon after dissolved, and the name of Pannartz alone appears in books of 1475 and 1476. When these two printers died is uncertain. Venice was the next city of Italy to take up the new art. There, in 1469, Joannes de Spira, or John of Spires, executed Cicero's _Epistolæ ad Familiares_. He obtained a privilege from the Venetian Senate with regard to his productions, and, more than that, a monopoly of book-printing in Venice for five years. He died, however, less than a year later, and his monopoly with him. His brother Vindelinus carried on his work, and was succeeded by Nicolas Jenson, a Frenchman, who, from a technical point of view, was perhaps the most skilful and artistic of early typographers. The most famous printer of Venice, however, and the most famous printer of Italy, and perhaps of the world, is Aldus Manutius, born in 1450, but his fame rests less on his actual printing, which, though good, is not unequalled, than upon the efforts he made for popularising literature, and bringing cheap, yet well-produced books within the reach of the many. He saw that the works printed in such numbers by the Venetian printers, who paid attention to quantity and cheapness and altogether ignored the quality of their productions, were faulty and corrupt, and that textually as well as typographically there was room for improvement. He applied himself to the study of the classics, above all to the Greek, hitherto neglected or published through Latin translations, and secured the assistance of many eminent scholars, and then, having obtained good texts, turned his thoughts to type and format. The types he cast for his first book, Lascaris' _Greek Grammar_, were superior to the Greek types then in use. Next he designed a new Roman type, modelled, so it is said, upon the handwriting of Petrarch. It called forth admiration, and won fame under the name of the "Aldino" type. Its use has continued to the present day, and it is known to almost everyone as _Italic_. It was cut by Francesco de Bologna, who was probably identical with Francesco Raibolini, that painter-goldsmith who signed himself on his pictures as _Aurifex_, and on his gold-work as _Pictor_. The advantage of the Aldino type, at the time of its invention, when type was large and required a comparatively great deal of space, was that its size and form permitted the printed matter to be much compressed, while losing nothing in clearness. The book for which it was used could be made smaller, and printed more cheaply. In 1501 Aldus inaugurated his new type by issuing a _Virgil_ printed throughout in "Aldino." It occupied two hundred and twenty-eight leaves, and was of a neat and novel shape, measuring just six by three and a half inches. This book, which was sold for about two shillings of our money, marks Aldus as the pioneer of cheap literature--literature not for the wealthy alone, but for all who loved books. A proof of the popularity of the new departure is afforded by the fact that the _Virgil_ was immediately forged, that is to say, reproduced in a number of exceedingly inferior copies, by an unknown printer of Lyons. [Illustration: TYPE OF THE ALDINE VIRGIL, 1501 (_exact size._)] The Aldine mark, which appears on Aldus' edition of Dante's _Terze Rime_ in 1502, and on nearly all the numerous works subsequently issued from this famous press, is a dolphin twined about an anchor, and the name ALDVS divided by the upper part of the anchor. This device continued to be used after the death of Aldus Manutius in 1515 by his descendants, who carried on the work of the press until 1597. France was somewhat late in availing herself of the advantages offered by the new art, although Peter Schoeffer had had a bookseller's shop in Paris. In 1470, Guillaume Fichet, Rector of the Sorbonne, invited three German printers--Ulric Gering, Michael Friburger and Martin Cranz--to come and set up a printing-press at the Sorbonne. The first work they produced there was the _Epistolæ_ of Gasparinus Barzizius. For this and a few other volumes they used a very beautiful Roman type, but after the closing of the Sorbonne press in 1472 they established other presses elsewhere in Paris and adopted a Gothic character similar to that of the contemporary French manuscripts, and therefore more likely to be popular with French readers. The first work printed in the French language, however, is believed to have been executed, chiefly, at any rate, by an Englishman, probably at Bruges, five years later, that is, about 1476. The book was _Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes_, the Englishman was William Caxton. Caxton also printed at the same place, and about the year 1475, the first book in the English language--a translation of _Le Recueil_. In both these works he may have been assisted by Colard Mansion, believed by some to have been his typographical tutor, though so eminent an authority as Mr Blades holds that _Le Recueil_ was printed by Mansion alone, and that Caxton had no hand in it. As with so many other questions concerning early typography, there seems to be no means of deciding the point. The first work in French which was issued in Paris was the _Grands Chroniques de France_, printed by Pasquier Bonhomme in 1477. Holland and the Low Countries can show no printed book with a date earlier than 1473, while the celebrated city of Haarlem's first dated book was produced ten years later. But printing was very possibly practised in these countries at an earlier period, and some undated books exist which those who ascribe the invention of typography to Holland consider to have been executed by Dutch printers before any German books had been given to the world. Those who stand by Germany of course think otherwise. In the year just named--1473--Nycolaum Ketelaer and Gerard de Leempt produced Peter Comestor's _Historia Scholastica_ at Utrecht, and Alost and Louvain also started printing. The types of John Veldener, the first Louvain printer, have a great resemblance to those used by Caxton, and have led some to believe that Veldener supplied Caxton with the types he first used at Westminster. About the same time, Colard Mansion, noted for his association either as teacher or assistant with Caxton, is supposed to have introduced printing into Bruges. His first dated book was a _Boccaccio_ of 1476, and he continued to print until 1484, when he issued a fine edition, in French, of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_. After this nothing more is known of him. Blades thinks that his printing brought him financial ruin, and suggests that he may have joined his old friend Caxton at Westminster, and helped him in his work, but this is only conjecture. We have already seen that it was from Colard Mansion's press that the first printed books in the English and French languages were produced. The first Brussels press was established by the Brethren of the Common Life, a community who had hitherto made a speciality of the production of manuscript books. At what date they began to print in Brussels is uncertain, but their first dated book, the _Gnotosolitos sive speculum conscientiae_, is of the year 1476. The Brethren also had an earlier press at Marienthal, near Mentz, and subsequently set up others at Rostock, Nuremberg, and Gouda. The Elzevirs belong to a somewhat later period than that with which we are concerned in these chapters, but a name so famous in bibliographical annals as theirs cannot well be passed over. The first of the Elzevirs was Louis, a native of Louvain, who in 1580 established a book-shop in Leyden, gained the patronage of the university, and opened an important trade with foreign countries. Certain of his sons and successors became printers as well as booksellers, and produced work of the highest excellence. Some of them opened shops or set up presses at Amsterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and also established agencies or branches elsewhere, and extended their trade all over Europe. The history of the partnerships between different members of the family, and of the sixteen hundred and odd publications which they printed or sold, is a complicated subject upon which there is no need to enter here. The last of the Elzevirs, a degenerate great-great-grandson of the first Louis Elzevir, was Abraham Elzevir of Leyden, who died in 1712, leaving no heir, and at whose decease the press and apparatus were sold. CHAPTER XI EARLY PRINTING IN ENGLAND The first name on the list of early English printers, it is hardly necessary to say, is that of Caxton. In his _Life and Typography of William Caxton_, the late Mr Blades has told all there is to be known of Caxton's life, and a great deal about Caxton's work; and although as regards the latter half of the subject there are authorities who dissent from some of the theories he advances, Mr Blades' monograph remains the standard work on the matter of England's first printer and the recognised source of information concerning him and his books. But notwithstanding Mr Blades' industry and learning, our knowledge of the early part of Caxton's life is very scanty, and is derived mainly from what Caxton himself tells us in the prologue to his first literary production, the English translation of the French romance by Le Fevre, entitled _Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes_, or, Anglicised, _The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_. Speaking of his boldness in undertaking the work, he refers to the "symplenes and vnperfightness that I had in both langages, that is to wete in frenshe and in englissh, for in france was I neuer, and was born & lerned myn englissh in kente in the weeld where I doubte not is spoken as brode and rude englissh as is in ony place of englond." He was born probably in 1422 or 1423, and further than this we know nothing of him till his apprenticeship to Robert Large, a London mercer. Large died before Caxton's term of apprenticeship expired, and the next we hear of young Caxton is that he was living on the Continent, probably at Bruges. At the time he wrote the prologue from which quotation has just been made, that is about 1475, he had been for thirty years "for the most parte in the contres of Braband, flanders, holand, and zeland." Yet notwithstanding so long a residence in the Low Countries, he describes himself as "mercer of ye cyte of London." As a wool merchant in Bruges he prospered, and in time rose to be Governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, or "The English Nation," and in that capacity probably dwelt at the _Domus Angliæ_, the Company's headquarters in Bruges. In 1468, and while holding this honourable and important position, he began his translation of _Le Recueil_, but soon laid it aside, unfinished. Two years later he took it up again, but by this time he had resigned the governorship, and was engaged in the service of the Duchess of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV. of England. When or why he took this position, and in what capacity he served the Duchess, is not known, but it was her influence which brought about the completion of his literary work and indirectly caused the subsequent metamorphosis of the mercer into the typographer. In the prologue to _The Recuyell_ he relates that the duchess commanded him to finish the translation which he had begun, and this lady's "dredefull comandement," he says, "y durste in no wyse disobey because y am a servant vnto her sayde grace and resseiue of her yerly ffee and other many goode and grete benefetes." _The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_, when finished, immediately found favour in the eyes of the English dwellers in Bruges, who, rejoiced to have the favourite romance of the day in their own tongue, demanded more copies than one pair of hands could supply. So because of the weariness and labour of writing, and because of his promise to various friends to provide them with the book, "I haue practysed & lerned," he tells us, "at my grete charge and dispense, to ordeyne this said book in prynte after the maner & forme as ye may here see, and is not wreton with penne and ynke, as other bokes ben, to thende that every man may haue them attones." Where Caxton gained his knowledge of printing is a matter of dispute. Mr Blades holds that he was taught by Colard Mansion, the first printer of Bruges, others that he learned at Cologne. Mr Blades adduces in support of his view the similarity of the types of Mansion and Caxton, the reproduction in Caxton's work of various peculiarities to be observed in Mansion's, the improbability that Caxton would have travelled to Cologne to get what was already at hand in the city where he lived, and the absence in his work "of any typographical link between him and the Mentz school." For the Cologne theory Wynkyn de Worde, who carried on the work of Caxton's printing-office at Westminster after the latter's death, supplies some foundation in his edition of Bartholomæus _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, where he says: "And also of your charyte call to remembraunce The soule of William Caxton, the first prynter of this boke In laten tongue at Coleyn, hymself to avaunce, That every well-disposed man may thereon loke." As usual there is something to be said on both sides, but leaving this debateable ground we will only add that the _Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_, translated by himself from the French, is generally considered to be the first book printed by Caxton, perhaps with Mansion's help, and probably at Bruges, and in or about the year 1475. It is also the first printed book in English. It was followed about 1476 by the French version of the same work, and by the famous _Game and Play of the Chesse Moralised_. This was once believed to be the first book printed on English soil, but it is now assigned to Caxton's press on the Continent, probably at Bruges. About 1476 Caxton returned to England, and set up his press at Westminster. It has been asserted that he worked in the scriptorium, but it is not known that Westminster Abbey ever had a scriptorium. Others have thought that he printed in some other part of the Abbey. His office, however, was situated in the Almonry, in the Abbey precincts, and was called the Red Pale, but it is now impossible to identify the place where it stood. In 1477 Caxton produced _The Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres_, the first book, so far as is known, ever printed in England. [Illustration: TYPE OF CAXTON'S DICTES OR SAYENGIS OF THE PHILOSOPHRES, WESTMINSTER, 1477 (_exact size._)] The Westminster printer was patronised by the king and by the mighty of the land, and also by the Duchess of Burgundy, and with his pen, as well as with his press, he sought to supply the books and literature which the taste of the time demanded. "The clergy wanted service-books," says Mr Blades, "and Caxton accordingly provided them with psalters, commemorations and directories; the preachers wanted sermons, and were supplied with the 'Golden Legend,' and other similar books; the 'prynces, lordes, barons, knyghtes & gentilmen' were craving for 'joyous and pleysaunt historyes' of chivalry, and the press at the 'Red Pale' produced a fresh romance nearly every year." From his arrival at Westminster about 1476 until his death about 1491--the date is not exactly known--Caxton was continually occupied in translating, editing, and printing, though beyond the prologues, epilogues, and colophons to his various publications he composed little himself, his principal work being the addition of a book to Higden's _Polychronicon_, bringing that history down to 1460. His translations number twenty-two. The long list of his printed works includes a _Horæ_, printed about 1478, and now represented only by a fragment, which is of great interest as being probably the earliest English-printed service-book extant. It was found in the cover of another old book, and is now in the Bodleian Library. Other books printed by Caxton were the _Canterbury Tales_; _Boethius_; _Parvus et Magnus Catho_, a mediæval school-book, the third edition of which contains two woodcuts, probably the earliest produced in England; _The Historye of Reynart the Foxe_, translated from the Dutch by Caxton; _A Book of the Chesse Moralysed_, a second edition of the _Game and Play of the Chesse_, printed by Caxton abroad; _The Cronicles of Englond_; _The Pylgremage of the Sowle_, believed to have been translated from the French by Lydgate; Gower's _Confessio Amantis_; _The Knyght of the Toure_, translated by Caxton from the French; _The Golden Legend_, consisting of lives of saints compiled by Caxton from French and Latin texts; _The Fables of Esope_, etc., translated by Caxton from the French; Chaucer's _Book of Fame_; _Troylus and Creside_; Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_; _The Book of Good Manners_, translated by Caxton from the French of Jacques Legrand; _Statutes of Henry VII._, in English, the "earliest known volume of printed statutes"; _The Governal of Helthe_, from the Latin, author and translator unknown, the "earliest medical work printed in English"; _Divers Ghostly Matters_, including tracts on the seven points of true love and everlasting wisdom, the Twelve Profits of Tribulation, and the Rule of St Benet; _The Fifteen Oes and other Prayers_, printed by command of "our liege ladi Elizabeth ... Quene of Englonde, and of the ... pryncesse Margarete," and the "prouffytable boke for mannes soule and right comfortable to the body and specyally in aduersitee and trybulacyon, whiche boke is called _The Chastysing of Goddes Chyldern_." Between seventy and eighty different books, besides indulgences and other small productions, are attributed to Caxton's press, and the works just named will serve to give an idea of their diversity and range. Some of the most popular were printed more than once; of the _Golden Legend_, for example, three editions are known, and of the _Dictes or Sayings_, the _Horæ_, and _Parvus et Magnus Catho_, and several others, two editions are known. There is also a strong probability that many of Caxton's productions have been lost altogether, since thirty-eight of those yet extant are represented either by single copies or by fragments. [Illustration: BOYS LEARNING GRAMMAR, from Caxton's "Catho" and "Mirrour of the World."] Caxton, according to Mr Blades, used six different founts of Gothic type, but Mr E. Gordon Duff, in his _Early English Printing_, credits him with eight founts. His books are all printed on paper, with the exception of a copy of the _Speculum Vitæ Christi_ in the British Museum, and one of the _Doctrinal of Sapyence_, in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. The well-known device of Caxton was not used by him till 1487. It is usually understood to stand for W.C. 74, but its exact meaning is not known. Blades believes that it refers to the date of printing of _The Recuyell_, the first product of Caxton's typographical skill. [Illustration: CAXTON'S DEVICE.] In 1480, three or four years after Caxton had settled at Westminster, John Lettou, a foreigner of whom little is known, established the first London printing-press.[4] His workmanship was particularly good, and he was the first in this country to print two columns to the page. He subsequently took into partnership William de Machlinia, and according to the colophon of their _Tenores Novelli_ the office of these two printers was located in the Church of All Saints', but this piece of information is too vague to assist in the identification of the spot. Machlinia is afterwards found working alone in an office near the Flete Bridge. His later books were printed in Holborn. [4] It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that at this period Westminster was quite distinct from London. A well-known name is that of Wynkyn de Worde, a native of Holland, and at one time assistant to Caxton. At Caxton's death he became master of the Red Pale, and issued a number of books "from Caxton's house in Westminster," including reprints of several of Caxton's publications. He made use of some modified forms of Caxton's device, but he also had a device of his own, which first appears in the _Book of Courtesye_ printed some time before 1493. He printed, among other works, the _Golden Legend_, the _Book of Courtesye_, Bonaventura's _Speculum Vitæ Christi_, Higden's _Polychronicon_, which appeared in 1495 and is the first English book with printed musical notes; Bartholomæus' _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, which appeared about 1495 and is the first book printed on English-made paper, and which has already been noticed as the authority for supposing that Caxton learned printing at Cologne; the _Boke of St Albans_, the _Chronicles of England_, _Morte D'Arthur_, _The Canterbury Tales_, etc., etc. He also issued a host of sermons, almanacs, and other minor works. [Illustration: TYPE OF WYNKYN DE WORDE'S HIGDEN'S POLYCHRONICON, LONDON, 1495 (_exact size._)] In 1500 Wynkyn de Worde moved from Caxton's house in Westminster to the Sign of the Sun, in Fleet Street, and presently opened another place of business at the Sign of Our Lady of Pity, in St Paul's Churchyard. About a year after Caxton had established himself at the Red Pale, and had issued the _Dictes or Sayengis_, and two years before the city of London had attained to the dignity of a printing-press, typography began to be practised at Oxford, but by whom is not known, though very possibly by Theodore Rood of Cologne. The first Oxford book was the _Exposicio in Simbolum Apostolorum_ of St Jerome, a work which happens to be dated 1468, and has thereby led some to assign to Oxford the credit of having printed the first book in this country. But that date is now acknowledged to be a printer's error for 1478. A similar misprint led to a similar error as to the first book printed in Venice. The _Decor Puellarum_, executed by Nicolas Jenson, purports to have appeared in 1461, and thus was at one time supposed to be the first book printed in Venice, but the date is now recognised as a misprint for 1471, which leaves John of Spires the first Venetian printer and his _Epistolæ familiares_ of Cicero, 1469, the first Venetian printed book. Cambridge was more than forty years later than Oxford in providing herself with a printing-press. In the same year that London began to print appeared the first books from the press at the Abbey of St Albans, namely, _Augustini Dacti elegancie_, and the _Nova Rhetorica_ of Saona. As both were printed in 1480 it is uncertain which is the earlier. This press was probably started in 1479, but of the printer nothing is known, except that when Wynkyn de Worde reprinted the _Chronicles of England_ from a copy printed at St Albans, he refers to him as the St Albans "scole mayster." The famous _Bokys of Haukyng and Huntyng, and also of Cootarmuris_, commonly known as the Book of St Albans, written by the accomplished Juliana Berners, prioress of the neighbouring nunnery of Sopwell, was printed at the monastery in 1486, and reprinted ten years later by Wynkyn de Worde. CHAPTER XII EARLY PRINTING IN SCOTLAND Scotland was one of the last of the countries of Europe to appreciate the advantages of typography so far as to possess herself of a printing-press. She was also, as we have pointed out in a previous chapter, the only one, save England, and possibly Holland, to have the art of printing brought to her by one of her own sons and not by a foreigner. The first Scottish printer was Andrew Myllar, an Edinburgh bookseller, who imported books from England and from France, and who, in the latter country, learned how to print. Two books are extant which were printed for him on the continent, probably at Rouen by Laurence Hostingue, and these are worth noticing. The first may speak for itself, through its colophon, of which the following is a translation:--"The Book of certain 'Words Equivocal,' in alphabetical order, along with an interpretation in the English tongue, has been happily finished. Which Andrew Myllar, a Scotsman, has been solicitous should be printed, with admirable art and corrected with diligent care, both in orthographic style, according to the ability available, and cleared from obscurity. In the year of the Christian Redemption, One thousand five hundred and fifth." The second book is an _Expositio Sequentiarum_, or Book of Sequences, of the Salisbury use, printed in 1506. [Illustration: MYLLAR'S DEVICE.] In 1507 Myllar was taken into partnership by Walter Chepman, and fortified by a royal privilege these two set up the first Scottish printing-press, with plant and types and workmen brought by Myllar from France. Chepman furnished the capital and Myllar the knowledge. Their press was situated at the foot of Blackfriars Wynd in the Southgate in Edinburgh. The privilege sets forth that Myllar and Chepman have "at our instance and request, for our plesour, the honour and proffit of our Realme and Liegis, takin on thame to furnis and bring hame ane prent, with all stuff belangand tharto, and expert men to use the sammyn for imprenting within our Realme the bukis of our Lawis, actis of parliament, cronicles, mess bukis," etc. It is believed that the favour and encouragement shown to Myllar and Chepman by the King was the result of the influence of William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen, who had prepared a Breviary, _Breviarum Aberdonense_, which he wished to be used by his countrymen to the exclusion of the Salisbury Missal, and that the real purpose of the promotion of the first printing-press in Scotland was the printing of this work. For the privilege goes on to say: "And alis it is divisit and thocht expedient be us and our consall, that in tyme cuming mess bukis, efter our awin scottis use, and with legendis of Scottis sanctis, as is now gaderit and ekit be ane Reverend fader in God, and our traist consalour Williame bischope of abirdene and utheris, be usit generaly within al our Realme alssone as the sammyn may be imprentit and providet, and that na maner of sic bukis of Salusbery use be brocht to be sauld within our Realme in tym cuming." Anyone infringing this decree was to be punished and the books forfeited. But the earliest work of the Southgate press consisted of literature of a lighter sort, and, when dated at all, is dated 1508, while the Breviary did not make its appearance till later. These early productions, which survive only in fragments, included _The Porteous of Noblenes_, _The Knightly Tale of Golagros and Gawane_, _Sir Eglamoure of Artoys_, _The Maying or Disport_ of Chaucer, and several others. _The Maying or Disport_ of Chaucer is the most perfect specimen remaining, and its exact date can be ascertained from its colophon, which reads as follows:-- Heir endis the maying and disport of Chaucer. Imprentit in the southgait of Edinburgh be Walter chepman and Androw myllar the fourth day of aprile the yhere of God M.CCCCC. and viii yheris. The _Maying and Disport_ is better known as the _Complaynt of a Lover's Life_, or the _Complaynt of the Black Knight_. * * * * * Strange to say, we hear no more of Myllar after this. But Chepman comes forward again in connection with the Breviary (though it is uncertain whether he was its printer), and probably printed some other books which have been lost. The Breviary is a small octavo in two volumes, the first of which appeared in 1509 and the other in 1510. It is printed in red and black Gothic characters. The conclusion of the Latin colophon to the second volume may be rendered as follows:-- "Printed in the town of Edinburgh, by the command and at the charge of the honourable gentleman Walter Chepman, merchant in the said town, on the fourth day of June in the year of our Lord 1510." The next Scottish printer, so far as is known, was a certain John Story, though only an _Office of Our Lady of Pity_, accompanied by a legend on the subject of the relics of St Andrew, remains to testify to us of his existence. It was printed "by command of Charles Steele," and Dr Dickson dates it at (perhaps) about 1520. Rather more than twenty years later, Thomas Davidson became King's Printer in Edinburgh. His only dated work was _The Nevv Actis And Constitvtionis of Parliament Maid Be The Rycht Excellent Prince Iames The Fift Kyng of Scottis 1540_. The title-page of this book consists of a large woodcut of the Scottish arms, above which is the title in four lines printed in Roman capitals. This book also displays all three forms of type--black letter, Roman, and Italic. Its colophon, which is printed in Italics, is as follows:-- _Imprentit in Edinburgh, be Thomas Davidson, dweling abone the nether bow, on the north syde of the gait, the aucht day of Februarii, the zeir of God. 1541. zeris._ But there is some of Davidson's undated work which is earlier than this, though it is not known for certain when he began to print. Of these undated publications, _Ad Serenissimum Scotorum Regem Iacobum Quintum de suscepto Regni Regimine a diis feliciter ominato Strena_ is notable as affording the earliest example of the use of Roman type by a Scottish printer, for its title is printed in these characters. Only one copy is known, and that is in the British Museum. Opinions differ as to its date, but the majority assign it to the year 1528. Davidson's most important production, however, was his beautiful folio edition of Bellenden's translation of Hector Boece's work, _The hystory and croniklis of Scotland_. This, says Dr Dickson, is "an almost unrivalled specimen of early British typography. It is one of those gems which the earlier period of the art so frequently produced, but which no future efforts of the press have surpassed or even equalled." It has a title-page similar to that of the _Nevv Actis_, but the title itself is printed in handsome red Gothic characters. Dr Dickson, to whose learned _Annals of Scottish Printing_ (completed, on account of the author's ill-health, by Mr J. P. Edmond) I am indebted for the details of early Scottish typography given above, assigns this book to the year 1542. Having seen the printing-press fairly set to work in Scotland, it will not be necessary here to notice its later productions. But before closing the chapter it will be interesting to observe that Edinburgh was the place of publication of the first work printed in the Gaelic language. This was Bishop Carswell's translation of the Scottish Prayer-Book, which was printed in 1567 by Roibeard (Robert) Lekprevik. It is in the form of Gaelic common at that time to both Scotland and Ireland, and therefore as regards language it forestalls the _Irish Alphabet and Catechism_, Dublin, 1571, to which reference is made below. The type of Carswell's Prayer-Book, however, is Roman. The following is a translation of its title-page, made by Dr M'Lauchlan:-- FORMS OF Prayer and administration of the sacraments and catechism of the Christian faith, here below. According as they are practised in the churches of Scotland which have loved and accepted the faithful gospel of God, on having put away the false faith, turned from the Latin and English into Gaelic by Mr John Carswell Minister of the Church of God in the bounds of Argyll, whose other name is Bishop of the Isles. No other foundation can any man lay save that which is laid even Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3. Printed in dún Edin whose other name is Dún monaidh the 24th day of April 1567, By Roibeard Lekprevik. Lekprevik, whose first work, so far as is known, was produced in 1561, printed not only in Edinburgh, but also in Stirling and St Andrews, at different times. CHAPTER XIII EARLY PRINTING IN IRELAND In heading a chapter "Early Printing in Ireland," one is somewhat reminded of the celebrated chapter on snakes. As a matter of fact, however, there is no real analogy. Ireland was very slow to adopt the printing-press, and made little use of it when she did adopt it, yet it would not be quite accurate to say that there was no early printing in Ireland. But it can truthfully be said that Ireland's early printing was late--late, that is, compared with that of other countries. The first typographical work known to have been produced in Ireland is the Book of Common Prayer--the First Prayer-Book of Edward VI.--which was printed in Dublin in 1551 by Humfrey Powell. Powell was a printer in Holborn Conduit in 1548, and in 1551 went to Dublin and set up as King's Printer. A "Proclamation ... against the rebels of the O'Conors.... Imprynted at Dublyn, by Humfrey Powell, 16th August, 1564," seems to be the only other known specimen of his Dublin printing. The colophon of the first book printed on Irish ground is as follows:-- Imprinted by Humfrey Powell, Printer to the Kynges Maiestie, in his hyghnesse realme of Ireland, dwellyng in the citee of Dublin in the great toure by the Crane. _Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum_ Anno Domini M.D.LI. This Prayer-book is exceedingly rare. The British Museum possesses no copy, but has to content itself with photographs showing the title, colophon, etc., of that in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. Emanuel College, Cambridge, has one which formerly belonged to Archbishop Sancroft. Cotton, in his _Typographical Gazetteer_, says that Powell's Prayer-book is most creditable to the early Irish press. It is in the English language, and printed in black letter. The first book printed in the Gaelic language, though in Roman type, has already been spoken of. The first Gaelic type was exhibited to the world in a tiny volume of fifty-four pages printed at Dublin in 1571, and entitled _Irish Alphabet and Catechism_. This was compiled by John O'Kearney, and contained the elements of the Irish language, the Catechism, some prayers, and Archbishop Parker's articles of the Christian rule. The following is a facsimile of the title-page to which a translation is added:-- Irish Alphabet and Catechism. Precept or instruction of a Christian, together with certain articles of the Christian rule, which are proper for everyone to adopt who would be submissive to the ordinance of God and of the Queen in this Kingdom; translated from Latin and English into Irish by John O'Kearney. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever. Ps. xliv. ver. 23. Printed in Irish in the town of the Ford of the Hurdles, at the cost of Master John Usher, alderman, at the head of the Bridge, the 20th day of June 1571. With the privilege of the great Queen. 1571 [Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF O'KEARNEY'S IRISH ALPHABET AND CATECHISM (_slightly reduced_)] This book was produced by John O'Kearney, sometime treasurer of St Patrick's Cathedral, and his friend Nicholas Walsh, chancellor of St Patrick's and afterwards Bishop of Ossory, and the John Usher who defrayed the expense was then Collector of Customs of the port of Dublin. Its appearance was considered a momentous event by those concerned with it, for great benefits were anticipated for the Irish people as soon as "their national tongue and its own dear alphabet" were reduced to print, as O'Kearney states at some length in the preface. He also tells us that the types from which this volume was printed were provided "at the cost of the high, pious, great, and mighty prince Elizabeth." In this connection it is worth while to notice two extant records, one among the State Papers (Irish Series) and the other among the Acts of the Privy Council. From the first, made some time in December 1567, we gather that Queen Elizabeth had already paid £66. 13s. 4d. "for the making of carecters for the testament in irishe," and that this Testament was not yet in the press. The second (August 1587) states that the New Testament was translated into Irish by Walsh and O'Kearney, but "never imprynted, partlie for want of proper characters and men of that nacion and language skillful in the mystery of pryntyng," and partly on account of the cost. I can find no other record of the provision of a fount of Irish types at the Queen's expense, and having no more definite information at hand on this point, and taking into consideration the contents of the book--an Irish alphabet, and directions for reading Irish, and a catechism, etc. (by way of exercise?)--its diminutive size and the imperfection of its print, I venture the suggestion that O'Kearney's work was printed as a trial of the new types given by the Queen and intended for printing the New Testament. This view is supported by the first words of the preface: "Here, O reader, you have the first value and fruit of that great instructive work, which I have been producing and devising for you for a long time, that is, the faithful and perfect type of the Gaelic tongue." The conclusion seems to be that the types were inadequate for the larger work, and that for some reason there was a difficulty about supplying more or finding anyone to undertake the printing. The preface further says, after requesting corrections and amendments as regards the typography: "And it is not alone that I am asking you to give this kind friendly correction to the printing, but also to the translation or rendering made of this catechism put forth as far back as 1563 of the age of the Lord and [which] is now more correct and complete, with the principal articles of the Christian faith associated therewith." This has led some to think that there was an earlier edition of the _Alphabet and Catechism_. But it seems plain that O'Kearney refers to the Catechism only, not to the whole book, and equally plain that the 1563 work, whatever it was, was not printed in Irish type, or there would have been no special occasion to glorify the 1571 _Alphabet and Catechism_. Since nothing is known of the _Catechism_ of 1563, it is very possible that it existed only in manuscript and never went to press. I have gone into this matter of the _Irish Alphabet and Catechism_ of 1571 somewhat at length, because I am not aware that it has ever yet received detailed attention. The quotations I have given from the preface are from an anonymous manuscript translation inserted in the British Museum copy. O'Kearney's _Irish Alphabet and Catechism_ is so rare that only three copies are known to exist: one being in the British Museum, one in the Bodleian Library, and one in the library of Lincoln Cathedral. The fount of types from which it was printed was not quite correct; for instance, the small Roman "a" is used, and an "H" is introduced, a letter foreign to the Gaelic alphabet. During the seventeenth century, and even later, most of the Irish books were sent to be printed on the continent or in England. Several books by Irish authors, chiefly catechisms, works on the language, and dictionaries, bear the names of Louvain, Antwerp, Rome or Paris, such as the _Catechism_ of Bonaventure Hussey, printed at Louvain in 1608, and reprinted at Antwerp in 1611 and 1618. CHAPTER XIV BOOK BINDINGS A book as we know it is usually contained in a case or cover intended primarily for its protection. The fastening together of the different sections of the book, and the providing it with a cover, and, incidentally, the decoration of that cover, come under the head of bookbinding, or bibliopegy, as the learned call it. The process of binding consists of two parts: first, the arrangement of the leaves and sections in proper order, their preparation for sewing by beating or pressing, the stitching of them together, and the fastening of them into the cover. This is called "forwarding." The other half of the work is the lettering and decoration of the cover, and is called "finishing." With the decoration of the cover only can we concern ourselves here. The art of binding books is far older than the art of printing. The first known attempt to provide a cover by way of protection for a document was made by the workman who devised a clay case for the clay tablet-books of Babylonia, but this is as far from our notion of bookbinding as the tablets themselves are from our notion of books. Nor do the Roman bindings, which consisted of coloured parchment wrappers, come much nearer the modern conception. The ivory cases of the double-folding wax tablets or diptychs, too, of the second and third centuries, A.D., are also outside the pale, strictly speaking, but they deserve mention on account of the beautiful carving with which they are decorated, and on which some of the finest Byzantine art was expended. One of the earliest bookbinders or book-cover decorators whose name has come down to us was Dagæus, an Irish monk, and a clever worker in metals. Among the many beautiful objects in metal wrought in the old Irish monasteries were skilfully designed covers and clasps for the books which were so highly prized in the "Isle of Saints." Nor were covers alone deemed sufficient protection from wear and tear. Satchels, or polaires, such as that mentioned in Adamnan's story of the miraculous preservation of St Columba's Hymn-book, were in common use for conveying books from place to place. Very few specimens now remain, but there is one at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, containing an Irish missal, and another, which is preserved at Trinity College, Dublin, together with the _Book of Armagh_, to which it belongs, is thus described by the Rev. T. K. Abbott, in the _Book of Trinity College_:-- "An interesting object connected with the _Book of Armagh_ is its leather satchel, finely embossed with figures of animals and interlaced work. It is formed of a single piece of leather, 36 in. long and 12½ broad, folded so as to make a flat-sided pouch, 12 in. high, 12¾ broad, and 2¼ deep. Part of it is doubled over to make a flap, in which are eight brass-bound slits, corresponding to as many brass loops projecting from the case, in which ran two rods, meeting in the middle, where they were secured by a lock. In early times, in Irish monastic libraries, books were kept in such satchels, which were suspended by straps from hooks in the wall. Thus it is related in an old legend that 'on the night of Longaradh's death all the book-satchels in Ireland fell down.'" In Ireland, too, specially valuable volumes were enclosed in a book-shrine, or cumhdach; and although, like the satchels, these cumhdachs are not bindings in the proper sense of the word, yet since they were intended for the same purpose as bindings, that is, the protection of the book, it will not be out of place to speak of them here. The use of bookshrines in Ireland was very possibly the survival of an early custom of the primitive Church. It seems to have been applied chiefly, if not always, to books too precious or sacred to be read. We are told that a Psalter belonging to the O'Donels was fastened up in a case that was not to be opened; and were it ever unclosed, deaths and disasters would ensue to the clan. If borne by a priest of unblemished character thrice round their troops before a battle, it was believed to have the power of granting them victory, provided their cause were a righteous one. Cumhdachs were also used in Scotland, but no Scottish examples have survived. The oldest cumhdach now existing is one in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, which was made for the MS. known as Molaise's Gospels, at the beginning of the eleventh century. It is of bronze, and ornamented with silver plates bearing gilt patterns. Another book-shrine, made for the Stowe Missal a little later, is of oak, covered with silver plates, and decorated with a large oval crystal in the middle of one side. The Book of Kells once had a golden cumhdach, we are told, or, more correctly, perhaps, a cumhdach covered with gold plates; but when the book was stolen from the church of Kells in 1006 it was despoiled of its costly case, with which the robbers made off, leaving the most precious part of their booty, the book itself, lying on the ground hidden by a sod. One of the earliest bookbinders in this country was a bishop, Ethilwold of Lindisfarne, who bound the great Book of the Gospels that his predecessor Eadfrid had written. For the same book Billfrið the anchorite made a beautiful metal cover, gilded and bejewelled. The Lindisfarne Gospels still exists, but the cover which now contains it, though costly, is quite new. Like most ancient book covers the original one has been lost, or destroyed for the sake of its valuable material. Among the earlier mediæval bindings those of the Byzantine school of art rank very high. They were exceedingly splendid, for gold was their prevailing feature, and jewels and enamel were also lavished upon them. The ordinary books of the middle ages were usually bound in substantial oak boards covered with leather, and often having clasps, corners, and protecting bosses of metal. In the twelfth century the English leather bindings produced at London, Winchester, Durham and other centres, were pre-eminent. Miss Prideaux instances some books which were bound for Bishop Pudsey, and which are now in the cathedral library of Durham, as "perhaps the finest monuments of this class of work in existence." The sides of these volumes are blind-tooled; that is, the designs are impressed by means of dies or tools with various patterns and representations of men and of fabulous creatures, but not gilded. Certain volumes, however, were treated with particular honour, either at the expense of a wealthy and book-loving owner, or for the purpose of presentation to some great personage, and for these sumptuous bindings the materials employed were various and costly. A Latin psalter which was written for Melissenda, wife of Fulk, Count of Anjou and King of Jerusalem, has a very wonderful French binding. The covers are of wood, and each bears a series of delicate ivory carvings of Byzantine work. The upper cover shows incidents in the life of David, and symbolical figures, and the lower cover scenes representing the works of Mercy, with figures of birds and animals. Rubies and turquoises dotted here and there help to beautify the ivory. This book is in the British Museum. [Illustration: UPPER COVER OF MELISSENDA'S PSALTER (_reduced_).] Another specimen in the same collection may be taken as an example of the use of enamel as a decoration for bindings. This is a Latin manuscript of the Gospels of SS. Luke and John, which is enclosed in wooden boards bound in red leather. In the upper cover is a sunk panel of Limoges enamel on copper gilt, representing Christ in glory. The work is of the thirteenth century. These enamelled bindings were often additionally decorated with gold and jewels. A curious little modification of the ordinary leather binding was sometimes made in the case of small devotional works. The leather of the back and sides was continued at the bottom in a long tapering slip, at the end of which was a kind of button, so that the book might be fastened to the dress or girdle. Slender chains were often used for the same purpose. About the time of the invention of printing, leather bindings began to be decorated with gold tooling. Tooling is the name given to the designs impressed upon the leather with various small dies so manipulated as to make a connected pattern. When the impressions are gilded the dull leather is brightened and beautified in proportion to the skill and taste expended by the workman. The art of gold tooling is believed to have originated in the East, and to have been brought to Italy by Venetian traders, or, as it has also been suggested, through the manuscripts which were dispersed at the fall of Constantinople. In any case, it was in Italy that it was first adopted and brought to perfection, and other European countries learned the art from Italian craftsmen. Chief among the early Italian gilt bindings are those made of the finest leathers and inscribed THO. MAIOLI ET AMICORVM. Nothing whatever is known of Thomasso Maioli, except that he had a large library and spared no expense in clothing his books in bibliopegic purple and fine linen. What Maioli appears to have been among Italian book-collectors, Jean Grolier, Vicomte d'Aguisy, was among French bibliophiles. He held for a time the post of Treasurer of the Duchy of Milan, and while in Italy he collected books for his library and made the acquaintance of Aldus Manutius. Many of the Aldine books are dedicated to him, for Aldus occasionally stood in need of financial aid and found in Grolier a generous and practical patron of literature. Some of the famous bindings which distinguish Grolier's books were executed in Italy, others in France, where Italian bookbinders were then teaching their art to the native workmen. They display the same style of design that decorates the books of Maioli, and Maioli's benevolent inscription too, Grolier adapted to his own use, and stamped upon certain of his books IO. GROLIERII ET AMICORVM. The exact signification of these words is obscure. At first sight they might appear to refer delicately to the joy with which the owner of the book would place it at the disposal of his friends, but this does not accord with what is known of the character of book-lovers. Perhaps their only meaning is that Maioli and Grolier were at all times ready to please their friends and to gratify themselves by exhibiting their treasures. But since several copies of the same work are known to have been bound for Grolier--for instance, five copies of the Aldine Virgil--it has been suggested that he occasionally made presents of his books, though he drew the line at lending them. Grolier's copy of the _De Medicina_ of Celsus, which is in the British Museum, is bound in a somewhat different style from that usually associated with his name. It is in brown leather; blind-tooled except for some gold and coloured roundels in different parts of the device. In the centre of both covers is a medallion in colours, that on the upper cover representing Curtius leaping into the abyss in the Forum, and that on the lower cover representing the defence of the bridge by Horatius. This is an Italian binding. Although it was Italy who first improved upon the usual methods of mediæval binding, and from her that France took lessons in this new and better way of clothing books, it was France who was destined to bring the art to its highest excellence. Having learned her lesson, she perfected herself in it, and the workmen of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, such as Geoffroy Tory, Nicholas, Clovis, and Robert Eve, and Le Gascon, carried French bookbinding into the very first rank, where it may be considered to remain to this day. Some of the finest French examples extant are those which were executed for Henry II. and Diana of Poitiers, Duchess of Valentinois. Both were ardent bibliophiles, and both indulged in very sumptuous bindings for their books. Some of the chief treasures in our great libraries to-day are the beautiful volumes which Henry presented to the duchess, and which are ornamented with the royal lilies of France, accompanied by the bows and arrows and crescents which were Diana's own badges and the initials of the king and the duchess. Catherine de Medicis also was an enthusiastic book collector, which may surprise those who think that a person who is devoted to books is necessarily harmless. Some of her books she brought to France as part of her dowry, others she acquired by fair means or foul as was most convenient, and to their bindings she paid particular attention and kept a staff of bookbinders in her employ. To such a pitch of extravagance did the bibliophiles of the period go in the binding of their books, that in 1583 Henry III. of France decreed that ordinary citizens should not use more than four diamonds to the decoration of one book, and the nobility not more than five. The king himself, however, was as extravagant as any of his subjects, at any rate as regards the designs he favoured. Many of his books are clad in black morocco, bearing representations of skulls, cross-bones, tears, and other melancholy emblems. He developed his taste for these strange decorations, it is said, when, as Duke of Anjou, he loved and lost Mary of Clèves. The early printers at first executed their own bookbinding, but presently left it to the stationers. It was generally only the larger works which they thought worth covering, and the small ones were simply stitched. Antony Koburger, of whom mention has already been made, bound his own books and ornamented them in a style peculiarly his own. Caxton bound his according to the prevailing fashion, with leather sides, plain or blind-tooled with diagonal lines, forming diamond-shaped compartments in each of which is stamped a species of dragon. About the sixteenth century it became fashionable to have one's books "Full goodly bound in pleasant coverture Of damask, satin, or else of velvet pure," as a writer of the time expresses it, and this style naturally lent itself to the needleworked decoration. This decoration was especially favoured in England, and the ladies of the period executed some very fine pieces of embroidery as "pleasant covertures" for their books, using coloured silks and gold and silver thread on velvet or other material. One of the earliest embroidered bindings covers a description of the Holy Land, written by Martin Brion, and dedicated to Henry VIII. It is of crimson velvet, with the English arms enclosed in the Garter, between two H's, and the Tudor rose in each corner, and it is worked in silks, gold thread, and seed pearls. Queen Elizabeth is said to have preferred embroidered bindings to those of leather, and to have been very skilful in working them. The copy of _De Antiquitate Britannicæ Ecclesiæ_, which the author, Archbishop Parker, presented to the Queen, has a cover which is very elaborately embroidered indeed. It is of contemporary English work, and is thus described in the British Museum _Guide to the Printed Books exhibited in the King's Library_:-- "Green velvet, having as a border a representation of the paling of a deer park, embroidered in gold and silver thread; the border on the upper cover enclosing a rose bush bearing red and white roses, surrounded by various other flowers, and by deer; the lower cover has a similar border, but contains deer, snakes, plants and flowers; the whole being executed in gold and silver thread and coloured silks. On the back are embroidered red and white roses." Embroidered bindings remained in fashion during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and plain velvet, too, was often used, sometimes with gold or silver mounts. The old Royal Library, which was given to the nation by George II., contains a large number of sumptuous bookbindings; and that our Sovereigns were not unmindful of the welfare of their literary treasures may also be gathered from various entries in the Wardrobe Books and from other documents. Thus, we read that Edward IV. paid Alice Clavers, "for the makyng of xvj. laces and xvj. tassels for the garnysshing of divers of the kinge's bookes ijs. viijd."; and "Piers Bauduyn, stacioner, for bynding gilding and dressing of a booke called _Titus Livius_ xxs., for binding gilding and dressing of a booke of the _The Holy Trinity_ xvjs.," and so on. Again, in the bill delivered to Henry VIII. by Thomas Berthelet, his majesty's printer and binder, are found such entries as these:-- "Item delyvered to the kinge's highnes the vj. day of January a Psalter in englische and latine covered with crimoysyn satyne, 2s." "Item delyvered to the kinge's hyghnes for a little Psalter, takyng out of one booke and settyng in an other in the same place, and for gorgeous binding of the same booke xijd.; and to the Goldesmythe for taking off the claspes and corners and for setting on the same ageyne xvjd." Among the various styles which may be classed as fancy bindings may be instanced the seventeenth century tortoise-shell covers with silver mounts and ornaments, which have a very handsome effect, and the mosaic decoration of the same period. This mosaic decoration was made by inlaying minute pieces of differently coloured leathers, and finishing them with gold tooling. It was work which called for great dexterity in manipulation, and in skilful hands the result was very pretty and graceful. Even from this slight sketch it will be seen that bookbindings have always presented unlimited opportunities for originality on the part of the worker, as regards both design and material. Wood and leather, gold and silver, ivory and precious stones, coloured enamels, impressed papier-mâché, gold-tooled leather and embroidered fabric, pasteboard and parchment, have all been pressed into the service, and the subject of bookbindings is a fascinating branch of book history. But from their nature bindings are difficult to describe in an interesting manner, and words can hardly do justice to them without the aid of facsimile illustrations. The ordinary bindings of to-day are practically confined to two styles, the cloth and the leather, and those combinations of leather and cloth or leather and paper which make the covers of half-bound and quarter-bound volumes. Cloth binding, the binding of the nineteenth century, is an English invention, and came into use in 1823. On the Continent books are still issued in paper covers and badly stitched, on the assumption that if worth binding at all, they will be bound by the purchaser as he pleases. But although the English commercial cloth binding is often charged for far too highly, no one can deny its convenience, and its superiority over the paper undress of foreign works. Moreover, it is the homely, everyday garb of the great majority of our favourite volumes, and though, no doubt, it is delightful to possess books sumptuously bound, book-lovers of less ambition, or of lighter purses than those who can command such luxuries, are not very much to be pitied. There is something characteristic about a book in a cloth cover which it loses when it dons the livery of its owner's library. Cloth is not only more varied in texture, but admits of greater freedom and variety of design than does leather, so there is something to be said in its favour in spite of the contention that direct handicraft is preferable to handicraft which works through a machine, and that one of a batch of bindings printed by the thousand is not to be compared with a single specimen of tooled leather which has cost a pair of human hands hours of careful toil. The little libraries with which so many of us have to be contented owe their bright and cheerful appearance to the cloth covers of the books, in which each book stands out with modest directness, wearing its individuality instead of losing it in a crowd of neighbours dressed exactly like itself. In a series uniformly bound, however, a family likeness is not only admissible, but pleasing. It gives an idea of unison among, perhaps, widely differing individuals. But the unison which is becoming to a family makes a community monotonous. On the other hand, something stronger than cloth is necessary when books are to be subjected to special wear and tear, and desirable when a volume is to be particularly honoured or when the library it is to enter is large and important. Protection is the first purpose of a binding, and endurance its first quality, and the experience of centuries has shown that the walls in the fairy-tale were right when they said, "Gilding will fade in damp weather, To endure, there is nothing like LEATHER." In which, perhaps, the book-lover will see a parable. For, after all, the book is the thing, and the cover a mere circumstance, and those who wish to make books merely pegs to hang bindings upon deserve to have no books at all. Yet it is right that though the binding should not be raised above the book, it should be worthy of the book, and much of the cheap and good literature which is now within the reach of all who care to stretch out their hands for it, is clothed in a manner to which no exception can be taken on any score. Those who have not realised how charming some of the modern bookbindings can be, should consult the winter number of _The Studio_ for 1899-1900. CHAPTER XV HOW A MODERN BOOK IS PRODUCED A description of the methods by which a modern book is produced has to begin at the second stage of the proceedings. The processes of the first stage, including the writing of the book and the arrangements between the publisher and the author, differ, of course, in individual cases. The processes of the second stage, however, are common to a large proportion of the books produced at the present day, though it will be easily understood that they can be dealt with but summarily in this chapter, and that as regards detail much variation is possible. The second stage in the history of a modern book may be said to begin with the overhauling which the manuscript receives at the hands of the printer's "Reader," who goes over it with the view of instructing the compositor regarding capitals, punctuation, chapter headings and other details. Although these are considered minor and merely clerical details which are frequently neglected or misused in writing, it is essential that they be carefully attended to in print. Many examples can be given of amusing misprints and alterations of meaning caused by even such a trifle as the misplacing of a comma. When this overhauling is completed the manuscript is ready to be sent to the composing room where the types are set up. From experience the printer knows that many authors get a different impression of what they have written when they see it in type from what they had when they read it in manuscript, and it frequently happens that alterations on proof are very numerous in consequence. When either from this or any other cause numerous alterations are anticipated, the matter is first set up in long slips called "galleys," and not put at once into page form. As soon as a few of those galleys are composed an impression called a "proof" is taken from the types so set, and this proof is passed to a reader whose duty is to see that a correct copy is made of the manuscript, and that the spelling is accurate and the punctuation good. This is a work commanding considerable intelligence and experience, as the number of types required for a printed page is very great, and even the most expert compositor cannot avoid mistakes. This marked proof is returned to the compositor to make the necessary corrections. Fresh proofs are got till no further errors are detected, when a final proof is pulled and sent to the author, who makes such alterations as he may desire. When the corrected proofs are returned by the author they are given to the compositor, who makes the required alterations in the type. After this a revised proof is submitted. When the author is satisfied that the reading is as he wishes he returns the proofs, and the galleys are now made into page form. If it is not expected that the author will make many changes the types are arranged in page shape before any proofs are shown to him, and the work goes through somewhat more quickly. When the types are divided into pages they are placed in sets or "formes," each forme being secured in an iron frame called a "chase," which can be conveniently moved about. Each chase is of a size to enclose as many pages as will cover one side of the sheet of paper to be used in printing. Fifty years ago only one or two sizes of paper were made, and the size of sheet generally used for books was that which allowed eight pages of library size on one side, hence called "octavo" size, or when folded another way allowed twelve pages, hence "twelvemo" or "duodecimo." Other sizes occasionally used are called "sixteenmo" or "sextodecimo," "eighteenmo" or "octodecimo," etc. With larger sized printing machines now driven by steam or electricity, there is greater variety in the size of formes and papers used in printing. In all cases, however, the number of pages laid down for one side of paper must divide by four. The pages are set in the chase in special positions, so that when the sheet is printed on both sides and folded over and over for binding they will appear in proper sequence. When only a small edition of a book is wanted the printing is generally done direct from the types, but when a large number of copies is required or frequent editions are expected, stereotype or electrotype plates are made. By this means the types are released for further use and other advantages obtained. Stereotype plates are cakes of white metal carrying merely the face of the types, and were formerly made by taking from the types a mould of plaster of Paris. They are now formed by beating or pressing a prepared pulp of papier-mâché into the face of the lettering. The mould thus obtained is dried and hardened by heat, then molten metal is run into it of requisite thickness. This plate after being properly dressed is fitted on a block equal in height to the type stem, and takes the place in the frame or chase that would have been occupied by the types. The process of stereotyping is fairly quick and economical, but electrotypes are better suited for higher class work and are much more durable. In this process an impression is taken from the type on a surface of wax heated to the necessary degree of plasticity. When the wax mould has cooled and hardened it is placed in a galvanic current, where a thin coat of copper is deposited on its face. This coat is then detached from the mould and backed with white metal to give it the requisite body and stiffness and the electrotype is now, like the stereotype, a metal plate which can be fixed on a block and secured in a frame ready for the printing machine. It is outside the scope of this work to describe minutely the marvellous machinery used in printing. It is interesting to know that the first printers had no machine but a screw handpress by which they laboriously worked off their books page by page, and that even so late as the middle of the nineteenth century all books with scarcely an exception were printed at handpresses which enabled two men to throw off about two hundred and fifty copies of a comparatively small-sized sheet in the hour. Now the machines commonly in use, attended by only a man and a lad, throw off from a thousand to fifteen hundred copies in an hour of a sheet four or even eight times the old size. Books are almost universally printed on what is called the flat-bed machine, so-called because the types or plates are placed on an iron table which with them travels to and fro under a series of revolving rollers constantly being fed with a supply of ink which they transfer to the types or plates. Immediately these get beyond the inking rollers they pass under a revolving cylinder with a set of grippers attached, which open and shut with each revolution. These grippers take hold of the sheet of paper and carry it round with the cylinder. When it comes in contact with the types or plates travelling underneath, the impression or print is made. Some machines complete the printing of the sheet on both sides at one operation. In others the sheet is reversed and is printed on the other side by passing through a second time. In either case the sheet forms only a section of a book; the complete volume is made up of a number of these sections, folded and collated in proper order in the bindery. There they are sewn together and fixed in the case or cover. For illustrated books the pictures were formerly produced by engraving on wood, but they are now chiefly photographed from the artist's drawing on a light sensitive film spread on a metal plate, and etched in by acids. In whatever way produced, when printed with the text they are always relief blocks which are placed in proper position in the chase alongside the types or plates. Coloured illustrations are produced by successive printings. Special illustrations are frequently produced separately by other processes and inserted in the volume by the binder. Machines of a different construction, such as the rotary press, and capable of a very much higher rate of production, are in use for printing newspapers and periodicals with a large circulation, but these do not properly come into consideration when telling how a modern book is made. [_The above chapter has been kindly contributed by the printers of this volume._ _G. B. R._] AUTHOR'S POSTSCRIPT. In our endeavour to note the chief points in the history of books, and in considering the manifold interests which are bound up with their bodies, we have had to neglect their minds. To have tried even to touch upon the vast subject of literature in our story would have been as futile as an attempt to transport the ocean in a thimble. For literature consists of all that is transferable of human knowledge and experience, all that is expressible of human thought on whatever matter in heaven or earth has been dreamed of in man's philosophy. And though our aggregate of knowledge be small, it is vastly beyond the comprehension of one individual being. Of the influence of books, and their manifold uses, also, this is not the place to speak. Moreover, even had the theme been unheeded by abler pens, no one who loves books needs to be told to how many magic portals they are the keys, while he who loves them not would not understand for all the telling in the world. INDEX A. Aberdeen Breviary, 133-135. Advertisements, early booksellers', 105. Alcuin, 63, 64. Aldus Manutius, 104, 113, 115, 151. Aleria, Bp. of, 104. Alexandria, 16, 30-32. Alost, 117. Alphabet, the, 10. Amsterdam, 118. Antiquarii, 49. Antwerp, 144. Arabs, the, 13. Assyria, 12, 14, 30. Assyrians, 11. Augsburg, 104. Aungervyle, R. (_see_ Richard de Bury). Ave Maria Lane, 52. Avignon, 85. B. Babylonia, 12, 30, 145. Babylonians, 11. Bamberg, 75, 94, 103. Basle, 104. Benedict Biscop, 63. Beowulf, 24. Berthelet, Thomas, 156. Bible, the, 17. ---- Mazarin or Gutenberg, 94-100. ---- thirty-six-line, 97. ---- Mentz, 1462, 102. Biblia Pauperum, 74-77, 89. Bibliothèque Nationale, 67, 68. Bindings, 144, 159. Block-books, 73, 80. Block-printing, 71. Bonhomme, Pasquier, 116. Book of Durrow, 39. ---- Kells, 39-41. ---- St Albans, 25, 128, 131. ---- St Cuthbert (_see_ Lindisfarne Gospels). Book, production of modern, 159. Bookbinding, 144-159. Books, adventures of, 144. ---- beginning of, 10. ---- chained, 58, 69, 70. ---- heretical, 22. ---- in classical times, 26. ---- in monasteries, 21-24, 47, 145. ---- not to be destroyed, 22. ---- ornamenting of, 37. ---- prices of, 50, 53. ---- sizes of, 161. Booksellers, 28, 29, 51-54. Bordesley Abbey, 68. Breslau, 104. Brethren of the Common Life, 117. Breviary, Aberdeen, 133-135. Bruges, 52, 104, 116, 117, 119-122. Brussels, 117. "Brussels" Print, 73. Byzantium, 18, 34. C. Caedmon, 24. Cambridge, 58, 130, 139, 145. Campanus, 104, 108. Canterbury, 45, 61, 63. Carrells, 57. Carswell's Prayer-book, 137. Catalogues, early booksellers', 105. ---- monastic library, 59-61. Catechism, Irish Alphabet and, 137, 139-144. Caxton, 85, 105-107, 116-126, 128, 154. Censorship, Ecclesiastical, 54, 55. ---- University, 54. Chelsea, 70. Chepman, Walter, 133. China, 14, 71, 81. Clairvaux Abbey, 57. Clement of Padua, 110, 111. Clugni, Abbey of, 60. Cologne, 103, 104, 121. Colophons, 108. Copyists, 27, 28, 31, 32, 49, 51, 52. Copyright, 28. Corvey, Abbot of, 65. Coster, Laurenz, 80, 82-89. Cranz, Martin, 115. Creed Lane, 53. Cumhdachs, 146, 147. D. Davidson, Thomas, 135. Dictes or Sayengis, 122, 126. Diemudis, 49. Donatus, 78, 79, 112. Dorchester, 50. Dublin, 109, 137-139, 141, 146. Durham, 45, 61, 148. E. Edinburgh, 109, 110, 131, 133, 135, 137, 138. Egypt, 12, 14, 18, 20, 21, 29-31, 71. Electrotype plates, printing from, 162. Elizabeth, Queen, 125, 141, 142, 154. Elzevirs, the, 117, 118. England, 23, 36, 104, 106, 118. F. Faust or Fust, 88, 92, 93, 100, 102, 103. Fichet, Guillaume, 115. Florence, 104. Fountains Abbey, 57. France, 23, 77, 78, 104, 115, 131, 133, 151, 152. Friburger, Michael, 115. G. Game and Playe of the Chesse, 122, 124. Gering, Ulric, 115. Germany, 23, 65, 72, 77, 83, 104, 106, 116. Glastonbury Abbey, 60. Gloucester, 58. Greece, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 23, 30. Greeks, the, 11. Grolier, Jean, 151, 152. Guild of St John the Evangelist, 52. Gutenberg, 82-85, 89-92, 101, 102. H. Haarlem, 80-82, 85-87, 116. Hahn, Ulric, 104, 108, 109, 112. Herculaneum, 18. Hereford Cathedral, 70. Holborn, 128, 138. Holland, 75, 77, 80, 83, 89, 104, 116, 119, 128, 131. Hostingue, Laurence, 131, 132. I. Illuminators, 49, 51, 52. Ireland, 36, 38, 104, 138, 146. Irish Alphabet and Catechism, 137, 139, 143. Italy, 22, 23, 36, 77, 104, 106, 110, 111, 113, 150, 151. Italic type, 114. J. Japan, 71, 81. Jenson, Nicolas, 107, 113, 130. Junius, Hadrian, 88. K. Kelmscott press, 80. Ketelaer, Nycolaum, 116. Kirkstall Abbey, 57. Klosterneuburg, 75. Koburger, Antony, 106, 154. L. Lanfranc, 47. Latin document, earliest, 15. Latin names of towns, 109. Leempt, Gerard de, 116. Lettou, John, 126. Leicester, 61. Lekprevik, Roibeard, 137, 138. Leland, 61. Leyden, 118. Libraries, ancient, 28-36. ---- collegiate, 58. ---- monastic, 56-65. Librarii, 16, 49. Lignamine, J. P. de, 111. Lindisfarne Gospels, 42-45, 147. Lincoln Cathedral, 143, 144. Literature, Anglo-Saxon, 24. ---- beginning of, 13. ---- of Greece, 14, 15, 19. Literatures, antique, 14. London, 51, 52, 54, 104, 109, 110, 120, 127, 148. Louvain, 117, 118, 144. Lubeck, 104. Lyons, 104, 115. M. Machlinia, William de, 109, 128. Maioli, Thomasso, 151, 152. Mansion, Colard, 116, 117, 121, 122. Manuscript, oldest Biblical, 17. ---- oldest Homeric, 17. ---- oldest New Testament, 18, 20. Manuscripts, Arabic, 21. ---- Arabic-Spanish, 56. ---- Byzantine, 37. ---- Classical, 17, 20. ---- Coptic, 21. ---- of Four Gospels, 19. ---- Greek, 14, 15, 18. ---- Hiberno-Saxon, 43. ---- Illuminated, 36-46. ---- Irish, 37, 39-41, 44. ---- Italian, 37. ---- Moorish, 56. ---- printed illustrations in, 73. ---- Syriac, 21. ---- Winchester, 45. ---- of Virgil, 19. Marienthal, 117. Mentelin, John, 105. Mentz, 82, 87, 88, 90, 92, 93, 96-98, 100, 101, 109, 117, 121. Monasteries, books in, 21-24, 145, 146. Monastic writing, 15, 19, 21, 22, 24, 46, 47, 49. Morris, William, 80. Musical notes printed, 103, 128. Myllar, Andrew, 131-135. N. Naples, 104. Netley Abbey, 57. New Testament, 17, 22. Nineveh, 14. Nuremberg, 104, 106, 117. O. O'Kearney, John, 139, 141-143. Old Testament, 12, 14, 17. Omar, Caliph, 33. Oxford, 53, 58, 62, 64, 65, 104, 130. Oxyrhynchus, 20. P. Paternoster Row, 51, 52. Palestine, 21. Palimpsests, 24. Pannartz (_see_ Sweynheim). Papyrus, 12. Paris, 53, 62, 75, 93, 104, 106, 107, 109, 144. ---- Council of, 62. Philobiblon, 15, 47, 48. Peterborough, 61. Petrarch, 23, 68, 113. Pfister, Albrecht, 94, 95. Poggio Bracciolini, 23. Powell, Humfrey, 138. Printed illustrations in MSS., 73. Printers as editors and publishers, 104. ---- as booksellers, 105. ---- as bookbinders, 154. Printing, 11, 70-144. ---- in colours, 102. ---- machines for, 161, 162, 164. Psalter, Melissenda's, 148-150. ---- Mentz, 1457, 102. ---- Queen Mary's, 46. Publication, mediæval, 51. Publishers, 51, 104. Pye or Pica, 105. Pynson, Richard, 107. R. "R" Printer, 107. Ramsey Abbey, 61. Reichenau Abbey, 60. Richard de Bury, 23, 47, 50, 64, 65, 68. Romans, 11. Rome, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 28, 103, 104, 106, 108, 109, 111, 112, 131. Rood, Theodore, 130. Rostock, 117. Rouen, 106, 131. Royal Library of England, 68, 155. ---- of France, 67. S. Satchels or Polaires, 145, 146. Schoeffer, Peter, 93, 94, 100, 102, 105. Scandinavians, 11. Scotland, 104, 131, 147. Seraglio library, 34, 35. Sopwell, 131. Spain, 23, 104. Speculum Humanæ Salvationis, 78-80, 88, 89, 92. Spira, John de, 109, 112, 130. ---- Vindelinus de, 110, 113. Spires, 104. ---- John of (_see_ Spira). St Albans, 104, 130, 131. St Andrews, 138. St Boniface, 37. St Columba, 41, 145. "St Christopher" Print, 72. St Gall, Abbey of, 23, 60. St Paul's Cathedral, 52. Stationers, 51, 154. ---- Company of, 51. Stereotype plates, printing from, 162. Stirling, 138. Story, John, 135. Strasburg, 89, 90, 92, 93, 103, 105, 107, 110. Subiaco, 103, 111. Sweynheim and Pannartz, 103, 104, 107, 111, 112. T. Tablets, 11, 12, 145. The Hague, 118. Theodore, Abp., 45, 63. Therhoernen, Arnold, 109, 110. Tintern Abbey, 57. Titchfield Abbey, 58, 59. Title-page, 107-109. Tooling, 150. Type or Types, Aldino, 113, 114. ---- Caxton's, 126. ---- Early, 107. ---- Gaelic or Irish, 139, 141-143. ---- Gothic, 107, 115. ---- Greek, 103. ---- Italic, 114. ---- Moveable, 81-89. ---- Roman, 107, 115. ---- Subiaco, 112. ---- Scottish printers', 135, 136. ---- Wood and metal, 106, 107. U. Ulm, 104. Usher, John, 141. Utrecht, 117, 118. V. Veldener, John, 117. Venice, 68, 104, 107, 109, 110, 112, 113, 130. Vienna, 75. Virgil, Aldine, 114, 115, 152. W. Waldfoghel, Procopius, 85. Walsh, Nicholas, 141, 142. Westminster, 104, 117, 121-123, 128. Whitby, 60. Wimborne Minster, 70. Winchester, 45, 50, 62, 148. Woodcuts, early English, 124. Worcester, 57. Writers of Text Letter, 51. Writing, 10, 11. Wynkyn de Worde, 121, 128, 131. Z. Zel, Ulric, 103. Zutphen, 70. TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. [ Transcriber's Note: The following is a list of corrections made to the original. The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one. Type of Mentz Indulgence 95 Type of the Mentz Indulgence 95 canon of the third Council of Constantinople, held in 719, A.D., enacted canon of the third Council of Constantinople, held in 719 A.D., enacted The result of the professor's researches went to confirm the belief held The result of the Professor's researches went to confirm the belief held writings were transscribed, chronicles and histories compiled, and writings were transcribed, chronicles and histories compiled, and manner of person shall print any manner of boke or paper .. except the manner of person shall print any manner of boke or paper ... except the at which the reader might sit. Pembroke College and Queen's College, at which the reader might sit. Pembroke College and Queens' College, of Tychefield four cases (_columnæ_) in which to place books, of which of Tychefeld four cases (_columnæ_) in which to place books, of which Klosterneuberg, near Vienna, which originally contained forty-five Klosterneuburg, near Vienna, which originally contained forty-five half of the fifteen century. Yet it is believed that probably more half of the fifteenth century. Yet it is believed that probably more established at Strasburg, Bamberg, Cologne, Augsberg, Nuremberg, established at Strasburg, Bamberg, Cologne, Augsburg, Nuremberg, debateable ground we will only add that the _Recuyell of the Historyes debateable ground we will only add that the _Recuyell of the Histories first English book with printed musical notes; Bartholomæus _De first English book with printed musical notes; Bartholomæus' _De in the English tongue, has been happily finished. Which Androw Myllar, a in the English tongue, has been happily finished. Which Andrew Myllar, a fourth day of apile the yhere of God M.CCCCC. and viii yheris. fourth day of aprile the yhere of God M.CCCCC. and viii yheris. [Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF OKEARNEY'S IRISH ALPHABET AND CATECHISM [Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF O'KEARNEY'S IRISH ALPHABET AND CATECHISM hooks in the wall. Thus it is related in an old legend that "on the hooks in the wall. Thus it is related in an old legend that 'on the down." down.'" Augsberg, 104. Augsburg, 104. Klosterneuberg, 75. Klosterneuburg, 75. Psalter, Melissanda's, 148-150. Psalter, Melissenda's, 148-150. Speculum Humanæ Salvationis, 78-80, 88, 89 92. Speculum Humanæ Salvationis, 78-80, 88, 89, 92. Tooling, 150, Tooling, 150. ] 
35494	----	THE CONNOISSEUR'S LIBRARY GENERAL EDITOR: CYRIL DAVENPORT FINE BOOKS [Illustration: Deucalion et Pyrrha repeuplant la Terre, Suivant l'Oracle de Themis.] FINE BOOKS BY ALFRED W. POLLARD [Illustration: The Connoisseur's Library] NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS LONDON: METHUEN & CO. LTD. 1912 TO SIR EDWARD MAUNDE THOMPSON, G.C.B. DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM 1888-1909 PREFACE If the mere taking of trouble ensured good work, this contribution to the _Connoisseur's Library_ should be entitled to the modest praise of being "superior to the rest" of its author's book-makings, since it has been ten years on the stocks and much of it has been written two or three times over, either because the writer's own information had increased or to take account of the successful researches of others. Yet in the end defeat in one main point has to be acknowledged. The book was begun with a confident determination to cover the whole ground, from the beginnings of printing and printed book-illustration down to our own day, and in the case of printing the survey has been carried through, however sketchily. But the corresponding survey of book-illustration ends, with rather obvious marks of compression and fatigue, about 1780, leaving the story of a hundred and thirty years of very interesting picture-work untold. Pioneering is always so exciting that recognition of the impossibility of carrying out the full plan of the book within the limits either of the present volume or of the author's working life was not made without sincere regret. The subject, however, of the abandoned chapter was not only very large, but very miscellaneous, and the survey for it would have had to include at least three other countries (France, Germany, and the United States) besides our own. To one section, moreover, that of illustrations in colour, a separate volume of this series has already been devoted. The author would, therefore, fain console himself with the hope that in one or more other volumes a competent account may be given by some other hand of the wood-engravings, etchings, steel-engravings, and lithographs, with which books have been decorated since 1780. The poorness of paper and print with which these modern illustrated books have too often been handicapped has caused collectors to take little interest in them--it even suggested the unworthy excuse for the failure to write the missing chapter that these are not really _Fine Books_, but only books with fine pictures in them, and so are outside our subject. But both students and collectors have their duties as well as their delights, and in view of the high artistic value of quite a large proportion of these modern illustrations, the preservation of clean and uncropped copies of the books in which they occur and the tribute of careful cataloguing and description are certainly their due. While the desired completeness has not been attained the ground here covered is still very wide, and for the book as a whole no more can be claimed than that it is a compilation from the best sources--a list of these will be found in the Bibliography--controlled by some personal knowledge, the amount of which naturally varies very much from chapter to chapter. The obligations incurred in writing it have thus been great, and a sad number of these are to fellow-workers and friends--Proctor, John Macfarlane, W. H. Allnutt, Konrad Burger, Dr. Lippmann, Anatole Claudin, and the Prince d'Essling--who have died while the book has been in progress. Among those still happily alive acknowledgment must specially be made to Sir Sidney Colvin for help received from his masterly introduction to the great monograph on _Early Engravers and Engraving in England_ published by the Trustees of the British Museum; to Mr. A. M. Hind for use made of the list of engravers and their works in the same book; to Mr. Campbell Dodgson for dippings into the wealth of information in his _Catalogue of German and Flemish Woodcuts in the Print Room of the British Museum_ (Vols. I and II); to Mr. Gordon Duff for help derived from his three series of Sandars Lectures on English Printing, and to Mr. Evans for information obtained from his _American Bibliography_. Among other obligations the chief is to the writers (notably Mr. H. R. Plomer) of numerous papers contributed to the _Transactions_ of the Bibliographical Society and to _The Library_, and these are acknowledged with special pleasure. A. W. P. CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I. COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING 1 " II. BLOCK-BOOKS 19 " III. THE INVENTION OF PRINTING--HOLLAND 32 " IV. THE INVENTION OF PRINTING--MAINZ 44 " V. OTHER INCUNABULA 59 " VI. THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRINTING 83 " VII. EARLY GERMAN AND DUTCH ILLUSTRATED BOOKS 100 " VIII. EARLY ITALIAN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS 123 " IX. EARLY FRENCH AND SPANISH ILLUSTRATED BOOKS 143 " X. LATER FOREIGN BOOKS 165 " XI. FOREIGN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS OF THE 16TH CENTURY 180 " XII. PRINTING IN ENGLAND (1476-1580) 204 " XIII. ENGLISH BOOKS PRINTED ELSEWHERE THAN AT LONDON 224 " XIV. ENGLISH WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS 250 " XV. ENGRAVED ILLUSTRATIONS 267 " XVI. MODERN FINE PRINTING 297 BIBLIOGRAPHY 309 INDEX 319 LIST OF PLATES I. Deucalion and Pyrrha repeopling the world. From Ovid's _Metamorphoses_, Paris, 1767 _Frontispiece_ TO FACE PAGE II. An author (Caxton?) presenting a book to Margaret of Burgundy. Fifteenth century engraving inserted in the Chatsworth copy of the _Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye_ 1 (From the plate made for the Bibliographical Society's edition of Mr. Seymour De Ricci's _Census of Caxtons_.) III. The "Bona Inspiratio angeli contra vanam gloriam." From a smaller version of the _Ars Moriendi_. Block-book from the Lower Rhine, _c._ 1465 26 IV. Leaf 3a of a fragment of the _Doctrinale_ of Alexander Gallus. One of the so-called "Costeriana" 32 V. Beginning, with printed capital, of the _Rationale Diuinorum Officiorum_ of Gulielmus Duranti. Mainz, Fust and Schoeffer, 1459 44 VI. Leaf 7b of the first book printed at Cologne, Cicero, _De Officiis_, Ulrich Zel, not later than 1466 60 The space left in the sixth line from the foot stands for the words _ab ostentatione_, which the printer apparently could not read in his manuscript. The word _vacat_ at the end was inserted to show that the space in the last line was accidental and that nothing had been omitted. VII. Leaf 41a of Cicero's _Rhetorica_, Venice, Nicolas Jenson, 1470, showing spaces left for a chapter heading and capital 84 VIII. Part of leaf 4a, with woodcut, from the _Geschicht von dem seligen Kind Symon_ of Tuberinus. Augsburg, Günther Zainer, about 1475 100 IX. Woodcuts of Saracens and Syrians from Breidenbach's _Sanctae Peregrinationis in montem Syon atque in montem Sinai descriptio_. Mainz, Erhard Reuwich, 1486 114 X. Woodcut on leaf 1b of the _Egloga Theoduli_. Leipzig, Conrad Kachelofen, 1489 116 XI. Page (sig. H 8 verso) from the _Psalterium Beatae Mariae Virginis_ of Nitschewitz, showing the Emperor Frederick and his son Maximilian. From a press at the Cistercian Monastery at Zinna, _c._ 1493 118 XII. The Harrowing of Hell, with text, from leaf 4a of the _Belial_ of Jacobus de Theramo. Haarlem, Bellaert, 1484. (Size of the original, 7¼" × 5") 120 XIII. Woodcut of the Betrayal. From leaf 14b of the _Meditatione sopra la Passione del Nostro Signore_ attributed to S. Bonaventura. Venice, Geronimo di Sancti, 1487. (Size of original, 6¾" × 5¼") 124 XIV. Woodcut, De Atheniensibus petentibus regem, illustrating Fable xxii. in the _Aesop_ printed at Naples, by Francesco Tuppo, 1485 126 XV. Woodcut of Lorenzo Giustiniano preceded by a crucifer, from his _Della vita religiosa_. Venice, 1494 130 XVI. Page with woodcut of the Procession to Calvary, from the _Meditatione sopra la Passione del Nostro Signore_ attributed to S. Bonaventura. Florence, Ant. Miscomini, _c._ 1495 138 XVII. Titlepage of _La Festa di San Giovanni_. Florence, Bart. di Libri, _c._ 1495 140 XVIII. Leaf 5a, with woodcut of Death seizing an Archbishop and a Chevalier, from the _Danse Macabre_. Paris, Gui Marchant, 1491. (Size of original 8¾" × 6¼") 144 XIX. Leaf 2a, with woodcut of Adam and Eve, from a _Bible en Francoys_. Paris, Antoine Vérard, about 1505. (Size of original, 9¾" × 7") 150 XX. Page (sig. C 6 verso), with woodcut of the Massacre of the Innocents, from the _Grandes Heures_. Paris, Antoine Vérard, about 1490. (Size of original, 7(7/8)" × 5¼") 152 XXI. Page (sig. U 7 verso) from the edition of _Terence_, printed by J. Trechsel at Lyon, 1493 160 XXII. Titlepage from the _Improbratio Alcorani_ of Ricoldus. Seville, Stanislaus Polonus, 1500 162 XXIII. Hroswitha presenting her plays to the Emperor Otto I, leaf 4b of the _Opera Hrosvite_. Nuremberg, Sodalitas Celtica, 1501 180 XXIV. Titlepage of Jornandes _De rebus Gothorum_. Augsburg, 1515 186 XXV. Page (leaf 246b) of a _Missale Romanum_, printed at Venice by Gregorius de Gregoriis, 1518 194 XXVI. Title-cut from _Les dix premiers livres de l'Iliade d'Homère, Prince des poètes, traduictz en vers François, par M. Hugues Salel_. Paris, Jehan Loys for Vincent Sertenas, 1545 200 XXVII. Page from the _Fifteen Oes_. Westminster, Caxton, about 1490 204 XXVIII. First page of text from the first edition (left incomplete) of Tyndale's _New Testament_. Cologne, 1525 224 XXIX. Part of sig. K 5 recto, with woodcut of Christ raising the Centurion's Daughter, from the _Speculum Vitae Christi_ of S. Bonaventura. Westminster, W. Caxton, about 1488 250 XXX. Titlepage of Bishop Fisher's Funeral Sermon on Henry VII. London, W. de Worde, 1509 254 XXXI. Woodcut of the translator presenting his book to the Duke of Norfolk, from Alexander Barclay's version of Sallust's _Jugurtha_. London, R. Pynson, about 1520 256 XXXII. Portrait of the Author, from John Heywood's _The Spider and the Flie_. London, T. Powell, 1556 260 XXXIII. Woodcut of Queen Elizabeth hawking, from Turberville's _The Booke of Faulconrie_, 1575 264 XXXIV. Engraving of Christ in a mandorla from Bettini's _Monte Santo di Dio_. Florence, Nicolaus Laurentii, 477. (Size of original, 10" × 7") 268 XXXV. Last page of preface, giving the arms of the Bishop of Würzburg, from the Würzburg _Agenda_. Würzburg, G. Reyser, 1482 270 XXXVI. Titlepage of the _Dialogus_ of Amadeus Berrutus. Rome, Gabriel of Bologna, 1517 274 XXXVII. Engraved portrait of the Author by Theodore de Bry after J. J. Boissard, from the _Emblemata_ of Denis Le Bey. Frankfort, De Bry, 1596 280 XXXVIII. Page 22 from the _Hieroglyphikes of the Life of Man_ by Quarles, the engraving by W. Marshall, London, 1638 286 XXXIX. Page, with engraving after Eisen, from Dorat's _Les Baisers_, La Haye et se vend à Paris, Lambert, 1770 292 XL. Engraving by W. W. Rylands after Samuel Wale, from Walton's _Compleat Angler_. London, T. Hope, 1760 296 [Illustration: _Engraving of an Author, possibly CAXTON, Presenting a Book to Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, prefixed to the Chatsworth copy of the 'Recuyell.'_] FINE BOOKS CHAPTER I COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING From the stray notes which have come down to us about the bibliophiles of the later Roman Empire it is evident that book-collecting in those days had at least some modern features. Owing to the abundance of educated slave-labour books were very cheap, almost as cheap as they are now, and book-collectors could busy themselves about refinements not unlike those in which their successors are now interested. But in the Middle Ages books were by no means cheap, and until quite the close of the fourteenth century there were few libraries in which they could be read. Princes and other very wealthy book-buyers took pleasure in possessing finely written and illuminated manuscripts, but the ruling ideals were mainly literary and scholastic, the aim (the quite right and excellent aim) being to have the best books in as many subjects as possible. After printing had been invented the same ideals continued in force, the only difference being that they could now be carried out on a larger scale. Libraries like those formed in the sixteenth century by Archbishop Cranmer and Lords Arundel and Lumley, or that gathered in France by the historian De Thou, were essentially students' libraries, and the books themselves and the catalogues of them were often classified so as to show what books had been acquired in all the different departments of human knowledge. Even in the sixteenth century, when these literary ideals were dominant, we find some examples of another kind. In Jean Grolier, for instance, we find the book-lover playing the part, too seldom assumed, of the discriminating patron of contemporary printing and bookbinding. Instead of collecting more old books than he could find time to read, Grolier bought the best of his own day, but of these sometimes as many as four or five copies of the same work that he might have no difficulty in finding one for a friend; and whatever book he bought he had bound and decorated with simple good taste in Venice or at home in France. It would be an excellent thing if more of our modern collectors, instead of taking up antiquarian hobbies, were content to follow Grolier's example. Books always look best when clad in jackets of their own time, and this in the future will apply to the books of the twentieth century as much as to any others. Moreover, there is more actual binding talent available in England just now than at any previous time, and it is much to be desired that modern Groliers would give it scope, not in pulling about old books, but in binding beautifully those of our own day. Grolier found a modest imitator in England in the person of Thomas Wotton, but with some at least of the Elizabethan book-lovers the havoc wrought in the old libraries by the commissioners of Henry VIII and Edward VI provoked an antiquarian reaction which led them to devote all their energies to collecting, from the unworthy hands into which they had fallen, such treasures of English literary and bookish art as still remained. Putting aside John Leland who worked (to what extent and with what success is not quite clear) for Henry VIII, Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, was the earliest of these antiquaries, to the great benefit of the libraries of Lambeth Palace and of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, though as to how he came by his books perhaps the less said the better. Parker was soon followed by Sir Robert Cotton, whose success in gathering books and documents illustrating English history was so great that his library was sequestered and very nearly altogether taken from him, on the plea that it contained state papers which no subject had a right to possess. Owing to the carelessness and brutality of the previous generation, Cotton's opportunities were as great as his zeal in making use of them, and at the cost of his fortune he laid the foundations of a national library. Humbler men imitated him without being able to secure the same permanence for their collections, more especially Humphrey Dyson, a notary, who seems to have acquired early printed books and proclamations, with the same zeal which Cotton devoted to manuscripts. Many of his treasures passed into the hands of Richard Smith, the Secondary of the Poultry Compter, but at his sale they were scattered beyond recall, and the unity of one of the most interesting of English collections was thus unkindly destroyed. Both these men, and some others of whom even less is known, worked with a public aim, and already Sir Thomas Bodley had gone a step further by founding anew the University Library at Oxford on lines which at once gave it a national importance. This it preserved and developed for over a century and a half, and has never since lost, though no national help, unfortunately, has ever been given it, save the right already conceded by the Stationers' Company, of claiming a copy of any new English book offered for sale. Bodley's munificent donation marked an epoch in the history of English book-collecting because its tendency was to make private book-collecting of the kind which was then admired incongruous and even absurd. When there were no public libraries open to scholars, for a great man to maintain a splendid library in his own house and allow students to read in it was worthy of Aristotle's [Greek: megalopsychos], the man who does everything on a scale that befits his dignity. But in proportion as public collections of books and facilities for obtaining access to them are increased, the preservation of a library on a large scale in a private house, where none of the inmates have any desire to use it, becomes an easy and justifiable object of satire. A man without literary instincts who inherits a fine library is indeed in a parlous state, for if he keeps it he is as a dog in the manger, and if he sells it he is held up to opprobrium. That considerations of this kind were beginning to have weight is shown by the rapidity with which during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries one private collection after another drifted into public ownership. In some cases there were intermediate stages. Thus Archbishop Usher's books were not bequeathed to Trinity College, Dublin, but were purchased for it by the subscriptions of the soldiers of Cromwell's army in Ireland. The manuscripts of Sir Simeon d'Ewes remained in the possession of his family for nearly a century, were then purchased by Harley, and came to the British Museum with Harley's collection. Stillingfleet's manuscripts were in the same temporary ownership; his printed books came to Dublin through the public spirit of Archbishop Marsh. So again Bishop Moore's books were purchased for the University Library at Cambridge by George I. Thus even when a collector was not inspired by, or could not afford to indulge, public motives, respect for his memory or desire to benefit an institution often brought his books to a safe haven. But more often the munificence was personal and direct. For some cause not quite easy to see the flow of benefactions to English libraries has dwindled sadly of late years,[1] so that journalists with short memories write of gifts and bequests to American libraries as if they were unprecedented. Even of late years, however, the foundation of the John Rylands Library, Chancellor Christie's gifts and bequest to the Victoria University, the Sandars legacy to the University Library, Cambridge, and Mr. Alfred Huth's bequest to the British Museum of any fifty books it might choose to select from his fine collection, show that the stream is not quite dried up, while for nearly two centuries and a half from the foundation of the Bodleian it ran with splendid freedom. Thus Archbishop Williams gave noble gifts of books to S. John's College, Cambridge, and to the Chapter House Library at Westminster Abbey; Selden's books enriched the Bodleian; Laud was a generous benefactor alike to the Bodleian, to S. John's College, Oxford, and to the library of Lambeth Palace; Sir Kenelm Digby gave both to Bodley and to Harvard; Ralph Sheldon benefited the Heralds' College; Pepys (through his nephew) bequeathed his collection to Magdalene College, Cambridge; Archbishop Marsh founded a library at Dublin; Richard Rawlinson gave his manuscripts to the Bodleian, and Harley arranged that his should be offered to the nation. The example of the men who bought under the influence of an intention to bestow their books on some public institution naturally affected others, and was responsible for a good deal of rather haphazard collecting in the eighteenth century. The private modern library was often confused with the antiquarian collection, and the antiquarian collection itself was seldom dominated by any central idea. Yet collectors who devoted themselves to one subject and knew thoroughly well what they were aiming at were already coming into existence, and these also, when their work was done, were inspired by an honourable ambition to preserve it intact, and so the libraries were once more enriched. Thus Garrick, guided by his professional interest, devoted himself to early plays, and bequeathed his collection to the British Museum. Malone bought the books which were useful to him as a student of Elizabethan literature, more especially of Shakespeare, and bequeathed them to the Bodleian, while Capell left his similar collection to Trinity College, Cambridge. The library of Natural History books brought together by Sir Joseph Banks and bequeathed by him to the British Museum is another example of well-defined collecting, though of a different sort. Among men who were not themselves specialists the vogue lay in the direction of first editions of the Greek and Latin classics and of a few Italian and English authors of special merit, together with books illustrating the history of printing down to about the year 1480 or 1485. The early classics seem to have been the indispensable element in any collection of the first rank, and they appear with monotonous regularity in the libraries of George III, of the Rev. Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode, and of Thomas Grenville, which all three passed to the British Museum; in the Spencer Collection, now in the John Rylands Library, Manchester; and in the Sunderland Library, sold at auction in 1881-3. When these prizes were secured the collector seems to have felt himself free to follow his individual taste in supplementary purchases, and the Grenville Library is a fine proof of the broader interests of its possessor. Two notable collectors, Heber, the last of the great book-gluttons, and William Henry Miller, founder of the famous Christie-Miller Library at Britwell, cut themselves free from the cult of the _editio princeps_, the latter (despite a taste for modern Latin verse) devoting himself to English poetry, while Heber added to this the literatures of France, Italy, and Spain. Despite the exceptions we have mentioned, in almost all of the collections of the early years of the nineteenth century two different ideals were combined: the student's ideal of the best books in the best editions, and the antiquary's ideal of the books by which the history of printing and its kindred arts could be most vividly illustrated. The combination is still common, for one of à Beckett's comic histories (though I am not prepared to assert that this is a "best book") still figures as the first entry in many sale catalogues which contain also incunabula assuredly not bought for their literary interest. It is more easy to defend such a medley on the ground of sentiment than of logic. Whoever uses books has reason to be grateful to the men who invented or diffused the art of printing, and may be interested in learning something about them. Yet it can hardly be denied that to collect various kinds of books from an antiquarian, æsthetic, or any other well-defined point of view, not directly literary, is an independent pursuit in its own right, just as to collect old or beautiful china or silver is an independent pursuit, whether or no the china or silver be used for eating or drinking from. It will be said, of course, that on this view books are no better than china (or postage stamps), and there are indeed some strange instances of men who have fallen below their possibilities and have collected books, and not without success, despite a most amazing indifference to their contents. This reduces the joy they can get from their hobby to the bare pleasure of collecting for the sake of collecting, an ignoble delight in indulging acquisitiveness, redeemed to some extent by the higher pleasure of overcoming difficulties and observing the rules of the game. But the ignorant book-collector, until he has educated himself, is like a rose-fancier who cannot distinguish one odour from another. By the time they attract the collector books have become, or are on the road to becoming, so precious that their primary usefulness has to be left dormant. To use them constantly for our daily reading would approach the fault which the Greeks called [Greek: hubris], the arrogance which makes a man esteem himself so highly that he thinks nothing too good for his own use. But even when this limitation is recognized, for those who can appreciate them they preserve all the associations of their primary use, and it is because these associations are so delightful and so various that the bookman claims that his form of collecting is the best of all. What then are the associations and qualities which give books value in the eyes of a collector? We may answer the question negatively in the first instance by reducing to their proper importance the two qualities which are popularly supposed to be the most attractive to the book-hunter--rarity and age. If a book is otherwise uninteresting, what is it the better for being rare? In passing it may be noted that unless a book is interesting for other reasons its rarity is necessarily an unknown quantity. Sir Sidney Lee's Census of the extant copies of the First Folio Shakespeare, a comparatively common book, but of supreme interest for its associations, is a striking example of the zeal with which every discoverable copy of a valuable book is now hunted down. Those whose business it is to gather such information can tell in the case of dozens of books of much less importance exactly how many copies have been discovered and in whose possession they remain. But in the case of a book of little interest the most that can be said is that it is "undescribed," and it may be "undescribed" not in the least because it is really rare, but because no bibliographer has troubled himself to make a note of it. Were some real point of interest discovered in it the chances are that the attention thus attracted would speedily bring to light other copies, as in the case of the school magazine to which Mr. Kipling was found to have contributed. Of this the first set catalogued sold for over £100, with the result that so many others were unearthed that the price speedily sank to less than as many shillings. Granted, however, that it could be proved that a dull book is not merely undescribed, but absolutely, what so few works are, unique, in what way does this make it of interest to the collector? A great library might buy it for a trifle out of compassion, or under the idea that its registration in a catalogue might help to piece out a genealogy, or that it might count as another unit in statistics (a poor reason), or justify its purchase in some other haphazard way. But considerations of this kind, such as they are, cannot affect private collectors. A really dull book is merely a nuisance, and whether only one copy of it, or many, can be proved to exist, nobody wants it. If this be so we are justified in saying that, although as soon as a book is found desirable for any other reason its rarity becomes of paramount importance in determining its price, Rarity by itself is of no interest to collectors. The attractiveness bestowed by Age cannot be treated quite so summarily, because although the same line of argument can be followed, it has to be helped out by an explanation arising from a particular case. No collector would value a dull sermon printed in 1800 any higher than a dull sermon printed in 1900, and if we go back two centuries instead of one, in the case of a book printed in London its value is none the greater for the extra hundred years. If, however, the sermon chanced to have been printed in 1700 in some provincial town, its age would distinctly be an element of value. Down to 1693 printing was only permitted in London, Oxford, Cambridge, and (after the outbreak of the Civil War[2]) at York. When the restraining Act was dropped in 1693 printing made its way, not very rapidly, into one provincial town after another. Hence a dull sermon with a provincial imprint may be dear to the heart of some local antiquary as the first-fruit of the press in his neighbourhood. If we go back another sixty years from 1700 we reach another typographic zone, as we may call it, within which some slight interest attaches to all examples of English printing, for the end of the year 1640 is the limit of the special catalogues of early books published by the British Museum, the Cambridge University Library, and the John Rylands Library, Manchester. The first and last of these have indexes of printers; in the second the primary arrangement is typographical. Thus all books which are old enough to have been printed before the end of 1640 are thereby invested with some slight interest solely as products of English presses. When we get back to before 1600 we are in the period covered by the different editions of the _Typographical Antiquities_ of Joseph Ames. When we go back another hundred years we are within the fifteenth century; printing has been introduced into England for less than twenty-five years, and the smallest fragment of a book from one of the early presses at work at Westminster, Oxford, St. Albans, or the City of London, is esteemed as of interest and importance. Thus if we go far enough back Age does add to the interest of a book, but only by bringing it under another influence, that the interest of an English fifteenth century book is due to its importance in the history of printing and not to its antiquity being easily demonstrated by the fact that a contemporary unadorned manuscript of the same work will probably have only a fraction of the value of the printed edition. There are, of course, other cases in which age may be said to have some secondary influence, as in the case of books dealing with social customs, ballads and the like. But here it is still more evident that the social or literary interest is the primary consideration, and that this cannot be created, though it is greatly enhanced, by Age. Having thus to the best of our ability abated the pride both of Age and Rarity, we come back to our original question as to what are the qualities and associations which give books value in the eyes of a collector. The only good qualities which a book can possess in its own right are those of strength and beauty of form. Everything else about it is inherent in no single edition, though association of ideas may give greater dignity to one edition than to another. Type, paper, ink, presswork, the arrangement of the page, and also (though not quite in the same way or to the same extent) the illustrations, are all part and parcel of the book itself, and may be combined, at least so bookmen believe, in a really beautiful unity. No doubt as to this students run some risk of losing their sense of proportion. I myself am conscious, for instance, that I have looked at so many fifteenth century woodcuts, as compared with other works of art, that I distinctly overrate them. Mr. Robert Proctor, who knew more about fifteenth century books than any other man has ever known, or is ever likely to know, once said to me in all seriousness, that he did not think he had ever seen an ugly one. Allowing, however, for this very human tendency to set up our own esoteric standard, there yet remains a more generally recognizable beauty of form which some books possess in a higher degree than others, and to collect such beautiful books independently of any other kind of attraction would be no unworthy pursuit. As a matter of fact, bookmen are more inclined to make beauty of form a secondary consideration to which, as to age and rarity, they pay attention, but without adopting it as the basis of their collection. As a secondary consideration the attention collectors pay to beauty can hardly be exaggerated in respect to the condition of copies, the ratio of an unusually good to an unusually bad copy of the same book, even if the bad copy have no leaves actually wanting, being often as ten to one. The unusually bad copy, indeed, would often have no selling value at all were it not that it may be useful to students and so win a purchaser at a small price. The collector should leave it severely alone, partly because such "working copies" are the rightful perquisite of poor scholars, partly because, as he presumably buys books for his pleasure, he defeats his own object if, except in the case of the very rarest, he buys copies at which he cannot look without regretting that their headlines are cut off or the paper rotten through bad cleaning. Mr. Frederick Locker recorded in his catalogue that his copy of Blake's _Songs of Innocence and of Experience_ had been cut down by a previous owner to the dimensions of the old covers of a washing-book. I think it was his chivalry, his piety toward Blake's memory, that induced him to rescue it from this dishonour. Had he bought such a poor copy simply because it was cheap, he would have fallen far below his standard as a collector. Putting on one side beauty of form, the interest of books in the eyes of a collector lies in their associations, historical, personal, or purely literary. For reasons touched on already but which we may now consider more fully, among historical associations those connected with the history of printing fill a very large place. As we have said before, the invention of an art by which books were so greatly cheapened and multiplied was an event of almost unique importance in the social history of Europe, and everything which throws light on the first discovery, on the manner in which it was carried from one country and city to another, and on the methods and lives of the early printers, is of interest, and in its degree and measure, of importance. Moreover, just as foxes are hunted because they show such good sport, so these early books are collected because the study of them combines in a singular degree the charms of scientific and historical discovery, with all sorts of literary, social, and human side-interests. The claim which Henry Bradshaw put forward that antiquarian bibliography must be studied scientifically has been perverted by the unwise into the assertion that bibliography is a Science, or as they are sometimes pleased to put it, an Exact Science, till sensible people are wearied of the silly phrase. But the claim itself is absolutely true, and the gifts which enabled Mr. Proctor to classify, exactly or approximately, any fragment of early printing according to its country, place, printer, and date, if employed on any other field of scientific inquiry would easily have gained him a Fellowship of the Royal Society, besides the European recognition which, in his own small field, was already his before he died. A large proportion of early printed books are without any indication whatever of their place of origin, printer, or date. The dates are obscured by the quickness or slowness of individual printers in adopting various improvements--sheet-numbering, leaf-numbering, printed capitals, titlepages, methods of imposition, etc.--which thus become uncertain and delusive landmarks. The place of origin is obscured by the existence of almost identical types in different cities and even in different countries. A fortiori the identity of the individual printer may baffle research from types being transferred or copied in all but one or two letters of the fount, which thus become the sole means of differentiating them. As helps the bibliographer has, in the first place, such a classification of the two or three thousand fifteenth century types as he is able to carry in his head. This, in proportion to its completeness, enables him to narrow down the field to be investigated. Some small typographical peculiarity, the way in which the illuminator or rubricator has filled the blank spaces, the note which by good fortune he may have appended in this or some other known copy saying when he finished his work, similar notes by early purchasers which occasionally give the date of their bargain, these and other points may all help forward the happy moment of final identification. Such a hunt as this may sound alarmingly difficult, as if it were all over five-barred gates and inconveniently hedged ditches. But facsimiles and other aids have been greatly multiplied of late years; many a book can be run down and the identification verified in a few minutes, and the possibility of hunting successfully in one's own library presupposes the purchase of many books giving full information as to their origin. These, while offering the means of identifying other books, will themselves raise no questions, so that the collector's life need not be unceasingly strenuous. The side-interests of these old books are very varied. Many of them, at least to eyes trained to perceive it, are of great beauty. Others, although the half century during which printing was in its infancy produced few masterpieces of literature, have real literary interest. More than any other single event the invention of printing hurried on the transition from the medieval world to the modern, but while many printers in Italy nearly ruined themselves by the zeal with which they helped forward the classical renaissance, all over Europe the medieval books which were still read were seized on for the press, so that in the books printed between 1470 and 1490 we are presented with a conspectus or summary of medieval literature. Caxton printed the works of Chaucer and Gower and prose renderings of the old romances. The Italian presses were busy with Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Dante. The enormous size of the great Speculum or Encyclopædia of Vincent de Beauvais did not deter the printers of France and Germany, and the ponderous tomes of medieval theology and law seem to have found a ready market. Above all, the highest skill available in the best equipped workshops was employed almost ceaselessly in the production of beautiful and often magnificent editions of the service-books of the Church for the use both of priests and laity, and it is hardly possible to dabble much in old books without acquiring an interest in liturgiology. Owing to this fact, that the early presses were so largely occupied with printing the works of the previous three centuries, there is comparatively little human interest in incunabula on their literary side. Instead of authors we have mostly to deal with editors, an assertive and depreciatory race, always vaunting their own accuracy and zeal and insisting on the incredible blunders by which previous editions had been deformed past recognition. We receive, however, no small compensation in the personal details which many of the early printers give us about themselves. Titlepages, though they occur at haphazard in a few books of the early seventies (and there is one still earlier example), did not become common till about 1490, and even twenty years later we find many books still without them. The information which we now expect to find on a titlepage was given in a paragraph, mostly at the end of the book, to which bibliographers have agreed to give the name "colophon," from [Greek: kolophôn], the Greek for a "finishing stroke." As we have already noted, in many books no information of this kind is given, but when printers, or their proof readers or editors, took the trouble to write a colophon at all, they had no reason to confine themselves to the severe brevity and simplicity of statement which marks the modern titlepage. It was in colophons that editors cast stones at their predecessors, or demanded sympathy for the severity of their own labours, and it is in colophons that we find the expressions of the printer's piety and pride, his complaints of his troubles with his workmen and rivals, his pleas for encouragement, and occasionally, penned by another hand, the record of how he was struck down by death in the midst of his work. I have never heard of any one making a representative collection of books with interesting colophons, but collecting has taken many worse forms. To lend grace to their colophons, or sometimes as a substitute for them, the early printers and publishers often used a woodcut containing their mark, sign, or device. Like the colophon itself, this was printed as a token of the master's pride in his work and his desire that it might be recognized as his, and many printers' marks are very decorative and even beautiful. Comparatively neglected until recently, within the last few years the devices used in various countries have been almost exhaustively reproduced in facsimile, thus leaving few chances of fresh discovery. The mention of devices brings us to a very interesting section of early printed books, and one which has attracted only too much attention of recent years, those decorated with the primitive cuts on wood or metal with which fifteenth century printers endeavoured to imitate the glories of illuminated manuscripts, or to increase the popularity of their books with not too critical readers. Occasionally, as in the metal cuts in the best editions of the French Horae, in the Florentine and Venetian woodcuts of the last ten years of the century, and in the best work of other countries, these early pictures possess real beauty. Often they are badly spoilt by the incompetence of the cutters, who were working without the aid of modern gravers or modern methods of preparing the wood. The early German wood-cutters, whilst their outlines are often less graceful than those of their French and Italian competitors, had a special gift for characterization, and the quality of their work is much more uniform, perhaps because even before the invention of printing with movable types they were an organized craft. But in almost all fifteenth century cuts there is a certain naive simplicity which captivates those who allow themselves to study it, until they are apt, as the present writer has confessed is probably true of himself, to rate it too highly. As is the case with the more ambitious artists in oils of the same periods, wherever there was any demand for book-illustrators a local school with strongly marked characteristics at once appears. The work of the Augsburg cutters can be told at a glance from that executed at Strassburg, and the styles predominant at Venice and Florence, at Milan and Naples are all absolutely distinct. With one or two exceptions we know nothing, until after 1500, of the men who designed or cut these illustrations, and (except in the case of those of the Low Countries) hardly any attempt has been made, or seems possible, to subdivide the work done in any given locality so as to group it under individual masters. Otherwise the problems of fifteenth century book-illustrations are much like the problems of the types with which they harmonize so well, and the collector can either devote himself to representing as fully as possible the work done in any single district, or range at large over the Continent (as regards fifteenth century illustrations England may almost be left out of account) and collect a few good specimens of each school. It has been made a cause of complaint recently against bibliographers that they know more of the work done at any insignificant fifteenth century press than of the history of printing at any subsequent time. It is not easy to coerce men into taking up any sections of a subject beyond those in which they are interested, and the supposed culprits have at least this much justification for their neglect of the later work that very little of it repays examination. Until 1465, save for some possible Dutch experiments, Germany enjoyed the monopoly of printing. From 1465 to about 1530 she shared the primacy in it with Italy, though during most of this period Italy was slightly ahead; from 1530 to about 1570 France was far in advance of the rest of Europe; after 1570 there was a higher technical level in the Low Countries than elsewhere, and Plantin and the Elzevirs gained individual reputations. But there was very little good taste even in the Low Countries, and from a typographical standpoint the seventeenth century is a Sahara with hardly any oases. From this wilderness the eighteenth century, under the guidance of France and England, timidly felt its way back to a kind of trim neatness, but the positive experiments of Baskerville and the Didots, and in Italy of Bodoni, were not very exciting, and at present are quite out of fashion. In the nineteenth century the work of the Whittinghams in England deserves more attention from collectors than it has received, and throughout the whole period any one working on historical lines, with the desire to illustrate the vicissitudes of the art of printing and not merely its successes, has an ample field. But for positive excellence, after the period of "origins," the French books of the middle of the sixteenth century offer almost the only hunting ground in which the fastidious collector is likely to find an attractive quarry, and it is no use to try to tell any other tale. Of the later book illustrations a somewhat better account may be given. Owing to the steady deterioration of paper and presswork, which was the real cause of the typographical decline, woodcuts by the end of the sixteenth century had gone quite out of fashion, the old simple style having been lost and no printer being able to do justice to the finer work on which designers insisted. But copper engravings throve in Germany and the Low Countries, and when the fashion of engraved frontispieces and titles took root in England in the last years of the century it was pursued with considerable success for a couple of generations, while in the eighteenth century the French _livres à vignettes_ attained an extraordinary brilliancy and elegance, and Gravelot and other French engravers bestowed some of their skill on English books. The use of wood, now worked with the graver and no longer with the knife, was revived in England by Bewick about 1784, and was pursued with varying success for over a century, great technical skill and, at least in the "sixties," very fine design being marred by the poverty and often the tawdriness of its typographical setting. Despite these drawbacks, the collectors who are bestowing attention on all this wood-engraved work of the nineteenth century will probably reap their reward. When wood engraving was killed a few years ago by the extraordinary perfection attained, at a much smaller cost, by the process block, its fate was shared by the line-engraved illustrations which had appeared fitfully throughout the century, and had lingered on in the beautiful work of C. H. Jeens, who died in 1879, and in the use of old plates. As the wood engraving was killed by the half-tone block, so the line engraving disappeared before the photogravure, and the colour processes now being rapidly perfected threaten to reduce all black and white illustrations to unimportance. In so far, however, as the new processes necessitate the use of heavily loaded papers as a condition of their being even tolerably well printed, the least antiquarian of collectors may be forgiven for neglecting the books illustrated by them. Some of them can only be preserved by every plate being backed with sound paper, and a hundred years hence of all this illustrated work, much of it really beautiful, which is now being produced in such quantities, very little will remain. The modern Groliers whom we tried to call forth at the beginning of this chapter will need to be experts both in paper and in leather if they are to leave behind them any permanent record of their good taste. But this is only a crowning proof of how urgently they are needed. It would be pleasant to glance briefly at some of the more literary considerations which bring books within the collector's scope. But the scheme of this series restricts the subject of the present volume to books which are prized either for their typographical beauty, their place in the history of printing, or the charm of their illustrations. This is in itself so large a field that no more pages must be wasted on introducing it. FOOTNOTES: [1] Even Mr. Carnegie will only help to found new libraries, not to make old ones more efficient. [2] During the Civil War itself presses were also set up temporarily at Newcastle-on-Tyne, at Shrewsbury, and perhaps elsewhere. CHAPTER II BLOCK-BOOKS The collector of the time of George III, whose heart was set on Typographical Antiquities, and who was ambitious enough to wish to begin at the beginning, must have hungered after a block-book. Even in the days of Bagford, at the very outset of the eighteenth century, interest had been aroused in the block-printed editions of the _Speculum Humanae Saluationis_, so that Bagford himself travelled from Amsterdam to Haarlem on purpose to see a copy of one of the Dutch editions, and set an English wood-cutter to work, with very poor success, to manufacture a bogus specimen of it, wherewith "to oblige the curious." This, with a similar imitation of a page in the _Biblia Pauperum_, was intended to illustrate the History of Printing which Bagford had the temerity to plan, although such of his smaller dissertations as have been preserved show conclusively that he was quite incapable of carrying it out. The interest thus early shown in block-books sprang from an entirely reasonable, but probably incorrect, view of the part which they had played in the development of printing with movable type. It was known that woodcuts without letterpress were printed in Germany quite early in the fifteenth century, the cut of S. Christopher, formerly in the Spencer Collection, now in the John Rylands Library, bearing the date 1423.[3] On the other hand, printing with movable type was practised at Mainz in the fifties, and about 1461 Albrecht Pfister published at Bamberg several books with woodcut illustrations and printed letterpress. In the logical order of development nothing could be more reasonable than the sequence: i. Woodcut pictures. ii. Woodcut pictures and woodcut text. iii. Woodcut pictures and text printed from movable type. Facts, however, do not always arrange themselves with the neatness which commends itself to an a priori historian, and the most recent students of block-books are unable to discover sufficient justification for the early dates which their predecessors assigned to them. On the old theory, in order to put it in front of the invention of printing with movable types, the _Biblia Pauperum_, which appears to be the oldest of the block-books, was placed about 1430 or 1440, and the _Ars Moriendi_ and the other chief specimens of block-printing were all supposed to have been produced before 1460, the main period of block-printing thus coinciding with the interval between the S. Christopher of 1423 and Pfister's activity at Bamberg about 1461. Positive evidence in favour of this chronology there was none. It rested solely on the idea, at which bibliographers had jumped, that the block-books were necessary "steps towards the invention of printing," as they have often been called, and on what seemed the improbability that any one, when the art of printing with movable type had once been invented, would have troubled himself laboriously to cut letterpress on wood. So far from block-printing being unable to co-exist with printing from movable type, it was not till nearly a century after printing had been invented that block-books finally ceased to be produced. The example generally quoted as the latest[4] is the _Opera nova contemplativa per ogni fedel christiano laquale tratta de le figure del testamento vecchio: le quale figure sonno verificate nel testamento nuovo_. As its title implies, this, curiously enough, is an adaptation of the _Biblia Pauperum_, which was thus the last, as it may have been the first, of the block-books. It is undated, but has the name of its publisher, Giovanni Andrea Vavassore, who worked at Venice about 1530. The _Opera nova contemplativa_ was from one point of view a mere survival, but Vavassore is not likely to have produced it solely to cause twentieth century antiquaries surprise. He must have had a business reason for having recourse to block-printing, nor is that reason very hard to find. From the frequency with which the early printers changed and recast their types, and the short intervals at which popular books printed with types were set up afresh, it is clear (1) that the type-metal[5] employed was much softer and less durable than that now in use, and that only small impressions[6] could be taken from the same setting up; (2) that only a small amount of type was cast at a time, and that type was quickly distributed and used again, never kept standing on the chance that another edition would be wanted. Now when we come to the illustrations in printed books, we find the same woodblocks used for five or six successive editions, and then, in many cases, enjoying a second lease of life as job-blocks, used at haphazard by inferior printers. It is clear, therefore, that while it was a much more difficult and laborious business to cut the letterpress of a book on blocks of wood than to set it up with movable types, when the blocks were once made much more work could be got out of them. In a word, in the case of a small book for which there was a steady demand, a printer might be tempted to have it cut as a block-book for the same reasons as might cause a modern publisher to have it stereotyped. The labour of cutting the letterpress on wood was much greater than that now involved in stereotyping, and the result clumsier. Hence it was only to short books intended for unexacting purchasers that the process was applied and with two or three exceptions it was used only for illustrated books with a small amount of text. But within this restricted field it had its own commercial possibilities, and there is thus nothing surprising in its coexistence with printing from movable type. When the theory that block-books were "Steps towards the Invention of Printing" is thus opposed by the rival theory that they were forerunners of stereotyped plates, we are left free to consider, uncoerced by supposed necessities, such evidence as exists as to the dates of the specimens of block-printing still extant. Putting aside the late Italian block-book as a mere survival, we find two[7] broadly distinguished groups, one earlier, the dates of members of which can only be conjectured, the other later, several of which can only be definitely connected with the years 1470 to 1473. The characteristics of the earlier group are that they are printed (1) with a watery brown ink; (2) always on one side of the paper only; (3) without mechanical pressure;[8] (4) two consecutive pages at a time, so that they cannot be arranged in quires, but must be folded and stitched separately, and the book thus formed[9] begins and ends with a blank page and has a pair of blank pages between each pair of printed ones. This arrangement in some extant copies has been altered by modern binders, who have divided the sheets, mounted each leaf on a guard, and then gathered them, at their own will, into quires. The inconvenient intervention of the blank pages has also sometimes been wrestled with (at an early date) by gluing the leaves together, so that all the leaves, except the first and last, are double, and the printed pages follow each other without interruption. These expedients, however, are easily detected, and the original principle of arrangement is free from doubt. In the later block-books, on the other hand, we note one or more of the following characteristics: (1) the use of the thick black ink (really a kind of paint) employed in ordinary printing; (2) printing on both sides of the paper; (3) marks of pressure, showing that the paper has been passed through a printing-press; (4) the arrangement of the blocks in such a way as to permit the sheets to be gathered into quires. In the case of the more popular block-books which went through many issues and editions[10] we can trace the gradual substitution of later characteristics for earlier ones. At what intervals of time these changes were made we have bibliographically no adequate grounds even for guessing. Analogies from books printed with movable types may be quoted on both sides. On the one hand, we find the blocks for book-illustrations enjoying an amazingly long life. Thus blocks cut at Venice and Florence between 1490 and 1500 continued in use for fifteen or twenty years, were then laid aside, and reappear between 1550 and 1560, certainly the worse for wear, but yet capable by a lucky chance of yielding quite a fair impression. The fact that one issue of a block-book can be positively assigned to 1470 or 1473, thus does not of itself forbid an earlier issue being placed as far back in the fifteenth century as any one may please to propose. On the other hand, when a printed book was a popular success editions succeeded each other with great rapidity, and one centre of printing vied with another in producing copies of it. The chief reason for the current disinclination to assume a date earlier than 1450 or 1460 for any extant block-book is the total absence of any evidence demanding it. If such evidence were forthcoming, there would be no inherent impossibility to set against it. But in the absence of such evidence twenty years seems an ample time to allow for the vogue of the block-books, and (despite the neatness of the a priori theory of development mentioned at the beginning of this chapter) this fits in better with the history both of printing and of book-illustration than any longer period. The first attempt to describe the extant block-books was made by Carl Heinrich von Heinecken in 1771, in his _Idée générale d'une collection d'estampes_. This held the field until the publication in 1858 of Samuel Legh Sotheby's _Principia Typographica: the block-books issued in Holland, Flanders and Germany, during the fifteenth century_, a painstaking and well-illustrated work in three folio volumes. The most recent and probably the final treatment of the subject is that by Dr. W. L. Schreiber, in Vol. IV of his _Manuel de l'Amateur de la Gravure sur bois et sur métal au xv^e siècle_, published in 1902 (facsimiles in Vols. VII and VIII, 1895-1900). Dr. Schreiber enumerates no fewer than thirty-three works as existing in the form of block-books, the number of extant issues and editions of them amounting to over one hundred. Here it must suffice to offer brief notes on some of the more important. _BIBLIA PAUPERUM_ A series of forty composite pictures, the central compartment in each representing a scene from the life of Christ, while on each side of it is an Old Testament type, and above and below are in each case two half-figures of prophets. The explanatory letterpress is given in the two upper corners and also on scrolls. Schreiber distinguishes ten issues and editions, in addition to an earlier German one of a less elaborate design and with manuscript text, which belongs to a different tradition. The earlier of these ten editions appear to have been made in the Netherlands. An edition with German text was published with the colophon, "Friederich walther Mauler zu Nördlingen vnd Hans Hurning habent dis buch mitt einender gemacht," and a second issue of this (without the colophon) is dated 1470. In the following year another edition, with copied cuts, was printed with the device of Hans Spoerer. _ARS MORIENDI_ Twenty-four leaves, two containing a preface, and the remaining twenty-two eleven pictures and eleven pages of explanatory letterpress facing them, showing the temptations to which the dying are exposed, and the good inspirations by which they may be resisted, and, lastly, the final agony. The early editions are ascribed to the Netherlands or district of the Rhine; the later to Germany. There are also editions with German text, one of them signed "hanns Sporer," and dated 1473. A set of engravings on copper by the Master E. S. (copied by the Master of S. Erasmus) may be either imitations or the originals of the earliest of these _Ars Moriendi_ designs. (See Lionel Cust's _The Master E. S. and the Ars Moriendi_.) The designs were imitated in numerous printed editions in various countries. In addition to a copy of the edition usually regarded as the earliest extant, the British Museum possesses one with the same characteristics, but of a much smaller size (the blocks measuring 137 by 100 mm. instead of 226 by 162), and from this, as much less known, a page is here given as an illustration. _CANTICA CANTICORUM_ Sixteen leaves, each containing two woodcuts, illustrating the Song of Songs as a parable of the Blessed Virgin. Produced in the Netherlands. _APOCALYPSIS SANCTI JOHANNIS_ Fifty leaves, or in some editions forty-eight, showing scenes from the life of S. John and illustrations of the Apocalypse, mostly with two pictures on each leaf. The early editions are assigned to the Netherlands, the later to Germany. A copy of the edition regarded as the fourth, lately sold by Herr Ludwig Rosenthal, bears a manuscript note, most probably as to the writer, just possibly as to the book, entering the household of the Landgrave Heinrich of Hesse in 1463. [Illustration: III. ARS MORIENDI, BLOCKBOOK, C. 1465 INSPIRATIO CONTRA VANAM GLORIAM] _SPECULUM HUMANAE SALUATIONIS_ Scenes from Bible history, arranged in pairs, within architectural borders, with explanatory text beneath. No complete xylographic, or block-printed, edition is known, but twenty leaves printed from blocks are found in conjunction with forty-four leaves printed from type, and have not unreasonably been held to prove the previous production of a complete block-printed edition now lost. In like manner, the fact that two different types are used in different parts of a Dutch printed edition has encouraged Dr. Hessels to believe that this "mixed edition" should be regarded as proving the production of two complete editions, one in each type. On this theory we have (1) a hypothetical Latin block-printed edition; (2-4) three Dutch editions, each printed in a different type; (5) a Latin edition, entirely printed from type; (6) a Latin edition, printed partly from type, partly from some of the blocks of No. 1. The copy of this "mixed Latin edition," as it is called, in the University Library at Munich, is dated in manuscript 1471, and the hypothetical complete block-printed edition may be as much earlier than this as any one pleases to imagine. But other bibliographers recognize only four editions and arrange them differently. _ANTICHRISTUS_ Thirty-eight leaves, with two pictures on each leaf, illustrating the Legends relating to the Coming of Antichrist, and the Fifteen Signs which were to precede the Last Judgment. The text is in German, and the block-book was executed in Germany, probably about 1470. _FRANCISCUS DE RETZA. DEFENSORIUM INVIOLATAE CASTITATIS VIRGINIS MARIAE_ Sixteen leaves, mostly with four pictures and four pieces of explanatory letterpress on each leaf, concerning marvels in the natural world which were supposed to be equally wonderful with that of the Virgin Birth, and therefore to render faith in this easier. Unfortunately the marvels are so very marvellous that they do not inspire belief, e.g. one story relates how the sun one day drew up the moisture from the earth with such rapidity that an ox was drawn up with it and subsequently deposited out of a cloud in another field. One edition was issued by a certain F. W. in 1470, another at Ratisbon by Johann Eysenhut the following year. _JOHANN MÜLLER (JOHANNES REGIOMONTANUS). KALENDER_ Thirty-two leaves, containing lunar tables, tables of the eclipses for fifty-six years (1475-1530), other astronomical information, and a figure of the human body with notes of the signs of the zodiac by which it was influenced. Composed by the famous astronomer, Johann Müller, and sold by Hans Briefftruck, probably Hans Spoerer, about 1474-5, at Nuremberg and elsewhere. _JOHANN HARTLIEB. DIE KUNST CHIROMANTIA_ Forty-four figures of hands, with a titlepage and page of text and a printed wrapper. Early issues are printed on one side of the paper only, later on both. The printer appears to have been Jorg Schaff, of Augsburg, and the date of issue about 1475. The date 1448 found in the book is that of composition, and it probably circulated in manuscript for many years before being printed. _MIRABILIA ROMAE_ A German guide-book for visitors to Rome. Ninety-two leaves, printed with black ink on both sides of the leaf, with only a few illustrations. It was perhaps first published to meet the rush of German pilgrims to Rome at the Jubilee of Pope Sixtus IV, 1475. The blocks were probably cut in Germany, and the printing done at Rome. Some of the ornaments are said to have been used in type-printed editions by Stephan Plannck. This suggests that the book may have been published by his predecessor, Ulrich Han. * * * * * In addition to these block-books of Low Country and German origin, mention must also be made of a very curious Italian one, a _Passio domini nostri Jesu Christi_, fully described by the Prince d'Essling. The copy of this at Berlin contains eighteen leaves, and was probably executed at Venice about the middle of the fifteenth century. Some of the blocks were subsequently used (after a scroll at the foot had been cut off) for an edition of the _Devote Meditatione sopra la Passione del Nostro Signore_ (attributed to S. Bonaventura), published at Venice in 1487 by Jeronimo di Sancti e Cornelio suo Compagno, and a page from this is reproduced as a frontispiece to our chapter on Italian Illustrated Books. Mention has already been made of the _Opera nova contemplativa_, an adaptation of the _Biblia Pauperum_, printed as a block-book at Venice about 1530. The only extant French block-book, if it can be called one, is that of the "Nine Worthies" (_Les Neuf Preux_). This consists of three sheets, the first showing three heathen worthies--Hector, Alexander, and Julius Cæsar; the second, three from the Old Testament--Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabæus; the third, three from medieval romance--Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Boulogne. Under each picture are six lines of verse. These three triple woodcuts, with the woodcut text, are assigned to about 1455. No English block-book has yet been discovered, nor is it in the least likely that one ever existed, though there are a few single woodcuts. * * * * * Block-books possess two permanent attractions in addition to their supposed historical importance in the development of the invention of printing on which doubt is now cast--the attraction of popular literature and the attraction of the illustrated book. As we have seen, it would not have been worth any one's while to cause a block-book to be laboriously engraved, or cut, unless a large and speedy sale could be expected for it. The most famous block-books are nearly all of a religious character, and they prove a widespread desire for simple instruction as to the incidents of the life of Christ and the events in the Old Testament history which were regarded as prefigurements of them, as to the dignity of the Blessed Virgin and the doctrine of the Virgin Birth, as to the end of the world and the coming of Antichrist, and as to the spiritual dangers and temptations of the dying and the means by which they might be resisted. As early specimens of book-illustration the value of the block-books varies very greatly. The majority of them are more curious than beautiful, but the pictures of the _Cantica Canticorum_, the _Speculum Humanae Saluationis_, and the _Ars Moriendi_ have all very great merit. The tall, slender figures in the Song of Songs have a charm as great as any Dutch book-illustrations of the fifteenth century; the cuts of the _Speculum_ are full of vigour, while the serene dignity of the scenes in the _Ars Moriendi_ illustrating the Inspirations of the Good Angel is as impressive as the grotesque force used in depicting the diabolic suggestions. If we must grant, as the weight of authority now bids us, that these woodcuts are copies from the copper engravings of the Master E. S., it can hardly be disputed that the wood-cutter was the better artist of the two. The block-books are a striking example of the difficulty of gleaning where the earlier collectors have reaped, a difficulty to which we shall often have to call attention. They vary greatly in positive rarity. Of the _Biblia Pauperum_ and _Ars Moriendi_, which in their different issues and editions enjoyed the longest life and early attracted attention, Dr. Schreiber (if I have counted rightly) was able to enumerate in the one case as many as eighty-three copies--many of them, it is true, mere fragments--in the other sixty-one. Of the _Apocalypse_ fifty-seven copies were known to him, of the _Speculum_ twenty-nine, of the _Antichrist_ thirteen, of the _Defensorium_ twelve, and of the _Mirabilia Romae_ six. But of these 261 copies and fragments no fewer than 223 are recorded as being locked up in public libraries and museums, the ownership of thirteen was doubtful, and only twenty-five are definitely registered as being in the hands of private collectors, viz. of the _Apocalypse_, eight copies or fragments; of the _Biblia Pauperum_, six; of the _Speculum_ and _Ars Moriendi_, four each; of the _Defensorium_, two; and of the _Cantica Canticorum_, one. The chief owners known to Dr. Schreiber were the Earl of Pembroke, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, and Major Holford, to whom must now be added Mr. Pierpont Morgan and Mr. Perrins. No doubt the copies in public institutions are much more easily enumerated than those in private hands, and probably most of the untraced copies are owned by collectors. But when allowance has been made for this, it remains obvious that this is no field where an easy harvest can be reaped, and that the average collector may think himself lucky if he obtains one or two single leaves. The last great opportunity of acquiring such treasures was at the sale in 1872 of the wonderful collection formed by T. O. Weigel,[11] at which the British Museum bought a very fine copy of the first edition of the _Ars Moriendi_, the first edition, dated 1470, of the _Biblia Pauperum_, in German, a block-book illustrating the virtues of the hymn _Salve Regina_, and the compassion of the Blessed Virgin, printed at Regensburg about 1470, besides fragments and woodcut single sheets. The foundation of the Museum collection of block-books had been laid by George III, added to by Mr. Grenville, and completed by a series of purchases from 1838 to this final haul of 1872, since when there have been few opportunities for new acquisitions. It is now quite adequate for purposes of study, though not so rich as that of the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. FOOTNOTES: [3] The authenticity of a still earlier date, 1418, on a cut of the Blessed Virgin at Brussels is disputed. [4] The _Libro di M. Giovanbattista Palatino_, printed at Rome in 1548, is spoken of by Mr. Campbell Dodgson as a "belated specimen" of a block-book. But this was a writing-book, and hardly counts. [5] Numerous references in colophons show that the metal mostly used was brass, e.g. "_Primus in Adriaca formis impressit aenis Vrbe libros Spira genitus de stirpe Johannes_," and the use of Chalcographi as a name for printers. But there are one or two references to printing "_stanneis typis_," with types of tin. [6] Of the first book printed at Venice only 100 copies were struck off, but the number was trebled in the case of its immediate successors. At Rome Sweynheym and Pannartz mostly printed 275 copies, only in a few instances as many as 300. But at the end of the century Pynson was printing at least 600 copies of large books and as many as 1000 of small ones. [7] A very small third group, earlier than either of these, consists of woodcuts with manuscript text. The most important of these is a German _Biblia Pauperum_ quite distinct from those started in the Netherlands. [8] Some early woodcuts were printed by pressing the block down on the paper by hand; for the early block-books, however, the usual method seems to have been to press the paper on to the face of the block by rubbing it on the back with a burnisher. The paper was thus quite as strongly indented as if passed through a press, but the impression is usually less even. The friction on the back of the paper often gives it a polished appearance. As long as this method continued in use it was, of course, impossible to print on both sides of the paper. [9] It is possible that the earliest specimens of block-printing were intended not to be bound in books but to be pasted on walls. In the case of the _Biblia Pauperum_, for instance, the space between the two woodcuts placed on each sheet is so small in some issues that the sheets cannot be bound without concealing part of the pictures. [10] Different issues are distinguished by the signs of wear in the blocks, or occasionally by their being differently arranged, or with changes made in the blocks. In a different edition we have to deal with a new set of blocks. [11] Since this was written the interesting collection formed by Dr. Schreiber himself has been dispersed. CHAPTER III THE INVENTION OF PRINTING--HOLLAND Up to the year 1465 only one firm of printers evinced any appreciation of the uses of advertisement. In 1457 Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer, of Mainz, set their names at the end of the liturgical Psalter which they were issuing from their press, and stated also the date of its completion, "In vigilia Assumpcionis," on the vigil of the feast of the Assumption, i.e. August 14th. Save in the case of a few unimportant books this preference for publicity remained the settled practice of the firm until Peter Schoeffer's death early in the sixteenth century, and later still when it was in the hands of his son Johann. With other printers at first the tendency was all the other way. Albrecht Pfister placed his name in one or two of the handful of popular illustrated books which he printed at Bamberg about 1461. No other book before 1465 contains its printer's name, and both at Strassburg and at Basel the practice of publishing anonymously continued in fashion throughout the 'seventies--in Strassburg, indeed, for the best part of another decade. [Illustration: IV. EARLY DUTCH PRESS ALEXANDER GALLES, DOCTRINALE (3^a)] While printing continued mainly anonymous chroniclers took no note of it, but in the ten years which began in 1465 the progress of the art was rapid and triumphant. Printers, mostly Germans, invaded the chief cities of Europe, and boasted in their books of having been the first to practise it in this place or that. Curiosity as to the beginnings of the invention was thus aroused, and from 1470 onwards we meet with numerous attempts, not always accurate, to satisfy it. The earliest of these attempts is in a letter from Guillaume Fichet, a Professor at the Sorbonne, who was mainly responsible for bringing the first printers to Paris, to his friend Robert Gaguin. This is contained in one copy of the second Paris book, the _Orthographia_ of Gasparinus Barzizius, printed in 1470, Fichet having a fondness for giving individuality to special copies by additions of this kind. In this letter he speaks of the great light which he thinks learning will receive from the new kind of bookmen whom Germany, like another Trojan Horse, has poured forth. Ferunt enim illic, haut procul a ciuitate Maguncia, Ioannem quendam fuisse cui cognomen bonemontano, qui primus omnium impressoriam artem excogitauerit, qua non calamo (ut prisci quidem illi) neque penna (ut nos fingimus) sed æreis litteris libri finguntur, et quidem expedite, polite et pulchre. Dignus sane hic uir fuit quem omnes musæ, omnes artes, omnesque eorum linguæ qui libris delectantur, diuinis laudibus ornent, eoque magis dis deabusque anteponant, quo propius ac presentius litteris ipsis ac studiosis hominibus suffragium tulit. Si quidem deificantur Liber et alma Ceres, ille quippe dona Liei inuenit poculaque inuentis acheloia miscuit uuis, hæc chaoniam pingui glandem mutauit arista. Atque (ut poeta utamur altero) prima Ceres unco glebam dimouit aratro, prima dedit fruges alimenta mitia terris. At bonemontanus ille, longe gratiora diuinioraque inuenit, quippe qui litteras eiusmodi exculpsit, quibus quidquid dici, aut cogitari potest, propediem scribi ac transcribi & posteritatis mandari memoriæ possit. The good Fichet is absurdly rhetorical, but here in 1470 is a quite clear statement that, according to report, there (i.e. in Germany), not far from[12] the city of Mainz, a certain John, surnamed Gutenberg, first of all men thought out the printing art, by which books are fashioned not with a reed or pen, but with letters of brass, and thus deserved better of mankind than either Bacchus or Ceres, since by his invention whatever can be said or thought can forthwith be written and transcribed and handed down to posterity. Four years later in his continuation of the _Chronica Summorum Pontificum_, begun by Riccobaldus, Joannes Philippi de Lignamine, the physician of Pope Sixtus IV, who had set up a press of his own at Rome, wrote as one of the events of the pontificate of Pius II (1458-64), how "Jakob Gutenberg, a native of Strassburg, and a certain other whose name was Fust, being skilled in printing letters on parchment with metal forms, are known each of them to be turning out three hundred sheets a day at Mainz, a city of Germany, and Johann Mentelin also, at Strassburg, a city of the same province, being skilled in the same craft, is known to be printing daily the same number of sheets."[13] A little later De Lignamine records the arrival at Rome of Sweynheym and Pannartz, and also of Ulrich Han, and credits them also with printing three hundred sheets a day. Other references follow in later books without adding to our knowledge, save by proving the widespread recognition in the fifteenth century that printing was invented at Mainz; but there is nothing specially to detain us until the publication by Johann Koelhoff in 1499 of the Cologne Chronicle--_Die Cronica van der hilliger Stat Coellen_--in which occurs a famous passage about printing, which may be translated or paraphrased as follows:-- "This right worthy art was invented first of all in Germany, at Mainz, on the Rhine. And that is a great honour to the German nation that such ingenious men are found there. This happened in the year of our Lord 1440, and from that time until 1450 the art and all that pertains to it was investigated, and in 1450, which was a Golden Year, men began to print, and the first book that was printed was the Bible in Latin, and this was printed with a letter as large as that now used in missals. "Although this art was invented at Mainz, as far as regards the manner in which it is now commonly used, yet the first prefiguration (Vurbyldung) was invented in Holland from the Donatuses which were printed there before that time. And from and out of these the aforesaid art took its beginning, and was invented in a manner much more masterly and subtler than this, and the longer it lasted the more full of art it became. "A certain Omnibonus wrote in the preface to a Quintilian, and also in other books, that a Walloon from France, called Nicolaus Jenson, was the first inventor of this masterly art--a notorious lie, for there are men still alive who bear witness that books were printed at Venice before the aforesaid Nicolaus Jenson came there, and began to cut and make ready his letter. But the first inventor of printing was a Burgher at Mainz, and was born at Strassburg, and called Yunker Johann Gutenberg. "From Mainz the art came first of all to Cologne, after that to Strassburg, and after that to Venice. The beginning and progress of the art were told me by word of mouth by the Worshipful Master Ulrich Zell of Hanau, printer at Cologne in this present year 1499, through whom the art came to Cologne."[14] Zell, or his interviewer, ignores the books printed anonymously at Strassburg by Mentelin and Eggestein, and also the handful printed by Albrecht Pfister at Bamberg; he also is misled by Gutenberg's long residence at Strassburg into calling him a native of that city; in other respects, so far as we are able to check this account, it is quite accurate. It tells us emphatically that "this right worthy art was invented first of all in Germany, at Mainz, on the Rhine"; and again, that "the first inventor of printing was a Burgher at Mainz named Junker Johann 'Gudenburch'"; but between these two unqualified statements is sandwiched a reference to a prefiguration which took shape in Holland in _Donatuses_, printed there before the Mainz presses were at work, and much less masterly and subtle than the books which they produced. He connects no name with this "Vorbildung," and, unhappily, he gives no clue as to how it foreshadowed, and was yet distinct from, the real invention. Sixty-nine years[15] after the appearance of this carefully balanced statement, the facts as to Dutch "prefigurations" which had inspired it moved a Dutch chronicler, Hadrianus Junius, in compiling his _Batavia_ (not published till 1588), to write the well-known passage as to the invention of printing, which has been summarized as follows:-- There lived, about 1440, at Haarlem, in the market-place opposite the Town Hall, in a respectable house still in existence, a man named Lourens Janszoon Coster, i.e. Laurence, son of John Coster. The family name was derived from the hereditary office of Sacristan, or Coster of the Church--a post both honourable and lucrative. The town archives give evidence of this, his name appearing therein many times, and in the Town Hall are preserved his seal and signature to various documents. To this man belongs the honour of inventing Printing, an honour of which he was unjustly robbed, and which afterwards was ascribed to another. The said Laurence Coster, one day after dinner, took a walk in the wood near Haarlem. While there, to amuse himself, he began to cut letters out of some beech-bark. The idea struck him to ink some of these letters and use them as stamps. This he did to amuse his grandchildren, cutting them in reverse. He thus formed two or three sentences on paper. The idea germinated, and soon with the help of his son-in-law, and by using a thick ink, he began to print whole pages, and to add lines of print to the block-books, the text of which was the most difficult part to engrave. Junius had seen such a book, called _Spieghel onzer Behoudenisse_. It should have been said that Coster was descended from the noble house of Brederode, and that his son-in-law was also of noble descent. Coster's first efforts were of course very rude, and to hide the impression of the letters on the back, they pasted the leaves, which had one side not printed, together. His letters at first were made of lead, which he afterwards changed for tin. Upon his death these letters were melted down and made into wine-pots, which at the time that Junius wrote were still preserved in the house of Gerrit Thomaszoon, the grandson of Coster. Public curiosity was greatly excited by Coster's discovery, and he gained much profit from his new process. His trade, indeed, so increased that he was obliged to employ several workmen, one of whom was named John. Some say this was John Faust, afterwards a partner with Gutenberg, and others say he was Gutenberg's brother. This man when he had learnt the art in all its branches, took the opportunity one Christmas eve, when all good people are accustomed to attend Church, to break into the rooms used for printing, and to pack up and steal all the tools and appliances which his master, with so much care and ingenuity, had made. He went off by Amsterdam and Cologne to Mainz, where he at once opened a workshop and reaped rich fruit from this theft, producing several printed books. The accuracy of this story was attested by a respectable bookbinder, of great age but clear memory, named Cornelis who had been a fellow-servant with the culprit in the house of Coster, and indeed had occupied the same bed for several months, and who could never talk of such baseness without shedding tears and cursing the thief. Written nearly a hundred and thirty years after the supposed events which it narrates, this story is damned by its circumstantiality. It is thus that legends grow, and it is not difficult to imagine Haarlem bookmen picking up ideas out of colophons in old books and asking the "respectable bookbinder of great age" whether it was not thus and thus that things happened. Many of the details of the story are demonstrably false; its one strong point is the bookbinder, Cornelis, for a binder of this name is said to have been employed as early as 1474 and as late as 1514 to bind the account-books of Haarlem Cathedral, and in the two years named, and also in 1476, to have strengthened his bindings by pasting inside them fragments of _Donatuses_ printed on vellum in the type of the _Speculum Humanae Saluationis_. The fragment in the account-book for 1474 is rubricated, and must thus either have been sold or prepared for selling, i.e. it is not "printer's waste," but may have been bought by Cornelis for lining his covers in the ordinary way of trade. But we have here a possible link between Zell's story of early Dutch _Donatuses_ and the story of Junius about Coster and his servant Cornelis, since we find fragments of a _Donatus_ in the possession of this particular man. There were plenty of such _Donatuses_ in existence in the Netherlands about 1470. In 1887 Dr. Hessels, in his _Haarlem the Birthplace of Printing, not Mentz_, enumerated fragments of twenty different editions, printed in eight types, of which the type used in the _Speculum Humanae Saluationis_ (see p. 26) is one, while the other seven are linked to it, or to each other, in such a way that we may either suppose them to have all belonged to the same printer, or distribute them among two or more anonymous firms. Besides these twenty editions of _Donatus_ on the Eight Parts of Speech, Dr. Hessels enumerated eight editions of the _Doctrinale_ of Alexander Gallus[16] (another school book popular in the fifteenth century), three of the Distichs of Dionysius Cato (the work from which Dame Pertelote quoted to convince Chantecleer of the futility of dreams), and one or two editions each of a few other works, the _Facetiae Morales_ of Laurentius Valla (twenty-four leaves), the _Singularia Juris_ of Ludovicus Pontanus, with a treatise of Pope Pius II (sixty leaves), and the _De Salute Corporis_ of Gulielmus de Saliceto with other small works (twenty-four leaves). These latter books offer no very noticeable features; some of the _Donatus_ fragments, on the other hand, have printing only on one side of the leaf (whence they are called by the barbarous term "anopisthographic," "not printed on the back") and have a very rude and primitive appearance. This may have been caused in part at least by their having been pasted down, and possibly scraped, by binders, for almost all of them have been found in bindings; but it counts for something. Not one of the books or fragments of which we have been speaking makes any mention of its printer, or of the place or date at which it was produced. A copy of one of the later books, the _De Salute Corporis_ of Gulielmus de Saliceto, was purchased by Conrad du Moulin while abbot of the Convent of S. James at Lille, a dignity which he held from 1471 to 1474. The earliest Haarlem account-book which contained _Donatus_ fragments was for the year 1474. It is entirely a matter of opinion as to how much earlier than this any of the extant fragments can be dated. There is no reason why some of them should not be later. As to the place or places at which these books were printed, there is no evidence of any weight. But, as has been already said, the whole series can be closely or loosely connected with the types used in editions of the _Speculum Humanae Saluationis_, and in 1481 Jan Veldener, a wandering printer, while working at Utrecht, introduced into an edition of the Epistles and Gospels in Dutch two woodcuts, each of which was a half of one of the double pictures in the _Speculum_. Two years later, when at Kuilenburg, he printed a quarto edition of the _Speculum_ itself (Dutch version), in which he used a large number of the original _Speculum_ blocks, all cut up into halves, so as to fit a small page. As Veldener (as far as we know) used the _Speculum_ blocks first at Utrecht, it is supposed that it was at Utrecht that he obtained them. If the blocks were for sale at Utrecht, this may have been the place at which the earlier editions of the _Speculum_ were issued, and thus, in the absence of any evidence which they were willing to recognize in favour of any other place, Henry Bradshaw and his disciples attributed the whole series of editions of the _Speculum_, _Donatus_, _Doctrinale_, etc., to Utrecht, about, or "not after," 1471-1474. Bradshaw himself clearly indicated that this attribution was purely provisional. He felt "compelled to leave" the books at Utrecht, so he phrased it, i.e. the presumption that Veldener found the blocks of the _Speculum_ there constituted a grain of evidence in favour of Utrecht; and if a balance is sufficiently sensitive and both scales are empty, a grain thrown into one will suffice to weigh it down. It would have been better, in the present writer's opinion, if the grain had been disregarded, and no attempt made to assign these books and fragments to any particular place. As it is, Bradshaw's attribution of them to Utrecht has been repeated without any emphasis on its entirely provisional character, even without any mention of this at all, and perhaps with a certain humorous enjoyment of the chance of prejudicing the claims of Haarlem by an unusually rigorous application of the rules as to bibliographical evidence. In the eyes of Dr. Hessels, on the other hand, the legend narrated by Junius offers a sufficient reason for assigning all these books to Haarlem, and to Lourens Janszoon Coster as their printer. Dr. Hessels was even ill-advised enough to point out that, as there are twenty editions of _Donatus_ in this group of types, we have only to allow an interval of a year and a half between each to take back the earliest very close to 1440, the traditional date of the invention of printing. This is perfectly true, but as no reason can be assigned for fixing on this particular interval the value of such a calculation is very slight. One result of all this controversy is that the whole series of books and fragments have been dubbed "Costeriana," and the convenience of having a general name for them is so great that it has been generally adopted, even by those who have no belief in the theory which it implies. All that is known of Lourens Janszoon Coster is that he resided at Haarlem from 1436 to 1483, and that contemporary references show him to have been a chandler and innkeeper, without making any mention of his having added printing to his other occupations. It is difficult to claim more for the story told by Junius than that it represents an unknown quantity of fact with various legendary additions. It is difficult to dismiss it as less than a legend which must have had some element of fact as its basis. In so far as it goes beyond the statements of the Cologne Chronicle, it is supported only by the evidence that Coster and the venerable bookbinder Cornelis existed, and that the latter bound the account-books of Haarlem Cathedral. But no indiscretion of Hadrianus Junius writing in 1568 can affect the credit of the statements made in the Cologne Chronicle in 1499 on the authority of Ulrich Zell, and we have now to mention an important piece of evidence in favour of Zell's accuracy. This is the entry in the diaries of Jean de Robert, Abbot of Saint Aubert, Cambrai, of the purchase in 1446 and again in 1451 of a copy of the _Doctrinale_ of Alexander Gallus, _jeté en moule_, a phrase which, while far from satisfactory as a description of a book printed from movable type, cannot possibly refer to editions printed from woodblocks, even if these existed. The _Doctrinale_, which was in verse, was a less popular school-book than the _Donatus_. It is significant that among the so-called "Costeriana" there are eight editions of the one against twenty of the other. Where the _Doctrinale_ was used we may be sure that the _Donatus_ would be used also, and in greater numbers, so that this mention of a "mould-casted" _Doctrinale_ as purchased as early as 1446 is a real confirmation of Zell's assertion. We have no sufficient ground for believing that any of the fragments, either of the one book or the other, now in existence were produced as early as this. It is of the nature of school-books to be destroyed, and every improvement in the process of production would help to drive the earlier experiments out of existence. But taking Zell's statement and the entries in the Abbot's diaries together, it seems impossible to deny that there is evidence of some kind of printing being practised in Holland not long after 1440. An ingenious theory as to the form which these "prefigurements" may have taken has lately been suggested, viz. that the earliest types may have consisted simply of flat pieces of metal, without any shanks to them, and that they were "set up" by being glued upon wood or stiff paper in the order required. They would thus be movable, but with a very low degree of movability, so that we can easily understand why short books like the _Donatus_ and _Doctrinale_ were continually reprinted without any attempt being made to produce a large work such as the Bible. It is curious, however, that in the description of a "ciripagus" by Paulus Paulirinus, of Prag,[17] "we have a reference" to a Bible having been printed at Bamberg "super lamellas," a phrase which might very well refer to types of this kind, though the sentence is usually explained as referring to either the Latin or German edition of the _Biblia Pauperum_ issued by Albrecht Pfister. I think it just possible myself that the reference is really to the Latin Bible known as the Thirty-six Line Bible, which seems certainly to have been sold, if not printed, at Bamberg a little before 1460, and that Paulirinus, having seen books printed "super lamellas," supposed (wrongly) that this was printed in that way. But the statement that it was printed in four weeks is against this. Whether the Dutch "Vorbildung" of the Art of Printing subsequently invented at Mainz took the form of experiments with shankless types, or fell short of the fully developed art in some other way, does not greatly concern the collector. It is in the highest degree improbable that the claim put forward on behalf of the so-called "Costeriana" will ever be decisively proved or disproved. They are likely to remain as perpetual pretenders, and as such will always retain a certain interest, and a specimen of them always be a desirable addition to any collection which aims at illustrating the history of the invention of printing. Such a specimen will not be easy to procure, because many of the extant fragments have been found in public libraries, more especially the Royal Library at the Hague, and have never left their first homes. On the other hand, the number of fragments known has been considerably increased by new finds. Thus there is no reason to regard a specimen as unattainable. FOOTNOTES: [12] Dr. Hessels supposes that this phrase indicates the Monastery of Saint Victor, outside Mainz, with which Gutenberg was connected, and that the "report," therefore, can be traced to Gutenberg himself. If so, we have the very important fact that Gutenberg himself claimed to be the inventor. [13] Iacobus cognomento Gutenbergo: patria Argentinus, & quidam alter cui nomen Fustus, imprimendarum litterarum in membranis cum metallicis formis periti, trecentas cartas quisque eorum per diem facere innotescunt apud Maguntiam Germanie ciuitatem. Iohannes quoque Mentelinus nuncupatus apud Argentinam eiusdem prouincie ciuitatem: ac in eodem artificio peritus totidem cartas per diem imprimere agnoscitur.... Conradus Suueynem: ac Arnoldus pannarcz Vdalricus Gallus parte ex alia Teuthones librarii insignes Romam uenientes primi imprimendorum librorum artem in Italiam introduxere trecentas cartas per diem imprimentes. [14] Item dese hoichwyrdige kunst vursz is vonden aller eyrst in Duytschlant tzo Mentz am Rijne. Ind dat is der duytschscher nacion eyn groisse eirlicheit dat sulche synrijche mynschen syn dae tzo vynden. Ind dat is geschiet by den iairen vns heren, anno domini. MCCCCxl. ind van der zijt an bis men schreue. l. wart vndersoicht die kunst ind wat dair zo gehoirt. Ind in den iairen vns heren do men schreyff. MCCCCl. do was eyn gulden iair, do began men tzo drucken ind was dat eyrste boich dat men druckde die Bybel zo latijn, ind wart gedruckt mit eynre grouer schrifft. as is die schrifft dae men nu Mysseboicher mit druckt. Item wiewail die kunst is vonden tzo Mentz, als vursz vp die wijse, als dan nu gemeynlich gebruicht wirt, so is doch die eyrste vurbyldung vonden in Hollant vyss den Donaten, die dae selffst vur der tzijt gedruckt syn. Ind van ind vyss den is genommen dat begynne der vursz kunst. ind is vill meysterlicher ind subtilicher vonden dan die selue manier was, vnd ye langer ye mere kunstlicher wurden. Item eynre genant Omnebonum der schrijfft in eynre vurrede vp dat boich Quintilianus genoempt. vnd ouch in anderen meir boicher, dat eyn Wale vyss Vranckrijch, genant Nicolaus genson haue alre eyrst dese meysterliche kunst vonden, mer dat is offenbairlich gelogen. want Sij syn noch jm leuen die dat getzuigen dat men boicher druckte tzo Venedige ee der vursz Nicolaus genson dar quame, dair he began schrifft zo snijden vnd bereyden. Mer der eyrste vynder der druckerye is gewest eyn Burger tzo Mentz. ind was geboren van Straiszburch. ind hiesch joncker Johan Gudenburch. Item van Mentz is die vursz kunst komen alre eyrst tzo Coellen. Dairnae tzo Straisburch, ind dairnae tzo Venedige. Dat begynne ind vortganck der vursz kunst hait myr muntlich vertzelt d' Eirsame man Meyster Vlrich tzell van Hanauwe. boich drucker zo Coellen noch zertzijt. anno. MCCCCxcix. durch den die kunst vursz is zo Coellen komen. [15] The first trace of the legend is in a reference to Coster as having "brought the first print into the world in 1446" in a manuscript pedigree of the Coster family compiled about 1559. [16] A page from a fragment of one of these in the British Museum forms the frontispiece to this chapter (Plate IV). [17] Et tempore mei Pambergæ quidam scripsit integrum Bibliam super lamellas, et in quatuor septimanis totam Bibliam super pargameno subtili presignavit scriptura. CHAPTER IV THE INVENTION OF PRINTING--MAINZ No contrast could be much greater than that between the so-called "Costeriana" and the incunabula printed at Mainz. Annually as a small boy I used to be taken to the Crystal Palace, and there a recognized part of the programme in each visit was to spend half an hour in solemnly pedalling backwards and forwards on a semicircular track on a machine miscalled a velocipede. Perhaps these clumsy toys really constituted a definite stage in the invention and perfection of the modern bicycle. On the other hand, whatever may be the historical facts, there is no reason in the nature of things why the modern bicycle should not have been invented quite independently of them. The relative positions of Holland and Germany as regards the invention of printing are very analogous to those of the old velocipede and the bicycle. Even if it could be proved decisively that some Dutch fragment of a _Donatus_ was earlier than any experiment made at Mainz or Strassburg, it was at Mainz that the possibility was first demonstrated of producing by print books as beautiful as any written by the scribes, and it was from Germany, not from Holland, that printers carried the art which they had proved to be practicable to all parts of Europe, including Holland itself. [Illustration: V. MAINZ, FUST AND SCHOEFFER, 1459 DURANTI, RATIONALE DIVINORUM OFFICIORUM (1^a)] In the development of the art of printing at Mainz three men had a share, though the precise part which each of them played is matter of conjecture rather than knowledge. The first of the three was Johann Gutenberg, the Johannes Bonemontanus whom Fichet, as early as 1470, acclaimed as the first of all men to think out the printing art, whom the popular verdict has recognized as the inventor, and whom patriotic German bibliographers delight to invest with every virtue that distinguishes themselves. Gutenberg's real name was Gänsfleisch, Gutenberg being an addition to his mother's surname[18] which he assumed for reasons not known to us. He was born about 1400, and just when he attained manhood his family, which belonged to the patrician party at Mainz, was banished and sought refuge at Strassburg. At Strassburg Gutenberg remained till about 1446, and legal and municipal records, so far as we can trust to their authenticity, offer us some tantalizing glimpses of his career there. When the town clerk of Strassburg came to Mainz the exile caused him to be arrested for a debt due to his family, and the matter had to be arranged to avoid a quarrel between the two cities. On the other hand, Gutenberg was himself called to account for unpaid duties on wine, and was sued for a breach of promise of marriage. In 1437 he was the defendant in a much more interesting trial. He had admitted two partners to work an invention with him, and on one of these partners dying his brother claimed, unsuccessfully, to take his place in the partnership. The use of the words "presse," "forme," and "trucken" in connection with this invention leaves it hardly open to doubt that it was concerned with some kind of printing, and loans which Gutenberg negotiated in 1441 and 1442 were presumably raised for the development of this. About the middle of the decade he returned to Mainz and there also borrowed money, presumably again for the same object. At this point we are confronted with five fragmentary pieces of printing, all but one of them only recently discovered. The latest of these, according to German bibliographers, is a fragment of an astronomical Calendar in German verse for an unspecified year, which might be 1429, 1448, or 1467, but does not exactly fit any of them; the earliest is part of a leaf of a _Sibyllenbuch_ (originally known as _Das Weltgericht_, because the text of this fragment deals with the Last Judgment). Between these two are placed fragments of three editions of _Donatus, De octo partibus orationis_, two found recently in copies of an edition of Herolt's _Sermones de tempore et sanctis_ printed at Strassburg[19] by Martin Flach in 1488 and now at Berlin, the third one of the minor treasures of the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, where it has lain for over a century. Granting that the Calendar was printed for use in 1448 (it has been argued, on the other hand, that its mention of movable festivals was intended to be only approximate), and that the other four pieces can be proved by typographical evidence to have preceded it, we may suppose the _Sibyllenbuch_ to have been printed by Gutenberg shortly after his return to Mainz, i.e. about 1445, or shortly before this at Strassburg. Soon after the supposed date of the Calendar the second of the three protagonists in the development of printing at Mainz comes on the scene. This was Johann Fust, a goldsmith, who in or about August, 1450, lent Gutenberg eight hundred guilders to enable him to print books, himself, nominally or truly, borrowing the money from another capitalist, and thereby gaining the right to charge interest on it without breaking the canon law. By about December, 1452, the loan was exhausted, and Fust made a fresh advance of the same amount. The inner history of the next four years is hid from us, and the undisputed facts which belong to them have consequently been interpreted in every variety of way that human ingenuity can devise. These facts are that-- (i) Printing was continued with the fount of type used for the Calendar attributed to 1448, fragments of more than a dozen different editions of _Donatus_ printed with it being still extant, also a prognostication, _Manung widder die Durken_, printed in December, 1454, a Bull of Pope Calixtus "widder die Turcken" of 1456, a medical Calendar for 1456, and an undated _Cisianus_, another work of an astronomical character. (ii) When the pardoners employed by the proctor-general of the King of Cyprus came to Mainz in the autumn of 1454 to raise money by means of a papal Indulgence, valid till 30 April of the following year, they were able to substitute two typographically distinct editions for the manuscript copies which they had previously used, the text of each of these Indulgences being printed in a separate fount of beautifully clear small type, while a larger type was used for a few words. In one of these Indulgences the larger type belongs, with some differences, to the same fount as the books named in our last paragraph. This Indulgence has thirty-one lines, and four issues of it have been distinguished, three of them dated 1454 (the earliest of these being the earliest dated piece of printing) and the fourth 1455. In the other Indulgence there are only thirty lines, the large type is neater, and three issues have been distinguished, one dated 1454, the other two 1455. (iii) In November, 1455, an action brought by Fust to recover the 1600 guilders which he had lent Gutenberg, with the arrears of interest, reached its final stage. In this suit the third of the Mainz protagonists, Peter Schoeffer, was a witness on the side of Fust, and we hear also, as servants of Gutenberg, of Heinrich Keffer and Bertolf von Hanau, who may apparently be identified with printers who worked subsequently at Nuremberg and Basel. The document which has come down to us and is now preserved at the University Library at Göttingen is that recording the oath taken by Fust, as the successful plaintiff, in order to obtain judgment for the amount of his claim. (iv) In August, 1456, Heinrich Cremer, vicar of the collegiate church at Mainz, recorded his completion of the rubrication and binding of a magnificent printed Bible in two volumes, now preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, the type of which used to be thought identical with the larger type of the thirty-line Indulgence mentioned above, but is now considered to be only closely similar. For this last undoubted date of rubrication, August, 1456, German bibliographers have lately substituted a reference to a manuscript date, 1453, in another copy of this printed Bible, now preserved in the Buchgewerbe-Museum at Leipzig, formerly owned by a well-known German collector of the last century, Herr Klemm. While, however, this date appears to have been written at a period approximating to that of the production of the book, its relevance as evidence of the date of printing is highly disputable, more especially as there appear to be signs of erasure near it. Its owner, Herr Klemm, preserved a discreet silence as to its existence, and it is certainly not obligatory at present to accept it as valid evidence. In a work which does not pretend to the dignity of a history of printing it is impossible to discuss, or even to enumerate, the different theories as to the events of the years 1453-6, which have been formulated to account for these facts. The edition of the Bible of which Heinrich Cremer rubricated the copy now at Paris is so fine a book and so great a landmark in typographical history, that the desire to regard it as the production of the man who is credited with the invention of printing, Johann Gutenberg, easily becomes irresistible. To refuse to call it the Gutenberg Bible may, indeed, appear almost pedantic, though its old name, the "Mazarine Bible," which it gained from the accident of the copy in the Mazarine Library at Paris being the first to attract attention, still survives, and it is also known among bibliographers as the "Forty-two Line Bible," a safe uncontroversial title based on the number of lines in most of its columns. Whoever printed it appears to have been possessed of ample means and to have been a master of detail and an excellent organizer. Under the minute examination to which it has been subjected the book has yielded up some of its secrets, and we know that it was printed simultaneously on six different presses, that the body of the type was twice reduced, forty-two lines finally occupying slightly less space than the forty which had at first formed a column, that after the printing had begun it was resolved to increase the size of the edition, and that there is some reason to think that eventually a hundred and fifty copies were printed on paper and thirty on vellum,[20] and that the paper was ordered in large quantities and not in small parcels as it could be paid for. To the present writer it appears that if Gutenberg had possessed the financial means, the patience and the organizing power needed to push through this heavy piece of work in the way described, it is difficult to perceive any reason why the capitalist Fust should have quarrelled with him, or to imagine how Gutenberg exposed himself to such an action as that which Fust successfully carried against him. On the supposition that the Bible was completed in or soon after 1453 the difficulty becomes almost insuperable, for it is inconceivable that if Gutenberg had produced the book within a few months of receiving his second loan from Fust he should not, by the autumn of 1455, have paid his creditor a single guilder, either for principal or interest. After his quarrel with Fust, Gutenberg apparently had dealings with two other men, with Albrecht Pfister who is found in possession of a later casting of the heavier fount of type in which the Astrological Calendar attributed to 1448 had been printed, and with a Dr. Homery. He ended his days as a pensioner at the court of the Archbishop of Mainz, while Fust, with the aid of Peter Schoeffer, whom he made his son-in-law, developed a great business. The inventor who lacks organizing power and whose invention never thrives till it has passed into other hands is no unfamiliar figure, and such a conception of Gutenberg perhaps accords better with the known facts of his career than that of a living incarnation of heroism and business ability such as his German eulogists love to depict. According to a theory developed by the present writer in an article in _The Library_ for January, 1907 (Second Series, Vol. VIII), though no originality is claimed for it, the key to the situation lies in the assertion[21] made on behalf of Peter Schoeffer that his skill in engraving had enabled him to attain results denied to the two Johns, Johann Gutenberg and Johann Fust. According to this theory, it was Schoeffer who engraved the two founts of small type used in the two sets of Indulgences of 1454-5, and thus demonstrated that the new art could be applied to produce every kind of book and document which had previously circulated in manuscript. Fust gave him his daughter Christina in marriage, and Johann Schoeffer, the offspring of the alliance, distinctly tells us that this was in reward for his services. From the first, or almost the first, the firm adopted a policy of advertisement which other printers were slow to imitate, the partners giving their names in their earliest colophons and making no secret of the fact that they were using an "adinuentio artificiosa imprimendi ac caracterizandi" which enabled them to dispense with the pen. In 1460, in the _Catholicon_ of that year, the work of an anonymous printer to which we shall have to recur (see p. 51 _sqq._), the invention is distinctly claimed for Mainz, and from 1467 this claim was taken over by Peter Schoeffer, who in the colophons of his subsequent books again and again celebrated Mainz as the city singled out by divine favour to give the art to the world. The fact that for nearly forty years (1460-99) these statements remained unchallenged, and passed into the contemporary history of the time, is the strongest evidence in favour of the substantial invention of the art at Mainz that can be conceived. A single reference in 1499[22] to prefigurations of a humbler kind in _Donatuses_ printed in Holland and the presentation of a rival theory in 1568 cannot deprive of its due weight the evidence that during all the years when the facts were easily ascertainable judgment in favour of Mainz was allowed to go by default. But the Fust and Schoeffer colophons tell us more than this, for while they make no mention of Gutenberg they never claim the invention of printing as their own achievement. It is clear that Fust could not claim this himself, and while he was alive his son-in-law did not think fit to put forward, or allow to be put forward, any claim on his own behalf. It was only in 1468, when both Gutenberg and Fust were dead, that Schoeffer's "corrector," or reader, Magister Franciscus, was permitted to assert on his behalf, in the _Justinian_ of that year, that though two Johns had the better in the race he, like his namesake S. Peter, had entered first into the sepulchre, i.e. the inner mysteries of printing. The claim, thus irreverently put forward, is deprived of much of its weight by the moment at which it was made; nevertheless it can hardly have been baseless. The desire to credit Gutenberg with some really handsome and important piece of printing has caused his name to be connected with two other large folios, a Latin Bible, of thirty-six lines to a column, printed in a variety of the type used for the _Sibyllenbuch_ and the _Kalendar_ of "1448," and a Latin Dictionary known by the name _Catholicon_, the work of a thirteenth century writer, Joannes Balbus, of Genoa. The type of the Thirty-six Line Bible passed into the hands of Albrecht Pfister, of Bamberg, who printed a number of popular German books with it in 1461 and 1462. There is considerable evidence, moreover, that a large number of copies of the Bible itself were sold at Bamberg about 1460. The greater part of the text appears to have been set up from a copy of the Forty-two Line Bible. Where, when, and by whom it was printed we can only guess, but the place was more probably Bamberg than Mainz, and as the type is believed to have been originally Gutenberg's, and there is evidence that Pfister, when he began printing the popular books of 1461-2, was quite inexperienced, Gutenberg has certainly a better claim to have printed this volume than any one else who can be suggested. The Thirty-six Line Bible is a much rarer book than the Forty-two Line, but copies are known to exist at the British Museum, John Rylands Library, Bibliothèque Nationale, and Musée Plantin, and at Greifswald, Jena, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Vienna, and Wolfenbüttel. A copy is also said to be in private hands in Great Britain, but has not been registered. None has been sold in recent times. Besides the more complete copies mentioned above, various fragments have been preserved and some of these are on vellum. The vellum fragment of leaf 204 now in the British Museum was at one time used as a book-cover. The _Catholicon_ is printed in a small type, not very cleanly cut. It was issued without printer's name, but with a long colophon, which has been translated: By the help of the Most High, at Whose will the tongues of infants become eloquent, and who oft-times reveals to the lowly that which He hides from the wise, this noble book Catholicon, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1460, in the bounteous city of Mainz of the renowned German nation, which the clemency of God has deigned with so lofty a light of genius and free gift to prefer and render illustrious above all other nations of the earth, without help of reed, stilus, or pen, but by the wondrous agreement, proportion and harmony of punches and types has been printed and brought to an end. Upon this follow four Latin verses in honour of the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary and the words "Deo Gracias." We can imagine an inventor who, despite his invention, remained profoundly unsuccessful, writing the opening words of this colophon, and it is not easy to see their appropriateness to any one else. It is thus highly probable that Gutenberg set up this book and refused to follow Fust and Schoeffer in their advertising ways. He may even have had a special reason for this, for among the forty-one copies registered (almost all in great libraries) two groups may be distinguished, one embracing the copies on vellum and the majority of the paper copies, the other the rest of the paper copies. The groups are distinguished by various differences, of which the most important is that in the one case the workmen used four and in the other two pins to keep the paper in its place while being printed. An attractive explanation of all this would be that while Gutenberg set up the book and was allowed to print for himself a certain number of copies, there was a richer partner in the enterprise whose pressmen pulled the greater part of the edition. But Dr. Zedler, who has brought together all the available information about the book in his monograph _Das Mainzer Catholicon_, has a different explanation. In the same type as the _Catholicon_ are two small tracts of little interest, the _Summa de articulis fidei_ of Thomas Aquinas, and the _Dialogus_ of Matthaeus de Cracovia; also an Indulgence of Pope Pius II. In 1467 the type is found in the hands of Heinrich Bechtermünze at Eltvil, who died while printing a vocabulary. This was completed by his brother Nicholas, who also printed three later editions of it. During the years which precede 1457, Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer, the one a goldsmith, the other a clerk in minor orders of the diocese of Mainz, are involved in the obscurity and uncertainty which surround Gutenberg's career. Reasons have been offered for believing that it was Schoeffer who designed the small neat types used in the Mainz Indulgences of 1454-5, and that he with his skill and Fust with his money pushed the Forty-two Line Bible to a successful completion. If they printed this, they no doubt printed also a liturgical psalter in the same type, of which a fragment is preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. But we do not touch firm ground until we come to the famous Psalter of 1457, the colophon of which leaves us in no doubt as to its typographical authorship. This runs: Presens psalmorum[23] codex venustate capitalium decoratus Rubricationibusque sufficienter distinctus Adinuentione artificiosa imprimendi ac caracterizandi absque calami ulla exaracione sic effigiatus, Et ad eusebiam dei industrie est consummatus, Per Iohannem fust ciuem maguntinum, Et Petrum Schoffer de Gernszheim Anno domini Millesimo .cccc.lvij. In vigilia Assumpcionis. The present book of the Psalms, decorated with beautiful capitals and sufficiently marked out with rubrics, has been thus fashioned by an ingenious invention of printing and stamping without any ploughing of a pen, And to the worship of God has been diligently brought to completion by Johann Fust, a citizen of Mainz, and Peter Schoeffer of Gernsheim, in the year of the Lord, 1457, on the vigil of the Assumption. Thus in the Psalter of 1457 we have the first example of a book informing us when and by whom it was manufactured; it also illustrates in a very remarkable way the determination of the new partners to produce a volume which should fully rival the best shop-made manuscripts. The effort to print rubrics had already been made in the Forty-two Line Bible, but the red printing was abandoned in that instance as too troublesome. Now it was revived with complete success, and with the printed rubrics came also printed capitals or initial letters in two colours, red and blue, and several different sizes. A good discussion of the manner in which these were printed will be found in the _Catalogue of the Manuscripts and Printed Books exhibited at the Historical Music Loan Exhibition_ (1886) by Mr. W. H. J. Weale. In an article in the first volume of _Bibliographica_ Mr. Russell Martineau showed that part of the edition was printed twice. When Mr. Martineau wrote nine copies were known, all on vellum, viz. (i) five of an issue of 143 leaves containing the Psalms and Canticles only, these being at the British Museum, Royal Library Windsor, John Rylands Library, Bibliothèque Nationale Paris, and Royal Library Darmstadt; (ii) four of an issue of 175 leaves, containing also the Vigils of the Dead, these being at the Bibliothèque Nationale Paris, University Library Berlin, Royal Library Dresden, and Imperial Library Vienna. To these must now be added a copy of the larger issue, wanting five leaves, presented in 1465 by René d'Anjou to the Franciscans of La Baumette-les-Angiers and now in the municipal library at Angers. The distribution of the Psalms in this 1457 edition is that of the general "Roman use," but blank spaces were left for the insertion of the characteristic differences of the use of any particular diocese. Two years later (29 August, 1459) Fust and Schoeffer produced another Psalter, in the same types and with the same capitals, with twenty-three instead of twenty lines to a page. This was stated in the colophon to have been printed "ad laudem dei ac honorem sancti Jacobi," and was thus apparently commissioned by the Benedictine monastery of S. James at Mainz. Its arrangement is that generally in use at the time in German monasteries. Thirteen copies of this edition are preserved, all on vellum, viz. four in England (British Museum, Bodleian, John Rylands Library, and the Earl of Leicester's library at Holkham), two at Paris, one at the Hague, five in Germany, and one in Mr. Morgan's collection at New York. This last was bought by Mr. Quaritch at the sale of the library of Sir John Thorold for £4950. Between the production of these two Psalters Fust and Schoeffer printed in the same types on twelve leaves of vellum the Canon of the Mass only, obviously that it might be bought by churches which owned Missals otherwise in good condition, but with these much-fingered leaves badly worn. The unique copy of this edition of the Canon was discovered at the Bodleian Library in a Mainz Missal of 1493 and identified by Mr. Gordon Duff. It is described by Mr. Duff in his _Early Printed Books_, and by Dr. Falk and Herr Wallau in Part III of the Publications of the Gutenberg Gesellschaft, with facsimiles of ten pages. In October, 1459, Fust and Schoeffer took an important step forward by printing in small type the _Rationale Diuinorum Officiorum_ of Gulielmus Duranti, a large work explaining the meaning of the various services of the Church and the ceremonies used in them. The text is printed in double columns with sixty-three lines in each column, and the type measures 91 mm. to twenty lines. A copy at Munich is printed partly on paper, partly on vellum. All the other forty-two copies described by Mr. De Ricci are entirely on vellum. The book has also one large and two smaller capitals printed in two colours, and the first of these has been reproduced as a frontispiece to this chapter, together with a piece of the neat small type which, by demonstrating the possibility of cheap printing, set up a real landmark. In 1460 Fust and Schoeffer gave another proof of their skill in their edition of the _Constitutions_ of Pope Clement V with the commentary of Joannes Andreae. The text of the Constitutions is printed in two columns in the centre of each page in a type measuring 118 mm. to twenty lines, with the commentary completely surrounding it in the 91 type used in the _Duranti_. Headings and colophon are printed in red, and the general effect is extremely rich and handsome. All the fourteen copies known to Mr. De Ricci are printed on vellum. In 1461 printing was put to a new use by the publication of a series of eight placards (one in two editions) relative to the struggle between the rival archbishops of Mainz--a papal bull deposing Diether von Isenburg, the Emperor's confirmation of this, papal briefs as to the election of Adolf von Nassau, a petition of Diether's to the Pope, and the manifestos of the two archbishops. All these, and also a bull of the same year as to a crusade against the Turks, are printed in the neat 91 type, and though we may be struck by the difficulty of reading the long lines unrelieved by any headings, these publications must have been a great advertisement for the new art. In 1462 the archiepiscopal struggle led to Mainz being sacked, but on 14 August there was completed there perhaps the finest of all the early Bibles, printed throughout in the 118 type, with headings in red and numerous two-line capitals and chapter-numbers in red and blue, though spaces were left for others to be supplied by hand. Three different colophons to this book have been described, and examples of all of these are in the British Museum. Of the sixty-one extant copies registered by Mr. De Ricci at least thirty-six are printed on vellum. The Lamoignon copy bequeathed to the Museum by Mr. Cracherode has good painted capitals added by hand and is a singularly fine book. The Bible of 1462 marks the close of the great period of printing at Mainz. Whether six, seven, or nine years separate it from the Forty-two Line Bible the time had been splendidly employed. The capacity of the new art had been demonstrated to the full, and taken as a group these early Fust and Schoeffer incunabula have never on their own lines been surpassed. The disaster of the sack of Mainz and perhaps the financial strain involved in the production of the Bible almost reduced their press to silence until 1465, and it was during these years that their workmen are said to have left them and begun carrying the art into other towns and countries.[24] When the partners resumed active work in 1465 they struck out a new line in their _De Officiis_ and _Paradoxa_ of Cicero, but attained no special excellence in such small folios and quartos. Fust died about this time, and Schoeffer, left to himself, displayed no further originality. The Bible of 1472, save for the absence of printed capitals, is a close copy of that of 1462. The Clementine Constitutions of 1460 were reprinted, and similar editions were issued of the Institutes and Codex of Justinian, Decretals of Pope Gregory IX, etc. For his miscellaneous books Schoeffer seems rather to have followed the lead of other printers at Strassburg and Rome than to have set new fashions himself. In 1483 he printed a Breslau Missal, and this was followed by two reprints and editions for the use of Cracow, Meissen, Gnesen, and Mainz itself. He also printed the _Hortus Sanitatis_ in 1485, and in 1490 the first of several Psalters in the style of the editions of 1457 and 1459. In 1503 he was succeeded by his son Johann. About 1476-80 a few unimportant books were issued at Mainz by an anonymous printer known as the "Printer of the Darmstadt Prognostication," from the fact that the first copy of the Prognostication in question to attract notice was that in the Darmstadt library. The books of this press attained undeserved notoriety from the forged dates inserted in many of them about 1800, in order to connect them with Gutenberg. The work of three other printers, Johann Neumeister, Erhard Reuwich, and Jacob Meidenbach is chiefly important in the history of book-illustration, and will be found mentioned in Chapter VII. The only other Mainz printer in the fifteenth century was Peter von Friedberg, who is chiefly notable as having printed a little series of works by Johannes Trithemius (Tritheim or Trittenheim), the erudite Abbot of Spanheim. After about 1472 Mainz was easily surpassed as a centre of printing by Strassburg, Cologne, Augsburg, and Nuremberg. But if no book had been printed there after the sack of the city ten years earlier, its fame as long as civilization lasts would still be imperishable. FOOTNOTES: [18] Her maiden name was Elsa Wyrich, but she lived at the Hof zum Gutenberg at Mainz, and the name Gutenberg thus came into the family. [19] It will be noted that this connection with Strassburg offers just a grain of evidence in favour of the _Donatuses_ having been printed there rather than at Mainz. [20] According to the excellent _Catalogue raisonné des premières impressions de Mayence_ of Mr. Seymour de Ricci, eleven copies on vellum and thirty on paper can now be located, but some of these have only one of the two volumes. The vellum copy belonging to Mr. Robert Hoe sold in 1911 for $50,000. [21] In the verses by Magister Franciscus in the _Justinian_ of 1468, subsequently twice reprinted. [22] In the Cologne Chronicle. See _supra_, p. 34. [23] Misprinted _spalmorum_. [24] It seems reasonable to believe that Ulrich Zell, the first printer at Cologne, who was a clerk of the diocese of Mainz, and Sweynheym and Pannartz, who introduced printing into Italy, owed their training to Fust and Schoeffer. CHAPTER V OTHER INCUNABULA In August, 1462, the struggle between its rival Archbishops led to Mainz being sacked. Very little more printing was done there until 1465, and we need not doubt the tradition that journeymen trained by Gutenberg and Fust and Schoeffer, finding no work for them at Mainz, carried such experience as they had gained to other towns and countries, where they appear, after a few years spent in manufacturing presses and types, in all the glory of "prototypographers." But even before 1462 two other cities possessed the art--Bamberg and Strassburg. At Bamberg it was practised possibly by Gutenberg, who may have printed there the Thirty-six Line Bible about 1457, certainly by Albrecht Pfister, who is found in possession of the type of this Bible, and may himself have had copies for sale. The books he himself printed at Bamberg are nine in number,[25] and three or four bound volumes seem to have preserved all the remnants of them that we possess, and all of these have found their way to public libraries. The large and stately folios produced by the early Strassburg printers have naturally resisted the ravages of time better than the Bamberg popular books. Certainly clumsier than the contemporary Mainz books, they yet have a dignity and character of their own which command respect. The first Strassburg printer, Johann Mentelin, was at work there in or before 1460, and was helped during his life and succeeded after his death (1477) by his son-in-law, Adolf Rusch, who never put his name to a book, and most of whose impressions pass under the name of "the R-printer," from the peculiar form of that letter found in one of his types. Mentelin himself did not place his name at the end of a book till he had been at work more than a dozen years; Heinrich Eggestein, who began work about 1464, was equally reticent, and throughout the 'seventies and 'eighties a large proportion of the books printed at Strassburg were anonymous. Heinrich Knoblochtzer, who started about 1476, combines some of the charm of the earlier printers with greater literary interest and the attraction of illustrations and ornamental capitals and borders. Of him we shall have to speak in a later chapter. But after 1485 the bulk of Strassburg printing was dull and commercial. In the fifteenth century Basel was not yet, as it became in 1501, a member of the Swiss Confederacy, and typographically its relations with Mainz, Strassburg, Nuremberg and other German towns were very close. In what year printing began there is not known. There is no dated book from a Basel press until as late as 1474, but the date of purchase, 1468, in a book (S. Gregory's _Moralia in Job_), printed by Berthold Ruppel, of Hanau, takes us back six years, and it is possible that Ruppel was at work even before this. He is identified with reasonable certainty with one of the servants of Gutenberg mentioned in connection with the lawsuit ended in 1455, and he printed Latin Bibles and other large works such as appealed to the ambition of the German prototypographers. [Illustration: VI. COLOGNE, ULRICH ZELL, 1465-66 CICERO. DE OFFICIIS (7^b)] The second and more interesting Basel printer, Michael Wenssler, seems to have taken Schoeffer as his model, and reprinted many of Schoeffer's editions, following the wording of his colophons and investing them with the same glories of red ink. Whereas, however, from about 1476 Schoeffer's activity was much less conspicuous, Wenssler for the next ten years poured out edition after edition of all the heaviest legal and theological works, until he must have overstocked the market. Then he devoted himself almost exclusively to liturgical printing, but his affairs became hopelessly involved, and in 1491 he fled from his creditors at Basel, and became a wandering printer, finding commissions at Cluny and Maçon, and then settling for a time at Lyon. Many of the early printers in Italy made this mistake of flooding the market with a single class of book, but Wenssler is almost the only notable example in Germany of this lack of business instinct. Travelling along the Rhine from Mainz in the opposite direction we come to Cologne, and here Ulrich Zell, like Berthold Ruppel, a native of Hanau, but who calls himself in his books a "clerk of the diocese of Mainz," enrolled his name on the register of the University in June, 1464, doubtless for the sake of the business privileges which the Senate had it in its power to confer. The first dated book from his press, S. John Chrysostom, _Super psalmo quinquagesimo_ (Psalm li., according to our English reckoning), was issued in 1466, but before this appeared he had almost certainly produced an edition of the _De Officiis_ (see the frontispiece to this chapter, Plate VI), the most popular of Cicero's works in Germany, which Fust and Schoeffer had printed in 1465 and reprinted the next year. Avoiding the great folios on which the early printers of Mainz, Strassburg, and Basel staked their capital, Zell's main work was the multiplication of minor theological treatises likely to be of practical use to priests. Of these he issued countless editions in small quarto, along with a comparatively few small folios, in which, however, his skill as a printer is seen to better advantage. He continued in active work until 1494, gave, as we have seen (Chapter III.), his version of the origin of printing to the compiler of the Cologne Chronicle published in 1499, and was still alive as late as 1507. Zell's earliest rival at Cologne was Arnold ther Hoernen, who printed from 1470 to 1482. He may very likely have been self-taught, for his early work is very uneven, but he developed into an excellent craftsman. He is the first notable example of a printer getting into touch with a contemporary author, and regularly printing all his works, the author in this case being Werner Rolewinck, a Carthusian of Cologne, who wrote sermons and historical works, including the _Fasciculus Temporum_, an epitome of history, which found much favour all over Europe. Ther Hoernen used to be credited with the honour of having printed the first book with a titlepage, the _Sermo ad populum predicabilis In festo presentacionis Beatissime Marie semper virginis_ of 1470. Schoeffer, however, had preceded him by some seven years by devoting a separate page to the title of each of his editions of a Bull of Pius II (see p. 93), and as neither printer continued the practice these isolated instances must be taken as accidental. In the same book, ther Hoernen for the first time placed printed numbers on the leaves, but this improvement also was not followed up. The third Cologne typographer, Johann Koelhoff the Elder, was the first (in 1472) to place printed "signatures" on the quires of a book, so as to show the binder the order in which they were to be arranged. Hitherto the quires had been marked by hand, and this improvement was not suffered to drop for a time like the others, but quickly spread all over Europe. At Augsburg Günther Zainer completed his first book, an edition of the Latin Meditations on the Life of Christ taken from the works of S. Bonaventura, on the 13th March, 1468. Though he followed this with three heavy books which had found favour at Mainz and Strassburg, Zainer had the wisdom to strike out a line for himself. Augsburg had long been the chief centre of the craftsmen who cut and printed the woodcuts of saints, for which there seems to have been a large sale in Germany, and also the pictures used for playing-cards. The cutters were at first inclined to regard the idea of book-illustrations with suspicion, as likely to interfere with their existing business. It was decided, however, by the local Abbot of SS. Ulrich and Afra, an ecclesiastic with typographical tastes, that illustrated books might be printed so long as members of the wood-cutters' guild were employed in making the blocks. With this as a working agreement, illustrated books greatly prospered at Augsburg, not only Günther Zainer, but Johann Bämler and Anton Sorg (a very prolific printer), turning them out with much success throughout the 'seventies. At Nuremberg printing was introduced in 1470 by Johan Sensenschmidt, who for a short time had as his partner Heinrich Kefer, of Mainz, another of Gutenberg's servants. Much more important, however, was the firm of Anton Koberger, who began work the next year, and speedily developed the largest business of any printer in Germany. Koberger was able to deal successfully in all the heavy books, which after 1480 other firms found it wiser to leave alone, and seems to have employed Adolf Rusch at Strassburg and perhaps other printers elsewhere, to print for him. He also printed towards the end of the century some very notable illustrated books. Next to Koberger, Friedrich Creussner, who started in 1473, had the largest business in Nuremberg, and Georg Stuchs made himself a reputation as a missal printer, a special department from which Koberger held aloof. At Speier, after two anonymous firms had worked in 1471 and 1472 without much success, Peter Drach (1477) developed an important business. At Ulm Johann Zainer, a kinsman of Günther Zainer, of Augsburg, began in 1473 by printing illustrated books, which were subsequently taken up in the 'eighties by Leonhard Holle, Conrad Dinckmut, and Johann Reger, while Zainer himself became a miscellaneous printer. At Lübeck Lucas Brandis produced a universal history called the _Rudimentum Nouitiorum_ in 1475 and a fine _Josephus_, important liturgical work being subsequently done by Bartholomaeus Ghotan, Matthaeus Brandiss and Stephan Arndes, similar work being also produced at Magdeburg partly by some of these Lübeck printers. Fine liturgical work was also done at Würzburg by Georg Reyser, who may previously have printed anonymously at Speier, and who started his kinsman Michel in a similar business at Eichstätt. At Leipzig, where Marcus Brandis printed one or two books in 1481, and the following years, a sudden development took place about 1490, and a flood of small educational works was poured out by some half a dozen printers, of whom Conrad Kachelofen and Martin Landsberg were the most prolific. Presses were also set up in numerous other places, so that by the end of the century at least fifty German cities, towns and villages had seen a printer at work. In many of these the art took no root, and in some the printer was only employed for a short time to print one or more books for a particular purpose. But the total output of incunabula in Germany was very large, and leaving out of count the fugitive single sheets, the scanty remnants of which can bear no relation to the thousands which must have been produced, out of about 25,000 different books and editions printed in the fifteenth century registered as extant at the time of writing probably nearly a third were produced in Germany. If, as is likely, a large proportion of the eleven thousand undescribed incunabula (among which, however, there must be many duplicates and triplicates) reported to have been discovered by the agents of the German Royal Commission for a General Catalogue of Incunabula are German, this rough estimate must be largely increased, and it may be proved that Germany was as prolific as Italy itself. Considerable as was this output of German printing at home, it was probably nearly equalled by the work done by German printers in the other countries of Europe to which they hastened to carry the new art. Turning first to Italian incunabula we find that the first book printed in Italy has perished utterly. The cruel little Latin grammar which passed under the name of _Donatus_ had, as we have seen, been frequently printed in Holland and by the first Mainz printers, and there are several later instances of an edition of it being produced as soon as a press was set up, merely to show the printer's types. This was done by Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz, the two Germans who began printing at the monastery of Saint Scholastica at Subiaco, some forty miles from Rome, in 1465, or perhaps in the previous year. Being a school-book, the _Donatus_ was thumbed to pieces, so that no copy now survives, and it is only known from the printer's allusion to it as the book "_unde imprimendi initium sumpsimus_" in a list of their publications drawn up in 1472. Of the three other books printed by them at Subiaco, Cicero's _De Oratore_ has no printed date, but a copy described by Signor Fumagalli bears a manuscript note dated Pridie Kal. Octobres M.cccclxv., i.e. 30 September, 1465, the authenticity of which has, however, been challenged, though probably without good reason. The two others both bear printed dates, the works of _Lactantius_, that of 29 October, 1465, and S. Augustine's _De Ciuitate Dei_, 12 June, 1467. Probably even before this last book was completed the printers were already moving some of their material to Rome, where they found shelter in the palace of Pietro de' Massimi, for their edition of the _Epistulae Familiares_ of Cicero was completed there in the same year, probably in or before November. Even so it is not certain that this was the first book printed at Rome, for Ulrich Han, a native of Vienna and citizen of Ingolstadt, whose later work, like that of Michael Wenssler at Basel, shows a tendency to imitate Schoeffer, completed an edition of the _Meditationes de vita Christi_ of Cardinal Turrecremata on the last day of the same year, and Mr. Proctor (after the publication of his _Index_) assigned to Han's press and to an even earlier date than the _Meditationes_ a bulky edition of the Epistles of S. Jerome, which must certainly have taken a year to print. The career of Sweynheym and Pannartz in partnership at Rome lasted but little over six years, their latest book bearing the date 31 December, 1473. Already in March, 1472, they were in difficulties, and printed a letter to Pope Sixtus IV begging for some pecuniary aid. They had printed, they said, no fewer than 11,475 volumes, and gave a list of the different books and of the numbers printed of each. Four of these editions were of 300 copies, the rest of 275, and we can see from the list that there had been three editions of the _Lactantius_ and _De Ciuitate Dei_ and two each of Cicero's _Epistulae Familiares_, _De Oratore_, and _Opera Philosophica_, and also of Virgil, so that clearly some of their books had shown a profit. But the list is entirely made up of Latin classics, "profane" and theological, and by March, 1472, printing had been introduced into at least ten other Italian cities (Venice, Foligno, Trevi, Ferrara, Milan, Florence, Treviso, Bologna, Naples, and Savigliano), and in most, if not all of these, the one idea of the first printers was to produce as many Latin classics as possible, as though no other firm in Italy were doing the same thing. Unable to obtain help from the Pope, Sweynheym and Pannartz dissolved partnership, the former devoting himself to engraving maps for an edition of Ptolemy's _Geographia_, which he did not live to see (it was printed by Arnold Bucking in 1478), while Pannartz resumed business on a somewhat smaller scale on his own account, and died in 1476. At Venice, the first printer, Johann of Speier, seems to have had some foreboding of what might happen, and thoughtfully protected himself against competition by procuring from the Senate an exclusive privilege for printing at Venice during the space of five years. This might seriously have retarded the development of the press at Venice. Johann, however, after printing two editions of Cicero's _Epistulae ad familiares_ and Pliny's _Historia naturalis_ in 1469, was carried off by death while working on his fourth book, S. Augustine's _De Ciuitate Dei_, in 1470, and his brother Wendelin, or Vindelinus, who took over the business, had no privilege to protect him from competition. In 1470, the way thus being left clear, a Frenchman, Nicolas Jenson, set up the second press in Venice, and by the beauty of his fine Roman type speedily attained a reputation which has lasted to this day. Another fine printer, Christopher Valdarfer, produced his first book in the same year. In 1471 three other firms (an Italian priest, Clemente of Padua, and two Germans, Adam of Ammergau and Franz Renner of Heilbronn) began publishing, and in 1472 yet seven more (three Germans and four Italians). But the pace was impossible, and by this time men were rapidly falling out. As we have seen, Sweynheym and Pannartz, after their ineffectual attempt to obtain a subsidy from the Pope, dissolved their partnership at Rome after 1473, and Ulrich Han in 1471 had taken a moneyed partner, with whose aid he weathered the storm. At Venice Wendelin, after producing thirty-one books in the previous two years, reduced his output to six in 1473, and soon after seems to have ceased to work for himself. Jenson's numbers sank from twenty-eight in 1471-2 to six in 1473-4. Valdarfer gave up after 1471, and is subsequently found at Milan. Other Venetian printers also dropped out, and only two new firms began work in 1473. At Florence after the first printer Bernardo Cennini and his sons had produced a Virgil in 1471, and Johann Petri of Mainz Boccaccio's _Philocolo_ and Petrarch's _Trionfi_ in 1472, printing ceased for some years. Presses started at Foligno, Trevi, and Savigliano came to a speedy end. At Treviso, where Gerardus Lisa had published four books in 1471, there was, according to Mr. Proctor, a gap from December in that year till the same month in 1474, though Dr. Copinger quotes one book each for the intervening years. Only one book was published at Ferrara in 1473. What happened at Naples is hard to say, since Sixtus Riessinger, the first printer there, issued many books without dates. At Bologna trade seems to have been stationary. At Milan, where both Antonius Larotus in 1471 and Philippus de Lavagna in 1472 had begun with extreme caution, there was healthy progress, and these two firms continued issuing editions of the classics, and with the great falling off of competition may have found it profitable to do so. But of the reality of the crisis in the Italian book trade in 1472-3, although little is said of it in histories of printing, there can be no doubt. When it was over there were symptoms of a similar over-production of some of the great legal commentaries. But this danger was avoided. There was a steady increase in the range of the literature published, and the bourgeois book-buyer was remembered as well as the aristocratic student. Soon there came a great extension, not only of the home but of the foreign market, and Italy settled down to supply the world with books, a task for which Venice, both from its geographical position and its well-established commercial relations, was peculiarly fitted. But it is the books printed before 1474 that form the real Italian incunabula. In the subsequent work within the limits of the fifteenth century Rome took no very important part. Ulrich Han continued to print till 1478. Joannes Philippi de Lignamine, Papal Physician and native of Sicily, produced some exceptionally interesting books between 1470 and 1476, and again in 1481-4, and Georg Lauer, who worked from 1470 to 1481, and completed an edition of S. Jerome's Letters, left unfinished by Pannartz at the time of his death, showed himself a good craftsman. The later printers, especially Stephan Plannck and Eucharius Silber, had some good types, but produced few notable books, the bulk of the Roman output after 1480 being editions in small quarto of official documents and speeches at the Papal Court. To devise any summary description of fifteenth century printing at Venice is wellnigh impossible. Some 150 firms were at work there; at a low estimate some four thousand extant books and editions must be credited to them, and these embraced almost every kind of literature for which readers could be found in the fifteenth century, and many varieties of craftsmanship. From a decorative point of view, the firm of Erhard Ratdolt did exceptionally good work, and it is also remarkable for specializing mainly on astronomy, mathematics, and history. Liturgical printing began somewhat late (there seems to have been a prejudice against printed service books in Italy, and I can remember none printed at Rome); in the fifteenth century Johann Hammann or Herzog and Johann Emerich were its chief exponents. Franz Renner produced chiefly Latin theology, a department much less predominant at Venice than in Germany. Several firms, e.g. Jacques Le Rouge, Baptista de Tortis, Andreas Torresanus (father-in-law of Aldus and a very fine printer), and Georgius Arrivabene devoted themselves like Jenson first mainly to Latin classics and then to law; others, such as Filippo di Pietro mingled Latin and Italian classics. Filippo's kinsman, Gabriele di Pietro, was one of the earliest vernacular printers. Many firms, such as that of Bonetus Locatellus, who seems to have had a University connection, and printed all kinds of learned Latin books, despised the vernacular altogether. The brothers Giovanni and Gregorio dei Gregorii were perhaps the most prolific and miscellaneous printers in both Latin and Italian. Johannes Tacuinus, a learned printer towards the end of the century, is notable for adorning his books with pictorial capitals, mostly of boys at play. Aldus Manutius will be spoken of in a later chapter. While all this activity was displayed at Venice other cities were not idle. At Milan upwards of eight hundred incunabula were produced, mostly by its earliest printer, Antonius Zarotus, and two Germans, Leonhard Pachel and Ulrich Scinzenzeler. Ferrara seems to have been able to support only one press at a time, and at Florence it was some years before printing flourished, but in the last quarter of the century many interesting books were printed there, both learned and vernacular, as to the illustrations in which much will have to be said later on. Some of the early Treviso books from the press of Gerard Lisa are distinctly pretty. Bologna produced about three hundred incunabula. Naples probably not so many, but of much better quality. Altogether well over ten thousand Italian incunabula must still be extant, and these were produced at no fewer than seventy different places, though many of these were of no typographical importance, and only find their way into histories of printing from having sheltered a wandering printer for a few weeks as he was on his way from one large town to another. In France also the earliest books were addressed to students of the classics, though they were produced on a much more limited scale. There the first printers, three Germans, had been invited to set up their presses at Paris in the Sorbonne by two of its professors, Guillaume Fichet and Jean Heynlin, of Stein, better known in his own day as Johannes de Lapide. Between the summer of 1470 and the autumn of 1472 eighteen works were printed at the Sorbonne, mostly of the kind which would be of use to its students. Among them was Sallust, three works of Cicero, Virgil's Bucolics and Georgics, the Satires of Juvenal and Persius, Terence, some text books, the _Speculum Humanae Vitae_ of Bishop Roderic of Zamora, and the Orations of Fichet's patron, Cardinal Bessarion. In August, 1472, the Cardinal arrived in France on a fruitless mission to rouse the king to a crusade against the Turks. He was rebuffed and ordered to leave France. Fichet accompanied him, and never returned to Paris. As early as the previous March Heynlin seems to have been called away, and now the imported German printers, Michael Freiburger, Ulrich Gering, and Martin Crantz, were left wholly to their own devices. Thus abandoned they printed four books of a less special character, for which they sought princely instead of scholarly patronage, and then in April, 1473, moved from the Sorbonne and set up for themselves at the sign of the Soleil d'Or in the Rue S. Jacques. Here they printed still in Latin, but a much more popular class of books, and soon had to contend with two rival firms, that of Pieter de Keysere and Johann Stol, and the printers at the sign of the "Soufflet Vert" or Green Bellows. The finest of the subsequent printers was Jean Dupré, who used excellent capitals and issued many illustrated books, but three prolific printers, Antoine Caillaut, Gui Marchand, and Pierre Levet, along with many dull books issued some very interesting ones. Towards the end of the century an enterprising publisher, Antoine Vérard, kept many of the Paris printers busy, and Paris became noted typographically for its fine illustrated editions of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, issued by Vérard, Dupré, Pigouchet (and his publisher, Simon Vostre), and Thielman Kerver. But these with the publications of Vérard belong to another chapter. At Lyon printing was introduced by the enterprise of one of its citizens, Barthélemi Buyer, who engaged Guillaume Leroy (a native of Liège) to print for him, and subsequently employed other printers as well. The first Lyon book was a little volume of popular religious treatises, containing among other things the _De miseria humanae conditionis_ of Pope Innocent III. It was completed 17 September, 1473. Until nearly 1490 the books printed at Lyon were mainly popular in character with a considerable proportion of French books, many of them illustrated. From 1490 onwards learned Latin books occur more frequently, and printing rapidly became as general or miscellaneous as at Paris itself, although only a single attempt was made, unsuccessfully, to rival the Paris _Horae_. The two cities between them probably produced more than three-fourths of the three thousand incunabula, which at a rough guess may be attributed to French presses, the share of Paris being about twice as great as that of Lyon. According to the stereotyped phrase, printing was introduced into no fewer than thirty-seven other French towns during the fifteenth century, but as a rule the printers were but birds of passage, and it was only at Poitiers (1479) and Rouen (1487) that it took root and flourished continuously, though on but a small scale. In other towns the struggle to maintain a press continued for several years, as at Toulouse, or was abandoned after the fulfilment of a single commission. In Holland the first books which bear the name of their printer and date and place of imprint are those produced at Utrecht by Nicolaus Ketelaer and Gerardus Leempt, who began work in 1473. It is tolerably certain, however, that some of the so-called "Costeriana" (see Chap. II) preceded this date, and they are at least as likely to have been printed at Haarlem as at Utrecht, there being no decisive evidence in favour of either place. No namable printer appears at Haarlem until the end of 1483, when Jacob Bellaert set up a short-lived press there. For some seven years (1477-84) excellent work was done at Gouda by Gerard Leeu, who then moved to Antwerp. At Delft, where a fine Bible was printed by Jacob Jacobszoen and Mauricius Yemantszoen in 1477, printing was kept up continuously by Jacobszoen, Christian Snellaert, and Hendrik Eckert till the end of the century, though there seems to have been only work enough for one firm at a time. At Zwolle, Pieter van Os, who began work in 1479, was able to maintain himself, with a brief interval about 1482, till past the magic date 1500. Lastly, at Deventer, where Richardus Pafraet started in the same year, an output was speedily attained greater than in any other Dutch town, and for the latter years of the century a rival firm, that of Jacobus de Breda, shared Pafraet's prosperity. The great majority of the Deventer books, however, belong to the minor literature of ecclesiasticism and education, and are far from exciting. The beginnings of printing are much more interesting in the Southern Netherlands, which correspond roughly to what we now call Belgium. Here also the first positive date is 1473, the year in which Johann of Paderborn in Westphalia, best known to English collectors as John of Westphalia, printed three books at Alost. A fourth followed in May, 1474, but by the following December John had removed to Louvain, a University town, where he remained doing excellent and abundant work till nearly the end of the century. At Louvain he had found another printer, Jan Veldener, already in the field, and seems to have hustled him away not very honourably. Veldener, however, was not ruined, but is subsequently found at Utrecht and Kuilenburg, and again for a short time at Louvain. At Bruges the first printers were Colard Mansion and William Caxton, names well known to English book-lovers, though not all the labours of Mr. William Blades and Mr. Gordon Duff have made it quite clear which of the two was the leader. Only two English books were printed, the _Recuyell of the Histories of Troy_ and _The Game and Play of the Chess_, when Caxton returned to England and set up his presses in the Almonry at Westminster. Whether he had any pecuniary interest in the French _Recueil_ and the _Quatre Dernières Choses_, and whether printings at Bruges began with the _Recuyell_, or, as Mr. Proctor contended, with the French Boccaccio _De la ruine des nobles hommes et femmes_ of 1476, are points of controversy. From 1477 till his flight from Bruges to avoid arrest for debt in 1484, Mansion worked steadily by himself, and the total output of his press amounts to twenty-five French works and two in Latin. At Brussels the Brothers of the Common Life, who worked also as printers in other places, published numerous popular Latin works between 1476 and 1487, about which time their press seems to have stopped. But the removal of Gerard Leeu's business from Gouda to Antwerp in 1484 soon gave that town a typographical importance which (except for a few years at the end of the century) it long maintained. The true incunabula of the Netherlands are, of course, the "Costeriana." Whatever view we may take of their date and birthplace, they were undoubtedly home products, with a strongly marked individuality. Ketelaer and Leempt, however, at Utrecht, Veldener at Louvain and elsewhere, Caxton and Mansion at Bruges, were real pioneers. In a sense this is true also of John of Westphalia and Gerard Leeu, notably of the former, who had learnt his art in Italy and by the type which he had brought thence raised the standard of printing in his new home. It is, indeed, almost exclusively at Deventer that we get the dull commercial work which has nothing primitive or individual about it, and thus, perhaps because their grand total is so much smaller than in the case of Germany, Italy, or even France, the special interest of incunabula attaches to rather a high proportion of the early books of the Netherlands. If this be true of the Netherlands, it is even truer of the two countries with which we have still to deal in this rapid survey, Spain and England. Of Spanish incunabula about seven hundred are now registered; of English, three hundred is a fairly liberal estimate of the grand total still extant. Within the limits of the fifteenth century neither country reached the purely mechanical stage of book production to which so many German and Italian books belong after about 1485. In England, indeed, this stage was hardly reached until the general downfall of good printing towards the end of the sixteenth century. The first book printed in Spain was a thin volume of poems in honour of the Blessed Virgin, written by Bernardo Fenollar and others on the occasion of a congress held at Valentia in March, 1474. It offers no information itself on any bibliographical point, but it was presumably printed not long after the congress, at Valentia where the congress was held, and by Lambertus Palmart (or Palmaert), who on 18 August, 1477, completed there the third part of the _Summa_ of S. Thomas Aquinas and duly described it as "impressa Valentie per magistrum Lambertum Palmart Alemanum, anno M.CCCC.LXXVII, die vero xviii. mensis Augusti." Palmart is supposed to have been a Fleming (a nationality to which the description _Alemannus_ is often applied), but nothing is known of him. He printed a work called _Comprehensorium_ and the _Bellum Jugurthinum_ of Sallust in February and July, 1475, without putting his name to them, and these with the Fenollar and other anonymous books now attributed to him are in roman type. In 1478 he completed a Catalan Bible in conjunction with a native Spaniard, Alonzo Fernandez de Cordoba, and thereafter worked by himself until 1490, using gothic types in these later books. Seven other firms worked at Valentia during the fifteenth century, but none of these attained much importance. Another Fleming, of the name of Matthew or Matthaeus, printed the _Manipulus Curatorum_ of Guido de Monte Rotherii at Saragossa in October, 1475, and five other presses were established there before 1500, that of Paul Hurus being the most prolific. At Tortosa a single book (the _Rudimenta Grammaticae_ of Perottus) was printed by Nicolaus Spindeler and Pedro Brun early in 1477, and in August of the same year Antonio Martinez, Alonso del Puerto, and Bartolome Segura completed the first fully dated book (the _Sacramental_ of Sanchez de Vercial) at Seville, where printing subsequently throve as much as anywhere in Spain. The following year Spindeler and Brun, having moved from Tortosa, introduced printing into Barcelona, a date MCCCCLXVIII in a treatise by Bartholomaeus Mates, _Pro condendis orationibus_, being obviously a misprint, though to what it should be corrected cannot positively be shown.[26] At Salamanca printing was introduced as early as 1481, and continued more actively after 1492, mainly for the production of educational works. At Burgos Friedrich Biel, who had been trained under Michael Wenssler at Basel, began printing in 1485, and a native of the place, Juan de Burgos, brought out his first book in 1490, both of these firms doing excellent work. Altogether, twenty-four towns and places in Spain possessed presses during the fifteenth century, but in many cases only for a short time. The outline of the story of printing in England during the fifteenth century may be very quickly sketched, fuller treatment being reserved for a later chapter. At Michaelmas, 1476, Caxton rented premises in the Almonry from the Abbot of Westminster, and here he stayed till his death in 1491, printing, as far as we know, about a hundred books and documents. In 1478 a press was set up at Oxford, presumably by Theodoric Rood of Cologne, whose name, however, does not appear in any book until 1481. By 1485 Rood had been joined by an English stationer, Thomas Hunte, but in 1486 or the following year the press was closed after printing, as far as we know, only seventeen books. The few books printed at Oxford were all more or less scholastic in character, and six out of eight works printed by Caxton's second rival (apparently a friendly one), the Schoolmaster-Printer at St. Albans, belonged to the same class, his two more popular books being Caxton's _Chronicles of England,_ with a new appendix, and the famous _Book of St. Albans_. Of these eight works, the earliest bearing a date was issued in 1480, the latest in 1486. A more formidable competitor to Caxton than either the Oxford or the St. Albans printer began work in the City of London in 1480. This was John Lettou, i.e. John the Lithuanian, who, as Mr. Gordon Duff notes, used type identical save in a single letter with a fount used at Rome in 1478 by Johann Bulle of Bremen. Lettou appears to have been financed in the first instance by a Londoner, William Wilcock. In 1482 he was joined by William Machlinia (presumably a native of Malines), and after five law books had been printed in partnership, Lettou dropped out, and Machlinia continued working by himself, possibly until as late as 1490 or 1491, when his stock seems to have been taken over by Richard Pynson, a Norman, from Rouen. On Caxton's death in 1491 his business passed into the hands of his foreman, Wynkyn de Worde, a native of Lorraine. The only other press started in the fifteenth century was that of Julyan Notary, who worked at first with two partners, I.B. and I.H. Of these I.B. was certainly Jean Barbier, and I.H. probably Jean Huvin of Rouen. We have no information as to the nationality of Notary, but if, as seems probable, he was a Frenchman, printing in England for some twenty years after Caxton's death was wholly in the hands of foreigners. * * * * * Meagre and bare of details as is this sketch of the beginnings of printing in the chief countries of Europe, it should yet suffice to prove that the purely arbitrary date 1500 and the slang word _incunabula_, used to invest all fifteenth century impressions with a mystic value, are misleading nuisances. By the time that printing reached England it was beginning to pass into its commercial stage in Germany and Italy. In both of these countries, and in a less degree in France, scores and hundreds of books were printed during the last fifteen years of the century which have little more connection with the invention of printing, or the story of its diffusion, than English or Spanish books a century later. From the point of view of the history of literature and thought there is much to be gained from the collection in large libraries of all books printed before 1501. From the point of view of the history of printing every decade of book-production has its interest, and the decade 1490 to 1500 among the rest. Incidentally it may be noted that in respect of book-illustration this particular decade in Italy is one of exceptional interest. But books of the third generation of German or Italian printers, men like Flach, for instance, at Strassburg, or Plannck at Rome, should not be collected under the idea that they are in any true sense of the word incunabula. What constitutes a true incunable cannot be defined in a sentence. We must consider the country or city as well as the book, the individual man as well as the art of which he was perhaps a belated exponent. The same piece of printing may have much more value and interest if we can prove that it was produced in one place rather than another. After the publication of his _Index_, Mr. Proctor satisfied himself that some anonymous books in roman type which he had classed as the work of an unidentified press at Naples were really among the earliest specimens of Palmart's typography in Spain, and one does not need to be a Spaniard to appreciate the distinction thus added to them. If sentiment is to count for anything we must admit the interest of the first books printed in any country which possesses an important history and literature--if only because we may legitimately be curious to know on what books a printer, with all the extant literature to choose from, ventured his capital as likely in that particular country and time to bring him the quickest and most profitable return. That the first large book in Germany was a Bible, the first books in Italy Latin classics, the first produced for the English market one that we must call an historical romance, cannot be regarded as merely insignificant. Nor are the differences in the types and appearance of the page unimportant, for these also help to illustrate national characteristics. If this is true of the early books printed in any country, it is also true in only slightly less degree of those which first appeared in any great city which afterwards became a centre of printing. Strassburg, Cologne, and Nuremberg, Rome, Venice, and Florence, Paris and Lyon, Antwerp and London (if we may be permitted for once to ignore the separate existence of Westminster), each has its own individuality, and in each case it is interesting to see with what wares, and in what form, the first printers endeavoured to open its purse-strings. But when we come to towns and townlets some distinction seems needed. I may be misled by secret sympathy with that often scholarly, too often impecunious figure, the local antiquary. To him the first book printed in his native townlet, though by a printer merely stopping on his way between one great city and another, must needs be of interest, and it is hard that its price should be forced beyond his reach by the competition between dealers keen to do business with a rich collector to whom the book will have none of the fragrance it would possess for him. Typographical itinerancy, this printing by the roadside, as we may almost call it, must needs be illustrated in great collections, like any other habit of the early printers. But the ordinary private collector can surely dispense with buying books because they have been printed in places which have no associations for him, of which perhaps he has never heard. As for the individual man, if we would keep any oases green in what may easily become a sandy desert, we must surely treasure every trace of his personality. One large element in the charm of incunabula is the human interest of difficulties overcome, and wherever a craftsman began work by cutting a distinctive type to suit the calligraphic fashion of the neighbourhood, at whatever date he started, his books will still have some interest. When he becomes articulate and tells us of his difficulties, or boasts of how they have been overcome, we may value his work still higher. As the first book printed at Florence, the Commentary of Servius on Virgil needs no added attraction, and yet how much its charm is enhanced by its printers' addresses to the reader. Here is the second of them roughly Englished: To the Reader. Bernardino Cennini, by universal allowance a most excellent goldsmith, and Domenico his son, a youth of very good ability, have been the printers. Pietro, son of the aforesaid Bernardo, has acted as corrector, and has made a collation with many very ancient copies. His first anxiety was that nothing by another hand should be ascribed to Servius, that nothing which very old copies showed to be the work of Honoratus should be cut down or omitted. Since it pleases many readers to insert Greek words with their own hand, and in their own fashion, and these in ancient codices are very few, and the accents are very difficult to mark in printing he determined that spaces should be left for the purpose. But since nothing of man's making is perfect, it must needs be accounted enough if these books (as we earnestly hope) are found exceptionally correct. The work was finished at Florence on October 5, 1472. It is impossible to read a colophon such as this without feeling ourselves in the very atmosphere of the printing house, with the various members of the printer's family at work around us. Blank spaces are found in many early books where Greek quotations occurred in the manuscripts from which they were printed. But it was not every printer who took so much trouble as Cennini to justify the omission. As many as twenty-one years later, when printing in the great towns was becoming merely mechanical, we find the same personal note in a little grammar-book printed at Acqui. Here the colophon tells us: The Doctrinale of Alexander of Villedieu (God be praised!) comes to a happy end. It has been printed amid enough inconveniences, since of several things belonging to this art the printer, in making a beginning with it, could obtain no proper supply, owing to the plague raging at Genoa, Asti and elsewhere. Now this same work has been corrected by the prior Venturinus, a distinguished grammarian, and that so diligently that whereas previously the Doctrinale in many places seemed by the fault of booksellers too little corrected, now by the application of his care and diligence it will reach men's hands in the most correct form possible. After this date books will be printed in type of another kind, and elegantly, I trow; for both artificers and a sufficiency of other things of which hitherto the putter forth has been in need he now possesses by the gift of God, Who disposes all things according to the judgement of His will. Late as he appeared and small as was the town at which he produced his one book--his hopes and promises as to others seem to have come to naught--this man had the true pioneer spirit, and deserves to be remembered for it. Of a different kind, but no less, is the interest in what is perhaps my own favourite colophon, that recording the death of Gerard Leeu at Antwerp, while engaged in printing an edition of _The Chronicles of England_ for the English market. Here ben endyd the Cronycles of the Reame of Englond, with their apperteignaunces. Enprentyd in the Duchy of Braband in the towne of Andewarpe In the yere of our Lord M.cccc.xciij. By maistir Gerard de leew a man of grete wysedom in all maner of kunnyng: whych nowe is come from lyfe unto the deth, which is grete harme for many [a] poure man. On whos sowle God almyghty for hys hygh grace haue mercy. Amen. Leeu had been killed accidentally by one of his workmen in the course of a dispute, and this testimonial to him in the colophon, which reads as if the compositor had slipped it in of his own accord, is very gracious and touching in its simplicity. Just as the possession of a personal colophon brings a book within a circle of interest to which it otherwise would not have approached, so we may justly value a piece of printing all the more if it chances, through any accident, to throw light on the printer's methods. I have felt a peculiar affection for an edition of Valerius Maximus, printed by Schoeffer in 1471, ever since I discovered that a change in the form of the punctuation at certain points of the book makes it possible to work out the number of presses on which it was being printed, the order in which the sheets were being set up, and how quickly the type of the worked pages was distributed. The slowness of the presswork in the simple form of press at first used obliged the printers to keep several presses, sometimes as many as six, occupied with different sections of the same book, and the trouble they were given to make the end of one section join neatly to the beginning of the next has left many traces. Any book which thus lets us into the secrets of the early printing offices possesses in a very high degree the charm which should attach to an incunable, if that hardly used word is to retain, as it should, any reference to the infancy of printing. But more will be said as to this aspect of early books in our next chapter. FOOTNOTES: [25] Two editions of Boner's _Edelstein_, both illustrated with over a hundred woodcuts, one dated 14th February, 1461 (copy at Wolfenbüttel), the other undated (Royal Library, Berlin); _Die Historij von Joseph, Danielis, Judith, Hester,_ dated in rhyming verse 1462 "nat lang nach Sand Walpurgentag" (Rylands Library and Bibliothèque Nationale); the _Belial seu Consolatio peccatorum_ of Jacobus de Theramo (Rylands and Germanisches Museum, Nuremberg); two issues of a German _Biblia Pauperum_ with thirty-four woodcuts (both at the Bibliothèque Nationale, the first also at Rylands and Wolfenbüttel); the same work in Latin (Rylands); lastly two editions of a poem called _Rechtstreit des Menschen mit dem Tode_ (both at Wolfenbüttel, the second also at the Bibliothèque Nationale). [26] In its colophon the book is said to have been "a docto viro Bertolommeo Mates conditus et per P. Johannem Matoses Christi ministrum presbiterumque castigatus et emendatus sub impensis Guillermi ros et mira arte impressa per Johannem Gherlinc alamanum." Gherlinc is only heard of again in 1494, and then not at Barcelona. CHAPTER VI THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRINTING One great cause of changes of fashion in book-collecting is that after any particular class of book has been hotly competed for by one generation of book-lovers, all the best prizes gradually get locked up in great public or private collections, and come so seldom into the market that new collectors prefer to take up some other department rather than one in which it is impossible for them to attain any striking success. The first-fruits of printing, if reckoned strictly chronologically, are probably as nearly exhausted as any class of book which can be named. No matter how rich a man may be, the chances of his ever obtaining a copy of the Thirty-six Line Bible, the 1457 Psalter, or the first book printed at Venice, are infinitesimally small. Other incunabula, if not hopelessly out of reach even of the very rich, are only likely to be acquired after many years of waiting and a heavy expenditure when the moment of possible acquisition arrives. Many of the books hitherto here mentioned belong to this class. And yet, from what may be called the logical as opposed to the chronological standpoint, incunabula little, if at all, less interesting are still to be obtained at quite small prices by any one who knows for what to look. Any collector who sets himself to illustrate the evolution of the printed book from its manuscript predecessors, and the ways of the early printers, will find that he has undertaken no impossible task, though one which will need considerable pursuit and good taste and judgment in the selection of appropriate specimens. [Illustration: VII. VENICE, JENSON, 1470 CICERO. RHETORICA (41^a)] Roughly speaking, it took about a century for printed books to shake off the influence of manuscript and establish their own traditions. The earliest books had no titlepage, no head-title, no running title, no pagination, and no printed chapter-headings, also no printed initials or illustrations, blank spaces being left often for the one and occasionally for the other to be supplied by hand. At the time when printing was invented the book trade in many large cities had attained a high degree of organization, so that the work of the calligrapher or scribe was clearly distinguished from that of the luminer or illuminator, and even from that of the rubricator (rubrisher). Take, for instance, this Bury St. Edmunds bill of 1467 for a Psalter, preserved among the Paston Letters: For viij hole vynets, prise the vynet xij^d viij^s Item for xxj demi-vynets ... prise the demi-vynett iiij^d vij^s Item for Psalmes letters xv^c and di' ... the prise of C. iiij^d vj^s ij^d Item for p'ms letters lxiij^c ... prise of c. j^d v^s iij^d Item for wrytynge of a quare and demi ... prise the quayr xx^d ij^s vj^d Item for wrytenge of a calender xij^d Item for iij quayres of velym, prise the quayr xx^d v^s Item for notynge of v quayres and ij leves, prise of the quayr viij^d iii^s vij^d Item for capital drawynge iij^c and di', the prise iij^d Item for floryshynge of capytallis, v^c v^d Item for byndynge of the boke xij^s ------------ li^s ij^d ------------ It is possible that the work in this case was all done by one man, though it is equally possible that several were engaged on it, under the direction of a master-scrivener, but in either case the fact that vignettes and demi-vignettes, psalter letters (i.e. the small red letters at the beginning of each verse of a psalm, sometimes called versals), the mysterious "p'ms letters" (possibly the dabs of colour bestowed on small initials), the writing of the text, the writing of the calendar, the musical notation, and the drawing and flourishing the capitals, were all charged separately, at so much a piece or so much a hundred, shows how distinct each operation was kept. Partly, no doubt, from policy, so as not to rouse the wrath of more than one industry at a time, partly to save themselves trouble and expense, the earliest printers, with few exceptions, set themselves to supplant only the calligrapher, and sold their books with all the blanks and spaces, which the most modest or perfunctory scribe could have left to be filled by his kindred craftsmen. No better starting-point for a typographical collection could be desired than fine copies of two well-printed books in which the printer has confined himself severely to reproducing the text, leaving all headings, capitals, and ornaments to be supplied by hand. In one (as in the page from a book of Jenson's, which forms the illustration to this chapter, Plate VII) the blanks should remain blanks (as more especially in early books printed in Italy they often did remain), in the other they should have been filled in with red ink or colours by a rubricator. The owner of two such volumes is really as much at the fountain-head as the possessor of the Mainz Indulgences of 1454, or any still earlier document that may yet be found.[27] This is the logical beginning, and the logic of history is quite as interesting as the chronology. From the starting-point of the book of which the printer printed nothing but the text the collector can advance in many different directions. There was no regular and unbroken progress in the development of the modern form of book, nor does it matter greatly that the examples of any particular improvement should be either absolutely or nearly the earliest. The main thing is that they should be good illustrations of the special feature for which they are acquired. The problem how to dispense with the aid of a rubricator had to be faced by countless printers in many different towns, for rubricating by hand must have added very considerably to the cost of a book. The obvious thing to do was to print in red all the headings, chapter-numbers, etc., which the rubricator used to add in that colour. But this was both expensive and troublesome, as it involved two printings and the placing of the paper in exactly the same position in the press in each. Caxton and one or two other early printers tried to avoid this double printing and difficulty of registration by putting on both red and black ink at the same time--very probably, where they came close together, they were rubbed on with a finger--but this so often resulted in smudges and lines half of one colour, half of another, that it was soon abandoned. Double printing was mostly soon abandoned also, except by the most expert men. It was tried and abandoned by the printer of the Forty-two Line Bible, though subsequently Fust and Schoeffer completely mastered it. Between 1472 and 1474 it was tried and abandoned by almost every printer in Strassburg. The difficulty was generally[28] overcome by substituting, for red ink used with type of the same size or face as the text, type of a larger size or heavier face, which could be printed in black ink with the text and yet stand out sufficiently clearly from it to catch the eye. The need for this differentiation accelerated the tendency to reduce the size of types, which was doubtless in the first place dictated by a desire for economy. The earlier German text-types for ordinary books very commonly measure about 6 mm. a line. To enable small differences to be shown they are quoted in the British Museum Catalogue of Incunabula by the measurements of twenty lines, and many of the early Mainz and Strassburg types range closely round the number 120. These large text-types are often the only ones used in a book, notes or other accompaniments of the text being clumsily indicated by brackets or spaces. The better printers, however, gradually imitated Fust and Schoeffer, and along with their 120 text-types used smaller commentary types measuring about 4 to 4½ mm. a line, or from 80 to 90 mm. for twenty lines. In the great folio commentaries on the Canon and Civil Law a very fine effect is produced by two short columns of text in large type being placed two-thirds way up the page and then completely surrounded by the commentary in smaller type, also in double columns. But the economy of using the smaller type for the text of books without commentary was quickly perceived, and along with 4 to 4½ mm. small text-types, heavy and often rather fantastic types of just twice this size (8 to 9 mm. a line, 160 to 180 mm. to twenty lines) came into use for headings, and the opening words of books and chapters. The same course was followed with respect to headlines, when it was desired to add these to a book without the aid of a scribe. Eggestein printed one book with headlines in red, but the same heavy type which was used for chapter headings was soon used for headlines, and also, with very ugly effect, for numbering the leaves. In considering what specimens of printing to collect Englishmen who have been accustomed for more than two centuries to nothing but roman types may well be bewildered, as they look through any volume of facsimiles, by the extraordinary variety of the founts. The main reasons for this variety may be sought (1) in the dependence of the first printers on the styles of writing which they found in vogue at the time, and in the countries and towns where they made their ventures; and (2) in the different styles considered appropriate to different classes of books--Latin and vernacular, liturgical and secular, etc. Even now, when bookhands can hardly be said to exist, the varieties of handwriting are endless, and there are strongly marked differences between those of one country and another. In the fifteenth century, when there was less intercommunication between distant countries, the differences were even greater. As to this, however, it is possible to make some distinctions. The unifying effect of the Church is seen in the smaller range of variations in the books for liturgical use, and the fellowship of scholars exercised at least some influence in the same direction. In Italy, the home of ancient learning, the aristocratic bookhand was the fine round minuscules which had been evolved, by a conscious antiquarian revival, from the bookhand of the twelfth century, itself a revival of the Carlovingian bookhand of the eighth and ninth. Sweynheym and Pannartz, being Germans, failed in the first instance to realize the hopelessness of seeking scholarly favour with any other kind of character, and their Subiaco books are printed in a light and pleasing gothic much admired by William Morris, and used by Mr. St. John Hornby for his splendid Ashendene Dante. When they started afresh at Rome in 1467 they gave up their gothic fount and used instead a fine roman character noticeable for its use of the long _[s]_ at the end of words, a peculiarity often found in Italian manuscripts of this period. The early printers at Venice made no false start, but all used roman characters from the outset, Venetian gothic type making its first appearance in 1472. That gothic type was used at all in Italy was due partly to the difficulty found in cutting very small roman type, so that gothic was used for economy, partly to the advantages of the heavy gothic face when a contrast was needed between text and commentary. In Germany roman types were tried by Adolf Rusch (the R-printer) at Strassburg about 1464, and by both Günther Zainer at Augsburg and Johann Zainer at Ulm, but met with no favour until in the last years of the century they were reintroduced for the books written or edited by Brant, Locher, Wimpheling, Peter Schott, and the other harbingers of the new learning. In the Netherlands John of Westphalia started with a round but rather thin roman type brought from Italy. In France the scholarly ideals of the patrons of the first Paris press were reflected in the use for the books printed at the Sorbonne of a beautiful roman type, only injured by the excessive prominence of the serifs. In Spain also the first books, those printed at Valentia by Lambert Palmart, were in roman; but in both countries gothic types long commanded the favour of the general reader, while in England their supremacy was unchallenged for a third of a century, no book entirely in roman type appearing until 1508. As regards the æsthetic value of the different roman types in use during the fifteenth century, the superiority of the Italian is so marked that, with the exception of the first French type, the rest, from this point of view, may be neglected. Almost all the roman types used in Italy until late in the 'seventies are either beautiful or at least interesting, and it is remarkable that some of the most beautiful are found in small places like Cagli, Mondovi, Viterbo, and Aquila, or in the hands of obscure printers, such as the self-taught priest Clemente of Padua, who worked at Venice in 1471. The pre-eminence of Jenson's fount is indisputable, though he often did it injustice by his poor presswork. But those used by John and Wendelin of Speier, and at a later date by Antonio Miscomini, were also good, as also were several of the founts used at Rome and Milan. At Naples and Bologna, on the other hand, some quite early roman founts are curiously hard and heavy. After about 1480 roman types in Italy enter on a second stage. They no longer have the appearance of being founded directly on handwriting. Doubtless the typecutters were so used to their work that they no longer needed models, but designed new types according to their own ideas. Naturally the letters are more uniform and regular than in the earlier founts, but naturally also they have less charm, and the ordinary close-set Venetian type of the end of the century is singularly dull. Even the large roman type used by Aldus to print the _Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_ is no real exception, as the letters are narrow for their height. A far finer fount is the large text type used by the Silbers at Rome, on both sides of 1500. This is well proportioned and beautifully round, and it is surprising that it has not yet been imitated by any modern typecutter. When we pass from roman to gothic types there is a bewildering field from which to choose. Here again dull commercialism gained the upper hand about 1480, and towards the end of the century an ugly upright text-type of 80 mm. to twenty lines, with a fantastic headline type of twice its size, or a little more, found its way all over Germany. But types with a twenty-line measurement ranging round 120 mm., such as those of Peter Schoeffer or the Printer of Henricus Ariminensis, are often extraordinarily handsome. Both of Schoeffer's earlier small types and the small type of Ulrich Zell at Cologne are engagingly neat, and at the opposite end there is the magnificently round gothic used by Ulrich Han at Rome. Most of the finest gothic types were used for Latin books of law and theology, the peculiar appropriateness of roman type being considered to be confined to works appealing to classical scholars. In Germany, for some time, not much distinction was observed, but there was a tendency in classical books to use an f and long [s] starting from the level of the line, whereas in most vernacular books the tails of these letters came below the line, giving a strangely different appearance to the type. In the 'nineties a distinctively cursive type called Schwabacher, usually measuring 93 mm. to twenty lines, makes its appearance all over Germany. In Italy, both at Naples and by Ulrich Han at Rome, a very small text type, which is certainly cursive in its affinities, was used at the very outset, but found no favour. The typical vernacular French types are also very often on a slope. The small cursive type cut for Aldus in 1501 by Francesco da Bologna was thus not quite so great a revolution as is sometimes represented. Its clearness in proportion to its size, its extreme compactness, and the handiness of the small octavos with which it was at first specially connected, gained for it a great success, and it gradually, though only gradually, usurped the name of italic, the upright Italian bookhand being distinguished from it as roman. Few treatises on printing or the development of books give any idea of the immense popularity of italics during the sixteenth century. About 1570 they seemed to have established themselves as the fashionable vernacular type both in Italy and France, and even in England whole books were printed in them. In Switzerland also and Germany they gained some hold; but gradually the tide turned, the upright bookhand regained its predominance, and italics now survive chiefly for emphasis and quotations--in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they were often used for proper names--giving to the page on which they occur an unpleasantly spotty appearance. Their occasional use in prefaces and dedicatory letters is much more appropriate. The completion of books at first by a colophon, afterwards by a titlepage, may be illustrated in the same way as that by which we have traced the evolution of the text from incompleteness to completeness and the development of different classes of types. At least one printer, Johann Mentelin of Strassburg, seems to have considered the addition of colophons as the proper business of the rubricator. While printed colophons in his books are exceptionally rare, several copies have come down to us in which full colophons have been added by hand, e.g. in a vellum copy of the _Speculum Morale_ in the Bibliothèque Nationale, after praise of the book, we read: Impressumque in inclyta vrbe Argentinensium ac nitide terse emendateque resertum per honorandum dominum Dominum Iohannem Mentelin artis impressorie magistrum famosissimum. Anno a partu virginis salutifero millesimo quadringentesimo septuagesimo sexto. die mensis nouembris sexta. Despite a few instances of this kind, however, it is certain that the majority of printers who omitted to print colophons to their books did so, not in the expectation that they would be supplied by hand, but in imitation of the manuscript books to which they were accustomed, in which it is distinctly exceptional to find any mention of the name of the scribe. But the men who took a pride in their new art, and who thought that their work was good enough to bring more custom to their press if their name were associated with it, took the opposite course, and so colophons from 1457 onwards are common in the best books, and may perhaps be found in about 40 per cent of the incunables that have come down to us. By the men who were skilful in using red ink they were often thus printed, and whether in red or in black, they frequently had appended to them the printer's mark or device, which gave a very decorative finish to the book. Nowadays, when we have been accustomed all our lives to the luxury of titlepages, it may well seem to us merely perverse to hide the title of a book, the name of the author, and information as to where, when, and by whom it was printed in a closely set paragraph at the end of the book. But if we think for a moment of how the manuscript books to which the early printers were accustomed had been produced we shall see that it was the most natural thing in the world. A scribe would take his quire of paper or vellum, and if he were a high-class scribe, mindful of the need of keeping his text clean, he would leave his first leaf blank and begin at the top of his second. But here he would begin to write straight away, sometimes with the first words of his text, sometimes with a preliminary paragraph, which may be called the _Incipit_, from the important word in it. In this paragraph he would give either the name of his book or, almost as commonly, the name of the first section of it, introducing the title only incidentally. Incipit Racionale diuinorum officiorum. Incipiunt Constitutiones Clementis pape V una cum apparatu Ioannis Andree. Marci Tullii Ciceronis Arpinatis consulisque Romani ac oratorum maximi Ad M. Tullium Ciceronem filium suum Officiorum liber incipit. Incipit epistola sancti Hieronimi ad Paulinum presbiterum de omnibus diuine historie libris. That it did not occur to him to devote his blank page to a displayed title of the book he was copying was due to the fact that every medieval manuscript was the direct descendant, through many or few stages, of the author's own original draft, and that this was the most pretentious way and least natural in which any author could begin to write a book. So the scribes imitated the author in his normal beginning, and the early printers imitated the scribes, and because an author was more inclined to relieve his feelings at the end of a book than to express them volubly at the beginning, it was only when books multiplied so greatly that purchasers wanted to see at a glance what was the name of the book at which they were looking that titlepages superseded colophons. The proof of this explanation being the true one is that titlepages become common just about the time (1480 to 1490) that book-production was beginning to be divided up between publishers and printers, and that the publisher very quickly claimed them for his own. The earliest titlepages, those of the Mainz _Bul zu deutsch des bapst Pius II_ (1463), Rolewinck's Sermon for the Feast of the Presentation (Cologne: Arnold ther Hoernen, 1470), the _Flores Sancti Augustini_ (Cologne, 1473), and the _Kalendarium_ of Joannes de Monteregio and its Italian translation (Venice: Ratdolt and partners, 1476), were all more or less of the nature of "sports." When titlepages came to stay, a year or two later than the last of these precursors, they everywhere took the form of labels, a single sentence containing the short title of the book, printed sometimes in large, sometimes in small type, but with no other information. The label title, being usually printed high up on the page, left two-thirds, or thereabouts, blank beneath it, and this space was soon filled, sometimes by a pictorial woodcut, sometimes by a mark or device, which at first might be either that of the printer or publisher, but gradually came to be much more often the publisher's. The short title and device taken together filled the page sufficiently for decorative purposes, but they left room for a further paragraph of type to be added if desired, and the advantage of filling this with the name and address of the firm from whom the book might be obtained was so obvious that the "imprint," as it is rather loosely called, soon made its appearance and gradually became recognized as an essential part of the titlepage. When printers and publishers lost pride in their work and ceased to care to decorate their titlepages with pictures or devices, the title was displayed in a series of single lines and made to straggle down the page till it came nearly low enough to meet the imprint. If we go back to the habits of the scribes it is easy to understand another point in the early history of books, their make-up into quires and the marking of these quires by signatures and catchwords. The word _quaire_ or _quire_ is a shortened form of the Latin _quaternio_, the name devised for four sheets of paper folded down the middle so as to form eight leaves. A gathering of five sheets making ten leaves was called a _quinternion_, and this, though it has yielded no modern word, was for generations such a popular form that _quinterniones_ was sometimes used as a general expression for manuscripts. Gatherings of three sheets, making six leaves, were called _terniones_; gatherings of two sheets, making four leaves, _duerniones_. A few, but only a few, books exist--nearly all of those which I have seen are either block-books or thin folios of poetry of the reign of Charles II--which are made up in single sheets not placed one within the other, but following consecutively. But the system of gathering from two to five or more sheets together into quires was practically universal both before and after the invention of printing, and this for the excellent reason that it reduced the quantity of sewing necessary in binding a book, and reduced also the risk of the sewing cutting through the paper or vellum, as it would be very likely to do if there were only a single thickness to resist it. When the scribe had arranged his quire or gathering he wrote first page by page on all the leaves on the left hand until he came to the middle of the quire, when he proceeded to write page by page on all the leaves on the right hand. Thus in a quire of four sheets the left half of the first sheet would be leaf 1, pages 1 and 2, and the right half would be leaf 8, pages 15 and 16, so that the same sheet formed the beginning and end of the quire. In the earliest printed books the quires were printed page by page exactly as the quires of a manuscript had been written. But early in the 'seventies (Peter Schoeffer can be proved to have adopted the practice between 1471 and September, 1474) the advantage was perceived of printing both the pages on the upper or lower side of a sheet at the same time, i.e. in a quaternion, page 16 together with page 1. As soon as a printer had learnt to print two folio pages together, it became easy to print four quarto pages, or eight octavo pages, or sixteen sextodecimo pages. In each case the amount of type to be printed at a pull would be approximately the same. It thus ceased to be disadvantageous to print small books, whereas so long as each page had to be pulled separately it was obviously wasteful to make that page a very small one. Even when the printers had learnt how to print two folio pages at the same time the presswork remained very laborious. The earliest presses were worked with only a single screw, and when the pressman had pulled the lever one way to bring the platen down on the type, he had to push the lever back again in order to raise the platen and release the paper. Thus in order to print a large book quickly four or six sets of pressmen had to work on it at once, each at a different press. To avoid mistakes, therefore, the practice was to allot one section of the book to each press. Thus if a book were calculated to run to 288 leaves, six presses might begin simultaneously at leaves 1, 49, 97, 145, 193, and 241. What more often happened was that either to follow the natural sections of the book, or because some of the printers were engaged on other tasks and not ready to begin at once, the sections were of much less regular lengths, and we can sometimes prove that the first press was far advanced in its section before the fifth and sixth had begun. Now in all these cases, unless they were reprinting an earlier book, page for page, it is obvious that some nice calculations would be needed to make each section end with the end of a quire so as to be able to join on with the beginning of the quire containing the next section without any gap or crowding. Hence the striking irregularities in the make-up of many early books. Instead of a book being printed in a succession of quinternions or a succession of quaternions we have many a make-up which can only be expressed by a cruelly mathematical formula, such as this, which represents the quiring of the Forty-two Line Bible. a-i^10; k^10+1 lm^10 n^6+1; o-z^10 [inverted 2]^10 [@]^10+1; A-F^10 G^4: aa-nn^10; oo pp^10 qq^10+1; rr-zz AA-CC^10; DD^12 EE^10+1; FF GG^10 HH^4+1 II^10. In this the index-letter shows the number of leaves in the quire, a-i^10 being a short way of stating that each of the nine quires a b c d e f g h i has ten leaves in it. In the tenth quire (k) there is an extra leaf, and again in the thirteenth (n) the printer found that he had too much copy for six leaves and not enough for eight, and was therefore obliged to put in an odd one, because another press had already printed off the beginning of the next quire (o). Not infrequently it would happen that the odd amount of copy for a section was very difficult to fit exactly into a leaf even when the printer had compressed it by using as many contractions as possible, or eked it out by using no contractions at all. This accounts for the occurrence of a blank space, large or small, at the end of some sections without any break in the text, as the printer was sometimes careful to explain by the printed notice "Hic nihil deficit," or as in our page from Ulrich Zell, "Vacat." As has been already noted, in a moment of enthusiasm Mr. Proctor once said to the present writer that it was impossible to find a fifteenth century book that was really ugly. This was certainly putting the case for his beloved incunables a peg too high, for there were plenty of bad printers before 1500, and even such a master as Jenson was by no means uniformly careful as to the quality of his presswork. But one of the legacies which the early printers received from the scribes was the art of putting their text handsomely on the page, and the difference which this makes in the appearance of a book is very marked, little as many modern printers and publishers attend to it. But in the books of the best printers of our own day, as well as in those of the best of the fifteenth century, from 65 per cent to 72 per cent of the height of the page is devoted to the text, from 28 per cent to 35 per cent being reserved for the upper and lower margins, of which at least two-thirds is for the lower and not more than one-third for the upper. As compared with the height of a page of type the breadth is usually in the proportion of about 45 to 70 (a trifle more in a quarto), and here again the outer margin is at least twice as great as the inner. Thus in a book with a page measuring 10 by 7¼ inches, the type-page should measure about 7 by 4¾ inches, with a lower margin of about 2 inches, an upper of 1 inch, an outer of 1¾ inches, and an inner of ¾ inch. It will be greatly to the advantage of book-buyers to bear these proportions in mind, in order to measure how much a book offered to them has been cut down, and also to be able to instruct their binders as to how to reduce the absurd margins of some modern "Large Paper" copies to more artistic dimensions. Whether it is legitimate further to reduce the margins of an old book which has already been mangled by a binder in order to get the proportions better balanced is a nice question of taste. If a two-inch lower margin has been halved and a one-inch upper margin left intact, if the upper margin is reduced, the book will become a pleasant "working copy" instead of an obviously mangled large one, and the collector must settle in his own conscience whether this be a sufficient justification for snipping off a centimetre of old paper. Exactly why the proportions here laid down, with their limits of variation, are right for books cannot easily be set forth. It is easiest to see in the case of the relation between the inner and outer margins. As William Morris was never tired of insisting, the unit in a book is, not a single page, but the two pages which can be seen at the same time. The two inner margins separate the two type-pages by a single band of white, which, if each inner margin were as large as the outer, would become insufferably conspicuous. As for the proportions between the lower and upper margins, the explanation may lie in the angle at which we habitually read books, or by the need for leaving room for the reader to hold the book in his hands. But whether it be a matter of inherent rightness or merely of long-established convention, the pleasure of handling a book with correct margins is very great, and a collector who secures an uncut copy of even a poorly printed book of the period when margins were understood, will find that it presents quite a pleasing and dignified appearance. And so in regard to other points, any book which illustrates the relations of the early printers to the scribes, the difficulties which they experienced in their work and the expedients by which they were surmounted deserves, whatever its date or present price, to be reckoned as a real incunable, and the collector who gets together a few dozen books of this kind will have far better sport for his outlay than he who is tied down too rigorously by chronology. FOOTNOTES: [27] It will be so much the better if the collector can add to them a copy of one of the early books printed at Rome (the German ones are too rare) in which there still survives the text of the rubrics, printed not in their appropriate places, but on a separate leaf or quire for the guidance of the rubricator. [28] By Jenson and many early printers in Italy, and by Husner and a few others in Germany, the majuscules of the founts used in the text were massed together in headings with admirable effect. But for a time the heavy heading types carried all before them. CHAPTER VII EARLY GERMAN AND DUTCH ILLUSTRATED BOOKS [Illustration: VIII. AUGSBURG, G. ZAINER, C. 1475 TUBERINUS. GESCHICHT VON DEM SELIGEN KIND SYMON] The natural method of illustrating a book printed with type is by means of designs cut in relief, which can be locked up in the forme with the type, so that text and illustrations are printed together by a single impression[29] without any special preparation of the paper. So long as the design to be printed stands out clearly on the block it matters nothing whether it be cut on wood or on soft metal. Even as between the design cut by hand and the process line-block which has as its basis a photograph taken direct from a pen drawing, the difference can hardly be said to be one of better and worse. We lose the individuality of the wood-cutter or wood-engraver, but we are brought into closer touch with the individuality of the artist, and whether we gain or lose depends on the ability of the artist to dispense with a skilled interpreter. The one requisite for success is that either the artist, or an interpreter for him, should recognize the limits within which his work can be effective. The reproductions of the artist's designs will be looked at, not in isolation, but as part of an _ensemble_ made up of two pages printed in a type which, perhaps with a little trouble, can be ascertained beforehand, and they will be printed not as proofs on a special press by a special workman on paper chosen solely to suit them, but with average skill and care in an ordinary press and on paper the choice of which will be dictated by several considerations. Whenever relief blocks have been used for any length of time as a method of book-illustration the rivalry of artists has tended to cause these restrictions to be forgotten. In our own day line-blocks have been almost driven out of the field by "half-tones," which cannot be printed without the aid of paper specially coated, or at least rolled or "calendared." Shortly before the process line-block was perfected the extreme fineness of the American school of wood-engraving had induced a nearly similar result. The successors of Bewick worked with equal disregard of the need for clearly defined lines, and when we travel back to the first half of the sixteenth century we find the Holbeins, Burgkmair, Weiditz, and other artists producing designs far too delicate for the conditions under which they were to be reproduced. Thus the charm of the woodcuts in books of the fifteenth century is by no means confined to that "quaintness" which is usually the first thing on which the casual observer comments. The "quaintness" is usually there, but along with it is a harmony between print, paper, and woodcut which has very rarely since been attained. The claim made in the last paragraph must be understood as applying only to books honestly illustrated with blocks specially made for them. Books decorated with a job lot of cuts, as was often the case, especially after about 1495, may accidentally be delightful and often possess some of the charm of a scrapbook. It is good sport, for instance, to take one of Vérard's later books and trace the origin of the cuts with which that cheaply liberal publisher made his wares attractive. But the incongruity is mostly manifest, and collectors might well be more fastidious than they show themselves and refuse to waste the price of a good book with homogeneous illustrations in buying half a dozen dull little volumes with an old Horae cut at the beginning and the end of each. A second exception must be recognized in the books illustrated by untrained wood-cutters. In Germany and the Low Countries few, if any, quite untrained wood-cutters were employed, and this is true also of Paris and Florence. But at Lyon and other provincial towns in France (the Abbeville cutters, who probably came from Paris, are strikingly good), in a few books printed at Rome and Venice, here and there in Spain, and in one or two of Caxton's and several of Wynkyn de Worde's books in England, the cutting is so bad that, though it is possible sometimes to see that excellent designs underlie it, the effect is either ludicrous or repellent. Only fanatics could admire such pictures as we find in the early Lyonnese _Quatre fils d'Aymon_ (_s.n._, but about 1480), in the _Opuscula_ of Philippus de Barberiis printed by Joannes de Lignamine (Rome, 1481), in a large number of the cuts of the Malermi Bible of 1490 (Venice, G. Ragazzo for L. A. Giunta, 1490), in _Los doze trabajos de Ercules_ (Zamora, 1483), in Caxton's _Aesop_ or in Wynkyn de Worde's _Morte d'Arthur_ (1527). Books such as these (the Malermi Bible is on a different footing from the rest owing to the wonderful excellence of the good cuts) may be bought as curiosities, or for the light they throw on the state of the book trade when such work could be put on the market, but no artistic merit can be claimed for them. In Germany good work began early, because, to supply the demand for playing-cards and pictures of saints, schools of wood-cutters had grown up, more especially at Augsburg and at Ulm. Block-books also had come into existence in the district of the lower Rhine, and these, which in their earliest forms can hardly be later than 1460, must be divided between the Low Countries and Germany and prove the existence of competent workmen. The earliest type-printed books which possess illustrations are the little handful printed by Albrecht Pfister at Bamberg in and about 1461, described in Chapter V, but it was at Augsburg in the early seventies that book-illustration first flourished. As has been mentioned in Chapter V, trade difficulties at first stood in the way, but by the arbitration of Melchior Stanheim, abbot of the local monastery of SS. Ulrich and Afra, these were settled on the sensible basis that printers might have as many illustrations in their books as they chose to provide, but that they must be designed and cut by Augsburg craftsmen. The series seems to have begun with some tolerably good column-cuts to an edition of the Lives of the Saints in German, of which the first part was issued in October, 1471, and the second in April, 1472. In _Das guldin spiel_ of a Dominican writer, Ingold, finished on 1 August of the latter year, we find for the first time real power of characterization. Lovers of woodcuts owe some gratitude to the medieval trick of attaching edifying discourses to matters of everyday interest and amusement, for whereas the edifying discourses themselves could hardly carry illustrations, hunting, chess, or, as here, seven games which could be likened to the seven deadly sins, gave opportunities for showing pictures by which the natural man would be attracted. Another important book of this year, only known to me in Bämler's plagiarism of it, was the first edition of the _Belial_, the amazing book which tells the story of Christ being summoned for the trespass committed in harrowing Hell. In 1473 the heavy gothic type which Zainer used in these illustrated books was put at the disposal of the Abbot of SS. Ulrich and Afra and used to print a _Speculum Humanae Saluationis_, to which was added a summary in verse by Frater Johannes, an inmate of his monastery. This book was illustrated by 176 different cuts of Biblical subjects, of varying degrees of merit. In the same year, and again in 1474, Zainer printed an illustrated _Plenarium_, i.e. the Epistles and Gospels for the round of the Church's year. In or shortly after 1475 he printed and illustrated a narrative of great contemporary interest, the story, written by one Tuberinus, of a child named Simon, who was supposed to have been slain by the Jews out of hatred of the Christian faith and desire to taste Christian flesh. The tale appears to contain internal evidence of its untruth, and the unhappy Jews who were cruelly executed had much better claims to be regarded as martyrs than "das susses Kind" Simon. But some of the pictures are quite animated, especially one (see Plate VIII) of the hired kidnapper beguiling the child through the streets and then deftly hurrying him into the house of doom with a touch of his knee. In 1475 or 1476, and again with the date 1477, Zainer produced editions of the German Bible in large folio, illustrated with great pictorial capitals at the beginning of each book. But his greatest achievement was in an undated book of this period, the _Speculum Humanae Vitae_ of Rodericus Bishop of Zamora, in the German translation of Heinrich Steinhowel. If this Mirror of Man's Life had been written by a man with his eyes open instead of by a vapid rhetorician it should have been one of the most valuable documents for the social life of the fifteenth century, since it professes to contrast the advantages and evils of every rank and occupation of life, from the Pope and the Emperor down to craftsmen and labourers. There is but little joy to be gained from its text, but the Augsburg artist has atoned for many literary shortcomings by his vivid and charming pictures of scenes from the social life of his day, though it is not to be supposed that German judges took bribes quite so openly as he is pleased to represent. In addition to fifty-four woodcuts of this kind, there is a large genealogical tree of the House of Hapsburg, which is a triumph of decorative arrangement. Two other early Augsburg printers devoted themselves to illustrated work, Johann Bämler and Anton Sorg. The former at first contented himself with prefixing a full-page frontispiece to his books, as in the _Summa_ of Johannes Friburgensis and _Die vier und zwanzig goldenen Harfen_, both of 1472, and again in the picture of S. Gregory and Peter the Deacon in the Dialogues of the former printed for the monastery of SS. Ulrich and Afra, and that of the dying Empress in the _Historie von den sieben weisen Meistern_ of the following year. In the _Belial_ of 1473 and _Plenarium_ of 1474 Bämler was content for most of the cuts to borrow or copy from the editions of Zainer, but in the _Alexander der Grosse_ of the former year and _Melusine_ and _Sieben Todsünden_ of the latter he himself led the way with some excellent sets of woodcuts, which were copied by others. Again, in _Das Buch der Natur_ of 1475 we find a dozen specially designed full-page cuts, one to each book, illustrating man, the spheres, beasts, birds, mermaids, serpents, insects, etc.; in the _Chronica von allen Kaisern and Königen_ of 1476 there are four large cuts, showing Christ in glory, the dream of the Emperor Sigismund, the vision of S. Gregory at Mass, and S. Veronica holding before her the cloth with the imprint of Christ's face. It was perhaps in this same year that Bämler issued, without dating it, Jacob Sprenger's _Die Rosenkranz Bruderschaft_, with two very striking cuts, one of the offering of garlands to Our Lady, the other of Christ's scourgers looking back mockingly as they leave Him. A dated edition appeared in 1477. Another book of 1476 with a good set of cuts was the romance of Apollonius, King of Tyre. In 1477 Bämler issued a _Buch der Kunst_, which, like the _Buch der Natur_, went through several editions; it must be noted, however, that there is no such contrast between Art and Nature as the short title of this book might suggest, the full title being _Buch der Kunst geistlich zu werden_. The illustrations for the most part represent a soul in different situations, but there are also many of Biblical subjects. The last book of Bämler's which need be mentioned is the _Turken-Kreuzzüge_ of Rupertus de Sancto Remigio, which has an effective frontispiece of the Pope preaching to the Crusaders and some vigorous smaller cuts. Anton Sorg began printing in 1475 and issued his first illustrated book the next year. He was a prolific printer, and issued many close imitations of books originated by Günther Zainer and others. The most famous work specially connected with his name is Ulrich von Reichenthal's _Das Conciliumbuch geschehen zu Costencz_ (1483), illustrated with forty-four larger cuts, all in the first ninety leaves, and 1158 coats of arms of the various dignitaries present at the Council. The larger cuts show the knighting of the Burgermeister of Constance, processions, a tournament, and the martyrdom of Huss (despite his safe conduct) and the scattering of his ashes over a field. The later Augsburg illustrated books, issued by the elder Schoensperger, Johann Schobsser, Peter Berger, and Hans Schauer, though they maintain a respectable level of craftsmanship, have less interest and individuality than these earlier ones. One Augsburg printer, Erhard Ratdolt, who had made himself a reputation by ten years' work at Venice (1476-86), shortly after his return issued a notable illustrated book, the _Chronica Hungarorum_ of Thwrocz. His main business was the production of missals and other service books, in some of which he made experiments in colour-printing. At the neighbouring city of Ulm, where also the wood-cutters had long been at work, illustrated books began to be issued in 1473 by Johann Zainer, no doubt a kinsman of Günther Zainer of Augsburg. His chief books are (1) Latin and German editions of Boccaccio's _De claris mulieribus_ (1473), with a fine borderpiece of Adam and Eve and numerous spirited little pictures which, though primitive both in conception and execution, are full of life, and (2) an _Aesop_ which was reprinted at Augsburg and copied elsewhere in Germany, and also in France, the Netherlands, and England. From 1478 onwards he seems to have been in continual financial trouble. He was apparently able, however, to find funds to issue two rather notable books about 1490, the _Prognosticatio_ of Lichtenberger, and a Totentanz. The blocks of both of these passed to Meidenbach at Mainz. Most of the forty books of a later printer, Conrad Dinckmut (1482-96), have illustrations. His _Seelenwurzgarten_ (1483) appears at first sight to be a most liberally decorated book, crowded with full-page cuts, but of its 133 illustrations only seventeen are different, one, representing the tortures of the damned, being used as many as thirty-seven times, a deplorable waste of good paper, which the printer had the good sense to reduce in a later edition. Dinckmut's most famous book is a German edition of the _Eunuchus_ of Terence "ain maisterliche vnd wolgesetzte Comedia zelesen vnd zehören lüstig und kurtzwylig, die der Hochgelert vnd gross Maister und Poet Therencius gar subtill mit grosser Kunnst und hochem Flyss gesetzt hat." This has twenty-eight nearly full-page cuts in which the characters are well drawn, the setting for the most part showing the streets of a medieval town. A _Chronik_, by Thomas Lirer, issued about the same time, was begun to be illustrated on a generous scale with eighteen full-page cuts in the first twenty-eight leaves, but was hastily finished off with only three more cuts in the remaining thirty-six. They are less carefully executed than those of the _Eunuchus_, but show more variety, and are on the whole very pleasing. Another Ulm printer, who began work in 1482, Leonhard Holl, printed in that year a magnificent edition of Ptolemy's _Cosmographia_, with woodcut maps (one signed "Insculptum est per Iohann[=e] Schnitzer de Armszheim") and fine capitals. The first of these, a pictorial N, shows the editor, Nicolaus Germanus, presenting his book to the Pope. Of later Ulm books by far the most important are two by Gulielmus Caoursin, published by Johann Reger in 1496, and both concerned with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Rhodes. One volume gives their _Stabilimenta_ or Constitution, the other _Obsidionis urbis Rhodiae descriptio_, an illustrated history of their defence of their island against the Turks and their subsequent dealings with the infidel, who at one time were so complaisant as to present them with no less valuable a relic than the arm of their patron, which was duly honoured with processions and sermons. Altogether the two books contain fifty-six full-page pictures, rather roughly cut, but full of vigour and bringing the course of the siege and the character of the wild Turkish horsemen very vividly before the reader. William Morris was even tempted to conjecture that the designs may have been made by Erhard Reuwich, the illustrator of the Mainz _Breidenbach_, of which we shall soon have to speak. At Nuremberg book-illustration begins with the _Ars et modus contemplatiuae vitae_, six leaves of which partake of the nature of a block-book. In or about 1474 Johann Müller of Königsberg (whose variant names, Johannes Regiomontanus, Johannes de Monteregio, have trapped more bibliographers into inconsistencies than those of any other fifteenth century author) issued calendars and other works with astronomical diagrams, and prefixed to his edition of the _Philalethes_ of Maffeus Vegius a woodcut (for which Dr. Schreiber suspects an Italian origin) showing Philalethes in rags and Truth with no other clothing than a pair of very small wings. In June, 1475, Sensenschmidt and Frisner illustrated their folio edition of Justinian's _Codex_, with ten charming little column-cuts; the following month Sensenschmidt produced a _Heiligenleben_, with more than 250 illustrations, which, according to Dr. Schreiber, are very noteworthy as they stand, and would have been more so had not the wood-cutter been hurried into omitting the backgrounds in the later cuts, those to the "Pars aestiualis." Sensenschmidt also printed an undated German Bible with pictorial capitals. In 1477 Creussner issued the travels of Marco Polo with a woodcut of the traveller, and about the same time Latin and German editions of the tract of Tuberinus on the supposed fate suffered by "Das Kind Simon" at the hand of the Jews. In 1481 Anton Koberger published his first illustrated book, _Postilla super Bibliam_ of Nicolaus de Lyra, with forty-three woodcuts, which were imitated not only at Cologne, but at Venice, though their interest is not very great. In his German Bible of 1483 he himself was content to acquire blocks previously used at Cologne. The next year he prefixed to his edition of the _Reformation der Stadt Nuremberg_ a notable woodcut of S. Sebald and S. Laurence in the style of Michael Wolgemut. The 252 cuts in his _Heiligenleben_ of 1488 are mainly improved rehandlings of previous versions; of his _Schatzbehalter_ and Schedel's Chronicle we speak later on. At Basel Martin Flach was the first printer of illustrated books, ornamenting his 1473 edition of the Ackermann von Böhmen with a woodcut of Death, the labourer, and the dead woman, his _Cato_ with the usual picture of a master and scholar, his _Rosenkranz_ with a cut of a traveller beseeching the Virgin's protection from robbers, and another of a scene in heaven, and his _Streit der Seele mit dem Korper_ (these and the two preceding are undated) with eight illustrations of various moments in the dispute. More important than these are three profusely illustrated books from the press of Bernhard Richel. The first of these, his 1476 _Spiegel Menschlicher Behaltnis_, has 278 woodcuts, the work of two different hands, the earlier of the two showing less technical skill, but much more vigour and originality.[30] The other two books are undated editions of the romance of _Melusina_, with sixty-seven cuts, in which suggestions from the first Augsburg edition have been improved on by an abler workman, and a _Mandeville_ with 147 cuts, most of which passed into the hands of M. Hupfuff at Strassburg, who used them in 1501. After this Richel turned his attention to liturgies, and is credited by Dr. Schreiber with being the first printer to insert in his Missals the woodcut of the Crucifixion, which thenceforth is so frequently found facing the first page of the Canon. After the publication of these works illustration seems to have languished for some years at Basel, but was taken up again about 1489 by Johann von Amerbach, Lienhart Ysenhut, and Michael Furter, the work of the two latter being mainly imitative. Johann Froben, who began work about this time, was too learned a publisher to concern himself with woodcuts, catering chiefly for students of the University. One of the professors, however, at the University was far from sharing this indifference to pictures. Born at Strassburg, Sebastian Brant was educated at Basel, and it was while holding there the Professorship of Laws that he ensured the popularity of his _Narrenschiff_ (1494) by equipping it with 115 admirable illustrations. The original edition from the press of Johann Bergmann von Olpe was published in February, and before the end of the year Peter Wagner at Nuremberg, Greyff at Reutlingen, Schoensperger at Augsburg had all pirated it with copies of the Basel cuts. When the Latin translation by Brant's friend, Jakob Locher, was published by Bergmann in 1497, the success of the book became European, and probably no other illustrated work of the fifteenth century is so well known. Probably in the same year as the _Narrenschiff_ was first issued, Bergmann printed for Brant his _In laudem gloriosae virginis Mariae_, with sixteen woodcuts by the same hand. In 1495 Brant supplied him with two works in honour of the Emperor Maximilian, one celebrating the alliance with Pope Alexander VI, illustrated with coats of arms, the other the _Origo bonorum regum_, with two woodcuts, in which the Emperor is shown receiving a sword from heaven. Brant was now in high favour with Maximilian, and his appointment as a Syndic and Imperial Chancellor at Strassburg led to his return and a consequent notable quickening of book-illustration in his native city. At Strassburg Johann Mentelin had used woodcuts for diagrams in an undated edition of the _Etymologiae_ of S. Isidore, printed about 1473, but the first producer of books pictorially illustrated was Heinrich Knoblochtzer, who worked from 1476 to 1484, and issued over thirty books with woodcuts. Most of these were copies from other men's work, e.g. his _Belial_ and _Melusina_ from Bämler's, his _Philalethes_ from the Nuremberg edition of Johann Müller, his _Aesop_ and _Historie der Sigismunda_ from Johann Zainer's, his _Leben der heiligen drei Königen_ probably from an anonymous edition by Johann Prüss. Early in his career in 1477 he issued two books on the great subject of the hour, the death of Charles the Bold, _Peter Hagenbach und der Burgundische Krieg_ and the _Burgunderkrieg_ of Erhard Tusch, in both of which he used eight woodcuts, most of them devoted to incidents of the Duke's ill-fated campaign. An anonymous edition of the _Euryalus und Lucretia_ of Aeneas Sylvius (Pope Pius II) has nineteen cuts, which were apparently commissioned by Knoblochtzer, but he did not secure the services of a sufficiently skilled wood-cutter. It should be said, however, that his "historiated" or pictorial capitals are apparently original and mostly good. To Johann Prüss at Strassburg are now assigned editions in High and Low German of the Lives of the Fathers and of Antichrist, which Mr. Proctor, though he had a shrewd suspicion of their origin, left floating about among the German "adespota." The cuts to the former reach the average of early work; those to the _Antichrist_ vary greatly, that of Antichrist preaching before a queen being extraordinarily successful as a presentation of a type of coarse spiritual effrontery. The acknowledged work of Prüss includes editions of the travels of _Mandeville_, of the _Directorium Humanae Vitae_, and of the _Flores Musicae_ of Hugo Reutlingensis, with a rather famous cut showing how musical notes are produced by the wind, by a water wheel, by tapping stones, and hammering on an anvil. Prüss also printed several illustrated editions of the _Hortus Sanitatis_. Far more prolific than either of the foregoing Strassburg printers was Johann Reinhard of Grüningen, usually called Grüninger after his birthplace. Setting up his press in 1483, he began book-illustration two years later with a German Bible with woodcuts copied from those in the Low German Bibles printed at Cologne and used in 1483 at Nuremberg by Koberger. Some minor books followed, and in 1491 he issued the _Antidotarius Animae_ of Nicolaus de Saliceto, with rather rude borders to each page and a woodcut of the Assumption. This, however, like some of his earlier illustrated books, appears to have been a commission, and in a reprint of 1493 the decorations disappear. It was not until 1496, under the influence of Sebastian Brant, that he undertook any important original illustrated work on his own account. In that year he produced his first illustrated classic, the comedies of Terence (_Terentius cum directorio_), with a large woodcut of a theatre and eighty-seven narrow cuts of the dramatis personae, or of scenery, used five at a time in 150 different combinations. Critically examined, the cuts are rather unpleasing, and were regarded at the time as likely to provoke mirth otherwise than by expressing the humorous intent of the playwright, but another edition and a German translation similarly decorated appeared in 1499, and Grüninger issued on the same plan a _Horace_ (edited by Locher) in 1498, and the _De consolatione philosophiae_ of Boethius in 1501. His full strength was reserved for the _Virgil_ of the following year, which was superintended by Brant, and is crowded with wonderful pictures, in which on the very eve of the Renaissance Virgil is thoroughly medievalized. Besides these classics, Grüninger printed many other illustrated editions, minor works by Brant, medical treatises by Brunschwig, an _Evangelienbuch_, a _Legenda S. Katherinae_ in Latin and also in German, editions of the _Hortulus Animae_, the romance of Hug Schapler, etc., in the fifteenth century, and in the sixteenth a sufficient number of illustrated books to bring his total up to about 150 editions. These may be said to form a school by themselves, distinguished by a certain richness of effect partly due to heavy cutting, but with less power of characterization and fewer gleams of beauty than are to be found in the best work of other towns, the figures being often unpleasing and notably lean in the legs. Martin Scott, Hupfuff, and Kistler were other Strassburg printers of the fifteenth century who also used illustrations. At Cologne book-illustration began in 1474 with editions of the _Fasciculus Temporum_ of Werner Rolewinck, from the presses of ther Hoernen and Nicolaus Götz. But with the notable exception of two great Bibles issued by Heinrich Quentell, illustrated books before 1490 are neither important nor numerous. Even in 1490 the edition of the _Historia Septem Sapientum_ of Johannes de Hauteselve, issued by the elder Koelhoff, was adorned with cuts obtained from Gerard Leeu at Antwerp. Quentell issued a few stock cuts in one book after another, and Johann Landen, Martin von Werden (if he be rightly identified with the printer "Retro Minores"), and Cornelis von Zierickzee all used a few cuts, some of the latter's having a curiously Italian appearance. But the only important illustrated book, other than the Bibles, is the Cologne Chronicle, issued (not to his profit, since he was imprisoned for it) by the younger Koelhoff in 1499, with armorial cuts and a few pictures of kings and queens somewhat too frequently repeated. Quentell's Bibles in High and Low German are in curious contrast to all this work. They are illustrated with 125 large oblong pictures, firmly if rather coarsely cut, and full of story-telling power, several successive incidents being sometimes brought into the same picture in true medieval fashion. The book was imitated at Nuremberg and elsewhere, and the illustrators of the Venetian Malermi Bible of 1490, and even Hans Holbein himself, did not disdain to take ideas from it. At Lübeck a finely decorated edition of the _Rudimentum Noviciorum_, a universal history, was issued by Lucas Brandis as early as 1475, with some good pictorial capitals, and pictures beginning with the Creation and coming down to the life of Christ. In 1484 we come to a _Levend S. Jeronimi_, printed by Bartholomaeus Ghotan and illustrated by an anonymous artist whose work can be traced during the next ten years in other books of Ghotan's, in several very interesting editions by the unidentified "Poppy-Printer" (so called from his mark), including a _Dodendantz_ (1489 and 1496), _Imitatio Christi_, _Bergitten Openbaringe_ (1496), _Reynke de Vos_ (1498), _Schakspil_, etc., and in the splendid Low German Bible printed in 1494 by Stephan Arndes, with cuts which improve on those in the Cologne editions. [Illustration: IX. MAINZ, ERHARD REUWICH, 1486 BREIDENBACH. PEREGRINATIO IN MONTEM SYON SARACENS AND SYRIANS] At Mainz, which led the way so energetically in typography, book-illustration is not represented at all until 1479, and then almost accidentally in the _Meditationes_ of Cardinal Turrecremata, printed by Johann Neumeister "ciuem Moguntinensem," with thirty-four curious metal-cuts imitating on a smaller scale the woodcuts in the editions printed at Rome by Ulrich Han. Two years later these metal-cuts were used by Neumeister at Albi, and they are subsequently found at Lyon. That this book was printed at Mainz was made practically certain by the type appearing subsequently in the possession of Peter von Friedberg, but that the cuts were executed at Mainz seemed to me improbable until the publication of Dr. Schreibers work on German illustrated books acquainted me with the existence of an _Agenda Moguntinensis_ of 29 June, 1480, also attributed to Neumeister's press, with a metal-cut of S. Martin and the beggar, and the arms not only of Archbishop Diether and the province of Mainz, but of Canon Bernhard von Breidenbach, of whom we shall soon hear again. The _Agenda_ and its metal-cuts are thus firmly fixed as executed at Mainz, and the metal-cuts of the _Meditationes_ must therefore be regarded as Mainz work also. In 1486 Mainz atoned for her long delay in taking up illustrated work, with the _Peregrinationes in Montem Syon_ of the aforesaid Canon Bernhard von Breidenbach, printed with type of Schoeffer's, under the superintendence of Erhard Reuwich of Utrecht, the illustrator. The text of Breidenbach's book is full of interest, for he gives a vivid account of the voyage and of the hardships and extortions to which pilgrims were exposed. In his preface he states that Reuwich was expressly taken on the expedition to illustrate the narrative, and he certainly had ample skill to justify the engagement. Unfortunately, far too much of his labour was spent on great maps or views of Venice, Parenzo, Rhodes and other places passed on the way. These are certainly interesting, as they mark all the chief buildings and are very decoratively drawn. But in the text of the book there are just a few sketches from the life, Jewish moneylenders and groups of Saracens, Syrians (see Plate IX), Indians, etc., and these are so vivid and vigorous that we may well regret that the labour bestowed on the great maps left time for very few of them. They are interesting, moreover, not only as designs, but also for their cutting, as they introduce cross-hatching for the first time, and that very effectively, and are handled with equal firmness and freedom. At the end of the book is a jest, a full-page woodcut subscribed "Hec sunt animalia veraciter depicta sicut vidimus in terra sancta," among the animals thus certified as having been seen personally in the Holy Land being a unicorn and a creature (name unknown--_non constat de nomine_) with a great mane of hair and long tail, which might well serve for the missing link between a man and a gorilla. The frontispiece of the book, on the other hand, is a striking design of a woman (symbolizing the city of Mainz?) standing on a pedestal surrounded with the arms of Breidenbach and the two friends who went with him, decoratively treated, while above her is a canopy of trelliswork amid which children are joyously climbing. With the Mainz _Breidenbach_ we feel that we have passed away from the naive craftsmanship of the earliest illustrated books into a region of conscious art. Naturally craftsmanship was not extinguished by the arrival of a single artist. We find it at work again in the charming and little known cut to a Leipzig edition of the Eclogues of Theodulus, printed in 1491, which the delight of recent discovery tempts me to show here (see Plate X), and at Mainz itself in the simple cuts to the _Hortus Sanitatis_, printed by Meidenbach, also in 1491, though here again there is an advance, as instead of plants and animals drawn out of the illustrator's head merely for decorative effect we find in many of the cuts fairly careful copies made from the life. In Conrad Botho's _Cronecken der Sassen_, printed by Schoeffer the following year, most of the armorial illustrations and pictures of the foundation of towns are merely decoratively treated, but in one cut in which a rather wild-looking Charlemagne with lean legs is shown seated in a chair of state surmounted by an eagle, an idol crushed under his feet, the designer has given free play to his imagination. [Illustration: X. LEIPZIG, CONRAD KACHELOFEN, 1489 THEODULUS. EGLOGA (I^b)] The transition to different ideals of illustration thus begun at Mainz was carried on at Nuremberg, where Michael Wolgemut illustrated two important works, the _Schatzbehalter_ in 1491 and the famous _Nuremberg Chronicle_ in 1493, this latter with the help of his stepson, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, and no doubt also of several inferior designers. The _Schatzbehalter_, of which the text is ascribed to Stephanus Fridelinus, a Nuremberg Franciscan, is one of several examples of a too ambitious scheme of decoration perforce abandoned for lack either of time or of money. In the first half there are ninety-two different full-page woodcuts, mostly illustrating Scripture history, but in some cases allegorical; in the second half the number is no more than two. The pictures executed before the scheme was thus cut down vary greatly in quality, from the fine design of Christ kneeling before the throne of the Father and pointing to the emblems of the Passion, which prepares us for the work which Dürer, who was then being trained in Wolgemut's studio, was soon to execute, down to the amusing but uninspired craftsmanship of the picture of Solomon and a selection of his wives banqueting. For the _Liber Chronicarum_ of Hartman Schedel plans had been much more carefully worked out than for the _Schatzbehalter_, and by studying economy a seemingly profuse system of illustration was maintained to the end. The industry of Mr. Sydney Cockerell has evolved for us the exact figures as to the illustration of this book. Real liberality is shown in the large, double-page topographical cuts of twenty-six different cities, for many of which sketches must have been specially obtained, and not one of these is used a second time; but twenty-two other large cuts of cities and countries were made to serve for sixty-nine different subjects, and when we come to figures of emperors, kings, and popes we find ninety-six blocks used 598 times, or on an average half a dozen times apiece. Mr. Cockerell's grand totals are 1809 pictures printed from 645 different blocks, so that the repetitions number no fewer than 1164. Both in the designs and their execution there is great inequality, but no single picture can compare with that of Christ kneeling before the Father in the _Schatzbehalter_, and both books, fine as their best work is, must be regarded rather as the crown of German medieval craftsmanship in book-building than as belonging to the period of self-conscious artistic aim which is heralded by the Mainz _Breidenbach_ but really begins with Dürer. With this Nuremberg work we may perhaps class that in the one book printed at the Cistercian monastery at Zinna, near Magdeburg, the _Psalterium Beatae Mariae Virginis_, of Hermann Nitschewitz, the most richly decorated German book of the fifteenth century, executed in honour of the Emperor Frederick and his son Maximilian, who in the page here shown (Plate XI) are both represented. Primitive Dutch and Flemish book-illustrations when compared with German ones exhibit just the general likeness and specific differences which we might expect in the work of such near neighbours. The Low Country wood-cutters are on the whole more decorative than the Germans, they were more influenced by the work of the engravers on copper, and they were attracted by different types of the human figure, the faces and bodies of the men and women they drew being often long and thin, and often also showing a slightly fantastic touch rarely found in German work. Unfortunately, these Low Country illustrated books are even rarer than the German ones, far fewer of them have found their way to England, and no attempt has been made to reproduce a really representative selection of them in facsimile. In 1884 Sir W. M. Conway, as the result of prolonged studies on the Continent, wrote an excellent account of these illustrations and the makers of them under the title, _The Woodcutters of the Netherlands in the Fifteenth Century_, which was unhappily allowed to appear without any facsimiles to elucidate the text. Thus the study of these Low Country illustrated books is still difficult. [Illustration: XI. ZINNA. MONASTERIUM CISTERCIENSE, C. 1493 NITSCHEWITZ. PSALTERIUM BEATAE MARIAE VIRGINIS FREDERICK AND MAXIMILIAN] In the production of the early block-books (see Chapter II) the Low Countries had played a principal part, and we meet again with traces of them in later illustrated books, cuts from the _Biblia Pauperum_ being used by Peter van Os at Zwolle in his _Episteln ende Evangelien_ of 5 January, 1487, and one from the _Canticum Canticorum_ in his edition of Mauberne's _Rosetum Exercitiorum Spiritualium_ in 1494. Two cut-up pieces from the block-book _Speculum Humanae Saluationis_ were used by Veldener in his _Episteln ende Evangelien_ completed at Utrecht 19 April, 1481, and all the old blocks, each divided in two, in a new edition of the _Speculum_ printed at Kuilenburg 27 September, 1483, with twelve new cuts added to them. Sir W. M. Conway has also shown that a set of sixty-four cuts used in a _Boec van der Houte_ or Legend of the Holy Cross, issued by Veldener at Kuilenburg earlier in 1483 (on 6 March), must have been obtained by dividing in a similar manner the double cuts of a block-book now entirely lost. The first printer in the Low Countries who commissioned a woodcut for a book printed with movable type was Johann of Paderborn (John of Westphalia) at Louvain, the cut being a curious little representation of his own head, shown in white on a black oval. This he used in his _Institutiones_ of Justinian of 21 November, 1475, and a few other books, and a similar but even better likeness of his kinsman, Conrad, appeared the next year in the _Formulae Epistularum_ of Maneken (1 December, 1476). Although Johann of Paderborn thus led the way in the use of cuts, he only resorted to them subsequently for a few diagrams, and towards the end of his career for some half-dozen miscellaneous blocks for devotional books. The portrait of Johann of Paderborn being used only as a device, book-illustration begins, though on a very small scale, with Veldener's edition of the _Fasciculus Temporum_ (29 December, 1475), with its handful of poor little cuts modelled on those of the Cologne editions. Five years later Veldener reprinted the _Fasciculus_ with a few new cuts, the originals of which have been found in the Lübeck _Rudimentum Noviciorum_. The only picture which seems to have been specially designed for him was a folio cut in his _Passionael_ (Utrecht, 12 September, 1480), where in delicate simple outline a variety of martyrdoms are shown as taking place in the hollows of a series of hills. Mention has already been made of his two Kuilenburg reprints of block-books. In the same place he issued Dutch and Latin Herbals with cuts copied from Schoeffer's Mainz _Herbarius_, and this completes the story of his illustrated ventures. [Illustration: XII. HAARLEM, BELLAERT, 1484 JACOBUS DE THERAMO. BELIAL (4^a) THE HARROWING OF HELL] We come now to Gerard Leeu, who on 3 June, 1480, issued at Gouda the first completely illustrated book from a Dutch press, the _Dialogus creaturarum moralisatus_, a glorified version of the old bestiaries, full of wonderful stories of animals. This was illustrated with 121 specially designed cuts (mostly about four inches by two), and Leeu's liberality was rewarded by the book passing through nine editions, six in Latin and three in Dutch, in eleven years. The first page is decorated with a picture of the Sun and Moon, a large capital, and an ornamental border of foliage, but the merit of the book lies in the simple skill with which the craftsman, working entirely in outline, has reproduced the humour of the text. To the same hand are attributed ten cuts for Leeu's vernacular _Gesta Romanorum_ (30 April, 1481), four for an undated _Historia Septem Sapientum_, and four others, of the Four Last Things, which, to our puzzlement, appear first in a French edition printed by Arend de Keysere at Audenarde, and then (23 August, 1482) in a Dutch one of Leeu's. In the previous month he had brought out a _Liden ende passie ons Heeren_ with thirty-two quarto cuts, part of a set of sixty-eight made for editions of the _Devote Ghetiden_ or Dutch version of the _Horae_, the first of which (unless a Gouda one has perished) appeared after his removal to Antwerp. During the following nine years he made good use of his old blocks. For his Dutch _Aesop_ of October, 1485, and Latin edition of September, 1486, he used cuts copied from the original Ulm and Augsburg set. These he bought from Knoblochtzer of Strassburg and sold to Koelhoff of Cologne. In 1487 he issued an illustrated _Reynard the Fox_, of which only a fragment survives, and the pleasant romance of _Paris and Vienne_, with twenty-five fairly successful cuts, with the help of which five editions were sold, the first in French, the next three in Dutch, and the last (23 June, 1492) in English. According to Sir W. M. Conway these _Paris and Vienne_ cuts were the work of a Haarlem craftsman, who from 1483 to 1486 had worked for Jacob Bellaert, whose press was intimately connected with Leeu's, type and cuts passing freely from one to the other. Bellaert had begun by using some of Leeu's Passion cuts for a _Liden ons Heeren_, but seems soon to have discovered his Haarlem wood-cutter, with whose aid he produced (15 February, 1484) _Der Sonderen troest_, The Sinners' Trust, a Dutch version of that remarkable work the _Belial_ or _Consolatio peccatorum_ of Jacobus de Theramo, of which the Augsburg edition has already been mentioned. This begins with a full folio-page cut combining in one panorama the Fall of Angels and of Adam and Eve, the Flood, the Egyptians overtaken in the Red Sea, and the Baptism of Christ. Six of the other cuts fill half-pages and show the Harrowing of Hell (here reproduced, Plate XII), Devils in consultation, Satan kneeling before the Lord, the Last Judgment, Ascension and Descent of the Holy Spirit. The remaining half-page pictures are all composite, made up of different combinations of eight centre-pieces and seventeen sidepieces. The centre-pieces for the most part represent the different judges before whom the trials are heard, the side-pieces the messengers and parties to the suit. The combinations are occasionally a little clumsy, but far less so than in the Strassburg books printed by Grüninger in which the same labour-saving device was adopted, and in excellence of design and delicacy of cutting this Dutch _Belial_ ranks high among illustrated incunabula. Later in 1484 (25 October) Bellaert issued a _Boeck des Golden Throens_ with four-column cuts, often repeated, of an Elder instructing a maiden; in May, 1485, Le Fèvre's _Jason_, and a little earlier than this an undated edition of the same author's _Recueil des histoires de Troie_, both in Dutch and both profusely illustrated; on Christmas Eve in the same year a Dutch _De proprietatibus rerum_, and in 1486 versions of Pierre Michault's _Doctrinal_, in which a dreamer is shown the schools of virtue and of vice, and of Guillaume de Deguilleville's _Pélérinage de la vie humaine_, the medieval prototype of Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_. The _De proprietatibus_ is the only one of these books of 1485-6 that I have seen, and its full-page cuts are notable both for their own sake and as having been widely copied, although they illustrate only eleven of the nineteen books. No other Low Country printer showed anything like the enterprise of Leeu and Bellaert in commissioning long sets of original woodcuts from competent craftsmen, but several fine illustrated books were produced by other firms. Beginning in 1484 Peter van Os printed numerous illustrated books at Zwolle, few of which attain excellence. Yet one of the earliest of them, the Sermons of S. Bernard, has a frontispiece of the Virgin and Child and the Saint gazing at them which is unequalled by any other single cut in the Low Country book in its large pictorial effect. At Gouda, in 1486, Gottfried van Os issued the _Chevalier Délibéré_ of Olivier de la Marche, with sixteen large cuts, in which the author's minute instructions for each picture are faithfully carried out with extraordinary freedom and spirit, though the ambitious designs are more suitable to frescoes than to book-illustrations. About the end of the century the book was reprinted at Schiedam with the same cuts, from which facsimiles were made in 1898 by Dr. Lippmann and published by the Bibliographical Society. At Louvain in 1487 Egidius van der Heerstraten issued the _De praeclaris mulieribus_ of Boccaccio with copies of the cuts of the Ulm edition of great interest for the differences in handling revealed when the two are compared. A little later than this another Louvain printer, Ludovicus de Ravescot, published the _De anno die et feria Dominicae Passionis_ of Petrus de Rivo, with a title-cut of the author kneeling before the Virgin and Child, and three large cuts of the Last Supper, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, somewhat in the temper of the illustrations in the Cologne Bibles, but with characteristic Low Country touches. Lastly, mention must be made of the clumsy outline cuts in the Bruges edition of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_, issued in 1484 by Caxton's partner Colard Mansion. Mansion certainly, and possibly Caxton also, were among the early experimenters with copperplate illustration, but the story of these will be told in Chapter XV. FOOTNOTES: [29] Dr. Schreiber, in the introduction to Tome V of his _Manuel de l'amateur de la gravure sur bois au xv^e siècle_, dealing with German book-illustrations, shows that some little difficulty was found at first in effecting this. In Boner's _Edelstein_ (Bamberg, 1461), probably the first illustrated book printed in Germany, the cuts were printed after the text. In Zainer's _Heiligenleben_, the first illustrated book printed at Augsburg, the cuts must have been printed first, as part of the text is sometimes printed over them. [30] A set of proofs of cuts to this book, previously in the possession of the Marquis of Blandford and Mr. Perkins, was among the favourite possessions of William Morris, and is now owned by Mr. Morgan. An illustrated _Plenarium_, assigned by Dr. Copinger to Richel, appears to be a "ghost," due to some confusion with this _Spiegel_. CHAPTER VIII EARLY ITALIAN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS As a frontispiece to this chapter (Plate XIII) we give a page from the 1487 edition of the _Devote meditatione sopra la Passione del Nostro Signore_, printed at Venice by "Jeronimo di Sancti e Cornelio suo Compagno," the woodcuts in which, as already mentioned, are cut down from those in a block-book of some twenty or five-and-twenty years earlier, and must thus rank as the earliest Italian illustrations. The illustration of books printed in movable type began in Italy as early as 1468, Ulrich Han issuing that year at Rome an edition of Cardinal Turrecremata's _Meditationes_, decorated with thirty-one rude cuts chiefly from the life of Christ. A few of these have a coarse vigour, but in the greater number any merit in the original designs (professedly taken from the frescoes with which the Cardinal had decorated the cloisters of the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva) is lost in bad cutting. Notwithstanding this the work went through at least three editions (three new pictures being added to the second and one omitted), and served as a model for the metal-cuts of Neumeister's editions at Mainz and elsewhere, and for the small neat woodcuts of one by Plannck. But though Han's venture was thus successful beyond its deserts, it took Italy nearly twenty years to make up its mind to welcome printed illustrations. During this time nothing approaching a style of book-illustration emerges, though individual books of importance appeared at several towns. Thus at Verona the _De re militari_ of Robertus Valturius (written not later than 1468) was printed in 1472 by a certain Joannes of that city, with over eighty woodcuts of weapons and implements of war, including a galley which looks more picturesque than seaworthy, chariots, and mangonels, all well drawn and well cut, but a little spoilt by paper and presswork much less good than was usual at this time. Eleven years later Latin and Italian editions with practically the same cuts were printed, also at Verona, by Boninus de Boninis. The only other early Veronese book with illustrations is an Italian version of one of the medieval collections of fables which sought shelter under the name of Aesop. This, which has some spirited cuts, was printed by Giovanni Alvise in 1479. [Illustration: XIII. VENICE, GERONIMO DI SANCTI, 1487 BONAVENTURA. MEDITATIONE (14^b REDUCED) THE BETRAYAL] At Naples, Sixtus Riessinger printed Boccaccio's _Libro di Florio et di Bianzefiore chiamato Filicolo_ in 1478, and also (without date) an Italian version of Ovid's _Heroides_, both with numerous cuts, some of them by no means devoid of charm. In 1485 an illustrated _Aesop_ was produced at the expense of a book-loving jurist, Francesco Tuppo, probably from the press of certain "fidelissimi Germani." The cuts in this, which are hard and heavy but of considerable merit (see Plate XIV), may possibly be due to a mixture of Italian and German influences, but are more probably the work of a Spanish wood-cutter. A picture of an astronomer engaged on his calculations found in the _Arte di Astrologia_ of Granollachs, probably also printed in 1485, may be from the same hand. In the _Aesop_ each picture is placed in an architectural frame, in the upper sections of which there are representations sometimes of Hercules and a lion, sometimes of his wrestle with Antaeus, sometimes of a battle of mounted pygmies. The first page of text also has a fine decorative border, the design being in white on a black ground. At Florence an ornamental capital in a _Psalter_ printed in 1489 is the earliest woodcut in any extant dated book. But engravings on copper had been employed as early as 1477 for three pictures in Bettini's _Monte Santo di Dio,_ and in 1481 for nineteen in a _Divina Commedia_; as to these something will be said in Chapter XV. Two books printed at Milan in 1479 contain illustrations, the _Summula di pacifica conscientia_ of Fra Pacifico di Novara, being ornamented with three engravings; two of the degrees of consanguinity and the third of a crown bearing the names of the virtues of the Madonna, while the _Breuiarium totius juris canonici_ of Paolo Attavanti printed by Pachel and Scinzenzeler has a little woodcut, which purports to be a portrait of the author. In Venice book-illustration appears to have begun in the office not of a printer, but of an illuminator. Quite a number of books printed by various firms during the years 1470 to 1472 have a woodcut groundwork to their illuminated borders, and in the Spencer copy of the Italian Bible (Malermi's translation), printed in 1471 by Adam of Ammergau, the six miniatures of the Creation, with which the blanks left on leaves 11 and 12 are filled, have in the same way rough woodcuts beneath their colouring.[31] The workshop in which these decorated borders and miniatures were supplied seems to have closed or given up the practice in 1473, and until Erhard Ratdolt and his partners Löslein and Maler began publishing in 1476, no more woodcuts were produced at Venice. The work of the new firm was decorative rather than pictorial, consisting mainly of the fine borders and capital letters with which they ornamented their Calendars (1476, 1477, and 1482), their _Appian, Gesta Petri Mocenici_ of Coriolanus Cepio and _De situ orbis_ of Dionysius Periegetes, all in 1477, _Arte di ben morire_ of the following year, and _Euclid_ of 1482. With the exception of the earlier Calendars, where the borders to the titlepage (the first so decorated) are of flower-vases, these consist of highly conventionalized foliage (jasmine? vine, oak, etc.) or strapwork, some of them unequalled in their own kind until William Morris combined the same skill with a much bolder and richer treatment of his material. Illustration properly so called begins with Georg Walch's edition (1479) of the _Fasciculus Temporum_, a chronological epitome by Werner Rolewinck of Cologne. This has a quaint little view of the Piazza of San Marco and other pictures, which Ratdolt, not at all handsomely, proceeded to copy the next year. In 1481 Ratdolt adorned the _Tractatus de Actionibus_ oi Baptista de Sancto Blasio with rather a graceful little figure of a woman holding the stem of a tree. In 1482 he produced an edition of the _Poeticon Astronomicon_ of Hyginus with some figures of the planets which, rude as they were, served as models for many subsequent editions. In the same year the _Oratoriae artis epitomata_ of Jacobus Publicius was ornamented with some figures including a chessboard, cut in white on black, designed to assist the memory. [Illustration: XIV. NAPLES, FRANCESCO TUPPO, 1485 AESOP. FABULA XXII., DE ATHENIENSIBUS PETENTIBUS REGEM] In the later years of his stay at Venice, Ratdolt seems to have lost interest in book-decoration, but the popularity of woodcuts steadily increased throughout the 'eighties, and by the end of the decade was in full tide. In 1484 Bernardinus Benalius gave some rough illustrations to the _Fioretti_ of Saint Francis; in 1486 Pietro Cremonese bestowed a formal but quite interesting decorated titlepage on the _Doctrinale_ of Alexander Gallus, with the title inscribed in a cartouche, above which rise an urn and lamps. In the same year we have in the _Supplementum Chronicarum_ printed by Bernardinus Benalius a few cuts of some size "translated" into an Italian style from those on the same subject in Quentell's Cologne Bible (c. 1480), also a little view of Venice copied in reverse from the _Fasciculus Temporum_. The _Supplementum Chronicarum_ was re-issued several times (the author, Jacobus Philippus Bergomensis, bringing the statement of his age up to date in each edition which he revised), and changes were constantly made in the cuts. In 1486 also came an edition of the _Libro de la divina lege_ of Marco del Monte S. Maria, with cuts of Mount Sinai and its desert, notable as having been copied by a much more skilful wood-cutter at Florence eight years later; 1487 produced the first of the Venetian illustrated _Aesops_, the cuts having borders of white scroll-work on a black ground and being influenced by the Naples edition of 1485. With this must be mentioned a _Fior di virtu_, with a title cut of a Friar plucking blossoms from a tree, which was thought good enough to be copied at Milan, but was replaced at Venice three years later by a delightful picture of a walled garden. It was in 1487 also that there appeared the edition of the _Devote Meditatione sopra la Passione_, with cuts taken from the old block-book (see p. 123). In subsequent editions (of 1489, etc.) these were replaced by new woodcuts of varying merit. A later edition still (1500) has a fine picture of the Entry into Jerusalem which Prince d'Essling connects with the _Hypnerotomachia_ of 1499. In 1488 we come to the first illustrated edition of the _Trionfi_ of Petrarch, printed by Bernardino de Novara. This has six large cuts, showing respectively the triumphs of Love, of Chastity, Death, Fame, Time, and the Divinity. All are well designed, but spoilt by weak cutting. In the same year appeared two other illustrated books, a _Sphaera Mundi_, with a few cuts not in themselves of great importance, and the _De Essent et Essenta_ of S. Thomas Aquinas, with a striking little picture of a child lighting a fire by means of a burning-glass. By studying these books in conjunction Prince d'Essling has shown that they were designed by one of their printers, Johann Santritter, and executed by the other, Hieronymus de Sanctis, and that to the latter may thus be attributed the illustrations (one at least of them of unusual beauty) in an _Officium Beatae Virginis_ which issued from his press 26 April, 1494. The information on the last two pages is all epitomized from the Prince d'Essling's great work _Les livres à figures Vénitiens_ (1907, etc.), and is quoted here in some detail as showing that from the time of Erhard Ratdolt onwards book-illustrations are found with some frequency at Venice, a fact for which, until the Prince published the results of his unwearying researches, there was very little evidence available. The event of 1490 was the publication by Lucantonio Giunta of an edition of Niccolo Malermi's Italian version of the Bible, illustrated with 384 cuts, many of them charming, measuring about three inches by two. The success of this set a fashion, and several important folio books in double columns similarly illustrated appeared during the next few years, a _Vite di Sancti Padre_ in 1491, Boccaccio's _Decamerone_, Masuccio's _Novellino_, and a _Legendario_ translated from the Latin of Jacobus de Voragine in 1492, a rival Italian Bible and an Italian Livy in 1493, a _Morgante Maggiore_ in 1494, and an Italian _Terence_ in 1497, while in quarto we have a _Miracoli de la Madonna_ (1491), _Vita de la Vergine_ and _Trabisonda Istoriata_ (1492), _Guerrino Meschino_ (1493), and several others. In some of these books cuts are found signed with F, in others with N, in others with i or ia; in the Malermi Bible and some other books we sometimes find the signature b or .b. Such signatures, which at one time aroused keen controversy, are now believed to have belonged not to the designer, but to the workshop of the wood-cutters by whom the blocks were cut. In the case of the Malermi Bible of 1490 workmen of very varying skill were employed, some of the illustrations to the Gospels being emptied of all delight by the rudeness of their cutting. Where the designer and the cutter are both at their best the result is nearly perfect of its kind, and it is curious to think that some of these dainty little blocks were imitated from the large, heavy woodcuts in the Cologne Bibles printed by Quentell some ten years earlier. In the rival Bible of 1493 the best cuts are not so good, nor the worst so bad as in the original edition of 1490. In the other books (I have not seen the Masuccio) the cutting is again more even, but the designs, though often charming and sometimes amusing, are seldom as good as the best in the Bible. Most of these books have one or more larger cuts used at the beginning of the text or of sections of it, and these are always good. Two editions of Dante's _Divina Commedia_, both published in 1491, one by Bernardinus Benalius and Matheo Codeca in March, the other by Pietro Cremonese in November, must be grouped with the books just mentioned, as they are also illustrated with small cuts (though those in the November edition are a good deal larger than the usual column-cuts), and these are signed in some cases with the letter .b. which appears in the Malermi Bible of 1490. Neither designer has triumphed over the monotonous effect produced by the continual reappearance of the figures of Dante and his guide, and the little cuts in the March edition are far from impressive. On the other hand it has a good frontispiece, in which, after the medieval habit, the successive incidents of the first canto of the _Inferno_ are all crowded into the same picture. Popular as were the little vignettes, they were far from exhausting the energies of the Venetian illustrators of this decade. At the opposite pole from them are the four full-page pictures in the 1493 and later editions of the _Fascicolo de Medicina_ of Joannes Ketham. These represent a physician lecturing, a consultation, a dissection, and a visit of a doctor to an infectious patient, whom he views by the light of two flambeaux held by pages, while he smells his pouncet-box. This picture (in the foreground of which sits a cat, afterwards cut out to reduce the size of the block) is perhaps the finest of the four, but that of the Dissection has the interest of being printed in several colours. Erhard Ratdolt had made some experiments in colour-printing in the astronomical books which he printed at Venice, and at Augsburg completed the crucifixion cut in some of his missals partly by printed colours, partly by hand. In 1490 a Venetian printer, Johann Herzog, had illustrated the _De Heredibus_ of Johannes Crispus de Montibus with a genealogical tree growing out of a recumbent human figure, and had printed this in brown, green, and red. But the dissection in the _Fascicolo di Medicina_ was the most elaborate of the Venetian experiments in colour-printing and apparently also the last. With the illustrations to the Ketham may be mentioned for its large pictorial effect, though it comes in a quarto, the fine cut of the author in the _Doctrina della vita monastica_ of San Lorenzo Giustiniano, first patriarch of Venice. The figure of San Lorenzo as he walks with a book under his arm and a hand held up in benediction is imitated from that in a picture by Gentile Bellini, but he is here shown (Plate XV) preceded by a charming little crucifer, whose childish face enhances by contrast the austerer benignity of the saint. [Illustration: XV. VENICE, ANONYMOUS PRESS, 1494 LORENZO GIUSTINIANO. DELLA VITA RELIGIOSA PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR] However good the large illustrations in Venetian books, the merits of them are rather those of single prints than of really appropriate bookwork. The little column-cuts, on the other hand, are almost playful in their minuteness, and even when most successful produce the effect of a delightful border or tailpiece without quite attaining to the full possibilities of book-illustration. The feverish production of these column-cuts began to slacken, though it did not cease, in 1493, and about that date a few charming full-page pictures are found at the beginning and end of various small quartos. From the treatment of the man's hair and beard it is clear that the delightful frontispiece to the _Fioretti della Biblia_ of 1493 (Prince d'Essling, I, 161) was the work of the illustrator of the second Malermi Bible from which the small cuts in the text are taken. The three cuts to the _Fioretti_ of S. Francis, completed 11 June in the same year, that of the _Chome l'angelo amaestra l'anima_ of Pietro Damiani, dated in the following November, of an undated _Monte de la Oratione,_ and again of the _De la confessione_ of S. Bernardino of Siena, all in the same style, form a group of singular beauty (see Prince d'Essling, I, 284 _sqq._; II, 191, 194, 195). Those of S. Catherine's _Dialogo de la divina providentia_, 17 May, 1494 (D'Essling, II, 199 _sqq._), were probably no less happily designed, but have lost more in their cutting, and with these must be grouped the picture of a Venetian school in the _Regulae Sypontinae_ of Nicolaus Perottus, 29 March, 1492 (D'Essling, II, 86), used also in the _De Structura Compositionis_ of Nicolaus Ferettus, printed three years later at Forlì. The style is continued in the _Specchio della fede_ of Robertus Caracciolus, 11 April, 1495 (D'Essling, II, 260), in the headpiece of the _Commentaria in libros Aristotelis_ of S. Thomas Aquinas, 28 Sept., 1496, and in the two admirable pictures of Terence lecturing to his commentators, and of a theatre as seen from the back of the stage, found in the _Terentius cum tribus commentariis_ of July, 1497 (D'Essling, II, 295, and 277 _sqq._). Still in the same style, but carelessly designed and poorly cut, are the illustrations to the well-known Ovid of April, 1497 (D'Essling, III, 220 _sqq._), and this leads us on to the still more famous _Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_ of Francesco Colonna, printed by Aldus for Leonardo Crassus, a jurisconsult, in December, 1499, and finally to the cut of Christ entering Jerusalem in the _Devote Meditatione_ of the following April (D'Essling, I, 372), where the hand of the artist of the _Hypnerotomachia_ is clearly visible, though he has surrounded his picture with a frame in the Florentine manner, which was then beginning to make its influence felt at Venice. The primacy usually given to the _Hypnerotomachia_ among all these books is probably in part due to considerations which have little to do with its artistic merit. The story is a kind of archaeological romance which appealed greatly to the dilettante, for whose benefit Leonardo Crassus commissioned Aldus to print it, but which was far from exciting the popular interest which shows its appreciation for a book by thumbing it out of existence. The _Hypnerotomachia_ is probably almost as common a book as the _Nuremberg Chronicle_ or the First Folio Shakespeare, and thus its merits have become known to all lovers of old books. It is impressive, moreover, from its size and the profusion of its 168 illustrations of various sizes, while the extraordinary variety of these and the excellence of their cutting are further points in its favour. The initial letters of the successive chapters form the sentence POLIAM FRATER FRANCISCUS COLVMNA PERAMAVIT, and this with the colophon assigning the completion of the book to May-Day, 1467, at Treviso, reveals the author as Francesco Colonna, a Dominican, who had taught rhetoric at Treviso and Padua, and in 1499, when his book was printed, was still alive and an inmate of the convent of SS. Giovanni and Paolo at Venice. The Polia whom he so greatly loved has been identified with Lucretia Lelio, daughter of a jurisconsult at Treviso. The story of the _Hypnerotomachia_, or "Strife of Love in a Dream," as its English translator called it, is greatly influenced by the Renaissance interest in antique architecture and art which is evident in so many of its illustrations. Polifilo's dreams are full, as the preface-writer says, of "molte cose antiquarie digne di memoria, & tutto quello lui dice hauere visto di puncto in puncto & per proprii uocabuli ello descriue cum elegante stilo, pyramidi, obelisce, ruine maxime di edificii, la differentia di columne, la sua mensura, gli capitelli, base, epistyli," etc. etc. But he is brought also to the palace of Queen Eleuterylida, and while there witnesses the triumphs or festivals of Europa, Leda, Danae, Bacchus, Vertumnus, and Pomona, which provide several attractive subjects for the illustrator. The second part of the book is somewhat less purely antiquarian. Lucrezia Lelio had entered a convent after being attacked by the plague which visited Treviso from 1464 to 1466, and so here also Polia is made to take refuge in the temple of Diana, whence, however, she is driven on account of the visits of Polifilo, with whom, by the aid of Venus, she is ultimately united. One other point to be mentioned is that many of the full-page Venetian illustrations, both in quartos and folios, have quasi-architectural borders to them, the footpiece being sometimes filled with children riding griffins or other grotesques, while school-books were often made more attractive to young readers by a border in which a master is flogging a boy duly horsed for the purpose on the back of a schoolfellow. In two of the most graceful of Venetian borders, those to the _Herodotus_ of 1494 (and also in the 1497 edition of S. Jerome's Epistles) and Johann Müller's epitome of Ptolemy's _Almagest_ (of 1496), the design is picked out in white on a black ground. A few Florentine woodcut illustrations have borders of the kind just mentioned in which the design stands out in white on a black ground. In one of these borders there are rather ugly candelabra at the sides, at the top two lovers facing each other in a circle supported by Cupids, at the foot a shield supported by boys standing on the backs of couchant stags. Another has mermen at the top, a shield within a wreath supported by eagles at the foot, and floral ornaments and armour at the sides. In a third on either side of the shield in the footpiece boys are tilting at each other mounted on boars. In a fourth are shown saints and some of the emblems of the Passion, supported by angels. But as a rule, while nearly all Florentine woodcuts have borders these are only from an eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch in depth, and the pattern on them is a leaf or flower or some conventional design of the simplest possible kind. A very few cuts have only a rule round them, one of the largest a triple rule. A rude cut of the Crucifixion is found in Francesco di Dino's 1490 edition of Cavalca's _Specchio di Croce_ surrounded by a rope-work border two-fifths of an inch deep, and this border, partly broken away, also surrounds a really beautiful Pietà (Christ standing in a tomb, His cross behind Him, His hands upheld by angels) in Miscomini's 1492 edition of Savonarola's _Trattato dell' Umiltà_. When the same publisher used Dino's Crucifixion cut, also in 1492, for Savonarola's _Tractato dell' Amore di Gesù_, he left it without either border or rule round it, the only instance of a Florentine cut so treated in the fifteenth century. Dr. Paul Kristeller, whose richly illustrated monograph on _Early Florentine Woodcuts_ (Kegan Paul, 1897) is the standard work on the subject, suggests with much plausibility that these two cuts, of the Crucifixion and the Pietà, were originally made for earlier books now lost, and belong to an older school of wood-cutting, more akin to that which produced the few extant Florentine single prints. The earliest work of the new school of illustration is the magnificent cut of the Virgin in a mandorla appearing to S. Jacopone da Todi as he kneels in prayer. This, surrounded by the triple rule already mentioned, is prefixed to an edition of Jacopone's _Laude_ printed by Francesco Buonacorsi and dated 28 September, 1490. Apparently the earliest dated cut with a typical Florentine border is that to the _Lunare_ of Granollachs printed by Lor. Morgiani and Giovanni da Magonza in September, 1491. It measures more than 6 inches by 4, and is copied, and transfigured in the process, from the heavy cut in a Naples edition of 1485. Two months later the same firm issued the _Soliloqui_i of S. Augustine with an extraordinarily fine title-cut of the saint (the same picture did duty in 1493 for S. Antonino) writing at a desk in his cell. This has a border, but with a white ground instead of a black. On 1 January, 1491-2, still from the same firm, we have surely the prettiest Arithmetic ever printed, that of Filippo Calandri, with delightful little pictures and border pieces, cut in simple outline, in the Venetian rather than the Florentine manner. On 20 March, Morgiani and his partner produced a new edition of Bettini's _Monte Santo di Dio_ with the three copperplates of 1481 (see Chapter XV) skilfully translated into duly bordered woodcuts, the first two filling a folio page, the third somewhat shorter. A _Mandeville_ with a single cut followed in June, and in December the _Trattati_ of Ugo Pantiera, also with a single cut, perhaps by the designer of the Calandri, since it employs the same trick of representing a master on a much larger scale than a disciple as is found in the picture of Pythagoras in the earlier book.[32] One of the earliest (and also most delightful) of the title-cuts of another prolific publisher, the picture of a lecturer and his pupils in Antonio Miscomini's 1492 edition of Landini's _Formulario_,[33] measures about 6 inches by 4. But after this the period of experiment was at an end, and with very few exceptions the woodcuts in Florentine books for the rest of the century all measure either a little over or a little under 3 inches by 4, and are all surrounded by a narrow border with some simple design in white upon a black ground. Some pains have been taken to make clear both the experiments as to style, size, and borders in the Florentine book-illustrations of 1490-2, and the external uniformity in size and borders in the great bulk of the work of the next few years, because in the first number of the _Burlington Magazine_ and subsequently in his fine book on Florentine Drawings, Mr. Bernhard Berenson put forward with considerable confidence the theory that nine-tenths of the Florentine book-illustrations of this period were made from designs supplied by a single artist whom he identifies with a certain Bartolommeo di Giovanni. This Bartolommeo contracted in July, 1488, with the Prior of the Innocents to paint before the end of October seven predelle (Innocenti Museum, Nos. 63-70) for an altarpiece of the Adoration of the Magi, the commission for which had been given to Domenico Ghirlandajo. Mr. Berenson believes that in addition to these predelle (the only works with which Bartolommeo is connected by any evidence other than that of style) he painted the Massacre of the Innocents, as an episode in Ghirlandajo's altarpiece at the Innocenti, that he must have been one of the more famous painter's apprentices in the years 1481-5, and subsequently helped him with altarpieces at Lucca and at the Accademia at Florence, and painted a fresco for the church of S. Frediano at Lucca and numerous fronts to the cassonì or ornamental chests, which were at this period the most decorative articles of Florentine furniture. As a minor painter Bartolommeo di Giovanni[34] is pronounced by Mr. Berenson to have been "incapable of producing on the scale of life a figure that can support inspection": in predelle and cassone-fronts he is "feeble, if vivacious, and scarcely more than pleasant," yet with no authenticated work to build on except the predelle in the Innocenti, Mr. Berenson does not hesitate to assert that "in Florence between 1490 and 1500 few apparently, if any, illustrated books were published without woodcuts for which Alunno di Domenico[34] furnished the designs," and on the strength of this assumption bestows on him the praise, amply deserved by the Florentine school as a whole, that he was "a book-illustrator, charming as few in vision and interpretation, with scarcely a rival for daintiness and refinement of arrangement, spacing and distribution of black and white." Mr. Berenson's theories oblige him to credit Bartolommeo with having copied at least from Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, and Piero di Cosimo, as well as from Ghirlandajo, and push the licence accorded to "connoisseurship" to its extreme limit. As I have already acknowledged elsewhere,[35] if any one man is to be credited with the whole, or nearly the whole of the Florentine book-illustrations of this decade, a minor artist used to painting predelle and cassone-fronts would be the right kind of man for the task, but on the very scanty evidence at present available I am personally more inclined to attribute such unity as can be traced in these Florentine cuts to their having all come from one large wood-cutter's shop, without attempting to trace them back to a single designer. In the year 1492, when the form of the Florentine woodcuts had become fairly fixed, Savonarola was called to the death-bed of Lorenzo the Magnificent, only to refuse him absolution. His _Amore di Gesù_ and _Trattato dell' Umiltà_ were printed in June of that year by Miscomini, each decorated with a single cut. During the six years ending with his execution in May, 1498, some twenty-three different tracts from his pen, illustrated with one or more woodcuts, were printed at Florence, most of them in several different editions. In the _De Simplicitate Christianae vitae_ (1496) a friar is shown writing in his cell; in other cuts we see a friar preaching, or visiting the convent of the "Murate" or Recluses of Florence, or talking with seven Florentines under a tree, but in no case has any attempt been made at portraiture. This is true also of the _Compendio di Revelatione_ (1495), in which there are some charming cuts showing Savonarola escorted by four holy women representing Simplicity, Prayer, Patience, and Faith, on an embassy to the Blessed Virgin. In the first of these they meet the devil attired as a hermit; in the second they arrive at the gate of the celestial city of which the wall is crowded with saints and angels; in the third they are ushered forth by S. Peter. A tract by Domenico Benivieni in defence of Savonarola, besides a cut of the usual size representing Benivieni arguing with his opponents, has a full-page one of the river of blood flowing from Christ's wounds and sinners cleansing themselves in it and marking their foreheads with the sign of the cross. One of the finest cuts in the Savonarola series represents a citizen of Florence in prayer before a crucifix. But almost all of them are good. Besides the Savonarola tracts the miscellaneous religious treatises illustrated with one or more woodcuts are very numerous. In some cases outside models were still sought. One of the most important of these books is the _Meditatione sopra la Passione_ attributed to S. Bonaventura, of which two undated editions were issued, one with eight cuts, the other with twelve, three of the additional cuts in the second edition--the Entry into Jerusalem, Christ before Pilate, and Procession to Calvary (see Plate XVI)--being exceptionally fine. The earlier designer probably had the Venetian edition of 1489 before him, but used it quite freely. Two of the three cuts in the 1494 Florentine edition of the _Libro delli commandamenti di Dio_ of Marco del Monte S. Maria are improved copies of those in the Venetian edition of 1486. The third cut, which appears also in the same author's _Tabula della Salute_ (also of 1494), representing the Monte della Pietà, is copied on a reduced scale from a large copper engraving attributed to Baccio Baldini, of which an example is in the Print Room of the British Museum. Of the thirty-four cuts in Cardinal Capranica's _Arte del benmorire_, eleven are imitated from the well-known series in the German block-books. [Illustration: XVI. FLORENCE, MISCOMINI, C. 1495 BONAVENTURA. MEDITATIONE. THE PROCESSION TO CALVARY] For the _Rappresentazioni_ or miracle-plays in honour of various saints originality was more imperative, and numerous cuts were designed, only a few of which have come down to us in editions of the fifteenth century, most being known as they survive in reprints of the second half of the sixteenth. Our example (Plate XVII) is from an undated edition of _La Festa di San Giovanni_, in which, as on many other titlepages, an angel is shown above the title-cut as the speaker of the Prologue. Purely secular literature in the shape of _Novelle_ was no doubt plentiful, despite the influence of Savonarola, but most of it has perished, thumbed to pieces by too eager readers. A volume of _Novelle_ at the University Library, Erlangen, is illustrated with delightful cuts, and others survive here and there in different libraries. Of more pretentious quartos Angelo Politiano's _La Giostra di Giuliano di Medici_ (first edition undated, second 1513) is very finely illustrated, and Petrarch's _Trionfi_ (1499) has good versions of the usual six subjects. Many of the best of the quartos and all the illustrated folios were financed by a publisher, Ser Piero Pacini of Pescia, who was succeeded early in the sixteenth century by his son Bernardo. Pacini in 1495 began his career with a very ambitious venture, a folio edition of the _Epistole et Evangelii et Lectioni_ as they were read in the Mass throughout the year. This has a decorative frontispiece, in the centre of which stand SS. Peter and Paul, while small cuts of the four evangelists are placed in the corners. The text is illustrated with 144 different woodcuts, besides numerous fancy portraits of evangelists, prophets, etc. A few of the cuts are taken from the _Meditationes_ of S. Bonaventura, and one or two, perhaps, from other books already published; but the enormous majority are new, and from the consistency of the portrait-types of Christ, S. Peter, S. John, etc., appear all to have been designed by the same man. Some are less successful than others, but the average is exceptionally high, and the best cuts are full of movement and life. An _Aesop_ followed in 1496, Pulci's _Morgante Maggiore_ in 1500, and the _Quatriregio_, a dull poem in imitation of Dante by Bishop Frezzi, in 1508. It has been conjectured, however, that an earlier edition of the _Quatriregio_ may have been printed in the fifteenth century with the same illustrations, and there is considerable reason to doubt whether any fresh cuts in the old style were made at Florence after the temporary cessation of publishing brought about by the political troubles of 1501. On the other hand, the old cuts went on being used, sometimes in the originals, sometimes in copies, throughout the greater part of the sixteenth century, and it is only in these reprints that many of them are known to survive. At no other Italian town was there any outburst of book-illustration at all comparable to those at Venice and Florence in the last decade of the fifteenth century. At Ferrara, after a fine cut of S. George and a much ruder one of S. Maurelius in a _Legenda_ of the latter saint printed in 1489,[36] no illustration appeared until 1493, when the _Compilatio_ of Alfraganus was adorned with a picture of the astronomer instructing a diminutive hermit. After this, in 1496 we have a fine cut of the Virgin and Child in the _De ingenuis adolescentium moribus_, and in 1497 two important folio books, both from the press of Lorenzo Rossi, the _De claris mulieribus_ of Jacobus Philippus Bergomensis (29 April) and the Epistles of S. Jerome (12 October). The former of these is distinctly native work, with the exception of an architectural border, decorated chiefly with _putti_ and griffins, etc., which is thoroughly Venetian in style, and was used again in the S. Jerome. There are two large illustrations, one showing the author presenting his book to the Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, the other containing eight scenes from the life of the Blessed Virgin. Fifty-six cuts in the text are made to serve as portraits of 172 different women, and under the strain of such repetition individuality perforce disappears. But at the end of the book are seven cuts of Italian ladies of the fifteenth century: Bona of Lombardy, Bianca Maria of Milan, Catherine Countess of Fréjus and Imola, Leonora Duchess of Ferrara, Bianca Mirandula, Genebria Sforza, and Damisella Trivulzia, and these, some of them fair, some rather forbidding, appear all to be genuine portraits. The cutting is mostly rather stiff and heavy (Damisella Trivulzia is exceptionally tenderly treated), and much use is made of black grounds. [Illustration: XVII. FLORENCE, BART. DI LIBRI, C. 1495 LA FESTA DI SAN GIOVANNI. (TITLE)] In contrast to those in the _De claris mulieribus_, the cuts in the _Epistulae_ of S. Jerome are distinctly Venetian in style. As one of the two architectural borders is dated 1493, it is possible that the book was at first intended to be issued at Venice, but was transferred to Ferrara when Venetian interest in small column-cuts was found to be on the wane. It possesses in all over 160 of these, those illustrating conventual life in the second part of the book being much the most interesting. At Milan the _Theorica Musicae_ of Franchino Gafori, printed in 1492 by Philippus Mantegatius, has a title-cut of a man playing the organ, and four coarsely cut pictures, together occupying a page, showing primitive musical experiments. Four years later the same author's _Practica Musicae_ was issued by another printer, Guillaume Le Signerre, with a title-cut illustrating the different measures and the Muses and signs of the Zodiac to which they belong, and with two fine woodcut borders surrounding the opening pages of Books I and III, and II and IV. In 1498 Le Signerre produced two much more profusely illustrated books, the _Specchio dell' Anima_ of Ludovicus Besalii and an _Aesop_, some of the cuts of the former being used again in 1499 in the _Tesoro Spirituale_ of Johannes Petrus de Ferrariis. After this he migrated to Saluzzo, and in 1503 produced there a fine edition of the _De Veritate Contritionis_ of Vivaldus, with a frontispiece of S. Jerome in the desert. At Modena in 1490 Dominicus Rocociola printed a _Legenda Sanctorum Trium Regum_, with a rather pleasing cut of their Adoration of the Holy Child; and two years later, at the same place, the _Prognosticatio_ of Johann Lichtenberger, printed by Pierre Maufer, was illustrated with three full-page quarto cuts and forty-two half-page ones, careful directions for each picture being supplied in the text, but the cuts being modelled on those in the German editions at Ulm and Mainz. At Aquila in 1493 an _Aesop_ was produced, copied from the Naples edition of 1485. At Pavia in 1505 the _Sanctuarium_ of Jacobus Gualla was illustrated with seventy woodcuts and some excellent initials. At Saluzzo in 1508 another work by Vivaldus, printed by Jacobus de Circis and Sixtus de Somachis, was decorated with three large woodcuts of very exceptional merit: a portrait of the Marquis Ludovico II (almost too striking for a book-illustration), a picture of S. Thomas Aquinas in his cell, and another of S. Louis of France. The treatise of Paulus de Middelburgo on the date of Easter, printed by Petruzzi at Fossombrone in 1513, contains some very fine borders, and the _Decachordum Christianum_ of Marcus Vigerius, printed at Fano in 1507 by Hieronymus Soncinus, has ten cuts by Florio Vavassore, surrounded with good arabesque borders. To multiply isolated examples such as these would turn our text into a catalogue. Here and there special care was taken over the decoration of a book, and worthy results produced. But throughout Italy the best period of illustration had come to an end when the sixteenth century was only a few years old. FOOTNOTES: [31] In the masterly work of the Prince d'Essling on _Les livres à figures Vénitiens_, the discovery of this interesting fact is inadvertently ascribed to Mr. Guppy, the present librarian of the John Rylands Library. It was made by his predecessor, Mr. Gordon Duff, a note by whom on the subject was quoted in my _Italian Book-Illustrations_ (p. 18), published in 1894. [32] The same trick is used in the _Rudimenta astronomica_ of Alfraganus, printed at Ferrara by Andreas Bellfortis in 1493. [33] Also used in an undated edition of the _Flores Poetarum_. [34] Mr. Berenson prefers to call him "Alunno di Domenico," Ghirlandajo's pupil. [35] Introduction to the Roxburghe Club edition (presented by Mr. Dyson Perrins) of the _Epistole et Evangelii_ of 1495. [36] There were two issues or editions of this book in 1489, one of which is said to have only the cut of S. Maurelius. CHAPTER IX EARLY FRENCH AND SPANISH ILLUSTRATED BOOKS Although interrupted by the death of its veteran author, Claudin's magnificent _Histoire de l'imprimerie en France_, in the three volumes which he lived to complete, made it for the first time possible for students to trace the early history of book-illustration at Paris and Lyon, the two great centres of printing in France. No illustrated books were printed at the Sorbonne, nor by its German printers when they set up in the rue S. Jacques, nor by their rivals there, Keysere and Stoll, and the French printers at the sign of the Soufflet vert. In January, 1476-7, in the first French book printed at Paris, the _Chroniques de France_ or de _S. Denis_, Pasquier Bonhomme so far recognized the possibility of illustration as to leave a space for a miniature on the first page of text,[37] but he used no woodcuts himself, and his son Jean suffered himself to be anticipated in introducing them by Jean Du Pré. Although he worked on rather narrow lines, Du Pré was the finest of the early Parisian printers, and possessed far better taste than the prolific publisher, Antoine Vérard, of whom so much more has been written. His first book, a Paris Missal issued in partnership with Didier Huym, 22 September, 1481, has a large picture of the Père Éternel and the Crucifixion. Although this is fairly well cut, it is baldly handled, and was far surpassed two months later (28 November) in a similar missal for the diocese of Verdun, by a really fine metal-cut of a priest and other worshippers at prayer at an altar. From the priest's uplifted hands a little figure of a man is rising up to a vision of the Père Éternel, seen with His angels against the background of a sky full of stars. The little figure is the priest's soul, and the cut (often confused with pictures of the Mass of S. Gregory, in which the Host is seen as a figure of Christ) illustrates the opening words of the introit: "Ad te levavi animam meam." In the same Missal are a number of smaller cuts which look as if they had been prepared for a Horae, and may indeed have been used for one now entirely lost. The "Ad te levavi" cut reappears in many of the later Missals of Du Pré, and subsequently of Wolfgang Hopyl. Du Pré's first secular book to be illustrated was an edition of Boccaccio's _De la ruine des nobles hommes_, completed 26 February, 1483-4, and of peculiar interest to English bookmen because the woodcuts were acquired by Richard Pynson, and used in his edition of Lydgate's _Falles of Princes_, an English verse-rendering of the same work. They are well designed and clearly cut, if rather hard, and till their French origin was discovered were justly praised as "some of the very best" English woodcuts of the fifteenth century. Only a few weeks later Jean Bonhomme (12 May, 1484) issued Maistre Jacques Millet's _L'Histoire de la destruction de Troye la Grant_, illustrated with a number of cuts rather neater and firmer, but of much the same kind, and possibly from the same workshop. They passed almost at once into the possession of Vérard, and cuts from the series illustrating battles, landings, councils, audiences, and other romantic commonplaces are found in his _Végèce_ of 1488 and _Les Commentaires Iules César_ of about the same date (see Macfarlane's _Antoine Vérard_, cuts vi-ix). A new edition of Millet's book was printed by Jean Driard for Vérard 8 May, 1498. Two of the best of the cuts are those of the lamentation over the dead body of Hector and the sacrifice of Polyxena on the tomb of Achilles. The only other illustrated book published by Jean Bonhomme was his edition of the _Livre des ruraulx prouffitz du labeur des champs_, a French version of Crescentius, with a frontispiece of the translator presenting his book to Charles VII (15 October, 1486). Meanwhile, a new publisher of illustrated books had arisen, Guyot Marchant, who in September, 1485, issued a _Danse macabre_ which went through several editions. Its grim fantastic pictures (executed with unusual skill and delicacy, see Plate XVIII) of Death as a grinning skeleton claiming his prey from every class of society seem to have become quickly popular, and additional cuts were made for later editions, including one in Latin (15 October, 1490), in which the Dance is called _Chorea ab eximio macabro versibus alemanicis edita_. A _Danse macabre des femmes_ followed (2 May, 1491), but the figures in this are mostly less good, as are those of a third part (the Debate between Soul and Body, and other pieces), despite the vivacity with which they represent the tortures of the damned. Akin to the _Danse Macabre_ is the _Compost et Kalendrier des Bergers_ (also of 1491), a medley of weather-lore, rules for health, and moral and religious instruction, liberally illustrated with cuts of shepherds, of Moses, Christ and the Apostles, and of the tortures of the damned. This in its turn was followed, in 1496, by a similar book for the Shepherdesses, of which a new edition appeared in 1499, with added pastoral cuts, some of which have unusual charm. Besides Guyot Marchant, Pierre Levet began book-illustration in 1485, but most of his work was done for Vérard. His earliest venture, an _Exposition de la salutation angélique_, has a cut of the Annunciation, the shading in which suggests that he may have imported a cutter from Lyon. [Illustration: XVIII. PARIS, MARCHAND, 1491 DANSE MACABRE (5^a). DEATH AND THE ARCHBISHOP. (REDUCED)] In 1486 Jean Du Pré was very busy. At Paris he completed in June a _Vie des anciens Saintz Pères_, with a large cut of S. Jerome writing in a stall and the holy fathers passing before him, also numerous very neat column-cuts and capital letters. Meanwhile, at Abbeville Du Pré was helping Pierre Gérard to produce one of the finest French books of the fifteenth century, the magnificent edition of S. Augustine's _Cité de Dieu_. Early in 1486 Gérard had already printed there an edition of _La somme rurale_, but this had only a single woodcut, and it was probably mainly in connection with the illustrations that he now enlisted the help of Du Pré. In the first volume of the _Cité de Dieu_ (finished 24 November, 1486) there are eleven woodcuts, in the second (finished 12 April, 1486-7) twelve, i.e. a woodcut at the beginning of each of the twenty-two books and a frontispiece of S. Augustine writing, and the translator, Raoul de Preules, presenting his book to the King of France. The subjects and general design of the cuts correspond with greater or less closeness to those in Royal MS. 14 D. 1 at the British Museum (Books I-XI only), so that the same original was probably followed by both. One of the most effective pictures is that to Book XIV, which shows a man seated in a tree, offered a crown by an angel and a money-chest by a devil, while Death is sawing the tree asunder, and two dragons wait at its foot. Another shows S. Augustine writing, while five devils play with his books, and an angel protects his mitre. The cutting throughout is excellent, and the pictures, though sometimes fantastic, are very effectively drawn. There can be little doubt that they were the work of Paris craftsmen. As for Pierre Gérard, in 1487 he printed by himself, still at Abbeville, an edition of _Le Triomphe des Neuf Preux_, with rather childishly conventional cuts of the legendary heroes, but for Bertrand Du Guesclin a portrait which at least faithfully reproduces his bullet head. We find Du Pré forming a similar alliance two years later with Jean Le Bourgeois of Rouen, for whom he completed at Paris the second volume of a _Roman des Chevaliers de la Table ronde_, 16 September, 1488, while Le Bourgeois was still struggling at Rouen with Vol. I, which ultimately got finished 24 November. This has some large cuts of the Feast at the Round Table, etc. In 1489 Du Pré produced a _Legende dorée_, a companion volume to his _Vie des Saintz Pères_ of 1486. But by this time he was already producing Horae, which will be spoken of later on, and Horae and Missals were his main occupations for the rest of his career, though he produced a fine edition of the allegorical romance _Le Chevalier Délibéré_ by Olivier de la Marche, Bonnor's _Arbre des Batailles_ (in which he used some of the same cuts), 1493, _Les vigilles du roi Charles VII_ and some other secular books. The great Paris publisher Antoine Vérard started on his busy career in 1485, and the history of book-illustration at Paris is soon immensely complicated by his doings. Many of the printers at Paris printed for him; illustrations originally made for other men gravitated into his possession and were used occasionally for new editions of the book for which they had been made, much more often as stock cuts in books with which they had nothing to do; while if another firm brought out a successful picture-book, Vérard imitated the cuts in it with unscrupulous and unblushing closeness. The monograph of my late friend and colleague John Macfarlane[38] describes some 280 books published by Vérard between 1485 and 1512, and like most bibliographical work done at first hand by personal examination of the books themselves gets at the root of the matter, although the absence of information as to Vérard's predecessors and contemporaries, such as has since been supplied by M. Claudin, prevented the author from pressing home some of his points. Thus in his estimate that sets of blocks had been "expressly cut to adorn some thirty editions," Macfarlane did not make sufficient allowance for the cases in which these apparent sets were themselves not original, having been acquired by Vérard from earlier owners. Nevertheless, he had no difficulty in finding support for his contention that "the illustrations in Vérard's books, when closely examined, hardly bear out their reputation." Thus he showed that "besides being repeatedly used in book after book, it not uncommonly happens that the same cut is used again and again in the same book," and gave as an extreme instance of this the repetition no fewer than twenty times of the same cut in the _Merlin_ of 1498.[39] He pointed out, moreover, that some far-fetched plea is nearly always needed to justify the presence of a cut in any but the work it was designed for. "For instance, in the _Josephus_ of 1492 the spoliation of a country is represented by the burial of a woman, the death of Samson by a picture of the Temple, and the Sacrifice of Isaac helps the reader to conceive the execution of a malefactor, while a mention of the sea brings out a cut of Noah's Ark." However crowded a book may be with cuts, if the cuts are mostly irrelevant it cannot truly be said to be illustrated, and the number of Vérard's books which a rigorous application of this principle would condemn is very large. An explanation of at least some of these incongruities may be found in Vérard's early training as an illuminator, and his habit of preparing special copies on vellum for Charles VIII of France, Henry VII of England, the Comte d'Angoulême, and other royal and noble patrons. A woodcut in itself quite inappropriate to the text might save an illuminator some trouble by suggesting the grouping of the figures in a picture, and a cut of Saturn devouring his children was actually used in this way in one of the Henry VII books in the British Museum as a ground plan for an illumination of a Holy Family. If King Henry ever held that illumination up to the light he would have had no difficulty in seeing the scythe of Chronos and the limbs of a child protruding from Saturn's mouth, but I have never seen a paper copy of this book, and can only wonder whether the same cut was allowed to appear in it. Vérard's earliest book was the translation of Boccaccio's _Decamerone_ by Laurent du Premierfait, completed 22 November, 1485, and illustrated with a single cut of the author writing in an alcove looking out on a garden where the storytellers are seen seated. An edition of _Les dits moraux des philosophes_ of Guillaume de Tignonville (Caxton's _Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers_) followed in April, 1486, and the _Livre des ruraulx prouffitz_, translated from Crescentius, with a few small cuts, not so good as those in the edition just issued by Jean Bonhomme, in the following July. His first important illustrated book was the _Cent nouvelles nouvelles_, of Christmas Eve, 1486, with two large cuts, very alike in style, of an author presenting his book to a king, and forty column-cuts, most of them used several times, occasionally with mutilations intended to erase features unsuitable to the later stories. The next important book was a _Chevalier Délibéré_ of 8 August, 1488, with some excellent cuts which reappear frequently in later books. Passing over many inferior books, we come in 1492 to a really fine one, containing four separate treatises: (1) _Art de bien mourir_, illustrated with copies of the old German block-book; (2) _Traité des peines d'enfer_ (otherwise known as _L'Aiguillon de crainte divine_), with grotesque but striking cuts of the tortures of the damned; (3) _Advenement de antichrist_ and fifteen Tokens of Judgment, very poorly illustrated compared with the other parts of the book; and (4) _L'Art de bien vivre_, copiously decorated with scenes from Bible history, an oblong set, illustrating the Adoration of the Virgin and Child, the Lord's Prayer, Commandments, Apostles, etc.; (5) a very fine set of cuts illustrating the Sacraments. In June, 1493, Vérard published in three large folio volumes, printed for him by Jean Morand, _Les Croniques de France_, with pictures of a coronation, royal entry into a town, a king sitting in judgment, etc. etc., the cutting being only of average delicacy, but good enough to do justice to the vigour of some of the designs. From this point onwards his interest seems more and more to have centred in his illuminated copies, and almost all the later Vérard illustrations in M. Claudin's great work are taken from these. Along, however, with many old cuts in his undated _Bible historiée_ there are two very fine ones specially made for the work, one of Adam and Eve in Eden, a round cut placed, below the roots of a tree, in a square of black, from which it stands out with extraordinary vividness (see Plate XIX), and a picture of the Trinity and the four evangelists. In an undated _Terence en francois_, printed about 1500, Vérard availed himself of an idea already exploited by Grüninger and some of the Low Country illustrators, the use of blocks made up of five or six pieces used in different combinations, so as to give an effect of great variety at very small expense. Many of the individual blocks, though the figures are not at all Terentian, are very charming, and a few of them were freely copied for the English market, where they may be traced for over a century. About the same time as this Vérard published a _Livre des Ordonnances de la Prevosté des Marchans et Eschevinage de la Ville de Paris_, with numerous small illustrations of different crafts and a most interesting picture of the court of the Prevosté with its judges and officials. After the first few years of the sixteenth century Vérard seems to have relied more than ever on his stock of old cuts, and does not seem to have produced any notable new books. [Illustration: XIX. PARIS, VÉRARD, 1505 BIBLE EN FRANCOYS (2^a). ADAM AND EVE. (REDUCED)] A few books printed or published by less prolific firms remain to be noticed before we speak of the Horae which form so important a section among Paris illustrated books as to require separate treatment. One of Vérard's printers was Pierre Le Rouge, a member of a family which worked also at Chablis and at Troyes. In July, 1488, and February, 1488-9, Le Rouge printed "pour Vincent Commin Marchand libraire" _La mer des histoires_ in two great folios with large cuts of the kind Vérard subsequently used in his _Chroniques de France_, and on the titlepage a particularly fine capital L. Philippe Pigouchet, mainly a printer of Horae, produced in 1499 for his usual publisher, Simon Vostre, a charmingly illustrated edition of a dull poem, _Le Chasteau de Labeur_, attributed to the playwright of Victor Hugo's _Notre Dame de Paris_, Pierre Gringore. Wolfgang Hopyl printed some fine Missals, mostly after 1500; Le Petit Laurens, besides working for Vérard, printed for G. Marnef _La nef des folles_, with a few cuts by one of the most skilled of Paris craftsmen, and these were rivalled by Jean Treperel in an undated _Paris et Vienne_; Gillet Couteau and Jean Ménard printed a _Danse Macabre_ in 1492 (not so good as Gui Marchant's) and a new version of the _Biblia Pauperum_ entitled _Les figures du vieil testament et du nouveau;_ Jean Lambert, in 1497, produced _La nef des folz du monde_, with cuts imitating those in the Basel editions. It would be easy to mention other books, but not without turning our pages into a catalogue. We must turn now to the Paris Horae. As already noted, among the pictures in Jean Du Pré's Verdun Missal of November, 1481, there are a set of cuts which seem to have been designed for a Horae, though if they were even put to this use no copy of the edition in which they appeared has been recorded. The earliest illustrated Horae of which copies exist are three editions published by Vérard, in February 1485-6, August 1486, and July 1487, all of them small and with insignificant cuts, and all known only from single copies, of which that of the earliest edition (in private hands) is imperfect, while the woodcuts in the other two, both at the Bibliothèque Nationale, are heavily coloured. Vérard's Horae of 1486 and 1487 are said to have been printed for him by Jean Du Pré, and in the next group of editions Du Pré on his own account seems to have played the chief part, with Levet and Caillaut as subordinate actors. It is probable that the group may have been started by a Psalter printed by Levet 23 September, 1486, and reprinted 19 February, 1488-9, the cuts of these appearing in an undated _Horae ad usum Romanum_, printed by Du Pré, now in the British Museum. This measures about 4(5/8) × 3¼ inches, and of the same size, but with different woodcuts, are another undated Horae by Du Pré in the Bodleian, and a third, with Caillaut's mark at the end, in the Bibliothèque Nationale. The cuts in all three are delightfully simple and naive, and those in the Bodleian Du Pré edition show really delicate work. The group, which comprised other editions only known from fragments, seems to be continued by two dated respectively 10 May, 1488, and 4 February, 1488-9, each measuring about 5(5/8) × 3(5/8) inches, the illustrations in which are distinctly stated to have been cut on copper (_les vignettes de ces presentes heures imprimees en cuyvre_). The illustrations especially referred to are the borderpieces, which are of great importance as containing the earliest examples of a series of small Horae cuts continued from page to page, in this case depicting incidents in the life of Christ and their prefigurements, on the plan of the old block-book _Biblia Pauperum_. Lastly, in 1490, we have a Du Pré Horae, with very fine cuts and with some of the miscellaneous borderpieces of the editions just mentioned, which is of exceptional interest in the history of French book-illustration and printing, since the cuts and borders in it are printed in different colours, faint red, blue and green, two colours (laid on the same block and printed at the same time) usually appearing together. The British Museum possesses one of two known copies of this Horae, and the late Prince d'Essling bought the other. [Illustration: XX. PARIS, VÉRARD, 1490 GRANDES HEURES (SIG. C 6 VERSO). MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS] In the Horae of the group we have been describing the subjects of the larger cuts became fairly well settled, in accordance with the normal contents of the prayer book. For the Kalendar there is the figure of a man with an indication of the parts of his body presided over by the different planets: for the sequence of the Gospels of the Passion, sometimes a Crucifixion, sometimes a picture of S. John; for the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Shepherds, Magi, Circumcision, Massacre of the Innocents or Flight into Egypt, and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin; for the Hours of the Cross, a Crucifixion; for the Hours of the Holy Spirit, His Descent at Pentecost; for the Penitential Psalms, David's fall (Bathsheba bathing or the death of Uriah) or repentance; for the Office of the Dead, either a Funeral, Dives and Lazarus, or the three Gallants and three Skeletons (_les trois vifs et trois morts_); for the Suffrages, small pictures of various saints. Any edition might have one or more additional cuts with less usual subjects, but those named occur in almost all. Passing on, we come now to Vérard's countermove to Du Pré's group, Horae measuring 6 inches or a little under by about 3½. Editions of these were issued in April, 1488-9, and in January, February, and April of the following year. The last of these, completed 10 April, 1489-90, I wrongly described, in an article in Vol. III of _Bibliographica_, as having a titlepage bearing the words _Les figures de la Bible_. It has such a titlepage in the copy in the British Museum, but I have now woke up to the fact that it is a modern fabrication, added either by an artful bookseller or an artless owner. In these Horae the borders are made up of four pieces, one of which extends along most of the outer and lower margins, and shows children wrestling with each other, or playing with hobbies or go-carts. On 10 July, 1493, these are found in a Horae issued by Laurens Philippe. Vérard could the better afford to part with them, since in August, 1490, perhaps earlier, he had substituted much larger borders, the subjects in which seem imitated from those of Du Pré's metal-cuts, the printed page now measuring about 8 × 5 inches, and thus winning for them the title Grandes Heures, by which they are generally known (see Plate XX). The large cuts, of which, though not all appear in every edition, there seems to have been seventeen, illustrate the following subjects:-- 1. Prayer to the Virgin; 2. Anatomical Man; 3. A chalice the circumference of which represents the measurement of Christ's wound; 4. Fall of Angels; 5. Creation of Eve and Fall; 6. Controversy in heaven between Mercy, Justice, Peace, and Reason, and Annunciation; 7. Reconciliation of Joseph and Mary, and Visitation; 8. Nativity and Adoration by the Shepherds; 9. Angels and Shepherds, Shepherds dancing; 10. Magi; 11. Circumcision; 12. Massacre of Innocents; 13. Coronation of the Virgin; 14. David's choice of punishments; 15. Hearse in a Chancel; 16. Invention of the Cross; 17. Pentecost. The cutting is good and the pictures are both quaint and decorative, their larger size enabling them to avoid the overcrowding which had damaged the effect of the earlier sets. These cuts continued in use till 1498, successive editions in May, July, and October of that year, from the press of Jean Poitevin, showing their gradual replacement by copies of Philippe Pigouchet's second set. This famous printer-illustrator was certainly printing as early as 1488, though Mr. Proctor in his "Index" makes the Horae for the use of Paris, finished 1 December, 1491, his earliest book. Although not his earliest book, I still believe that this was Pigouchet's earliest Book of Hours, and regret that M. Claudin, while rejecting supposed editions of 1486 and 1487, should have accepted as authentic one of 16 September, 1488, said to have very rude and archaic cuts, while owning that he could not trace a copy. Until the book can be produced I shall continue to believe that this edition of 16 September, 1488, is a ghost begotten of a double crime, a bookseller's manipulation of the date of one of Pigouchet's best-known editions, that of "le xvi iour de Septembre Lan Mil cccc.iiii.xx et xviii," by omitting the x in xviii, and a bibliographer's endeavour to make this imaginary edition of 16 September, 1488, more credible by assuming--and asserting--that its cuts were rude and archaic because over three years earlier than any authenticated Horae from Pigouchet's press. His edition of 1 December, 1491, was printed partly for sale by himself, partly for de Marnef, who subsequently owned the blocks. Besides the usual illustrations for the Hours, it has pictures of S. John writing and of the Betrayal for the Gospels of the Passion, of David's choice of punishments for the Penitential Psalms, and of Les trois vifs et trois morts, and Dives and Lazarus for the Office for the Dead; also a small cut, with a criblé background of the Vision of S. Gregory, and numerous small cuts of saints. The sidepieces, which are marked with letters to indicate their sequence, illustrate the Creation, the prophecies of the Sibyls, and the subjects of the _Biblia Pauperum._ During the years 1491 and 1495 at least eight or ten Horae for various uses were printed by Pigouchet, mostly for Simon Vostre. Of most of these a good many copies have survived printed on vellum and often illuminated for wealthy purchasers. The paper copies, which presumably formed the bulk of each edition, are now far rarer, and to students of book-illustration much preferable to the coloured vellum copies. Good vellum copies with the pictures and borders uncoloured, but with their pages brightened by illuminated capitals and coloured paragraph marks, are the pleasantest to possess. At the end of 1495 or early in 1496 Pigouchet began replacing the woodcuts of this series of editions with a new set much more graceful and less stiff, a few changes being made in the subjects. At the same time he substituted new borderpieces for the old, among the new blocks being a fine series of the Dance of Death, which were brought into use as they were completed, so that we can trace the increase of them from month to month, so frequent now were the editions. In 1497 and 1498 further additions were made to the large pictures by the addition of new metal cuts with criblé backgrounds for the Anatomical Man, chalice, Stem of Jesse, Adoration by the Shepherds, Descent from the Cross, Death of Uriah, and the Church Militant and Triumphant. By the end of 1499 new criblé borderpieces had been added, illustrating the life of Joseph, history of the Prodigal Son, history of Susanna, Fifteen Tokens of Judgment, Christ Seated in Judgment, the Cardinal Virtues, and woodland and hunting scenes. From August, 1498, to the end of 1502 Pigouchet's editions were at their finest. Meanwhile the cuts of his second set were slavishly copied in editions printed for Vérard. From 1497, moreover, he had to face serious competition from Thielman Kerver, who issued closely similar editions with pictures and borders by cutters little, if at all, inferior either in technical skill or charm. On 5 April, 1503, Jean Pychore and Remy de Laistre completed an edition, in which Pigouchet probably had a hand, with three very large cuts of the Annunciation, Nativity, and Adoration by the Magi, and eight smaller ones surrounded by architectural framework, representing S. John before the Latin Gate, the Crucifixion, the Emperor Octavian and the Sibyl, the Massacre of the Innocents, Descent of the Holy Spirit, Death of the Virgin, and Raising of Lazarus, some of them showing strong traces of the influence of Dürer. From this point onwards the Renaissance spirit became increasingly powerful in these prayer books, and while in almost all their advances to meet it the work of Pigouchet himself, and of Thielman Kerver, continues interesting (though the mixture of old and new styles in their editions is often confusing), in the numerous editions poured forth by Germain and Gillet Hardouyn, many of them printed for them by Guillaume Anabat, and again in those printed by Nicolas Higman for Guillaume Eustace, the cuts are very inferior, so that they look best when most heavily illuminated. In a few editions published by the Hardouyns spaces appear to have been left for the illuminator to work unaided. In most of these late editions only the pages with cuts have borders, and these of the nature of picture frames, as contrasted with the old historiated borders. In 1525 Geoffroi Tory, a native of Bourges (born about 1480), who at this period of his life was at once a skilled designer, a scholar, and a printer, completed a Horae which, though somewhat thin and unsatisfying compared with the richer and more pictorial work of Pigouchet at his best, far surpassed any edition produced at Paris for the previous twenty years. Part of the edition was taken up by the great publisher of the day, Simon Colines, and while the body of the book was only printed once, differences in the titlepages and colophons and in the arrangement of the almanac and privilege constitute altogether three different issues. Whereas the best earlier editions had been printed in gothic letter this is in roman, and both the borders and the twelve illustrations aim at the lightness and grace necessary to match the lighter type. The vase-like designs of the borders are meaningless, but the pictures, despite the long faces and somewhat angular figures, have a peculiar charm. They were used again, with some additions, in a Horae completed 20 October, 1531. An edition of 1 October, 1527, described by Tory's chief biographer, Auguste Bernard, as printed, "chez Simon de Colines en caractères romains avec des vignettes de même genre, mais beaucoup plus petites," I have never seen. Three weeks later Tory printed in gothic letter a Paris Horae with borders of birds and fruits and flowers rather in the style of some of the Flemish manuscripts. In February, 1529, he produced a much smaller Horae in roman type without borders, but with some very delicate little cuts, used again by Olivier Mallard, who married his widow, in 1542. Tory appears to have died in 1533, and attributions of later work to him on the ground of its being marked with a "cross of Lorraine" (i.e. a cross with two transverse strokes) should be received with caution, unless the cuts are found in books by Tory's widow or her second husband. It is not quite clear that the cross is not the mark of a wood-cutter rather than a designer, and if it really marks the designer we must believe that it was used by others beside Tory, so various is the work on which it is found. Illustrated books were published at Lyon somewhat earlier than at Paris, and in point of numbers, if the comparison be confined to secular books with sets of cuts especially appropriated to them, the provincial city probably equalled, if it did not surpass, the metropolis. But if it must be reckoned to the credit of Lyon that it had no Antoine Vérard, reckless in his use of unsuitable stock cuts, it must be noted, on the other hand, that strikingly good illustrations are rare and bad ones numerous. Inasmuch as Lyon, before it welcomed the art of printing, had established some reputation for the manufacture of playing-cards, the number of rude and badly cut illustrations is indeed surprisingly large. The first Lyonnese printer to use pictorial woodcuts in a dated book was Martin Huss, who issued a _Miroir de la Rédemption_, 27 August, 1478, with the aid of blocks previously used (1476) by Bernard Richel at Basel; cuts of surgical instruments appeared in the following March, 1478-9, in the _Chirurgia_ of Guido de Cauliaco printed for Barth. Buyer by Nicolaus Philippi and Marcus Reinhart, and the same printers' undated _Legende dorée_ with very rude pictures is probably contemporaneous with this. The earliest woodcut of any artistic interest and of Lyonnese origin is a picture, occupying a folio-page, of the Blessed Virgin, with the Holy Child in her arms, standing in front of a curtain. This is found in the _Histoire du Chevalier Oben qui vouloist acuplir le voiage de S. Patrix_, printed by Leroy about 1480, of which the only known copy is at the British Museum. After 1480 all the firms we have named continued to issue illustrated books of varying merit. On 30 September, 1483, Leroy completed a _Livre des Eneydes_ with cuts which are often grotesque, though sometimes neat and sometimes giving evidence of a vigour of design too great for the wood-cutter's skill. In 1485 he found a Lyonnese cutter able to copy for him the Paris cuts of Jean Bonhomme's edition of the _Destruction de Troye la Grant_ quite competently, though in a much heavier style. In May, 1486, he printed a _Livre des Sainctz Anges_ with a figure of Christ in a mandorla (perhaps suggested by the engraving of the same subject in Bettini's _Monte Santo di Dio_), and this, despite a certain clumsiness in the face, is quite good. In the same year, in an edition of _Fierabras_, Leroy went back to cuts of incredible rudeness, while about 1490 in _Les Mysteres de la Saincte Messe_, we find him employing for a cut of the Annunciation a skilled craftsman, signing himself I. D. (Jean Dalles?), whose work, though lacking in charm, is neatness itself. Some shaded cuts in his romance of Bertrand Du Guesclin (undated, but _c._ 1487) are among the best work in any book by Leroy. Among his other undated illustrated books are editions of _Pierre de Provence_, _Melusine_, and the _Roman de la Rose_. Nicolaus Philippi and Marcus Reinhart in 1482 illustrated a _Mirouer de la vie humaine_ (from the Latin of Rodericus Zamorensis) with Augsburg cuts purchased from the stock of Günther Zainer[40], and copied a Paris edition in their _Vie des Saintz pères hermites_ and German originals in their _Mandeville_ and _Aesop_. Their edition of the _Postilla Guillermi_ (_c._ 1482) has rather a fine Crucifixion and some primitive but vigorous illustrations of the gospels. Martin Huss issued an undated _Exposition de la Bible_ with rude cuts and a French _Belial_ (version of Pierre Ferget), first printed in November, 1481, and at least five times subsequently. After his death in 1482 his business was carried on by a kinsman, Mathieu Huss, who became a prolific publisher of illustrated books, with cuts of very varying merit. Two of his earliest ventures were the _Proprietaire des Choses_ (2 November, 1482), a French version of the _De proprietatibus rerum_ of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, and a _Fasciculus temporum_ (1483), both with very rude cuts. During a partnership with Johann Schabeler he issued (about 1484) a French version of Boccaccio's _De casibus illustrium virorum_, the pictures in which are hard, stiff, and a little grotesque, but not without character. Of his later books several are illustrated with cuts borrowed or copied from other editions; but beyond a _Legende dorée_ with shaded column-cuts, frequently reprinted, he does not seem to have commissioned any important illustrated book. While the pictorial work of the Lyonnese presses was thus largely imitative, at least two very important books were first illustrated there. The earlier of these was the _Roman de la Rose_, of which the first printed edition, decorated with eighty-six cuts mostly small and rudely executed, but which at least have the merit of intelligently following the text, is now attributed to the press of Ortuin and Schenck at Lyon about 1481.[41] These primitive pictures were quickly copied by a cutter of somewhat greater skill but much less intelligence, who "improved" the original designs without troubling to understand them. This new set of cuts was used twice at Lyon, by Jean Syber (about 1485) and by Leroy (about 1487), and was then acquired (less one of the two larger cuts) by Jean Du Pré of Paris, who issued an edition about 1494. About 1497, and again a few years later, new editions were issued in which most of the same cuts reappear, Jean Petit having a share in both editions and Vérard in the first, despite the fact that he had issued a rival edition about 1495.[42] [Illustration: XXI. LYON, TRECHSEL, 1493 TERENCE (SIG. A 7 VERSO)] The other famous Lyonnese illustrated book was an annotated edition of _Terence_ "with pictures prefixed to every scene" printed in 1493 by Johann Trechsel. This has a curious full-page picture at the beginning, giving the artist's idea of a Roman theatre, with a box for the aediles at the side and a ground floor labelled "Fornices." The text is illustrated by 150 half-page cuts, a little hard, but with abundance of life (see Plate XXI). These certainly influenced the Strassburg edition of Grüninger (1496), and through Grüninger's that published at Paris by Vérard about 1500, and to an even greater extent the illustrated editions issued at Venice. How eagerly Lyonnese publishers looked out for books to imitate may be seen from the rival Lyonnese renderings of Breidenbach's _Peregrinationes_ and Brant's _Narrenschiff_. Of the Breidenbach, Michel Topie and Jac. de Herrnberg issued in November, 1480, an adaptation by Nicolas Le Huen with copies on copperplate of the maps and on wood of the smaller pictures, both very well executed. Rather over a year later, in February, 1490, a translation by "frere iehan de Hersin" was published by Jacques Maillet with the original Mainz blocks. As for the Ship of Fools, Jacques Sacon, the leading publisher at the end of the century, issued an edition of Locher's Latin version with close copies of the Basel cuts in June, 1498, and in the following August a French edition was published by Guillaume Balsarin with cuts so hastily executed that in many cases all the background has been omitted. A few illustrated incunabula were issued at Chambéry, and isolated books elsewhere, but with the exception of Lyon and Abbeville no French provincial town produced any notable work. In Spain the fine gothic types and frequent use of woodcut capitals give a very decorative appearance to most of the incunabula, but pictorial illustrations are rare, and of the few sets of cuts known to us several are borrowed or copied from French or German editions. The earliest Spanish illustrated book known to me is a _Fasciculus Temporum_, printed by Bart. Segura and Alfonsus de Portu at Seville in 1480, with a dozen metal-cuts of the usual stock subjects; the earliest with original illustrations, the Marquis of Villena's _Trabajos de Hercules_, printed by Antonio de Centenera at Zamora, 15 January, 1483, with eleven extraordinarily rude cuts of the hero's adventures. In 1484 and 1485 an unidentified printer at Huete produced editions of the _Copilacion de Leyes_ of Diaz de Montalvo, with some striking metal-cut pictorial capitals, illustrating the subjects of the successive books. In one copy of the 1484 edition I have seen a very fine full-page cut, but could not satisfy myself as to whether this belonged to the book, or was an insertion. An edition of Martorell's romance, entitled _Tirant lo blanch_, printed at Valentia in 1490 by Nic. Spindeler, has a decorative metal-cut border to the first page of text, and during the following decade illustrated books become fairly numerous. At Saragossa Paul Hurus issued in 1491 a Spanish version of the _Speculum humanae vitae_ of Rodericus Zamorensis, with cuts copied from the Augsburg edition, another in 1494 of Boccaccio's _De claris Mulieribus_, with seventy-two cuts, copied from the editions printed by Johann Zainer at Ulm, and four from some other source, another in 1498 of Breidenbach's _Peregrinatio_, and other books, not known to me personally, but which from their titles almost certainly contain copies of foreign cuts. In 1500, when his press had been taken over by three partners, Coci, Hutz, and Appentegger, there issued from it an _Officia quotidiana_, ornamented with some fifty pictures and many hundreds of fine capitals. [Illustration: XXII. SEVILLE, STANISLAUS POLONUS, 1500 RICOLDUS. IMPROBATIO ALCORANI. (TITLE)] At Barcelona several illustrated books were printed by Juan Rosenbach, one of the earliest of them, the _Carcel d'Amor_ of Diego de San Pedro (1493), having sixteen original cuts, characteristically Spanish in tone and showing good craftsmanship. In or about the same year Friedrich Biel of Basel (usually quoted as Fadrique de Basilea, or Fadrique Aleman) headed an edition of the _Passion de Christo_ with a striking metal-cut of Christ standing upright in the tomb, watched by the B. Virgin and S. John. For his Spanish _Aesop_ of 1496 he presumably copied the German cuts, and he certainly did so for his _Exemplario contra engaños_ of 1498, the 116 cuts of which are all careless copies of those in Prüss's edition of the _Directorium humanae vitae._ Even when in (or about) the next year he was issuing the first edition of the _Celestina_ or _Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea_, he could not do so without German models, and based his sixteen little pictures on some of those in Grüninger's _Terence_, while for his _Stultiferae naues_ of Badius Ascensius he went, of course, to the charming French cuts of De Marnef. As a rule, these Spanish versions of foreign cuts have the interest which always attaches to a free rehandling by a craftsman with a characteristic touch and style of his own. None the less it is refreshing to turn to more original work, and at least a little of this (though some one with wider knowledge than myself may further minimize the statement) is to be found at Seville. Here in 1494 Ungut and Stanislaus Polonus issued a _Regimiento de los principes_, translated from the Latin of Aegidius Columna, with a fine title-cut of a young prince (his hair is long) seated in a chair of state, holding a sword and royal orb. The same partners were responsible for another striking titlepage in 1495, that of the _Lilio de Medicina_, Bernardus de Gordonio, where two angels are seen upholding seven lilies in a pot; they also issued in the same year the _Contemplaciones sobre el Rosario de Nuestra Señora_, a fine and typically Spanish book, printed in red and black, with good capitals, two large cuts and fifteen smaller ones, enclosed in borders of white tracery on a black ground. In the last year of the century they issued an _Improbatio Alcorani_ with a swart picture of a disputation on the titlepage, not easily forgotten (see Plate XXII). It was at Seville also that in 1498 Pedro Brun printed in quarto the romance of the Emperor Vespasian, illustrated with fourteen excellent cuts, some of them full of life and movement; but for these a foreign model is quite likely some day to be discovered. On the other hand, at Valentia also there was at least a little work indisputably of native origin, as in the case of the title-cut to the _De regimine domus_ of S. Bernard, printed by Nic. Spindeler about 1498, and (less certainly) another to the _Obra allaors de S. Christofol_, issued by Peter Trincher in the same year. Pictorial title-cuts are not so common in Spanish books as in those of other countries, because of the Spanish fondness for filling the titlepage with an elaborate coat of arms. But nearly all their early bookwork is strong and effective, and the printer who placed a cut on a titlepage nearly always secured a good one. Is it too much to hope that Dr. Conrad Haebler, who has already done such admirable work in recording Spanish incunabula and printing facsimiles of their types, will some day complete his task by publishing a similar volume of facsimiles of Spanish cuts? FOOTNOTES: [37] Similar spaces were left in the typographically anonymous French version of Valerius Maximus, printed about the same date. [38] _Antoine Vérard._ By John Macfarlane. Illustrated monographs published by the Bibliographical Society. No. VII. Printed at the Chiswick Press, September, 1900. [39] So in the _Lucain Suetonne et Saluste_ of 1490, five cuts of battle-scenes, all borrowed from the _Mer des Histoires_, printed by Lerouge in 1488, are made to do duty sixty-four times. [40] In 1491 these are found at Saragossa in an edition printed by Hurus. [41] It has also been attributed to Jean Croquet at Geneva, but there is only a typographical argument for this ascription, whereas on the side of Lyon, in addition to (rather weaker) typographical arguments, we have to reckon with Lyonnese paper, the similarity of the illustrations to those of a cutter employed by Martin Huss, and the fact that the book was copied in two editions undoubtedly Lyonnese. See F. W. Bourdillon's _The Early Editions of the Roman de la Rose_ (1906). [42] Only a few of the cuts in this were specially designed for it, all the later ones being taken from stock in Vérard's most haphazard fashion. CHAPTER X LATER FOREIGN BOOKS One of the chief charms of the books of the fifteenth century is that they are so unlike those of our own day. In the first year of its successor a great step was taken towards their modernization by the production of the first of the Aldine octavos, and the process went on very rapidly. In the early days of printing all the standard works of the previous three centuries that could by any possibility be considered alive were put on the press. By 1500 men were thinking of new things. New editions of many of the old religious and didactic treatises, the old poems and romances, continued to be printed, though mostly in a form which suggests that they were now intended for a lower class of readers, but the new publishers would have little to do with them. Scholarship, which till now had been almost confined to Italy, spread rapidly to all the chief countries of Europe, and amid the devastation which constant war soon brought upon Italy, was lucky in being able to find new homes. With the new literary ideals came new forms for books, and new methods of housing them. Before 1500 several publishers had found it worth their while to print editions in five huge volumes of the _Speculum_ of Vincent de Beauvais, each volume measuring eighteen inches by thirteen and weighing perhaps a dozen pounds, though paper in those days was not yet made of clay. These great volumes had been cased in thick wooden boards, covered with stout leather and protected with bosses or centre-pieces and corner-pieces of metal. They were not intended to stand on shelves like modern books, but were laid on their sides, singly, on shelves and desks, and from pictures which have come down to us we can see that the library furniture of the day included a variety of reading-stands with the most wonderful of screws. The men for whom Aldus catered wanted books which they could put in their pockets and their saddlebags, and it was not long before the publishers of Paris and Lyon outdid Aldus in the smallness and neatness of their editions. Of course large books continued to be issued. The _Complutensian Polyglott_ will not easily be got either into a pocket or a saddlebag, but it is a good deal smaller than the _Speculum_ of Vincent de Beauvais, and, speaking generally, small folios took the place of large folios, and octavos the place of quartos, and in a little time the octavos themselves were threatened by the still smaller sextodecimos. There is, indeed, no stop till in the seventeenth century we come to the tiny Elzevirs, which remained the last word in book-production until the diamond editions of Didot and Pickering. Aldus Manutius, who led the revolution, has often been wrongly praised. He can hardly be called a great printer. He burdened Greek scholarship for three centuries with a thoroughly bad style in Greek types, and the cursive substitute which he provided for the fine roman founts for which Italy had been famous almost drove them from the field. Both the Greek type and the italics were the outcome of confused thinking. They were based upon styles of handwriting which Aldus and his scholarly friends doubtless found more expeditious than the formal book-hands which had previously been in use. Quickness in writing is an excellent thing. But a sloping type takes just as long to set up as an upright one, and absolutely nothing is gained by the substitution of an imitation of a quicker hand for the imitation of a slower one. Aldus had begun publishing at Venice early in 1495[43] with an edition of the Greek grammar of Lascaris, an earlier edition of which, issued at Milan in 1476, had been the first book wholly in Greek to obtain the honour of print. The Idylls of Theocritus and the poem of Hesiod called _Works and Days_ had been printed at the same place in 1479 and a Greek Psalter in 1487. At Florence the famous first edition of Homer was printed (by Bartolommeo Libri) in 1488, and was followed in the years 1494-6 (i.e. about the time that Aldus began work) by five books printed entirely in majuscules on the model of the letters used in inscriptions. Among these books were the Greek Anthology, four plays of Euripides, and an Apollonius Rhodius. The printing of the Greek classics had thus made a start, although a slow one. Aldus now greatly quickened the pace, producing his great Aristotle in four (or, as it is sometimes reckoned, five) volumes, between the years 1495 and 1498, and following it up with nine comedies of Aristophanes in 1498, Thucydides, Sophocles, and Herodotus in 1502, Xenophon's _Hellenics_, and the plays of Euripides in 1503 and Demosthenes in 1504. The service which he thus rendered to Greek scholarship was incalculable, but it was accompanied by a very serious drawback, the evil effects of which lasted for nearly three centuries. The Greek quotations in many books printed in Italy before this time had been printed in types imitating the writing in fairly old Greek manuscripts, handsome in appearance and fairly free from contractions; Aldus is said to have taken as his model the handwriting of his friend Marcus Musurus, with all its crabbed and often fantastic ligatures, and the simplicity of the Greek alphabet was thus intolerably complicated. As we have seen, the introduction of the Aldine italics, though in themselves a better fount than the Greek type, was almost as mischievous in its effects. On the other hand, the service which Aldus rendered to scholarship by his cheap and handy series of the Latin and Italian classics was very great. The first book which he printed in his new type was a Virgil, and this was quickly followed by works by Petrarch and Dante and a whole series of similar editions. Aldus had powerful supporters in these ventures, among them being Jean Grolier, the famous bibliophile, who for many years was resident in Italy as Treasurer of the Duchy of Milan. Despite this encouragement he did not find printing very profitable, partly, no doubt, on account of the wars in which Venice was at this time engaged. On the death of Aldus in 1515 his business was for some time carried on by his father-in-law, Andrea de Torresani, an excellent printer, but with little of Aldus's scholarship. In 1533, at the age of twenty-one, Paulus Manutius, the youngest son of Aldus, took over the management of the firm, and proved himself an even finer scholar than his father. Financially he was no more successful, and when he was made printer to the Pope the anxiety of carrying on business at Rome as well as at Venice only added to his difficulties. On his death in 1574 his son, Aldus Manutius the younger, succeeded him and worked till 1597, but without adding anything to the reputation of the firm, perhaps because he had been pushed on prematurely in his boyhood, as is witnessed by his compilation of a volume of elegant extracts at the age of nine. The family of printers and publishers which came nearest to rivalling the fame of the Aldi in Italy during the sixteenth century was that of the Giunta. Springing originally from Florence, members of it worked for some time simultaneously at Florence and Venice, and Lucantonio Giunta, the earliest member of it to rise into note, was already one of the foremost publishers at Venice in the closing years of the fifteenth century, and subsequently printed for himself instead of always employing other men to print for him. The speciality of this Venetian firm was at first illustrated books of all kinds, afterwards the production of large and magnificent missals and other service books of the Roman Church, and these they continued to publish until nearly the end of the sixteenth century. At Florence, Filippo Giunta competed with Aldus of Venice in printing pretty little editions of the classics, his competition sometimes taking the form of unscrupulous imitation. At Rome, Eucharius Silber and his successor Marcellus were the chief printers from 1500 to 1516. A little later the Bladi took their place, and under the auspices of the Council of the Propaganda of the Faith a press was set up for printing in Syriac, Armenian, and other Oriental languages. The output also of the presses in other Italian cities was still considerable. Nevertheless, from the same causes which produced her political decay Italy rapidly ceased to be the head-quarters of European printing, yielding this honour to France about the end of the first quarter of the century, and by some thirty or forty years later becoming quite uninfluential. To the German printing trade, also, the sixteenth century brought a notable decline of reputation. In its first two decades Johann Schoeffer (son of Peter) produced some fine books at Mainz; at Strassburg Grüninger poured forth illustrated books, and Johann Knoblouch and Matthias Schürer were both prolific. The importance of Cologne diminished, though the sons of Heinrich Quentell had a good business. Augsburg, on the other hand, came to the front, the elder and younger Schoensperger, Johann and Silvanus Otmar, Erhard Oglin, Johann Miller, and the firm of Sigismund Grim and Marcus Wirsung all doing important work. At Nuremberg the chief printing houses were those of Hieronymus Hölzel, Johann Weissenburger, and Friedrich Peypus. Leipzig and Hagenau both greatly increased their output, and with the advent of Luther, Wittenberg soon became an important publishing centre. Luther's activity alone would have sufficed to make the fortunes of any publisher had it not been for the fact that as each pamphlet from his pen was produced at Wittenberg by Hans Lufft, or some other authorized printer, it was promptly pirated in other cities, often with the retention of the original imprint. Many of these Luther tracts had ornamental borders, and, as will be narrated in another chapter, the German book-illustrations of this period were often very finely designed, but the paper used, even in important books, was poor compared to that found in German incunabula, and the presswork too often careless. These defects are found intensified in almost all the German books published after this date, and German printing soon lost all its technical excellence, though the output of its presses continued to be large, and the great annual fair at Frankfort during the course of the sixteenth century became the most important event in the book-trade of Northern Europe. A little before Germany gave herself up to theological strife, the conjunction at Basel of the great printer Johann Froben and the great scholar Erasmus temporarily raised that city to importance as an intellectual centre. Froben had begun printing at Basel in 1491, but until he formed his friendship with Erasmus in 1513 published only a few editions of the Bible, some of the papal Decretals, the works of S. Ambrose, and a few other books of no special interest. From 1513 onwards his output increased rapidly both in quantity and importance, so that by the time of his death in 1527 he had printed over three hundred books, including almost all the works of Erasmus and many books in Greek. During this period, also, border-pieces and initials were designed for him by the two Holbeins (Hans and Ambrosius) and other skilful artists, and he was entitled to rank as the greatest printer-publisher in Europe in succession to Aldus. After his death in 1527 the supremacy of European printing rested for the next generation indisputably with France. During the fifteenth century printing in France had developed almost entirely on its own lines. Vernacular books of every description had poured from the presses of Paris and Lyon, and many of them had been charmingly illustrated in a style worthy of the great French school of illustrators of manuscripts. In the first half of the sixteenth century the publication of these popular books--romances, poetry, and works of devotion--still continued, though with some loss of quality, the print and paper being less good and the illustrations often consisting of a medley of old blocks, or where new ones were made being executed in a coarser and heavier style. But to the vernacular literature there was now added a learned and scholarly literature which soon rose to great importance. As early as 1492 Johann Trechsel, a printer of Lyon, had possessed himself of sufficient Greek type to print quotations in that language, and in the following year he issued the profusely illustrated edition of _Terence_, the cuts in which were imitated by Grüninger at Strassburg. Trechsel's press corrector and general editor was a young scholar named Josse Bade, of Asch, near Ghent, better known by the Latin form of his name as Jodocus Badius Ascensius, or Ascensianus. In 1503, after Trechsel's death, Ascensius started business for himself in Paris, and his editions of the classics, well known from the device of a printing-press found on many of their titlepages, obtained a considerable reputation. Almost simultaneously, in 1502, Henri Estienne, the first of a famous family of scholar-printers, had started in business by an expedient of which we hear a great deal in the annals of English printing, that of marrying a printer's widow. Of Henri Estienne's three sons the eldest, François, became a bookseller, Robert a scholar-printer, and Charles, in the first instance, a physician. In the technical side of his business Henri had been helped by Simon de Colines, who, on his employer's death, in 1520, became his widow's third husband, and carried on the business until 1526, when he handed it over to Robert Estienne, and started on his own account in another house in the same street. Thus, just as the co-operation of Erasmus with Froben, which began shortly before the death of Aldus, brought the Basel press into prominence, so this duplication, just before the death of Froben, of the business of Henri Estienne with the two firms of Robert Estienne and Simon de Colines materially aided the rivalry of Paris. Greek printing, which by this time had become essential to a printer's reputation for scholarship, had at last begun there with the publication of a Greek Grammar in 1507, and had increased somewhat, though not very rapidly. In 1539 François I appointed Robert Estienne royal printer for Latin and Hebrew, and Conrad Neobar, a German from the diocese of Cologne, his printer for Greek. It was soon after this that plans were formed for the printing of Greek texts from manuscripts in the royal library, and the preparation for this purpose of a special fount of Greek type. Neobar died from overwork the following year, and the office of royal printer in Greek was added to Robert Estienne's other honours, and with it the supervision of the new Greek type. For this Angelus Vergetius, a celebrated Greek calligrapher, had probably already made the drawings, and the cutting of the punches was entrusted to Claude Garamond. By 1544 a fount of great primer had been completed and a book printed in it, the _Praeparatio Euangelica_ of Eusebius. A smaller type, of the size known as pica, was next put in hand, and a pocket Greek Testament in sextodecimo printed with it in 1546. Lastly, a third fount, larger than either of the others, was produced and used for the text of a folio Greek Testament in 1550, the other two founts appearing in the prefatory matter and notes. These royal Greek types became very famous and served as a model to all designers of Greek characters for nearly two centuries. Technically, indeed, they are as good as they could be, showing a great advance in clearness and dignity upon those of Aldus, from which nevertheless they inherited the fatal defect of being based on the handwriting of contemporary Greek scholars, instead of on the book-hand of a nobler period of Greek writing. While the name of Robert Estienne is thus connected with these royal Greek types he was himself distinctly a Latinist, and his own personal contribution to scholarship was a Latin Dictionary (_Thesaurus Linguae Latinae_) published in 1532, which remained a standard work for two centuries. He published, too, as did also Simon de Colines, many very pretty little editions of Latin classics in sextodecimo, some in italics, others in roman type, thus carrying a step further the triumphant march of the small book, which Aldus had only taken as far as octavos. Simon de Colines, while sharing in work of this kind, did not neglect other classes of literature, and, as has already been noted, joined with Geoffroi Tory, another scholar-printer, who was also a scholar-artist, in producing some remarkable editions of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin. This scholar-artist, Geoffroi Tory, was a native of Bourges, who had been a professor at several of the Paris colleges and was at one time proof-reader to Henri Estienne. His career as a printer began in 1522 and ended with his death in 1533, after which his business was carried on by Olivier Mallard, who married his widow. Tory printed a few scholarly books and wrote and published a curious work, to which he gave the name _Champfleury_, on the right forms and proportions of the letters of the alphabet. It is, however, by his Books of Hours that he is now chiefly remembered. While all this good work was going on in Paris the printers at Lyon were no less busy. At the beginning of the century Aldus had been justly annoyed at the clever counterfeits of his italic octavos which were put on the market at Lyon. But in Sebastian Gryphius (a German, born in 1491 at Reutlingen) Lyon became possessed of a printer who had no need to imitate even Aldus. After printing one or two works in the four preceding years his press got into full swing in 1528 and, by the time of his death in 1556 he had issued very nearly a thousand different editions, mostly in Latin, and many of them in the dainty format in sextodecimo which Estienne and de Colines were using in Paris. In 1534 the luckless Etienne Dolet, soon to be burnt as a heretic, arrived at Lyon, and with some friendly help from Gryphius printed between 1538 and 1544 some seventy editions. In 1546 Jean de Tournes, who had been a journeyman in the office of Gryphius, started business for himself, and soon proved a worthy rival to his master. Meanwhile excellent popular work was being done by other printers, such as François Juste, Claude Nourry, Macé Bonhomme, and Guillaume Roville. From the old Lyonnese firm of Trechsel proceeded in 1538 two books illustrated by Holbein (the _Dance of Death_ and _Historiarum Veteris Testamenti Icones_, see p. 192), and numerous other Lyonnese books were charmingly illustrated and also, it may be added, charmingly bound, a very pretty style of trade bindings being just then in vogue. Against the pretty bindings and vignettes and the popular books to which they were applied little or no opposition was raised, and they continued to be issued till the taste for them died out about 1580. But against all the scholarly work of the French presses the leaders of the Church took up an attitude of unrelenting hostility. Foremost in this opposition, regretful that their predecessors had introduced printing into France, were the theologians of the Sorbonne, who forbade the study of Hebrew as dangerous and likely to lead to heresy, and looked with eyes almost as unfriendly on that of Greek. In 1546 (just after the iniquitous campaign against the Vaudois) Etienne Dolet was hanged on a charge of atheism, and his body cut down and burnt amid a pile of his books. In 1550, despite his position as a royal printer, Robert Estienne, who had just completed his fine folio edition of the Greek Testament, was obliged to seek safety by flying to Geneva, and a generation later Jean de Tournes the younger, of Lyon, was obliged to follow his example. The kings of France and their advisers at this period were determined to be rid of both Huguenots and Freethinkers at all costs, and French scholarship and French printing were both the recipients of blows from which it took them some generations to recover. When Robert Estienne fled to Geneva, his brother, the physician, Charles, was allowed to succeed to his office at Paris, and he in turn was followed by a younger Robert, who died in 1571. Meanwhile Robert I had taken with him a set of matrices of the royal Greek types, and with these and other founts printed at Geneva until his death in 1559. His son, Henri Estienne II, then took over the business, but was of too restless and roving a disposition to conduct it with success. As a scholar he was even greater than his father, excelling in Greek as Robert had in Latin, and producing in 1572 a Greek dictionary (_Thesaurus Graecae Linguae_) which became as famous as the Latin one which Robert had published forty years earlier. Henri Estienne the younger died in 1598, but the Estienne tradition was kept up by his son Paul (1566-1627) and grandson Antoine (1592-1674), the latter bringing back into the family the office of royal printer at Paris, and printing an edition of the Septuagint. Under the discouraging conditions of the middle of the sixteenth century French printers gradually ceased to be scholars and enthusiasts, but Christopher Plantin, a Frenchman, born in the neighbourhood of Tours in 1514, built up by his energy and industry a great business at Antwerp, the memory of which is preserved in the famous Plantin Museum. He had started at Antwerp in 1549 as a binder, but about six years later turned his attention to printing, in consequence (it is said) of an accident which disabled him for binding-work. The most famous of his books is the great Antwerp Polyglott edition of the Bible in eight volumes, published between the years 1569 and 1573. Over this he came so near to ruining himself that the Spanish Government granted him special privileges for the production of service-books by way of compensation. The sack of Antwerp by the Spaniards in 1576 was another heavy financial blow, and for a time Plantin removed to Leyden, and also for a time kept a branch business at Paris. But he ultimately returned to Antwerp, and his premises remained in the possession of the descendants of one of his sons-in-law, Joannes Moretus, until they were purchased in 1877 for £48,000 as the Musée Plantin. After Plantin's death the branch business which he had left at Leyden was carried on by another of his sons-in-law, Franciscus Raphelengius, who printed some pretty little editions of the classics and other good books. Plantin's own work as a printer was costly and pretentious rather than beautiful, and the bad style of his ornaments and initials exercised a powerful influence for evil on the printers of the ensuing century. The mention of Plantin's Antwerp Polyglott may remind us that the first Polyglott edition of the Bible had been printed between 1514 and 1518 at Alcalà, in Spain, under the auspices of Cardinal Ximenes. The Latin name of Alcalà being Complutum, this edition is generally quoted as the Complutensian Polyglott. Among the notable features in it is the use of a singularly fine Greek type in the New Testament. Absolutely different from the Aldine and all the other Greek types imitating the rapid handwriting of the Greek scholars of the sixteenth century, this was based on the book-hand used in some early manuscript, possibly the one which the Pope had lent from the Vatican to aid Cardinal Ximenes in forming his text. It was on this Greek type that Mr. Robert Proctor, shortly before his death, based his own fount of Greek, supplying the majuscules which (with a single exception) are wanting in the original and making other improvements, but keeping closely to his model and thus producing by far the finest Greek type ever cast. This has been used to print notable editions of the _Oresteia_ and _Odyssey_, the former at the Chiswick, the latter at the Clarendon Press. Save for the Complutensian Polyglott there is nothing striking to record of the Spanish printing of the sixteenth century, which retained its massive and archaic character for some decades, and then became as dull and undistinguished as the printing of all the rest of Europe tended to be towards the end of the century. The enthusiasm with which the new art had at first been received had died out. Printers were no longer lodged in palaces, monasteries, and colleges; Church and State, which had at first fostered and protected them, were now jealous and suspicious, even actively hostile. Thriving members of other occupations and professions had at one time taken to the craft. A little later great scholars had been willing to give their help and advice, and at least a few printers had themselves been men of learning. All this had passed or was passing. Printing had sunk to the level of a mere craft, and a craft in which the hours appear to have been cruelly long and work uncertain and badly paid. In the eighteenth century the Dutch journeymen were certainly better paid than our own, and it may be that it was through better pay that they did better work in the seventeenth century also. It seems certain, moreover, that the improvements in the construction of printing presses which were introduced in that century originated in Holland. The primacy of the Dutch is proved by the large amount of Dutch type imported into England, and indeed the Dutch books of the seventeenth century are neater and in better taste than those of other countries. It was in Holland also that there worked the only firm of printers of this period who made themselves any abiding reputation. The founder of this firm, Louis Elzevir, was a bookseller and bookbinder at Leyden, where, in 1583, he began printing on his own account, and issued between that year and his death in 1617 over a hundred different books of no very special note. No fewer than five of his seven sons carried on his business, and the different combinations of these and of their successors in different towns are not a little bewildering. Bonaventura Elzevir with his nephew Abraham issued pretty little editions of the classics in very small type in 12mo and 16mo, of which the most famous are the Greek Testament of 1624 and 1633, the Virgil, Terence, Livy, Tacitus, Pliny, and Caesar of 1634-6, and a similar series of French historical and political works and French and Italian classics. After the deaths of Abraham and Bonaventura in 1652 the business was carried on by their respective sons Jean and Daniel, who issued famous editions of the _Imitatio Christi_ and the Psalter. Meanwhile Louis Elzevir (another grandson of the founder) had been working at Amsterdam, and in 1654 was joined there by Daniel, the new partnership producing some fine folio editions. Other members of the family went on working at Utrecht and Leyden until as late as 1712, so that its whole typographical career extended over a hundred and thirty years. But it is only the little classical editions, and a French cookery book called _Le Pastissier François_, that are at all famous, and the fame of these (the little classics being troublesome to read and having more than a fair share of misprints, though edited by David Heinsius) probably rests on a misconception. These small classical editions were the last word for two centuries in that development of the Small Book which we have already traced in the Aldine editions at Venice, those of De Colines and Robert Estienne of Paris, of Sebastian Gryphius at Lyons, and of the successors of Plantin at Antwerp. Now the small books of the Elzevirs were produced at a very important period in the history of bookbinding, and when we hear of large sums having been paid for an Elzevir it will mostly turn out that the excellence of its binding has had a good deal to do with the price. The cookery book is an exception, the value of this, though often enhanced by a fine binding, being yet considerable, even in a shabby jacket. But the interest in this case is due to the antiquarian instincts of book-loving gourmets, and not in any way to the printing. The little classics, even when of the right date and with all the right little headpieces and all the right misprints, have never been worth on their own merits more than a few pounds, while shabby, cropped copies have no selling value whatever. FOOTNOTE: [43] He was born at Bassiano in the Papal States in 1450. CHAPTER XI FOREIGN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY [Illustration: XXIII. NUREMBERG, SODALITAS CELTICA. 1501 HROSWITHA. OPERA (4^b). HROSWITHA AND THE EMPEROR OTHO (ATTRIBUTED TO DÜRER)] As we have already said, the charm of the woodcut pictures in incunabula lies in their simplicity, in their rude story-telling power, often very forcible and direct, in the valiant effort, sometimes curiously successful in cuts otherwise contemptibly poor, to give character and expression to the human face, and as regards form in the harmony between the woodcuts and the paper and type of the books in which they appear. In the book-illustrations of the sixteenth century the artist is more learned, more self-conscious, and his design is interpreted with far greater skill by the better trained wood-cutters of his day. More pains are taken with accessories, and often perhaps for this reason the cut does not tell its story so quickly as of old. It is now a work of art which demands study, no longer a signpost explaining itself however rapidly the leaf is turned. Lastly, the artist seems seldom to have thought of the form of the book in which his work was to appear, of the type with which the text was to be printed, or even of how the wood-cutter was to interpret his design. Book-illustration, which had offered to the humble makers of playing-cards and pictures of saints new scope for their skill, became to the artists of the sixteenth century a lightly valued method of earning a little money from the booksellers, their better work being reserved for single designs, or in some cases for the copperplates which at first they executed, as well as drew, themselves. Thus the book-collector is conscious, on the one hand, that less pains have been taken to please him, and on the other that he is separating by his hobby one section of an artist's work from the rest, in connection with which it ought to be studied. He may even be in some doubt as to where his province ends, since many of the illustrated books of the sixteenth century, although they possess a titlepage and are made up in quires, are essentially not books at all, the letterpress being confined to explanations of the woodcuts printed either below them or facing them on the opposite pages. The bibliographer himself, it may be added, feels somewhat of an intruder in this field, which properly belongs to the student of art, although in so far as art is enshrined in books and thus brought within the province of the book-collector, bibliography cannot refuse to deal with it. Although we have taken off our caps in passing to Erhard Reuwich and Michael Wolgemut for their admirable work, the one in the Mainz _Breidenbach_, the other in the _Schatzbehalter_ and _Nuremberg Chronicle_, it is Albrecht Dürer who must be regarded as the inaugurator of the second period of German book-illustrations. During his Wanderjahre Dürer had produced at Basel for an edition of S. Jerome's Epistles, printed by Nicolaus Kesler in 1492 (reprinted 1497), a rude woodcut of the saint extracting a thorn from his lion's foot. Dürer's important bookwork begins in 1498, when his fifteen magnificent woodcuts illustrating the Apocalypse (which influenced all later treatments of this theme) were issued twice over at Nuremberg, in one edition with German title and text, in the other with Latin. Stated in their colophons to have been "printed by Albrecht Dürer, painter," neither edition bears the name of a professional printer. The types used in each case were those of Anton Koberger, Dürer's godfather, and the effect of the artist's personal superintendence, which the colophons attest, is seen in the excellence of the presswork. The following year Koberger published an illustrated edition of the _Reuelationes Sanctae Birgittae_ (German reprint in 1502), and Dürer has been supposed to have helped in this, but the theory is now discredited. In 1501 he probably contributed two woodcuts to an edition of the comedies of Hroswitha, a tenth century nun of the Benedictine Abbey at Gandersheim. Conrad Celtes had unearthed these comedies some years previously in a Ratisbon library, and they were now printed under his editorship for the _Sodalitas Celtica_ at Nuremberg. The illustrations to the comedies themselves, which vie in heaviness with their subjects, are attributed by Mr. Campbell Dodgson to Wolfgang Traut.[44] One of the cuts assigned to Dürer represents Celtes offering the book to Frederick III, Elector of Saxony; the other shows Hroswitha herself presenting her plays to the Emperor Otto I (see Plate XXIII). In 1502 Dürer designed another cut of a presentation and an illustration of Philosophy (both very feebly rendered by the cutter) for the _Quatuor libri Amorum_ of Celtes. In 1511 the Latin Apocalypse was reprinted, and three other sets of woodcuts by Dürer appeared in book form, in each case with Latin text by Benedictus Chelidonius. One of these commemorated in twenty designs the life of the Blessed Virgin (_Epitome in Diuae Parthenices Marie Historiam ab Alberto Durero Norico per Figuras digestam cum versibus annexis Chelidonii_), the other two the Passion of Christ, the Great Passion (_Passio domini nostri Jesu ex hieronymo Paduano, Dominico Mancino, Sedulio et Baptista Mantuano per fratrem Chelidonium collecta cum figuris Alberti Dureri Norici Pictoris_, in folio) in twelve large woodcuts, the Little Passion (_Passio Christi ab Alberto Durer Norembergensi effigiata c[=u] varij generis carminibus Fratris Benedicti Chelidonij Musophili_, in quarto) in thirty-seven smaller ones. After this Dürer was caught up by the Emperor Maximilian and set to work on some of the various ambitious projects for illustrating his reign, as to which more will be said later. His later bookwork includes a Crucifixion and S. Willibald for an Eichstätt Missal (Nuremberg, H. Hölzel, 1517), some large designs for the _Etliche vnderricht zu befestigung der Stett Schloss vnd flecken_ (Nuremberg, 1527), and his own book on the Proportion of the Human Body, which was issued both in German and in a Latin translation by Camerarius. Several borders and illustrations formerly ascribed to Dürer are now attributed to one of his pupils, Hans Springinklee, who lived in Dürer's house at Nuremberg, where he worked from about 1513 to 1522. Most of Springinklee's bookwork was done for Anton Koberger, who published some of it at Nuremberg, while some was sent to the Lyon printers, Clein, Sacon, and Marion, who were in Koberger's employment. A border of his design bearing the arms of Bilibaldus Pirckheimer is found in several works which Pirckheimer edited (1513-17). In a _Hortulus Animae_, printed by J. Clein for Koberger at Lyon, 1516, fifty cuts are by Springinklee. The _Hortulus Animae_ was as popular in Germany as the illustrated _Horae_ in France and England. In 1517 another edition appeared with Erhard Schön as its chief illustrator, and only a few of Springinklee's cuts. The next year Springinklee produced a new set of cuts, and Schön's work was less used. Springinklee and Schön were also associated in Bible illustrations printed for Koberger by Sacon at Lyon, and to Springinklee are now assigned two full-page woodcuts in an Eichstätt Missal (H. Hölzel, Nuremberg, 1517), and a border to the _Reuelationes Birgittae_ (F. Peypus, Nuremberg, 1517), formerly ascribed to Dürer. A woodcut of Johann Tritheim presenting his _Polygraphia_ to Maximilian, formerly attributed to Holbein as having been printed at Basel (Adam Petri, 1518), is now also placed to the credit of Springinklee, who, moreover, worked for the _Weisskunig_ and probably for other of the artistic commemorations of himself which Maximilian commissioned. Hans Sebald Beham is best known as a book-illustrator from his work for Christian Egenolph at Frankfurt am Main, which began in 1533. But he belonged to the Nuremberg school, had worked for ten or twelve years for Merckel, Peypus, Petreius and other Nuremberg firms, and has had the honour of having some of his single cuts attributed to Dürer. His most important books for Egenolph were the _Biblische Historien_, a series of small illustrations to the Bible, first printed in 1533, which went through many editions in German and Latin, and another series illustrating the Apocalypse, of which the first edition appeared in 1539, the texts of the Latin _Historiae_ and also to the Apocalypse cuts being supplied by Georgius Aemilius. A set of medallion portraits of Roman emperors by him also appeared in several German and Latin chronicles published by Egenolph. Between the Nuremberg book-illustrators and those of Augsburg, to whom we must now turn, a connecting link may be found in the person of Hans Leonhard Schäufelein, born about 1480, soon after his father, a Nördlingen wool merchant, had settled at Nuremberg. He worked under Dürer, and his earliest book-illustrations were made for Dr. Ulrich Pinder, the owner of a private press at Nuremberg. Several unsigned cuts in _Der beschlossen gart des rosenkrantz Marie_ (Pinder, 1505), and thirty out of thirty-four large cuts in a _Speculum Passionis_ (Pinder, 1507), are ascribed to Schäufelein, his associate in each book being Hans Baldung. About 1510 Schäufelein removed to Augsburg, and, despite his return to his paternal home at Nördlingen where he took up his citizenship in 1515, he worked for the chief Augsburg publishers for the rest of his life, though between 1523 and 1531 nothing is known as to what he was doing. Among the earlier Augsburg books with illustrations attributed to Schäufelein are Tengler's _Der neu Layenspiegel_ (1511), Henricus Suso's _Der Seusse (1512), Heiligenleben_ (1513), Geiler's _Schiff der Penitentz_ (1514), and the _Hystori und wunderbarlich legend Katharine von Senis_ (1515), all published by J. Otmar. In 1514 he had illustrated for Adam Petri of Basel a _Plenarium_ or _Evangelienbuch_, which went through several editions. Another _Evangelienbuch_, printed by Thomas Anshelm at Hagenau in 1516, contains several cuts with Schäufelein's signature, but in a different style, probably partly due to a different wood-cutter; these were used again in other books. In the _Theuerdank_ of 1517 about twenty cuts are assigned to Schäufelein, some of them bearing his signature. The following year he illustrated Leonrodt's _Himmelwagen_ for Otmar with twenty cuts, mostly signed, some of which were used afterwards on the titlepages of early Luther tracts. After an interval Schäufelein is found in 1533 working for Heinrich Steyner of Augsburg, who employed him to illustrate his German editions of the classics, Thucydides (1533), Plutarch (1534), Cicero (1534), Apuleius (1538), etc. The blocks for some of his cuts subsequently passed into the possession of Christian Egenolph of Frankfort. The first native Augsburg artist whom we have to notice is Hans Burgkmair, who was born in 1473, and began bookwork in 1499 by illustrating missals for Erhard Ratdolt with pictures of patron saints and of the Crucifixion. The chief Augsburg publisher for whom he worked in his early days was Johann Otmar, for whom he illustrated several books by the popular preacher, Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg (_Predigen teutsch_, 1508 and 1510, _Das Buch Granatapfel_, 1510, _Nauicula Poenitentiae_, 1511), and other devotional and moral works. In 1515 Hans Schoensperger the younger employed him to supply a dedication cut and seven designs of the Passion for a _Leiden Christi_, and to the _Theuerdank_ published by Schoensperger the elder at Nuremberg in 1517 he contributed thirteen illustrations (only one signed). He had already been employed (1510) on a few of the cuts in the Genealogy of the Emperor Maximilian, which a wholesome fear lest its accuracy should be doubted caused that self-celebrating monarch to withhold from publication, and much more largely (1514-16) on the _Weisskunig_, which was first printed, from the original blocks, at Vienna in 1775; and he was the chief worker (1516-18) on the woodcuts for the Triumphal Procession of Maximilian printed by order of the Archduke Ferdinand in 1526. While these imperial commissions were in progress Burgkmair designed a few title-cuts for Johann Miller, notably the very fine one (see Plate XXIV) to the _De rebus Gothorum_ of Jornandes (1515), showing kings Alewinus and Athanaricus in conversation, and subsequently worked for Grimm and Wirsung and for H. Steiner, although not nearly to the extent which was at one time supposed, as most of the illustrations supplied to these firms with which he used to be credited are now assigned to Hans Weiditz. Jörg Breu, who was born and died (1537) some half-dozen years later than Burgkmair, like him illustrated Missals for Ratdolt and contributed Passion-cuts to Mann's _Leiden Christi_. His most important piece of bookwork was the redrawing of the cuts in Anton Sorg's edition of Reichenthal's _Conciliumbuch_ for a reprint by Steiner in 1536. Illustrations by him also occur in a _Melusina_ (1538), and German versions of Boccaccio's _De claris mulieribus_ and _De Casibus Illustrium virorum_ issued after his death by the same firm. Leonhard Beck contributed largely to the illustration of Maximilian's literary ventures, especially the _Theuerdank_, _Weisskunig_, and Saints of the House of Austria (published at some date between 1522 and 1551). [Illustration: XXIV. AUGSBURG, J. MILLER, 1515 JORNANDES. DE REBUS GOTHORUM. (TITLE). ATTRIBUTED TO BURGKMAIR] We come now to Hans Weiditz, the immense extension of whose work by the attributions of recent years can only be compared to Mr. Proctor's raising of Bartolommeo de' Libri from one of the smallest to one of the most prolific of Florentine printers. Only two or three Augsburg woodcuts bearing his initials are known, while scores and even hundreds are now assigned to him, most of which had previously been credited to Burgkmair. Weiditz began bookwork in or before 1518, in which year he contributed a title-cut to the _Nemo_ of Ulrich von Hutten, while in 1519 he made twelve illustrations to the same author's account of Maximilian's quarrel with the Venetians. In 1518 he had begun working for the firm of Grimm and Wirsung, and this, with a few commissions from other Augsburg publishers, kept him busy till about 1523, when he himself moved to Strassburg, whence his family had come, while in the same year Grimm and Wirsung gave up business and sold their blocks to Steiner. These included not only many title-borders by Weiditz, twenty illustrations to two comedies of Plautus and a set of cuts to the _Deuotissime meditationes de vita et passione Christi_, and another to a German _Celestina_, all published in 1520, but a series of some 260 masterly illustrations to a German version of Petrarch's _De remediis utriusque fortunae_. Steiner used some of these cuts in a Cicero _De Officiis_ of 1531, which has in addition sixty-seven important cuts by Weiditz, presumably of the same period, and also in a _Justinus_ of the same year, but the work for which they were specially designed did not appear until a year later. Needless to say, selections from both the Petrarch and the Cicero sets appear in later work. After removing to Strassburg, Weiditz copied some Wittenberg Bible cuts and also Holbein's Apocalypse set for Knoblauch in 1524. In 1530 he illustrated for J. Schott the _Herbarium_ of Brunfels, which went through several editions both in Latin and German, and for this comparatively humble work was praised by name in both editions, so that until 1904 it was only as the illustrator of the Herbal that he was known. Many of his Augsburg woodcuts subsequently passed to that persistent purchaser of old blocks, Christian Egenolph of Frankfort. Before passing away from the Nuremberg and Augsburg book-illustrators, it seems necessary to describe briefly, but in a more connected form, the literary and artistic enterprises of the Emperor Maximilian, to which so many incidental allusions have been made. The Emperor's first attempt to glorify himself and his lineage took the form of a Genealogy for which several antiquaries--Mennel, Sunthaim, Tritheim, and Stabius--made researches. Burgkmair made designs of some ninety ancestors and their heraldic coats in 1509-11, and the wood-blocks were cut. It was apparently intended to print them in 1512, but the whole project was abandoned, and the work is now only known from a few sets of proofs, no one of which is quite complete. After this failure Maximilian planned a Triumphal Arch and Procession, the programme for the Arch being drawn up by Stabius, that of the Procession by Treitzsaurwein. The plan of the Arch was largely worked out by Dürer, with help from Springinklee, Traut, and Altdorfer, whose designs were carried out in 192 woodblocks cut by Hieronymus Andrea and his assistants. When the impressions from these are put together they make a design measuring nearly twelve feet by ten. In the centre is the Gate of Honour, to the left and right the gates of Praise and Nobility. Above the main gate rises a tower on which are displayed the Emperor's ancestors and their arms, above the other gates a series of incidents of Maximilian's life, surmounted by busts of his imperial predecessors and of contemporary princes. This was printed in 1517-18 at Nuremberg, and in 1526-8 and 1559 at Vienna. On the Procession or Triumph, Dürer, Springinklee, Schäufelein, Burgkmair, and Beck were all engaged. The 138 blocks composing it were cut by Andrea and Jost de Negker in 1516-18, and it was printed by order of the Archduke Ferdinand in 1526. A Triumphal Car designed by Dürer in 1518, in connection with the same project, was published in eight sheets in 1522. A series of representations of Saints of the House of Hapsburg had been planned soon after the abandonment of the Genealogy, and assumed shape in 1514. From drawings now attributed to Leonhard Beck, 123 woodblocks were made, and an edition in book form was printed some time after 1522. The romance of _Theuerdank_ was written by Melchior Pfintzing, under Maximilian's direction, to celebrate his wooing of Mary of Burgundy and other exploits. The bulk (seventy-seven) of the illustrations in it are now ascribed to Beck, seventeen to Schäufelein, thirteen to Burgkmair, and three, two, and one respectively to Schön, Traut, and Breu. It was published as a sumptuous folio, several copies being struck on vellum by the elder Schoensperger at Nuremberg in 1517, and reprinted two years later. The _Weisskunig_, or White King, an account of Maximilian's parentage, education, and exploits, was dictated by him in fragments to Treitzsaurwein, but never fully edited. Of the 249 illustrations about half are by Burgkmair, most of the others by Beck. With the exception of thirteen the blocks were preserved at Vienna, and the book was printed there for the first time in 1775. Lastly, the _Freydal_, which was to have given an account of Maximilian's tourneys and "Mummereien," is known to us by the preservation of the original miniatures from which the illustrations were to have been made, but only five blocks out of 256 were actually cut. The patronage of the Emperor Maximilian gives special importance to the work done during his lifetime at Nuremberg and Augsburg, but there was no lack of book-illustrations elsewhere. At Tübingen some of the mathematical works of Johann Stöffler were curiously decorated, and the second edition of his _Ephemerides_ (1533) has a fine portrait of the author in his seventy-ninth year. At Ratisbon, Albrecht Altdorfer was the most important worker for the wood-cutters, and to him are now attributed thirty-eight cuts illustrating the Fall and Redemption of Man, published at Hamburg in 1604, under the name of Dürer, as "nunc primùm è tenebris in lucem editæ." Their minute and rather niggling style renders the bad printing which they have mostly received peculiarly destructive to them. Another Ratisbon artist, Michael Ostendorfer, illustrated a few books published at Ratisbon itself, and others printed at Ingolstadt. At Wittenberg, from a little before 1520, the influence of Martin Luther made itself as much felt as that of Maximilian at Augsburg and Nuremberg. Hither, in 1505, had come a Franconian artist, Lucas Cranach, who had already illustrated some missals for Winterburger of Vienna. Numerous pictures of saints, which he drew for the Wittenberg _Heiligthumsbuch_ of 1509, are subsequently found dispersed in other works, such as the _Hortulus Animae_. A few title-cuts on tracts by Luther and others are assigned to him, but a great mass of bookwork, including numerous fine borders, found in Wittenberg books of the Luther period, while showing abundant traces of the elder Cranach's influence, is yet clearly not by him. It has recently been assigned, with some probability, to his eldest son, Hans. His younger son, Lucas Cranach II, also supplied a few borders and illustrations to the Wittenberg booksellers. Georg Lemberger also produced borders for titlepages and some Bible cuts, and two other Wittenberg Bible-illustrators of this school were Erhard Altdorfer, brother of Albrecht, whose best bookwork is found in a fine Danish Bible printed at Copenhagen in 1550, and Hans Brosamer, Bibles, or parts of the Bible, with whose cuts appeared both at Wittenberg and at Frankfort. At Strassburg, Hans Baldung Grien, whose work shows the influence of Dürer, illustrated the _Granatapfel_ (1510) and other works by Geiler of Kaisersberg, the _Hortulus Animae_ printed by Flach (1510), etc. Johann Wächtlin, who had contributed a Resurrection to a set of Passion cuts published by Knoblauch in 1506, illustrated a _Leben Christi_ for the same printer in 1508. We find his work again in the _Feldbuch der Wundarznei_ of Hans von Gersdorff, printed by Schott in 1517. The work of Hans Weiditz for Strassburg publishers has already been mentioned. It was here also that Urs Graf worked for some little time for Knoblauch, to whose Passion set of 1507 he contributed, and other publishers. In 1509 he is found at Basel, where two years later he became a citizen, supplying ninety-five little woodcuts to an edition of the _Postilla_ of Guillermus, and also designing title borders. As a centre of printing Basel was now rapidly increasing in importance, and when Erasmus allied himself with the foremost Basel printer, Johann Froben, for a time the city succeeded, in point of quality though not of quantity, to the typographical supremacy which Venice was fast losing. Scholarly works such as approved themselves to Erasmus and Froben offered, of course, very little scope for book-illustration properly so called, but the desire for beauty found vent, not only with them, but with the other Basel printers of the day, Valentin Curio, Johann Bebel, Adam Petri, Andreas Cratander, etc., in elaborate borders to titlepages, headpieces and tailpieces, ornamental capitals and trade devices. The arrival of Hans Holbein (born at Augsburg in 1497) at Basel in 1516 on his Wanderjahre supplied a decorator of a skill altogether outshining that shown in the rather tasteless architectural work, varied with groups of children, produced by Urs Graf, though Holbein himself was content to begin in this style. In his most characteristic work the footpiece of the border illustrates some classical scene, Mutius Scaevola and Porsenna, the death of Cleopatra, or Quintus Curtius leaping into the abyss; less commonly a scriptural one, such as the death of John the Baptist. The most elaborate of his titlepages was that to the _Tabula_ of Cebes (1521), in which little children crowd through the gate of life to meet all the varied fortunes which life brings. Delightful humour is shown in an often used headpiece and tailpiece, showing villagers chasing a fox and returning home dancing. During 1517 and the following year, when Hans Holbein was absent from Basel, his brother Ambrosius worked there on the same lines, and decorated, among other books, More's _Utopia_. After his return to Basel in 1519, Hans Holbein remained at work there until 1526, and it was during this period that his book-illustrations, properly so called, were executed, including those to the Apocalypse and his two most famous pieces of bookwork, his _Dance of Death_ and _Historiarum Veteris Testamenti Icones_, both of which were first published in 1538 at Lyon by Melchior and Gaspar Trechsel. These (with perhaps some exceptions) and many of his other designs[45] were cut in wood by Hans Lutzelburger who signed a Holbein titlepage to a German New Testament printed by Thomas Wolff in 1523, and who, if rightly identified with the Hans Formschneider with whose widow the Trechsels were in correspondence in 1526 and 1527, must have died about the time that Holbein left Basel. Pen copies, moreover, of some of the cuts of the _Dance of Death_ are preserved at the Berlin Museum, and one of these is dated 1527, so that there can be no question that the originals belong to this period of Holbein's life, and the British Museum possesses a set of proofs of forty out of the original series of forty-one, printed on four sheets, ten on a sheet. It has been conjectured that the occupations of some of the great personages whom Death is depicted as seizing may have been considered as coming under the offence of _scandalum magnatum_ and so have caused the long delay before the blocks were used, but as this explanation does not apply to the illustrations to the Old Testament it seems inadequate. As published in 1538 by the Trechsels the cuts are accompanied by French quatrains from the pen of Gilles Corrozet and other appropriate matter, and have prefixed to them a titlepage reading: _Les Simulachres & Historiees Faces de la Mort, autant elegamm[=e]t pourtraictes que artificiellement imaginees. A Lyon, soubz lescu de Coloigne, M.D.XXXVIII._ A second edition with Latin instead of French verses was published by Jean and François Frellon, and others followed, in one of which, that of 1545, one, and in another, that of 1547, eleven additional cuts were printed, while in 1562, when the book was still in Frellon's hands, five woodcuts of children make their appearance, though they have no connection with the original series. That Holbein's Old Testament designs also belong to his Basel period is shown by copies of them appearing in a Bible printed by Froschouer in 1531, though the original cuts were not published till seven years later. As printed by the Trechsels they are eighty-six in number, and while the cutting of the best is worthy of Lutzelburger, their execution is too unequal for it to be certain that the whole series was executed by him. The cuts were also used by the Trechsels in a Bible of the same year, and both the Bible and the cuts under their own title _Historiarum Veteris Testamenti Icones_ were republished by the Frellons. Considerations of space forbid more than a bare mention of the _Bambergische Halssgericht_ (1508), with its all too vivid representations of the cruel punishments then in use, and the illustrated classics published at later dates by Johann Schoeffer at Mainz, or of the work of Jakob Köbel at Oppenheim with its rather clumsy imitations of Ratdolt's Italian ornaments, or of the illustrated books printed by Johann Weissenburger at Landshut, or of those from the press of Hieronymus Rodlich at Siemen, the _Thurnierbuch_ of 1530, _Kunst des Messens_ of the following year, and _Fierabras_ of 1533. After about 1535 little original book-illustration of any importance was produced in other German cities, but in Nuremberg and Frankfurt it continued plentiful, Virgil Solis and Jobst Amman working assiduously for the booksellers in both places. In no other country did the first thirty years of the sixteenth century produce so much interesting work as in Germany. Interesting, moreover, as this German work is in itself, it is made yet more so by the fact that a sufficient proportion of it is signed to enable connoisseurs to pursue their pleasant task of distributing the unsigned cuts among the available artists. Less intrinsically good, and with very few facilities for playing this fascinating game, the book-illustrations of other countries have been comparatively little studied. In Italy the new century brought some evil days to the book trade. Printing itself ceased for a time at Brescia; at Florence publishers for many years relied chiefly on their old stock of cuts; at Milan, at Ferrara and Pavia a little new work was done. At Venice the thin delicate outline cuts of the last decade of the fifteenth century ceased to be produced any longer, though the old blocks sometimes reappear. More often the old designs were either simply copied or imitated in the more heavily shaded style which was now coming into vogue. The interest of some of this shaded work is increased by the occasional appearance on it of a signature. Thus in the _Missale Romanum_ of 30 July, 1506, published by Stagninus, some of the cuts in this shaded style bear the same signature, "ia," as appears on the outline work in the Ovid of 1497. Work done by "ia" is also sometimes found copied by another cutter calling himself VGO, whose name is also found on some copies of French Horae cuts in a Venice Horae of 1513. [Illustration: XXV. VENICE. GREG. DE GREGORIIS, 1518 MISSALE ROMANUM (246^b). THE ASCENSION] Signatures which occur with some frequency between 1515 and 1529 are the z.a., z.A., and I.A. used by Zoan Andrea, i.e. Johannes Andreas Vavassore. This Zoan Andrea was an assiduous copyist. Early in his career (1515-16) we find him imitating Dürers large illustrations to the Apocalypse; in 1517 his title-cut for the _De modo regendi_ of Antonio Cornazano imitates that of Burgkmair on the 1515 _De rebus Gothorum_ of Jornandes. In 1520 he prefixed to a Livy printed by Giunta an excellent portrait modelled, as the Prince d'Essling has shown, on a sculpture set up at Padua to the memory either of the historian himself or of one of his descendants; in 1521 he copied Marcantonio Raimondi's engraving of Horatius Cocles, and in the same year another by Raimondi of Quintus Curtius. This was for an edition of Boiardo, and for a later edition of 1524 Zoan Andrea copied yet another engraving, that of Scipio Africanus. In 1525 he imitated Holbein's elaborate border to the _Tabula Cebetis_, applying it to a _Dictionarium Graecum_. About this time also he produced the well-known block-book (at least three editions known) _Opera noua contemplatiua_, imitating Dürer's Little Passion in some of the cuts. Because of the rarity of signed woodcuts in Italian books Zoan Andrea has attracted more attention than the quality of his work deserves. It seems probable that he was the head of a workshop, and the craftsmanship of the cuts bearing his signature is very unequal. Turning to the general course of book-illustration in Venice as it may be studied in the great work of the Prince d'Essling, unhappily left without the promised introduction at the time of his lamented death, we find several different influences at work. As has been already noted, the shaded work which had begun to make its appearance before 1500, as in the frontispiece to the _Epitome Almagesti_ of Regiomontanus (1496), rapidly became the predominant style. We find it combined with some of the charm of the earlier outline vignettes in the small pictures of a Virgil of 1507, and in some of those of another edition in 1508, though the larger ones in this are heavy and coarse. The extreme of coarseness is found in an edition of the _Legendario di Sancti_ of 1518, the woodcuts being more suited to a broadside for a cottage wall than to Venetian bookwork. The style is seen at its best in the illustrations of a well-known Horae printed by Bernardinus Stagninus in 1507, and, generally speaking, it is in the Missals, Breviaries, and Horae published by L. A. Giunta, Stagninus and the De Gregoriis (see Plate XXV) that the most satisfactory bookwork of this period is found. Another style which may be traced in many books of the early years of the century is a rather coarse development of the characteristic Florentine manner of the fifteenth century. The cuts are as a rule considerably larger than the Florentine ones, and the ornamental borders which surround them are much deeper. As in many of the Florentine cuts, more use is made of black spaces than was usual at Venice, but the cutting as a rule is coarse, and there is none of the charm of the best Florentine work. Woodcuts in this style are found most frequently on the titlepages of popular books in small quarto, published by the Sessas, who apparently did not see their way to commissioning more than a single illustration to each book. But the influence of the style affected the pictures in a few works of larger size--for instance, the 1503 edition of the _Chronica Chronicarum_ of Bergomensis, and the well-known picture of a choir in the _Practica Musices_ of Gafori (1512). Despite his connection with the _Hypnerotomachia_, which, however, was printed on commission, Aldus concerned himself little with book-illustrations, and if the miserable cuts which he put into his edition of _Hero and Leander_ of Musaeus are fair specimens of what he thought sufficiently good when left to himself, he was well advised in holding aloof from them. Nevertheless, the popularity which he gained for the small octavos which he introduced in 1501 was an important factor in the development of book-illustration in the sixteenth century. Although Aldus did not illustrate them himself, it was impossible that the lightly printed handy books which he introduced should remain permanently unillustrated, and when italic type was ousting roman and small books taking the place of large, the introduction of smaller illustrations, depending for their effect on the delicacy of their cutting, became inevitable. If we take any popular book of the century, such as the _Sonetti_ of Petrarch, and note the illustrations in successive editions, we shall find them getting smaller and smaller and more and more lightly cut and lightly printed, in order to match better with the thin italic types. The new style is seen at its best in the books of 1540-60, the Petrarch of 1544 printed by Gabriel Giolito, Boccaccio's _Decamerone_ printed by Valgrisi in 1552, Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ by Giolito in 1553. Finally, book-illustration peters out at Venice in pictorial capitals, which take as their subjects any heroes of Greek and Roman history and mythology whose names begin with the required letter, on the principle of the nursery alphabet in which "A was an Archer who shot at a frog, B was a Butcher who had a great dog." To an age which, not otherwise to its loss, neglects the study of Lemprière's Classical Dictionary, many of these puzzle initials are bafflingly obscure, relieved only by a recurring Q, which in almost all alphabets depicts Quintus Curtius leaping into the chasm at Rome. Some similar sets of Old Testament subjects are much easier. Books decorated with capitals of this kind are found as late as the end of the seventeenth century. Isolated initials designed on this plan are found also in other countries, but outside Italy it is only seldom that we come across anything approaching a set. As to French book-illustrations of the sixteenth century, a competent historian should have much to say, but the present writer has made no detailed study of them, and in the absence of any monograph to steal from must be content with recording general impressions, only here and there made precise by references to books which he has examined. Far more than those of Germany or Venice, French publishers of the sixteenth century relied on the great stock of woodcuts which had come into existence during the decades 1481-1500. That they did so may be regarded as some compensation for the exceptional rarity of most of the more interesting French incunabula. We have spoken disrespectfully of the little devotional books printed about 1500 with an old Horae cut on the back of the titlepage or at the end, but in the popular books printed by the Lenoirs and other publishers as late as 1530, and even later, cuts will be found from Millet's _Destruction de Troie_ and other incunabula now quite unobtainable, and it is even possible at times from salvage of this kind to deduce the former existence of fifteenth century editions of which no copy can now be found. After about 1503 the French Horae decline rapidly in beauty and interest, but many fine missals were issued by Wolfgang Hopyl and other firms, some with one or more striking pictures, almost all with admirable capitals. Among non-liturgical books it is difficult to find any class for which new illustrations were made at all freely. Several books of Chronicles by Monstrelet, Robert Gaguin, and others have one or more cuts at the beginning which may have been made for them, e.g. a folio cut of S. Denis and S. Rémy, with shields of arms found in the _Compendium super Francorum gestis_ by Robert Gaguin (this, however, dates back to 1500), a double cut of S. Louis blessed by the Pope and confronting the Turks (found in Gaguin's _Sommaire Historial de France, c._ 1523, and elsewhere), another double cut of Clovis baptized and in battle (Gaguin's _Mer des Chronicques_, 1536, but much earlier), a spirited battle scene (_Victoire du Roy contre les Vénitiens_, 1510), etc. But wherever we find illustrations in the text, there we are sure to light on a medley of old cuts (e.g. in _Les grands chronicques de France_, 1514, Gaguin's _Chronicques_, 1516, and the _Rozier historial_, 1523), and it will be odds that Millet's _Destruction de Troie_ will be found contributing its woodcuts of the Trojan War as illustrations of French history. When an original cut of this period can be found, it seldom has the charm of the best work of the last five years of the fifteenth century, but is usually quite good; there is, for instance, a quite successful metal-cut with criblé background of Justinian in Council in an edition of his laws printed by Bocard for Petit in 1516, and some of the liturgical cuts are admirable. There is thus no reason to impute the falling off in new cuts to lack of artists. It seems clear that the demand for illustrations had for the moment shifted to an uncritical audience who liked (small blame to them) the fifteenth century cuts which had delighted more educated people a generation earlier, and were not at all particular as to their appropriateness. Meanwhile the educated book-buyers were learning Greek and preparing themselves to appreciate the severe, unillustrated elegance of the books of the Estiennes, and new cuts were not needed. The inception of a new style must certainly be connected with the name of Geoffroi Tory, whose best work is to be found in his Books of Hours, which have already been described in an earlier chapter. Its predominant note is a rather thin elegance of outline, in which the height of the figures is usually somewhat exaggerated. Tory is supposed to have brought home this style after his visit to Italy, but its application to bookwork appears to have been his own idea. There is, indeed, a striking resemblance between the little cuts of Tory's third Horae set, dated 8 February, 1529, and those in an Aldine Horae of October of the same year, but to the best of my belief Tory reckoned his year from 1 January, not in the old French style from Easter, and if so it was Tory who supplied the Aldine artist with a model, which indeed is a logical continuation of his editions of 1525 and 1527. It is greatly to be regretted that his own _Champfleury_ of 1527 is so slightly illustrated. The little picture of Hercules Gallicus which comes in it is quite delightful. If any guide were in existence to the illustrated French books of the thirties in the sixteenth century it would probably be possible to trace the spread of Tory's influence. In 1530 Simon Colines illustrated Jean Ruel's _Veterinaria Medicina_ with a good enough cut in the old French style slightly modified. For the same author's _De Natura Stirpium_ of 1536 he provided a woodcut, of an alcove scene in a garden, the tone of which is quite new. It is evident that French publishers were waking up to new possibilities and sending their artists to foreign models, as a _Perceforest_ printed for Gilles Gourmont in 1531 and a _Meliadus de Leonnoys_ for Denis Janot in 1532, have both of them elaborate title borders in the style which the Holbeins had made popular at Basel. The latter is signed .F., a signature found in several later books in the new style. In 1534 we find Wechel issuing a _Valturius_ with neat adaptations of the old Verona illustrations. Doubtless there were many other interesting books, with cuts original or copied of this decade, but the only one of which I have a note is the _L'amant mal traicte de sa mye_ (translated from the Spanish of Diego de San Pedro), printed by Denis Janot for V. Sertenas in 1539, in which the title is enclosed in a delicately cut border, the footpiece of which shows the lovers in a garden. Not long after this Janot printed (without putting his name or a date) _La touche Naifue pour esprouver Lamy and le Flateur_ of Antoine Du Saix, in which the rules enclosing the title cut into a pretty oval design of flowers and ribbons. In 1540 we find the new style fully established in the _Hecatongraphie Cest à dire les descriptions de cent figures & hystoires_, a book of emblems, by Gilles Corrozet, printed by Denis Janot, which I only know in the third edition, that of 1543. Here we find little vignettes, much smaller than those in the Malermi Bible, with a headline over them and a quatrain in italics beneath, the whole enclosed in an ornamental frame. The little cuts have the faults inevitable in emblems, and some of them are poorly cut, but the best of them are not only wonderfully delicate, but show a sense of movement and a skill in the manipulation of drapery never reached in the fifteenth century. [Illustration: XXVI. PARIS, J. LOYS FOR V. SERTENAS, 1545 HOMER. L'ILIADE EN VERS FRANCOIS. (TITLE-CUT)] In 1543 appeared, again from the press of Denis Janot, "imprimeur du Roy en langue françoise," another emblem book, _Le Tableau de Cebes de Thebes, ancien philosophe & disciple de Socrate: auquel est paincte de ses couleurs, la uraye image de la vie humaine, & quelle uoye l'homme doit élire, pour peruenir à vertu & perfaicte science. Premierem[=e]t escript en Grec & maintenant expose en Ryme Francoyse_. The French rhymester was again the author of the _Hecatongraphie_, and the imprint, "A Paris On les uend en la grand [_sic_] salle du Palais en la boutique de Gilles Corrozet," shows that he not only wrote the verses and perhaps inspired the illustrations, but sold the books as well. In 1545 we find this same style of design and cutting on a larger scale in _Les dix premiers livres de l'Iliade d'Homère, Prince des Poetes, traduictz en vers François, par M. Hugues Salel_, and printed by Iehan Loys for Vincent Sertenas. The cuts are in two sizes, the smaller being surrounded with Toryesque borders. It is difficult to pass any judgment other than one of praise on such delicate work. Nevertheless, just as the _fanfare_ style of binding used by Nicolas Eve, with its profuse repetition of small tools, is much more effective on a small book cover than on a large, so here we may well feel that some bolder and clearer design would be better suited to the illustration of a folio. In the title-cut here shown (Plate XXVI) a rather larger style is attempted with good results. The year after the Homer there appeared at Paris from the press of Jacques Kerver a French translation of the _Hypnerotomachia_ by Jean Martin. This is one of the most interesting cases of the rehandling of woodcuts, the arrangement of the original designs being closely followed, while the tone is completely changed by the substitution of the tall rather thin figures which had become fashionable in French woodcuts for the short and rather plump ones of the Venetian edition, and by similar changes in the treatment of landscape. In the second half of the century at Paris excellent woodcut portraits, mostly in an oval frame, are sometimes found on titlepages, and in other cases decoration is supplied by a neatly cut device. Where illustrations are needed for the explanation of works on hunting or any other subjects they are mostly well drawn and cut. But the use of woodcuts in books of imaginative literature became more and more rare. At Lyon, as at Paris, at the beginning of the century the store of fifteenth century cuts was freely drawn on for popular editions. Considerable influence, however, was exercised at first by Italian models, afterwards by Germany, so that while in the early sixteenth century Latin Bibles the cuts are mostly copied from Giunta's Malermi Bible, these were gradually superseded by German cuts, which Anton Koberger supplied to the Lyonnese printers who worked for him. While in Italy the small octavos popularized by Aldus continued to hold their own, in France, from about 1530, editions in 32° came rapidly into fashion, and about the middle of the century these were especially the vogue at Lyon, the publishers often casing them in very gay little trade bindings sometimes stamped in gold, but often with painted interlacements. The publication by the Trechsels in 1538 of the two Holbein books, the _Dance of Death_ and illustrations to the Old Testament, must have given an impetus to picture-making at Lyon, but this was at first chiefly visible in illustrated Bibles and New Testaments. Gilles Corrozet, who had written the verses for both the Holbein books, continued his career, as we have seen, at Paris. The most typical Lyonnese illustrated books were the rival editions of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ in French, one printed by Macé Bonhomme in 1556, with borders to every page and little cuts measuring about 1½ in. by 2, and a similar edition (reissued in Dutch and Italian) of the next year from the press of Jean de Tournes, the borders and little pictures in which are attributed to Bernard Salomon. In 1557 De Tournes issued also the _Devises Héroiques_ of Claude Paradin, and he was also the publisher of a _Calendrier Historial_, a memorandum book charmingly decorated with cuts of the seasons. Partly owing to religious troubles the book trade at Lyon soon after this rapidly declined, but the French style was carried on for a while at Antwerp by Christopher Plantin, who printed Paradin's _Devises Héroiques_ in 1562 and in 1564, and the two following years three books of Emblems, those of Sambucus, Hadrianus Junius, and Alciatus himself. His earlier Horae are also illustrated with woodcuts, and in at least one edition we find the unusual combination of woodcut borders and copperplate pictures. But although Plantin never wholly gave up the use of woodcuts, for his more sumptuous editions he developed a marked preference for copperplates, and by his example helped to complete the downfall of the woodcut, which by the end of the sixteenth century had gone almost completely out of fashion. FOOTNOTES: [44] Mr. Dodgson also ascribes to Traut the illustrations in the _Legend des heyligen vatters Francisci_ (Nuremberg, 1512), and some of the cuts in the _Theuerdank_ (1517). [45] Including perhaps the four sets of decorative capitals attributed to Holbein, one ornamental, the others representing a Dance of Peasants, Children, and a Dance of Death. CHAPTER XII PRINTING IN ENGLAND (1476-1580)[46] Something has already been written about the earliest English books on the scale to which they are entitled in a rapid survey of European incunabula. We may now consider them more in detail as befits a book written in English. [Illustration: XXVII. WESTMINSTER, CAXTON, C. 1490 THE FIFTEEN OES.] William Caxton, a Kentishman, born about 1420, had been brought up as a mercer in the city of London, and the relations between the English wooltraders and the clothmakers of Flanders being very intimate, he had, as he tells us himself, passed thirty years of his life (in round numbers the years from twenty years of age to fifty) "for the most part in Brabant, Flanders, Holland, and Zealand." During the last few years of this time he had held the important position of Governor of the English merchants at Bruges, but about 1469 he surrendered this in order to become secretary to Edward IV's sister, Margaret, wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Some years before this, Raoul Lefèvre, chaplain to the Duke's predecessor, had compiled an epitome of the histories of Troy, _Le Recueil des histoires de Troye_, and in March, 1469, Caxton amused himself by beginning to translate this into English. Dissatisfied with the result he laid it on one side, but was bidden by his patroness, the Duchess, to continue his work. This he finished on 19 September, 1471, while staying at Cologne. According to a distinct statement by Wynkyn de Worde, whom (at least as early as 1480) he employed as his foreman, Caxton printed at Cologne "himself to avaunce" the first Latin edition of the _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, a kind of encyclopaedia "on the properties of things," by an English friar of the thirteenth century named Bartholomew. Now the first edition of this work is undoubtedly one printed at Cologne about 1471 or 1472 at an anonymous press which Bradshaw called that of the printer of the 1473 edition of the _Dialogi decem Auctorum_, and Mr. Proctor, less happily, that of the printer of the _Flores Sancti Augustini_, an undated book in the same type. The _De Proprietatibus Rerum_ is certainly slightly earlier than either of these, and there are some typographical differences which suggest that between the completion of the one book and the beginning of the other two the press may have changed masters. The _De Proprietatibus_ is by far the largest book of the whole group, and being by, or credited to, an English author, it is highly probable that the well-to-do ex-Governor of the English merchants became temporarily a member of the firm for its production and shared in the venture. This is the natural meaning of Wynkyn de Worde's statement that Caxton was the "first prynter of this boke," and is quite as likely to be true as the supposition that he took part in printing it as a kind of amateur journeyman to advance himself in the art. It may be noted, moreover, that the books of this anonymous press belong to the less advanced school of printing at Cologne, a school technically several years behind that of Ulrich Zell, and this takes the force out of the objection raised by William Blades, that if Caxton had learnt printing at Cologne, he must have printed better when he made his start. Caxton does not seem to have followed up this beginning at all quickly, and it was not till printing had been brought much nearer to Bruges by the starting of presses at Alost in 1473 and at Louvain in 1474 that he was stirred to action. The first printer at Louvain was Jan Veldener, who worked there from 1474 to 1477, and Mr. Gordon Duff conjectures that Caxton may have received some help from him. There is no doubt, however, that his partner at Bruges was Colard Mansion, a skilled calligrapher, who continued printing there till 1484, when he fled from the town, leaving his rent unpaid. Caxton's own account in the _Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_ of how he came to start is that for as moche as in the wrytyng of the same my penne is worn, myn hande wery and not stedfast, myn eyen dimmed with ouer-moche lokyng on the whit paper ... and also because I haue promysid to dyuerce gentilmen and to my frendes to adresse to hem as hastily as I myght this sayd book. Therfore I haue practysed & lerned at my grete charge and dispence to ordeyne this saide book in prynte after the maner & forme as ye may here see. There is nothing here to encourage the idea which Mr. Proctor seems to have entertained that Colard Mansion had already begun work on his own account, and that Caxton obtained his help for his English books. It seems more likely that it was Caxton who made the start, and that the first two books printed at Bruges were both in English, the first being the _Recuyell_, and the second _The Game and Pleye of the Chesse_, a translation of a moral treatise in which the functions of the chessmen were used as texts for sermonizing, written in Latin by Jacobus de Cessolis. After this a new type was cut and another didactic book, _Les Quatre Derennières Choses_, a treatise of the Four Last Things (Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven) printed in it in French. These three books probably appeared in 1475 and the early months of 1476. By this time Charles the Bold was picking a quarrel with the Swiss, and his disastrous defeat at Morat on 21 June, 1476, must have powerfully quickened the desire with which we may reasonably credit Caxton, of being the first printer in his native land. He made arrangements to rent a shop in the Sanctuary at Westminster from the following Michaelmas and departed for England, taking with him the newer of the two types and leaving the older one to Colard Mansion, who printed with it the original French of Lefèvre's _Recueil des histoires de Troye_, and the same author's _Les Fais et prouesses du noble et vaillant cheualier Jason_, and then abandoned it, having already cut a larger type for his own use. The first dated book produced by Caxton in England was _The Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophers_, a translation by Earl Rivers (the brother of Edward IV's queen) from a French version of an anonymous Latin book of the fourteenth century. Caxton was entrusted by the Earl with the oversight of the translation, and contributed to it an amusing Epilogue, in which he gives some unfavourable remarks about women attributed to Socrates, with his own comments. The Epilogue is dated 1477, and in one copy more minutely, 18 November. Though this is the first dated English book, it cannot be said that it was the first book printed in England, as it was probably preceded both by Caxton's English version of Lefèvre's _Jason_, and also by some of the thin quartos in the same type. Among the earlier books printed by Caxton after he set up his press at Westminster was Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, of which later on he printed a second edition which he imagined to be from a better text, and ornamented with clumsy pictures of the pilgrims. He printed also in separate volumes most of Chaucer's other works, including his translation of Boethius, _De Consolatione Philosophiae;_ also Gower's _Confessio Amantis_, some of the shorter poems of Lydgate, Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, and several translations of French romances (_Charles the Great_, _Paris and Vienne_, the _Four Sons of Aymon_, etc.), translations of _Aesop_ and of _Reynard the Fox_, Higden's _Polychronicon_, and the _Chronicles of England_, the _Golden Legend_ (the name given to the great collection of Lives of the Saints by Jacobus de Voragine), several editions of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, a Latin Psalter, a decorative edition of the Prayers called the _Fifteen Oes_ with a border to every page (see Plate XXVII), numerous moral treatises and books of devotion, and several Indulgences. In all just one hundred books and documents issued from his press, printed in eight different types (including that left behind at Bruges). More than twenty of these books he had translated himself, and to others he contributed interesting prologues or epilogues. While many printers on the Continent easily surpassed him in typographical skill, few published more books which can still be read with pleasure, and his prefaces and epilogues show a real love of good literature (especially of Chaucer) and abundant good sense, kindliness, and humour. Caxton died in 1491 while engaged on translating into English the Latin Lives of the Fathers, and the account-books of the churchwardens of S. Margaret's, Westminster, show that he was buried in its churchyard, four torches being supplied at a cost of two shillings and sixpence, and another sixpence being charged for the bell. During Caxton's lifetime only one other Englishman set up a press, an anonymous schoolmaster at St. Albans, who began work in 1480 (possibly in 1479) and printed till 1486, producing first six scholastic books and then two English ones. He appears to have borrowed some type from Caxton, so that it was presumably with the latter's goodwill that he reprinted his version of the _Chronicles of England_, adding thereto an appendix entitled _Fructus Temporum_, or Fruits of Time. It is from Wynkyn de Worde's reprint of this edition in 1497 that we obtain our only knowledge of the printer, for we are there told that it was "compiled in a booke and also enprynted by one sometyme scolemayster of saynt Albons, on whose soule God haue mercy." His other popular book was that famous trio of treatises _Of Haukyng and Huntyng and also of Cootarmuris_, commonly known as the _Book of St. Albans_. The second treatise, which is in metre, ends with the words "Explicit Dam Julyan Barnes in her boke of huntyng," and this is the only basis for the popular attribution of all three treatises to a hypothetical Juliana Bernes or Berners, who is supposed to have been the daughter of Sir James Berners (executed in 1388), and Prioress of the Nunnery of Sopwell, a dependency of St. Albans, of which the list of prioresses has conveniently perished.[47] Between 1478 and 1486 or '87, some seventeen books were printed at Oxford by Theodoric Rood of Cologne, who towards the end of his career was in partnership with an English bookseller named Thomas Hunte. The earliest of his books,[48] all of which are in Latin, was an Exposition on the Apostles' Creed wrongly attributed to S. Jerome. By the accidental omission of an X this is dated MCCCCLXVIII, i.e. 1468, but such misprints are common in early books, and no one now maintains that it was printed until ten years later. Among the other books printed at Oxford we may note an edition of Cicero's _Pro Milone_, the spurious Letters of Phalaris, and a very large folio, Lyndewode's _Provincial Constitutions_ of the English Church. That the Oxford press came to an end so soon and that none was started at Cambridge during the fifteenth century may be attributed to a statute of Richard III's permitting the free importation of books into England. Although this measure was amply justified by the interests of learning, it made it practically impossible for any scholastic press to maintain itself in the limited English market against the competition of the fine editions which could be imported from Italy. Caxton's press was at Westminster, which in the fifteenth century was much more sharply distinguished for business purposes from the city of London than it is now. The first press set up within the city itself was that of John Lettou, whose surname shows him to have been a native of Lithuania, which in Caxton's time, as in Chaucer's, was known in England as Lettowe. Mr. Gordon Duff thinks that John Lettou must have learnt to print at Rome and brought his punches with him to England, as the type with which he started to print here is indistinguishable from one used by a small printer at Rome, who bore the curiously English name John Bulle, though he came from Bremen. Lettou printed an Indulgence in 1480, and also a commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle, a curiously learned work for a city press, but which he was commissioned to print by a certain William Wilcocks, for whom the next year he printed also a commentary on the Psalms. After 1482 Lettou was joined by William of Mechlin, or Malines, in Belgium, usually known by the Latin name of his birthplace, Machlinia. Lettou and Machlinia printed five law books together, and then Lettou disappears and Machlinia in 1483 started working by himself, at first at a house near the bridge over the Fleet, where he printed eight books, and then in Holborn, where he printed fourteen. When working by himself he printed in addition to law books some works of a more popular character, a Book of Hours, the _Revelation to a Monk of Evesham_,[49] _Speculum Christiani_ (a devotional work interspersed with English verse), the _Chronicles of England_, and several editions of "A little treatise against the Pestilence" by a certain Bishop Canutus of Aarhus. One of these editions was the first English book which has a titlepage. It is printed in two lines, and reads:-- "A passing gode lityll boke necessarye & behouefull agenst the Pestilens." The exact date at which Machlinia died, or gave up work, is not known. He was printing in 1486, but his books after that are undated. We may take 1490 or a little earlier as the year of his disappearance, and it is practically certain that his stock of books was taken over by Richard Pynson from Normandy, who probably began printing in 1491 or 1492 (his first dated book was finished in November of the latter year), and while he was getting his workshop ready commissioned Guillaume Le Talleur of Rouen to print two law books for him for sale in England. Up to the death of Caxton the only native English printer besides himself was the unidentified schoolmaster-printer at St. Albans, Thomas Hunte, who joined Theodoricus Rood at Oxford, being only a stationer. After his death, for over twenty years there was no native Englishman at work as a master printer[50] at all. Two of the three presses at work were in the hands of Wynkyn de Worde of Lorraine and Richard Pynson of Normandy, and the third was worked for some time with two French partners by Julyan Notary, who was probably a Frenchman himself, since in 1498 he spells his name as Notaire. By far the most prolific of these three firms was that of Wynkyn de Worde, who was born, as his name implies, at Worth, now in Alsace, but formerly part of the Duchy of Lorraine. He probably came to England with Caxton in 1476, since we hear of him as early as 1480 in a legal document about a house. After Caxton's death De Worde made a cautious start, only issuing five books in the first two years and not putting his own name in an imprint until 1494. By the end of the century, however, he had printed 110 books of which copies or fragments survive, and by the time of his death in 1534 the number had risen to 800, an extraordinarily high total, more especially when it is remembered that the small quarto editions of romances and popular works of devotion, of which he printed a great many, were peculiarly likely to be thumbed to pieces, so that his actual output was probably much greater. As far as his choice of books was concerned he showed himself a mere tradesman, seldom printing an expensive book unless Caxton's experience had shown it to be saleable. For two apparent exceptions to this lack of enterprise there were special reasons. The first, a translation of the _Lives of the Fathers_, he was almost bound in honour to take up, since Caxton had completed it on his death-bed. The second book, a really fine edition (issued about 1495) of Trevisa's version of the _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, was also, as we have seen, connected with Caxton, who, De Worde tells us, had acted as "the fyrst prynter of this boke In latin tongue at Coleyn himself to avaunce." De Worde's edition is itself notable as being the first book printed on English paper, the manufacturer being John Tate of Hertford. In 1500 De Worde moved from Caxton's house at Westminster to the sign of the Sun in Fleet Street, perhaps for the greater protection offered by the city against attacks by anti-alien mobs. In 1508 he was appointed printer to the Countess of Richmond and Derby, mother of Henry VII, a very old lady, who died the following year. De Worde himself must have been a very old man at his death towards the end of 1534 or early in January, 1535, as he had by that time been at work in England for between fifty and sixty years. Towards the end of his life he seems to have had some of his books printed for him by John Skot, and Robert Copland was also employed in his business. The output of Richard Pynson was only about half that of Wynkyn de Worde, and his taxable property amounted to only £60 against over _£_200 at which De Worde was assessed. Nevertheless the fact that for the last twenty-two years of his life (1508-30) he was the King's Printer helped to procure him a few important books, and also kept his workmanship at a considerably higher standard. As already mentioned, he probably came to England about 1490 and took over Machlinia's stock, employing Guillaume Le Talleur of Rouen to print two law books for him while his own type was being made. He probably began work with a fine edition of Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, but his first dated book is an ugly little edition of the _Doctrinale_ of Alexander Gallus, issued in November, 1492. A copy of this was unearthed a few years ago in the library of Appleby Grammar School, and to secure the first dated book printed by Pynson the British Museum had to pay over £300 for it. In 1494 Pynson brought out Lydgate's poem on the _Falles of Princes_, translated from the Latin of Boccaccio, illustrating it with woodcuts borrowed from Jean Du Pré's French edition of the same book.[51] In 1495 he printed a _Terence_. Up to the close of the fifteenth century he had printed about eighty-eight books known to Mr. Gordon Duff, against the 110 printed by Wynkyn de Worde. In 1500 he moved from the parish of S. Clement Dane's, outside Temple Bar, to the sign of S. George, at the corner of Chancery Lane and Fleet Street, the change bringing him inside the city walls. Among the best of the books printed by him after this are Alexander Barclay's _Ship of Fools_ (1509), a translation of Sebastian Brant's _Narrenschiff_; Fabyan's _Chronicle_ (1516), Barclay's translation of Sallust (about 1520), Henry VIII's _Assertio Septem Sacramentorum_ (1521), and Lord Berners' translation of Froissart's _Chronicles_ (1522-5). He also printed some fine service-books, notably a Sarum Missal, called after Cardinal Morton who favoured it the Morton Missal (1500). Mr. Duff conjectures that in the Latin books he printed from 1518 onwards Pynson was aided by Thomas Berthelet.[52] Julian Notary's business was on a far smaller scale than those of Wynkyn de Worde and Pynson, for less than fifty books are known to have been printed by him. He began work in London about 1496 in partnership with Jean Barbier and another printer or bookseller whose initials were I. H., probably Jean Huvin of Rouen. In 1498 I. H. had left the firm and Notary and Barbier were at Westminster. In 1500, like De Worde and Pynson, he changed houses, moving to just outside Temple Bar, possibly to Pynson's old house, giving his new premises the sign of the Three Kings. At a later date he had also a bookstall in S. Paul's Churchyard, and ultimately moved his printing office into the city. Notary's books were of much the same kind as De Worde's--the Golden Legend, the Chronicles of England, the Shepherds' Calendar, Sermons, Lives of the Saints, etc. He has the distinction of having printed the smallest English incunable of which any trace has come down to us, an edition of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, finished in April, 1500, measuring only an inch by an inch and a half. He seems to have ceased printing about 1520, but was alive in 1523. Summing up the work of these printers who were active before 1500, we may note that Caxton printed 100 books and editions that have come down to us; De Worde 110 before 1500, about 800 altogether; Pynson 88 before 1500, nearly 400 altogether; Notary about 8 before 1500, and 48 altogether; Lettou and Machlinia about 30, Oxford 17, St. Albans 8. Thus the total number of English incunabula at present known is about 360, but Pynson and Wynkyn de Worde were both large printers in the sixteenth century. As we have seen, Pynson became King's Printer in 1508. He had been preceded in that office by William Faques, who like himself was a Norman, and was the first to hold the title. He was worthy of the distinction, for though he only printed eight books and documents that have come down to us, his work was very good. His dated books belong to the year 1504, when he printed a proclamation against clipped money, with a fine initial H and some neat woodcuts of coins; also a beautiful little Latin Psalter. His business was in the heart of the city, in Abchurch Lane. After his death it passed to Richard Faques, who made his name more English by spelling it first Fakes, then Fawkes. Richard worked in S. Paul's Churchyard, and among his publications were the _Salus corporis salus anime_ of Gulielmus de Saliceto, a Sarum Horæ, Skelton's _Goodly Ballad of the Scottish King_ (1509), and _Garland of Laurell_ (1523), and lastly, _The Myrroure of Our Lady_ (1530). With Robert Copland we come to the first native English printer after Caxton and the schoolmaster of St. Albans. Copland is rather an interesting person, who made translations and wrote prefaces and addresses to the reader in verse, besides printing books. His name occurs in the imprints of only twelve books, spread over twenty-two years, 1514-35, the explanation being that he was probably working for De Worde during this time, and only occasionally indulged in a private venture. After a long interval he printed two books for Andrew Borde in 1547-8, and appears to have died while the second was in progress. He was succeeded by William Copland, probably his son, who printed numerous romances and other entertaining books, and died in 1568 or 1569. At intervals during the years 1516-28, John Rastell, an Oxford graduate, barrister of Lincoln's Inn and brother-in-law of Sir Thomas More, issued nine dated law books. In 1526 he printed two jest books, in 1529 he became involved in religious controversy on the Protestant side, and died in poverty and prison in 1536. Altogether some forty books are attributed to him, including some plays, which may perhaps rather have been printed by his son William. William Rastell was also a lawyer, and not sharing his father's Protestantism, became a Judge of the Queen's Bench under Mary, on whose death he fled to Louvain. As a printer he worked only from 1530 to 1534, printing over thirty books, including several works by his uncle, Sir Thomas More, and five plays by John Heywood. Between 1518 and 1524 Henry Pepwell printed a few popular books at the sign of the Trinity in S. Paul's Churchyard; for the rest of his life he appears to have been only a stationer. John Skot, who printed at four different addresses in the city of London between 1521 and 1537, worked partly for De Worde, partly on his own account, printing upwards of thirty books for himself, a few of them legal, the rest popular English books. Two printers began to issue books in 1523. Robert Bankes, who turned out a few popular books in his first six years, was then silent for a time, and reappears in the religious controversies of 1539-42, and Robert Redman, who seems to have followed in Pynson's footsteps both in S. Clement's Without Temple Bar and at the sign of the George. In his office of Royal Printer Pynson was succeeded by Thomas Berthelet, or Bartlet, who had probably worked with him for upwards of ten years before starting on his own account in Fleet Street at the sign of Lucrece in 1528. We know of altogether about 400 pieces of printing from his press, but a large proportion of these consists of editions of the Statutes and Proclamations. For the Proclamations some of Berthelet's bills survive, and we learn that he charged a penny a piece for them, and imported his paper from Genoa. With his official printing must be reckoned his editions of the _Necessary Doctrine of a Christian Man_, issued with the royal sanction on 29 May, 1543. In order to produce sufficient copies of this he printed it simultaneously eight times over, all eight editions bearing the same date. Of the books which he printed on his own account the place of honour must be given to his handsome edition of Gower's _Confessio Amantis_ in an excellent black-letter type in 1532, and the various works of Sir John Eliot, all of which came from his press. On the accession of Edward VI Berthelet ceased to be Royal Printer, the post being given to Grafton. Berthelet died in September, 1555, leaving considerable property. He was buried as an Esquire with pennon and coat armour and four dozen scutcheons, and all the craft of printers, stationers, and booksellers followed him to his grave. Richard Grafton, who succeeded Berthelet as Royal Printer, had a very chequered career. He was originally a member of the Grocers' Company, and, in conjunction with Edward Whitchurch and Anthony Marler of the Haberdashers' Company, superintended the printing of the English Bible of 1537, probably at Antwerp, and that of 1539 by François Regnault at Paris. When Bible-printing was permitted in England Grafton and Whitchurch shared between them the printing of the six editions of the Great Bible during 1540 and 1541. But when Cromwell, Earl of Essex, the chief promoter of Bible-printing, was beheaded, Grafton was himself imprisoned. In 1544, on the other hand, he and Whitchurch obtained an exclusive patent for printing Primers, and before Henry VIII's death Grafton was appointed printer to the Prince of Wales. Thus when Edward became king Grafton displaced Berthelet as Royal Printer, and henceforth had time for little save official work. Five editions of the Homilies and seven of Injunctions, all dated 31 July, 1547, were issued from his presses; in 1548 he published Halle's _Union of Lancaster and York_ and several editions of the Order of Communion and Statutes; in 1549 came two Bibles and five editions of the first Prayer Book of Edward VI; in 1550 a reprint of Halle and an edition of Marbeck's Book of Common Prayer noted; in 1551 Wilson's _Rule of Reason_; in 1552 six editions of the second Prayer Book of Edward VI, and more Statutes. Proclamation-work, of course, went on steadily throughout the reign, and on Edward's death Grafton printed the enormously long document by which the adherents of Lady Jane Grey tried to justify her claim to the Crown. He did his work very handsomely, but on the triumph of Mary, though he impartially printed a proclamation for her nine days after "Queen Jane's," he naturally lost his post and might easily have lost his head also. For the rest of his life he was mainly occupied in writing his chronicle. But he printed a Book of Common Prayer in 1559, and (according to Herbert) a Bible in 1566. He died in 1573. While Grafton was the King's printer for English books, the post of Royal Printer in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew had been conferred in 1547 on Reginald or Reyner Wolfe. Wolfe, who had come to England from Gelderland, was at first a bookseller, and was employed by various distinguished persons as a letter-carrier between England and Germany. When he set up as a printer in 1542, with type which he seems to have obtained from a relative at Frankfort, he was employed by the great antiquary, John Leland, and by John Cheke, Professor of Greek at Cambridge, for whom he printed in 1543 two Homilies of S. Chrysostom in Greek and Latin, this being the first Greek work printed in England. During Edward VI's reign he does not seem to have been given much to do in Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, but printed Cranmer's _Defence of the Sacrament_ and _Answer unto a Crafty Cavillation_. After keeping quiet during Mary's reign he enjoyed the patronage of Elizabeth and Archbishop Parker, and lived, like Grafton, till 1573. Though he never worked on a large scale, Wolfe certainly raised the standard of printing in England. In John Day it is pleasant to come to a native Englishman who did equally good work, and that in a larger way of business. Day was a Suffolk man, born in 1522 at Dunwich, a town over which the sea now rolls. He began printing in partnership with William Seres as early as 1546, but, save some fairly good editions of the Bible, produced nothing of importance during this period. His first fine book, published in 1559, is _The Cosmographicall Glasse_, a work on surveying, by William Cunningham. This has a woodcut allegorical border to the titlepage, a fine portrait of Cunningham, a map of Norwich, and some good heraldic and pictorial capitals. Its text is printed throughout in large italics. The book thus broke away entirely from the old black-letter traditions of English printing, and could compare favourably with the best foreign work. Day printed other folios in this style, and in some of them instead of a device placed a large and striking portrait of himself. In 1563 he printed the first edition of _Acts and Monumentes of these latter and perillous days touching matters of the Church_, better known as _Foxe's Book of Martyrs_. This is a book of over two thousand pages, and is plentifully illustrated with woodcuts of varying degrees of merit. Day by this time had attracted the patronage of Archbishop Parker, and in 1566 printed for him a book called _A Testimony of Antiquitie, showing the auncient fayth of the Church of England touching the sacrament of the body and bloude of the Lord here publikely preached and also receaved in the Saxons tyme, above 600 yeares agoe_. For this sermon, attributed to Archbishop Aelfric, some Anglo-Saxon type, the first used in England, was specially cut. Later on Day printed at Lambeth Palace Parker's _De Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae_. He also printed Ascham's _Scholemaster_ and other important works. He appears, moreover, to have possessed a bookbinding business, or at least to have had binders in his employment who invented a very striking and dignified style of binding. Altogether, Day is a man of whom English bookmen may well be proud. He died in 1584. Richard Tottell was another printer of some importance. The son of an Exeter man, he began printing about 1553, and early in his career received a patent which gave him a monopoly of the publication of law books. These, to do him justice, he printed very well, and he also published a number of works of literary interest. Chief among these, and always associated with his name, is the famous _Songs and Sonnets_ of Wyatt and Surrey and other Tudor poets, edited by Nicholas Grimald, but often quoted, for no very good reason, as _Tottell's Miscellany_. To his credit must also be placed editions of Lydgate's _Falles of Princes_, Hawes's _Pastime of Pleasure_, Tusser's _Five Hundreth Points of Good Husbandry_, the works of Sir Thomas More in 1458 folio pages, Gerard Legh's _Accedens of Armoury_, numerous editions of Guevara's _Diall of Princes_, as translated by Sir Thomas North, and a version of Cicero's _De Officiis_, by Nicholas Grimald. In 1573 Tottell petitioned unsuccessfully for a monopoly of paper-making in England for thirty years, in order to encourage him to start a paper-mill. He lived till 1593. Henry Denham (1564-89), Henry Bynneman (1566-83), and Thomas Vautrollier (1566-88), and the latter's successor, Richard Field, were the best printers of the rest of the century. Denham was an old apprentice of Tottell's, who gave him some important books to print for him. Herbert remarks of him: "He was an exceeding neat printer, and the first who used the semicolon with propriety." Among his more notable books were Grafton's _Chronicle_ (for Tottell and Toy, 1569), editions of the Olynthiac orations of Demosthenes in English (1570) and Latin (1571), _An Alvearie or quadruple dictionarie containing foure sundrie tongues, namelie, English, Latine, Greeke, and French_, with a pleasing titlepage showing the royal arms and a beehive (1580), Thomas Bentley's _The Monument of Matrons: containing seuen seuerall Lamps of Virginitie_, a work in praise of piety and Queen Elizabeth (1582), Hunnis's _Seuen Sobs of a Sorrowfull Soule for Sinne_, a metrical version of the penitential psalms (1585), and the second edition of Holinshed's _Chronicles_ (1587). Henry Bynneman, though not so high in Archbishop Parker's favour as John Day, was yet recommended by him to Burghley in 1569, and deserved his patronage by much good work. He printed an English version of Epictetus, Dr. Caius's _De Antiquitate Cantabrigiensis Academiæ_ (1568), a handsome book with the text in italics, according to the fashion of the day, Van der Noodt's _Theatre of Voluptuous Worldlings_ (1569), a Latin text of Virgil believed to be the first printed in England (1570), the _Historia Brevis_ of Thomas Walsingham (1574), a handsome folio, several books by Gascoigne and Turberville, the first edition of Holinshed's _Chronicles_ (1577, published by John Harrison), and a few books in Greek. Thomas Vautrollier, a French refugee, set up a press at Blackfriars, at which he printed several editions of the Prayer Book in Latin (_Liber Precum Publicarum in Ecclesia Anglicana_), and of the New Testament in Beza's Latin version, for which latter he was granted a ten years' privilege in 1574. In 1579 he printed two very notable works, Fenton's translation of the History of Guicciardini and Sir Thomas North's _Plutarch_, the latter being one of the handsomest of Elizabethan books. In 1580 and again in 1584 he went to Edinburgh, printing several books there in 1584 and 1585. His second visit is said to have been due to trouble which came upon him for printing the _Spaccio della Bestia Triomphante_ of Giordano Bruno. His press at Blackfriars continued to work during his absence. His daughter Jakin married Richard Field, who succeeded to his house and business in 1588, and continued his excellent traditions. A company of stationers had existed in London since 1403, and in 1557 this was reconstituted and granted a Royal Charter. The object of the Crown was to secure greater control over printing, so that no inconvenient criticisms on matters of Church or State might be allowed to appear. The object of the leading printers and booksellers, who formed the court of the company, was to diminish competition, both illegitimate and legitimate. Both objects were to a very considerable degree attained. The quarter of a century which followed the grant of a charter witnessed a great improvement in the English standard of book production. Up to this time it seems probable that few English printers, who had not the royal patronage, had found their craft profitable. Caxton no doubt did very well for himself--as he richly deserved. He enjoyed the favour of successive kings, and received good support from other quarters. We may guess, moreover, that both as translator and publisher he kept his finger on the pulse of well-to-do book-buyers to an extent to which there is no parallel for the next two centuries. No one else in England possessed this skill, and certainly no one else enjoyed Caxton's success. The Act of Richard III permitting unrestricted importation of books quickly killed the presses at Oxford and St. Albans, which could not compete with the publications of the learned printers of Italy, France, and Switzerland. Until more than half-way through the reign of Elizabeth the united output of books from Oxford and Cambridge amounted to less than a couple of score. For more than twenty years after Caxton's death there was no undoubted Englishman as a master printer. Mr. Gordon Duff has lately published[53] the assessments of some of the chief stationers and printers from the Lay Subsidy Rolls of 1523-4. By far the highest of them is the £307 at which was assessed John Taverner, a stationer who is only otherwise known as having bound some books for the Royal Chapel, and who was wise enough not to meddle with printing. Wynkyn de Worde, most commercial of printers, was assessed at £201 11s. 1d.; a practically unknown stationer named Neale at £100; Pynson, who was Royal Printer and did really good work, at £60; three other stationers, one of whom printed (Henry Pepwell), at £40 apiece; Julyan Notary at £36 6s. 8d.; other printers at £10 (Robert Redman), £6 13s. 4d. (John Rastell), and £4 (Robert Wyer). It is tolerably clear that there was absolutely no inducement to an English stationer to take up printing. In 1534 Henry VIII repealed the Act of 1484, on the plea that native printing was now so good that there was less need to import books from abroad, the King's real reason, no doubt, being to make it easier to check the importation of heretical works. Mr. Duff has written of the King's action: "The fifty years of freedom from 1484 to 1534 not only brought us the finest specimens of printing we possess, but compelled the native workman in self-protection to learn, and when competition was done away with his ambition rapidly died also. Once our English printing was protected, it sank to a level of badness which has lasted, with the exception of a few brilliant experiments, almost down to our own day."[54] As a rule, whatever Mr. Duff writes about English printing is incontrovertible, but this particular pronouncement seems curiously unfounded. Whether we consider what they printed or how they printed it, the work of the English presses from 1535-57 is better, not worse, than the work of the corresponding period, 1512-34. There is nothing in the earlier period to compare with the Great Bibles, and the books of Berthelet and Reyner Wolfe are fairly equal to those of Pynson. If we take 1557 as a fresh point of departure, the books issued from then to about 1580 present a still more remarkable advance. While the work of the rest of Europe deteriorated, that of England, in the hands of such men as Day, Denham, and Bynneman, improved, and alike for their typography, their illustrations and decorations and their scholarship, they surpass those of any previous period since the days of Caxton, and deserve far more attention from collectors than they have yet received. FOOTNOTES: [46] For English provincial printing after 1500 see Chapter XIII. [47] A fourth treatise, that on Fishing with an Angle, is often included in the attribution with even less reason. This was first printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496, with the following curious explanation of its being tacked on to the _Book of St. Albans_: "And for by cause this present treatyse sholde not come to the hondys of eche ydle persone whyche wolde desire it yf it were enprynted allone by it self & put in a lytyll paunflet, therfore I haue compyled it in a greter volume of dyuerse bokys concernynge to gentyll & noble men, to the entent that the forsayd ydle persones whyche sholde haue but lytyll mesure in the sayd dysporte of fyshynge sholde not by this meane utterly destroye it." [48] Two points may be noted about Rood: (i) he does not put his name in his earliest books, and as there is a change of type in his signed work, it is possible, though unlikely, that the books in type 1 are from another press; (ii) he is not to be identified, as was once proposed, with a certain Theodoricus of Cologne, lately proved by Dr. Voullième to be Theodoricus Molner, a stepson of ther Hoernen. [49] The place-name here is an early misreading for "Eynsham." [50] This statement should perhaps be modified to admit of the possibility that Julian Notary was English rather than French, as is generally assumed. [51] This and the _Dives and Pauper_ of 1493 (which, until the discovery of the _Doctrinale_, was reckoned Pynson's first dated book) and several other of his earliest editions were published partly at the expense of a merchant named John Rushe, who took six hundred copies of the _Dives_ and the _Boccaccio_ at 4s. apiece. See _Two Lawsuits of Richard Pynson_, by H. R. Plomer, in _The Library_, second series, Vol. X. [52] See _The Library_, second series, Vol. VIII, pp. 298 _sqq._ [53] In _The Library_, second series, Vol. IX, pp. 257-81. [54] "The Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders of Westminster and London, 1476-1535" (last paragraph). CHAPTER XIII ENGLISH BOOKS PRINTED ELSEWHERE THAN AT LONDON [Illustration: XXVIII. COLOGNE, PRINTER UNCERTAIN, 1525 TYNDALE'S NEW TESTAMENT, FIRST PAGE OF TEXT] During the fifteenth century presses were set up in more than fifty places in Germany, in more than seventy in Italy, in nearly forty in France, in more than twenty in the Netherlands, in twenty-four in Spain, in only three (counting London and Westminster as one) in England. In London and Westminster over 330 books are known to have been printed; in Oxford and St. Albans only twenty-five. The reason for this paucity of provincial printing in England must be found by the social historian. The beginning of the sixteenth century brought no change in the facts. For thirty years from March, 1487, there was no printing-press at Oxford. In December, 1517, a Latin commentary on the Posterior Analytics of Aristotle appeared with the imprint "Academia Oxonie," and in four subsequent books, printed in 1518, the printer of this gave his name as Johannes Scolar. A fragment of a sixth book has lately been found at the British Museum. In 1519 Scolar's place was taken by Carolus Kyrforth, who printed a _Compotus_, or small arithmetic book. A prognostication by Jaspar Laet may have been printed apparently either by Scolar or Kyrforth. After the appearance of these eight books there was no more printing at Oxford until a press was started there in 1585 by Joseph Barnes, under the auspices of the University. The last book of the Schoolmaster-printer appeared at St. Albans in 1486, and after this there was no more printing there until 1534. In that year, at the request of Abbot Catton, a printer named John Hertfort, or Herford, printed there _The glorious lyfe and passion of seint Albon_. Robert Catton was succeeded as abbot by Richard Stevenage, and in the years 1536-8 three religious books were printed for him by Hertfort, who also printed an Arithmetic and two other books on his own account, making seven books in all. Then, in October, 1539, John Hertfort fell under suspicion of having printed a "little book of detestable heresies,"[55] and the Abbot had to send him to London. The abbey itself was suppressed by the King the same year, and Hertfort, deprived of his patron, had no inducement to return. He is next heard of as printing in London in 1544. At York a _Directorium_ was printed by Hugo Goes, and there is a seventeenth century reference to a _Donatus minor_ and _Accidence_ from his press. Three small books are also known to have been printed by Ursyn Mylner in 1514 and 1516. Previous to this, in or about 1507, an _Expositio hymnorum et sequentiarum_ for use at York had been printed at Rouen by Pierre Violette for a stationer named Gerard Freez (also known as Gerard Wandsforth), who died in 1510. This Gerard Freez had a brother Frederick, who is described not only as a bookbinder and stationer, but as a printer, and may therefore have printed books which have perished without leaving any trace behind them. But the only extant York books of the sixteenth century are the _Directorium_ of 1507, two small service-books of 1513, and a little grammatical work in 1516. After this there was no more printing in York until 1642. At Cambridge a stationer named John Laer, of Siberch, i.e. Siegburg, near Cologne, settled, in or about 1520, and acted as publisher to an edition of Croke's _Introductiones in Rudimenta Græca_, printed at Cologne by Eucharius Cervicornus. After this, in 1521 and 1522, Siberch himself printed nine small books at Cambridge, the first of them being a Latin speech by Henry Bullock addressed to Cardinal Wolsey. Among the other books was a Dialogue of Lucian's ([Greek: peri dipsadôn]), for which Siberch had to use some Greek type, and a work on letter-writing (_De conscribendis epistolis_) by Erasmus, with whom he seems to have been on friendly terms. After 1522 no more books were printed at Cambridge until 1583. At Tavistock in 1525 a monk named Thomas Richard printed a translation of Boethius's _De Consolatione Philosophiae_ for "the ryght worschypful esquyer Mayster Robert Langdon." Nine years later, in 1534, the same press printed the _Statutes_ concerning the Devonshire Stannaries or Tin Mines. These are the only two early books known to have been printed at Tavistock. At Abingdon in 1528, John Scolar, presumably the same man who had previously worked a few miles off at Oxford, printed a Portiforium or Breviary for the use of the monastery. No other early book is known to have been printed there. From 1539, when John Hertfort was summoned from St. Albans, to the end of the reign of Henry VIII, we know of no provincial printing in England. But on the accession of Edward VI the extreme Protestants who had fled from England to the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland, came flocking back, and some of them seem to have stopped at Ipswich. Two, or perhaps three printers, all in the Protestant interest, worked there in the first few months of the new reign. The first of these, Anthony Scoloker, printed seven books at Ipswich in 1547 and 1548, and then went on to London. The second, John Overton, brought over with him from Wesel the text of Bishop Bale's Latin bibliography of the Illustrious Writers of Britain, printed there by Theodoricus Plateanus, otherwise Dirick van der Straten, and may or may not have printed at Ipswich two additional sheets, which he dated there 31 July, 1548.[56] The third printer, John Oswen, printed at Ipswich eleven tracts, mostly controversial, in or about 1548, and then removed to Worcester. On his arrival at Worcester late in 1548, or early in 1549, John Oswen obtained a special privilege from Edward VI for printing service-books for use in the Principality of Wales, and produced there three editions of the first Prayer Book of Edward VI and a New Testament. Besides these, from 1549 to 1553 he printed eighteen other books, mostly of controversial theology, calling himself in his imprints "Printer appoynted by the Kinges Maiestie for the Principalitie of Wales and the Marches of the same." On the accession of Mary, it being no longer safe to print Protestant theology, Oswen's press ceased working. At Canterbury in 1549 John Mychell, or Mitchell, who had moved there after producing a few books in London, printed an English psalter, "poynted as it shall be songe in churches." During Edward's reign Mychell printed at Canterbury altogether some twenty books and tracts, mostly more or less controversial treatises on the Protestant side. On the accession of Mary he ceased publishing till 1556, when his press was employed by Cardinal Pole to print his Articles of Visitation. The next year, by the charter granted to the Stationers' Company, printing outside London was forbidden, the prohibition being subsequently relaxed in favour of the two Universities, although it was nearly thirty years before they availed themselves of their right. In the previous eighty years only about a hundred books[57] had been produced at the provincial presses, and in the year in which the charter was granted it can hardly be said that any press outside London was in existence. The new regulation stood in the way of development, but it was a development for which there seems to have been little demand. We may see some slight confirmation of this view in the fact that during Elizabeth's reign there was very little secret printing, though there had probably been a good deal under Mary. The three Elizabethan secret presses which have been chronicled were: (1) A Puritan press which printed various tracts on Church government, written by Thomas Cartwright. These were printed secretly in 1572 and 1573, first at Wandsworth, afterwards at Hempstead, near Saffron Walden, in Essex. The press was seized in August, 1573, and the type handed to Henry Bynneman, who, the next year, used it to reprint Cartwright's attack, interpolating Whitgift's replies in larger type. (2) A Jesuit press which printed for Edmund Campion and Robert Parsons in 1580 and 1581, first at Greenstreet House in East Ham, afterwards at Stonor Park, near Henley. The press was managed by Stephen Brinckley, who was ultimately captured and imprisoned for nearly two years. (3) The Puritan travelling press, from which issued the famous Martin Marprelate tracts in 1588 and 1589. Some of these were printed in East Molesey, in Surrey; others in the house of Sir Richard Knightley at Fawsley, near Daventry, others in that of Roger Wigston of Wolston Priory, between Coventry and Rugby. The chief printer of them was Robert Waldegrave, who eventually fled first to La Rochelle, where he may have printed one of the tracts, and then to Edinburgh, where he became a printer of some importance. While there was thus very little secret printing in England, exiled Protestants, Catholics, and Nonconformists all in turn made frequent recourse to foreign presses, and apparently succeeded in circulating their books in England. Religious repression, however, though the chief, was not the only cause of English books being printed abroad. From a very early time the superior skill of foreign printers had procured them many commissions to print service-books for the English market, alike on account of their greater accuracy, their experience in printing in red and black, and the more attractive illustrations which they had at their disposal. Not long after 1470 a Sarum Breviary was printed abroad, possibly at Cologne. Caxton employed George Maynyal, of Paris, to print a Missal (and probably a _Legenda_) for him in 1487, and Johann Hamman or Herzog printed a Sarum Missal in 1494 as far away as Venice. When the Paris printers and publishers had won the admiration of all Europe by their pretty editions of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, they competed with each other for the English market. Early in the sixteenth century Wolfgang Hopyl printed some magnificent Sarum Missals and also an Antiphoner and _Legenda_, besides some very fine editions of Lyndewood's Constitutions. Breviaries, Missals, and Primers were also poured out for English use by François Regnault, and in lesser numbers by nearly a dozen other Paris firms, and Martin Morin and other printers plied the same trade at Rouen, while Christoffel van Remunde, of Endhoven, was busy at Antwerp. The predominance of the foreign editions of these books over those printed in England may be estimated from the fact that of 105 Sarum service-books printed before 1540 in the possession of the British Museum, one was printed at Basel, one at Venice, eleven at Rouen, twelve at Antwerp, as many as fifty-six at Paris, and only twenty-four in England.[58] In addition to service-books, a good many of the smaller Latin grammatical works were printed for the English market in France and the Low Countries, their destination being occasionally stated, but more often inferred from the appearance in them of English explanations of Latin words or phrases. A few attempts were also made to issue popular English works in competition with those produced at home. The most formidable of these rivalries was that of Gerard Leeu at Antwerp, who, after printing three entertaining books (_The History of Jason_, _Knight Paris and the Fair Vienne_, and the _Dialogue of Salomon and Marcolphus_), embarked on a more important work, _The Chronicles of England_, and might have seriously injured the home trade had he not met his death in a quarrel with a workman while the _Chronicles_ were still on the press.[59] Soon after 1500 another Antwerp printer, Adriaen von Berghen, in addition to Holt's _Lac Puerorum_, published the commonplace book of a London merchant which passes under the name of _Arnold's Chronicle_, and is famous as containing the earliest text of the _Nutbrown Maid_. A little later still, Jan van Doesborch was at work at the same place, and between 1505 and 1530 produced at least eighteen popular English books, including _Tyll Howleglas_, _Virgilius the Magician_, _Robin Hood_, and an account of recent discoveries entitled, "Of the new landes and of the people found by the messengers of the kynge of portyngale named Emanuel." Doesborch's books are poorly printed and illustrated, but his texts are not noticeably worse than those in contemporary editions published in England. The reverse is the case with two English books produced (1503) by the famous Paris publisher, Antoine Vérard, _The traitte of god lyuyng and good deying_ and _The Kalendayr of Shyppars_. These have the illustrations which book-lovers prize so highly in the _Kalendrier des Bergers_ and _Art de bien viure et de bien mourir_, but the translations seem to have been made by a Scot, only less ill equipped in Scottish than in French. In a third translation, from Pierre Gringore's _Chasteau de Labeur_, Vérard was more fortunate, for the _Castell of Labour_ was rendered into (for that unpoetical period) very passable verse by Alexander Barclay. Vérard, however, had no cause to congratulate himself, for both Pynson and De Worde reprinted Barclay's translation with copies of the woodcuts, and the other two books in new translations, so that in future he left the secular English market alone. It may be supposed that the Act of 1534, restricting the importation of foreign books into England, finally put an end to competition of the kind which Leeu, Vérard, and Doesborch had attempted. But isolated English books have continued to appear abroad down to our own day, and form a miscellaneous, but curious and interesting appendix in the great volume of the English book trade. From 1525 onwards, however, until nearly the end of the seventeenth century, compared with the masses of theological books alternately by Protestant and Roman Catholic English exiles, printed in the Low Countries, Germany, Switzerland, and France, the output of secular work sinks into insignificance. The stream begins with Tyndale's New Testament, of which a few sheets were printed at Cologne (see Plate XXVIII), two editions at Worms, and half a dozen or more at Antwerp before it was suffered to appear in England. The first English Bible is believed to have been printed (1535) by Christopher Froschauer at Zurich, the second (1537) at Antwerp, the third (1539) was begun at Paris and completed in England. Besides their New Testaments, Tyndale and George Joy published a good many controversial works at Antwerp. In the next generation the city became one of the strongholds of the Romanist exiles after the accession of Elizabeth, and Hans de Laet, John Fouler, Willem Sylvius, and Gillis van Diest the younger were frequently called on in 1564-6 to provide paper and print for Stapleton, Harding, William Rastell, and the other antagonists of Bishop Jewel. In 1528 and the following year books by Tyndale, Roy, and Frith appeared purporting to be printed by "Hans Luft at Malborowe in the land of Hesse." A later book with this imprint has been shown by Mr. Sayle to have been printed at Antwerp; whether these earlier works were really produced at Marburg, or, as has been conjectured, at Cologne, or again at Hamburg, is still uncertain. In the 'forties and 'fifties Christopher Froschauer printed several English Protestant books at Zurich, including _A faythfull admonycion of a certen trewe pastor and prophete sent unto the germanes_, translated from Luther's _Warnunge_, with the pleasing imprint "at Grenewych by Conrade Freeman in the month of may 1554." In the 'fifties, again, Jean Crespin and other Geneva printers worked for John Knox, and the Geneva New Testament was produced there in 1558 and the Bible in 1560. In the 'sixties, as we have seen, many treatises attacking Bishop Jewel were issued at Antwerp, others appeared at Louvain, and about the same time (1566), at Emden, G. van der Erven was printing for exiled Puritans some of their diatribes against the "Popish aparrell" (i.e. the surplice) which Elizabeth prescribed for the English Church. In 1574 we encounter at Amsterdam a curious group of nine little books "translated out of Base-Almayne into English," in which Hendrik Niclas preached the doctrines of the "Family of Love." From that time onwards a good deal of theological literature on the Protestant side was published by Amsterdam presses. Richard Schilders at Middelburg was also an extensive publisher of this class of book. Presses at Leyden and Dort made similar contributions, but on a smaller scale. On the Roman Catholic side the head-quarters of propagandist literature, as we have seen, were at first at Antwerp and Louvain, at both of which places John Fouler had presses. In the 'eighties the existence of the English college at Rheims caused several Catholic books to be printed there, notably the translation of the New Testament which was made in the college itself. For like reasons much Catholic literature was published from 1602 onwards at St. Omer, and from 1604 onwards at Douai. Books of the same class, though in smaller numbers, appeared also at Paris and Rouen. Individually the books from the presses we have been naming, both on the Romanist and the Puritan side, are unattractive to look at and dull to read. Collectively they form a very curious and interesting episode in English bibliography, which deserves more study than it has yet received, though Mr. Sayle has made an excellent beginning in his lists of English books printed on the Continent in the third volume of his _Early English Printed Books in the University Library, Cambridge_. Since then Mr. Steele and Mr. Dover Wilson have made important contributions to the subject, but much still remains to be done. It was doubtless the existence of these foreign safety-valves which rendered the course of English printing after the grant of a charter to the Stationers' Company so smooth and uneventful.[60] Two violations of the terms of the charter were winked at or authorized, in some way not known to us, by the Crown. The first of these was the printing of a few books for the use of foreign refugees by Antony de Solempne at Norwich. Most of these books were in Dutch, but in 1569 Antony Corranus, previously pastor of the Spanish Protestant congregation at Antwerp, published through de Solempne certain broadside tables _De Operibus Dei_ in Latin, French, Dutch, and English, of which copies only of the first and second have been traced. In 1570 another English broadside commemorated the execution at Norwich of Thomas Brooke. Archbishop Parker seems to have resented the publication, unexamined, of the _De Operibus Dei_, but de Solempne placed the royal arms and a loyal motto (Godt bewaer de Coninginne Elizabeth) on some of his books, and seems in some way or another to have secured the Queen's protection. Mr. Allnutt, to whose exhaustive articles on "English Provincial Printing" in the second volume of _Bibliographica_ all subsequent writers on the subject must needs be indebted, conscientiously includes among his notes one on the edition of Archbishop Parker's _De Antiquitate Ecclesiae Britannicae_ printed for him by John Day, in all probability at Lambeth Palace, where a small staff of book-fashioners worked under the archiepiscopal eye. Eton is a good deal farther "out of bounds" than Lambeth, but the employment of the King's Printer, John Norton, and a dedication to the King saved Sir Henry Savile from any interference when he started printing his fine edition of the works of S. John Chrysostom in the original Greek. The eight folio volumes of which this consists are dated from 1610 to 1613, and in these and the two following years five other Greek books were printed under Savile's supervision. After this his type was presented to the University of Oxford, where a fairly flourishing press had been at work since 1585. That printing at Oxford made a new start in 1585 was due no doubt to the example of Cambridge, which two years earlier had at last acted on a patent for printing granted by Henry VIII in 1534, the year, it will be remembered, in which restrictions were placed on the importation of foreign books on account of the proficiency in the art to which Englishmen were supposed to have attained. In the interim Printers to the University seem to have been appointed, but it was not till 1583 that a press was set up, whereupon, as soon as a single book had been printed, it was promptly seized by the Stationers' Company of London as an infringement of the monopoly granted by their charter. Although the Bishop of London seems to have backed up the Stationers, Lord Burghley (the Chancellor of the University) and the Master of the Rolls secured the recognition of the rights of the University. Forty years later they were again attacked by the Stationers, and the Privy Council forbade the Cambridge printer to print Bibles, Prayer Books, Psalters, Grammars, or Books of Common Law, but in 1628 the judges pronounced strongly in favour of the full rights of the University, and the next year these were recognized with some modifications by the Privy Council. Up to this time there had been three printers, Thomas Thomas (1583-8), John Legate (1588-1610), and Cantrell Legge (1606-29), the University Library possessing (in 1902) 34 books and documents printed by the first, 108 by the second, and 55 by the third, or a total of 197 for a period of forty-six years. From 1628 to 1639 the majority of Cambridge books bear no individual names on them, but have usually the imprint "Cantabrigiæ, ex Academiæ celeberrimæ typographeo." But Thomas and John Buck and Roger Daniel, in various combinations, were responsible for a good many publications. While Burghley was Chancellor of Cambridge, Dudley, Earl of Leicester, held the Oxford Chancellorship, and doubtless felt that, charter or no charter, it concerned his honour to see that his University should be allowed all the privileges possessed by the other. Under his auspices a press was started late in 1584 or early in 1585 by Joseph Barnes, an Oxford bookseller, to whom the University lent £100 to enable him to procure the necessary equipment, and on Leicester's visiting the University on 11 January, 1585, a _Carmen gratulatorium_ in four elegiac couplets was presented to him, printed on an octavo leaf at the new press. The first book to appear was a _Speculum Moralium Quaestionum in uniuersam Ethicen Aristotelis_, by John Case, a former fellow of S. John's, with a dedication to Leicester by the author and another by the printer. In the latter the promise was made "ea solum ex his prælis in lucem venient que sapientum calculis approbentur & Sybille foliis sint veriora," but the remaining publications of the year were a polemical treatise by Thomas Billson, two issues of a Protestant adaptation of the _Booke of Christian exercise appertaining to Resolution_, by Robert Persons, the Jesuit, and two sermons. In 1586 no fewer than seventeen books were printed (a number not again attained for several years), and among them was an edition of six homilies of S. Chrysostom, "primitiæ typographi nostri in græcis literis preli." After this the press settled down to an average production of from eight to a dozen books a year, including a fair number of classical texts and translations, with now and then a volume of verse which brings it into connection with the stream of Elizabethan literature. Among the more interesting books which it produced, mention may be made of the _Sixe Idillia_ of Theocritus (1588), poems by Nicholas Breton and Thomas Churchyard (1592), Richard de Bury's _Philobiblon_ (1599), the _Microcosmus_ of John Davies of Hereford (1603), Captain John Smith's _Map of Virginia, with a description of the Countrey_ (1612), and Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_ (1621). In the 'twenties of the seventeenth century the average annual output was still only 14; in the 'thirties, under the fostering care of Laud, it had risen as high as 25. In 1641 it was but 19. Then, on the outbreak of the Civil War, the King came to Oxford, and under the stress of official publications and royalist controversy the numbers shot up to about 147 in 1642, followed by 119 in 1643, about 100 in 1644, and 60 in 1645. Then they become normal again, and in 1649 under the Parliamentary _régime_ sink as low as seven. These statistics are taken from the various works of Mr. Falconer Madan, mentioned in our bibliography, and from the same source we learn that until the nineteenth century the annual average of production, calculated by periods of ten years, never exceeded thirty-two. Similar causes to those which brought about the sudden increase in the Oxford output in 1642 led to the establishment of presses at Newcastle and York. In 1639, when Charles I marched against the Scots, his head-quarters were at Newcastle, and the Royal Printer, Robert Barker,[61] printed there a sermon by the Bishop of Durham, the _Lawes and Ordinances of Warre_, and some proclamations. In March, 1642, again Barker was in attendance on the King at York, and printed there _His Majesties Declaration to both Houses of Parliament_, in answer to that presented to him at Newmarket, and some thirty-eight other pieces. Another London printer, Stephen Bulkley, was also given employment, and in the years 1642-4 printed at York some twenty-eight different pieces. Bulkley also attended the King at Newcastle in 1646, when he was in the hands of the Scots, and remained printing there and at Gateshead until the Restoration, when he returned to York, where a Puritan press had in the meantime been set up by Thomas Broad. Charles I left York on 16 August, 1642, and six days later the Royal Standard was raised at Nottingham. _His Majesties Instructions to his Commissioners of Array_, dated "at our Court at Nottingham, 29th August, 1642," were printed by Barker at York. Two days later the King ordered that the press should be brought to Nottingham, but we next hear of Barker at Shrewsbury, where he served the King's immediate needs, and then remained at work for the rest of the year and the greater part of 1643 reprinting Oxford editions and publishing other royalist literature. After the capture of Bristol for the King on 2 August he removed once more and printed there during 1644 and 1645. During the confusion of the Civil War an Exeter stationer, Thomas Hunt (the local publisher of Herrick's _Hesperides_), had a book printed for him--Thomas Fuller's _Good Thoughts in Bad Times_--which is described in the dedication as the "First Fruits of the Exeter Presse," and another is said to have been printed there in 1648. But we hear of no other presses being set up. After the Restoration printing was allowed to continue at York. Otherwise provincial printing outside the Universities was once more non-existent. The arrival of William of Orange caused some broadsides to be printed at Exeter in 1688, and in the same year Thomas Tillier printed at Chester, not only _An account of a late Horrid and Bloody Massacre in Ireland_ on a single leaf, but also a handsome folio, _The Academy of Armory_, for Randall Holme, who rewarded him for any risk he may have run by devising for him a fancy coat. Nevertheless, despite the change of Government, the Act of Parliament restricting printing to London, Oxford, Cambridge, and York was not allowed to expire till 1695. A press was set up at Bristol the same year. Plymouth and Shrewsbury followed in 1696, Exeter in 1698, and Norwich in 1701, the first provincial newspaper, _The Norwich Post_, dating from September in that year. By 1750 about seventy-five provincial towns possessed presses, cities and small country places starting them at haphazard, not at all in the order of their importance. The dates for some of the chief are as follows (all on the authority of Mr. Allnutt): 1708, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; 1709, Worcester; 1710, Nottingham; 1711, Chester; 1712, Liverpool; 1715, Salisbury; 1716, Birmingham; 1717, Canterbury; 1718, Ipswich, Leeds, and Taunton; 1719, Manchester and Derby; 1720, Northampton; 1721, Coventry and Hereford; 1723, Reading; 1731, Bath; 1737, Sheffield; 1745, Stratford-on-Avon; 1748, Portsmouth. As a side-consequence of the lapsing of the Licensing Act in 1695, it became possible for any private person to buy a printing press, hire a journeyman printer, and start printing any books he pleased. Several private presses were thus set up during the second half of the eighteenth century, the most famous of them being that of Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill, near Twickenham. Walpole started in 1757 by printing two of the Odes of his friend Gray, and at intervals during the next twenty-seven years printed several of his own works, and a few other books, of which an edition of Grammont's _Mémoires_ was the most important. Walpole's example was followed by George Allan, M.P. for Durham, and Francis Blomefield, the historian of Norfolk; also in the nineteenth century by Thomas Johnes, who printed his translation of Froissart in four large quarto volumes at his own house at Hafod in Cardiganshire in 1803-5, and followed them up with a Joinville in 1807 and a Monstrelet in 1810. Between 1813 and 1823 Sir Egerton Brydges caused a number of interesting literary reprints to be issued for him in limited editions from a press in or near his house at Lee Priory in Kent. The work of both these presses, like that of Walpole's, was perhaps equal to the best commercial printing of its day, but was not superior to it, and perhaps the same may be said of the few reprints manufactured, in still more jealously limited editions, by E. V. Utterson between 1840 and 1843 at Beldornie House, Ryde. Sir Thomas Phillipps, who printed numerous antiquarian documents between 1822 and 1862 at Middle Hill in Worcestershire, and between 1862 and 1872 at Cheltenham, set even less store by typographical beauty and accuracy. The other private presses of the first half of the nineteenth century are not more interesting, though that of Gaetano Polidori at Park Village East, near Regent's Park, 1840-50, has become famous as having printed Gabriel Rossetti's _Sir Hugh the Heron_ in 1843, and Christina Rossetti's first volume of verse four years later, Polidori being the grandfather of the young authors on their mother's side. Passing north of the Tweed, where the most formidable competitors of the London printers now abide, we find the first Scottish press at work at Edinburgh in 1508. In September of the previous year Andrew Myllar, a bookseller who had gained some experience of printing at Rouen, and Walter Chapman, a merchant, had been granted leave to import a press, chiefly that they might print an Aberdeen Breviary, which duly appeared in 1509-10. The books which anticipated it in 1508 were a number of thin quartos, _The Maying or Disport of Chaucer_, dated 4 April, the _Knightly Tale of Golagros and Gawane_, dated 8 April, the _Porteous of Noblenes_, "translated out of franche in scottis be Maistir Andrew Cadiou," dated 20 April, and eight undated pieces, three of them by Dunbar (_The Goldyn Targe_, _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_, and the _Twa Marrit Wemen and the Wedo_, with other poems), the others being the _Ballad of Lord Barnard Stewart_, _Orpheus and Eurydice_, the _Buke of Gude Counsale_, _Sir Eglamoure of Artoys_, and _A Gest of Robyn Hode_. All these have survived (some of them much mutilated) in a single volume, and it is at the reader's pleasure to decide whether they represent the harvest of some careful person who bought up all Chapman and Myllar's fugitive pieces, or are merely the remnants of a much larger output. The Aberdeen Breviary, which the printers were encouraged to produce by protection against the importation of Sarum books from England or abroad, is really handsomely printed in black and red. At the end of one of the four or five copies of it now known is an addendum, the _Officium Compassionis Beatae Virginis_ (commemorated on the Wednesday in Holy Week), which bears the colophon "Impressum Edinburgi per Johannem Story nomine & mandato Karoli Stule," which Scottish bibliographers assign to about 1520. A fragment of a _Book of the Howlat_ may belong to the same period. Thus although Scottish writers, such as John Vaus and Hector Boece of Aberdeen, had to send their books to France to be printed, it is possible that presses were at work in Edinburgh or elsewhere in Scotland, of which nothing is now known. The next printer of whom we have certain information is Thomas Davidson, who in February, 1541 (1542), produced a handsome edition of _The New Actis and Constitutionis of Parliament maid be the Rycht Excellent Prince Iames the Fift_. This was his only dated book, but he issued also a fine edition of _The hystory and croniklis of Scotland_, translated by "Johne Bellenden, Archdene of Murray, chanon of Ros," from the Latin of Hector Boece, and some smaller works. The next Scottish printer is John Scot, whom the best authorities, despite the fact that he is first heard of in Edinburgh in 1539, refuse to identify with the John Skot who printed in London from 1521 to 1537. Whoever he was, he had no very happy existence, as notwithstanding some efforts to please the Protestant party, the work he did for the Catholics twice brought him into serious trouble. His first dated book, Archbishop Hamilton's _Catechism_, did not appear till 29 August, 1552, and was printed not at Edinburgh, but at St. Andrews. How he had been employed between 1539 and this date we have no means of knowing. At St. Andrews Scot printed Patrick Cockburn's _Pia Meditatio in Dominicam Orationem_ (1555), and probably also Lauder's _Dewtis of Kingis_ (1556). Scot also printed controversial works on the Catholic side by the Abbot of Crosraguell (Quentin Kennedy) and Ninian Winzet, and for the opposite party _The Confessione of faith Professit and Belevit be the Protestantes within the Realme of Scotland_ (1561). He issued also two editions (1568 and 1571) of the works of Sir David Lindesay, while his undated books include some of Lindesay's single poems. Since John Scot printed mainly on the Catholic side, the Protestant General Assembly in December, 1562, started a printer in opposition to him, Robert Lekpreuik, lending him "twa hundreth pounds to help to buy irons, ink and papper and to fie craftesmen for printing." He had previously, in 1561, like Scot, printed the _Confession of the Faith_, also Robert Noruell's _Meroure of an Chr[i]stiane_ and an _Oration_ by Beza. The grant allowed him was in connection with an edition of the Psalms, which eventually appeared in 1565, together with the _Form of Prayer and Ministration of the Sacraments used in the English Church at Geneva_ and the Catechism (dated 1564). Lekpreuik continued active till 1574, and after an interval issued three books in 1581 and perhaps one in 1582. In Mr. Aldis's List he is credited with ninety-one publications (mostly controversial) as against four assigned to Davidson and fifteen to Scot. During 1571 he printed at Stirling, and the next two years at St. Andrews. Like Scot, he found printing perilous work, his intermission after the beginning of 1574 being due to imprisonment. Thomas Bassandyne, who had previously published books at Edinburgh, began printing there in 1572. He produced but ten (extant) books and documents in all, but his name is famous from its connection with the first Scottish Bible, of which he produced the New Testament in 1576, the Old Testament being added, and the whole issued by his successor, Alexander Arbuthnot, in 1579. Besides the Bible, only five books were printed by Arbuthnot. Between 1574 and 1580 twenty-six were produced by John Ross, and on his death Henry Charteris, a bookseller, took over his material, and by the time of his death in 1599 had printed forty more. But the best Edinburgh work towards the end of the century was produced by two craftsmen from England, Thomas Vautrollier, who produced ten books in 1584-6, and Robert Waldegrave (1590-1603), who had to flee from England for his share in the Marprelate tracts, and during his thirteen years in Edinburgh issued 119 books. When Joseph Ames was desirous of obtaining information about early printing in Ireland he applied to a Dr. Rutty, of Dublin (apparently a Quaker), who could only furnish the name of a single book printed there before 1600, this being an edition of the Book of Common Prayer, which states that it is "Imprinted by Humphrey Powell, printer to the Kynges Maiesti, in his Highnesse realme of Ireland dwellyng in the citie of Dublin in the greate toure by the Crane. Cum Privilegio ad imprimendum solum. Anno Domini MDLI." We know from the records of the English Privy Council that Humphrey Powell, an inconspicuous English printer, was granted £20 in July, 1550, "towards his setting up in Ireland," and this Prayer Book was doubtless the first fruits of his press. Powell remained in Dublin for fifteen years, but the only other products of his press still in existence are two proclamations, one issued in 1561 against Shane O'Neill, the other in 1564 against the O'Connors, and _A Brefe Declaration of certein Principall Articles of Religion_, a quarto of eight leaves set out by order of Sir Henry Sidney in 1566. In 1571 John O'Kearney, Treasurer of St. Patrick's, was presented with a fount of Irish type by Queen Elizabeth, and a Catechism by him and a broadside poem on the Last Judgment, by Philip, son of Conn Crosach, both in Irish type, are still extant. But there seems to be no trustworthy information as to where they were printed, though it was probably at Dublin. An Almanac, giving the longitude and latitude for Dublin, for the year 1587, appears to have been printed at London. But in 1595 William Kearney printed a Proclamation against the Earl of Tyrone and his adherents in Ireland "in the Cathedrall Church of the Blessed Trinitie, Dublin." We reach continuous firm ground in 1600 when John Francke, or Franckton (as he called himself in 1602 and thenceforward), printed one or more proclamations at Dublin. In 1604 Franckton was appointed King's Printer for Ireland, and he continued at work till 1618, when he assigned his patent to Felix Kyngston, Matthew Lownes, and Thomas Downes. Some four-and-twenty proclamations and upwards of a dozen books and pamphlets from his press are extant, some of them in Irish type. In 1620 the office of Printer-General for Ireland was granted for a period of twenty-one years to Kingston, Lownes, and Downes, all of them members of the London Stationers' Company, and the usual imprint on the books they issued is that of the Company (1620-33) or Society (1633-42) of Stationers. They seem to have appointed an agent or factor to look after their interests, and the last of these factors, William Bladen, about 1642 took over the business. The earliest allusion to books printed in what afterwards became the United States of America occurs in the diary of John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, for March, 1639: "A printing house was begun at Cambridge by one Stephen Daye, at the charge of Mr. Glover, who died on sea hitherward. The first thing which was printed was the freemen's Oath; the next was an almanac made for New England by Mr. William Pierce, mariner; the next was the Psalms newly turned into metre." The Mr. Glover here mentioned was the Rev. Joseph Glover, rector of Sutton in Surrey from 1628 to 1636, who, after collecting funds for the benefit of Harvard College at Cambridge, Mass., sailed with his family from England in the summer of 1638, but died on the way. His widow (Elizabeth Glover), shortly after her arrival, married the Rev. Henry Dunster, the first President of Harvard, and thus, as had happened in Paris, the first press in America was set up in a college under clerical auspices. Stephen Day, the printer whom Glover had brought from England, is naturally supposed to have been a descendant of John Day, the great Elizabethan printer, but of this there is no evidence. He obtained some grants of land in consideration of his services to the colony, but did not greatly thrive, and in 1648, or early in 1649, was superseded by Samuel Green. Of the specimens of his press mentioned by Governor Winthrop the _Oath of a Freeman_ and the _Almanac_ have perished utterly. Of the "Bay Psalter," or the "New England Version of the Psalms," as it was subsequently called, at least eleven copies are known to be extant, of which five are stated to be perfect.[62] It is a small octavo of 148 leaves, disfigured by numerous misprints, but with passable presswork. The translation was made by the Massachusetts clergy, who prefixed to it "A discourse declaring not only the lawfullnes but also the necessity of the heavenly ordinance of singing Scripture Psalmes in the Churches of God." Its titlepage bears the name neither of printer nor of place, but merely "Imprinted 1640." There is no doubt, however, that it was produced by Day at Cambridge, whereas the edition of 1647 appears to have been printed in London. The Massachusetts records make it probable that Day printed several books and documents now lost. An imperfect copy of Harvard Theses with the imprint "Cantabrigiæ Nov. Ang., Mens. 8 1643" is the next production of his press still extant. After this comes an historical document of some interest: "_A Declaration of former passages and proceedings betwixt the English and the Narrowgansets, with their confederates, wherein the grounds and iustice of the ensuing warre are opened and cleared_. Published by order of the Commissioners for the United Colonies. At Boston the 11 of the sixth month 1645." Another broadside of Harvard Theses (for 1647) and a couple of almanacs for 1647 and 1648, the first of which has the imprint "Cambridge Printed by Matthew Daye and to be solde by Hez. Usher at Boston. 1647", are the only other remnants of this stage of the press. Of Matthew Day nothing more is known. Samuel Green appears to have taken over Day's business without any previous technical training, so that it is thought that Day may have helped him as a journeyman. The first book ascribed to Green is: A Platform of Church Discipline gathered out of the word of God: and agreed upon by the Elders: and Messengers of the Churches assembled in the Synod at Cambridge in New-England. To be presented to the Churches and Generals Court for their consideration and acceptance in the Lord. The Eighth Moneth, Anno 1649. Printed by S.G. at Cambridge in New-England and are to be sold at Cambridge and Boston Anno Dom. 1649. His next extant piece of work is an almanac for 1650, his next the third edition (the second, as noted above, had been printed at London in 1647) of the Bay Psalter, "printed by Samuel Green at Cambridge in New-England, 1651." This was followed in 1652 by Richard Mather's _The Summe of Certain Sermons upon Genes_. 15. 6, a treatise on Justification by Faith, and then Green seems to have begun to busy himself with work for the Corporation in England for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England, or Corporation for the Indians, as it is easier to call it. A second press was sent over to enable this work to be undertaken, and a Primer by John Eliot ("the Apostle to the Indians") was printed in 1654, and the Books of Genesis and Matthew the next year, all three in the Indian language, all three now known only from records. The same destruction has befallen an Indian version of some of the Psalms mentioned as having been printed in 1658, but of another Indian book of the same year, Abraham Peirson's _Some helps for the Indians, shewing them how to improve their natural reason to know the true God, and the true Christian Religion_, two issues have been preserved, one in the New York Public Library, the other at the British Museum. Another edition, dated the next year, is also at the Museum, though it has escaped the notice of Mr. Evans, the author of the latest "American Bibliography." By this time the Corporation for the Indians had sent over a skilled printer, Marmaduke Johnson, to aid Green in his work. Unfortunately, despite the fact that he had left a wife in England, Johnson flirted with Green's daughter, and this conduct, reprehensible anywhere, in New England brought down on him fines of £20 and a sentence of deportation, which, however, was not carried out. Johnson's initials appears in conjunction with Green's in _A Brief Catechism containing the doctrine of Godlines_, by John Norton, teacher of the Church at Boston, published in 1660, and the two men's names in full are in the Indian New Testament of 1661 and the complete Bible of 1663. Of the New Testament it is conjectured that a thousand, or perhaps fifteen hundred copies, were printed, of which five hundred were bound separately, and forty of these sent to England. How many copies were printed of the Old Testament is not known, but of the complete Bible some forty copies are still extant in no fewer than eight variant states produced by the presence or absence of the Indian and English titlepages, the dedication, etc., while of the New Testament about half as many copies may be known. During the progress of the Indian Bible Green had continued his English printing on his other press, and had produced among other things _Propositions concerning the subject of Baptism_ collected by the Boston Synod, and bearing the imprint "Printed by S.G. for Hezekiah Vsher at Boston in New England 1662." Printing at Boston itself does not appear to have begun until 1675, when John Foster, a Harvard graduate, was entrusted with the management of a press, and during that and the six following years printed there a number of books by Increase Mather and other ministers, as well as some almanacs. On his death in 1681 the press was entrusted to Samuel Sewall, who, however, abandoned it in 1684. Meanwhile, Samuel Green had continued to print at Cambridge, and his son, Samuel Green junior, is found working by assignment of Sewall and for other Boston booksellers. In 1690 his brother Bartholomew Green succeeded him, and remained the chief printer at Boston till his death in 1732. At Philadelphia, within three years of its foundation in 1683, a _Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense, or America's Messinger: being and [sic] almanack for the year of grace 1686_, by Samuel Atkins, was issued with the imprint, "Printed and sold by William Bradford, sold also by the Author and H. Murrey in Philadelphia and Philip Richards in New York, 1685," and in the same year there was published anonymously Thomas Budd's _Good Order established in Pennsilvania & New Jersey in America, being a true account of the country; with its produce and commodities there made_. In 1686 Bradford printed _An Epistle from John Burnyeat to Friends in Pensilvania_ and _A General Epistle given forth by the people of the Lord called Quakers_; in 1687 William Penn's _The excellent privilege of liberty and property being the birthright of the free-born subjects of England_; in 1688 a collection including Böhme's _The Temple of Wisdom_, Wither's _Abuses Stript and Whipt_, and Bacon's _Essays_, edited by Daniel Leeds. In 1689 Bradford began working for George Keith, and three years later he was imprisoned for printing Keith's _Appeal from the Twenty Eight Judges to the Spirit of Truth and true Judgement in all faithful Friends called Quakers_. In consequence of this persecution Bradford left Philadelphia the next year and set up his press at New York. Reinier Jansen and Jacob Taylor are subsequently mentioned as printers at Philadelphia, and in 1712 Andrew Bradford, son of William, came from New York and worked there until his death in 1742. From 1723 he had as a competitor Samuel Keimer, and it was in Keimer's office that Benjamin Franklin began printing in Philadelphia. His edition of a translation of Cicero's _Cato Major on Old Age_, by J. Logan of Philadelphia, is said to have been the first rendering of a classic published in America. Meanwhile, William Bradford had set up his press in New York in 1693, and obtained the appointment of Government Printer. His earliest productions there were a number of official Acts and Proclamations, on which he placed the imprint, "Printed and Sold by William Bradford, Printer to King William and Queen Mary, at the City of New York." In 1700 he was apparently employed to print an anonymous answer to Increase Mather's _Order of the Gospel_, and a heated controversy arose as to whether the refusal of Bartholomew Green to print it at Boston was due to excessive "awe" of the President of Harvard or to a more praiseworthy objection to anonymous attacks. Bradford remained New York's only printer until 1726, when Johann Peter Zenger set up a press which became notable for the boldness with which it attacked the provincial government. Such attacks were not regarded with much toleration, nor indeed was the press even under official regulation greatly beloved by authority. In 1671 Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, in an official document remarked: "I thank God we have not free schools nor printing; and I hope we shall not have these hundred years. For learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world; and printing has divulged them and libels against the government. God keep us from both." Eleven years later (21 February, 1682) there is an entry in the Virginian records: "John Buckner called before the L^d Culpeper and his council for printing the laws of 1680, without his excellency's license, and he and the printer ordered to enter into bond in £100 not to print anything hereafter, until his majesty's pleasure shall be known." As a result there was no more printing in Virginia till about 1729, nor are any other towns than those here mentioned known to have possessed presses during the seventeenth century, the period within which American books may claim the dignity of incunabula. FOOTNOTES: [55] Mr. Duff is no doubt right in his suggestion that this is _A very declaration of the bond and free wyll of man: the obedyence of the gospell and what the gospell meaneth_, of which a copy, with colophon, "Printed at Saint Albans," is in the Spencer Collection at the John Rylands Library. This increases Hertfort's total to eight. [56] Mr. Duff plausibly suggests that Overton's name in the colophon was merely a device for surmounting the restrictions on the circulation in England of books printed abroad. [57] Those recorded by Mr. E. G. Duff in his Sandars Lectures on "The English Provincial Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders to 1557," by my reckoning number 114. [58] This reckoning was made in 1896, but the proportion has not been substantially altered. [59] The colophon to the _Chronicles_ which commemorates Leeu has already been quoted (p. 81). [60] Before the incorporation of the Company brought English printing more easily under supervision, at least a few books had been issued by English printers with spurious foreign imprints, of which the most impudent was "At Rome under the Castle of St. Angelo." [61] Robert Barker himself was imprisoned for debt in the King's Bench at London in 1635, and died there in 1646. What is here written applies to his deputy, who may have been his son of the same name. [62] The assertion by Mr. Charles Evans (_American Bibliography_, p. 3) that one of these, "the Crowninshield copy, was privately sold by Henry Stevens to the British Museum for £157 10s.," despite its apparent precision, is an exasperating error. CHAPTER XIV ENGLISH WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS [Illustration: XXIX. WESTMINSTER, CAXTON, C. 1488 BONAVENTURA. MEDITATIONES. (PART OF SIG. K 5 RECTO) CHRIST RAISING THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS] A few illuminated manuscripts of English workmanship and a few with illustrations in outline have come down to us from the fifteenth century, but amid the weary wars with France and the still wearier struggles of Yorkists and Lancastrians, the artistic spirit which had been so prominent in England in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries seems to have died out altogether. Until the reign of Queen Elizabeth, or perhaps we should rather say until the advent of John Day, few English books were illustrated, and of these few quite a large proportion borrowed or copied their pictures from foreign originals. Nevertheless, English illustrated books are rightly sought after by English collectors, and though we may wish that they were better, we must give the best account of them we can. As we shall see in a later chapter, there is some probability that an engraving on copper was specially prepared for the first book printed by Caxton, _The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye._ For the present, however, we must concern ourselves only with illustrations on wood, or on soft metal cut in relief after the manner of wood, a difference of more interest to the technical student than to book-lovers. The first English books thus illustrated appear in or about 1481, the year in which Jean Du Pré began the use of cuts in Paris. England was thus fairly well to the front in point of time; it is the quality which is to seek. The first of these illustrated books was probably an undated edition of the _Mirrour of the World_, a translation of a French version of a Latin _Speculum_ or _Imago mundi_. Besides some woodcut diagrams copied from drawings found in the French manuscripts, this has ten little cuts, seven of the masters of the seven liberal arts, one of the author, and two of the Creation. Two of the cuts illustrating the arts were used again almost at once in Caxton's third edition of the _Parvus et Magnus Cato_, a book of moral instruction for children in a series of Latin distichs. In 1481 also Caxton ornamented the second edition of the didactic treatise, _The Game and Play of the Chess_ (from the Latin of Jacobus de Cessolis), with sixteen woodcuts, representing the characters after which the different pieces and pawns were called. The pictures are clumsy and coarsely cut, comparing miserably with the charming little woodcuts in the Italian edition printed at Florence, but they illustrate the book, and may conceivably have increased its sales. In any case, Caxton seems, in a leisurely way, to have set about producing some more, since by or about 1484 appeared three of his most important illustrated books, the _Golden Legend_, the second edition of Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, and an _Aesop_. The _Golden Legend_ is ornamented with eighteen large and thirty-two smaller woodcuts; the _Aesop_ with a full-page frontispiece and one hundred and five smaller cuts; the _Canterbury Tales_ with a large cut of the Pilgrims seated at a round table, and with some twenty smaller pictures of the different story-tellers on their horses, some of these being used more than once. For the _Aesop_, like many other foreign publishers, Caxton sent his illustrators to the designs made for the Zainers at Augsburg and Ulm, and quickly imitated all over Germany, and the copies he obtained are merely servile and so clumsy as occasionally to attain to unintended humour. Foreign influence is also evident in some at least of the cuts in the _Golden Legend_; on the other hand, we may be sure that the device of the Earl of Arundel on leaf 3 verso, a horse galloping past a tree, must have been made in England. Original, too, of necessity, were the illustrations to the _Canterbury Tales_, for which no foreign models could have been found. But the succession of pilgrims, each decked with a huge string of praying-beads and mounted on a most ungainly horse, is grotesque in its cumulation of clumsiness, though when we find that the miller really has got a kind of bagpipe, we recognize that the illustrator had at least read his text. Apparently Caxton himself realized that these English-made woodcuts were a failure, for the only two important illustrated books which he issued after this, the _Speculum Vitae Christi_, printed about 1488 (see Plate XXIX), and the _Fifteen Oes_ of a year or two later, both seem to be decorated with cuts of Flemish origin. The _Fifteen Oes_ (a collection of fifteen prayers, each beginning with O), though I have called it important, is so mainly as proving that Caxton must have printed a Horae of the same measurements (of which it may, indeed, have formed a part), illustrated with a set of very spirited woodcuts, undoubtedly imported from Flanders and subsequently found in the possession of Wynkyn de Worde. That the cuts in the _Speculum Vitae Christi_ are also Flemish is a degree less certain, but only a degree. Some of these were used again in the _Royal Book_, the _Doctrinal of Sapience_, and the _Book of Divers Ghostly Matters_. But the seven books which we have named are the only ones for which Caxton troubled to procure sets of cuts, and of these seven sets, as we have seen, one was certainly and another probably imported, one certainly and another probably copied, and only three are of English origin, and these the rudest and clumsiest. While our chief native printer made this poor record his contemporaries did no better. Lettou and Machlinia used no woodcuts which have come down to us save a small border, which passed into the possession of Pynson; for use at Oxford two sets of cuts were imported from the Low Countries, one which Mr. Gordon Duff thinks was originally designed for a _Legenda Aurea_, the other clearly meant for a Horae. These were used together in the Oxford edition of Mirk's _Liber Festivalis_, and the cut of the author of the _Legenda Aurea_ (Jacobus de Voragine) is used for Lyndewood in an edition of his _Constitutions_. At St. Albans some poor little cuts were used in the _Chronicles of England_, but from the point of view of illustration the anonymous schoolmaster-printer is chiefly memorable for having printed some cuts of coat-armour in the "Book of St. Albans" (_The Boke of Haukyng, Huntyng and also of Cote-armuris_) in colours. Wynkyn de Worde inherited Caxton's stock of woodcuts, and early in his career used some of them again in reprints of the _Golden Legend_ and _Speculum Vitae Christi_, and in his larger Horae used the full set of cuts which, while in Caxton's hands, is only known from those which appear in the _Fifteen Oes_. About 1492 he purchased some ornamental capitals (Caxton had only used a single rather graceful rustic A) and one or more cuts from Govaert van Os of Gouda. In his 1494 edition of Walter Hylton's _Scala Perfectionis_ (the first book in which he put his name) he used a woodblock consisting of a picture of Christ suckled by His mother with a long woodcut inscription, part of which reads "Sit dulce nomen domini nostri ihesu christi et nomen genitricis virginis marie benedictum," the whole surrounded by a graceful floral border. In 1495 came Higden's _Polychronicon_ with a few woodcut musical notes, the "hystorye of the deuoute and right renommed lyues of holy faders lyuynge in deserte" (usually quoted as the _Vitas Patrum_), with one large cut used six times and forty small ones used as 155, and about the same time a handsome edition of Bartholomaeus Anglicus's _De proprietatibus rerum_, with large cuts (two-thirds of the folio page) prefixed to each of the twenty-two books, apparently copied partly from those in a Dutch edition printed at Haarlem in 1485, partly from the illustrations (themselves not original) in a French edition printed at Lyon, of which Caxton, who finished the translation on his death-bed, had made use. In 1496, in reprinting the _Book of St. Albans_ De Worde added a treatise on _Fishing with an angle_, to which he prefixed a cut of a happy angler hauling up a fish which will soon be placed in a well-filled tub which stands beside him on the bank. This is quite good primitive work and was sufficiently appreciated to be used for numerous later editions, but soon after this De Worde employed a cutter who served him very badly, mangling cruelly a set of rather ambitious designs for the _Morte d'Arthur_ of 1498 (several of them used again in the _Recuyell_ of 1503), and also some single cuts used in different books. For the next half-dozen years De Worde relied almost exclusively on old cuts, but at last found a competent craftsman who enabled him to bring out in January, 1505-6, an English version of the _Art de bien vivre et de bien mourir_ with quite neat reductions of the pictures in Vérard's edition of 1492. It was, no doubt, the same workman who copied in 1506 the Vérard-Pigouchet cuts in Pierre Gringore's _Chasteau de Labeur_ as translated by Alexander Barclay, but from the frequent omission of backgrounds it is obvious that in these he was hurried, and they are by no means so good as those in the 1505 edition by Pynson with which De Worde was enviously hastening to compete. The _Calendar of Shepherds_ was another translation from the French, illustrated with copies of French cuts, while in the prose _Ship of Fools_, translated by Henry Watson from a French version of the German _Narrenschiff_ of Sebastian Brant, Basel originals were reproduced probably from intermediate copies. But when in 1509 Henry VII died, De Worde for once seems to have let his craftsman do a bit of original work for a title-cut to a funeral sermon by Bishop Fisher. In this (see Plate XXX) the bishop is shown preaching in a wooden pulpit, immediately below which is the hearse covered by a gorgeous pall on which lies an effigy of the dead king, while beyond the hearse stands a crowd of courtiers. It is evident that perspective was not the artist's strong point, as the pavement seems climbing up the wall and the shape of the hearse is quite indeterminate, but the general effect of the cut is neat and pleasing. That it is an English cut is certain. A few months later Bishop Fisher preached another funeral sermon, over Henry VII's aged mother, Margaret Duchess of Richmond, and when De Worde economically wished to use the same woodcut on the titlepage of his edition of this, there was a craftsman on the spot able to cut out the royal hearse from the block and plug in a representation of an ordinary one, and the similarity of touch shows that this was done by the original cutter. [Illustration: XXX. LONDON, WYNKYN de WORDE, 1509 BISHOP FISHER. FUNERAL SERMON ON HENRY VII. (TITLE)] As we have already noted in Chapter XII, Wynkyn de Worde was singularly unenterprising as a publisher, and although he lived for nearly a quarter of a century after the accession of Henry VIII, during all this time he printed no new book which required copious illustration. On the other hand, he was a man of fixed habits, and one of these habits came to be the decoration of the titlepage of nearly every small quarto he issued with a woodcut of some kind or other, the title itself being sometimes printed on a riband above it. When a new picture was absolutely necessary for this purpose it was forthcoming and generally fairly well cut, but a few stock woodcuts, a schoolmaster holding a birch for grammatical books, a knight on horseback for a romance, etc., were used again and again, and often the block was picked out (we are tempted to say "at random," but that would be an exaggeration) from one of the sets already described, which De Worde had commissioned in more lavish days. One of Richard Pynson's earliest books was an edition of Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_ with about a score of woodcuts of the pilgrims obviously influenced by those in Caxton's second edition, but in no way an improvement on them. It is true that not only is the miller again allowed his bagpipe, but a little mill is placed in the corner of the cut to identify him beyond doubt. On the other hand, the knight's horse is bedecked with the cumbrous skirts used in the tilt-yard, but which would have become sadly draggled ere much progress had been made along the miry road to Canterbury. The clerk, moreover, is made to carry a bow as if, instead of having his mind set on Aristotle, he were of the lusty sort that loved to get venison where they should not. Round most of the cuts there is a heavy edge of black, as if from an untrimmed block, which does not improve their appearance. Altogether they are poor work, and it was doubtless his recognition of this that caused Pynson in future to rely so largely on the purchase or imitation of foreign blocks. For his edition of Lydgate's _Falles of Princes_, a verse rendering of Boccaccio's _De casibus illustrium virorum_, issued in 1494, he procured the woodcuts made for the fine French edition (_De la ruine des nobles hommes_), printed at Paris by Jean Du Pré in 1483. Before 1500 he brought out an _Aesop_, copying as usual the German cuts. In 1505 he printed Alexander Barclay's version of Pierre Gringore's _Chasteau du Labeur_ with cuts closely and fairly skilfully copied from those in the Pigouchet-Vérard editions. In 1506 he went further and procured from Vérard the blocks for a new edition of the _Kalendar of Shepherds_, which, however, he caused to be retranslated, with sundry remarks on the extraordinary English of the version published by Vérard. In 1509 he produced in a fine folio Barclay's free rendering of Brant's _Narrenschiff_, illustrating this English _Ship of Fools_ with 117 cuts copied from the originals. In 1518 he procured from Froben some border-pieces for small quartos, one showing in the footpiece a boy carried on the shoulders of his fellows, another an elephant, a third Mutius Scaevola and Porsenna. [Illustration: XXXI. LONDON, PYNSON, C. 1520 BARCLAY'S VERSION OF SALLUST'S JUGURTHA. THE TRANSLATOR AND THE DUKE OF NORFOLK. (REDUCED)] If Pynson had dealt largely in illustrated books the borrowings and copyings here recited might seem insignificant. He published, however, very little English work which can be set against them, and even of the cuts which pass for English the native origin is not always sure. I should be sorry to pledge myself, for instance, as to the provenance of some neat but rather characterless column-cuts in his edition of the _Speculum Vitae Christi_ (fifteenth century). The title-cut to the _Traduction and Mariage of the Princesse_ (Katherine), printed in 1501, is almost certainly English in its heaviness and lack of charm, but despite the fact that they must have been produced in London we can hardly say as much of the two far prettier pictures which adorn the _Carmen_ of Petrus Carmelianus on the treaty of marriage between the future Charles V and the Princess Mary (1508). In the first of these the ambassadors are being received by Henry VII, in the second by the Princess who is attended by her maids, and the latter is perhaps the first English book-illustration with any touch of grace. Unluckily there is a half Spanish, half Low-Country look about it, which suggests that some member of the ambassadors' suite with an artistic turn may at least have supplied the design, so that one hesitates to claim it too vigorously as English work. We may be more confident about the one good cut (the rest are a scratch lot) in the 1513 edition of Lydgate's _The hystory sege and dystruccion of Troy_. In this Henry V is shown seated in a large room, with his suite, while Lydgate in his black habit as a Benedictine presents him with his book. There is a general resemblance between this and another good piece of work, the picture in Alexander Barclay's translation of Sallust's _Jugurtha_ (undated) of this other black monk offering his book to the Duke of Norfolk (see Plate XXXI). Probably both were from the same hand. It may be noted that the cut of Barclay was used again in the _Myrrour of good maners conteyning the iiii. vertues called cardynall compyled in latin by Domynicke Mancyn_, of which he was the industrious translator. In Pynson's 1516 edition of Fabyan's _Chronicle_, besides some insignificant column-cuts of kings and some decorative heraldic work, there is an excellent picture of a disembarkation. In other books we find cuts of a schoolmaster with his pupils, of an author, of a woman saint (S. Bridget, though used also for S. Werburga), etc. Towards the end of his career in the collection of Chaucer's works (1526) and reprint of Lydgate's _Falles of Princes_ (1527), Pynson drew on his stock of miscellaneous blocks rather than allow works with which illustrations had become associated to go forth undecorated.[63] But with his purchase of the border-pieces from Froben in 1518, it would seem that he more or less definitely turned his back on pictorial illustration. Mr. Gordon Duff has shown that a change comes over the character of his books about this time, and has suggested that during the latter years of his life his business was to some extent in the hands of Thomas Berthelet, who succeeded him as King's Printer. Berthelet himself in the course of his long and prosperous career eschewed illustrations altogether, while he took some trouble to get good capitals and had a few ornamental borders. It is thus hardly too much to say that from 1518 for some forty years, until in 1559 John Day published Cunningham's _Cosmographicall Glasse_, book-illustration in England can only be found lurking here and there in holes and corners. In 1526 Peter Treveris issued the _Grete Herbal_ with numerous botanical figures; in 1529 John Rastell printed his own _Pastime of People_ with huge, semi-grotesque cuts of English kings; a few of Robert Copland's books and a few of Robert Wyer's have rough cuts of no importance. But when we think of Pynson's edition of Lord Berners' _Froissart_, of Berthelet's of Gower's _Confessio Amantis_, of Godfray's _Chaucer_, and of Grafton's edition of Halle's _Chronicle_, all illustratable books and all unillustrated, it is evident that educated book-buyers, wearied of rudely hacked blocks, often with no relevance to the book in which they were found, had told the printers that they might save the space occupied by these decorations, and that the reign of the primitive woodcut in English books, if it can be said ever to have reigned, was at an end. This emphatic discouragement of book-illustrations during so many years in the sixteenth century was perhaps the best thing that could have happened--next to an equally emphatic encouragement of them. There can have been no reason in the nature of things why English book-illustrations should continue over a long period of time to be third-rate. A little help and a little guidance would probably have sufficed to reform them altogether. Nevertheless it can hardly be disputed that as a matter of fact they were, with very few exceptions, third-rate, the superiority of Pynson's to Wynkyn de Worde's being somewhat less striking than is usually asserted. In the absence of the needed help and guidance it was better to make a sober dignity the ideal of book-production than to continue to deface decently printed books by the use of job lots of column cuts. The borders and other ornaments used by Berthelet, Reyner Wolfe, and Grafton, the three principal firms of this period, are at least moderately good. All three printers indulged in the pleasing heresy of pictorial or heraldic capitals, Wolfe in the _Homiliae duae_ of S. Chrysostom (1543), Grafton in Halle's Chronicle entitled _The Union of the Families of Lancaster and York_ (1548), and Berthelet in some of his later proclamations. As regards their devices, Grafton's punning emblem (a tree grafted on a tun), though in its smallest size it may pass well enough, was not worthy of the prominence which he sometimes gave it; but Wolfe's "Charitas" mark, of children throwing sticks at an apple tree, is perhaps the most pleasing of English devices, while Berthelet's "Lucrece," despite the fact that her draperies have yielded to the Renaissance temptation of fluttering in the wind rather more than a Roman lady would have thought becoming at the moment of death, is of its kind a fine piece of work. As for pictures, from which Berthelet, as far as I remember, was consistent in his abstinence--Wolfe and Grafton were wisely content to make an exception in favour of Holbein, a little medallion cut after his portrait of Sir Thomas Wyatt adorning Wolfe's edition of Leland's _Naeniae_ (1542), and Grafton owing to him the magnificent titlepage to the Great Bibles in which Cranmer and Cromwell, with a host of other worthies, are seen distributing Bibles under the superintendence of Henry VIII. After the fall of Cromwell his armorial bearings were cut out of the block, a piece of petty brutality on a level with that which compelled owners of Prayer Books and Golden Legends to deface them by scratching out the word "pope" and as much as they could of the service for the day of that certainly rather questionable saint, Thomas à Becket. [Illustration: XXXII. LONDON, T. POWELL, 1556 HEYWOOD. THE SPIDER AND THE FLY. PORTRAIT OF HEYWOOD] In 1548 we come across a definitely illustrated book, Cranmer's _Catechism_, published by Walter Lynne, with a delicately cut titlepage[64] showing figures of Justice, Prudence, and Victory, and also the royal arms, and in the text numerous small Biblical pictures, two of which are signed "Hans Holbein," while others have been rashly attributed to Bernard Salomon. In 1556 we find Heywood's _Spider and the Fly_ illustrated not only with various woodcuts of spiders' webs, but with a portrait of the author stiff and ungainly enough in all conscience, but carrying with it an impression of lank veracity (see Plate XXXII). About this time, moreover, William Copland was issuing folio and quarto editions of some of the poems and romances which had pleased the readers of the first quarter of the century, and some of these had the old cuts in them. It is evident that illustrations would have come back in any case--book-buyers can never abstain from them for long together. But it is only fair to connect this return with the name of John Day, who made a strenuous effort, which only just failed of success, to bring up book-illustration to the high level at which he was aiming in printing. Day had issued a few books during the reign of Edward VI, notably a Bible with an excellent pictorial capital showing the promoter of the edition, Edmund Becke, presenting a copy of it to the King. As a staunch Protestant he had been in some danger under Queen Mary, but with the accession of Elizabeth he came quickly to the front, thanks to the help of Archbishop Parker, and the edition of _The Cosmographicall Glasse_ of William Cunningham, which he issued in 1559, is thus, as we have already suggested, a real landmark in English book-production. In addition to its fine types, this book is notable for its woodcut diagrams and pictorial capitals, ornamental titlepage, large map of Norwich and, most important of all, a strong and vigorous portrait of the author, his right hand on a globe, a _Dioscorides_ with a diagram of a rose lying open before him, and a wooded landscape being seen in the distance. The whole is enclosed in an oval frame, round which runs a Greek motto cut in majuscules, [Greek: Ê MEGALÊ EUDAIMONIÊ OUDENI PHTHONEIN] ("the great happiness is to envy no man"), with the author's age, "ÆTATIS 28" at the foot. The portrait measures about 6 inches by 4½, and occupies the whole folio page. It is only too probable that it was the work not of a native Englishman, but of some Dutch refugee, but here at last in an English book was a piece of living portraiture adequately cut on wood, and with better luck it should have been the first of a long series. John Day himself did his best to promote a fashion by prefixing a small portrait of Becon to that author's _Pomander of Prayer_, 1561, and having a much larger one of himself cut the next year, "ÆTATIS SVÆ XXXX," as the inscription tells us, adding also his motto, "LIEFE IS DEATHE AND DEATH IS LIEFE", the spelling in which suggests a Dutch artist, though Dutch spelling about this time was so rampant in England that we may hope against hope that this was English work. The oval portrait is surrounded with strap-work ornament, another fashion of the day, and at the foot of this are the initials I. D. On one interpretation these would lead us to believe not only that the work is English, but that Day himself was the cutter. But bindings from his shop are sometimes signed I. D. P. (Ioannes Day pegit), and we must hesitate before attributing to him personal skill not only in printing, but in binding and wood-cutting as well. The portrait itself is taken side-face and shows a cropped head, keen eye, and long beard, the neck being entirely concealed by a high coat-collar within which is a ruff. The ground to the front of the face is all in deep shadow, that at the back of the head is left white, a simple contrast which perhaps makes the general effect more brilliant. Day used this portrait as a device in some of his largest folio books--for instance, his three-volume edition of Becon's works (1560-4) and Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_ (1563). The full title of the _Book of Martyrs_, which we have now reached, is _Actes and Monuments of these latter and perillous dayes, touching matters of the Church, wherein ar comprehended and described the great persecutions and horrible troubles, that have bene wrought and practised by the Romishe Prelates, especially in this Realm of England and Scotlande, from the yeare of our Lorde a thousande unto the tyme nowe present_. It bears an elaborate titlepage showing Protestants and Catholics preaching, Protestants being burnt at the stake contrasted with Catholics offering the sacrifice of the Mass, and finally the Protestant martyrs uplifted in heaven, while the Catholic persecutors are packed off to hell. The text is very unevenly illustrated, but the total number of woodcuts even in the first edition (1563) is very considerable, and as many new pictures were added in the second (1570), the book was certainly the most liberally illustrated with cuts specially made for it which had yet been produced in England. One or two of the smaller cuts, mostly the head of a martyr praying amid the flames, are used several times; of the larger cuts only a very few are repeated, and, considering the monotonous subject of the book, it is obvious that some trouble must have been taken to secure variety in the illustrations. A few of these occupy a whole page, that illustrating the Protestant legend of the poisoning of King John by a fanatic monk being divided into compartments, while others showing some of the more important martyrdoms are ambitiously designed. The drawing of some of the later pictures is coarse, but on the whole the designs are good and with a good deal of character in them. The cutting is careful and painstaking, but hardly ever succeeds in making the picture stand out boldly on the page, so that the general effect is grey and colourless. As to the personality of the designers and cutters we know nothing. Day at one time was anxious to get leave to keep more than the permitted maximum of four foreigners in his employment, but we have really no sufficient ground for arguing either for an English or a foreign origin for these illustrations. A few years after this, in 1569, when the new edition of the _Book of Martyrs_ was in preparation, Day issued another illustrated book: _A christall glasse of christian reformation, wherein the godly maye beholde the coloured abuses used in this our present tyme. Collected by Stephen Bateman_, better known as the "Batman uppon Bartholomew," i.e. the editor by whom the _De Proprietatibus Rerum_ of Bartholomaeus Anglicus was "newly corrected, enlarged, and amended" in 1582. The _Christall glasse of christian reformation_ is a dull book with dull illustrations, which are of the nature of emblems, made ugly by party spirit. A more interesting book by the same author and issued in the same year was _The travayled Pylgrime, bringing newes from all partes of the worlde_, to which Bateman only put his initials and which was printed not by Day, but by Denham. This, although I cannot find that the fact has been noted, is largely indebted both for its scheme and its illustrations to the _Chevalier Délibéré_ of Olivier de la Marche, though the woodcuts go back not to those of the Gouda and Schiedam incunabula, but to the Antwerp edition of 1555, in which these were translated into some of the most graceful of sixteenth century cuts. Needless to say, much of the grace disappears in this new translation, although the cutting is more effective than in the _Book of Martyrs_. Besides these two books by Stephen Bateman, 1569 saw the issue of the first edition of one of John Day's most famous ventures, _A Booke of Christian Prayers, collected out of the ancient writers and best learned in our time, worthy to be read with an earnest mind of all Christians, in these dangerous and troublesome daies, that God for Christes sake will yet still be mercifull vnto us_. From the presence on the back of the titlepage of a very stiff portrait of the Queen kneeling in prayer (rather like a design for a monumental brass), this is usually quoted as _Queen Elizabeth's Prayer Book_. It was reprinted in 1578 (perhaps also earlier), 1581, and 1590, and the later editions, the only ones I have seen, ascribe the compilation to R. D., i.e. Richard Day, John Day's clergyman son. The book is in appearance a kind of Protestant Horae, having borders to every page divided into compartments as in the Paris editions, showing scenes from the life of Christ, the cardinal virtues and their opposites, the works of charity, and a Dance of Death. Compared with the best, or even the second best, of the Horae of Pigouchet or Kerver, the book looks cold and colourless, but the rarity of the early editions shows that it must have been very popular. The only other book issued by Day with borders to every page was the (supposititious) _Certaine select prayers gathered out of S. Augustines Meditations, which he calleth his selfe-talks with God_, which went through several editions, of which the first is dated 1574. This is a much less pretentious book, the borders being decorative instead of pictorial, but it makes rather a pretty little octavo. Another 1569 book which has cuts is the edition of Grafton's _Chronicle_ of that year, printed by Henry Denham, but as the cuts look like a "job" lot, possibly of German origin, and are only placed at the beginnings of sections in the short first book, while all the history from 1066 onwards is left unillustrated, this speaks rather of decadence than progress. [Illustration: XXXIII. LONDON, C. BARKER, 1575 TURBERVILLE. BOOKE OF FAULCONRIE. QUEEN ELIZABETH HAWKING] In 1581, towards the close of his career, Day was employed to print John Derrick's _Image of Ireland_, giving an account of Sir Henry Sidney's campaign against the Irish "wood-karnes." In some few copies this work is illustrated with eight very large woodcuts, the most ambitious in some respects that had ever been attempted in England. The first four are wretchedly cut; the last four, showing Sir Henry's battle with the rebels and his triumphal return, are both well designed and well executed. Meanwhile, other printers and publishers had produced a few more illustrated books in the 'seventies. Thus in 1575 Henry Bynneman had printed Turberville's _Booke of Faulconrie_ for Christopher Barker. The numerous excellent illustrations of hawks (and probably those of dogs also) are taken from French books, but there is a fairly vigorous picture of Queen Elizabeth hawking attended by her suite, badged, back and front, with large Tudor roses, and this (see Plate XXXIII) looks like English work. In a much later edition--that of 1611--it is curious to note that the portrait of the Queen was cut out and one of James I substituted. In 1576 a rather forbidding woodcut portrait of George Gascoigne was printed (by R. Smith) in that worthy's _Steele Glas_. In 1577 came a very important work, the famous _Chronicle_, begun on a vast scale by Reyner Wolfe and completed for England, Scotland, and Ireland by Raphael Holinshed, now published by John Harrison the elder. This has the appearance of being much more profusely illustrated than the _Book of Martyrs_ or any other English folio, but as the cuts of battles, riots, executions, etc., which form the staple illustrations, are freely repeated, the profusion is far less than it seems. The cuts, moreover, are much smaller than those in Foxe's _Martyrs_. As a rule they are vigorously designed and fairly well cut, and if it had come fifty years earlier the book would have been full of promise. But, as far as pictorial cuts in important books are concerned, we are nearing the end. In 1579 H. Singleton published Spenser's _Shepheardes Calender_ with a small cut of no great merit at the head of each "æglogue," and in the same year Vautrollier illustrated North's _Plutarch_ with insignificant little busts which derive importance only from the large ornamental frames, stretching across the folio page, in which they are set. Woodcuts did not cease to be used after this date. They will be found in herbals (but these were mainly foreign blocks), military works, and all books for which diagrams were needed. They continued fashionable for some time for the architectural or other forms of borders to titlepages, some of them very graceful, as, for instance, that to the early folio editions of Sidney's _Arcadia_; also for the coats of arms of the great men to whom books were dedicated. They are found also at haphazard in the sixpenny and fourpenny quartos of plays and romances, and many of the old blocks gradually drifted into the hands of the printers of ballads and chapbooks, and appear in incongruous surroundings after a century of service. But I cannot myself call to mind any important English book after 1580 for which a publisher thought it worth his while to commission a new set of imaginative pictures cut on wood, and that means that woodcut illustration as a vital force in the making of books had ceased to exist. They needed good paper and careful presswork, and all over Europe paper and presswork were rapidly deteriorating. They cost money, and book-buyers apparently did not care enough for them to make them a good investment. The rising popularity of copper engravings for book-illustration on the Continent probably influenced the judgment of English book-lovers, and although, as we shall see, copper engraving was for many years very sparingly used in England save for portraits, frontispieces, and titlepages, woodcuts went clean out of fashion for some two centuries. FOOTNOTES: [63] He had apparently returned the blocks borrowed from Du Pré for the _Falles of Princes_, as none of them is used in 1527, although one or two are copied. I have not met with all the Chaucer illustrations, and it is possible that a few of these are new. [64] Used again the same year in a treatise by Richard Bonner. CHAPTER XV ENGRAVED ILLUSTRATIONS The good bookman should have no love for "plates," and to do them justice bookmen have shown commendable fortitude in resisting their attractions, great as these often are. As a form of book-decoration the plate reached its highest development in the French _livres-à-vignettes_ of the eighteenth century, the charm of the best bookwork of Moreau, Eisen, and their fellows being incontestable. It would, indeed, have argued some lack of patriotism if French book-lovers had not yielded themselves to the fascination of a method of book-illustration which had thus reached its perfection in their own country, and they have done so. But as he reads the enthusiastic descriptions of these eighteenth century books by M. Henri Béraldi, a foreign book-lover may well feel (to borrow the phrase which Jonson and Herrick used of the over-dressed ladies of their day) that the book itself has become its "own least part." A book which requires as an appendix an album of original designs, or of proofs of the illustrations, or (worse still) which has been mounted on larger paper and guarded so that these proofs or designs can be brought into connection with the text, is on its way to that worst of all fates, the Avernus of extra illustration or Graingerism. When it has reached this, it ceases to be a book at all and becomes a scrap-album of unharmonized pictures. Lack of means may make it easy for a bookman to resist the temptation to supplement the illustrations in a book with duplicates in proof or any like extravagances, but even then few books which have plates in them fail to bring trouble. If the plates are protected with "flimsies," the owner's conscience may be perturbed with doubts as to whether these may lawfully be torn out. If there are no flimsies, the leaf opposite a plate often shows a set-off from it and is sometimes specially badly foxed. Moreover, not being an integral part of the book, the plate presents problems to publishers and binders which are too often left unsolved. It ought to be printed on paper sufficiently wide to allow of a flap or turn-over, so that the leaf can be placed in the quire and properly sewn. But the flap thus left is not pretty, and unless very thin may cause the book to gape. Thus too often the plate is only glued or pasted into its place, with the result that it easily comes loose. Hence misplacements, imperfections, and consequent woe. It is the charm of the earlier books illustrated with incised engravings that the impressions are pulled on the same paper as the rest of the book, very often on pages bearing letterpress, and almost always, even when they chance to occupy a whole page, the back of which is left blank, as part of the quire or gathering. The price, however, which had to be paid for these advantages was a heavy one, the trouble not merely of double printing, as in the case of a sheet printed in red and black, but of double printing in two different kinds, one being from a raised surface, the other from an incised. It is clear that this trouble was found very serious, as both at Rome and Florence in Italy, at Bruges in the Low Countries, at Würzburg and Eichstätt in Germany, and at Lyon in France, the experiment was tried independently and in every case abandoned after one or two books had been thus ornamented. [Illustration: XXXIV. FLORENCE, NICOLUS LAURENTII, 1477 BETTINI. MONTE SANTO DI DIO. CHRIST IN GLORY. (REDUCED)] At Rome, after the failure of his printing partnership with Pannartz, Conrad Sweynheym betook himself to engraving maps to illustrate an edition of Ptolemy's _Cosmographia_, and this was brought out after his death by Arnold Buckinck, 10 October, 1478. Thirteen months earlier Nicolaus Laurentii, of Breslau, had published at Florence the _Monte Santo di Dio_ of Antonio Bettini, with two full-page engravings and one smaller one. The first of these shows the ladder of Prayer and the Sacraments up which, by the virtues which form its successive rungs, a cassocked youth is preparing to climb to heaven, where Christ stands in a mandorla supported by angels. The second plate is given up entirely to a representation of Christ in a mandorla, both drawing and engraving being excellent, and the little angels who are lovingly upholding the frame being really delightful (see Plate XXXIV). The third picture, printed on a page with text, is smaller than these and represents the pains of hell. When a second edition of the _Monte Santo di Dio_ was needed in 1491 the copperplates were replaced by woodcuts, a fact which may remind us that not only the trouble of printing, but the small number of impressions which could be taken from copperplates, must have been a formidable objection to their use in bookwork. But at the time the first edition may well have been regarded as a success. If so, it was an unlucky one, as Nicolaus Laurentii was thereby encouraged to undertake a much more ambitious venture, an annotated _Divina Commedia_ with similar illustrations, and this, which appeared in 1481, can only be looked on as a failure. No space was left at the head of the first canto, and the engraving was printed on the lower margin, where it is often found cruelly cropped. In subsequent cantos spaces were sometimes left, sometimes not, but after the second the engravings are generally founded printed on separate slips and pasted into their places, and in no copy do they extend beyond canto xix. They used to be assigned to Botticelli, but the discovery of his real designs to the _Divina Commedia_ has shown that these of 1481 were only slightly influenced by them. In Germany the only copper engravings found in fifteenth century books are the coats of arms of the Bishops and Chapters of Würzburg and Eichstätt in the books printed for them at these places by Georg and Michel Reyser respectively. In order more easily to persuade the clergy of these dioceses to buy properly revised service-books to replace their tattered and incorrect manuscript copies, the Bishops attached certain "indulgences" to their purchase, and as a proof that the recital of these was not a mere advertising trick of the printer permitted him to print their arms at the foot of the notice. These arms, most charmingly and delicately engraved, are found in the Würzburg Missals of 1481 (this I have not seen) and 1484, and the "Agenda" of 1482 (see Plate XXXV), and no doubt also in other early service-books printed by Georg Reyser. The Eichstätt books of his kinsmen Michel are similarly adorned--for instance, the _Statuta Synodalia Eystettensia_ of 1484, though neither the design nor the engraving is so good. In how many editions by the Reysers these engraved arms appeared I cannot say, as the books are all of great rarity; but by 1495, if not earlier, they had been abandoned, for in the Würzburg _Missale Speciale_ of that year we find the delicate engraving replaced by a woodcut copy of nearly four times the size and less than a fourth of the charm. The only French book of the fifteenth century known to me as possessing copper engravings is a very beautiful one, the version of Breidenbach's _Peregrinatio ad Terram Sanctam_, by Frère Nicole le Huen, printed at Lyon by Michel Topie and Jacob Heremberck in 1488, and adorned with numerous excellent capitals. In this all the cuts in the text of the Mainz editions are fairly well copied on wood, but the large folding plans of Venice and other cities on the pilgrims' route are admirably reproduced on copper with a great increase in the delicacy of their lines. [Illustration: XXXV. WÜRZBURG, G. REYSER, 1482 WÜRZBURG AGENDA. (END OF PREFACE)] We come now to a book bearing an earlier date than any of those already mentioned, but not entitled to its full pride of place because it is doubtful to what extent the engravings connected with it can be reckoned an integral part of it. This is the French version of Boccaccio's _De casibus illustrium virorum_ ("Des cas des nobles hommes"), printed at Bruges by Colard Mansion and dated 1476. As originally printed there was no space left for any pictorial embellishments; but in at least two copies the first leaf of the prologue has been reprinted so as to leave room for a picture; in another copy, which in 1878 belonged to Lord Lothian, spaces are left also at the beginning of each of the nine books into which the work is divided, except the first and sixth, and all the spaces have been filled with copper engravings coloured by hand; in yet another copy there is a space left also at the beginning of Book VI. According to the monograph on the subject by David Laing (privately printed in 1878), the subjects of the engravings are:-- (1) Prologue, the Author presenting his work to his patron, Mainardo Cavalcanti. (2) Book I. Adam and Eve standing before the Author as he writes. (3) Book II. King Saul on horseback, and lying dead. (4) Book III. Fortune and Poverty. (5) Book IV. Marcus Manlius thrown into the Tiber. (6) Book V. The Death of Regulus. (7) Book VI. Not known. (8) Book VII. A combat of six men. (9) Book VIII. The humiliation of the Emperor Valerian by King Sapor of Persia. (10) Book IX. Brunhilde, Queen of the Franks, torn asunder by four horses. From the reproductions which Laing gives in his monograph it is evident that the engraver set himself to imitate the style of the contemporary illuminated manuscripts of the Bruges school, and that he used his graver rather to get the designs on to the paper than with any real feeling for the characteristic charm of his own art. My own inclination is to believe that we must look on these plates as a venture of Colard Mansion's rather in his old capacity as an illuminator, anxious to decorate a few special copies, than as a printer intent on embellishing a whole edition. The engravings may have been made at any time between 1476 and 1483, when they were clearly used as models by Jean Du Pré for his Paris edition, the wood-blocks for which, as we have seen, were subsequently sold or lent to Pynson. The variations in the number of spaces in different copies may quite as well be due to a mixing of quires as to successive enlargements of the plan, and the fact that more copies of the engravings have survived apart from than with the book draws attention once more to the difficulty found in printing these incised plates to accompany letterpress printed from type standing in relief. There is still one more engraving connected with an early printed book to be considered, and though the connection is not fully established, the facts that the book in question was the first from Caxton's press, and that the engraving may possibly contain his portrait, invite a full discussion of its claims. The plate (see Frontispiece to Chapter I, Plate II) represents an author on one knee presenting a book to a lady who is attended by five maids-of-honour, while as many pages may be seen standing in various page-like attitudes about the room. A canopy above a chair of state bears the initials CM and the motto _Bien en aveingne_, and it is thus clear that the lady represents Margaret Duchess of Burgundy, and that the offering of a book which it depicts must have taken place after her marriage with Charles the Bold, 3 July, 1468, and before the latter's death at Nancy, 5 January, 1477. During the greater part of this time Caxton was in the service of the Duchess; the donor of the book is represented as a layman, and a layman not of noble birth, since there is no feather in his cap; he appears also to be approaching middle-age. All these points would be correct if the donor were intended for Caxton, and as we know from his own statement that before his _Recuyell of the histories of Troy_ was printed he had presented a copy of it (in manuscript) to the Duchess, probably in or soon after 1471, until some more plausible original is proposed the identification of the donor with our first printer must remain at least probable. Unfortunately, although the unique copy of the engraving is at present in the Duke of Devonshire's copy of the _Recuyell_, it is certain that it is an insertion, not an original part of the book, and beyond a high probability that it has occupied its present position since the book was bound for the Duke of Roxburghe some time before his sale in 1812, nothing is known as to how it came there. A really amazing point is that although the connection of this particular copy with Elizabeth, queen of Edward IV, caused it to be shown at the Caxton Exhibition, until the appearance of Mr. Montagu Peartree's article in the _Burlington Magazine_ for August, 1905, no notice had ever been paid to the engraving. Analogy with the _Boccaccio_ suggests that Caxton had the plate made before he realized the difficulties of impression, and that some prints were separately struck from it and one of these pasted inside the binding of the Devonshire copy, whence it was removed to its present position when the book was rebound. It should be noted that the style of the engraving is quite unlike that of the _Boccaccio_ prints, and suggests that Caxton procured it from a Dutch rather than a Bruges engraver, possibly with the aid of Veldener, from whom, or with whose help, according to Mr. Duff's suggestion, he procured his first type. For over a quarter of a century after the engraving of the plans in the Lyon _Breidenbach_ printers seem to have held aloof altogether from copperplates. In 1514 we find four engraved plans, of only slight artistic interest, printed as plates in a topographical work on _Nola_ by Ambrogius Leo, the printer being Joannes Rubeus (Giovanni Rossi) of Venice. Three years later, in 1517, a really charming print is found (set rather askew in the Museum copy) on the titlepage of a thin quarto printed at Rome, for my knowledge of which I am indebted to my friend, Mr. A. M. Hind. The book is a _Dialogus_, composed by the Right Reverend Amadeus Berrutus, Governor of the City of Rome, on the weighty and still disputable question as to whether one should go on writing to a friend who makes no reply,[65] and the plate shows the four speakers, Amadeus himself, Austeritas, Amicitia, and Amor, standing in a field or garden outside a building. The figures, especially that of Austeritas, are charmingly drawn (see Plate XXXVI); the tone of the little picture is delightful, and it is enclosed in a leafy border, which reproduces in the subtler grace of engraved work the effect of the little black and white frames which surround the Florentine woodcuts of the fifteenth century. With the _Dialogus_ of Bishop Berrutus copper engravings as book-illustrations came to an end, as far as I know, for a period of some forty years. I make this statement thus blankly in the hope that it may provoke contradiction, and at least some sporadic instances be adduced. But I have hunted through descriptions of all the books most likely to be illustrated--Bibles, Horae, editions of Petrarch's _Trionfi_ and Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_ and books of emblems, and outside England (the necessity of the exception is almost humorous) I have lighted on nothing. [Illustration: XXXVI. ROME, GABRIEL OF BOLOGNA, 1517 BERRUTUS. DIALOGUS. (TITLE)] We may, perhaps, trace the revival of engraved illustrations to the influence of Hieronymus or Jerome Cock, an Antwerp engraver, who in May, 1551, issued a series of plates from the designs of F. Faber, entitled _Praecipua aliquot Romanae antiquitatis ruinarum monimenta_, without any letterpress save the name of the subject engraved on each plate. Cock followed this up in 1556 with twelve engravings from the designs of Martin van Veen illustrating the victories of Charles V, which are also celebrated in verses in French and Spanish. He issued also various other series of Biblical and antiquarian plates, which do not concern us, and in 1559 a set of thirty-two illustrating the funeral of Charles V. For this, aided by a subsidy, Christopher Plantin acted as publisher, and we thus get a connection established between engraving and printing. This did not, however, bear fruit at all quickly. Plantin's four emblem-books of 1562, 1564, 1565, and 1566 were illustrated not with copper engravings, but with woodcuts; so was his Bible of 1566, so were his earlier Horae. That of 1565 has unattractive woodcut borders to every page and small woodcut illustrations of no merit. In 1570 he began the use of engravings for his Horae, but in a copy in the British Museum, printed on vellum almost as thick as cardboard, he was reduced to pulling the pictures on paper and pasting them in their places. In 1571 he illustrated the _Humanae salutis monumenta_ of his friend Arias Montanus with some rather pretty copperplates, each surrounded with an effective engraved border of flowers and birds, but for a new Horae (on paper) in 1573, for which he had commissioned a set of full-page plates of some merit (printed with the text on their back), he had not troubled to procure borders. Two years later he produced a really curious edition in which the engraved illustrations (some of them from the _Humanae salutis monumenta_) are surrounded with woodcut borders, and in many cases have red underlines, so that each page must have undergone three printings.[66] Although woodcuts were considered sufficiently good for Plantin's Bible of 1566, for his great Polyglot it was indispensable to have titlepages engraved on copper, and to the first volume he prefixed no fewer than three, engraved by P. van der Heyden after designs by P. van der Borcht. All of them are emblematical, the first symbolizing the unification of the world by the Christian faith and the four languages in which the Old Testament was printed in the Polyglott, the second the zeal of Philip II for the Catholic faith, the third the authority of the Pentateuch. While some volumes had no frontispiece others contained a few illustrations, and the total number of plates was twenty-eight. Some of these were used again in Plantin's Bible of 1583, and Raphelengius, into whose possession the whole set passed in 1590, used sixteen of them three years later to illustrate the _Antiquitates Judaicae_ of Arias Montanus. For his Missals and Breviaries as for his Horae Plantin sometimes used woodcuts, sometimes copperplates. For his editions of the works of S. Augustine and S. Jerome (1577) he caused really fine portrait frontispieces to be engraved by J. Sadeler from the designs of Crispin van den Broeck. As regards his miscellaneous secular books he was by no means given to superfluous illustrations, and, as we have seen, continued to use woodcuts contemporaneously with plates. Probably his earliest secular engravings (published in 1566, but prepared some years earlier) are the anatomical diagrams in imitation of those in the Roman edition of _Valverde_ mentioned below, to which he prefixed a better frontispiece than that of his model. In 1574 he produced a fine book of portraits of physicians and philosophers, _Icones veterum aliquot ac recentium medicorum philosophorumque_, in sixty-eight plates, with letterpress by J. Sambucus. The next year he issued another illustrated book, the _De rerum usu et abusu_ of Bernardus Furmerius, sharing the expense of it with Ph. Gallus, a print-seller, for whom later on he published several books on commission. From 1578 onwards he printed for Ortelius, the great cosmographer. In 1582 he published the _Pegasides_ of Y. B. Houwaert, in 1584 Waghenaer's _Spieghel der Zeevaerdt_, and other illustrated books followed. But none of them, little indeed that Plantin ever produced, now excite much desire on the part of collectors. Of what took place in other countries and cities in the absence of even tentative lists of the books printed after 1535 anywhere except in England it is difficult to say. In 1560 an anatomical book translated from the Spanish of Juan de Valverde was published at Rome with engraved diagrams of some artistic merit and a rather poorly executed frontispiece. In 1566 "in Venetia appresso Rampazetto," a very fine book of impresas, or emblematical personal badges, made its appearance under the title _Le Imprese Illustre con espositioni et discorsi del S^or Ieronimo Ruscelli_, dedicated "al serenissimo et sempre felicissimo re catolico Filippo d'Austria." This has over a hundred engraved _Imprese_ of three sizes, double-page for the Emperor (signed G. P. F.), full-pagers for kings and other princely personages, half-pagers for ordinary folk (if any owner of an _impresa_ may be thus designated), and all these are printed with letterpress beneath, or on the back of them, and very well printed too. In another book of _Imprese_, published in this same year 1566, the text, consisting of sonnets by Lodovico Dolce, as well as the pictures, is engraved, or rather etched. This is the _Imprese di diuersi principi, duchi, signori, etc., di Batt^a Pittoni Pittore Vicentino_. It exists in a bewildering variety of states, partly due to reprinting, partly apparently to the desire to dedicate it to several different people, one of the British Museum copies being dedicated by Pittoni to the Earl of Arundel and having a printed dedicatory letter and plate of his device preceding that of the Emperor himself. Another noteworthy Venetian book, with engraved illustrations, which I have come across is an _Orlando Furioso_ of 1584, "appresso Francesco de Franceschi Senese e compagni," its engraved titlepage bearing the information that it has been "nuouamente adornato di figure di rame da Girolamo Porro," a little-known Milanese engraver, who had reissued Pittoni's _Imprese_ in 1578. The illustrations are far too crowded with incident to be successful, and their unity is often sacrificed to the old medieval practice of making a single design illustrate several different moments of the narrative. Their execution is also very unequal. Nevertheless, they are of interest to English collectors since, as we shall see, they served as models for the plates in Sir John Harington's version of the _Orlando_ in 1591. All of them are full-pagers, with text on the back, and the printer was also compliant enough to print at the head of each canto an engraved cartouche within which is inserted a type-printed "Argomento." Of sixteenth century engraved book-illustrations in France I have no personal knowledge. In Germany, as might be expected, they flourished chiefly at Frankfort, which in the last third of the century had, as we have seen, become a great centre for book-illustration. Jost Amman, who was largely responsible for its development in this respect, illustrated a few books with copper engravings, although he mainly favoured wood. But it is the work of the De Brys, Theodor de Bry and his two sons Johann Israel and Johann Theodor, which is of conspicuous importance for our present purpose, for it was they who originated and mainly carried out the greatest illustrated work of the sixteenth century, that known to collectors as the _Grands et petits voyages_. This not very happy name has nothing to do with the length of the voyages described, but is derived from the fact that the original series which is concerned with America and the West Indies is some two inches taller (fourteen as compared with twelve) than a subsequent series dealing with the East Indies. For the idea of such a collection of voyages Theodor de Bry was indebted to Richard Hakluyt, whose famous book _The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation_, published in 1589, was in preparation when De Bry was in England, where he worked in 1587-8. The first volume, moreover, was illustrated with engravings by De Bry after some of the extraordinarily interesting water-colour drawings made by an Englishman, John White, in Virginia, and now preserved in the British Museum.[67] This first part was published in Latin at Frankfort by J. Wechel in 1590 and a second edition followed the same year. A second part describing Florida followed in 1591, a third describing Brazil in 1592. By 1602 nine parts had been issued, all at Frankfort, though by different publishers, the name of J. Feyrabend being placed on the fourth, and that of M. Becker on the ninth. After an interval of seventeen years two more parts of the Latin edition (x. and xi.) were printed at Oppenheim "typis H. Galleri," and then an appendix to part xi. at Frankfort in 1620, where also were issued part xii. in 1624 and part xiii., edited by M. Merian, in 1634, this last being accompanied by an "Elenchus," or index-volume, to the whole series. Parallel with this Latin series ran a German one with about the same dates. One or two parts were also issued in French and at least one in English. There is also an appendix of "other voyages" usually added, mostly French, and issued at Amsterdam, and of nearly every volume of the whole series there were several issues and editions, all of them with differences in the plates. The "Petits voyages" followed a similar course, beginning in 1598 and ending in 1628. Although the engravings, many of which are placed unpretentiously amid the text, vary greatly alike in the interest of their subjects, the value of the original designs, and the skill of the engraving, taken as a whole they have given to these _Grands et petits voyages_ a unique position among books of travel, and a small literature has grown up round them to certify the collector as to the best state of each plate and what constitutes a complete set. While the illustrations to the Voyages formed their chief occupation, the De Brys found time to engrave many smaller plates for less important books. Thus in 1593 Theodor de Bry issued an emblem book _Emblemata nobilitati et vulgo scitu digna_ (text in Latin and German), in which each emblem is enclosed in an engraved border, mostly quite meaningless and bad as regards composition, but of a brilliancy in the "goldsmiths' style" which to lovers of bookplates will suggest the best work of Sherborn or French. The plates marked B and D, illustrating the lines "Musica mortales divosque oblectat et ornat" and "Cum Cerere et Baccho Veneri solemnia fiunt," are especially fine and the "emblems" themselves more pleasing than usual. In 1595 there was printed, again with Latin and German text, a _Noua Alphabeti effictio, historiis ad singulas literas correspondentibus_. The _motif_ is throughout scriptural. Thus for A Adam and Eve sit on the crossbar on each side of the letter, the serpent rests on its peak amid the foliage of the Tree of Knowledge. In B Abel, in C Cain is perched on a convenient part of the letter, and so on, while from one letter after another, fish, birds, fruit, flowers, and anything else which came into the designer's head hang dangling on cords from every possible point. Nothing could be more meaningless or lower in the scale of design, yet the brilliancy of the execution carries it off. The year after this had appeared Theodor de Bry engraved a series of emblems conceived by Denis Le Bey de Batilly and drawn by J. J. Boissard. The designs themselves are poor enough, but the book has a pretty architectural titlepage, and this is followed by a portrait of Le Bey set in an ornamental border of bees, flowers, horses, and other incongruities, portrait and border alike engraved with the most brilliant delicacy (see Plate XXXVII). In the following year, again, 1597, the two younger De Brys illustrated with line engravings the _Acta Mechmeti Saracenorum principis_, and (at the end of these) the _Vaticinia Severi et Leonis_ as to the fate of the Turks, also the _David_ of Arias Montanus. The plates are fairly interesting, but in technical execution fall far below those of their father. [Illustration: XXXVII. FRANKFORT, DE BRY, 1596 LE BEY. EMBLEMATA. PORTRAIT OF AUTHOR BY T. DE BRY, AFTER J. J. BOISSARD] Turning now to England, we find engraving in use surprisingly early in some figures of unborn babies in _The Birth of Mankind_, translated from the Latin of Roesslin by Richard Jonas and printed in 1540 by Thomas Raynold, a physician, who five years later issued a new edition revised by himself, again with engravings. In 1545 there appeared a much more important medical work, a _Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio_ professedly by Thomas Geminus, a Flemish surgeon and engraver attached to the English Court. In reality this was a rather shameless adaptation of the _De Fabrica Humani Corporis_ of Vesalius (Basel, 1543), with engravings copied by Geminus from the woodcuts of his original. For us its chief interest lies in an elaborate engraved titlepage showing the royal arms surrounded by a wealth of architectural and strapwork ornament in the style, if not actually the work, of Peter Cock of Alost, as has been shown by Sir Sidney Colvin in the invaluable introduction to his _Early Engravings and Engravers in England_ (1905). In 1553 an English translation of the anatomy was published by Nicholas Hyll, and in a second edition of this, printed in 1559, a rather heavy and stiff portrait of Elizabeth replaces the royal arms, which were burnished out to make room for it. Geminus subsequently produced a much larger portrait of the Queen, set in an architectural frame studded with emblematical figures, and a royal proclamation forbidding unauthorized "Paynters, Printers, and Gravers" to meddle with so great a subject seems to have been provoked by his handiwork. In 1563 John Shute for his work on _The First and Chief Groundes of Architecture_ produced four amateurish engravings to illustrate four of the five "orders," a woodcut being considered good enough for the fifth. In 1568 we find the first edition of the "Bishops'" Bible adorned with an engraved titlepage in the centre of which, in an oval, is a not unpleasing portrait of the Queen, holding sceptre and orb, set in a mass of strapwork, amid which are seated Charity and Faith with the royal arms between them, while below the portrait a lion and dragon support a cartouche enclosing a text. Besides this titlepage, attributed by Sir Sidney Colvin to Franciscus Hogenberg, before the book of Joshua there is an engraved portrait of Leicester, while the "Blessed is the man" of the first Psalm is heralded by another engraved portrait which shows Lord Burghley holding in front of him a great B. In 1573 Remigius Hogenberg, brother of Franciscus, engraved after a picture by John Lyne a stiff but rather impressive portrait of Archbishop Parker, prefixed to some copies of his _De Antiquitate Ecclesiae Britanniae_. The year before this the second edition of the "Bishops'" Bible had been enriched with a decorative engraved map of the Holy Land, and in 1574 Archbishop Parker employed John Lyne to engrave for the _De Antiquitate Academiae Cantabrigiensis_ of Dr. Caius (printed by Day) a plate of the arms of the colleges, a plan of the University schools, and a large map of the town. In 1579 there appeared a work which had occupied the intermediate five years, a series of maps of England from the drawings of Christopher Saxton, engraved by Augustine Ryther (like Saxton a native of Leeds), Remigius Hogenberg and others, and with a fine frontispiece showing the Queen seated in state beneath an architectural canopy, which Sir Sidney Colvin thinks may perhaps be the work of Ryther. Ryther was subsequently concerned with other maps, including the series illustrating the defeat of the Armada (_Expeditionis Hispanorum in Angliam vera descriptio_), and other cartographers got to work who hardly concern us here. Two long engraved rolls, the first by Marcus Gheraerts, representing a procession of the Knights of the Garter (1576), the second by Theodor de Bry, from the designs of Thomas Lant, the funeral of Sir Philip Sidney (1587), although most safely preserved when bound in book form, can hardly be reckoned as books. Yet over the latter I must stop to confess a dreadful sin of my youth, when I jumped to the conclusion that the portrait on the first page stood for Sidney himself, whereas it really represents the too self-advertising Lant. That it appears in the sky, above the Black Pinnace which bore home Sidney's body, and itself bears the suggestive motto "God createth, Man imitateth, Virtue flourisheth, Death finisheth," may palliate but cannot excuse the crime which enriched an edition of _Astrophel and Stella_ with a portrait, not of Sidney, but of the illustrator of his funeral. Not until 1590, when Hugh Broughton's _Concent of Scripture_ was accompanied by some apocalyptic plates engraved by Jodocus Hondius (subsequently copied by W. Rogers), do we come across what can really be called engraved illustrations in an English book, and these, which are of little interest, were speedily eclipsed the next year by Sir John Harington's _Orlando Furioso in English Heroical verse_ with its engraved titlepage and forty-six plates. Of these the translator writes in his introduction: As for the pictures, they are all cut in brasse, and most of them by the best workemen in that kinde, that haue bene in this land this manie yeares: yet I will not praise them too much, because I gaue direction for their making, and in regard thereof I may be thought partiall, but this I may truely say, that (for mine owne part) I have not seene anie made in England better, nor (in deede) anie of this kinde in any booke, except it were in a treatise, set foorth by that profound man, maister Broughton, the last yeare, upon the Reuelation, in which there are some 3. or 4. pretie figures (in octauo) cut in brasse verie workemanly. As for other books that I haue seene in this realme, either in Latin or English, with pictures, as Liuy, Gesner, Alciats emblemes, a booke _de spectris_ in Latin, & (in our tong) the Chronicles, the booke of Martyrs, the book of hauking and hunting, and M. Whitney's excellent Emblems, yet all their figures are cut on wood, & none in metall, and in that respect inferior to these, at least (by the old proverbe) the more cost, the more worship. The passage is of considerable interest, but hardly suggests, what is yet the fact, that, save for the addition on the titlepage of an oval portrait of the translator and a representation of his dog, all the plates in the book are closely copied from the engravings by Girolamo Porro in the Venice edition of 1584. The English titlepage was signed by Thomas Cockson. We are left to conjecture to whom Harington was indebted for the rest of the plates. Although, as we shall see, from this time forward a great number of English books contain engraved work, those which can be said to be illustrated during the next sixty years are few enough, a study of Mr. A. M. Hind's very useful _List of the Works of Native and Foreign Line-Engravers in England from Henry VIII to the Commonwealth_,[68] tempting me to place the number at about a score. The year after the _Orlando Furioso_ came another curious treatise by Hugh Broughton, not printed with type, but "graven in brasse by J. H.," whom Sir Sidney Colvin identifies with Jodocus Hondius, a Fleming who lived in England from about 1580 to 1594, and may have done the plates in the _Concent of Scripture_ and some at least of those in the _Orlando_. Six years later (1598) we find Lomazzo's _Tracte containing the artes of curious Paintinge_ with an emblematical titlepage and thirteen plates by Richard Haydock, the translator, four of the plates being adapted from Dürer's book on Proportion, and all of them showing very slight skill in engraving. In 1602 came Sir William Segar's _Honour, Military and Civil_, with eight plates showing various distinguished persons, English and foreign, wearing the robes and insignia of the Garter, the Golden Fleece, S. Michael, etc. Three of the plates are signed by William Rogers, the most distinguished of the English Elizabethan engravers, and the others are probably his also. Most of them are very dignified and effective in the brilliantly printed "first states" in which they are sometimes found, but ordinary copies with only the "second states" are as a rule disappointing. The beginning of the reign of James I was directly responsible for one ambitious engraved publication, Stephen Harrison's _The Archs of Triumph erected in honor of the High and mighty prince James, the first of that name king of England and the sixt of Scotland, at his Maiesties Entrance and passage through his Honorable City & Chamber of London vpon the 15th day of march 1603 [1604] Invented and published by Stephen Harrison Joyner and Architect and graven by William Kip_. Here an engraved titlepage, with dangling ornaments in the style of the De Bry alphabet, is followed by seven plates of the seven arches, the most notable of which (a pity it was not preserved) was crowned with a most interesting model of Jacobean London, to which the engraver has done admirable justice. In 1608 came Robert Glover's _Nobilitas politica et civilis_, re-edited two years later by T. Milles as the _Catalogue of Honour_, with engraved illustrations (in the text) of the robes of the various degrees of nobility, attributed by Sir Sidney Colvin to Renold Elstracke, the son of a Flemish refugee, and also two plates representing the King in a chair of state and in Parliament. After this we come to two works illustrated by an English engraver of some note, William Hole, Tom Coryat's _Crudities_ (1611), with a titlepage recalling various incidents of his travels (including his being sick at sea) and five plates (or in some copies, six), and Drayton's _Polyolbion_ (1612, reissued in 1613 with the portrait-plate in a different state), with a poor emblematic title, a portrait of Prince Henry wielding a lance, and eighteen decorative maps of England. In 1615 we come to a really well-illustrated book, the _Relation of a Journey_, by George Sandys, whose narrative of travel in Turkey, Egypt, and the Holy Land, and parts of Italy, is accompanied with little delicately engraved landscapes and bits of architecture, etc., by Francis Delaram. The work of the decade is brought to a close with two print-selling ventures, the _Basili[omega]logia_ of 1618 and _Her[omega]ologia_ of 1620. The former of these works describes itself as being "the true and lively effigies of all our English Kings from the Conquest untill this present: with their severall Coats of Armes, Impreses and Devises. And a briefe Chronologie of their lives and deaths. Elegantly graven in copper. Printed for H. Holland and are to be sold by Comp.[ton] Holland over against the Exchange." The full set of plates numbers thirty-two, including eight additions to the scheme of the book, representing the Black Prince, John of Gaunt, Anne Boleyn, a second version of Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots, Anne of Denmark, Prince Henry, and Prince Charles. Fourteen of the plates, mostly the earlier ones, are signed by Elstracke, and Simon Passe and Francis Delaram each contributed four. It need hardly be said that they are of very varying degrees of authenticity as well as merit. Several of the later plates are found in more than one state. With the second of the two ventures Henry Holland was also concerned, but the expenses of the book were shared by Crispin Passe and an Arnhem bookseller named Jansen. Its title reads: "Her[omega]ologia Anglica: hoc est clarissimorum et doctissimorum aliquot Anglorum qui floruerunt ab anno Cristi MD. usque ad presentem annum MDCXX." It is in two volumes, the first containing thirty-seven plates, the second thirty. Two of these represent respectively Queen Elizabeth's tomb and the hearse of Henry Prince of Wales. All the rest are portraits of the notable personages of the reigns of Henry VIII and his successors, some of them based on drawings by Holbein, the majority on earlier prints, and all engraved by William Passe (younger brother of Simon) and his sister Magdalena. [Illustration: XXXVIII. LONDON. J. MARRIOT, 1638 QUARLES. HIEROGLYPHIKES OF THE LIFE OF MAN. PAGE 22 ENGRAVED BY W. MARSHALL] The next decade was far from productive of works illustrated with more than an engraved titlepage and a portrait, but in 1630 appeared Captain John Smith's _True Travels_ with several illustrations, one of them by Martin Droeshout; in 1634-5 came Wither's _Emblems_, with plates by William Marshall, and in 1635 Thomas Heywood's _Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels_, with an engraved title by Thomas Cecill and plates representing the several orders, Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones being entrusted to John Payne, Dominations to Marshall, Powers and Principalities to Glover, Virtues to Droeshout, etc. Some of the plates record the name of the patron who paid for them, another suggestion that it was money which stood most in the way of book-illustrating. In 1638 Marshall illustrated Quarles's _Hieroglyphikes of the Life of Man_, with engravings, most of which seem chiefly made up of a candle, but in one the candle is being extinguished by Death egged on by Time, and to this not very promising subject (Plate XXXVIII) Marshall, the most unequal engraver of his day, has brought some of his too rare touches of delicacy and charm. In 1640 Wenceslaus Hollar, whom Thomas Earl of Arundel had discovered at Cologne (he was born at Prague) and brought to England, published his charming costume book _Ornatus Muliebris Anglicanus_, and his larger work, _Theatrum Mulierum_, must have been almost ready when Charles I hoisted his standard at Nottingham, since it was published in 1643. After this the Civil War interfered for some time with the book trade. While fully illustrated books were thus far from numerous in the half century which followed the _Orlando Furioso_ of 1591, the output of engraved titlepages and portraits to be prefixed to books was sufficient to find work for most of the minor engravers. The earlier titlepages were mostly architectural and symbolical, their purport being sometimes explained in verses printed opposite to them, headed "The Mind of the Front." William Rogers engraved a titlepage to Gerard's _Herbal_ (1597), which is never found properly printed, and others to Linschoten's _Discourse of Voyages into y^e East and West Indies_ (1598), Camden's _Britannia_ (1600--a poor piece of work), and Moffett's _Theatrum Insectorum_, this last having only survived in a copy pasted at the head of the author's manuscript at the British Museum. William Hole did an enlarged title for Camden's _Britannia_ (1607), titles for the different sections of Chapman's _Homer_, a portrait of John Florio for the Italian-English dictionary which he was pleased to call _Queen Anna's New World of Words_, a charming titlepage to a collection of virginal music known as _Parthenia_ (1611-12), another to Browne's _Britannia's Pastorals_, and much less happy ones to Drayton's _Polyolbion_ (1612), and the _Works_ of Ben Jonson (1616). The best-known titlepages engraved by Renold Elstracke are those to Raleigh's _History of the World_ (1614) and the _Workes of the Most High and Mightie Prince James_ (1616), the latter a good piece of work which when faced, as it should be, by the portrait of the king by Simon van de Passe, makes the most decorative opening to any English book of this period. Passe himself was responsible for the very imaginative engraved title to Bacon's _Novum Organum_ (1620), a sea on which ships are sailing and rising out of it two pillars with the inscription: "Multi pertransibunt et augebitur scientia" (Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased). His son William, besides his work on the _Her[omega]ologia_, already mentioned, engraved a complicated title for Chapman's version of _The Batrachomyomachia_ or Battle of the Frogs and Mice, humorously called _The Crowne of all Homer's Worckes_. After 1620 the old architectural and symbolical titlepages began to be replaced by titles in compartments, in which a central cartouche is surrounded by little squares, each representing some incident of the book. Portraits of the author remained much in request, and nearly a hundred of these were done by William Marshall, who was employed also on about as many engraved titlepages. As has been noted, his work was strangely uneven, and he fully deserved the scorn poured on him by Milton for the wretched caricature of the poet prefixed to the _Poems_ of 1645. Yet Marshall could at times do a good plate, as, for instance, that in Quarles's _Hieroglyphikes_ already mentioned, a portrait of Bacon prefixed to the 1640 Oxford edition of his _Advancement of Learning_ and the charming frontispiece to Brathwait's _Arcadian Princess_. Marshall at his worst fell only a little below the work of Thomas Cross; at his best he rivalled or excelled the good work of Thomas Cecill and George Glover. After Cromwell's strong hand had given England some kind of settled government the book market revived, and some ambitiously illustrated books were soon being published. The too versatile John Ogilby, dancing-master, poet, and publisher, appeared early in the field, his version of the Fables of Aesop, "adorned with sculpture," being printed by T. Warren for A. Crook in 1651. The next year came Benlowe's _Theophila, or Love's Sacrifice_, a mystical poem, some copies of which have as many as thirty-six plates by various hands, with much more etching than engraving in them. In 1654 Ogilby produced his translation of Virgil, a great folio with plates dedicated to noble patrons by Pierre Lambart. Ogilby's other important ventures were the large _Odyssey_ of 1665, and the Aesop's _Fables_ of the same year, with plates by Hollar, D. Stoop, and F. Barlow, and two portraits of the translator engraved respectively by Pierre Lambert and W. Faithorne. Faithorne embellished other books of this period, e.g. the Poems of the "Matchless Orinda" (1667), with portraits, and publishers who could not afford to pay Faithorne employed R. White. The presence of a portrait by White in a copy of the first edition of Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_, to which it was very far indeed from certain that it really belonged,[69] has once made the book sell for over £1400, but save for the sake of completeness his handiwork is not greatly prized by collectors, nor is there any English illustrated book of this period after the Restoration which is much sought after for the sake of its plates, although those of Ogilby's _Virgil_ were sufficiently well thought of to be used again for Dryden's version in 1697. Meanwhile, books with illustrations _en taille douce_ were being issued in some numbers both at Paris and at Amsterdam. In the former city François Chauveau (1613-76), in the latter Jan and Casper Luyken are credited by Mr. Hind (_A Short History of Engraving and Etching_, 1908) with having produced "hosts of small and undistinguished plates," and these damning epithets explain how it is that even patriotic French collectors like Eugène Paillet and Henri Béraldi thought it wise to leave the illustrated books of the seventeenth century severely alone. We meet the first advance guard of the brilliant French eighteenth century school of book-illustration in 1718, when a pretty little edition of _Les Amours de Daphnis et Chloé_ (as translated by Bishop Amyot from the Greek of Longus) made its appearance with twenty-eight plates by Benoît Audran, after the designs of no less a person than the Regent of France, and duly labelled and dated "Philippus in. et pinx. 1714." The plates vary very much in charm, but that with the underline _Chloé sauve Daphnis par le son de sa flûte_ certainly possesses it, and one of the double-plates in the book, _Daphnis prend ses oyseaux pendant l'Hyver pour voir Chloé_, is really pretty. We find no other book to vie with this until we come to a much larger and more pretentious one, the works of Molière in six volumes, royal quarto, published in 1734. This was illustrated with thirty-three plates, in the mixture of etching and engraving characteristic of the French school of the day, by Laurent Cars, after pencil drawings by François Boucher, and by nearly two hundred vignettes and tailpieces (not all different) after Boucher and others by Cars and François Joullain. Another edition of this in four volumes with Boucher's designs reproduced on a smaller scale was published in 1741 and reprinted three times within the decade. After the Molière, books and editions which collectors take count of come much more quickly. There was an edition of Montesquieu's _Le Temple de Gnide_ in 1742 (imprint: Londres), a _Virgil_ in 1743 with plates by Cochin, engraved by Cochin père, the _Contes_ of La Fontaine (Amsterdam, 1743-5) also illustrated by Cochin, Guer's _Moeurs et usages des Turcs_, with plates after Boucher (1746), an edition of the works of Boileau in five volumes, with vignettes by Eisen and tailpieces by Cochin (1743-5), and in 1753 a _Manon Lescaut_ (imprint: Amsterdam) with some plates by J. J. Pasquier, which are stiff, and others by H. Gravelot, which are feeble. In the four-volume edition of the _Fables_ of La Fontaine (1755-9) with illustrations after J. B. Oudry, we come to a very ambitious piece of work, handsomely carried out, which a book-lover may yet find it hard to admire. Oudry's designs are always adequate, and have more virility in them than is often found in the work of this school, and they are competently interpreted by a number of etchers and engravers, some of whom, it may be noted, worked together in pairs on the same plate, so that we find such signatures as "C. Cochin aqua forti, R. Gaillard cælo sculpsit," and "Gravé à l'eau forte par C. Cochin, terminé au burin par P. Chenu"--a very explicit statement of the method of work. But adequate as the plates may seem, if they are judged not as book-illustrations but as engravings, no one could rate them high, and as a book what is to be said of an edition of La Fontaine's _Fables_, which fills four volumes, each measuring nearly nineteen inches by thirteen? The bookman can only regard such a work as a portfolio of plates with accompanying text, and if the plates as plates are only second rate, enthusiasm has nothing to build on. We return to book-form in 1757, when Boccaccio's _Decamerone_ was published in Italian (imprint: Londra) in five octavo volumes, with charming vignettes and illustrations mostly by Gravelot, although a few are by Boucher and Eisen. Gravelot, who was more industrious than successful as an illustrator, is seen here to advantage, and deserves some credit for having made his designs not less but more reticent than the stories he had to illustrate. This praise can certainly not be given to the famous 1762 edition of the _Contes_ of La Fontaine, the cost of which was borne by the Fermiers-Généraux (imprint: Amsterdam). The _fleurons_ by Choffard are throughout delightful and the plates are brilliantly engraved, but the lubricity of Eisen's designs is wearisome in the first volume and disgusting in the second, and possessors of the book are not to be envied. It is to be regretted that the next book we have to notice, the _Contes Moraux_ of Marmontel (3 vols., 1765), has very little charm to support its morality, the plates after Gravelot being poor, while the head- and tailpieces, or rather the substitutes for them, are wretched. A much better book than either of these last is the edition in French and Latin of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ in four quarto volumes (1767-71); with plates after Boucher, Eisen, Gravelot, and Moreau, and headpieces by Choffard at the beginning of each book. The imprint, "A Paris, chez Leclerc, Quai des Augustins, avec approbation et privilège du Roi," prepares us to find that the designers have kept their licence within bounds, and many of the plates have a combined humour and charm which are very attractive. If I had to choose a single plate to show Gravelot at his best, I doubt if prolonged search would find any success more complete than that of the illustration to Book I, xi., _Deucalion et Pyrrha repeuplant la Terre, suivant l'Oracle de Themis_ (see the frontispiece to this volume, Plate I), and though Eisen was a much better artist than Gravelot, his _Apollon gardant les troupeaux d'Admet, dans les campagnes de Messene_ (II, x.) is certainly one of his prettiest pieces. [Illustration: XXXIX. PARIS, LAMBERT, 1770. DORAT. LES BAISERS. PAGE WITH ENGRAVED HEADPIECE AFTER EISEN] During the next few years illustrated books became the fashion, so that in 1772 Cazotte wrote _Le diable amoureux, nouvelle d'Espagne_, with the false imprint Naples (Paris, Lejay) and six unsigned plates, said to be by Moreau after Marillier, on purpose to ridicule the craze for putting illustrations into every book. In 1768 the indefatigable Gravelot had illustrated an edition of the works of Voltaire, published at Geneva, with forty-four designs. In 1769 _Les Saisons_, a poem by Saint Lambert, was published at Amsterdam, with designs by Gravelot and Le Prince and _fleurons_ by Choffard. In the same year there was published at Paris Meunier de Queslon's _Les Graces_, with an engraved title by Moreau, a frontispiece after Boucher, and five plates after Moreau. In 1770 came Voltaire's _Henriade_ with ten plates and ten vignettes after Eisen, and more highly esteemed even than this, Dorat's _Les Baisers_ (La Haye et Paris), with a frontispiece and plate and forty-four head- and tailpieces, all (save two) after Eisen, not easily surpassed in their own luxurious style (see Plate XXXIX). In 1771 Gravelot, more indefatigable than ever, supplied designs for twenty plates and numerous head- and tailpieces for an edition of Tasso's _Gerusalemme Liberata_, and was honoured, as Eisen had been in the Fermiers-Généraux edition of La Fontaine's _Contes_, by his portrait being prefixed to the second volume. In 1772 a new edition of Montesquieu's _Le Temple de Gnide_, in which the text was engraved throughout, was illustrated with designs by Eisen, brilliantly interpreted by Le Mire, and Imbert's _Le Jugement de Paris_ was illustrated by Moreau, With, _fleurons_ by Choffard. In 1773 _Le Temple de Gnide_ was versified by Colardeau, and illustrated by Monnet, and selections from Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, and Moschus by Eisen, while Moreau and others illustrated the _Chansons_ of Laborde in four volumes and the works of Molière in six. After this the pace slackened, and we need no longer cling to the methods of the annalist. Moreau illustrated Saint Lambert's _Les Saisons_ and Fromageot's _Annales du règne de Marie Therèse_ (both in 1775), Marmontel's _Les Incas_ (1777), the seventy-volume Voltaire (1784-9), _Paul et Virginie_ (1789), and many other works, living on to illustrate Goethe's _Werther_ in 1809; other books were adorned by Marillier, Cochin, Duplessis, Bertaux, Desrais, Saint Quentin, Fragonard, Gérard, and Le Barbier, and the fashion survived the Revolution and lingered on till about 1820. We must go back now to England, where at the end of the seventeenth century the requirements of book-illustration were neglected, partly because of the growing taste for a neat simplicity in books, partly because the chief English engravers all devoted themselves to mezzotint. A few foreigners came over to supply their place, and Michael Burghers, of Amsterdam, illustrated the fourth edition of _Paradise Lost_, a stately folio, in 1688, with plates which enjoyed a long life and were also imitated for smaller editions. Burghers also illustrated the Oxford almanacs, and supplied frontispieces to the Bibles and other large books issued by the University Press up to about 1720. Another Dutchman who came to England not much later (in about 1690) was Michael Van der Gucht, who worked for the booksellers, as his children did after him. How low book-illustration had fallen in England at the beginning of the eighteenth century may be seen by a glance at the wretched plates which disfigure Rowe's Shakespeare in 1709, the first edition on which an editor and an illustrator were allowed to work their wills. The year after this Louis Du Guernier came to England, and was soon engaged in the not too patriotic task of helping Claude Du Bosc to illustrate the victories of Marlborough. In 1714 he and Du Bosc were less painfully, though not very successfully, employed in making plates for Pope's _Rape of the Lock_. Du Bosc subsequently worked on the _Religious Ceremonies of all Nations_ (1733), an English edition of a book of Bernard Picart's, and on plates for Rapin's _History of England_ (1743), but he was far from being a great engraver. It is a satisfaction that the plates to the first edition of _Robinson Crusoe_ (1719) were engraved by two Englishmen, and not very badly. Their names are given as "Clark and Pine," the Clark being presumably John Clark (1688-1736), who engraved some writing-books, and the Pine, John Pine (1690-1756), who imitated some designs by Bernard Picart to the book of Jonah in 1720, and may have been a pupil of his at Amsterdam. It should, perhaps, have been mentioned that two years before _Crusoe_ an English engraver, John Sturt (1658-1730), produced a Book of Common Prayer, of which the text as well as the pictures was engraved. This is rather a curiosity than a work of art, the frontispiece being a portrait of George I made up of the Creed, Lord's Prayer, Ten Commandments, Prayer for the Royal Family, and Psalm XXI. written in minute characters, instead of lines. Sturt produced another engraved book, _The Orthodox Communicant_, in 1721. In 1723 William Hogarth began what might have proved a notable career as a book-illustrator had not he soon found more profitable work. He illustrated the Travels of Aubry de la Mottraye in 1723, Briscoe's _Apuleius_ (1724), Cotterel's translation of _Cassandra_ (1725), Blackwell's _Compendium of Military Discipline_ (1726), and (also in 1726) Butler's _Hudibras_, his plates to which, though grotesque enough, show plenty of character. For some years after this he worked on frontispieces, e.g. to Leveridge's _Songs_ (1727), Cooke's _Hesiod_ (1728), J. Miller's comedy, _The Humours of Oxford_ (1729), Theobald's _Perseus and Andromeda_ (1730), and in 1731 to a Molière, Fielding's _Tragedy of Tragedies_, and Mitchell's _Highland Fair_. But the success of his set of prints on "The Harlot's Progress" diverted him from bookwork, although many years after he contributed frontispieces to Vols. II and IV of _Tristram Shandy_, and in 1761 a head-and tailpiece (engraved by Grignion) to a Catalogue of the Society of Arts. In 1733 Hubert Gravelot was invited from France by Du Bosc to help in illustrating Picart's _Religious Ceremonies_. He illustrated Gay's _Fables_ in 1738, Richardson's _Pamela_ in 1742, Theobald's _Shakespeare_ in 1740, and, mainly after Hayman, Hanmer's in 1744-6. Neither of the sets of Shakespeare plates deserves any higher praise than that of being neat and pretty, but at least they were a whole plane above those in Rowe's edition. The year after Gravelot came to England, in 1733, Pine produced the first volume of his _Horace_, engraved throughout, and with head- and tailpieces in admirable taste. The second volume followed in 1737, and in 1753 the first of an illustrated _Virgil_ which Pine did not live to complete. Besides his work on Hanmer's _Shakespeare_, Francis Hayman designed illustrations to Moore's _Fables of the Female Sex_ (1744), which were well engraved, some of them by Charles Grignion, a pupil of Gravelot's, born in England (1717), but of foreign parentage. Hayman also illustrated the _Spectator_ (1747), Newton's _Milton_ (1749-52), and later on, with the aid of Grignion, Smollett's _Don Quixote_ (1755), and Baskerville's edition of Congreve's _Poems_ (1761). The plates to the earlier edition of _Don Quixote_, that of 1738, had been chiefly engraved by Gerard van der Gucht after Vanderbank, but two are by Hogarth. [Illustration: XL. LONDON, T. HOPE, 1760 WALTON, COMPLEAT ANGLER W. W. RYLANDS AFTER S. WALE] Samuel Wale (died 1786), a pupil of Hayman, was also an illustrator, and in 1760 supplied Sir John Hawkins with fourteen drawings for his edition of Walton's _Angler_. These were engraved by the luckless W. W. Rylands, who was hanged for forgery in 1783, and the Walton thus produced is one of the prettiest and least affected of the illustrated books of its day (see Plate XL). Wale also drew designs for Wilkie's _Fables_ (1768) and Goldsmith's _Traveller_ (1774). He also worked for the magazines which about the middle of the century made rather a feature of engravings, often as headpieces to music. A few of the isolated books may be named, thus Paltock's _Peter Wilkins_ (1750) was illustrated very well by Louis Peter Boitard, who had previously contributed numerous plates to Spence's _Polymetis_, and in 1751 supplied a frontispiece to each of the six books of the _Scribleriad_ by R. O. Cambridge. Another book which, like _Peter Wilkins_, was concerned with flight, Lunardi's _Account of the first aerial voyage in England_ (1784), has a portrait of the author by Bartolozzi and two plates. For Baskerville's edition of the _Orlando Furioso_ (Birmingham, 1773) recourse was had to plates by De Launay, after Moreau and Eisen. FOOTNOTES: [65] "In quo precipue tractat: An amico sepe ad scribendum prouocato ut scribat, non respondenti sit amplius scribendum." [66] It was probably from his Horae plates that Plantin illustrated the _rerum Sacrarum Liber_ of Laur. Gambara in 1577. They are printed with the text and are of average merit. [67] They were bought to accompany the fine set of De Bry collected by Mr. Grenville, but have since been transferred to the Department of Prints and Drawings. [68] Contributed to the work by Sir Sidney Colvin, _Early Engravers and Engraving in England_, already quoted. [69] This was an early proof of the portrait which is found in a slightly different state in copies of the third edition, and seemed to be an insertion in the first edition rather than an integral part of it. CHAPTER XVI MODERN FINE PRINTING After the Restoration, printing and the book trade generally in England became definitely modern in their character, and the printer practically disappears from view, his work, with here and there an exception, as in the case of Robert Foulis or John Baskerville, being altogether hidden behind that of the publisher, so that it is of Herringman and Bernard Lintott and Dodsley that we hear, not of Newcomb and Roycroft. Notwithstanding this decline in the printer's importance, there was a steady improvement in English printing. As an _art_ it had ceased at this time to exist. If a publisher wished to make a book beautiful he put in plates. If he wanted to make it more beautiful he put in more or larger plates. If he wanted to make it a real triumph of beauty he engraved the whole book, letterpress and all, as in the case of Sturt's Prayer Books and Pine's _Horace_. That a printer by the selection and arrangement of type, by good presswork and the use of pretty capitals and tailpieces, could make a book charming to eye and hand, without any help from an illustrator--such an idea as this had nearly perished. There was little loss in this, since if any artistic work had been attempted it would assuredly have been bad, whereas the craftsmen, when set to do quite plain work, gradually learnt to do it in a more workmanlike way. In this they were helped by certain improvements in printing which rendered the task of the pressman less laborious. In the middle of the seventeenth century William Blaew, of Amsterdam, invented an improved press, "fabricated nine of these new fashioned presses, set them all on a row in his Printing House and called each Press by the name of one of the Muses." Clearly Blaew was an enthusiast. His chronicler, Joseph Moxon, was a fairly good English printer, and his description of the equipment of a printing house in the second part of his _Mechanick Exercises_ (1683) contains much information still interesting. We gather from Moxon that Blaew's improvements were slowly copied in England, and we know that the English printers still continued to buy their best founts from Holland. Thus when Bishop Fell, about 1670, was equipping the University Press at Oxford with better type, he employed an agent in Holland to purchase founts for him. English founts of which we have any reason to be proud date from the appearance about 1716 of William Caslon, who established a firm of type founders which has enjoyed a long and deservedly prosperous career. The next move came from the north. Robert Foulis (the name was originally spelt Faulls), born in 1707, the son of a Glasgow maltster, had been originally apprenticed to a barber. He was, however, a man of bookish tastes, and, when already over thirty years of age, was advised to set up in business as a printer and bookseller. With his brother Andrew, five years younger than himself and educated for the ministry, he went on a book-buying tour on the Continent, and on his return started book-selling in 1741, and printed in that year Dr. William Leechman's _Temper, Character, and Duty of a Minister of the Gospel_, and four other books, including a Phaedrus and a volume of Cicero. In March, 1743, he was appointed Printer to the University of Glasgow, and his edition of _Demetrius Phalerus de Elocutione_ in Greek and Latin was the first example of Greek printing produced at Glasgow. A _Horace_ which was hung up in proof in the University, with the offer of a reward for every misprint detected (in spite of which six remained), followed in 1744, an _Iliad_ in 1747, an edition of _Hardyknute_ in 1748, and a _Cicero_ in 1749. In 1750 as many as thirty works were printed at the Foulis press. The next two years were mainly spent in touring on the Continent, and on his return Robert Foulis unhappily started an Academy of Art at Glasgow, which he had neither the knowledge nor the taste to direct successfully, and which sapped his energies without producing any valuable results. An edition of the Greek text of Callimachus in 1755 was rewarded by an Edinburgh society with a gold medal, and other Greek and Latin texts followed, including the _Iliad_ in 1756, _Anacreon_ in 1757, _Virgil_ and the _Odyssey_ in 1758, and _Herodotus_ in 1761. Among the more notable later books of the firm were an edition of Gray's _Poems_ in 1768, and a _Paradise Lost_ in 1770. The younger brother died in 1775, and Robert, after a mortifying experience in London, where he sold the "old masters" he had bought as models for his Academy for less than a pound over the expenses incurred in the sale, followed him the next year. The two brothers had raised printing at Glasgow from insignificance to an excellence which equalled, and perhaps surpassed, the standard attained at London, Oxford or Cambridge, or, indeed, for the moment, anywhere in Europe. This was no small achievement, and their compatriots and fellow citizens may well show them honour. But they were content to work according to the best standards set by other men without making any positive advance upon them or showing any originality. They avoided the snare of bad ornaments by using none; their Greek types were modelled on the French royal types associated with the name of the Étiennes; their roman types exhibit no special excellence. Historically, their chief importance is that they proved that care and enthusiasm for fine printing was re-awakening, and that printers with high ideals would not lack support. Meanwhile, in the English Midlands an interesting and creditable, though wrong-headed, attempt to improve on existing founts had been made by John Baskerville, a Worcestershire man, born in 1706, who worked at Birmingham, and in 1757 printed there in his own types a quarto edition of _Virgil_ which attracted considerable notice. The merit of Baskerville's type is its distinctness; its fault is the reappearance in a slightly different form of the old heresy of Aldus, that what is good, or is thought to be good, in penmanship must necessarily be good in type. In imitation of the Writing-Masters Baskerville delighted in making his upstrokes very thin and his downstrokes thick, and his serifs--that is, all the little finishing strokes of the letters--sharp and fine. It is probable that his ideals were influenced in this direction by books like Pine's _Horace_ (1733-7), in which, as already noted, the letterpress as well as the illustrations and ornament is engraved throughout. These contrasts of light and heavy lines would naturally please an engraver; but they have no advantage when transferred to type, only making the page appear restless and spotty. Contemporary opinion in England was no more than lukewarm in their favour. The _Virgil_ procured Baskerville a commission from the University of Oxford to cut a Greek fount, but this was generally condemned, though it had the merit of being free from contractions. Editions of Milton's _Paradise Lost_ and _Paradise Regained_ (1758), and other classics, were more successful, and Baskerville was appointed printer to the University of Cambridge for ten years; but his profits were small, and when he died in 1775, in default of an adequate English offer, his types were sold to a French society for £3700, and used in printing a famous edition of the works of Voltaire (1785-9). The most conspicuous exponent of Baskerville's methods was an Italian, Giovanni Battista Bodoni, born in Piedmont in 1740. Bodoni settled at Parma, and it was at Parma that he did most of his printing. Even more notably than Baskerville, he tried to give to the pages which he printed the brilliancy of a fine engraving. He used good black ink (which is to his credit), exaggerated the differences between his thick strokes and his thin, and left wide spaces between his lines so as to let the elegance of his type stand out as brilliantly as possible against the white paper. The judgment of the best modern printers is against these vivid contrasts and in favour of a more closely set page, the two pages which face each other being regarded as an artistic whole which should not be cut into strips by a series of broad white spaces. Bodoni's books, which used to be highly esteemed, are now perhaps unduly neglected, for his work in its own way, whether he used roman type, italics, or Greek, is very good, and his editions of _Virgil_, _Homer_, and the _Imitatio Christi_ are very striking books, though built on wrong lines. Bodoni died at Padua in 1813. While the names of Caslon, the brothers Foulis, and Baskerville in Great Britain, and of Bodoni in Italy, stand out from amid their contemporaries, the premier place in French book-production was occupied by members of the Didot family. The first of these was François Didot (1689-1757); his eldest son, François Ambroise (1730-1804), was a fine printer; his younger son, Pierre (1732-95), was also a typefounder and papermaker. In the third generation Pierre's son Henri (1765-1852) was famous for his microscopic type, while Pierre II (1760-1853), the eldest son of François Ambroise and nephew of Pierre I, printed some fine editions of Latin and French classics at the press at the Louvre; and his brother Firmin Didot (1764-1836) won renown both as a typefounder and engraver, and also as a printer and improver of the art of stereotyping, besides being a deputy and writer of tragedies. In the fourth generation, the two sons of Firmin Didot, Ambroise (1790-1876) and Hyacinthe, carried on the family traditions. Incidentally, Ambroise wrote some valuable treatises on wood-engraving and amassed an enormous library, which, when sold at auction in 1882-4, realized nearly £120,000. With the names of Bodoni and the Didots we may link that of the German publisher and printer Georg Joachim Goeschen, grandfather of the late Viscount Goschen. He was born in 1752, died in 1828, and worked the greater part of his life at Leipzig. He brought out pretty illustrated editions, made experiments with Greek types, much on the same lines as Bodoni, and devoted his life to the improvement of printing and bookmaking and the spread of good literature, enjoying the friendship of Schiller and other eminent German writers. Coming back to England, we may note the beginning of the Chiswick Press in 1789, the year of the French Revolution. Charles Whittingham was then only twenty-two (he had been born at Coventry in 1767), and for his first years as his own master he was content to print hand-bills and do any other jobbing work that he could get. He began issuing illustrated books in 1797, and after a time the care he took in making ready wood-blocks (the use of which had been revived by Bewick) for printing gained him a special reputation. From about 1811 to his death in 1840 he left one branch of his business in the city under the charge of a partner, while he himself lived and worked at Chiswick, whence the name the Chiswick Press by which the firm is still best known. His nephew, Charles Whittingham the younger, was born in 1795, was apprenticed to his uncle in 1810 and worked with him until 1828. Then he set up for himself at Tooks Court off Chancery Lane, and came rapidly to the front, largely from the work which he did for William Pickering, a well-known publisher of those days. On his uncle's death in 1840 the younger Whittingham inherited the Chiswick business also. Four years after this, in 1844, he led the way in the revival of old-faced types. The examples of Baskerville at home and of Bodoni and other printers abroad had not been without effect on English printing. Brilliancy had been sought at all costs, and in the attempt to combine economy with it the height of letters had been increased and their breadth diminished so that, while they looked larger, more of them could be crowded into a line. The younger Whittingham had the good taste to see that the rounder, more evenly tinted type, which Caslon had made before these influences had come into play, was much pleasanter to look at and less trying to the eyes. He was already thinking of reviving it when he was commissioned by Longmans to print a work of fiction, _So much of the Diary of Lady Willoughby as relates to her Domestic History and to the Eventful Period of the Reign of Charles the First_, and it occurred to him that the use of old-faced type would be especially in keeping with such a book. A handsome small quarto was the result, and the revival of old-faced type proved a great success. Not content with reviving old type, the younger Whittingham revived also the use of ornamental initials, causing numerous copies to be cut for him from the initials used in French books of the sixteenth century. Some of these are good, some almost bad, or while good in themselves, suitable only for use with black-letter founts and too heavy for use with roman letter. Still the attempt was in the right direction, and the books of this period with the imprint of the Chiswick Press are worth the attention of collectors interested in the modern developments of printing. During the succeeding forty years there is little by which they are likely to be attracted save the issues of the private press kept and worked by the Rev. C. H. O. Daniel of Worcester College, Oxford, of which he is now Provost. While he was yet a lad Mr. Daniel had amused himself with printing, and a thin duodecimo is still extant entitled _Sir Richard's Daughter, A Christmas Tale of Olden Times_, bearing the imprint "Excudebat H. Daniel: Trinity Parsonage, Frome, 1852." In 1874 Mr. Daniel resumed his old hobby at Oxford, printing _Notes from a catalogue of pamphlets in Worcester College Library_, and in 1876 _A new Sermon of the newest Fashion by Ananias Snip_, of which the original is preserved in the library of Worcester College. It was, however, in 1881, by an edition of thirty-six copies of _The Garland of Rachel_ "by divers kindly hands," that the Daniel Press won its renown. Rachel was Mr. Daniel's little daughter, and the eighteen contributors to her "Garland" included Frederick Locker, Robert Bridges, Austin Dobson, Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, John Addington Symonds, Lewis Carrol, W. Henley, and Margaret Woods. Each poet was rewarded by a copy in which his name was printed on the titlepage, and the "Garland" soon came to be regarded as a very desirable possession. Mr. Daniel subsequently printed numerous little books by interesting writers (Robert Bridges, Walter Pater, Canon Dixon, and others), and while neither his types nor his presswork were exceptionally good, succeeded in investing them all with a charming appropriateness which gives them a special place of their own in the affections of book-lovers. Another venture in which a high literary standard was combined with much care for typography was _The Hobby-Horse_, a quarterly magazine edited by Herbert P. Horne and Selwyn Image between 1886 and 1892, after which it appeared fitfully and flickered out. The change in the type, the setting it close instead of spaced, and the new initials and tailpieces which may be noted at the beginning of Vol. III (1888), constituted a landmark in the history of modern printing of an importance similar to that of the return to old-faced type in _Lady Willoughby's Diary_. The progress of the movement can be followed (i) in the catalogue of the Exhibition of Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, held at the New Gallery in the autumn of 1888, with an article on printing by Mr. Emery Walker; (ii) in three books by William Morris, viz. _The House of the Wolfings_, _The Roots of the Mountains_, and the _Gunnlaug Saga_, printed under the superintendence of the author and Mr. Walker at the Chiswick Press in 1889 and 1890. In 1891 William Morris gave an immense impetus to the revival of fine printing by setting up a press at No. 16 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, close to his own residence, Kelmscott House. "It was the essence of my undertaking," he wrote subsequently, "to produce books which it would be a pleasure to look upon as pieces of printing and arrangement of type," and no one will be inclined to deny that the Kelmscott Press books fulfil this aim. The gothic type, whether in its larger or smaller size (the Troy type designed for the reprint of Caxton's _Recuyell of the Histories of Troy_, and the Chaucer type designed for the great _Chaucer_), will hold its own against any gothic type of the fifteenth century. The Golden type (designed for the reprint of Caxton's _Golden Legend_) cannot be praised as highly as this. "By instinct rather than by conscious thinking it over," Morris confessed, "I began by getting myself a fount of Roman type," and it is no unfair criticism of it to say that it betrays the hand of a man whose natural expression was in gothic letter forcing roman into yielding some of the characteristic gothic charm. The _Golden Legend_ would have been a far finer book if it had been printed in the Chaucer type, and the Shelley, Keats, Herrick and other books which Morris printed in it to please F. S. Ellis or other friends cannot stand the test of comparison with _The Wood Beyond the World_ and the other romances which he printed entirely to please himself. But whether he used his roman or his gothic type the exquisite craftsmanship which he put into all his books enabled Morris to attain his aim, and his wonderful borders and capitals crown them with the delight which this king of designers took in his work. No other printer since printing began has ever produced such a series of books as the fifty-three which poured from the Kelmscott Press during those wonderful seven years, and no book that has ever been printed can be compared for richness of effect with the Chaucer which was the crowning achievement of the Press. Morris's example brought into the field a host of competitors and plagiarists and a few workers in the same spirit. By his side throughout his venture had stood Mr. Emery Walker, who had no small part in starting the whole movement, whose help and advice for more than twenty years have been freely at the service of any one who has shown any inclination to do good work, and who, whenever good work has been achieved, will almost always be found to have lent a hand in it. After Morris's death Mr. Walker joined with Mr. Cobden Sanderson in producing the Doves Press books, printed, all of them, in a single type, but that type a fine adaptation of Jenson's and handled with a skill to which Jenson not only never attained but never aspired. The first book printed in it was the _Agricola_ of Tacitus, and this and Mr. Mackail's lecture on Morris and other early books are entirely without decoration. Woodcut capitals and borders, it was thought, had reached their highest possible excellence under the hand of William Morris, and since not progress but retrogression would be the certain result of any fresh experiments, decoration of this sort must be abandoned. The reasoning was perhaps not entirely cogent, since the decoration appropriate to the Doves type would hardly enter into any direct competition with Morris's gothic designs. Later on, however, it was more than justified by the use in the _Paradise Lost_, the Bible, and most subsequent books (these later ones issued by Mr. Sanderson alone) of very simple red capitals, which light up the pages on which they occur with charming effect. Similar capitals on a less bold scale, some in gold, others in red, others in blue, are a conspicuous feature in the masterpieces of the Ashendene Press belonging to Mr. St. John Hornby. This was started by Mr. Hornby at his house in Ashendene, Herts, in 1894, and was for some time worked by Mr. Hornby himself and his sisters, with, as at least one colophon gratefully acknowledges, "some little help of Cicely Barclay," who subsequently, under a different surname, appears as a joint proprietor. The early books--the _Journals_ of Joseph Hornby, _Meditations_ of Marcus Aurelius, _Prologue_ to the _Canterbury Tales_, etc.--are not conspicuously good, but in 1902, in a type founded on that used by Sweynheym and Pannartz at Subiaco, Mr. and Mrs. Hornby produced the first volume of an illustrated _Divina Commedia_ which cannot be too highly praised. Its story is told in the red-printed colophon, the wording of which is very prettily turned: Fine della prima Cantica appellata Inferno della Commedia di Dante poeta eccellentissimo. Impressa nella Stamperia Privata di Ashendene a Shelley House, Chelsea, per opera e spesa di St. John & Cicely Hornby coll' aiuto del loro cugino Meysey Turton. Le lettere iniziali sono l'opera di Graily Hewitt, le incisioni in legno di C. Keates secondo disegni fatti da R. Catterson Smith sopra gli originali dell' edizione di 1491. Finita nel mese di Dicembre dell' anno del Signore MCMII, nel quale dopo dieci secoli di bellezza cadde il gran Campanile di San Marco dei Veneziani. The third type happily inspired by the example of Morris was the Greek type designed by Robert Proctor on the model of that used for the New Testament of the Complutensian Polyglott in 1514, with the addition of majuscules and accents, both of them lacking in the original. An edition of the _Oresteia_ of Aeschylus in this type was being printed for Mr. Proctor at the Chiswick Press at the time of his death, and appeared in 1904. In 1908 it was followed by an edition of the _Odyssey_ printed at the Clarendon Press. Like Morris's gothic founts, this Greek type may or may not be admired, but that it attains the effects at which it aims can hardly be denied. No page of such richness had ever before been set up by any printer of Greek. To write of books printed in types which for one reason or another seem less successful than those already named is a less grateful task, but there are several designers and printers whose work approaches excellence, and who worked independently of Morris, though with less sure touch. Foremost among these must be placed Mr. Charles Ricketts,[70] whose Vale type, despite a few blemishes, is not very far behind the Golden type of the Kelmscott Press, and whose ornament at its best is graceful, and that with a lighter and gayer grace than Morris's, though it cannot compare with his for dignity or richness of effect. In a later type, called the Kinge's Fount from its use in an edition of _The Kinges Quair_ (1903), Mr. Ricketts's good genius deserted him, for the mixture of majuscule and minuscule forms is most unpleasing. The Eragny books printed by Esther and Lucien Pissarro on their press at Epping, Bedford Park, and the Brook, Chiswick, were at first (1894-1903, Nos. 1-16) printed by Mr. Ricketts's permission in the Vale type. In June, 1903, a "Brook" fount designed by Mr. Pissarro was completed, and _A Brief Account of the Origin of the Eragny Press_ printed in it. Mr. Pissarro's books are chiefly notable for their woodcuts, which are of very varying merit. In the United States, in addition to some merely impudent plagiarisms, several excellent efforts after improved printing were inspired by the English movement of which Morris was the most prominent figure. Mr. Clarke Conwell at the Elston Press, Pelham Road, New Rochelle, New York, printed very well, both in roman and black letter, his edition of the _Tale of Gamelyn_ (1901) in the latter type being a charming little book. Mr. Berkeley Updike of the Merrymount Press, Boston, and Mr. Bruce Rogers during his connection with the Riverside Press, Boston, have also both done excellent work, which is too little known in this country. The artistic printing which Mr. Rogers did while working for the Riverside Press is especially notable because of the rich variety of types and styles in which excellence was attained. FOOTNOTE: [70] Like Proctor, Mr. Ricketts had no press of his own. His books were printed for him by Messrs. Ballantyne. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY GENERAL WORKS FERGUSON, J. _Some Aspects of Bibliography._ Edinburgh, 1900. PEDDIE, R. A. _A List of Bibliographical Books published since the foundation of the Bibliographical Society in 1893_ (_Bib. Soc. Transactions_, vol. x., pp. 235-311). London, 1910. * * * * * BIGMORE and WYMAN. _A Bibliography of Printing._ With notes and illustrations, 2 vols. London, 1880. REED, T. B. _A List of Books and Papers on Printers and Printing under the Countries and Towns to which they refer._ (Bibliographical Society.) London, 1895. * * * * * BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. _Transactions._ London, 1893, etc. EDINBURGH BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. _Transactions._ Edinburgh, 1896, etc. * * * * * _Le Bibliographe Moderne._ Paris, 1897, etc. _Bibliographica._ 3 vols. London, 1895-7. _Centrallblatt für Bibliothekswesen._ Leipzig, 1888, etc. _The Library._ London, 1889, etc. * * * * * _Zeitschrift für Bücherfreunde._ Bielefeld, 1897, etc. BRUNET, J. C. _Dictionnaire de Géographie ancienne et moderne à l'usage du libraire et de l'amateur de livre. Par un Bibliophile._ Paris, 1870. With notes on the introduction of printing into the places named. CRANE, W. _Of the Decorative Illustration of Books Old and New._ Second edition. London, 1901. DUFF, E. G. _Early Printed Books._ (_Books about Books._) London, 1893. 8vo. HUMPHREYS, H. N. _Masterpieces of the Early Printers and Engravers_: Series of facsimiles from rare and curious books, remarkable for illustrative devices, beautiful borders, decorative initials, printers' marks, and elaborate titlepages. Fol. London, 1870. KRISTELLER, P. _Kupferstich und Holzschnitt in vier Jahrhunderten._ 4to. Berlin, 1905. LANG, A. _The Library._ With a chapter on modern English illustrated books by Austin Dobson, London, 1881. ---- Second edition. London, 1892. LIPPMANN, F. _Druckschriften des xv. bis xviii. Jahrhunderts in getreuen Nachbildungen herausgegeben von der Direction der Reichsdruckerei unter Mitwirkung von Dr. F. Lippmann and Dr. R. Dohme._ Fol. Berlin, 1884-7. MORGAN, J. P. _Catalogue of Early Printed Books from the libraries of William Morris, Richard Bennett, etc., now forming portion of the library of J. P. Morgan._ [By S. Aldrich, E. G. Duff, A. W. Pollard, R. Proctor.] 3 vols. Large 4to. London, 1907. With many facsimiles. ROUVEYRE, E. _Connaissances nécessaires à un bibliophile._ 10 vols. Paris, 1899. I.--COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING ELTON, C. I. and M. A. _The Great Book Collectors._ London, 1893. FLETCHER, W. Y. _English Book-Collectors._ London, 1902. QUARITCH, B. _Contributions towards a Dictionary of English Book Collectors._ London, 1892-9. DAVENPORT, C. _English Heraldic Book-Stamps._ London, 1909. With biographical notes. GUIGARD, J. _Nouvel Armorial du Bibliophile. Guide de l'amateur des livres armoriés._ 2 tom. Paris, 1890. With biographical notices of many French collectors. * * * * * _Book Prices Current._ London, 1893, etc. _American Book Prices Current._ New York, 1895, etc. LIVINGSTON, L. S. _Auction Prices of Books._ 1886-1904. 4 vols. New York, 1905. LAWLER, J. _Book Auctions in England in the Seventeenth Century._ London, 1898. ROBERTS, W. _Catalogues of English Book Sales._ London, 1900. ---- _Rare Books and their Prices._ London, 1896. WHEATLEY, H. B. _Prices of Books_: An inquiry into the changes in the price of books which have occurred in England at different periods. London, 1898. * * * * * BRUNET, J. C. _Manuel du libraire et de l'amateur de livres, contenant 1^o un nouveau dictionnaire bibliographique_, etc. Cinquième Édition. 6 vols. Paris, 1860-5. GRAESSE, J. G. T. _Trésor de livres rares et précieux: ou Nouveau Dictionnaire bibliographique._ 7 vols. Dresde, 1859-69. These two books mark the close of the fashion of General Collecting. II.--BLOCK-BOOKS SOTHEBY, S. L. _Principia typographica._ The block-books issued in Holland, Flanders, and Germany during the fifteenth century, etc. 3 vols. Fol. London, 1858. SCHREIBER, W. L. _Livres xylographiques et xylo-chirographiques. Fac-similés des livres xylographiques._ (_Manuel de l'amateur de la gravure sur bois et sur métal au xv^e siècle_, tomes 4, 7, 8.) 8vo and fol. Leipzig, 1895, 1900, 1902. PILINSKI, A. _Monuments de la xylographie ... reproduits en fac-similé sur les exemplaires de la Bibliothèque Nationale, précédés des notices par Gustave Pawlowski._ Fol. Paris, 1882-3. 1. Apocalypse. 4. Ars Moriendi. 2. Bible des Pauvres. 5. Oraison Dominicale. 3. Ars Memorandi. 6. Cantica Canticorum. BIBLIA PAUPERUM. _Biblia pauperum. Nach dem Einzigen in 50 Darstellungen herausgegeben von P. Heitz, W. L. Schreiber._ 4to. Strassburg, 1903. CUST, L. H. _The Master E. S. and the Ars Moriendi._ 4to. Oxford, 1898. III. AND IV.--THE INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING--HOLLAND AND MAINZ GROLIER CLUB. _A description of the Early Printed Books owned by the Grolier Club_, with a brief account of their printers and the history of typography in the fifteenth century. Fol. New York, 1895. Quotes numerous early references to the invention of printing, and gives some facsimiles. ENSCHEDÉ, C. _Laurens Jansz. Coster de uitvinder van de boekdrukkunst._ Haarlem, 1904. ---- _Technisch onderzoek naar de uitvinding van de boekdrukkunst._ Haarlem, 1901. HESSELS, J. H. _Gutenberg: Was He the Inventor of Printing?_ London, 1882. ---- _Haarlem the Birthplace of Printing, not Mentz._ London, 1887. ---- Article "Typography" in the _Encyclopædia Britannica._ GUTENBERG GESELLSCHAFT. _Veröffentlichungen._ Mainz, 1902, etc. 4to. I. ZEDLER, G. _Die älteste Gutenbergtype._ 1902. II. SCHWENKE, P. _Die Donat- und Kalendertype._ 1903. III. _Das Mainzer Fragment vom Weltgericht. Der Canon Missae vom Jahre._ 1458. IV. ZEDLER. _Das Mainzer Catholicon._ V-VI. _Das Mainzer Fragment vom Weltgericht. Die Type B^42 im Missale von 1493. Die Missaldrucke P. und Joh. Schöffers. Die Bucheranzeigen P. Schöffers._ VIII-IX. SEYMOUR DE RICCI. _Catalogue raisonné des premières impressions de Mayence_ (1445-67). DZIATZKO, C. _Was wissen wir von dem Leben und der Person Joh. Gutenbergs?_ [1895.] ---- _Gutenberg's früheste Druckerpraxis auf Grund einer ... Vergleichung des 42-zeiligen und 36-zeilgen Bibel._ (Sammlung, No. 4.) 1890. HESSELS, J. H. _Gutenberg: Was He the Inventor of Printing?_ London, 1882. ---- _The So-called Gutenberg Documents._ (Reprinted from _The Library._) London, 1912. V.--OTHER INCUNABULA PANZER, G. W. _Annales Typographici ab artis inventæ origine ad annum MD._ (_ad annum MDXXXVI_). 11 vols. 4to. Norimbergæ, 1793-1803. HAIN, L. _Repertorium Bibliographicum, in quo libri omnes ab arte typographica inventa usque ad annum MD. typis expressi ordine alphabetico vel simpliciter enumerantur vel adcuratius recensentur._ Stuttgartiæ et Tubingæ, 1826. ---- _Indices uberrimi operâ C. Burger._ Lipsiæ, 1891. COPINGER, W. A. _Supplement to Hain's Repertorium Bibliographicum._ (Index by Konrad Burger.) 3 vols. London, 1895-1902. REICHLING, D. _Appendices ad Hainii Copingeri Repertorium Bibliographicum. Additiones et emendationes._ 7 pt. Monachii, 1905-11. PELLECHET, M. L. C. _Catalogue général des Incunables des bibliothèques publiques de France._ [Continued by M. L. Polain.] Vols. i.-iii. Paris, 1897, etc. PROCTOR, R. _An Index to the Early Printed Books in the British Museum, with notes of those in the Bodleian Library, Oxford._ 2 vols. London, 1898. BRITISH MUSEUM. _Catalogue of Books Printed in the Fifteenth Century, now in the British Museum._ Vols. i-ii. [Block-books and Germany, Mainz-Trier.] 4to. London, 1908, etc. PROVIDENCE, R.I. ANNMARY BROWN MEMORIAL. _Catalogue of Books mostly from the Presses of the First Printers, showing the progress of printing with movable metal types through the second half of the Fifteenth Century._ Collected by Rush C. Hawkins. Catalogued by A. W. Pollard. 4to. Oxford, 1910. BURGER, K. _Monumenta Germaniae et Italiae typographica. Deutsche und italienische Inkunabeln in getreuen Nachbildungen._ Parts 1-8. Fol. Berlin, 1892, etc. GESELLSCHAFT FÜR TYPENKUNDE DES 15. JAHRHUNDERTS. _Veröffentlichungen._ Fol. Uppsala, 1907, etc. TYPE FACSIMILE SOCIETY. _Publications._ (1900-4 edited by R. Proctor; 1904-8 by G. Dunn.) 4to. Oxford, 1900, etc. WOOLLEY PHOTOGRAPHS. _Woolley Photographs. Photographs of fifteenth century types of the exact size of the originals, designed to supplement published examples, with references to Robert Proctor's Index of Books in the British Museum and Bodleian Library._ [Edited by George Dunn, with a list of the 500 photographs.] Fol. Woolley, 1899-1905. HAEBLER, K. _Typenrepertorium der Wiegendrucke._ 3 vols. Leipzig, 1905, etc. 8vo. This supplies the measurement and some guide to the characteristics of every recorded fifteenth century type, with helps to the identification of the printers of unsigned books by means of the different forms of M, Qu, etc. BERNARD, A. J. _De l'Origine et des Débuts de l'Imprimerie en Europe._ 2 vols. Paris, 1853. Valuable for its numerous references to notes and dates in individual copies. HAWKINS, RUSH C. _Titles of the First Books from the Earliest Presses established in different Cities, Towns, and Monasteries in Europe, before the end of the Fifteenth Century. With brief notes upon their printers._ 4to. New York, 1884. CLAUDIN, A. _Histoire de l'imprimerie en France._ Vols. i.-iii. 4to. Paris, 1900, etc. THIERRY-POUX, O. _Premiers monuments de l'imprimerie en France au xv^e siècle._ [40 sheets of facsimiles.] Fol. Paris, 1890. HOLTROP, J. W. _Monuments typographiques des Pays-Bas au quinzième siècle._ [130 plates of facsimiles.] Fol. La Haye, 1868. CAMPBELL, M. F. A. G. _Annales de la Typographie Néerlandaise au xv^e siècle._ (With four supplements.) La Haye, 1874 (1878-90). FUMAGALLI, G. _Lexicon typographicum Italiae. Dictionnaire géographique d'Italie pour servir à l'histoire de l'imprimerie dans ce pays._ Florence, 1905. HAEBLER, K. _Bibliografia iberica del siglo 15._ La Haya, 1904. ---- _The Early Printers of Spain and Portugal._ [Bibliog. Soc. Illust. Monographs, 4.] 4to. London, 1897. ---- _Typographie ibérique du xv^e siècle. Reproduction en fac-similé de tous les caractères typographiques employés en Espagne et en Portugal jusqu'à 1500._ Fol. La Haye, 1902. VI.--THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRINTED BOOK POLLARD, A. W. _An Essay on Colophons._ With specimens and translations, by A. W. Pollard, and an introduction by R. Garnett (Caxton Club). Chicago, 1905. ---- _Last Words on the History of the Titlepage._ 4to. London, 1890. ROBERTS, W. _Printers' Marks: A Chapter in the History of Typography._ London, 1893. BÜCHERMARKEN. _Die Büchermarken oder Buchdrucker und Verlegerzeichen._ 4to. Strassburg, 1892, etc. 1. _Elsässische Büchermarken bis Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts._ Herausgeg. von P. Heitz, 1892. 2. _Die Italienischen Buchdrucker- und Verlegerzeichen bis 1525._ Herausgeg. von P. Kristeller, 1893. 3. _Die Basler Büchermarken bis Anfang des 17. Jahrhunderts._ Herausgeg. von P. Heitz, 1895. 4. _Die Frankfurter Drucker und Verlegerzeichen bis Anfang des 17. Jahrhunderts._ Herausgeg. von P. Heitz, 1896. 5. _Spanische und Portugiesische Bücherzeichen des xv. und xvi. Jahrhunderts._ Herausgeg. von. K. K. Haebler, 1898. 6. _Kölner Büchermarken bis zum Anfang des xvii. Jahrhunderts._ Herausgeg. von Dr. Zaretzky, 1898. 7. _Genfer Buchdrucker, und Verlegerzeichen von xv. xvi. und xvii. Jahrhundert._ Von P. Heitz, 1908. SILVESTRE, L. C. _Marques typographiques, ou recueil des monogrammes ... des libraires et imprimeurs en France, depuis l'introduction de l'imprimerie jusqu'à la fin du xv^e siècle._ Paris, 1853-67. JENNINGS, O. _Early Woodcut Initials._ London, 1908. VII.--EARLY GERMAN AND DUTCH ILLUSTRATED BOOKS DODGSON, C. _Catalogue of early German and Flemish woodcuts preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum._ Vols. i.-ii. London, 1903, 1911. MUTHER, R. _Die deutsche Bücherillustration der Gothik und Frührenaissance (1460-1530)._ 2 Bde. 4to. München, 1884. SCHREIBER, W. L. _Catalogue des incunables à figures imprimés en Allemagne, en Suisse en Autriche-Hongrie et en Scandinavie, avec des notes critiques et bibliographiques._ (_Manuel de l'amateur de la gravure sur bois et sur métal au xv^e siècle_, tom. 5 & 6.) Leipzig, 1910. COCKERELL, S. C. _Some German Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century._ 4to. Hammersmith, 1897. CONWAY, Sir W. M. _The Woodcutters of the Netherlands in the Fifteenth Century._ Cambridge, 1884. VIII.--EARLY ITALIAN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS LIPPMANN, F. _The Art of Wood-Engraving in Italy in the Fifteenth Century._ London, 1888. POLLARD, A. W. _Italian Book-Illustrations, chiefly of the Fifteenth Century._ (Portfolio monographs, 12.) London, 1894. KRISTELLER, P. _Early Florentine Woodcuts._ With an annotated list of Florentine illustrated books. London, 1897. ESSLING, PRINCE D'. _Les Missels imprimés à Venise de 1481 à 1600. Description, illustration, bibliographie. Ouvrage orné de planches sur cuivre et de 250 gravures._ Fol. Paris, 1894. ---- _Études sur l'art de la gravure sur bois à Venise. Les livres à figures vénitiens de la fin du 15^e siècle et du commencement du 16^e._ Fol. Paris, 1907, etc. IX.--EARLY FRENCH AND SPANISH ILLUSTRATED BOOKS MURRAY, C. F. _Catalogue of a collection of early French Books in the library of C. Fairfax Murray._ Compiled by H. W. Davies. 4to. London, 1910. VINDEL, P. _Bibliografia grafica_: Reproduccion en facsimil de portadas, retratos, colofones y otras curiosidades útiles á los bibliófilos, que se hallan en obras únicas y libros preciosos ó raros. 2 tom. Madrid, 1910. 1224 facsimiles of titlepages, illustrations, etc., of Spanish books, unfortunately neither well selected, nor well arranged, but still useful. X.--LATER FOREIGN BOOKS PROCTOR, R. _An index to the Early Printed Books in the British Museum. Part II._ 1501-20. Germany. London, 1903. NIJHOFF, W. _Bibliographie de la typographie néerlandaise des années 1500 à 1540._ La Haye, 1901, etc. ---- _L'art typographique dans les Pays-Bas, 1500-1540_: Reproduction en fac-similé des caractères, typographiques, des marques d'imprimeurs, etc. Fol. La Haye, 1902, etc. RENOUARD, A. A. _Annales de l'imprimerie des Aldes, ou histoire des trois Manuces, et de leurs éditions. Troisième édition, avec notes de la famille des Juntes, etc._ 3 vols. Paris, 1834. ---- _Annales de l'imprimerie des Estiennes ou histoire de la famille des Estiennes et de ses éditions._ 2^e édition. Paris, 1843. ROOSES, MAX. _Christopher Plantin, imprimeur anversois. Biographie et documents._ 2^e édition. Fol. Anvers, 1896. WILLEMS, A. _Les Elzevier. Histoire et annales typographiques._ Bruxelles, etc., 1880. GOLDSMID, E. M. _Bibliotheca curiosa._ A complete catalogue of all the publications of the Elzevir presses. Edinburgh, 1888. XI.--SIXTEENTH CENTURY ILLUSTRATIONS *** Many of the books entered under VII, VIII, and IX relate also to this period. BUTSCH, A. F. _Die Bücherornamentik der Renaissance, eine Auswahl stylvoller Titeleinfassungen, Initialen, Leisten, Vignetten und Druckerzeichen hervoragender italienischer, deutscher, und französischer Officinen aus der Zeit der Frührenaissance._ 4to. Leipzig, 1878. XII.--ENGLISH PRINTING, 1476-1580 HAZLITT, W. C. _Handbook to the Popular, Poetical and Dramatic Literature of Great Britain, from the Invention of Printing to the Restoration._ London, 1867. HAZLITT, W. C. _Collections and Notes._ Three series with supplements. London, 1876-89. ---- _A General Index to Hazlitt's Handbook and his Bibliographical Collections, 1867-1889._ By G. T. Gray. London, 1893. BRITISH MUSEUM. _Catalogue of Books in the Library of the British Museum printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of Books in English printed abroad, to the year 1640._ [Mainly by G. W. Eccles.] 3 vols. London, 1884. DUFF, E. G. _Catalogue of Books in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of Books in English printed abroad to the end of the year 1640._ 4to. Manchester, 1895. SAYLE, C. E. _Early English Printed Books in the University Library, Cambridge, 1475-1640._ Cambridge, 1900-7. The books are arranged under the printers. AMES, J. _Typographical Antiquities_: Being an historical account of printing in England; with some memoirs of our antient printers, and a register of the books printed by them, 1471-1600. With an appendix concerning printing in Scotland and Ireland to the same time. 4to. London, 1749. ---- Considerably augmented.... By W. Herbert. 3 vols. 4to. London, 1785-90. ---- Greatly enlarged, with copious Notes and Engravings by T. F. Dibdin. Vols. i.-iv. 4to. London, 1810-19. DUFF, E. G. _English Printing on Vellum to the end of 1600._ (Bibliographical Society of Lancashire.) 4to. Aberdeen, 1902. ---- _A Century of the English Book Trade_: Short notices of all Printers, Stationers, Bookbinders, and others connected with it, 1457-1557. 4to. Bibliographical Society, London, 1905. ---- _The Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders of Westminster and London, 1476-1535._ (Sandars Lectures.) Cambridge, 1896. ---- _Early English Printing_: A series of facsimiles of all the types used in England during the fifteenth century. Fol. London, 1896. ---- (and others.) _Handlists of English Printers, 1501-1557._ Parts 1-3. 4to. Bibliographical Society, London, 1896, etc. ARBER, E. _A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London, 1554-1640._ 5 vols. 4to. London, 1875-94. BLADES, W. _The Life and Typography of William Caxton._ 2 vols. 4to. London, 1861-3. ---- _Biography and Typography of Caxton._ London, 1882. DUFF, E. G. _William Caxton._ (Caxton Club of Chicago.) 4to. Chicago, 1905. RICCI, SEYMOUR DE. _A Census of Caxtons._ (Bibliographical Society, Illust. Monographs, 15.) London, 1909. * * * * * PLOMER, H. R. _A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898._ (English Bookman's Library.) London, 1900. REED, T. B. _History of the Old English Letter Foundries._ 4to. London, 1887. XIII.--EARLY PRINTING IN ENGLISH OUTSIDE LONDON ALLNUTT, W. H. _English Provincial Presses._ (Bibliographica, Parts 5-7.) London, 1895. DUFF, E. G. _The English Provincial Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders to 1557._ (Sandars Lectures.) Cambridge, 1912. BOWES, R. _A Catalogue of Books Printed at or relating to the University, Town and County of Cambridge, 1521-1893._ Cambridge, 1894. MADAN, F. L. Oxford Books. Vol. 1. _The Early Oxford Press_: A Bibliography of Printing and Publishing at Oxford "1468-1640." ---- ---- Vol. 2. _Oxford Literature, 1450-1640, and 1641-1650._ Oxford, 1895, 1912. ---- _A Chart of Oxford Printing, "1468"-1900._ With notes and illustrations. 4to. Oxford, 1903. ---- _A Brief Account of the University Press at Oxford._ With illustrations, together with a chart of Oxford printing. 4to. Oxford, 1908. DAVIES, R. _A Memoir of the York Press._ With notices of Authors, Printers, and Stationers in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Westminster, 1868. DOBSON, A. _Horace Walpole: A Memoir._ With an Appendix of Books Printed at the Strawberry Hill Press. New York, 1893. ALDIS, H. G. _A List of Books Printed in Scotland before 1700, including those Printed furth of the realm for Scottish Booksellers._ With brief notes on the Printers and Stationers. 4to. Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, Edinburgh, 1904. DICKSON, R., and EDMOND, T. P. _Annals of Scottish Printing: from the Introduction of the Art in 1507 to the beginning of the 17th Century._ 4to. Cambridge, 1890. DIX, E. R. MCC. _A List of Irish Towns and Dates of Earliest Printing in each._ Second edition. Dublin, 1909. ---- _The Earliest Dublin Printing._ With list of books, etc., printed in Dublin prior to 1601. Dublin, 1901. GILBERT, SIR J. T. _Irish Bibliography._ Two papers. With an introduction, notes, and appendices by E. R. McC. Dix. Dublin, 1904. WATKINS, G. T. _Bibliography of Printing in America_: Books, etc., relating to the history of printing in the New World. Boston, 1906. EVANS, C. _American Bibliography...._ A Chronological Dictionary of all books, pamphlets, and periodical publications printed in the United States from 1639 to 1820. 4to. Chicago, 1903, etc. THOMAS, J. _The History of Printing in America._ With a Biography of Printers, etc. Second edition. 2 vols. Albany, 1874. RODEN, R. F. _The Cambridge Press, 1638-1692_: A history of the first printing press in English America, together with a bibliographical list of the issues. New York, 1905. XIV.--ENGLISH WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS CHATTO and JACKSON. _A Treatise on Wood Engravings_: Historical and Practical. Second edition. London 1861. LINTON, W. J. _The Masters of Wood-Engraving._ Folio. London, 1889. XV.--ENGRAVED BOOKS--ILLUSTRATIONS HIND, A. M. _A Short History of Engraving and Etching for the use of Collectors and Students._ With full bibliography, classified list, and index of engravers. Second edition, revised. London, 1911. COLVIN, SIR S. _Early Engraving and Engravers in England, 1545-1695._ Fol. British Museum. London, 1905. HIND, A. M. _List of the Works of Native and Foreign Line-Engravers in England from Henry VIII to the Commonwealth._ British Museum. London, 1905. Reprinted from Sir S. Colvin's work. COHEN, H. _Guide de l'amateur de livres à gravure du 18^e siècle, 6^e édition, augmentée par Seymour de Ricci._ Paris, 1912. LEVINE, J. _Bibliography of the 18th Century Art and Illustrated Books._ London, 1898. BÉRALDI, J. H. _Estampes et livres, 1872-1892._ 4to. Paris, 1892. A catalogue of the compiler's own collection of French illustrated books. XVI.--MODERN FINE PRINTING STRAUS, R., and DENT, R. K. _John Baskerville: A Memoir._ 4to. Cambridge, 1907. GOSCHEN, VISCOUNT. _The Life and Times of Georg Joachim Goeschen, Publisher and Printer of Leipzig, 1752-1828._ 2 vols. London, 1903. WERELET, E. _Études bibliographiques sur la famille des Didot, imprimeurs, etc., 1713-1864._ (Extrait de l'Histoire du Livre en France.) Paris, 1864. WARREN, A. _The Charles Whittinghams, Printers._ (Grolier Club.) New York, 1896. MORRIS, W. _A Note by William Morris on his Aims in Founding the Kelmscott Press._ With a short description of the Press by S. C. Cockerell, and an annotated list of the books printed thereat. Hammersmith, 1898. RICKETTS. _A Bibliography of the Books issued by Hacon and Ricketts._ (The Vale Press.) London, 1904. STEELE, R. _The Revival of Printing._ London, 1912. INDEX Abbeville, illustrated books, 145 _sq._ Aberdeen Breviary, printed at Edinburgh, 239 _sq._ Abingdon, printing at, 226 Acqui, colophon, 80 _Ad te levavi_ woodcut, 144 Aesop, illustrated editions, 106, 111, 120, 124, 125, 139, 141, 162, 251, 256, 289 Alcalà, Cardinal Ximenes' Polyglott printed at, 176; Greek Testament type imitated by Proctor, 307 Aldus Manutius. _See_ Manutius. Alexander Gallus, early edition of his _Doctrinale_ "jeté en moule," 42; colophon of Acqui ed. quoted, 80 _sq._; Venice ed. of, 126; Pynson's, 213 Alexander of Villedieu. _See_ Alexander Gallus Allan, George, private press, 238 Allnutt, W., on English provincial printing, 233, 238 _Alphabeti noua effictio._ De Bry's, 280, 285 Altdorfer, Albrecht, illustrator, 188 _sq._ -- Erhard, Bible illustrated by, 190 Alunno di Domenico. _See_ Bartolommeo di Giovanni American colonies, early printing in, 243-9 Ammann, Jost, book-illustrations, 193, 278 Amsterdam, English books printed at, 232; engravings, 289, 292; presses improved at, 297 Anabat, Guil., his _Horae_, 156 Andrea, Hieronymus, wood-cutter, 188 _Antichristus_, block-book, 27 Antwerp, printing, 72, 175 _sq._; woodcuts, 202 _sq._; English books printed, 229 _sqq._; engraved illustration, 274 _sqq._ _Apocalypsis S. Johannis_, block-book, 26 Aquila, good roman type, 89; illustrated _Aesop_, 141 Arbuthnot, Alexander, Edinburgh printer, 242 Ariosto, Lodovico, _Orlando Furioso_, illustrated editions, 277, 283, 296 _Ars Moriendi_, block-book, 25 _Art de bien vivre et de bien mourir_, Vérard's edition, 149, De Worde's, 254 Arundel, Earl of, Caxton's cut of his device, 251 Ascensius. _See_ Badius Ascensius Ashendene Press, 306 Audran, Benoît, engraver, 290 Augsburg printing, 62, 169; book-illustration, 102 _sqq._, 184 _sqq._ Augustine, S., Abbeville edition of his _De Ciuitate Dei_, 146 .b., woodcuts signed, 128 _sq._ Bacon, Francis, engraved title to _Novum Organum_, 288 Badius Ascensius, Jodocus, printer at Lyon and Paris, 170 Bagford, John, his copies from block-books, 19 Bämler, Johann, illustrated books, 104 Bankes, Robert, London printer, 216 Banks, Sir Joseph, his natural history books, 5 Barbier, Jean, partner of Julyan Notary, 214 Barcelona, early printing, 75; illustration, 162 Barclay, Alexander, translator of Sallust, 217; of Gringore's _Chasteau de Labeur_, 230, 254, 256 Barker, Robert, Royal Printer, 216 _sq._ Barnes, Dam Julyan, "her boke of huntyng," 208 -- Joseph, Oxford printer, 235 Bartholomaeus Anglicus, editions of his _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, 121, 159; printed by Caxton, 204; by De Worde, 212, 253; edited by S. Bateman, 263 Bartolommeo di Giovanni, Mr. Berenson's attribution of Florentine woodcuts to, 136 Bartolozzi, F., portrait of Lunardi, 296 Basel printing, 60, 170, book-illustration, 109, 191 _sq._ Basiliologia engravings, 285 Baskerville, John, Birmingham printer, 299 _sq._ Bassandyne, Thomas, Edinburgh printer, 242 Bateman, Stephen, illustrated books by, 263 _Bay Psalter_, first book printed in North America, 244 _sq._ Beck, Leonhard, illustrator, 186, 188 _sq._ Beham, Hans Sebald, illustrator, 183 Belgium, early printing, 73 _Belial siue Consolatio peccatorum. See_ Theramo, Jac. de Bellaert, Jacob, illustrated books, 120 _sq._ Bellini, Gentile, woodcut after, 130 Benlowes, E., _Theophila_, 289 Berenson, Bernhard, attributes all early Florentine cuts to "Alunno di Domenico," 135 Berghen, Adriaen von, English books printed by, 230 Bergomensis, Jac. Phil., his _Supplementum Cronicarum_, 126; _De claris mulieribus_, 140 Berkeley, Sir William, on free schools and printing, 249 Berrutus, Amadeus, engraving in his _Dialogus_, 273 Berthelet, Thomas, connection with Pynson, 213, 258; Royal Printer, 216, 259 Bettini, Ant., illustrated editions of his _Monte Santo di Dio_, 124, 268 _sq._ Bible, English, early editions, 217, 231 _sq._, 260, 281; French _Bible historiée_, 150; German, illustrated editions of, 108, 112, 113, 114; Indian (Narraganset), 246 _sq._; Italian, illustrated editions of, 125, 128; Latin, the 42-line, 47 _sqq._, 96; the 36-line, 51 _sq._, 83; of 1462, 57; of 1472, 57; Polyglott, 175, 176, 275; Scottish, 242 _Biblia Pauperum_, block-book, 25, 118; its plan imitated in _Horae_ borders, 152, 155 Biel, Fried., illustrated books, 162 Binneman. _See_ Bynneman Birmingham, Baskerville's press at, 299 _Birth of Mankind_, first English book with engravings, 280 Bladen, William, Dublin printer, 243 Bladi, printers at Rome, 169 Blaew, William, improves printing-press, 297 Block-books, 19-31, 118 Blomefield, Francis, private press, 238 Boccaccio, Giov., _De Casibus Illustrium virorum_, 144, 159, 186, 213, 256, 258 note, 270; _De claris mulieribus_, 106, 122, 162, 186; _Decamerone_, 291 Bodleian Library, effect of its foundation on private book-collecting, 3 Bodoni, Giovanni Battista, printer at Parma, 300 _Boec von der Houte. See_ Cross, the Holy Boitard, Peter, illustrator, 296 Bonaventura, S., illustrations to his _Devote Meditatione_, 123, 125, 138 Bonhomme, Jean, his illustrated books, 144, 158 Book-illustration, natural method of, 100; in Germany and Holland, 102-22, 181-94; in Italy, 123-42, 194-6; in France and Spain, 143-64, 197-202; in England, 250-66; engraved, 267-96 Borderpieces, stamped by illuminators, 125; Venetian, 125, 133; Florentine, 133; other Italian, 140, 142; Spanish, 162; Basel, 191; London, 252, 256, 258 _sq._, 266 Boston, Mass., early printing, 247; modern, 308 Boucher, François, illustrator, 290 Bradford, Andrew, printer at Philadelphia, 248 -- William, first printer at Philadelphia, 247; and at New York, 248 Bradshaw, Henry, his claim for bibliography, 12; on the printer of the _Speculum_, 40 Brandis, Lucas, first Lübeck printer, 64, 114 Brant, Sebastian, connected with book-illustration, 110, 112, 161, 213, 254, 256 Brass, types made of, 212 note Breidenbach, Bernhard von, his arms on a Mainz _Agenda_, 114; his _Peregrinatio in Montem Syon_, 115, 161, 162, 270 Brinckley, Stephen, Jesuit printer, 228 Bristol printing, 237 _sq._ British Museum, bequests to, 4-6; block-books in, 31 Brosamer, Hans, Bibles illustrated by, 190 Broughton, Hugh, plates in his _Concent of Scripture_, 283 Bruges early printing, 73, 122, 205 _sq._; engravings in books printed at, 270-3 Brussels early printing, 73 Brydges, Sir Egerton, private press, 239 Buckner, John, Virginia printer, 249 Bulkley, Stephen, printer at York, 237 Bulle, John, printer at Rome, Lettou's relation with, 210 Bunyan, John, portrait in _Pilgrim's Progress_, 289 Burghers, Michael, engraver, 294 Burgkmair, Hans, illustrator, 185 _sq._, 188 _sq._ Burgundy, Margaret Duchess of. _See_ Margaret Bynneman, Henry, London printer, 220, 228 Cagli, good roman type, 89 _Calendar of Shepherds_, French editions, 145; English, 254, 256 Cambridge, printing at, 225, 234 _sq._, 300 Cambridge, Mass., printing at, 244 _sq._, 308 _Canon Missae_, Mainz edition of, 55; Crucifixion woodcut to, 109, 129 Canterbury, printing at, 227 _Canterbury Tales. See_ Chaucer _Canticum Canticorum_, block-book, 26, 118 Caoursin, Gulielmus, woodcuts in books by, 107 Capell, Edward, bequeaths his Shakespeare books to Trin. Coll., Camb., 5 Capitals, pictorial and heraldic, 69, 104, 197, 259 _sqq._ Carmelianus, Petrus, pictures in his _Carmen_, 257 Cartwright, Thomas, his tracts printed at a secret press, 228 Caslon, William, typefounder, 298 _Catholicon_, possibly printed by Gutenberg, 52 Caxton, William, 204, 208; press at Bruges, 73, 205 _sq._; at Westminster, 76, 207 _sq._; method of printing in red, 86; illustrated books, 250-2; possible engraved portrait of, 272 _sq._ Cazotte, J., his _Le diable amoureux_, 292 Cecill, Thomas, engraver, 286 Cennini, Bernardo, first printer at Florence, 67; colophon of his _Virgil_, 80 Cervicornus, Eucharius, printer at Cologne, 225 Chapman, Walter, printer at Edinburgh, 239 Charteris, Henry, printer at Edinburgh, 242 Chaucer, Geoffrey, early editions, 207, 251, 255, 258 Chauveau, François, engraver, 289 _Chess, Game and Play of the_, 205, 251 Chester, printing at, 237, etc. Chiromantia, block-book, 28 Choffard, P. P., _fleurons_ by, 291 _sq._ _Christian Prayers, Book of_ (Queen Elizabeth's Prayer Book), 264 Christopher, S., early woodcut of, 119 Ciripagus, meaning of the word, 43 Civil War, its effects on Oxford printing, 236 Clark, John, engraver, 294 Classics, first editions of the, 6 Claudin, Anatole, his _Histoire de l'Imprimerie en France_, 143 Clement V, 1460 edition of his _Constitutiones_, 56 Clemente of Padua, self-taught printer at Venice, 67, 89 Cochin, C., Paris engraver, 290 _sq._ Cock, Hieron, Antwerp engraver, 274 -- Peter, Alost engraver, 281 Cockson, Thomas, London engraver, 283 Colines, Simon, his _Horae_, 157; relations with the Estiennes, 171; illustrated books, 199 Collectors and Collecting, 1-18, 83 Cologne, printing at, 61, 169, 205, 225, 231; book-illustration at, 113 _Cologne Chronicle_, its story of the invention of printing, 34 Colonna, Francesco. _See Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_ Colophons, 14; specimens quoted, 80 _sq._; in manuscript, 91 Colour-printing in incunabula, 129 _sq._, 253 Columna, Aegidius, his _Regimiento de los principes_, 163 Colvin, Sir Sidney, his _Early engravings_ quoted, 281, 300 Complutensian Polyglott. _See_ Alcalà Constance, _Das Conciliumbuch_, illustrated editions of, 106, 186 Conway, Sir M., his _Woodcutters of the Netherlands_ Conwell, Clarke, American printer, 308 Copland, Robert, London printer, 215, 258 -- William, London printer, 215, 260 Cornelis, the bookbinder, of Haarlem, 37 _sq._, 41 Corrozet, Gilles, his verses to Holbein's cuts, 192; other illustrated books by, 200 _sq._ Coryat, Thomas, _Crudities_, 285 Coster, Lourens, legend of his inventing printing, 37 _sqq._ "_Costeriana_," group of books so called, 39-41, 72 Cotton, Sir Robert, his collections, 2 Cranach, Lucas, his bookwork at Wittenberg, 190 Cremer, Heinrich, copy of 42-line Bible rubricated by, 47 _sq._ Creussner, F., Nuremberg printer, 63, 108 Cromwell, Thomas, Earl of, arms on title of Great Bible, 260 Croquet, Jean, of Geneva, first edition of _Roman de la Rose_ attributed to, 160 note Cross, the Holy, block-book history of, 118 Cunningham, William, his _Cosmographicall Glasse_, 218, 261 Dalles, Jean, Lyonnese wood-cutter, 159 Daniel, Rev. C. H. O., private press, 303 _Danse Macabre_, illustrations to, 145, 151 Dante Alighieri, illustrated editions of _Divina Commedia_, 129, 269, 306 _sq._ Darmstadt Prognostication, printer of the, forged dates in his books, 58 Davidson, Thomas, Edinburgh printer, 240 _sq._ Day, John, London printer, 218 _sq._, 234; illustrated books, 260 _sq._ -- Matthew, printer at Cambridge, Mass., 245 -- Stephen, first printer in North America, 244 De Bry, family of engravers, 278-80, 282 _Defensorium inviolatae castitatis Virginis Mariae_, block-book, 127 Defoe, Daniel, plates to _Robinson Crusoe_, 294 Delaram, Francis, engraver, 285 _sq._ Delft, early printing at, 72 Denham, Henry, London printer, 220 Derrick, John, _Image of Ireland_, 264 Deventer, early printing at, 72, 74 d'Ewes, Sir Simeon, fate of his manuscripts, 4 _Dialogus Creaturum_, woodcuts in, 119 _Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophers_, Caxton's, 207 Didot, family of printers at Paris, 301 Digby, Sir Kenelm Digby, benefactions to libraries, 5 Dinckmut, Conrad, illustrated books, 106 _sq._ Doesborg, Jan van, English books printed by, 230 Dolet, Etienne, printer at Lyon, 174 Donatus, Aelius, early editions of his _De octo partibus orationis_, 35, 36, 46, 51, 65 Douay, English Catholic books printed at, 232 Dorat, C. J., _Les Baisers_, 293 Doves Press, 306 Downes, Thomas, English bookseller, patentee for Irish printing, 243 Drach, Peter, Speier printer, 63 Drayton, Michael, _Polyolbion_, 285 Dublin, early printing at, 242 _sq._ Du Bosc, Claude, engraver, 294 Dudley, Earl of Leicester, encourages Oxford printing, 235 Duff, E. G., on woodcuts in 1471 Bible, 125 note; on Berthelet and Pynson, 213; on free trade in books, 223; on a book printed at St. Albans, 225 Du Guernier, Louis, engraver, 294 Du Guesclin, Bertrand, woodcut of, 146 Du Moulin, Conrad, buys a _De Salute Corporis_, 39 Dupré, Jean, fine printer at Paris, 71; his illustrated books, 143 _sqq._, 160; his _Horae_, 151 _sq._ Dürer, Albrecht, book-illustrations by, 181 _sq._, 188 Dutch printing and book-illustration. _See_ Holland Duranti, Gulielmus, _Rationale diuinorum officiorum_, 1459 edition, 56 Dyson, Humphrey, book-collector, 3 Edinburgh printing, 239-42 Editions, number of copies in early, 21 Edward VI, woodcut of, 260 Egenolph, Christian, illustrated books, 183, 187 Eichstätt service-books, engravings in, 270 Eisen, C., illustrator, 291 _sqq._ Eliot, John, books by, printed at Cambridge, Mass., 246 Elizabeth, Queen, portraits of, 264, 265, 281 _sq._; her "Prayer Book," 264 Elston Press, 308 Elstracke, Renold, engraver, 285 _sq._, 288 Elzevir, family of printers, 177 _sqq._ Emblem books, 275, 280 Emden, Puritan books printed at, 232 England, printing in, 76 _sq._, 204-28, 233-9, 302-8 English books printed abroad, 228-32 English engraved illustrations, 280-9, 293-6 English woodcut illustrations, 250-66 Engraved illustrations, 267-96 _Epistole ed Evangelii_, illustrated Florentine ed., 136, 139 Eragny Press, 308 Erasmus, Desiderius, his relations with Froben, 170, 191 Erven, G. van der, printer at Emden, 232 E. S., the Master, _Ars moriendi_ engravings by, 25 Essling, Prince d', his _Livres à figures venitiens_ quoted, 125 note, 127, 130 _sq._ Estienne, family of scholar-printers, 171 _sqq._ Eton, printing at, 234 Eustace, Guil., his _Horae_, 156 Exeter, early printing at, 237 F, woodcuts signed, at Venice, 128; at Paris, 200 Fabyan's _Chronicle_, Pynson's ed., 257 Faithorne, W., engraver, 289 Faques or Fawkes, Richard, London printer, 215 Faques, William, Royal Printer, 214 Fell, Bishop, buys Dutch types for Oxford, 298 Ferrara, early printing at, 68, 70; book-illustrations, 140 Fichet, Guillaume, letter on invention of printing, 33, 44; invites printers to the Sorbonne, 70 Field, Richard, London printer, 221 _Fifteen Oes_, Caxton's edition, 252 First books printed in different countries and towns, their interest, 78 _sq._ Fisher, Bishop, woodcuts to his funeral sermons, 254 Florence, early printing, 67, 70, book-illustration at, 133-9, 267; Venetian imitation of Florentine style, 196 Florio, John, engraved portrait, 287 Foliation, or leaf-numbers, first used by ther Hoernen, 62 Foster, John, first printer at Boston, Mass., 247 Fouler, John, English printer at Antwerp and Louvain, 232 Foulis, Robert and Andrew, Glasgow printers, 298 Foxe, John, his _Actes and Monuments_, or _Book of Martyrs_, 219, 262 France, printing in, 70-2, 170-5, 224; book-illustration, 143-61, 197-202, 289-93 Franciscus, Magister, Schoeffer's corrector, 51 Francke (or Franckton), John, Dublin printer, 243 Frankfort am Main, book-illustration at, 184, 193, 278 _sqq._ Franklin, Benjamin, printer at Philadelphia, 248 Freez (or Wandsforth), Gerard, York printer, 225 Freiburger, Gering and Crantz, first Paris printers, 70 _sq._ Frezzi, Bishop, _Quatriregio_, illustrated editions, 139 Froben, Johann, scholarly printer at Basel, 170; his book-decorations, 191 Front, the Mind of the, 287 Froschauer, Christopher, Zurich printer, his English books, 231 _sq._ Fust, Johann, dealings with Gutenberg, 46 _sqq._; books printed by, 53 _sq._, 86 Gafori, Francesco, illustrations to his music-books, 141, 196 Gaguin, Robert, illustrations to his chronicles, 198 _Game and Pley of the Chesse_, 206 Garamond, Claude, French Royal Greek types cut by, 172 _Garland of Rachel_, 303 Garrick, David, his collection of plays, 5 Geiler, Johann, of Kaisersberg, illustrations to his books, 185, 190 Geminus, Thomas, engraved work, 281 Geneva, English books printed at, 232 Gérard, Pierre, first printer at Abbeville, 145 Germany, printing in, 44-64, 169 _sq._, 224; book-illustration, 102-17, 181-94 Giunta, family of printers at Florence and Venice, 128, 168 _sq._, 195 Giustiniano, Lorenzo, portrait of, 130 Glasgow, fine printing at, 298 Glover, Rev. Joseph, benefactor of Harvard College, 244 Goes, Hugo, York printer, 225 Goeschen, Georg Joachim, printer at Leipzig, 301 _Golden Legend_, Caxton's editions, 207, 251 Gothic type, 88, 90 _sq._ Gouda, printing and illustration, 72, 119, 122 Graf, Urs, book-decorations by, 191 Grafton, Richard, Royal Printer, 217, 259; his _Chronicle_, 264 Gravelot, H., engraver at Paris, 291 _sqq._, and London, 295 Greek printing in Italy, 167, 301; in France, 171 _sqq._; in Spain, 176; in England, 176, 218, 226, 234, 300, 307 Green, Bartholomew, printer at Boston, Mass., 247 _sq._ -- Samuel, printer at Cambridge, Mass., 245 _sqq._ Gregorii, Giov. and Greg. dei, printers at Venice, 69, 195 Grenewych by Conrade Freeman, spurious imprint, 232 Grenville, Thomas, character of his collection, 6 Grien, Hans Baldung, illustrator, 190 Grignion, Charles, engraver, 296 Gringore, Pierre, _Chasteau de Labeur_, 150 _sq._; English editions, 230 _sq._, 254 Grolier, Jean, example as a book-buyer, 2; supports Aldus, 168 Grüninger, Johann, of Strassburg, illustrated books, 111 _sq._ Gryphius, Sebastian, Lyon printer, 173 Gutenberg, Johann, claims to the invention of printing, 33-6, 44 _sqq._; books he may have printed, 51 _sq._ Haarlem, its claims to be the birthplace of printing, 37 _sqq._, 72 Hakluyt, Richard, _Voyages_, 278 Hamman, Johann. _See_ Herzog Han, Ulrich, early printer at Rome, 65, 67 _sq._, types, 90; printed the first Italian illustrated book, 123 Hardouyn, Germain and Gilles, their _Horae_, 156 Harington, Sir John, on the plates in his _Orlando Furioso_, 283 Harrison, Stephen, _Archs of Triumph_, 284 Hartlieb, Johann, block-book of _Die Kunst Chiromantia_, 28 Harvard College, printing at, 244 _sq._ Haydock, Richard, engraver, 284 Hayman, Francis, illustrator, 296 Heber, Richard, character of his collection, 6 Hempstead (Essex), secret printing at, 228 Henry V, woodcut of Lydgate offering book to, 257 Henry VII, books decorated by Vérard for, 148; woodcut of his funeral, 254 Henry VIII "protects" English book-trade, 222, 234 _Heroologia_ engravings, 285 Hertfort or Herford, John, printer at St. Albans and London, 224 _sq._ Herzog, Johann, prints Sarum Missal at Venice, 229 Hessels, Dr., his theories on the invention of printing, 38 _sqq._ Heynlyn, Jean, superintends first Paris press, 70 Heywood, Thomas, woodcut of, 260; engravings to his _Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels_, 286 Higman, Nicolas, _Horae_, 156 Hind, A. M., quoted, 284, 290 _Hobby-Horse_, experiments in printing in, 304 Hogarth, William, book-illustrations, 295 _sq._ Hogenberg, Franciscus and Remigius, engravers, 281 _sq._ Holbein, Ambrosius, book-decorations, 191 -- Hans, book-decorations and illustrations, 191 _sq._, 259 _sq._ Hole, William, engraver, 285, 287 Holinshed, Raphael, _Chronicle_, 265 Holland, claims to the invention of printing, 32-43; printing in, 72; book-illustrations, 119-22 Holland, H., print-seller, 285 Hollar, Wenceslaus, engraver, 287 Homer, the Florentine, 167; in French, 201; Chapman's, 287; Ogilby's Odyssey, 287; Proctor's, 307 Hondius, Jodocus, engraver, 283 _sq._ Hopyl, Wolfgang, Missals by, 198, 229 _Horace_, Pine's ed., 295 _sq._, 300; Foulis, 298 _Horae_, Paris editions, 151-7, 264; Plantin's, 275 Hornby, C. St. John, private press, 88, 306 Hroswitha, illustrations to her Comedies, 182 Hunte, Thomas, Oxford stationer, partner in Rood's press, 76, 209 Hurning, Hans. _See_ Walther, F., and Hans Hurning Hurus, Paul, illustrated books, 162 Huss, Martin, illustrated books, 158 Huvin, Jean, probable partner (I. H.) of Jul. Notary, 214 Hylton, Walter, _Scala perfectionis_, De Worde's ed., 253 _Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_, 90, 131 _sq._; French version of, 201 i, ia., woodcuts signed, 128 I.D., woodcut signed, 159 _Imprese_, engravings of, 277 Incipits of books, quoted, 93 Incunabula, study of, 12 _sq._; the word misleading, 77; points of, 78 _sq._ Indulgences, printed at Mainz, 47 Ipswich, printing at, 226 Ireland, printing in, 242 _sq._ Italic type, 91, 218 Italy, printing in, 65-70, 165-9, 224; book-illustration in, 123-42 James I, works and portrait, 288 Janot, Denis, printer of French illustrated books, 200 Jenson, Nicolas, printer at Venice, 67, 85 Jesuit press (1580), 228 Jewel, Bishop, books against, printed at Antwerp and Louvain, 232 Johnes, Thomas, private press, 238 Johnson, Marmaduke, printer at Cambridge, Mass., 246 Junius, Hadrianus, his story of Coster, 37 _sq._ Justinian, in Council, metal-cut of, 198 Kearney, William, Dublin printer, 243 Kefer, or Keffer, Heinrich, servant of Gutenberg, 47, 63 Keimer, Samuel, printer at Philadelphia, 248 Keith, George, his _Appeal from the Twenty-eight Judges_, 248 Kerver, Thielmann, _Horae_, 156 Ketham, Johannes, _Fascicolo di Medicina_, illustrated, 129 Kipling, R., contribution to a school magazine, 8 Knoblochtzer, H., Strassburg printer, 60; illustrated books, 111 Köbel, Jakob, printer at Oppenheim, 193 Koberger, Anton, largest Nuremberg printer, 63; illustrated books, 108, 183 Koelhoff, Johann, father and son, printers at Cologne, 113 Kyngston, Felix, English bookseller, patentee for Irish printing, 243 Kyrforth, Samuel, Oxford printer, 224 Laer, John, of Siberch. _See_ Siberch La Fontaine, Jean, illustrated editions of his _Fables_ and _Contes_, 290 _sq._ Laing, David, on the Bruges _Des cas des nobles hommes_, 271 La Marche, Olivier de, illustrations to his _Chevalier Délibéré_, 122, 147, 149, 263 Lambeth Palace, printing at, 234 Lant, Thomas, engraver, 282 La Rochelle, Marprelate tract printed at, 228 Laud, Archbishop, benefactions to libraries, 5 Lauer, Georg, early printer at Rome, 68 Le Bey, Denis, his Emblems, 280 Leeu, Gerard, printer at Gouda and Antwerp, 72; colophon recording his death quoted, 81; sells cuts to Koelhoff, 113, 120; his illustrated books, 119 _sq._; English books printed by, 229 _sq._ Legate, John, Cambridge printer, 235 Legge, Cantrell, Cambridge printer, 235 Le Huen, Nicole, his adaptation of _Breidenbach_, 161, 270 Leipzig printing, 64, 169; book-illustrations, 116 Lekpreuit, Robert, Scottish printer, 241 Lemberger, Georg, bookwork at Wittenberg, 190 Le Rouge, Pierre, prints for Vérard, 150 Leroy, Guil., first printer at Lyon, 71; illustrated books, 158 _sq._ Le Signerre, Guil., illustrated books, 141 Le Talleur, Guil., printer at Rouen, prints for Pynson, 211 _sq._ Lettou, John, first printer in the City of London, 77, 210, 252 Leyden, printing at, 176, 177 Lignamine, Joh. Phil. de, on the invention of printing, 34; his own press, 68 Lirer, Thomas, _Chronik_, illustrated ed., 107 Lisa, Gerard, first printer at Treviso, 67 _sq._, 70 Locatellus, Bonetus, Venice printer, 69 Locker-Lampson, F., his copy of Blake's _Songs of Innocence and Experience_, 11 London, printing in the City of, 77 Longus, _Daphnis et Chloé_, 290 Louvain, early printing at, 73; book-illustration, 122; English books, 232 Lownes, Matthew, English bookseller, patentee for Irish printing, 243 Lübeck early printing, 64; book-illustration at, 113 _sq._ Lucrece, Berthelet's device of, 259 Lutzelburger, Hans, Holbein's wood-cutter, 192 Luyken, Jan and Casper, engravers, 289 Lydgate, John, woodcut of, 257. For his _Falles of Pryncis_, see Boccaccio, _De Casibus_ Lyne, John, engraver, 282 Lyon, printing at, 71, 171, 173 _sq._; illustration, 157-61, 202 Macfarlane, John, monograph on Antoine Vérard, 147 Machlinia, William, printer at London, 77, 210, 252 Madan, Falconer, on Oxford printing, 236 Magdeburg early printing, 64 Mainz, printing as a practical art invented at, 44-58; book-illustration, 114 _sq._ Malborow in the land of Hesse, doubtful imprint, 231 Malermi Bible. _See_ Bible, Italian Malone, E., bequeaths books to the Bodleian, 5 Mansion, Colard, Bruges printer, 72, 122, 205 _sq._, 271 _sq._ Manutius, Aldus, his work, 166-8; large roman type, 90; italic octavos, 91, 167, 196; _Hypnerotomachia_, 131 _sq._; Lyonnese counterfeits of his octavos, 173 -- -- the younger, 168 -- Paulus, 168 Marchant, Gui., illustrated books, 145 Margaret Duchess of Burgundy, Caxton's patron, 204, 272 -- Duchess of Richmond, woodcut of her funeral, 255 Margins, right proportions, 97 Marprelate press, 228 Marsh, Archbishop, library founded by, 4-5 Marshall, William, engraver, 286 _sqq._ Mary, Princess, daughter of Henry VII, woodcut of her reception of Spanish Embassy, 257 Master and Pupil, method of depicting, 135 and note Maximilian, the Emperor, illustrated books in his honour, 182 _sq._, 185 _sq._, 188 _sq._ Maynyal, George, prints service-books for Caxton, 229 Mentelin, Johann, first printer at Strassburg, 60; manuscript colophon of, 91 _sq._ Merrymount Press, Boston (Mass.), 308 Middelburg, English books printed at, 232 Milan early printing, 68 _sq._; book-illustration, 125, 141 Miller, W. H., character of his collection, 6 Millet, Jacques, illustrations to his _Destruction de Troye la Grant_, 144, 158, 198 Milton, John, portrait by Marshall, 288 _Mirabilia Romæ_, block-book, 28 Misprinted dates at Barcelona, 75; at Oxford, 209 Mitchell, John. _See_ Mychell Molière, François, illustrations to, 290, 293 Molner, Theodoricus, confused with Theod. Rood, 209 Mondovi, good roman type, 89 Montanus, Arias, relations with Plantin, 275 _sq._ Monte Regio, Johannes de. _See_ Müller Montesquieu, _Le Temple de Gnide_, 290, 293 Moore, Bishop, fate of his books, 4 Moreau, French illustrator, 292 Morris, William, admired Subiaco type, 88; on the double page as the unit in a book, 98; on the illustrator of Caoursin, 108; his set of proofs of Richel's _Spiegel_, 109 note; his decorative bookwork, 126; the Kelmscott press, 304 _sq._ Moxon, Joseph, his _Mechanick Exercises_, 298 Müller, Johann, his Calendars, 27, 125; his work as a printer, 108 Musurus, Marcus, Aldus copies his Greek script, 167 Mutius Scaevola, border representing, 256 Mychell (or Mitchell), John, printer at Canterbury and London, 227 Myllar, Andrew, first Scottish printer, 239 Mylner, Ursyn, York printer, 225 N, woodcuts signed, 128 Naples early printing, 70; book-illustration, 124 Negker, Andrea and Jost de, wood-cutters, 188 Neobar, Conrad, printer of Greek, 172 Netherlands. _See_ Holland; Belgium _Neuf Preux_, Les, French block-book, 29 Neumeister, Johann, printer at Foligno, Mainz, Albi, etc., 114 Newcastle, printing at, 236 _sq._; New Testament, Tyndale's, 231; Eliot's, 246 Niclas, Hendrik, his books printed at Amsterdam, 232 Nitschewitz, Hermann, _Psalterium B.M.V._, 117 Norwich, Dutch books printed at, 233; other printing at, 238 Notary, Julyan, early printer at London, 77, 213 _sq._, 222 Nuremberg, printing at, 63, 169; book-illustration at, 108, 116 _sq._, 181-4, 193 _Nuremberg Chronicle. See_ Schedel _Nut-Brown Maid_, the earliest text in Arnold's _Chronicle_, 230 Ogilby, John, illustrated books, 289 O'Kearney, John, Irish printing by, 243 _Opera nova contemplativa_, Venetian block-book, 20 _sq._, 29 Oppenheim, book-decoration at, 193 Ortuin and Schenck, printers of _Roman de la Rose_, 160 Os, Pieter van, early printer at Zwolle, 72 Ostendorfer, Michael, illustrations by, 190 Oswen, John, printer at Ipswich and Worcester, 229 _sq._ Overton, John, printer (?) at Ipswich, 226 Ovid, illustrations to his _Metamorphoses_, 292 Oxford, printing at, 76, 209, 224, 234 _sqq._, 252, 302 _sq._ Pacini, Piero and Bernardo, publishers of illustrated books at Florence, 139 Paderborn, Johann. _See_ Westphalia, John of Palmart, Lambert, first printer in Spain, 75, 78, 89 Paper, made at Hertford, 212; Tottell seeks a monopoly for making, 220 Paris, printing in, 70 _sqq._, 171 _sqq._; book-illustration, 143-56, 197-201, 289-93 Parker, Archbishop, his efforts to rescue old books, 2; patron of John Day, 219; and of Bynneman, 220; his _De Antiquitate Brit. Eccl._ perhaps printed at Lambeth, 219, 234; engraved portrait, 282 Parma, Baskerville's press at, 300 Passe family, engravers, 286, 288 _Passio domini nostri Jesu Christi_, Venetian block-book, 28, 123 Paulirinus, Paulinus, on the word _ciripagus_, 43 Pavia, book-illustration at, 141 Peartree, Montagu, article on possible portrait of Caxton, 273 Pepwell, Henry, London printer, 216 Pepys, S., bequest of his books, 5 Petrarca, F., illustrated editions of his _Trionfi_, 127, 139 Petri, Johann, early printer at Florence, 67 Pfister, Albrecht, printer of illustrated books at Bamberg, 19, 32, 51, 59 Philadelphia, first printing at, 247 Philippe, Regent of France, engraved illustrations to Longus, 290 Phillipps, Sir Thomas, private printing by, 239 Pigouchet, Philippe, prints _Le Chasteau de Labeur_, 150; his _Horae_, 154 Pinder, Ulrich, private press at Nuremberg, 184 Pine, John, engraver, 294 _sqq._ Plantin, Christopher, printer at Antwerp, 175 _sq._; woodcut illustration, 202 _sq._; engraved, 274 _sqq._ Plateanus, Theodoricus (Dirick van der Straten), printer at Wesel, 226 Plates, troubles arising from in books, 267 Pleydenwurff, Wilhelm, book-illustrations by, 116 Poitiers, early printing at, 72 Polidori, Gaetano, his private press, 239 Pope, erasure of the word, 260 Popish apparel, Puritan tracts against, 232 "Poppy-printer" of Lübeck, 114 Porro, Girolamo, engraves plates for _Orlando Furioso_, 277, 283 Powell, Humphrey, English printer in Dublin, 242 Printing, changes in the primacy of, 16, 169, 170, 177; invention of, 32-58; early progress of, in various countries, 59-82; its technical development, 83-99; in the sixteenth century, 165-79; in England, 204-23; in the provinces of England, 224-8, 233-8; on the Continent for the English market, 229-33; private, 238 _sq._; in Scotland, 239 _sqq._; in Ireland, 242 _sq._; in the English colonies in America, 243 _sqq._ Private presses in England, 238 _sq._, 303 _sqq._ Proctor, Robert, found beauty in all incunabula, 10, 39; classification of them, 12; Greek type, 176, 307 Provincial printing in England, 9, 76, 208 _sq._, 224-7, 234-8 Prüss, Johann, of Strassburg, illustrated books, 111, 162 Psalms, the New England version of the, 244 _sq._ Psalter, Latin, of 1457, 54, 83; of 1459, 55; cost of writing and illuminating a manuscript, 84 Ptolemy, _Cosmographia_ (or _Geographia_), illustrated editions of, 66, 107 Pynson, R., number of copies in his editions, 21; work as a printer, 211, 212 _sq._, 222; book-illustrations, 255-9 Quarles, Francis, _Hieroglyphikes of the Life of Man_, 287 Quentell, Heinrich, of Cologne, his illustrated books, 113; his Bible cuts copied, 112, 114, 126, 128 Quinterniones, a name for manuscripts, 94 Quire, origin of the word, 94 Quiring in old books, 94 _sqq._; collection by, 96 _sq._ R-printer, the, of Strassburg, 60 _Rappresentazioni_, illustrated Florentine editions, 138 Rarity, effect on value of books, 7 _sq._ Rastell, John, lawyer-printer, 215, 222, 258 -- William, printed English plays, 215 Ratdolt, Erhard, early printer at Venice, 69; titlepage to his Calendar, 93; his decorative work at Venice, 125 _sq._; at Augsburg, 106; colour-printing by, 129 Rawlinson, Richard, gives manuscripts to the Bodleian, 5 Raynold, Thomas, his ed. of the _Birth of Mankind_, 280 _Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_, 206, 254; engraving in Chatsworth copy of Caxton's, 272 Redman, Robert, Pynson's successor, 216, 222 Red printing, difficulty of, 86, 228 _sq._; colophons in, 92 Regiomontanus. _See_ Müller Reinhard, Johann. _See_ Grüninger Retza, Fran. de, block-book of his _Defensorium_, 27 Reuwich, Erhard, illustrator of Breidenbach's _Peregrinatio_, 108, 115 _sq._ Reyser, Georg, first Würzburg printer, 64, 269 _sq._ -- Michel, first Eichstätt printer, 64, 269 _sq._ Rheims, English Catholic books printed at, 232 Richard III, Statute permitting free importation of books into England, 209, 222 Richard, Thomas, printer at Tavistock, 226 Richel, Bernhard, early printer at Basel, his illustrated books, 109, 158 Ricketts, Charles, the Vale Press books, 307 Rodericus Zamorensis, illustrated editions of his _Speculum Humanae Vitae_, 104, 159, 162 Rodlich, Hieronymus, his illustrated books, 193 Rogers, Bruce, fine printer, 308 -- William, engraver, 284, 287 Rolewinck, Werner, all his books printed by ther Hoernen, 62; Venice editions of his _Fasciculus Temporum_, 126; Seville ed., 161 Roman de la Rose, early editions of, 160 Roman type, 88-90 Rome, printing at, 65, 167; book-illustration at, 123, 268, 273, 276 Rome under the Castle of St. Angelo, spurious imprint, 233 Rood, Theodoricus, printer at Oxford, 76 Ross, John, Edinburgh printer, 242 Rouen early printing, 72, 146; English books, 225, 229 Ruppel, Berthold, of Hanau, Basel printer, 47, 60 Ruscelli, Jerononimo, his _Imprese_, 277 Rusch, Adolf, the R-printer, 60; roman type used by, 88 Rylands, W. H., engraver, 296 Ryther, Augustine, engraver, 282 Saint Albans, printing at, 76, 208, 224 _sq._, 253 Saint Andrews, printing at, 241 Saint Omer, English Catholic books printed at, 232 Saluzzo, book-illustration at, 141 Sanctis, Hieronymus de, wood-cutter and printer at Venice, 127 Sanderson, Cobden, fine printing by, 306 Sandys, George, _Relation of a Journey_, 285 Santritter, Johann, illustrator and printer at Venice, 127 Saragossa, early printing at, 75; illustration, 162 Sarum service-books mostly printed abroad, 229; their importation into Scotland forbidden, 240 Savonarola, Girolamo, illustrated editions of his tracts, 133 _sq._, 137 Savile, Sir Henry, his press at Eton, 234 Saxton, Christopher, maps by, 282 Sayle, C., his catalogue of English books in Cambridge University Library, 233 Schatzbehalter. _See_ Stephan Schaüfelein, Hans Leonhard, book-illustrations by, 184, 188 _sq._ Schedel, Hartmann, his _Liber Chronicarum_, 117 Schilders, Richard, English books printed by, 232 _sq._ Schoeffer, Johann, printer at Mainz, 58, 169 -- Peter, a witness on the side of Fust, 47; his share in the invention of printing, 50 _sq._; books printed by him, 53-8; his method of printing, 81-6, 95; his type, 90 Schön, Erhard, illustrations by, 183 Schreiber, W., his _Manuel de l'Amateur_, quoted, 24, 100 note, 114; his block-books, 31 Schwabacher type, 90 Scolar, Johannes, printer at Oxford, 224; and at Abingdon, 226 Scoloker, Anthony, printer at Ipswich and London, 226 Scot, John, Scottish printer, 240 _sq._ Scotland, printing in, 239-42 Secret printing in Elizabeth's reign, 228 Segar, Sir W., _Honour, Military and Civil_, 284 Selden, W., his books go to the Bodleian, 5 Sensenschmidt, Johann, first printer at Nuremberg, 63; his illustrated books, 108 Sessa, family of printers, illustrated books, 196 Seville, early printing at, 75; illustration, 161, 163 Shakespeare, First Folio, 8; illustrations to, 294 _sqq._ Shrewsbury, printing at, 237 _sq._ Siberch, John Laer of, first Cambridge printer, 225 _Sibyllenbuch_, early Mainz fragment of, 46 Sidney, Sir Philip, title-border to 1598 ed. of his _Arcadia_, 266; engraving of his funeral, 282 Siemen, illustrated books published at, 193 Signatures of artists or wood-cutters in Italian books, 128, 194; in German books, 194; in French books, 157, 159 Signatures (typographic), first used by Joh. Koelhoff, 62; their origin, 94; example of collation by, 96 Silber, Eucharius, printer at Rome, 169 Simon, "das süsses kind," woodcuts of his history, 103, 108 Small books, 214; stages in their popularity, 166, 173, 178 Smith, Richard, book-collector, 3 Solempne, Antony de, Dutch printer at Norwich, 233 Sorbonne, first Paris press at the, 70; roman type used at, 89; persecution of printers by its theologians, 174 Sorg, Anton, of Augsburg, illustrated books, 105 Spaces left blank for headings and capitals, 85; for illustrations, 143 Spain, early printing in, 74-6, 176 _sq._, 224; book-illustration, 161-4 Spanish Armada, engravings of, 282 _Speculum Humanae Saluationis_ partly block-printed, 26, 39; fate of the blocks, 40, 118; Augsburg ed. of, 103; Basel ed. of (in German), 109, 150; French ed. at Lyons, 158 _Speculum Humanae Vitae. See_ Rodericus Zamorensis _Speculum Vitae Christi_, Caxton's edition, 252 _sq._ Speier, early printing at, 63 -- Johann of, first printer at Venice, 66 sq., 89 -- Wendelin of, successor of Johann, 67, 89 Spenser, Edmund, woodcuts to his _Shepheardes Calender_, 265 Spindeler, Nic., illustrated books, 162 _sq._ Spoerer, Hans, block-books printed by, 25 Springinklee, Hans, illustrator, 183, 188 Stagninus, Bernardinus, his illustrated service-books, 195 Stanheim, Melchior, arbitrator on book-illustrating, 63, 103 Stationers' Company, 221 _sq._, 227, 233 _sq._ Steele, Robert, on English books printed abroad, 233 Stephan, P., _Schatzbehalter_, 116 Steyner, Hans, illustrated books by, 185, 187 Stillingfleet, Archbishop, fate of his library, 4 Stöffler, Hans, mathematical works by, curiously decorated, 189 Story, John, Edinburgh printer, 240 Strassburg, printing at, 59 _sq._, 169; book-illustration at, 112 _sqq._, 187, 190 _sq._ Straten, Dirick van der. _See_ Plateanus Strawberry Hill, Horace Walpole's press at, 238 Stuchs, G., Nuremberg printer, 63 Stule, Karolus, Edinburgh publisher, 240 Sturt, John, engraver, 294 _sq._ Subiaco, books printed at, 65 Sweynheym and Pannartz, number of copies in their editions, 21 note, 66; early reference to, 34; books printed by, 65 _sq._; their types, 88 -- Conrad, engraves maps for 1478 Ptolemy, 66, 268 Tacuinus, Joannes, Venice printer, 69 Tate, John, papermaker, 212 Taverner, John, London stationer, 222 Tavistock, printing at, 226 Terence, illustrated editions of, 107, 112, 131, 150, 160, 163, 213 Theramo, Jacobus de, illustrated editions of his _Belial_, 121 Ther Hoernen, Arnold, second Cologne printer, 62 Thomas, Thomas, Cambridge printer, 235 Thomas à Becket, erasure of the service for, 260 Tillier, Thomas, Chester printer, 237 Tin, types made of, 21 note Titlepage, early examples of, 62, 93, 210 Tortosa early printing, 75 Tory, Geoffroi, printer at Paris, 173; his _Horae_, 156 _sq._, 199 Tottell, Richard, London printer, 219 Tournes, Jean de, father and son, printers at Lyon, 174 Traut, Wolfgang, illustrator, 182, 188 Trechsel family of printers at Lyon, 160, 171, 174, 192 _sq._ Treviso, early printing at, 67 _sq._, 70 Tuberinus, his account of the death of "das susses kind Simon," 103, 108 Tübingen, book-decoration at, 189 Turberville, George, _Booke of Faulconrie_, 265 Turrecremata, Cardinal, illustrated editions of his _Meditationes_, 114, 123 Tyndale, W., editions of his New Testament, 231 Types, characteristics of, in early books, 86 _sq._ Ugo (VGO), woodcuts signed, 194 Ulm early printing, 63 _sq._; illustrated books, 106 _sqq._ Ungut and Polonus, illustrated books of, 163 United States of America, colonial printing in, 243-9; modern fine printing, 308 Updike, Berkeley, fine printer, 308 Usher, Archbishop, fate of his library, 4 Utrecht, "Costeriana" attributed to, 40, 72 Utterson, E. V., private printing by, 239 Valdarfer, Christopher, printer at Venice and Milan, 67 Valentia, early printing at, 74 _sq._; illustration, 162 Valturius, R., _De re militari_, Verona editions of, 123 _sq._; French version of, 200 Van der Gucht, Michael, engraver, 294 Vautrollier, Thomas, printer at London and Edinburgh, 221, 242 Vavassore, Giovanni Andrea, block-printed _Opera nova Contemplativa_ by, 21; woodcuts signed z.a., etc., by, 194 _sq._ Veldener, Jan, early printer at Louvain, Kuilenburg and Utrecht, 40, 73, 118, 119, 205 Venice early printing, 66 _sq._; book-illustration, 125-32, 194-7, 277 Vérard, Antoine, publisher at Paris, 147-50; his _Horae_, 151 _sq._; his English books, 230; his use of old cuts, 101, 148, 160 Vergetius, Angelus, French Royal Greek types designed by, 172 Verona early book-illustration, 123 _sq._ Villena, Marquis of, _Trabajos de Hercules_, 161 Vincent de Beauvais, his _Speculum_, 165 Violette, Pierre, Rouen printer, 225 Virgil, printed by B. Cennini, colophon quoted, 80; Grüninger's, 112; Leroy's, 158; Aldine, 167; first English, 226 _sq._; Ogilby's, 289; Baskerville's, 300 Virginia, early printing in, 249 Viterbo, good roman type, 89 Voltaire, edition of his works printed with Baskerville's type, 300 Vostre, Simon, books printed by Pigouchet for, 150, 154 _sqq._ Wächtlin, Johann, illustrator, 190 Waldegrave, Robert, prints Marprelate tracts, 228. _See_ prints at Edinburgh, 242 Wale, Samuel, illustrator, 296 Walker, Emery, expert in printing, 304 _sqq._ Walpole, Horace, private press, 238 Walther, F., and Hans Hurning, printers of a _Biblia Pauperum_, 25 Walton, Izaak, illustrations to his _Angler_, 296 Wandsforth, Gerard. _See_ Freez Wandsworth, secret press at, 228 Weiditz, Hans, illustrator, 186 _sq._ Wenssler, Michael, Basel printer, 60 _sq._ Wesel, Bale's _Catalogus_ printed there, 226 Westphalia, John of, early printer at Alost and Louvain, 73; used roman type, 89; his woodcut portrait, 119 White, John, his drawings of Virginia, 278 -- Robert., engraver, 289 Whittingham, Charles (uncle and nephew), printers, 302 _sq._ Wilcocks, William, gave commissions to Wynkyn de Worde, 210 Williams, Archbishop, gifts of books by, 5 Wilson, J. D., on English books printed abroad, 233 Winthrop, John, allusion to printing at Cambridge, Mass., 243 Wittenberg, printing at, 169; illustrations, 190 Wolfe, Reyner, Royal painter, 218, 259 Wolgemut, Michael, book-illustrator, 116 Woodcuts, early, their charm and distinctiveness, 15 Worde, Wynkyn de, on Caxton's printing the _De proprietatibus_, 214 _sq._; on the St. Alban's printer, 208; on _Fishing with an Angle_, 209 note; his work as a printer, 211 _sq._; his assessment, 222; book-illustrations, 253 _sq._ Würzburg, early printing at, 64 -- Missals, engravings in, 270 Wyer, Robert, London printer, 222 Ximenes, Cardinal, Polyglott Bible, 176 York, printing at, 225, 236 _sqq._ z.a., z.A., woodcuts signed, 194 Zainer, Günther, first Augsburg printer, 62 _sq._; used roman type, 88; his illustrated books, 103 -- Johann, first Ulm printer, 63; used roman type, 88; his illustrated books, 106 Zarotus, Antonius, first printer at Milan, 68, 70 Zell, Ulrich, his story of the invention of printing, 35; the first printer at Cologne, 61 Zenger, Joh. Peter, New York printer, 248 Zinna, the _Psalterium B.V.M._ printed at, 117 Zoan Andrea. _See_ Vavassore, 194 Zurich, English books printed at, 231 _sq._ Zwolle early printing, 72; book-illustrations at, 122 PRINTED BY WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. PLYMOUTH 
44890	----	THE PRINTED BOOK, Its History, Illustration, and Adornment, _FROM THE DAYS OF GUTENBERG TO THE PRESENT TIME._ BY HENRI BOUCHOT, OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY, PARIS. _Translated and Enlarged by_ EDWARD C. BIGMORE. WITH ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS OF FACSIMILES OF EARLY TYPOGRAPHY, PRINTERS' MARKS, COPIES OF BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, AND SPECIMENS OF BINDINGS OF ALL AGES. NEW YORK: SCRIBNER AND WELFORD, 743 and 745, BROADWAY. 1887. PREFACE. Considering that this short study can claim to be nothing more than a rapid and somewhat summary survey of the history of THE BOOK, it eschews all controversial matter, nor does it pretend to convey much fresh information to those already possessing a special knowledge of the subject. It is rather a condensed, but at the same time, it may be hoped, a useful, compendium of the thousand unknown or now forgotten essays, involving endless contradictory statements, that have been issued on this theme. The mere enumeration of such works would simply suffice to fill a volume. We have accordingly no intention to attempt a bibliography, satisfying ourselves with the modest avowal of having found so many documents in all languages, that the very abundance has been at least as embarrassing to us as the lack of materials may have been to others. The Book appealing in its present form to a special public interested more in artistic than in purely typographical topics, our attention has been more particularly given to the illustrators, the designers, engravers, etchers, and so forth. Such graphic embellishment seemed to us of more weight than the manufacture of the paper, the type-casting, the printing properly so called. This technical aspect of the subject has been very briefly dealt with in a separate chapter, and has also been enlarged upon in the early section. To the binding also we have devoted only a single chapter, while fully conscious that a whole volume would not have sufficed merely to treat the subject superficially. At the same time, we would not have the reader conclude from all this that our book abounds in omissions, or has overlooked any important features. The broad lines, we trust, have been adhered to, while each section has been so handled as to give a fair idea of the epoch it deals with. This is the first attempt to comprise within such narrow limits an art and an industry with a life of over four centuries, essaying to describe its beginnings and its history down to our days, without omitting a glance at the allied arts. The engravings selected for illustration have, as far as possible, been taken from unedited materials, and have been directly reproduced by mechanical processes, while fifteen new illustrations, having special relation to the history of the Book in England, have been added to this edition, which is also considerably enlarged in the text on the same subject. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE 14.. TO 1462 1 Origin of the Book--Engravers in relief--The St. Christopher of 1423--Origin of the Xylographs--The Xylographs, _Donatus_, and _Speculum_--The Laurent Coster legend--From block books to movable characters--John Gaensefleisch, called Gutenberg--The Strasbourg trial--Gutenberg at Mayence--Fust and Schoeffer--The letters of indulgence--The Bible--The "Catholicon"--The Mayence Bible--Causes of the dispersion of the first Mayence printers--General considerations. CHAPTER II. 1462 TO 1500 33 The Book and the printers of the second generation--The German workmen dispersed through Europe--Caxton and the introduction of printing into England--Nicholas Jenson and his supposed mission to Mayence--The first printing in Paris; William Fichet and John Heinlein--The first French printers; their installation at the Sorbonne and their publications--The movement in France--The illustration of the Book commenced in Italy--The Book in Italy; engraving in relief and metal plates--The Book in Germany: Cologne, Nuremberg, Basle--The Book in the Low Countries--French schools of ornament of the Book; Books of Hours; booksellers at the end of the fifteenth century--Literary taste in titles in France at the end of the fifteenth century--Printers and booksellers' marks--The appearance of the portrait in the Book--Progress in England--Caxton and his followers. CHAPTER III. 1500 TO 1600 98 French epics and the Renaissance--Venice and Aldus Manutius--Italian illustrators--The Germans; _Theuerdanck_, Schäufelein--The Book in other countries--French books at the beginning of the century, before the accession of Francis I.--Geoffroy Tory and his works--Francis I. and the Book--Robert Estienne--Lyons a centre of bookselling; Holbein's Dances of Death--School of Basle--Alciati's emblems and the illustrated books of the middle of the century--The school of Fontainebleau and its influence--Solomon Bernard--Cornelis de la Haye and the _Promptuaire_--John Cousin--Copper plate engraving and metal plates--Woériot--The portrait in the Book of the sixteenth century--How a book was illustrated on wood at the end of the century--Influence of Plantin on the Book; his school of engravers--General considerations--Progress in England--Coverdale's Bible--English printers and their work--Engraved plates in English books. CHAPTER IV. 1600 TO 1700 151 Tendencies of the regency of Marie de Medicis--Thomas de Leu and Leonard Gaultier--J. Picart and Claude Mellan--Lyons and J. de Fornazeris--The Book at the beginning of the seventeenth century in Germany, Italy, and Holland--Crispin Pass in France--The Elzevirs and their work in Holland--Sebastian Cramoisy and the Imprimerie Royale--Illustration with Callot, Della Bella, and Abraham Bosse--The publishers and the Hotel de Rambouillet--The reign of Louis XIV.; Antoine Vitré syndic at his accession--His works and mortifications; the Polyglot Bible of Le Jay--Art and illustrators of the grand century--Sébastien Leclerc, Lepautre, and Chauveau--Leclerc preparing the illustration and decoration of the Book for the eighteenth century--The Book in England in the seventeenth century. CHAPTER V. THE BOOK IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 184 The regency--Publishers at the beginning of the eighteenth century--Illustrators in France; Gillot--The school of Watteau and Boucher--Cars--The younger Cochin; his principal works in vignettes--French art in England; Gravelot--Eisen--Choffard--The _Baisers_ of Dorat; the _Contes_ of La Fontaine--The publisher Cazin and the special literature of the eighteenth century--The younger Moreau and his illustrations--The Revolution--The school of David--Duplessis-Bertaux--The Book in Germany; Chodowiecki--In England; Boydell and French artists--Caslon and Baskerville--English books with illustrations--Wood engraving in the eighteenth century; the Papillons--Printing offices in the eighteenth century. CHAPTER VI. THE BOOK IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 218 The Didots and their improvements--The folio Racine--The school of Didot--Fine publications in England and Germany--Literature and art of the Restoration--Romanticism--Wood engraving--Bewick's pupils, Clennell, etc.--The illustrators of romances--The generation of 1840--The Book in our days in Europe and America. CHAPTER VII. TYPES, IMPRESSION, PAPER, INK 239 CHAPTER VIII. BOOKBINDING 253 The binding of the first printed books--Ancient German bindings--Binding in the time of Louis XII.--Italian bindings--Aldus--Maioli--Grolier--Francis I.--Henry II. and Diane de Poitiers--Catherine de Medicis--Henry III.--The Eves--The "fanfares"--Louis XIII.--Le Gascon--Florimond Badier--Louis XIV.--Morocco leathers--Cramoisy--The bindings of the time of Louis XIV.--The regency--Pasdeloup--The Deromes--Dubuisson--Thouvenin--Lesné--The nineteenth century--English binders--Roger Payne--Francis Bedford. CHAPTER IX. LIBRARIES 290 INDEX 305 THE PRINTED BOOK. CHAPTER I. 14.. TO 1462. Origin of the Book--Engravers in relief--The St. Christopher of 1423--Origin of the Xylographs--The Xylographs, _Donatus_, and _Speculum_--The Laurent Coster legend--From block books to movable characters--John Gaensefleisch, called Gutenberg--The Strasbourg trial--Gutenberg at Mayence--Fust and Schoeffer--The letters of indulgence--The Bible--The Catholicon--The Mayence Bible--Causes of the dispersion of the first Mayence printers--General considerations. Like its forerunner, Painting, the Book has ever been the most faithful reflection of the times when it was written and illustrated. Natural and genuine from the first, and simply embellished with crude illustrations, it assumed in the sixteenth century the grand airs of the Renaissance, gay or serious according to circumstances, decked in what were then called _histoires_--that is to say, wonderful engravings--and daintily printed in Gothic, Roman, or choice Italic characters. But at the close of the century it had already abandoned _wood_ for line engravings, heightening its mysticism or its satire at the whim of passing politics and religious wranglings. Then, under the influence of the painters and courtiers of the _Grand Monarque_, it becomes completely transformed, donning the peruke, so to speak, indulging in allegory and conventionalities, pompous and showy, tricking itself out in columns and pilasters instead of the old arabesques and scroll work of the Renaissance, thus continuing amid the coquetries of the regency, the pastorals and insipidities of the following reigns, until at last it suddenly assumes with the heroes of the Revolution the austere mien and airs of classic art. The Book has always been as closely connected with the manners of our predecessors as art itself. The artist submits more than he thinks to the tendency of his surroundings; and if he at times makes his taste appreciated, it is because he has more or less received his first influence from others. In the sixteenth century the fashion of emblematic representation placed under the portrait of Gaston de Foix a figure of a young plant in full bloom; and the inscription in Latin was "Nascendo maturus"--"Mature at birth." The Book deserves the same device; from its first day up to now it is a marvel of simplicity and harmony. The tentative efforts which preceded the discovery of printing were but few; it may be said that from the moment that Gutenberg conceived the idea of separating the characters, of arranging the words in the forme, of inking them, and of taking a proof on paper, the Book was perfect. At best we see in following times some modifications of detail; the art of printing was mature, mature from its birth. But before arriving at the movable type placed side by side, and forming phrases, which appears to us to-day so simple and so ordinary, many years passed. It is certain that long before Gutenberg a means was found of cutting wood and metal in relief and reproducing by application the image traced. Signs-manual and seals were a kind of printing, inasmuch as the relief of their engraving is impressed upon a sheet by the hand. But between this simple statement and the uncritical histories of certain special writers, attributing the invention of engraving to the fourteenth century, there is all the distance of legendary history. Remembering that the numerous guilds of _tailleurs d'images_, or sculptors in relief, had in the Middle Ages the specialty of carving ivories and of placing effigies on tombs, it can be admitted without much difficulty, that these people one day found a means of multiplying the sketches of a figure often asked for, by modelling its contour in relief on ivory or wood, and afterwards taking a reproduction on paper or parchment by means of pressure. When and where was this discovery produced? We cannot possibly say; but it is certain that playing cards were produced by this means, and that from the year 1423 popular figures were cut in wood, as we know from the St. Christopher of that date belonging to Lord Spencer. It is not our task to discuss this question at length, nor to decide if at first these reliefs were obtained on wood or metal. It is a recognised fact that the single sheet with a printed figure preceded the xylographic book in which text and illustration were cut in the same block. This process did not appear much before the second quarter of the fifteenth century, and it was employed principally for popular works which were then the universal taste. The engraving also was nothing more than a kind of imposition palmed off as a manuscript; the vignettes were often covered with brilliant colours and gold, and the whole sold as of the best quality. The first attempts at these little figures in relief discovered by the image-makers and diffused by the makers of playing cards were but indifferent. The drawing and the cutting were equally unskilful, as may be seen in the facsimiles given by M. H. Delaborde in his _Histoire de la Gravure_. An attempt had been made to put some text at the foot of the St. Christopher of 1423, and the idea of giving more importance to the text was to the advantage of the booksellers. At the mercy of the writers who fleeced them, obliged to recoup themselves by the exaggerated prices of the most ordinary books, they hoped to turn engraving to account in order to obtain on better terms the technical work needed for their trade. At the epoch of the St. Christopher, in 1423, several works were in vogue in the universities, the schools, and with the public. Among the first of these was the Latin Syntax of Ælius Donatus on the eight parts of speech, a kind of grammar for the use of young students, as well as the famous _Speculum_, a collection of precepts addressed to the faithful, which were copied and recopied without satisfying the demand. [Illustration: Fig. 1.--Part of a _Donatus_ taken from a xylograph, the original of which is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale.] To find a means of multiplying these treatises at little cost was a fortune to the inventor. It is to be supposed that many artisans of the time attempted it; and without doubt it was the booksellers themselves, mostly mere dealers, who were tempted to the adventure by the sculptors and wood-cutters. But none had yet been so bold as to cut in relief a series of blocks with engravings and text to compose a complete work. That point was reached very quickly when some legend was engraved at the foot of a vignette, and it may be thought that the _Donatus_ was the most ancient of books so obtained among the "Incunabuli," as we now call them, a word that signifies origin or cradle. The first books then were formed of sheets of paper or parchment, laboriously printed from xylographic blocks, that is to say wooden blocks on which a _tailleur d'images_ had left in relief the designs and the letters of the text. He had thus to trace his characters in reverse, so that they could be reproduced as written; he had to avoid faults, because a phrase once done, well or ill, lasted. It was doubtless this difficulty of correction that gave the idea of movable types. If the cutter seriously erred, it was necessary to cancel altogether the faulty block. This at least explains the legend of Laurent Coster, of Haarlem, who, according to Hadrian Junius, his compatriot, discovered by accident the secret of separate types while playing with his children. And if the legend of which we speak contains the least truth, it must be found in the sense above indicated, that is in the correction of faults, rather than in the innocent game of a merchant of Haarlem. However, we shall have occasion to return to the subject of these remarks. It should be well established that engraving in relief on wood alone gave the idea of making xylographic blocks and of composing books. Movable type, the capital point of printing, the pivot of the art of the Book, developed itself little by little, according to needs, when there was occasion to correct an erroneous inscription; but, in any case, its origin is unknown. Doubtless to vary the text, means were found to replace entire phrases by other phrases, preserving the original figures; and thus the light dawned upon these craftsmen, occupied in the manufacture and sale of their books. According to Hadrian Junius, Laurent Janszoon Coster (the latter name signifying "the discoverer") published one of the celebrated series of works under the general title of _Speculum_ which was then so popular (the mystic style exercising so great an attraction on the people of the fifteenth century), the _Speculum Humanæ Salvationis_. Written before the middle of the fifteenth century, made popular by manuscripts, in spite of its fantastic Latinity and of its false quantities, this ascetic and crude poem was easy of access to the xylographists. Junius, as we see, attributes to Laurent Coster the first impression of the _Speculum_, no longer the purely xylographic impression of the _Donatus_ from an engraved block, but that of the more advanced manner in movable types. In point of fact, this book had at least four editions, similar in engravings and body of letters, but of different text. It must then be admitted that the fount was dispersed, and typography discovered, because the same cast of letters could not be adapted to different languages. On the other hand, the vignettes do not change, indicating sufficiently the mobility of the types. In comparison to what may be seen in later works, the illustrations of the _Speculum_ are by no means bad; they have the appearance, at once naïve and picturesque, of the works of Van Eyck, and not at all of the style of the German miniaturists; properly illuminated and gilded, they lent themselves to the illusion of being confounded with the _histoyres_, drawn by the hand, and this is what the publisher probably sought. All the xylographic works of the fifteenth century may be classed in two categories: the xylographs, rightly so called, or the block books, such as the _Donatus_, and the books with movable types, like the _Speculum_, of which we speak. This mystic and simple literature of pious works for the use of people of modest resources found in printing the means of more rapid reproduction. Then appeared the _Biblia Pauperum_, one of the most celebrated and the most often reproduced, and the _Ars Moriendi_, a kind of dialogue between an angel and a devil at the bedside of a dying person, which, inspired no doubt by older manuscripts, retained for a long time in successive editions the first tradition of its designs. On labels displayed among the figures are found inscribed the dialogue of the demons and angels seeking to attach to themselves the departing soul, the temptations of Satan on the subject of faith, and the responses of the angel on the same subject. [Illustration: Fig. 2.--Xylographic figure from the _Ars Moriendi_, copied in reverse in the _Art au Morier_.] We can see what developments this theme could lend to the mysticism of the fifteenth century. Composed in eleven designs, the _Ars Moriendi_ ran up to eight different editions. From the middle to the end of the fifteenth century, the text was in Latin, then in French, under the title _L'Art au Morier_. In the French edition will be found the blocks that served for the second impression of the work. About 1480, more than fifty years after the first essays, the _Ars Moriendi_ enjoyed so much vogue that it employed all the resources of typography as much as in its earliest days. The original subjects, copied in a very mediocre manner, adorned the text, which was composed in Gothic letters, with a new and more explicit title: _Tractatus brevis ac valde utilis de Arte et Scientia bene moriendi_ (4to, s.l.n.d.), but the order is inverted, figure 5 of the xylograph becoming No. 3 of the edition of 1480. The _Ars Memorandi_, another xylographic work, of which the subject, taken from the New Testament, was equally well adapted to the imagination of the artists, had also a glorious destiny. The work originally comprised thirty blocks, the fifteen blocks of text facing the fifteen engravings. The designs represented the attributes of each of the Evangelists, with allegories and explanatory legends. Thus, in that which relates to the Apostle Matthew, No. 1 represents the birth and genealogy of Jesus Christ, No. 2 the offerings of the Magi, No. 3 the baptism of St. John, No. 4 the Temptation of Christ, No. 5 the Sermon on the Mount, No. 6 the parable of the birds. The angel that supports the whole is the emblem of St. Matthew the Evangelist. [Illustration: Fig. 3.--Figure of the school of Martin Schongauer, taken from the _Rationarium Evangelistarum_ of 1505, and copied from the corresponding plate of the _Ars Memorandi_.] This mnemonic treatment of the Gospels began with symbols of which we have no means of finding the origin, but which without doubt were employed many centuries earlier. However that may be, their success was as great as that of the already-quoted works. In 1505 a German publisher put forth an imitation, under the title of _Rationarium Evangelistarum_; and this time the copier of the illustrations, retaining the tradition of the first xylographers, no less reveals an artist of the first order, at least a pupil of Martin Schongauer. Some of the conceptions of the _Rationarium_ recall exactly the engravings of the great German master, among others that of the Infant Jesus (plate 12), which nearly approaches the style of the Infant Jesus of Schongauer; besides, the principal figures leave but little doubt on the subject. The same wings are on the angels and on the eagles, the same coiffures on the human characters, often the same attitudes. From the preceding can be judged the extraordinary favour these productions enjoyed. From their origin they were diffused through the whole of Europe, and attracted the attention of excellent artists. Nevertheless their beginnings were difficult. The movable types used, cut separately in wood, were not constituted to give an ideal impression. We can understand the cost that the execution of these characters must have occasioned, made as they were one by one without the possibility of ever making them perfectly uniform. Progress was to substitute for this irregular process types that were similar, identical, easily produced, and used for a long time without breaking. Following on the essays of Laurent Coster, continuous researches bore on this point; but as the invention was said to be his, and it being of importance to him not to divulge it, so that he should not lose his profit, much time was lost over it in his workshop without much success. Here history is somewhat confused. Hadrian Junius positively accuses one of Laurent Coster's workmen of having stolen the secrets of his master and taken flight to Mayence, where he afterwards founded a printing office. According to Junius, the metal type was the discovery of the Dutchman, and the name of the thief was John. Who was this John? Was it John Gaensefleisch, called Gutenberg, or possibly John Fust? But it is not at all apparent that Gutenberg, a gentleman of Mayence, exiled from his country, was ever in the service of the Dutch inventor. As to Fust, we believe his only intervention in the association of printers of Mayence was as a money-lender, from which may be comprehended the unlikelihood of his having been with Coster, the more so as we find Gutenberg retired to Strasbourg, where he pursued his researches. There he was, as it were, out of his sphere, a ruined noble whose great knowledge was bent entirely on invention. Doubtless, like many others, he may have had in his hands one of the printed works of Laurent Coster, and conceived the idea of appropriating the infant process. In 1439 he was associated with two artisans of the city of Strasbourg, ostensibly in the fabrication of mirrors, which may be otherwise understood as printing of _Speculums_, the Latin word signifying the same thing. These men needed to surround themselves with precautions; printing was as yet only a practical means of multiplying manuscripts, to impose a little on the innocent, and fortune awaited him who, without saying anything, made this invention serve him. The following will prove this, as well as its tendency. A legal document discovered in 1760 by Wencker and Schoepflin in the Pfennigthurm of Strasbourg, and afterwards translated into French by M. Leon de Laborde, makes us at length acquainted with the work of Gutenberg and of his associates Andrew Dritzehen and Andrew Heilmann. Apparently these three men were, as we have said, _Spiegelmacher_, that is makers of mirrors. They had jointly entered into a deed by the terms of which, if one of the partners died in the course of their researches, his heirs would have no rights beyond an indemnity corresponding to the amount invested by him. It happened that Andrew Dritzehen did die, and that one of his brothers aspired to occupy his place in the partnership. The dead man left debts behind him; he had squandered his florins by hundreds in his experiments. Gutenberg having offered to pay the amounts expended, the heirs of Dritzehen, who wanted more, summoned him before the courts to show why he should not make place for them in the work of experiments and making of mirrors. The witnesses in their testimony before the court told what they knew of the inventions of the partnership. One among them deposed that after the death of Dritzehen, Gutenberg's servant went to the workshop and begged Nicholas Dritzehen, brother of the deceased, to displace and break up four formes placed in a press. A second testified that the works of Andrew had cost him at the least three hundred florins, an enormous sum for those days. Other witnesses painted Gutenberg in a curious light: they made him out to be a savage, a hermit, who concealed from his associates certain arts of which the deed stipulated nothing. One fact proved that the experiments referred to the manufacture of metallic characters. A goldsmith, named Dünne, maintained that he had received more than a hundred florins for printing material "das zu dem trucken gehoret." "Trucken!"--"Typography!" The word was found, and from that day usage has consecrated it. Before 1439, then, John Gaensefleisch, or Gutenberg, was devoted to the art of reproduction of texts, and had consecrated his life and feeble resources to it. Three problems presented themselves to him. He wanted types less fragile than wooden types and less costly than engraving. He wanted a press by the aid of which he could obtain a clear impression on parchment or paper. He desired also that the leaves of his books should not be anopistograph, or printed only on one side. There were many unknown things to vex his soul, of which he himself alone could have a presentiment. Until then, and even long after, the xylographs were printed _au frotton_ or with a brush, rubbing the paper upon the forme coated with ink, thicker than ordinary ink. He dreamed of something better. In the course of his work John Gutenberg returned to Mayence. The idea of publishing a Bible, the Book of books, had taken possession of his heart. The _Spiegelmacher_ of Strasbourg was on the road to loss. The cutting of his types had ruined him, and on his arrival in his native town, his stock in trade, transported by him, was of no great weight: some boxes of type, an inconvenient forme, and perhaps an ordinary press, a wine-maker's press, with a wooden screw. The idea of using this unwieldy instrument for the impression of his formes had already occurred to him; but would not the _frotton_ serve still better? The force of the blow from the bar would break the miserable type, the raised parts of which could not resist the repeated strokes. In this unhappy situation, Gutenberg made the acquaintance of a financier of Mayence, named Fust, who was in search of a business, and who put a sum of eleven hundred florins at his disposal to continue his experiments. Unfortunately this money disappeared, it melted away, and the results obtained were absolutely ludicrous. It is certain that John Fust did not enter on the engagement without protecting himself. From the first he bound his debtor in a contract for six per cent. interest, besides a share in the profits. In addition he stipulated repayment in case of failure. Gutenberg, improvident, as is the way of inventors, had signed away all that he possessed to procure funds. It is presumed, besides, that during the continuance of his investigations, he composed some current books with the resources at his disposal, that served a little to lighten his debts. But the printing house of the Zum Jungen at Mayence was far from shining in the world, because the association of Fust concerned itself only with the publication of a Bible, and not at all with the _Speculums_ and _Donatuses_ that were so much in vogue at this time. Besides, the money-lender made a point of pressing his debtor, and did not allow him any leisure to labour outside the projected work. About this time a third actor enters on the scene. Peter Schoeffer, of Gernsheim, a writer, introduced into the workshop of Gutenberg to design letters, benefited by the abortive experiments, and taking up the invention at its deadlock, conducted it to success. John of Tritenheim, called Trithemius, the learned abbot of Spanheim, is the person who relates these facts; but as he got his information from Schoeffer himself, too much credence must not be given to his statements. Besides, Schoeffer was not at all an ordinary artisan. If we credit a Strasbourg manuscript written by his hand in 1449, he was a student of the "most glorious university of Paris." In the workshop of Gutenberg, his industrious and inventive intellect found a fecund mine, and this caligraphist dreamt of other things than shaping letters for the use of wood engravers. Gutenberg, arrested in his career by the wants of life, the worries of business, and perhaps also the fatigues of his labours, may have let the new-comer know something of his experiences. One cannot know, but it is certain that, shortly after, John Fust was so fascinated by Schoeffer, so attracted by his youth and his application, that he resolved to put new capital into the business. He did more: to permanently attach him, he gave him his grand-daughter in marriage, not his daughter, as was thought until M. Auguste Bernard rectified this mistake. We have now come to 1453, the year preceding the first dated monument of printing in movable types: _the letters of indulgence_. It may be acknowledged that the sudden affection of Fust for his workman depended on some interested motive, and not at all on attraction of the heart. Had this former student of the university of Paris found the means of rapidly founding metallic types, the search for which had cost Gutenberg many sleepless nights? Had he completed it by applying to it the matrix and punch which had then and for centuries served the makers of seals and the money-coiners? Perhaps, as was most probable, the two associates had agreed, and putting their experiences together, had conquered hitherto insurmountable difficulties. The year 1454 witnessed the diffusion throughout Christendom of letters of indulgence, accorded by Pope Nicholas V., who wished to aid in funds the King of Cyprus against the Turks. These circular letters, scattered by thousands to every corner of the world, employed numerous copyists. Arrived at Mayence, the distributers found a workshop ready prepared to furnish copies in the shortest possible time. They set to work and brought together all the type they possessed, cast or engraved, to set up these famous letters. Among the impressions was that of which we give a reproduction, which belongs to the edition called that of thirty-one lines. The original was delivered for a consideration to Josse Ott von Mospach on the 31st of December, 1454. It is not without interest, for the history of the Book and of printing, to note here that these letters of indulgence, the clandestine traffic in which was largely accelerated by rapidity of production and the small cost of each copy, formed one of the causes of the religious reform of Martin Luther. They afforded a means of raising money, and were so generally resorted to that in the register of the Hotel de Ville of Paris preserved in the Archives Nationales (H 1778) it may be seen that the sheriffs requested the Pope to allow them to employ them in the reconstruction of the bridge at the Hotel de Ville. The ice once broken, Fust and Schoeffer found it hard to nourish a useless mouth. For them Gutenberg was more of a hindrance than a profit, and they sought brutally to rid themselves of him. Fust had a most easy pretext, which was to demand purely and simply from his associate the sums advanced by him, and which had produced so little. Gutenberg had probably commenced his Bible, but, in face of the claims of Fust, he had to abandon it altogether, types, formes, and press. [Illustration: Fig. 4.--Letters of indulgence, from the so-called edition of thirty-one lines, printed at Mayence in the course of 1454.] In November, 1455, he had retired to a little house outside the city, where he tried his best, by the aid of foreign help, to establish a workshop, and to preserve the most perfect secrecy. Relieved of his company, Fust and Schoeffer were able to take up the impression of the Bible and to complete it without him. If matters did so happen, and Schoeffer had not the excuse that he had previously discovered the casting of type, there is but one word to designate his conduct: robbery, and moral robbery, the worst of all. But what can be said to-day of these people? One thing is certain: that the Bible of Schoeffer, commenced by Gutenberg or not, put on sale by Fust and Schoeffer alone about the end of 1455 or beginning of 1456, proves to be the first completed book. Retired to his new quarters, Gutenberg was taking courage, so as not to appear too much behindhand, but the reconstitution of his workshop cost him enormous time. And, besides, he missed the letter-maker Schoeffer, his own Gothic letters, engraved on steel with a punch, not having the same elegance. When his work appeared, it could not sustain comparison. The Bible of Schoeffer was more compact, the impression was more perfect, the ink better, the type less irregular. The original inventor, in his business with Fust, made an unhappy competition for himself. We give here a fragment of this celebrated book, a kind of mute witness of the science and mortifications of the first printer. It is now called the Mazarine Bible, from the fact that the copy in the Mazarin Library was the first to give evidence concerning it. The book was put on sale at the end of 1455 or beginning of 1456, for a manuscript note of a vicar of St. Stephen at Mayence records that he finished the binding and illuminating of the first volume on St. Bartholomew's Day, 1456, and the second on the 15th of August. St. Bartholomew's Day is the 13th of June, and not the 24th of August, as the catalogue of the Bibliothèque Nationale has it. [Illustration: Fig. 5.--Fragment of the Mazarine Bible, printed in two columns. Beginning of the text in the second column; original size.] All these remarks show that the printers did not proclaim themselves, and were making pseudo-manuscripts. They did not make known their names or address. The rubricators sided with them, for many of the copies are illuminated with as much care and beauty as if they were the finest manuscripts. There is no record extant of the number of copies printed, but it was done on both vellum and paper. Copies are by no means uncommon, most of the great libraries having one, and many are in private collections. One is shown among the typographical monuments in the King's Library of the British Museum, and there is a finely illuminated copy in the show-room of the Bibliothèque Nationale. From its very great importance as the first book that is known to have been printed, its value has a constant increase. Of the copies recently sold, one at the Perkins sale in 1873 on vellum sold for £3,400, another on paper at the same sale fetched £2,900, while one on paper in the Syston Park Library sold in December, 1884, for £3,900. It has been asserted that the copies on paper were the first issued by Gutenberg and his partners, and those on vellum subsequently printed by Fust and Schoeffer, after they had obtained possession of the inventor's stock. But so many copies absolutely similar in aspect, and of so regular a style, put in the market from day to day by Fust and Schoeffer, gave rise to protests from the caligraphists. Criticism always attends upon success, but having obtained the result, the two associates did not hesitate to proclaim themselves the printers of the Bible. On the publication of the Psalter, which followed the Bible at a year's interval, they gave their names and added a date, 1457, the first instance of a date being recorded in a book. This second work was of so skilful a typography, that it might have been shown as the work of an expert penman; the faults remarked in the letters of indulgence are no longer seen; type had attained perfection; in two years printing had reached its culminating point. In spite of his disappointments, Gutenberg did not rest idle. If he had seen his two enemies rob him of his claim of priority in the invention, he had to show that, reduced to his own exertions and to the restricted means furnished him by charitable people, he also could print well. Two years after the Bible a dated book, composed in Gothic letters, appeared at Mayence; this was the _Catholicon_ of John Balbus, of Genoa. It had not yet occurred to these first printers to exercise their art otherwise than on religious works. It is admitted by general opinion that the _Catholicon_ issued from the press of Gutenberg; on the other hand, M. Bernard believes that it ought to be attributed to a printer of Eltvil, who published in 1467 a vocabulary called the _Vocabularium ex quo_ with the same types. The former theory may be sustained by the words of the colophon of the book, which is a sort of hymn to God and a recognition of the city of Mayence without any mention of the name of the printer. Now in the situation in which Gutenberg found himself, in the face of his rivals, had he not some claim to regard the great discovery as his own? But if M. Bernard is mistaken, and if our supposition has no foundation, what a beautiful act of humility, what a noble idea of his character, Gutenberg gives us in writing, "With the aid of the Most High, Who releases the tongues of infants and often reveals to babes that which is sealed to learned men, this admirable book the _Catholicon_ was finished in the year of the incarnation of our Saviour MCCCCLX. in the mother-country of Mayence, famous city of Germany, which God, in His clemency, has deigned to render the most illustrious and the first of cities; and this book was perfected without the usual help of pen or style, but by the admirable linking of formes and types"! [Illustration: Fig. 6.--Colophon of the _Catholicon_, supposed to have been printed by Gutenberg in 1460.] The history of these men, it is easy to understand, has to be regarded with caution, people of so little consequence then that the authentic documents relating to them have for ever disappeared. If we except that of the Pfennigthurm of Strasbourg, of which we have before spoken, and the deed of claim for money from Fust to Gutenberg dated 1455, we are forced to quote from authors living long afterwards, who submitted, without knowing better, to the miserable errors of oral tradition. It is nearly always the same with men who have occupied a large place in the history of art; posterity only knows of their genius at the time when no one knows anything of them. For Gutenberg the situation was still more terrible; a rival, Peter Schoeffer, survived him, and he did not for his own reputation care to preserve his rival's memory; and if, as is believed, Gutenberg left pupils and heirs, Henry Bechtermuncze, Ulrich Zell, and Weigand Spyes, his misfortune is crowned by Bechtermuncze being now reputed to be the printer of the _Catholicon_, of which we have just given the history. Even Albert Pfister, one of his workmen, dismissed at the end of his work, having obtained from his master some rejected types, was presumed later to have invented printing. We find this artisan established at Bamberg about 1460, composing Bibles in movable types, the first known being that published in 1461. But Albert Pfister showed that he was not at all an inventor by the mediocrity of his work, and more by the old types that he used. If he had known the secret of engraving the punches, he would have cast new letters and have given a better aspect to his work. [Illustration: Fig. 7.--Colophon of the Bible printed in 1462 by Fust and Schoeffer, which is the first dated Bible. There are two different editions with this signature. The above is from the second edition.] In these statements all is supposition and contradiction. That which is certain--and the dates are there to prove it--is the enormous progress in the productions of Peter Schoeffer. In 1459 he published his third book, Durand's _Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_, in folio. As in the Psalter, Schoeffer employed initial letters printed in red, which the rival workshop could not do in the _Catholicon_, the rubrics of which are painted by hand, as in manuscripts. In time he put forth a second edition of the Psalter, always with Fust's name joined to his own. A great number of types were broken at the beginning, but he dreamed of doing yet better. In 1460 he gave the _Constitutiones_ of Pope Clement V., with a gloss and commentaries by John André; here was the first example of a process much employed in manuscripts, but of which the typographical composition was very difficult. Again, in 1462 a new Latin Bible issued from their workshops in two folio volumes. It is the first dated edition. The first volume has two hundred and forty-two folios in double columns, the second two hundred and thirty-nine. It commences with an epistle of St. Jerome, and on the last leaf of the second volume is the colophon on the preceding page. This book, one of the first worthy of the name, and which is called by preference the Mayence Bible, appeared in one of the most troubled epochs that the episcopal city had had to go through. Subject to its archbishops, who were at the head of all the lay lords and fighting men, the city found itself in 1462 the prey of two prelates of equal title who refused to give way to one another: Thierry of Isembourg and Adolph of Nassau-Wiesbaden. Adolph surprised Mayence on the 27th October, 1462, pursuing his adversary, who scaled the walls with a rope to escape quicker, and the city was sacked and pillaged from its foundations. In the middle of this turmoil, what became of the obscure persons who were then the printers of the Bible? Doubtless their insignificance saved them from disaster, but as it was long before peace was re-established, and the entire edition of their last volume could not be kept back, we incline to believe that they were for a time going about the country as itinerant booksellers. Paris was to them a well-indicated point of travel--Paris, toward which all German commerce tended. The university where Peter Schoeffer was instructed in letters, and that truly passed for the first in Europe, appeared to them a market of the first order. If we may believe Walchius (_Decas fabularum generis humani_: Strasbourg, 1609, 4to, p. 181), John Fust himself went to that city, where he put books on sale from sixty crowns a copy, then fifty, then forty, according to the prevailing system in matters of discount. Fust was above all things a merchant; he led it to be believed that he had the marvellous establishment of a copyist beyond the Rhine, and he had disposed of many copies, when the corporate scribes of the university, becoming aware of the imposition, cried out furiously and declared it a diabolical invention. We may now take this tale of Walchius as a fable, as the registers of Parliament, on being consulted, rest silent on the proceedings instituted against the "magician" of Mayence. Only we must not lose sight of the fact that the booksellers had their masters, their syndicate, if we may use the modern word, charged to prohibit fraudulent publications. They were too much interested in the suppression of printed books to judge the matter coldly. The Parliament had nothing to see to in this. The revolution of Mayence had otherwise great results, which were not affected by these minor reverses. The printing workshops, or at least the successors of Gutenberg, began to be dispersed, and Fust and Schoeffer having established a school of printers in the city, their trade was no longer secret. Deprived of their liberties by the new Archbishop, many of them expatriated themselves. We shall take occasion later to name some of these exiles, through whom the art of printing spread itself almost simultaneously throughout the world: to Cologne and Strasbourg, to Italy and Spain, without reckoning Holland, France, Switzerland, and the country around Mayence. We have before named the episcopal city of Bamberg; it had the singular fortune to be the second city to possess a printing office, but it disappeared as quickly as it was established, with Albert Pfister, without leaving the least trace; we do not find printing there again before 1480, more than twenty years later. Gutenberg was dead before 1468. He was interred in the Church of the Récollets of Mayence, by the pious care of a friend, who attributed the invention of printing to him on his tomb. We may begin to comprehend the influence of this man upon the discovery of which all the world was then talking, but the troubles of the archiepiscopal city hampered the respective merit of the inventors. Peter Schoeffer and John Fust were not much affected by the political crisis. After two years' suspension, they reappeared with a Cicero, _De Officiis_, 1465, quarto, always at work and always surpassing themselves. This time they freely gave up religious publications, and, still more extraordinary, they employed Greek types. Such is, detached from the incredible contradictions of writers on art, and sketched solely on its main lines, the origin of printing as it is established at this day. First came the image engraved in relief, which we have not gone to China to find, with some of our predecessors. Upon this image were often cut, by the same economical process, legends of explanation that presented the idea of imitation of manuscript; and the xylographs appeared with or without illustrations. Then from the correction of errors in these books followed the discovery of movable characters. This wooden type, possible when it was used with a _frotton_ for printing, would quickly break under the press, the idea of which was gained from the common press of the wine-makers. Then a kind of metallic type had to be found which would run in a mould struck by a punch. This punch was not invented for the purpose; it served previously for the makers of coins and seals. The fabrication of type from the matrix was a simple adoption. The lead thrown into the matrix gave the desired type. Thus were made the first books, of which we have briefly related the composition. As to the proportion of glory due to each one of the first printers, it is necessary equally, to guard against error on one side or the other. We have sought to separate from the heap of publications probable opinions or those based on certain documents. That the origin of the _Donatus_, the block books, was Dutch would be puerile to deny, because, on one side, the engravings on blocks are surely of the school of Van Eyck, and, on the other hand, Ulrich Zell, who inspired the "Cologne Chronicle" of 1499, assigned positively to Holland the cradle of the _Donatus_. At any rate, it was a pupil of Gutenberg, a question we have discussed. After that we will trouble ourselves but little about Laurent Coster. The name makes no difference in a matter of this kind. As to Gutenberg, we have not been able to go as far as M. E. Dutuit, who in his _Manuel a'Estampes_ (vol. i., p. 236, etc.) doubts Gutenberg's right to the title of inventor. It is stated that in a letter of William Fichet, prior of the Sorbonne, of whom we shall have more to say presently, to Robert Gaguin, which M. A. Claudin found at the beginning of a work entitled _Gasparim Pergamensis orthographiæ liber_, published in 1470, nearly twenty years after the first work at Mayence, Gutenberg is proclaimed the inventor of printing. Without any other, this testimony of a _savant_ who was the first to bring the German printers to Paris appears to us well nigh irrefutable. As to John Fust and his grandson by marriage, Peter Schoeffer, they are so well defended by their works, that there is no more to say here; doubtless grave presumptions arise as to the delicacy of their conduct with Gutenberg, but we are not so bold as to censure them beyond measure. We know nothing precise either of the time or of the men. Let us now imagine humble workmen, the most simple of _gens de mestiers_, to employ the French expression then in use, shut up in a kind of dark workshop, like a country forge, formed in little groups of two or three persons, one designing and the other cutting the wood, having near them a table, on which is held the engraved block after its reliefs have been rubbed with sombre ink, who afterwards, by means of the _frotton_, apply the damped paper to the raised parts of the block; we shall have without much stretch of thought all the economy of the xylographic impression. If we add to this primitive workshop the matrix in which the types are cast, the box in which they are distributed, the forme on which they are arranged to compose the pages, and a small hand-press, with blacker ink and paper damped to permit the greasy ink to take better, we have a picture of the work-room of Gutenberg, Fust, and Schoeffer, and of the first printers with movable types. Thus typography was born of painting, passing in its infancy through wood-cutting, revolutionising ideas and somewhat the world. But the mighty power of the new art was not confined to itself; it extended the circle of engraving, which till then had suffered from the enormous difficulties of reproduction. As if the time were ripe for all these things, nearly at the moment when the first printers were distinguishing themselves by serious works, a Florentine goldsmith accidentally discovered the cutting of cast metal.[A] What would have become of this new process if the presses of Gutenberg had not brought their powerful assistance to the printing of engravings? It will be found then that printing rendered a hundredfold to engraving for that which it received from it and bore it along with its own rapid advance. Then reappeared, following the new processes, the figures somewhat abandoned by the Mayence workmen during the period of transformation. Our object is to speak at length of the Book ornamented and illustrated according to the means of relief-cutting or casting; to demonstrate the influence of painting, of sculpture, of art, on the production of the Book; and thus to help the reader at the same time to understand the almost sudden and irresistible development of typography, and to mention its foremost representatives. [Footnote A: The opinion that Finiguerra was the unconscious inventor of casting engravings is now abandoned.] CHAPTER II. 1462 TO 1500. The Book and the printers of the second generation--The German workmen dispersed through Europe--Caxton and the introduction of printing into England--Nicholas Jenson and his supposed mission to Mayence--The first printing in Paris; William Fichet and John Heinlein--The first French printers; their installation at the Sorbonne and their publications--The movement in France--The illustration of the Book commenced in Italy--The Book in Italy; engraving in relief and metal plates--The Book in Germany: Cologne, Nuremberg, Basle--The Book in the Low Countries--French schools of ornament of the Book; Books of Hours; booksellers at the end of the fifteenth century--Literary taste in titles in France at the end of the fifteenth century--Printers and booksellers' marks--The appearance of the portrait in the Book--Progress in England--Caxton and his followers. Considering the influence of printing on the book trade of the fifteenth century, as referred to in the preceding pages, the dealers in manuscripts were not disposed to give way at the first blow. An entire class of workmen would find themselves from day to day without employment if the new art succeeded; these were the copyists, miserable scribes, who for meagre remuneration frequented the shops of the merchants, where they transcribed manuscripts by the year. Before printing the publication of books was so effected, and the booksellers were rather intermediaries between the copyist and the buyer, than direct dealers having shops and fittings complete. It is evident that they would not provide themselves with these costly books long in advance without being sure of disposing of them. Small as was the remuneration of the writers, it was much to them; and they were naturally the first to protest against the new invention. At the same time, their opposition and that of the booksellers was soon overcome, swamped, and choked by the growing crowd of printers. Then, as always happens in similar cases, in place of fighting against the current, most of the former workers in manuscript followed it. The writers designed letters for engraving in wood, the booksellers sold the printed works, and some of the illuminators engraved in relief or cast their _histoyres_. For a long time these last continued to decorate books with the ornamental drawings with which they had adorned the manuscripts, and so contributed to form the fine school of illustrators who carried their art to so high a point from the end of the fifteenth century. [Illustration: Fig. 8.--Imprint of Arnold Ther Hoernen, printer, of Mayence.] As previously related, the revolution of Mayence caused the flight of a crowd of artisans who found their liberty suddenly compromised by the conqueror. The want of money at this time always brought a diminution of patronage, and working printers have been at all times tenacious of their privileges. It so happened that their guild, in place of remaining established at Mayence many years longer, was, as it were, turned out, scattered to the four cardinal points by the dispersion of its members, and scattered many years before the natural time. In point of fact, in the common order of things, a workman here and there quits the principal workshop to try the world. He makes his way timidly, unconscious apostle of a marvellous art. If he succeeds, he gathers some pupils round him; if he fails, no trace of him remains; in any case invention propagates itself more gradually. With printing it was a thunderclap. Hardly had it made its appearance when the exodus commenced. The greater part of the Mayence men went to Italy: to Subiaco and to Rome, Arnold Pannartz, Conrad Sweynheim, Ulrich Hahn; to Venice, John of Spire, Vendelin of Spire, Christopher Valdarfer, Bernard Pictor (of Augsburg), Erhardt Ratdolt, Peter Loslein; to Ferrara, Andrew Belfort; to Foligno, John Neumeister; Henry Alding tried Sicily; Andrew Vyel, of Worms, printed at Palermo. Lambert Palmart was at Valencia, in Spain, in 1477; Nicholas Spindeler at Barcelona; Peter Hagenbach at Toledo; not far from Mayence--that is, at Cologne--Ulrich Zell, a pupil of Gutenberg, who dated his first work 1466. It was Arnold Ther Hoernen who numbered a book with Arabic figures; it was Koelhof who first used signatures to indicate to the binder the order of the sheets; it was at Eltvil that Henry Bechtermuncze, as we have already said, printed his _Vocabularium_ in German, with the types of the _Catholicon_; at Basle, Berthold Rüppel, of Hanau, was the first established in that city which after Mayence did the most for printing; at Nuremberg, Koburger, who took nearly the first rank among his contemporaries, set as many as twenty-four presses to work, and was named by Badius the prince of printers. And how matters went on! For instance, the very year that followed the death of Gutenberg, monks, the Brothers of the Common Life of Marienthal, in the Rheingau, themselves published a copy of the indulgences accorded by Adolph of Nassau, Archbishop of Mayence. Before 1480, presses were everywhere in Germany: at Prague, Augsburg, Ulm, Lubeck, Essling, etc. It is to be remarked that the Mayence men did not turn towards Holland. Is it that they found there the descendants of Laurent Coster firmly established in their workshops? Must the coexistence, the simultaneous advance, of the invention in Germany and in the Low Countries be admitted? It is a secret for us and for many others, but we know for certain that Flemish printers were established at Utrecht in 1473, at Delft, Bruges, Gouda, Zwoll, Antwerp, and Brussels. At Louvain there was besides John of Westphalia, who published in 1474 a work of Peter Crescens, and several other works. Colard Mansion was printing at Bruges about 1473; and was employed by William Caxton, who had been for some years trading as a merchant in the Low Countries, to print the "Recuyell of the Histories of Troy," by Raoul Le Fevre, which Caxton had translated into English at the command of Queen Margaret. This was issued in 1474, and was the first book printed in the English language. In 1475 or 1476 Caxton returned to England with a fount of types, which he had employed Mansion to cut and cast for him, and established himself as a printer in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. In 1477 he produced the first book printed in England, "The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers," followed by a large number of important works, many of them written or translated by Caxton himself. Thus was typography firmly established in England; and Caxton's immediate successors, Wynken de Worde, Richard Pynson, William Machlinia, have had a glorious roll of followers, which has never been broken to this day. From Westminster the art spread in England to Oxford, where Theodoricus Rood, from Cologne, printed an _Exposicio Sancti Jeronimi_ in 1478; and to St. Albans in 1480 by a printer who has never been identified, and who produced the famous "Chronicle" and "Boke of St. Albans." The invasion, we see, had been most rapid. In less than fifteen years, every important city had followed the movement, and was ready to establish printing offices. If we may credit a certain controverted document, Charles VII. had on the 3rd of October, 1458, sent to Mayence one of the best medal engravers of the Mint of Tours to study the process of which marvels were spoken: "The 3rd of October, 1458, the King having learned that Messire Guthenberg, living at Mayence, in the country of Germany, a dexterous man in carving and making letters with a punch, had brought to light the invention of printing by punches and types, desirous of inquiring into such a treasure, the King has commanded the generals of his mints to nominate persons well instructed in the said cutting and to send them secretly to the said place to inform themselves of the said mode and invention, to understand and learn the art of them, in order to satisfy the said Lord King; and it was undertaken by Nicholas Jenson, who took the said journey to bring intelligence of the said art and of the execution of it in the said kingdom, which first has made known the said art of impression to the said kingdom of France" (Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Hf 467, pp. 410, 411). Nicholas Jenson on his return met with a cool reception from Louis XI., who did not continue the works of his father. It may be supposed that this coolness was the cause of his expatriating himself and retiring to a place where his industry could be better exercised. Ten years after the above mission we find him established at Venice, his art of engraver of letters joined to that of printer. His Eusebius, translated by Trapezuntius, and his Justinian, were composed in 1470 with such marvellous and clear types that from that day the best typographers have imitated his founts. In spite of its success, he did not confine himself to these letters, but he made use also of Gothic, in which he printed by preference pious books. [Illustration: Fig. 9.--Imprint of Nicholas Jenson to a Justinian, printed in 1470 at Venice. This type has prevailed up to now.] In spite of the attempts of Jenson in the name of the King of France--that is, if these attempts ever took place in the manner indicated above--the invention was not known to have commended itself to the powerful university of Paris. In general, and especially for the introduction of innovations in that learned body, it was necessary to fight, to strike without much chance of success, save in case of having acquaintance in the place. We have seen John Fust, obliged suddenly to retake the road to Germany, in a fair way to find himself taxed with sorcery, not an inconsiderable matter. For others the sale of unauthorised books had had most unhappy consequences unless the Parliament intervened. So ten years had passed since the journey of Jenson, and ten or twelve since the first manifestations of typography at Mayence, without the diabolical discovery finding admittance to the Sorbonne. A still more extraordinary thing, a Cologne printer issued about 1472 a small folio in Gothic type, thirty-one long lines to a page, which was a work written in French. The _Histoires de Troyes_ of Raoul Le Fevre, chaplain of the dukes of Burgundy, first found a publisher in Germany, and soon after another in England, before a single press was definitely installed at Paris. As we have said of Peter Schoeffer, numerous German students were in the university, where they pursued their studies, and frequently remained later as masters. It has been found that in 1458 a former student of Leipzig named John Heinlein, a native of Stein, in the diocese of Spire, entered as regent of the college of Burgundy, from whence he passed to the Sorbonne in 1462, the year of the troubles in Mayence. After the manner of latinising names so common at that time, he called himself Lapidanus, from the name of his native place, which means Stone in German. Heinlein met in Paris a Savoyard, William Fichet, born in 1433 at Petit Bornand, who became an associate of the Sorbonne about 1461, and finally rector in 1468. These two men were great friends, and their particular instincts attracted them to men of elevated studies. They divined at once the enormous help printing would bring to their work. Besides, it grieved them to see through the whole of France, especially in Touraine, German colporteurs carrying on their trade under cover of other commerce, a practice from which the most grave inconveniences might result. It occurred to them that to prevent fraud they would themselves create a printing establishment; but if they deliberated on it, it must have been in secret, for the registers of the Sorbonne are silent on their enterprise. If Fichet conceived the idea, it may be believed that, from his German origin, Heinlein put it into execution. M. Philippe thinks that he was formerly at Basle. In all probability it was from that city he tried to obtain his workmen. In 1468 six years had elapsed since the craftsmen were dispersed and fled from Mayence. At all events, it was from Basle that Ulrich Gering, Michael Freyburger, and Martin Krantz, printers recommended to the two Sorbonnists, departed, and in due course arrived in Paris. Of these three men, who were the first to establish a printing office on the French side of the Rhine, Ulrich Gering was a student as well as a printer, so was Freyburger, originally of Colmar. Krantz was a letter-founder, and the only real workman of the three companions. We have often regretted with regard to these men, as also to Gutenberg, Fust, and Schoeffer, that no really authentic portrait has transmitted their features to us. Every one will recall the fur cap and loose pantaloons of the mediocre statue at Mayence, but there is really no portrait of Gutenberg. As to Gering, M. Philippe, in his _Histoire de l'Origine de l'Imprimerie à Paris_, publishes a grotesque figure muffled in the ruff of the sixteenth century, after a picture preserved at Lucerne, but for which much cannot be said. Lacaille, in his _Histoire de l'Imprimerie_, gives a full-length portrait of Gering, said to be taken from a painting in the College Montagu. The workshop of the three Germans was set up within the walls of the Sorbonne--_in ædibus Sorbonnicis_--in 1469. There they set to work at once, their printing establishment consisting simply of a room, none too light, a table, a press, and formes. Krantz doubtless struck the types chosen by the Sorbonnists, for there were then in use two sorts of letters: German Gothic and Roman. They kept to the Roman, as being more round and clear; and as soon as they obtained matrices and cast their type, they entered on their task with ardour. [Illustration: Fig. 10.--"Letters" of Gasparin of Bergamo. First page of the first book printed at Paris, in 1470.] The tendencies of Fichet and Heinlein were not towards transcendent theology, but rather towards the literature of the ancients and contemporary rhetorical works. Besides, it may be said, considering that men are far from perfect, Fichet counted on making the authorised presses serve his own purpose. We find him publishing a treatise on rhetoric in quarto in 1471; meantime he supervised the work confided to his artists. They commenced with a large volume of "Letters" of Gasparin of Bergamo, which was set up in quarto with the Roman type, the form of which had been accepted. At the end of the work, the impression of which cost much time--possibly a year--the three printers placed a quatrain in Latin distichs, which is at once a statement of identity and a promise for the future. [Illustration: Fig. 11.--Colophon in distichs in the "Letters" of Gasparin of Bergamo, first book printed at Paris, at the office of the Sorbonne.] If we try to apportion to each of the three printers his share in the making of the book, it may be supposed that the intellectual part of the composition and the correction fell to Freyburger and Gering, while the heavier work of founding, placing in formes, and press work fell to Krantz. This essay, satisfactory as it appeared, was far from perfection. The first Parisian printers had multiplied abbreviations and irregular contractions, and enormous difficulties and inevitable faults ensued. Further, either they had more than one punch, or the leaden matrix was deformed, for the characters frequently differ. At the same time, we must commend them for having used the _æ_ and _[oe]_, which were uniformly written _e_ in the manuscripts, thus giving rise to errors without number. Their punctuation was the comma, semicolon, and full stop. [Illustration: Fig. 12.--_Rhetorique_ of Fichet, printed at Paris in 1471. The marginal ornaments are drawn by hand.] Fichet and Heinlein had become the modest librarians of the Sorbonne, and this new employment gave them greater facilities for surveillance. The printing office did not remain inactive. It issued successively the "Orthography" of Gasparin of Bergamo, the "Letters" of Phalaris, two books of Æneas Sylvius, the "Conspiracy of Catiline" of Sallust, the "Epitome of Titus Livius" of Florus, and finally the "Rhetorics" of William Fichet, which, if we may credit a letter addressed to Bessarion, was finished in 1471. Following came the "Letters" of Bessarion, the _Elegantia Latinæ Linguæ_ of Valla, the first folio volume from the Sorbonne presses; and others, thirteen volumes in 1470-71 and seventeen in 1472. At the end of 1472 the workshop was somewhat broken up, Fichet having left for Rome and Heinlein preaching in Germany. The three printers had shown by their works that they were in earnest; besides, they had from the first gratuitously distributed copies among the nobles, who, being accustomed to pay highly for manuscripts, did not fail to note the difference. The associates then resolved to quit the Sorbonne and create an establishment for themselves; their patrons being no longer there to sustain them in case of failure, and in giving up their presses and types it may be judged that they were not without anxiety on that point. Their oldest dated book, the _Manipulus Curatorum_ of Montrochet, was also the first that they printed in their new quarters, at the sign of the "Golden Sun" in the Rue St. Jacques. They remained united up to the year 1477, when Gering alone printed at the "Golden Sun," but he obtained associates, George Mainyal in 1480 and Berthold Rembold in 1494, who lived with him in the Rue de la Sorbonne, where he established himself on leaving the Rue St. Jacques. Ulrich Gering died on the 23rd of August, 1510, after a half-century of work. The movement inaugurated by the Sorbonne was promptly followed. German workmen opened their shops nearly everywhere in France; then the French themselves scattered. At Lyons in 1472 a Frenchman was established, the same at Angers, Caen, Metz, Troyes, Besançon, and Salins. But in the central provinces we find Henry Mayer at Toulouse, John Neumeister at Albi; in the east Metlinger at Dijon; and Michael Wensler, of Basle, at Macon, among others, about 1493. We have now arrived at an epoch of greater efforts. The Lyons printers used ornamental letters, from which were developed engravings in the Book. Since the block books illustration had been neglected, as the means were wanting to distribute the plates here and there in the forme; Schoeffer still employed initial letters in wood very like vignettes. John Fust was now dead, but Peter Schoeffer continued to print without intermission. If we search for the precise epoch in which illustration appeared in the history of the Book, we shall perhaps have to go back to the time of Albert Pfister, printer of Bamberg, who issued in 1461 an edition of the "Fables of Ulrich Bohner" with a hundred and one figures on wood. This may be said to be the unconscious combination of xylography with typography, a kind of transformation of old elements to new things without other importance; art had no place in this adaptation. Up to this time Germany had not, in its school of painters or miniaturists, men capable of giving a personal impulse to ornament. In the German editions of the block books the influence of Van Eyck had made itself felt very sensibly, and the Flemish had preserved their supremacy on this point; on the other hand, the German printers who went to seek their fortune in Italy fell into the middle of a circle admirably prepared to receive them and to communicate their ideas to them. It is believed that the first book printed in Italy with woodcuts in the text and with an ascertained date is the work of a German established at Rome, Ulrich Hahn, in 1467. An account in the _Annuaire du Bibliophile_, which, being without citation of authority, we quote for what it is worth, relates that Ulrich Hahn was established as a printer at Vienna about 1462, but was driven thence by the publication of a pamphlet against the burgomaster of the city, and was attracted to Rome by Torquemada, who confided to him the impression of his work the _Meditationes_. Hahn was an engraver, as were also most of his _confrères_ at that time--that is, he cut in relief designs to be intercalated in the text--and Passavant relates that the designs of the _Meditationes_ were from compositions of Fra Angelico, who died in 1455. Be that as it may, the book, the printing of which was finished on St. Sylvester's Day, 1467, is the first known with engravings, and only three copies of it exist: one at Vienna, one at Nuremberg, and one in Lord Spencer's library; it is composed in Gothic type in folio. [Illustration: Fig. 13.--Wood engraving of Matteo Pasti for Valturius' _De Re Militari_: Verona, 1472.] Illustration found a true artist at Verona, Matteo Pasti, who furnished designs for a volume on military art by Valturius, printed in Roman characters in folio, at the expense of John of Verona, and dedicated to Sigismond Pandolfi. Pasti's eighty-two figures are simple outlines, and we here reproduce one of the principal--an archer shooting at a butt. Published in 1472, the volume of Valturius followed soon after the _Meditationes_, but the engravings enable us to see how the Italian process, consisting mostly of lines without shadows, differed from the Dutch and German. One thing to be remarked here is the purity of the design, in spite of the roughness of the engraving; we see in these figures Italian art at its height, despite the somewhat coarse translation of the wood-cutter. At Venice the German inventors had reaped their harvest. At the end of the fifteenth century, fifty years after the invention of typography, the printing offices and booksellers' shops were counted by hundreds. It was in this city that for the first time a title with frontispiece carrying indication of the contents, the place, the date, and the name of the printer, was given to the Book. We give here this ornamental title, placed before a _Calendario_ of John de Monteregio, printed by Pictor, Loslein, and Ratdolt in 1476, folio. The German Erhardt Ratdolt was probably the promoter of these innovations. He soon afterwards published the first geometrical book with figures, the "Elements of Euclid," 1482, folio; in the same year he produced the _Poeticon Astronomicum_ of Hyginus, previously printed at Ferrara, with illustrations on wood of excellent design, but laboriously and unskilfully engraved. Yet the art of the Book could not remain mediocre in this city, where the artists were creating marvels. John of Spire and afterwards Nicholas Jenson, the emigrant from France, of whom we have spoken above, had created, after Italian manuscripts, that Roman letter, the primitive type of which has come down to our time very little retouched. At the death of Jenson in 1481, his materials passed into the hands of Andrew d'Asola, called Andrea Torresani, who did not allow the good traditions of his master to die, and who produced among others a book bearing signatures, catchwords, and paging ("Letters of St. Jerome," 1488). Torresani was the father-in-law of Aldus Manutius, who was to be for ever illustrious in the art of printing at Venice, and raised his art to the highest perfection. [Illustration: Fig. 14.--Title-page of the _Calendario_, first ornamental title known. Printed in 1476 at Venice.] But if decoration by means of relief blocks found a favourable reception in Italy and, above all, a group of artists capable of carrying it to success, there were at the same time other experiments conceived in a different way. The discovery of Maso Finiguerra gave to the art a new process of reproduction, and printing presses had now to render possible and practicable the working of engraved plates. In order to make that which follows comprehensible, we enter into a few technical details, the whole subject having been so admirably and fully treated by MM. Delaborde and Duplessis. In the engraved wood block, as in the printing type, it is a projection in the wood or metal which, being inked and passed under a press, leaves on paper its lines in black. Naturally then the intercalation of an engraving of this kind in typographical composition is made without difficulty, and the impression of both is taken at once. On the other hand, a line engraving is obtained from incised lines on a plate of copper; that is, an instrument called a burin traces the lines, which are filled with greasy ink. These incised lines only are inked. The surface of the plate is cleaned off to avoid smudging. The sheet of paper destined for the impression has then to be made very pliable, so that at the striking of the press it runs, so to speak, to find the ink in the lines and hold it. It is therefore impossible to take a text from relief characters at the same time as an engraved plate. [Illustration: Fig. 15.--Engraving on metal by Baccio Baldini for _El Monte Santo di Dio_, in 1477.] However, this kind of reproduction, which, contrary to that from wood, allowed of half-tints or toning down, attracted in good time the workers at the Book. It appeared to them possible to reconcile the two printings by the successive passage of the same sheet of paper through the press, to receive at first the impression from the type and afterwards to find the ink deposited in the incisions in the copper. The first manifestation of this new method of illustration was made at Florence, the home of line engraving, by Nicholas di Lorenzo in 1477, for the work of Antonio Bettini, of Siena, called _El Monte Santo di Dio_. Here the artists were never known. Common opinion has it that Baccio Baldini borrowed from Sandro Botticelli the subjects of his plates. Italian engraving always seeks its source in Pollajuolo, Botticelli, and Baldini. It is not the simple work of a niellist, but it had not yet reached perfection either in the work or in the impression; the illustrations of the _Monte Santo_ are proof of this, as are also those of the _Dante_, by Baldini, in 1481, for the same Nicholas di Lorenzo. From this we reproduce the Misers. [Illustration: Fig. 16.--Metal engraving by Baccio Baldini from the Dante of 1481.] At this epoch engravings from the burin were taken with a pale ink, the composition of which is very different from the fine black ink of Schoeffer as well as of the old Italian printers. And besides in most cases the proofs were obtained with the _frotton_, like the ancient block books, an eminently defective process. The press was not yet well adapted to the delicate work of line engraving, and the workmen, who did not apply the plates until after the text was printed, preferred not to risk the loss of their sheets by the use of inappropriate presses. These, with the insignificant attempts made by the Germans in 1479,[A] are the beginnings of the process of line engraving in the ornamentation of the Book. In fact, the process failed to take its due position for want of a more convenient mode of working. Relief engraving had got ahead; with it the sheets used for the impression did not require working more than once to register the figures with the text; in a word, the labour was not so great. A century had to pass before line engraving completely dethroned the vignette on wood, a century in which the latter attained its height, and showed what able artisans could make of a process apparently the least flexible. [Footnote A: _Breviarium ecclesie Herbipolensis_: Et. Dold., 1479, folio, copper plate engravings.] Not to leave Italy, which had the honour of making the book with engraved illustrations known to the world, we pass by some years, during which Arnold Bucking gave at Rome a _Cosmographia_ of Ptolemy, 1478, with incised plates, which is the first printed atlas that was produced, whilst as regards ordinary publications there appeared in all parts classical and Italian works, such as Cicero, Virgil, Tacitus, Pliny, Eusebius, among the ancients, and Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, etc., among moderns. Among the editions of Dante, we may cite that of Peter of Cremona, dated 18th November, 1491, with one engraving to each canto, of which the earlier are after Botticelli, and perhaps drawn by him directly on the wood. Passavant believes these figures to be cut in relief in the metal. On some of the plates there is a signature, a Gothic b, the signification of which leaves a free field for conjecture, and perhaps for error. Copies of this book with the complete series of twenty plates are extremely rare; one in the Hamilton Palace Library sold in May, 1884, for £380; the Royal Library of Berlin recently agreed to pay £1,200 for a proof set of the plates. [Illustration: Fig. 17.--Plate from the _Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_, printed by Aldus Manutius, in 1499.] As we shall see later apropos of German vignettes of the same period, the characteristic of Italian engraving was sobriety, the complete absence of useless work and the great simplicity of the human figure. This special manner will be found in the famous edition of the _Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_ of Francis Colonna, printed in 1499 by Aldus, copied sixty years later by a French printer, and lately reproduced in reduced size. [Illustration: Fig. 18.--Plate from Bonino de Bonini's Dante, at Brescia, in 1487.] The Italian illustrators, whether they were working in wood, or, as some writers have it, in metal, adroitly brought their figures forward by contrasting some rudimentary work in the persons with the more accentuated and often stippled ground, which formed a dark background. This was also the ordinary process in their ornaments, among the most interesting of which are the borders of the plates to an edition of Dante by Bonino de Bonini, Brescia, 1487, of which a specimen is here reproduced. If we return from Italy, which then took the lead, to Germany, a school of _Formschneiders_ is found about the year 1470 at Augsburg, whose secluded workshops were of no benefit to the booksellers. These ill-advised artisans went still further. Apparently furious to see printing so widely spread as to render their bad woodcuts difficult to get rid of, they united in a body to interdict Gunther Zainer and Schüssler from putting engravings into their books. They must nevertheless have come to an ultimate arrangement, for Zainer printed in 1477 a book on chess by Jacopo da Cessole, with vignettes. He was one of the few German printers who employed Roman characters in place of the Gothic of Peter Schoeffer. At Cologne in 1474 Arnold Ther Hoernen published a work entitled _Fasciculus Temporum_, with small illustrations engraved on wood. A Bible without date contains most interesting illustrations. As to the celebrated _Todtentantz_, or "Dance of Death," published about 1485, it contains forty-one relief plates of the most ordinary kind, the same as in the "Chronicle of Cologne" of 1499, of which the figures, though less German, less distorted, are worth little compared with those of the Nuremberg books, more German, but more artistic. [Illustration: Fig. 19.--The creation of woman, plate from the _Schatzbehalter_, engraved after Michael Wolgemuth.] At Nuremberg, Antony Koburger, called by Badius the prince of booksellers, directed an immense establishment, employing more than a hundred workmen, without counting smaller houses at Basle and Lyons. Koburger was a capable and a fortunate man. He had at first put forth a Bible very indifferently illustrated with the cuts of the Cologne Bible, but he had before him something better than copying others. Michael Wohlgemuth, born at Nuremberg in 1434, was then in the full vigour of his talent. To his school the young Albert Dürer came to study; and as he was able to draw on wood as well as to engrave on copper and paint on panel, Koburger was attracted to him, and engaged him to make a set of illustrations for a book. The projected work was the _Schatzbehalter_, a sort of ascetic compilation, without interest, without arrangement. Michael Wohlgemuth set to work; and, thanks to the ability of his engravers, of whom William Pleydenwurff was probably one, Koburger was able to put the book on sale in the course of 1491 in three hundred and fifty-two folios of two columns. Without being perfection, the designs of Wohlgemuth, very German, very striking, present the vigour and merit of the future school of Nuremberg. The figure is no longer a simple line, in the manner of the block books, but a combination of interlaced cuttings, intended to imitate colour. Those representing the creation of Eve and the daughter of Jephthah are here reproduced. In the search for harmony between the text and engravings of this curious work, we shall find grace and gaiety laid aside, on the other hand a freedom and boldness that interest and permit us to appreciate at their value the Nuremberg artists and Koburger, the printer. In fact, the German artists are more individual, each one taken by himself, than the Italian illustrators could be, condemned as they were to the hierarchical commonplace and to a certain form of idealism into which the art of Italy entered little by little. The German painters, naturalists and believers, presented their heroes in the image of that robust nature that was before their eyes. It was in this rude and unpolished spirit that Michael Wohlgemuth decorated the _Schatzbehalter_; he also composed the designs for the "Nuremberg Chronicle" of Dr. Hartman Schedel, printed by Koburger in 1493. [Illustration: Fig. 20.--The daughter of Jephthah, plate taken from the _Schatzbehalter_, engraved after Michael Wolgemuth.] With Dürer, at the latter end of the fifteenth century, the Book was no more than a pretext for engravings. Thausing, his biographer, says that the great artist felt the necessity of designing an Apocalypse at Rome at the time that Luther was premeditating his religious revolution in face of the worldly splendours of the pontifical court. The "Apocalypse," published in 1511 in Latin, with Gothic characters, was an album of fifteen large wood engravings. The Four Horsemen is the best of these plates, and the boldest; but in this gross fancy, in these poor halting old hacks, the fantastic and grand idea which the artist meant to convey can hardly be seen. It may be said the genius of Dürer was little adapted to vignettes, however large they were, and did not easily lend itself to the exigencies of a spun-out subject. The title of his "Apocalypse" is of its kind a curious example of German genius, but, in spite of its vigour, it does not please like an Italian headpiece or like a French or Flemish frontispiece. The other works of Dürer published in the fifteenth century, "The Life of the Virgin" and "The Passion," were also sets of prints that received a text in the sixteenth century. [Illustration: Fig. 21.--Title of the "Apocalypse," by Albert Dürer, printed in 1498. First edition, without text.] [Illustration: Fig. 22.--Title of Sebastian Brandt's "Ship of Fools," printed in 1497 at Basle by Bergman de Olpe.] [Illustration: Fig. 23.--The _Bibliomaniac_. Engraving from the "Ship of Fools."] For the rest of his illustrations Dürer belongs to the sixteenth century, and we shall have occasion to recur to his works. At present it remains to speak of a curious work printed at Basle by Bergman de Olpe in 1497, which appears to be the first comic conception of fifteenth century artists: the _Navis Stultifera_, or "Ship of Fools," of Sebastian Brandt. This work of the school of Basle lacks neither originality nor vigour. At the time when it was published its success was immense, from the strange tricks of its clowns, with fools' caps, with which every page was adorned. Alas! the best things fall under the satire of these jesters, even the Book and the lover of books, if we may judge by the sarcasms against useless publications volleyed by the personage here reproduced. "I have the first place among fools.... I possess heaps of volumes that I rarely open. If I read them, I forget them, and I am no wiser." Brunet sees in these humorous caricatures more art than is really to be found in them. Their value is owing more to their spirit and humour than to any other artistic merit. Even the engraving is singularly fitted to the subject, with its peculiar cutting, somewhat executed in hairlines. The designer was certainly not a Holbein, but he is no longer the primitive artisan of the first German plates, and his freedom is not displeasing. We have before spoken, apropos of engraving by the burin in Italy, of the small share of Germany in the essay at illustration by that means, and we do not see a real and serious attempt in the two little coats of arms in copper plate in the _Missale Herbipolense_, printed in 1479. The Flemish had not taken any great flights in the midst of this almost European movement. The school of Burgundy, whose influence was felt in all the surrounding countries, had lost its authority in consequence of the progress realized at Mayence. Without doubt the great Flemish artists were there, but they were honoured painters, and their inclination did not descend to seeking the booksellers beyond making them offers of service. Besides, the first of these, officially established in Flanders, were two Germans, John of Westphalia and John Veldener, of Cologne, who established themselves in the university of Louvain in 1473, three years after the first Paris printers. John of Westphalia, who took his own portrait for his mark, edited the _Fasciculus Temporum_, a book which had enormous success in the fifteenth century. At Haarlem, in spite of the block books attributed to Laurent Coster, illustration was backward. About 1485, a Dutch translation of the _Malheurs de Troye_ of Le Fevre was put on sale. This French book was published at Cologne before France possessed the smallest typographical workshop. At Bruges Colard Mansion illuminated the cuts of his _Metamorphoses_ of Ovid in 1484. Simple engraving appeared to him far remote from manuscripts of which the vogue had not yet passed away. At Zwoll Peter van Os, the publisher, cut up and used the xylographic plates of the _Biblia Pauperum_, while the master _à la navette_, John of Cologne, an artist in the best sense of the word, was ornamenting certain popular publications with his designs. At Utrecht Veldener came from Louvain to establish a workshop. He published for the second time a _Fasciculus_ in 1480; he created a style of decoration with flowers and leaves, which shortly after developed into the trade of _Rahmenschneiders_. Antwerp had attracted Gerard de Leeu from Gouda, and he produced the romance of _Belle Vienne_. Schiedam had an inventive engraver who illustrated an edition of the _Chevalier Delibéré_ of Oliver de la Marche, in folio, with Gothic letters, after 1483, as we read in the colophon:-- "Cet traittié fut parfait l'an mil Quatre cens quatre vings et trois Ainsi que sur la fin d'avril Que l'yver est en son exil, Et que l'esté fait ses explois. Au bien soit pris en tous endrois De ceulx à qui il est offert Par celui qui _Tant a souffert_, La Marche." The French language, bright and harmonious, thus found hospitality in other countries. For many examples of French books published abroad, we cannot cite one German work printed in France. Spreading from the north to the south, typography had from 1490 its two principal centres at Paris and Lyons. After the success of the three Germans at the Sorbonne, events took their own course. In 1474 Peter Cæsaris and John Stol, two students who had been instructed by Gering and Krantz, founded the second establishment in Paris, at the sign of the "Soufflet Vert;" and they printed classical works. Ten years later appeared Antony Vérard, Simon Vostre, and Pigouchet, the first of whom gave to French bookselling an impulse that it has not since lost; but before them Pasquier-Bonhomme published his _Grandes Chroniques_ in 1476, three volumes folio, the oldest in date of books printed at Paris in French. The French school of illustration was at its most flourishing point at the end of the fifteenth century, but solely in miniature and ornamentation by the pencil. The charming figures of the manuscripts had at this time a Flemish and naturalistic tendency. The most celebrated of the great artists in manuscripts, John Foucquet, could not deny the source of his talent nor the influence of the Van Eyck school, yet the touch remained distinctly personal. He had travelled, and was not confined to the art circles of a single city, as were so many of the earliest painters of Flanders. He had gone through Italy, and from thence he transported architectural subjects for his curious designs in the _Heures_ of Etienne Chevalier, now at Frankfort; a precious fragment of it is preserved in the National Library of Paris. Side by side with this undoubted master, whose works are happily known, lived a more modest artist: John Perréal, called John of Paris, painter to Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Anne of Brittany. In joining with these two masters, to serve as a transition between Foucquet and Perréal, John Bourdichon, designer to the kings of France from Louis XI. to Francis I., we obtain already a not despicable assemblage of living forces. Without doubt these men were not comparable either with the admirable school of Flanders, or the Germans of Nuremberg, or the masters of Italy; but, moderate as we may deem their merit, they did their tasks day by day, painting miniatures, colouring coats of arms, rendering to the kings, their masters, all the little duties of devoted servants without conceit, and preparing, according to their means, the great artistic movement in France of the seventeenth century. That these men, leaving the brush for the pencil, devoted themselves to design figures on wood, is undeniable. It is said that one of them followed Charles VIII. to the Italian wars, and probably sketched the battles of the campaign as they took place. Now in the books published at this epoch in France we meet with vignettes which so very nearly approach miniatures, that we can easily recognise in them French taste and finish. Such are, for example, the illustrations of the _Mer des Histoires_, printed by Le Rouge in 1488, where suppleness of design is blended in some parts with extraordinary dexterity in engraving. Nevertheless, others leave something to be desired; they maim the best subjects by their unskilful line and their awkwardness of handling. Were not these engravers on wood printers themselves: the Commins, Guyot Marchants, Pierre Lecarrons, Jean Trepperels, and others? We are tempted to see in certain shapeless work the hasty and light labour of an artisan hurried in its execution. As mentioned above, the part taken by the booksellers in the making of the plates does not make our supposition in itself appear inadmissible. [Illustration: Fig. 24.--Mark of Philip Pigouchet, French printer and wood engraver of the fifteenth century.] Printing had been established about twenty years in Paris when Philip Pigouchet, printer and engraver on wood, began to exercise his trade for himself or on account of other publishers. Formerly bookseller in the University, he transported his presses to the Rue de la Harpe, and took for his mark the curious figure here reproduced. At this moment a veritable merchant, Simon Vostre, conceived the idea of putting forth Books of Hours, until then disdained in France, and of publishing them in fine editions with figures, borders, ornaments, large separate plates, and all the resources of typography. The trials made at Venice and Naples between 1473 and 1476 warranted the enterprise. Entering into partnership with Pigouchet, the two were able on the 17th of April, 1488, to place on sale the _Heures à l'Usaige de Rome_, octavo, with varied ornaments and figures. The operation having succeeded beyond their hopes, thanks to the combination of the subjects of the borders, subjects that could be turned and re-turned in all ways so as to obtain the greatest variety, Simon Vostre reapplied himself to the work, and ordered new cuts to augment the number of his decorations. Passavant's idea is commonly received that the engraving was in relief on metal; the line in it is very fine, the background stippled, and the borders without scratches. Wood could not have resisted the force of the press; the reliefs would have been crushed, the borders rubbed and broken. In all the successive editions hard work and wear are not remarked, and we are forced to admit the use of a harder material than the pear or box-wood of ordinary blocks. According to his wants, Simon Vostre designed new series of ornaments. Among them were histories of the saints, Biblical figures, even caricatures against Churchmen, after the manner of the old sculptors, who thought that sin was rendered more horrible in the garb of a monk. Then there were the Dance of Death and sibyls, allying sacred with profane, even the trades, all forming a medley of little figures in the margins, in the borders, nestled among acanthus leaves, distorted men, fantastic animals, and saints piously praying. The Middle Ages live again in these bright and charming books, French in their style, imbued with good sense and perfect toleration. [Illustration: Fig. 25.--Border in four separate blocks in the _Heures à l'Usaige de Rome_, by Pigouchet, for Simon Vostre, in 1488. Small figures from the "Dance of Death."] The Book rose under Simon Vostre and Philip Pigouchet to the culminating point of ornamentation. Here design and engraving improve and sustain each other. It is not only the stippled backgrounds of the borders that please the eye. And who was this unknown designer, this painter of bold conceptions, whose work is complete in little nothings? However, the large full-page figures have not always an originality of their own, nor the French touch of the borders. Thus that of the Passion here reproduced is inspired line for line by the German, Martin Schongauer. Are we to suppose, that duplicates of blocks passed between France and Germany, or was a copy made by a French designer? It is difficult to say. Still the coincidence is not common to all the missals of the great Parisian bookseller. The Death of the Virgin here reproduced is an evident proof of it. It forms part of the 1488 book, and is a truly French work. [Illustration: Fig. 26.--Plate copied from Schongauer's Carrying of the Cross, taken from the _Heures_ of Simon Vostre.] [Illustration: Fig. 27.--The Death of the Virgin, plate taken from the _Heures_ of Simon Vostre, printed in 1488. The border is separate.] It may be said that from the artistic association of Philip Pigouchet and Simon Vostre was born the art of illustration of the Book in France; they worked together for eighteen years, in steady collaboration, and, as far as we know, without a cloud. At Vostre's commencement in 1488 he lived in the Rue Neuve Notre Dame, at the sign of "St. Jean l'Evangeliste;" and in 1520 he was still there, having published more than three hundred editions of the Missal, according to the use of the several cities. Contemporary with Simon Vostre, another publisher was giving a singular impulse to the Book by his extreme energy, true taste, and the aid of first-class artists. Antony Verard, the most illustrious of the old French booksellers, was a writer, printer, illuminator, and dealer. Born in the second half of the fifteenth century, he established himself in Paris on the Pont Notre Dame, both sides of which were then covered with shops, and about 1485 commenced his fine editions with a "Decameron" in French by Laurent de Premierfait. M. Renouvier remarks in his notice of Verard that his first books were not good, the plates were often unskilful, and were probably borrowed or bought from others; this may be very well understood in a beginner whose modest resources did not permit bold enterprises; the figures were in most cases groundworks for miniatures, outlines and sketches rather than vignettes. [Illustration: Fig. 28.--Border of the _Grandes Heures_ of Antony Verard: Paris, 1498 (?).] Antony Verard was accustomed to take a certain number of fine copies on vellum or paper of each book published by him, in which authorised painters added miniatures and ornaments. It is curious now to find what the cost to one of the great lords of the court of Charles VIII. was of one of these special copies in all the details of its impression, and we find it in a document published by M. Senemaud in a provincial journal (_Bulletin de la Société Archéologique de la Charente_, 1859, part 2, p. 91), which enables us at the same time to penetrate into a printing office of a great French publisher of the fifteenth century. According to this document, Verard did not disdain to put his own hand to the work, even to carrying the book to the house of his patron if he were a man of consequence. It is an account of Charles de Valois-Angoulême, father of Francis I. He was then living at Cognac; and he ordered Verard to print separately for him on vellum the romance of Tristan, the "Book of Consolation" of Boetius, the _Ordinaire du Chrétien_, and _Heures en François_, each with illuminations and binding. In the detail of expenses Verard omits nothing. He reckons the parchment at three sous four deniers the sheet, the painted and illuminated figures at one écu the large and five sols the small. We give here the outline of one of the plates of the Tristan, ordered by the Duc d'Angoulême, reduced by two-thirds, and from it it may be judged that the profession of the illuminator, even for the time, was by no means brilliant. The binding was in dark-coloured velvet, with two clasps with the arms of the Duke, which cost sixty sous each. The work finished, Verard took the route for Cognac, carrying the precious volumes. He was allowed twenty livres for carriage; and this brings the total to 207 livres 10 sous, equivalent to £200 to £240 of present money. [Illustration: Fig. 29.--Plate from the Tristan published by Antony Verard, a copy of which was illuminated for Charles of Angoulême.] Verard had preceded Simon Vostre in the publication of books of hours, but his first volume dated 1487 was not successful for the want of borders and frontispieces. At the most he had introduced figures intended for illumination, which, as well as the vignettes, were cut in wood. In 1488, the same year that Simon Vostre commenced his publications, Verard put forth, by "command of the King our lord," the book called the _Grandes Heures_, which is in quarto, Gothic letter, without paging, twenty lines to the full page. This _Grandes Heures_ contained fourteen engravings, large borders in four compartments, smaller subjects and initials rubricated by hand. He also published more than two hundred editions between 1487 and 1513, and among them the _Mystère de la Passion_, with eighty figures; the _Grandes Chroniques_, in three folio volumes, printed by John Maurand; the _Bataille Judaïque_ of Flavius Josephus; the _Legende Dorée_ of Voragine, all books for which he called to his aid rubricators, illuminators, and miniaturists. From the first he had two shops where he put his productions on sale: one on the Pont Notre Dame, the other at the Palace of Justice, "au premier pilier devant la chapelle où l'on chante la messe de messeigneurs les présidents." From 1499, when the Pont Notre Dame was burned, Verard transported his books to the Carrefour St. Severin. At his death in 1513 he was living in the Rue Neuve Notre Dame, "devant Nostre-Dame de Paris." [Illustration: Fig. 30.--Page of the _Grandes Heures_ of Antony Verard: Paris, fifteenth century.] Besides Verard, Vostre, and Pigouchet, many others will be found who imitated them in the publication of books of hours. The first was John du Pré, who published a Paris missal in 1481, and who was at once printer and bookseller. Like Pigouchet, Du Pré printed books of hours on account of provincial publishers, without dreaming of the competition he was creating for himself. The encroachments of the publishers upon one another, the friendly exchanges, the loans of plates and type, form one of the most curious parts of the study of the Book. Thielman Kerver, a German, also began to put forth books of hours in 1497 in Paris, ornamenting them with borders and figures on wood, and modelling his work completely upon that of Simon Vostre. But after having imitated him, he was associated with him in the publication and sale of the Paris Missal; the competition of these men was evidently an honest one, or the sale of pious works was sufficient to maintain all engaged in it. Established on the Pont St. Michel, at the sign of the "Unicorn," he sold his stock to Gilles Remacle about the beginning of the sixteenth century. Thielman Kerver in his own works shows himself as the rival of Simon Vostre. The Hardouins, who followed the same profession, do not appear to have attained the success of their predecessors; and, excepting in the _Heures à l'Usage de Rome_, published in 1503 by Gilles Hardouin on the Pont au Change, at the sign of the "Rose," they servilely imitated them. There was also among the disciples of Vostre William Eustache, bookseller to the King, "tenant la boutique dedans la grant salle du palais du costé de messeigneurs les présidens, ou sur les grans degrés du costé de la conciergerie à l'ymage St. Jean levangeliste." Eustache made use of the work of Pigouchet and Kerver, not to mention the printers of the end of the fifteenth century. We have named the principal, the fortunate ones; but what becomes of the crowd of other publishers whose hopes vanished before the success of Vostre and Verard? There were Denis Meslier, with his quarto _Heures de Bourges_, and Vincent Commin, bookseller of the Rue Neuve Notre Dame, who thus appealed to his customers:-- "Qui veult en avoir? On en treuve A tres grand marché et bon pris A la Rose, dans la rue Neuve De Nostre-Dame de Paris." [Illustration: Fig. 31.--Plate from a book of hours of Simon Vostre, representing the massacre of the Innocents.] There were also Robin Chaillot, Laurent Philippe, and a hundred others whose names have died with them or are only preserved on the torn pages of their works. [Illustration: Fig. 32.--Dance of Death, said to be by Verard. The Pope and the Emperor.] [Illustration: Fig. 33.--Dance of Death of Guyot Marchant in 1486. The Pope and the Emperor.] But if books of this kind found vogue and a large sale at this epoch, the dealers did not keep to pious publications only. By a singular mixture of the sacred and the profane, the bookmen put on sale on their stalls the "Decameron" of Boccaccio as well as the "Hours of the Immaculate Virgin," and the purchasers thought fit to make the acquaintance of the one as well as the other. Besides, the end of the fifteenth century had its literary preferences, its alluring titles, its attractive frontispieces. At the commencement of the present century double titles--"Atala; or, The Child of Mystery;" "Waverley; or, Sixty Years Since"--were common, although now out of fashion. Since then came books of travels--_Voyages au Pays des Milliards_, etc. In the fifteenth century, and even since the fourteenth, a series of titles was in public favour. There was first the _Débats_, or "Dialogues:" _Débat de la Dame et de l'Escuyer_, Paris, 1490, folio; "Dialogue of Dives and Pauper," London, Richard Pynson, 1493; and many other eccentric titles. There came also thousands of _complaintes_, a kind of lay in verse or prose; _blasons_, light pieces describing this or that thing; _doctrinals_, that had nothing to do with doctrine. And among the most approved subjects, between the piety of some and the gaiety of others, the Dances of Death established themselves firmly, showing, according to the hierarchy of classes then prevalent, Death taking the great ones of the earth, torturing equally pope, emperor, constable, or minstrel, grimacing before youth, majesty, and love. Long before printing appeared, the Dances of Death took the lead; they were some consolation for the wretched against their powerful masters, the revenge of the rabble against the king; they may be seen painted, sculptured, illuminated, when engraving was not there to multiply their use; they may be seen largely displayed on walls, sombre, frightful, at Dresden, Leipzig, Erfurt, Berne, Lucerne, Rouen, Amiens, and Chaise-Dieu. It was the great human equality, attempted first by the French, then by the inimitable Holbein. We can imagine the impression these bitter ironies made on the oppressed and disdained lower classes. The first "Dance of Death" was produced by Guyot Marchant in 1485, in ten leaves and seventeen engravings, in folio, with Gothic characters. Marchant describes himself as "demeurant en Champ Gaillart à Paris le vingt-huitiesme jour de septembre mil quatre cent quatre-vingtz et cinq." The book must have gone off rapidly, for it was republished in the following year, with additions and new engravings. French illustration was already moving forward, as may be judged by the reproductions here given from the folio edition of 1486. Pope and emperor, glory and power, are led and plagued by Death, hideous Death, with open body and frightful grin. We could wish that the tendencies and processes of what may be called the second generation of printers were well understood. In a few years they surmounted the difficulties of their art, and made the Book a model of elegance and simplicity. The smallest details were cared for, and things apparently the most insignificant were studied and rendered practical. Speaking of titles, an enormous progress was here made in the publications of the end of the century. In Italy the subjects of decoration ordinarily formed a framework for the front page, wherein were included useful indications. The most ancient specimen of this kind has already been referred to. A model of this species is the "St. Jerome," published at Ferrara by Lorenzo Rossi, of Valenza, in 1497, folio; the title, much adorned, is in Gothic letters; the engraved initial is very adroitly left in outline, so as not to burden or break the text. In Germany there was already the appearance of bad taste and prodigality, the letters crossing each other, the Gothic type covered with bizarre appendices, the titles intricate; later they became illegible even for the Germans. [Illustration: Fig. 34.--Typographical mark of Thielman Kerver.] In France the first page gave the most circumstantial indications of the contents of the work, the name and abode of the printer and bookseller. Often these titles were ornamented with movable frameworks, printed in Gothic, sometimes in two colours, which necessitated two printings, one for the black and one for the red ink. The mark of the printer or publisher generally appeared, and it was nearly always a charming work. These French marks were all more or less treated heraldically; that is to say, the initials occupy a shield, sustained by supporters and cut with extreme care. The first was that of Fust and Schoeffer at Mayence, of admirable simplicity and grace. In France this early specimen of the trade mark took with Simon Vostre and Verard the shape of delicate illustrations, finely designed and carefully engraved; but the custom of allusive marks did not prevail, as we shall have occasion to see, until the sixteenth century. The mark of Pigouchet has already been given; that of Thielman Kerver is conceived in the same principles of taste and art. The sign of his house being the "Unicorn," Kerver took as supporters to his shield two unicorns _affrontées_. In these colophons are found philosophic aphorisms, satirical remarks, marvels of poetry. A certain bookseller paid court to the powerful university, which dispensed glory and riches to the poor tradesmen by buying many books. Andrew Bocard engraved on his mark this flattery as a border:-- "Honneur au Roy et à la court, Salut à l'université Dont nostre bien procède et sourt. Dieu gart de Paris la cité!" The Germans introduced into their colophons some vainglorious notices. Arnold Ther Hoernen, already mentioned, who printed the _Theutonista_ at Cologne in 1477, boasted in it of having corrected it all with his own hands. Jean Treschel, established at Lyons in 1493, proclaims himself a German, because the Germans were the inventors of an art that he himself possessed to an eminent degree. He prided himself on being what we may call a skilled typographer; "virum hujus artis solertissimum," he writes without false modesty. At times, in the colophons of his books, he attempted Latin verse, the Sapphic verse of Horace, of a playful turn, to say that his work was perfected in 1494. "Arte et expensis vigilique cura Treschel explevit opus hoc Joannes, Mille quingentos ubi Christus annos Sex minus egit. Jamque Lugduni juvenes, senesque, Martias nonas celebres agebant Magna Reginæ quia prepotenti Festa parabant." [Illustration: Fig. 35.--Frontispiece to Terence, published by Treschel at Lyons in 1493. The author writing his book.] The portrait is another element of illustration, the figure of the author prefixed to his work. It had already been a custom in the manuscripts to paint on the first leaf of the work the likeness of him who composed it, frequently in the act of presenting his book to some noble patron; and in this way is often preserved the only known portrait of either patron or author. Printing and engraving rendered these effigies more common, the portraits of one often served for another, and the booksellers used them without very much scruple. As we shall see later, this became in the sixteenth century a means of illustrating a book plainly, but only at the time when the portrait, drawn or painted, commenced to be more widely used. Previously the _clichés_ of which we speak went everywhere, from the Italians to the French, from Æsop to Accursius; these uncertain physiognomies began with the manuscript romances of chivalry, from whence they were servilely copied in typography. From the first the Italians mixed the ancient and the modern. Thus in a _Breviarium_, printed in 1478, there is an engraved portrait of Paul Florentin. On the same principle, the portrait of Burchiello, an early Italian poet, was later reproduced in England as a likeness of William Caxton. In France the author is often represented writing, and it was so up to the middle of the sixteenth century. In an edition of _Des Cas des Nobles Hommes_, by Jean Dupré, in 1483, Boccaccio is represented seated, having before him his French translator, Laurent de Premierfait. This plate is one of the oldest representations of authors in French books. In the _Roman de la Rose_, first edition of Paris and Lyons, in folio, probably published by William Leroy about 1485, William de Lorris, the author, is shown in his bed:-- "Une nuyt comme je songeoye, Et de fait dormir me convient, En dormant un songe m'advint...." [Illustration: Fig. 36.--Woodcut from Caxton's "Game and Playe of the Chesse."] There is also a portrait of Alain Chartier in his _Faits_, printed in 1489. In the Terence of Treschel, of Lyons, in 1493, we see a grammarian of the fifteenth century in a furnished room of the time occupied in writing at a desk; this is Guy Jouvenal, of Mans, the author of the commentary. [Illustration: Fig. 37.--The Knight, a woodcut from Caxton's "Game and Playe of the Chesse."] While this good work was progressing so nobly in France, Italy, and Germany, the typographers of England were by no means idle, although the illustration of the Book in the fifteenth century was not there so forward. William Caxton had produced over sixty works, the colophons of many of them revealing much of the personal life and character of the first English printer. Some of them were ornamented with woodcuts; we reproduce two from the "Game and Playe of the Chesse," printed in folio, about 1476. The first represents a king and another person playing at chess; the smaller cut is a representation of the knight, who is thus described in Caxton's own words: "The knyght ought to be maad al armed upon an hors in suche wise that he have an helme on his heed and a spere in his right hond, and coverid with his shelde, a swerde and a mace on his left syde, clad with an halberke and plates tofore his breste, legge harnoys on his legges, spores on his heelis, on hys handes hys gauntelettes, hys hors wel broken and taught, and apte to bataylle, and coveryd with hys armes." The other Caxton block which we reproduce is a representation of music from the "Mirrour of the World," a thin folio volume of one hundred leaves printed in 1481, with thirty-eight woodcuts. These specimens will serve to show the rudimentary character of English wood engraving in the fifteenth century. No authentic portrait of Caxton is known, and the one that is generally accepted is really a portrait of an Italian poet, Burchiello, taken from an octavo edition of his work on Tuscan poetry, printed 1554; this was copied by Faithorne for Sir Hans Sloane as the portrait of Caxton, and was reproduced by Ames in his "Typographical Antiquities," 1749. Lewis prefixed the portrait here given to his "Life of Mayster Willyam Caxton," 1737, which is a copy of Faithorne's drawing with some alterations. John Lettou and William Machlinia issued various statutes and other legal works. [Illustration: Fig. 38.--Music, a woodcut from Caxton's "Mirrour of the World."] [Illustration: Fig. 39.--William Caxton, from Rev. J. Lewis' "Life."] [Illustration: Fig. 40.--Mark of Wynken de Worde.] Wynken de Worde continued printing up to 1534, and issued over four hundred works. He used no less than nine different marks, all of them bearing Caxton's initials, evidencing the regard of the pupil for his master; the mark which we reproduce is one of rare occurrence. Richard Pynson began in 1493, and continued well into the sixteenth century, and was one of the first of the "privileged" printers, authorised to issue the legal and parliamentary publications. One of the marks used by him is here reproduced. Julian Notary began in 1498. The only style of illustration used by any of these early printers was the woodcut, and of this there was very little beyond the title-page and printer's mark. The artistic form of the Book originated on the Continent, but England was not slow to adopt it and fashion it to her own ends. [Illustration: Fig. 41.--Mark of Richard Pynson.] Thus was printing spread abroad, carrying with it to the countries where it was established the rules of an unchangeable principle; but, according to its surroundings, it was so transformed in a few years that its origin was no longer recognised. It was light in Italy, heavy in Germany, gay in France. Painting, of which it was accidentally the issue, returned to it under the form of illustration a short time after its first and fruitful essays. The Gothic character, generally used in Germany, continued in France with the Vostres, the Verards, and others up to the middle of the sixteenth century, although the first artisans before this used Roman type; it was also the prevailing type used in English books. In Italy it was Jenson, a Frenchman, who gave to the matrix the alphabet preserved to the present time; and it was the Venetians and Florentines who learned before all others the art of judicious ornamentation of the Book. The French came very near perfection, thanks to their printers and booksellers, at the end of the century; and the Germans found illustrious artists to scatter their compositions in their large, heavy works. [Illustration] CHAPTER III. 1500 TO 1600. French epics and the Renaissance--Venice and Aldus Manutius--Italian illustrators--The Germans: _Theuerdanck_, Schäufelein--The Book in other countries--French books at the beginning of the century, before the accession of Francis I.--Geoffroy Tory and his works--Francis I. and the Book--Robert Estienne--Lyons a centre of bookselling; Holbein's Dances of Death--School of Basle--Alciati's emblems and the illustrated books of the middle of the century--The school of Fontainebleau and its influence--Solomon Bernard--Cornelis de la Haye and the _Promptuaire_--John Cousin--Copper plate engraving and metal plates--Woériot--The portrait in the Book of the sixteenth century--How a book was illustrated on wood at the end of the century--Influence of Plantin on the Book; his school of engravers--General considerations--Progress in England--Coverdale's Bible--English printers and their work--Engraved plates in English books Our simple division into chapters will be understood without difficulty as not corresponding exactly with the most momentous epochs in the history of the Book in France and abroad. Doubtless it would be easy for France alone to find some limits and to furnish scholastic formulæ by which contemporary publishers might be grouped. But in order to present, as in a synoptical table, an essential and abridged sketch of the Book in all European countries, it appeared to us more convenient to begin with the confused and tangled notions by centuries and to unfold in our review the characteristic facts of each country conjointly. Moreover, after the sixteenth century neither Italy nor Germany could compare with France, which, less fortunate, perhaps, at the beginning than her neighbours, surpassed them in all the pride of her genius. The commencement of the sixteenth century found the French army in Italy, under the command of Louis XII. Marching from glory to glory, the French successively saw Pisa, Capua, and Naples, and that which has since been called the Renaissance displayed itself little by little to the conquerors. At Venice was living Aldus Pius Manutius, then the greatest printer of the entire world. Aldus was proprietor of the celebrated printing office of Nicholas Jenson, through his father-in-law, Andrea Torresani, of Asola, who acquired it on the death of the French printer; and he had in a few years reached a position in which he was without a rival. We have seen that he composed, at the end of the fifteenth century, the admirable volume _Hypnerotomachia_, the renown of which became universal. Aldus was fifty-two years of age, having been born in 1447; and his learning was increased by daily intercourse with learned Italians, among them the celebrated Pico de la Mirandola. His establishment at Venice in 1488 had for its object the creation of a chair in Greek, in which language he was well instructed from his youth. Occupied with the idea of issuing editions of the principal Greek writers, which up to then remained in manuscript, he engaged himself in the formation of a printing office. He first published the _Herone et Leandro_ of Musæus in 1494, quarto, in a Greek character apparently designed by him, and perhaps engraved by Francisco da Bologna; then the Greek grammar of Constantine Lascaris, with the date of 1494; and the works of Aristotle in five folio volumes. At the time of the Italian wars Aldus was making a revolution in typography, by producing more practical sizes and finer characters, which would permit a volume of the smallest height to contain the matter of a folio printed with large type. Legend says that the new letters were copied exactly from the handwriting of Petrarch, inclining like all cursive writing; the name of _Italic_ was given to this character, which was also called _Aldine_, from its inventor. It was engraved by Francisco da Bologna. Aldus published in octavo size, with this kind of letter, an edition of Virgil in 1501, then a Horace, a Juvenal, a Martial, and a Petrarch in the same year. The following year, 1502, he gave an edition of the _Terze Rime_ of Dante, and for the first time took as his typographical mark an anchor encircled by a dolphin.[A] [Footnote A: Tory in his _Champfleury_ explains thus the mark of Aldus and his device, which was in Greek the "Make haste slowly" of Boileau: "The anchor signifies tardiness, and the dolphin haste, which is to say that in his business he was moderate."] [Illustration: Fig. 42.--The anchor and dolphin, mark of Aldus Manutius, after the original in the _Terze Rime_ of 1502, where it appears for the first time.] His marriage with the daughter of Andrea Torresani, of Asola, brought together into his possession two printing houses. The burden became too heavy for Manutius to think henceforth of publishing by himself. Besides, the wars did not allow him any repose, of which he bitterly complained in his prefaces. He attracted learned Greek scholars, who supervised, each one in his specialty, the works in progress, and founded a society, an Aldine academy, in which the greatest names of the epoch were united. Aldus conveys the perfect idea of a great printer of those times, doing honour to celebrated men, in spite of business preoccupations and of the annoyance caused by the war. It is said that Erasmus, passing through Venice, called on him, and not making himself known, was badly received by the powerful printer. All at once, at the name of the distinguished visitor, Aldus, overwhelmed for an instant, rose in great haste and showed him how highly he appreciated men of letters. The war finished by ruining this state of affairs. In 1505 Aldus quitted Venice to travel, and on his return found it poorer than when he went away. Andrea d'Asola, his father-in-law, came to his aid; but the great printer had received his death-blow; and in spite of the activity which he brought to the new establishment, he further declined until 1515, when he expired, leaving an inextricable confusion to his son Paul. He had early abandoned illustration for the scientific and useful in his publications; besides, the size of book chosen by him did not admit of plates; but other publishers employed artists in the ornamentation of the Book. Lucantonio Giunta, the most celebrated among them, was printer and engraver, a striking example of the affinity of the two trades from their origin. In 1508 Lucantonio Zonta, as he then spelt his name, published a Roman breviary in large quarto, with twelve engravings in the Lombardo-Venetian manner, signed "L. A.," in very good style. The same artist-publisher cut a portrait of Virgil for an edition of that poet about 1515. Furthermore, Giunta did not alone illustrate the book from his own office. Other designers lent him their assistance. We find evidence of this in the Bible printed by him in 1519 in small octavo. [Illustration: Fig. 43.--Mark of Lucantonio Giunta, of Venice.] The most meritorious of the artists of Venice at this time was John Andrea, known as Guadagnino. He designed the vignettes for Florus's epitome of Livy, printed at Venice for Melchior Sessa and Peter of Ravenna (1520, folio); in 1516 he copied the plates of Dürer's _Apocalypse_ for that of Alexander Paganini, of Venice. A Venetian work which signalised the beginning of the sixteenth century was the _Trionfo di Fortuna_ of Sigismond Fanti, of Ferrara, printed by Agostino da Portese in 1527. Venice was the home of Titian, and at the present time the great artist was at the height of his glory. In 1518 two brothers, Nicholas and Dominic dal Gesù, published a translation of the celebrated "Golden Legend" of Voragine. The plates which were added to the work were manifestly inspired by the school of the Venetian master. Unhappily the engravers have not always equalled the genius of the drawings. To resume, the city of Venice was, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, one of the most prolific in publishers and artists of talent. Since the first establishments of the Germans, typography had successively employed in Venice Nicholas Jenson, a Frenchman, inventor of the Roman character; Erhard Ratdolt, the first to employ illustration there; and Aldus Manutius, scholar and printer, whose progress in printing elevated that art to the highest rank among human discoveries; there were also remarkable engravers and draughtsmen, among others Guadagnino and Giunta, besides the anonymous masters of the school of Titian. The part of Venice in the movement, then, was great, but it may be explained by the riches of its citizens, the extent of its commerce, and the genius it possessed. If we now return from Venice to the north, to Milan, the school of Leonardo da Vinci will make itself apparent in the Book. In order of date we will mention the _Mysterii Gesta Beatæ Veronicæ Virginis_, published by Gotardo de Ponte 1518, small quarto, with figures in the style of Luini, and Vitruvius in Italian by Cesariano. On the testimony of the author, the wood engravings in a book of Fra Luca Pacioli, _De Divina Proportione_, are attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. M. Delaborde does not believe this, but M. Passavant does. [Illustration: Fig. 44.--Title of the _Theuerdanck_. The flourishes of the letters are printed.] In Germany, Nuremberg continued, with Albert Dürer and the artists of his school, to furnish book illustrations at the beginning of the century. The master reprinted his valuable engravings of the "Life of the Virgin" in 1511, and also the "Apocalypse." But after him the art commenced to decline; a hundred years later nothing remained of the honour and glory gained by Germany in the commencement. Among the most interesting of the Nuremberg publications is a chivalric poem by Melchior Pfinzfing, composed for the marriage of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. As M. Delaborde in his _Débuts de I'Imprimerie_ well remarks, this is not a book destined for sale by a bookseller; it is a work of art destined by an emperor for his friends, and he saw that it was an unapproachable work. [Illustration: Fig. 45.--Plate taken from the _Theuerdanck_, representing Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. Engraved on wood after Schäufelein.] Bold strokes, majestic letters, intertwined ornaments, are here multiplied. Three persons worked upon it for five years; these were, Peutinger says, Hans Leonard Schäufelein, the painter, Jost Necker, the engraver, and Schönsperger, the printer of Augsburg, who quitted his native city for Nuremberg. When they were able to take a proof, craftsmen were unwilling to believe it to be a book composed in movable characters; they were sure, on the contrary, that it was a true xylograph, cut in wood; and, in fact, from the title here reproduced, the error was excusable. This work, which is now called the _Theuerdanck_, from the name of the hero of the romance, is ornamented with a number of wood engravings, numbered by Arabic figures. We reproduce one of the last plates, in which Theuerdanck--Maximilian--is introduced to the Queen--Mary of Burgundy. The designs of Schäufelein recall very nearly the work of Albert Dürer, his master; but, as we said of him, these works, heavy and dull, although very clever, do not always suit as vignettes. Again, our criticism does not extend so much to the _Theuerdanck_, whose letters, excessively ornamented and much flattened, furnish a framework more suitable for the engravings than would a more slender character, which would be completely overshadowed by the German plate. When we have mentioned the _Passional Christi_ of Lucas Cranach, published by J. Grünenberg at Wittemberg in 1521--twenty-six mediocre wood engravings--we shall have cited the most important of the interesting and rare volumes published in Germany at the commencement of the sixteenth century. The Netherlands, Spain, and England were working, but without great success. In the Low Countries Plantin and his gigantic enterprises may be recalled. In Spain the taste had not yet developed itself; and although the drawing of illustrations may be careful enough, the wood-cutting is pitiable. We will mention the Seneca of Toledo in 1510, and the "Chronicle of Aragon" in 1523. Of England we will speak later. In France, on the contrary, we find an enormous commerce in books at the commencement of the sixteenth century. All the publishers mentioned in the preceding chapter were still living, and they were feeling the effects of the French conquests in Italy. The dithyrambic literature then inaugurated, and which had its origin under Louis XII., exercised a bad influence equally upon the printers and decorators of the Book. Doubtless the composition of the text and engravings was done hastily, for the great people did not like to wait for this kind of history. _Le Vergier d'Honneur_, written by Octavian de St. Gelais and Andry de la Vigne, was thus published about the end of the fifteenth century and ornamented with hasty vignettes, probably at the expense of Antoine Verard. Upon the accession to the throne of Louis XII., Claude de Seyssel, his master of council, composed _Les Louenges du Roy Louis XII._, and soon after translated it from Latin into French for the same Verard, who printed it in 1508. The taste for historical works induced the publishers to produce _La Mer des Histoires_, which had already been published in the fifteenth century; Thielman Kerver put forth the "Compendium" of Robert Gaguin in 1500 on account of Durand Gerlier and John Petit. The French version of this work was given in 1514 by Galliot du Pré, with vignettes, and afterwards under the name of _Mirouer Historial_, by Renaud Chaudière in 1520, by Nyverd, and others; the same with the _Rozier Historial_, with figures, in 1522 and 1528. Among the most popular works was the _Illustrations de la Gaule et Singularitez de Troye_, by John le Maire de Belges, printed in Paris and ornamented. In 1512 it was published by Geoffroy de Marnef, in 1515 by John and Gilbert de Marnef, by Regnault, by Philip le Noir, and others, always in the Gothic characters which prevailed in France at the beginning of the sixteenth century. We give from the curious book of John le Maire an interesting woodcut representing Queen Anne of Brittany as Juno, in which we can without much difficulty see a remarkable sketch by a Bourdichon or a Perréal. The truly French style of this figure leaves no doubt as to its origin. At the same time, it may possibly have been inspired by the Virgin of a German master, say one of 1466, judging from the accessories, and even from the pose. This engraving will be found in the edition of 1512 of Gilbert de Marnef, in Gothic letter, quarto. On the reverse are the arms and device of John le Maire de Belges. [Illustration: Fig. 46.--Vignette taken from the _Illustrations de la Gaule et Singularitez de Troye_. Queen Anne of Brittany as Juno.] The time that elapsed from the death of Louis XI. until the accession of Francis I.--that is to say, from 1483 to 1515--was, to employ an old expression, the golden age of French printing and illustration. Under Charles VIII. and Louis XII. the designers on wood were not yet affected by the neighbouring schools; neither the accentuated Italian influence nor the German processes had reached them; they did in their own way that which came to them, and they did it in their own fashion and habit, without foreign influence. Further, the kings did not ignore them, and Louis XII. preserved to the printers of the university all their rights and privileges in a magniloquent ordinance, in which the art of typography was extolled in the highest terms. It restores to them all the advantages that they had lost. It recites, "In consideration of the great benefit that has come to our kingdom by means of the art and science of printing, the invention of which seems more Divine than human, which, thanks to God, has been invented and found in our time by the help and industry of booksellers, by which our holy Catholic faith has been greatly augmented and strengthened, justice better understood and administered, and Divine service more honourably and diligently made, said, and celebrated, ... by means of which our kingdom precedes all others," etc., etc. (Blois, 9th April, 1513). Certainly Louis made the best of himself and his kingdom in this preamble, but it must be recognised that France already held a predominant rank in the new industry, and that beyond the Italians she had no fear of serious rivalry. The school of ornamentists made constant progress. Before the books of hours, the booksellers contented themselves with miserable blocks, placed side by side, forming a framework of good and bad together; but after Simon Vostre, Verard, and the others they were singularly refined. The borders, at least in the books of hours, had become the principal part of the book; they had in them flowers, architectural, complicated, and simple subjects, all of perfect taste and extreme elegance; and, as we have observed in the representation of Anne of Brittany in the _Illustrations de la Gaule_, the figure subjects were no longer mechanical, commonplace, and tiresome blocks, but, on the contrary, more often works specially designed and engraved by artists of merit. [Illustration: Fig. 47.--Title of the _Entree d'Eléonore d'Autriche a Paris_, by Guillaume Bochetel. Printed by Geoffroy Tory in May, 1531, quarto.] Geoffroy Tory, born at Bourges in 1480, continued after Vostre and Verard the onward march of illustration of the Book. He was a sort of encyclopædist, who knew and foresaw everything, but with a singularly subtler and finer genius than his predecessors. There is now very little doubt that at first Tory was an engraver and printer. Moreover, he published with Jean Petit one of his first volumes, the geography of Pomponius Mela, printed by Gilles de Gourmont in 1507. Tory was then an erudite and diffusive commentator. Later he published a book with poor engravings (_Valerii Probi Grammatici Opusculum_, 1510), waiting until his good star should place him on the right road. He had for his mark, say the bibliographers, the cross of Lorraine [Symbol: double cross], small enough to be lost in the ornamentation of his plates. Really this sign is found in Tory's mark--the "Pot Cassé"--the broken jar--and also sometimes in the letter G, which was his ordinary signature. This opinion, which we will not try to contradict in a popular work like this, appears to us to err, as others used this mark, as may be judged from the essentially different touches of engravings bearing the cross of Lorraine, and particularly those of Woériot in the middle of the century. If M. A. Bernard[A] may be credited, Geoffroy Tory cultivated all the sciences with equal success. For our purpose, suffice it to recognise his right to one of the first places in the art of decoration of books of hours. Doubtless his travels in Italy had contributed to modify his taste and to detach him a little from the sober and simple manner that then characterised French engraving; but he nevertheless preserved the indelible traces of the origin of his art, in the same way as some people cannot correct their provincial accent. The _Heures de la Vierge_, which he designed, and which he had engraved about 1520, on account of Simon de Colines, is marvellously surrounded by ornaments, until then unknown in France; at the same time, and in spite of other tendencies, it is purely a French work, and the specimen given here is a convincing proof. [Footnote A: _Geoffroy Tory, Peintre et Graveur, Premier Imprimeur Royal, Réformateur de l'Orthographe et de la Typographie_: Paris, 1857, 8vo.] [Illustration: Fig. 48.--Full page of the _Heures_ of Simon de Colines, by Tory.] [Illustration: Fig. 49.--_Heures_ of Geoffroy Tory. The Circumcision.] [Illustration: Fig. 50.--_Heures_ of Simon de Colines, with the mark of the Cross of Lorraine.] Geoffroy Tory composed a curious book, as poetic as learned, in which he studied at once the form of the letter from the typographic and the emblematic point of view, and also the French orthography of the time. He tells us himself that he was brought to commence this book on the fête-day of the kings, 1523, when, after a frugal repast, he was, he says, "dreaming on my bed and revolving my memory, thinking of a thousand little fancies, serious and mirthful, among which I thought of some antique letters that I had made for Monseigneur the treasurer for war, Master Jehan Grolier, councillor and secretary of our lord the King, amateur of fine letters and of all learned personages." Tory called his book _Champfleury, auquel est contenu l'art et science de la deue proportion des lettres ... selon le corps et le visage humain_, and he published it himself in small folio, putting upon it the sign of Gilles de Gourmont, in 1529. At heart Tory had been fascinated by the theories of Dürer on the proportions of the human body; and he says, "The noble German painter Albert Dürer is greatly to be praised that he has so well brought to light his art of painting in designing geometrical forms, the ramparts of war, and the proportions of the human body." He wished to indicate the true measure of letters to his contemporaries, "the number of points and turns of the compass that each one requires." The most amusing part of this curious treatise is his short academical preface, where, under a playful form, the great publisher studies the orthography of his time, and exclaims against the forgers of new words, the Latinisers of the language, "the skimmers of Latin, jesters and gibberers, ... who mock not only their shadows, but themselves." The entire passage was copied by Rabelais, nearly literally, and it indicates that its author was possessed of good sense, which, unhappily, all his contemporaries were not. For the technical part, he added to his theories a number of designs of geometrical letters, but he was carried away, after the fashion of the time, by Greek and Roman models, perhaps a little further than he meant, losing himself in the midst of idle dissertations. To these geometrical engravings he added small and charming figures, said to be by Jean Perréal, as well as emblematical letters of the nature of the Y which is here given, with explanatory text and commentary. To him this Y had two branches: one of virtue and one of vice; that of virtue shows palms, crowns, a sceptre, and a book; that of vice birches, a gallows, and fire. [Illustration: Fig. 51.--Emblematical letter Y, taken from the _Champfleury_ of Geoffroy Tory.] With the importance that cannot be denied to his works, Geoffroy Tory founded a school; and it was from his workshop that the plates came for the book of Paulus Jovius on the dukes of Milan, published by Robert Estienne in 1549, quarto. The portraits of the dukes in this work have been attributed to Tory himself, but he died in 1533, and there is not the least indication that he engraved these sixteen portraits with his own hand sixteen years before their publication. Besides, our doubts as to the cross of Lorraine being the exclusive signature of Tory, as has been believed, lead us to think it the collective mark of a workshop, as we meet it on works long after the death of the master. As a proof, the mark is found on the engravings of _L'Entrée du Roi à Paris_ in 1549, which cannot be taken as a posthumous work of Tory, for these engravings had their origin at a certain and special date. But in spite of the absence of the monogram, the admirable block from the Diodorus Siculus of Antoine Macault might, from its design and engraving, be considered as by Tory himself. Holbein, who, about the same time, designed a somewhat similar scene, the King of France seated on a throne receiving poison from the hands of Death, never did anything better. Within the scanty proportions of the design, all the figures are portraits. Duprat, Montmorency and the three sons of the King may be recognised; Macault, on the left, is reading his translation to a circle of nobles and men of letters. This admirable page is one of the truest and most skilful of the monuments of French engraving; it is equal to the best inventions of Holbein, and it marks the culminating point of the illustration of the Book before the exaggerations of the school of Fontainebleau. Geoffroy Tory was not the publisher. The Diodorus Siculus, doubtless prepared two or three years before, was not published until 1535, in quarto, with his ordinary mark of the "Pot Cassé." [Illustration: Fig. 52.--Macault reading to Francis I. his translation of Diodorus Siculus. Wood engraving attributed to Tory.] We have now arrived through him at the reign of Francis I., who was called the father of letters, and who for various reasons favoured the arts. Doubtless grand paintings and the decoration of the royal palaces interested him more than vignettes in books and the efforts of printers; but, at the same time, books occupied him. He studied much, and in his travels accumulated many volumes. An account in the French National Archives shows that Claude Chappuis, his librarian, packed entire cases, which were sent to Dauphiné at the time of the wars of Piedmont, the carriage costing twenty livres tournois. Francis had, moreover, following sudden impulses, curious fits of wantonness and mischief. It was perceived a little later that the doctrines of Luther were propagated by the Book; and the Sorbonne was up in arms, on the pretence of imposing its own expurgated text of the Bible on the publishers and tolerating no other. Theodore Beza, enemy of the Sorbonnists, said with regard to this (we translate the antique French literally), "Our great doctors with cherubic visage have forbidden men to see the Holy Bible in vulgar language, of which every one has knowledge, because, they say, the desire of knowing everything engenders nothing but error, fear, and care. _Arguo sic_, if they so, for its abuse, wish to take away this book, it is clear also that it is their duty to put away the wine with which each of them makes himself drunk." [Illustration: Fig. 53.--Robert Estienne, after the engraving in the _Chronologie Collée_.] This piece is only cited to show to what lengths matters had gone, thanks to printing. It is very certain that all the pamphlets, placards, and other horrors published to raise religious warfare, did not aid in the progress of the Book. The King was not always disinterested on the technical question; books merited encouragement, at least as much as castigation, and besides, as time passed, they gradually transformed men and ideas. In spite of apparent severities, was not the King himself a little touched by contact with the new religion, like his sister Marguerite, or his sister-in-law, Renée of Ferrara? However that may be, he twice showed himself a resolute partisan of the celebrated Robert Estienne, son-in-law and associate of Simon de Colines, whose works in point of erudition and typography assumed day by day more importance. Robert Estienne had the great honour of being chosen from all his contemporaries by King Francis as the royal printer. This prince had ordered to be engraved for him by Claude Garamond, after the design of Ange Vergèce, the first cutter of matrices of his time, a special Greek character in three sizes, which was used in 1544 to compose the "Ecclesiastical History" of Eusebius. These are the famous royal types--_typi regii_--as Estienne did not fail to indicate on the title-pages of his works. It has been said since that Francis I. founded the Royal Printing House, but the truth is that Estienne kept these characters in his own office for use in the royal editions; they may now be seen in the Imprimerie Nationale at Paris. Robert Estienne married the daughter of Josse Badius, of Asch--Badius Ascencianus, one of the first Parisian typographers of the time. We reproduce the mark of Badius, representing the interior of a printing house, and shall return in a special chapter to the functions of these workshops. Meantime it appears proper to present to the reader a printing office of the time of Robert Estienne and Geoffroy Tory. [Illustration: Fig. 54.--Printing office of Josse Badius at the commencement of the sixteenth century.] Robert Estienne does not appear to have concerned himself much about the decoration of the Book. The purity of the text and the characters were essentials with him, erudition, and not art. He published many works in Latin and Greek, among them the _Thesaurus_, a great Latin dictionary published in 1532, also a Bible, with notes by Vatable, revised by Leon de Juda. From that came trouble. Leon de Juda was a partisan of Zwingli; the Sorbonne accused the Bible of leaning towards the Huguenots; Francis I. took the part of Estienne, but when that prince died Estienne fled to Geneva, where he was accused of having imported the royal types. The truth was that he simply imported the matrices. [Illustration: Fig. 55.--Portrait of Nicholas Bourbon. Wood engraving of the commencement of the sixteenth century.] At this time everything served for the decoration of the Book: portraits, blazons, topographical plates, costumes, and emblems. Small portraits engraved on wood usually ornamented the works of the poets, like that of Nicholas Bourbon, for example, marvel of truth and skill. The blocks of frontispieces in the folios were multiplied; large initial letters, ingeniously engraved and stippled, like that at the commencement of this chapter, were used. Jacques Kerver reproduced in 1545 for himself, and with plates made for him, the famous _Songe de Poliphile_, published by Aldus in 1499. The widow of the publisher Denis Janot, Jeanne de Marnef, published one of the most delightful books of the time, _L'Amour de Cupidon et de Psyche_ of Apuleius, with delicious figures in wood after Italian engravings. Many more could be named in the extraordinary profusion of charming books. [Illustration: Fig. 56.--King and Death. Vignette from the "Dance of Death" by Holbein.] Without entering into detail, something must be said of Lyons, then a most extensive and prosperous centre of bookselling. Lyons had the signal honour of publishing first in France the celebrated cuts of the "Dance of Death" of Holbein, the Basle painter. Doubtless Treschel, the printer, was not the first, as a copy of a German edition is known, because in the Lyons edition the cuts are worn and broken. However, the Cabinet d'Estampes of Paris has some of the figures of the Dance with a German text, probably printed by Froben at Basle. Treschel's title was _Les Simulachres et Historiées Faces de la Mort autant elegamment pourtraictes que artificiellement imaginées_, and the volume in quarto was printed by Frelon. The _Icones veteris testamenti_, which preceded the publication of the "Dance of Death," had also been printed at Basle before Lyons. With Holbein, as with Geoffroy Tory, we arrive at the zenith of illustration and marvellous skill of the engraver. If we were to institute comparisons, it was Hans Lutzelburger who cut the blocks after the designs of the Basle master, but, contrary to what generally happens, the translator reaches almost to the height of his model; the line is perfection itself, it is precise and intelligent, simple, and, above all, explicit. If the work of Lutzelburger be admitted, it must also be admitted that Holbein designed his cuts before 1526, date of the death of the Basle engraver; but it was precisely before 1526 that Holbein lived in Basle, and it was after he had travelled. We will add nothing to the universal praise of the book of Treschel, of Lyons; everything has been written of Holbein, and repetitions are unnecessary. We would ask the reader to compare the Francis I. of Tory and the King in Holbein's "Dance of Death;" there is a certain family resemblance between the two cuts, which is a singular honour for Tory. At the commencement of the century Basle had a school of _Formschneiders_ working for export. Besides the numerous products used at Lyons, it had also a trade in wood blocks, which, having been used, were afterwards sold. Among these exchanges of engravings were many plates of Brandt's "Ship of Fools," sold in 1520 to Galliot du Pré, publisher, of Paris, who used them in the _Eloge de la Folie_ of Erasmus. The reign of Francis I. saw a great advance in the national art of illustration. The arrival at the court of Italian artists of the decadence, such as Rosso and Primaticcio, produced a revolution in taste. The exaggerated slightness of the figures brought by these artists from beyond the Alps was considered as of supreme distinction; in their twisted draperies and mannered poses was seen a precious beauty that tempted the ready intelligence of the court of France. The simple and ingenuous figures of the old French artists were ranked among the refuse of another age, and their compositions were regarded with contempt, and deemed antique. The rage for emblems and for allegories and mythological figures generally was well suited to these eccentric and bizarre inventions. From another side, an entire class of artists or artisans, book illustrators first, then enamellers and jewellers, made use of these Italian models, with which the King encumbered his galleries, and which, at great expense, covered the walls of Fontainebleau. One can understand what these skilful men made of such a movement and of so thoughtless an infatuation. The publishers saw the demand, and composed works of which the sale was assured by the subjects that they furnished to other designers. This explains the quantity of Alciati's "Emblems" and Ovid's "Metamorphoses" published at Lyons and Paris, and copied and recopied a hundred times by the art industries of the time. Without it the enormous success of mediocre productions, as the "Emblems," for example, in which the meaning of the enigma or rebus cannot always be seized, is ill understood. It was Alciati who made this literature the fashion. He was a sort of Epicurean and miserly jurisconsult, who had as many lords and masters on earth, as the kings and princes who liked to bid against each other to engage him. He had quitted Italy, seduced by the offers of Francis I., but when Sforza paid him a larger sum, he returned, giving as reason for his vacillation that the sun had to travel the earth and warm it by its rays; this was an emblematic answer, for his emblems had all the coarse, sceptical humour which not a few had then already discovered. At most these philosophical aphorisms, if we take them seriously, have their droll side in that their author often practised the reverse of his teaching. A miser, he abuses the avaricious; flying his country for the love of gain, he blames those to whom "a better condition is offered by strangers." Yet he is sometimes logical and consistent, as when he assures us that "poverty hinders the success of intelligence," and when, finally, lover of good cheer, he died of indigestion in 1550. [Illustration: Fig. 57.--Page of the "Metamorphoses" of Ovid, by Petit Bernard. Edition of 1564.] His book of "Emblems" had a vogue that lasted until the seventeenth century, and repetitions were infinitely multiplied: at Paris by Wechel in 1534; at Lyons by Hans de Tornes, of Suabia, one of the greatest Lyons publishers; by Roville, also one of the first Lyons publishers, and by Bonhomme; at Venice by the Alduses; in fact, everywhere, translated into French, Spanish, and Italian. Bernard Salomon, called _le Petit Bernard_, born at Lyons, was one of the designers of the school of Fontainebleau--that is to say, of the Franco-Italian school of which we have spoken above--who furnished many of the engravings for books printed at Lyons. He illustrated the edition of Alciati's "Emblems" published by Bonhomme in 1560; and designed skilful little plates, which, with the text, were surrounded by a border from the workshop of Geoffroy Tory, for Ovid's "Metamorphoses," published by Hans de Tornes in 1564. Bernard had all the defects and all the qualities of those of his time, from John Cousin to the least of them; he was a Primaticcio on a small scale, but agreeably so. His designs for the New Testament were also very careful, but in them more than elsewhere the manner and the affectation of the school of Fontainebleau are apparent. [Illustration: Fig. 58.--Portraits of Madeleine, Queen of Scotland, and of Marguerite, Duchess of Savoy, after the originals of Cornelis of Lyons.] [Illustration: Fig. 59.--Portraits of Francis, dauphin, and of Charles, Duke of Angoûleme, after the originals of Cornelis of Lyons. Woodcuts taken from Roville's _Promptuaire des Médailles_.] The workshops of the second city of France, we see, had at this time attained considerable importance; but before the books of which we shall speak, Roville published two anonymous books, one _L'Entrée du Roi Henri II. à Lyon_, in 1549, ornamented with very graceful woodcuts, the other the _Promptuaire des Médailles_, comprising a series of charming portraits under the pretence of reproductions from the antique. The designs of the _Entrée_ are often attributed to John Cousin, as it is a rule with certain amateurs to give a known name to a work; but it must be remembered that Lyons then had celebrated artists, Petit-Bernard, alluded to above, and Cornelis de la Haye, of whom we have more to say; and it is not necessary to go to Paris or to Rome to find the author of these illustrations. [Illustration: Fig. 60.--Captain of foot from the _Entree de Henri II. à Lyon_ (1549).] Cornelis de la Haye was a painter who executed nearly the same work as Francis Clouet in Paris, portraits on panel, in a clear and harmonious tone, then much the fashion. During a journey of the King, he had, if Brantôme may be credited, portrayed the entire court, keeping the sketches for himself. Ten or fifteen years after, Catherine de Medicis, passing through Lyons, saw these portraits and highly praised them, recognising the old costumes, astonished at the courtiers of the day, whom she had never seen in such dress. This artist is now known, thanks to various works that have been found, among others two portraits of the sons of Francis I., preserved by Gaignières, who attributed them resolutely to Cornelis, doubtless on the faith of inscriptions that have disappeared. Both of them were engraved on wood at Lyons and published in Roville's book the _Promptuaire des Médailles_, mentioned above, with small differences of detail altogether insignificant. It is not impossible then that Cornelis designed these portraits, and that they were drawn on wood after the cabinet models spoken of by Brantôme. The delicate figures of the _Promptuaire_ are the work of a master; and the differences mentioned are those of the artist, not of the copyist, who would not be permitted to change anything. It is the first time, we believe, that these comparisons have been made; they will perhaps help the learned Lyonnais to pierce the mystery, but in any case our suppositions are more honourable to Cornelis de la Haye than the fancies of Robert Dumesnil (_Peintre-graveur Français_, tome vi., p. 343). To judge by the four little medallions here reproduced, the art of engraving on wood was rarely more skilful than in these portraits. It would not be astonishing if a man like Cornelis had designed the figures of the _Entrée de Henri II._ In any case, why should we choose John Cousin instead of Petit-Bernard? At this time, we know, the kings carried in their suite their ordinary painters; but we do not know that John Cousin followed the court to Lyons in 1549. He did not hold an official position, like Clouet. This artist produced well-authenticated works; one of them is signed, and leaves no doubt: the _Livre de Perspective de Jehan Cousin Senonois, Maistre Painctre_, published in 1560 by Jean le Royer, printer to the King for mathematics. This profession of printer for mathematics had its difficulties of engraving, for Le Royer tells us in his preface that he had himself finished the plates commenced by Albin Olivier. In another practical treatise, entitled _Livre de Portraiture_, published in 1593, John Cousin is styled _peintre géometrien_. It is beyond doubt that this master produced for many works figures and ornaments, but what were the books? The manner was then to repeat the engraved borders of titles, the _passe-partout_, in the centre of which the text was printed. Cousin designed many of these title-pages on wood; that of the _Livre de Portraiture_ affords a curious element of comparison; but he was not by any means the inventor. In 1555 was sold at Antwerp a book printed from engraved plates after John Vriedman, by Gerard Juif, which is simply a collection of engravings for title-pages for the use of publishers. [Illustration: Fig. 61.--Title of John Cousin's _Livre de Portraiture_, published in 1593 by Le Clerc. (The spot on the title is in the original, preserved among the prints of the Bibliothèque Nationale.)] It is about this time that metal plates may be seen in conjunction with wood engraving in the illustration of the Book, and the best artists attached their names to important publications of this kind. We have explained in a former chapter in what this process is least convenient in the impression of a book. In fact, two successive printings, that of the plates and that of the text, were additional trouble and a frequent cause of errors; but wood-cutting was somewhat abandoned in the middle of the sixteenth century, especially for separate plates, and engraved plates took a considerable importance under different artistic influences. The first was the facility of engraving a metal plate compared to the difficulty of cutting a wood block. It thus naturally happened that the artists of the burin wished to employ their art in illustration, and taste was soon drawn to the new process. In France the first volume of this kind was printed in 1488 by Topie de Pymont in folio: the _Pérégrinations en Terre Sainte_ of Bernard de Breydenbach, with figures on engraved plates copied from the Mayence edition of 1486. Since this manner was abandoned until about 1550, as much for the reasons given above as for others, we only meet with a stray plate now and again, which remains as a bait, and relates to nothing. Under the reign of Henri II. the smallness of the volumes did not always admit of wood engravings, and the artists in metal found a footing among illustrators; they made attempts, such as that of the _Histoire de Jason_ of Réné Boivin in 1563, which came out under Charles IX. in a charming volume of engraved plates by P. Woériot. The "Emblems" of Georgette de Montenay were also in the burlesque style of Alciati, but they had an advantage, as the author assures us:-- "Alciat fist des emblèmes exquis, Lesquels, voyant de plusieurs requis, Désir me prist de commencer les miens, Lesquels je croy estre premiers chrestiens." This orthodoxy does not make them more intelligible, but the engravings of Woériot, unskilful as they are, import an element of interest which surpasses the rest. It was always at Lyons, the rival and often the master of Paris in typography, that the author printed his work. By the privilege dated 1566, five years before publication, we see that it is permitted to Peter Woériot, engraver of the Duke of Lorraine, to portray, engrave, and cut in copper the said figures called emblems for the time and term of five years (18th October, 1566). Peter Woériot sometimes signed his prints with the small Lorraine cross adopted by Geoffroy Tory's workshop, as may be seen in our engraving. Copper plate engraving had by this time established itself, and the works that were so illustrated spread themselves. Du Cerceau published his admirable collection of _Plus Beaux Bastiments de France_ in folio 1576-79, which had numerous plans and views of the royal and princely castles. Thevet put forth his _Cosmographie Universelle_ and his _Hommes Illustres_, the latter adorned with skilfully engraved portraits. In Paris the publishers Mamert Patisson, who married the widow of Robert Estienne and took his mark, Adrien le Roy, and Robert Ballard, published the celebrated _Ballet Comique de la Royne Faict aux Nopces de Monsieur le Duc de Joyeuse_, composed by Balthasar de Beaujoyeux, valet de chambre to Henri III.; and in this book, in which were put hasty etchings, the King displayed all his immodesty and depravity. The Book has often had the unconscious mission of transmitting to posterity the unworthiness of its author or of its heroes. From this time the Book has left its golden age to enter into the boastings of courtiers and political abstractions. [Illustration: Fig. 62.--Engraving by P. Woériot for Georgette de Montenay's _Emblèmes_.] Among the publications opposed to the Government of the time, the two associates James Tortorel and John Perrissin, of Lyons, had published a celebrated collection of plates on the religious wars that stained the reign of Charles IX. with blood. At first engraved on metal, these plates were worn out, and were gradually replaced by others engraved on wood, on which several artists worked, among them James le Challeux and also John de Gourmont, one of the most celebrated wood-cutters of the sixteenth century. This was a work composed of single leaves in folio size, which had an extraordinary sale among the religious people of the time. At the same time, illustration on wood did not stand still. The portraits of authors diffused by the pencil of Clouet and his school were commonly put at the head of their works. We cannot say whether Clouet himself designed the portraits of Tiraqueau and of Taillemont in 1553; of Du Billon, the author of the _Fort Inexpugnable_, in 1555; Papon and Ambroise Paré in 1561; Grevin, Ramus, and others; but the precision of these physiognomies recalls the peculiar manner of the French artists of the sixteenth century. The "Poems" of Ronsard in 1586 contains a series of very clever portraits, among them that of Muret, his commentator, one of the most perfect of its kind. Christopher de Savigny, author of the _Tableaux Accomplis de Tous les Arts Liberaux_, published by John and Francis de Gourmont in 1587, is represented at full length in the frontispiece of his work, offering the book to the Duc de Nevers, to whom it is dedicated. This plate in folio, probably engraved by John de Gourmont, is the best finished that we have seen. The work of Savigny, forgotten as it may be now, had a great reputation in its own time; and Bacon took from it the idea of his "Advancement of Learning." Speaking of the Duc de Nevers, it will not be without interest to our readers to mention here a manuscript found by us in the Bibliothèque Nationale, which enables us to give an account of the work then necessary for the publication of an illustrated book. In 1577 the Duke arranged for the impression of an apologetic book, of which no trace remains; and his _intendant_ writes a long letter to him on the subject of composition and bindings. It was necessary that the work should be produced quickly, bound and gilt, for presents. The _intendant_ thinks calf will be the most expeditious covering. "It would be much the best to use black or red calf, ... well gilt above, and not vellum, which is a thin parchment that quickly shrinks." The statements of this man of business show that five proofs of each sheet were taken for typographical correction, and that twelve full days were wanted for the binding. The most interesting part of this memoir is that which treats of the engraving on wood of the portrait. The plate was designed by an artist who had afterwards gone away; it was not satisfactory, but the ornaments would pass. The _intendant_ proposes to "fix a little piece of wood in the block that could be drawn upon." Here we see correction by elimination. The pear-wood on which the original figure was engraved was to be cut out, and a square of boxwood substituted, "forasmuch as in this task the pear-wood, which is the successful, well-cut block, is the wood that is harder." [Illustration: Fig. 63.--Portrait of Christopher Plantin, printer of Antwerp. Engraved by Wierix.] The portrait of the Duchesse de Nevers was better, yet the pear-wood had given way under the work. "That of Madame is more passable. Nevertheless, there is still something to say to one eye. The wood cannot carry the subtlety of the line." Here, in a few clear and explicit lines by a man of the time, we see the economy of a publication of the sixteenth century, at a time when wood engraving was declining, to give place to engraving on metal, which was soon to reign supreme, through the most important book house of the century: the Plantins of Antwerp. Christopher Plantin, like Jenson, came originally from Tours. After having learned his art with Macé at Caen, he went to Paris, from which the wars soon drove him. He left for the Low Countries, and there Philip II. nominated him as chief printer--"architypographus." Established at Antwerp in 1555, he surrounded himself, as had the Estiennes and Alduses, with most of the learned and literary men of his time, among them Justus Lipsius, to whom Balzac attributed the Latin prefaces signed by Plantin. It is certain that he was neither an Estienne nor an Aldus. His artistic probity caused him to submit the proofs of his works to strangers, with promise of recompense for faults indicated; the Estiennes employed the same system. Plantin, not to be behind any of his contemporaries in typographical perfection, brought from France the celebrated type-founder William Lebé, and charged him to furnish a special fount.[A] Under the orders of Philip II., he printed the celebrated Polyglot Bible, in eight folio volumes, absolutely perfect in its execution; unfortunately the Spanish Government, having advanced funds in the course of publication, prosecuted him with the utmost rigour to obtain repayment. This very nearly shut up his printing house, but he took courage and overcame his difficulties, until he became, in 1589, the year of his death, the principal publisher of Flanders. His mark was a hand holding a compass, with the motto "Labore et constantia." [Footnote A: In the Bibliothèque Nationale is a copy of an octavo _Album de Caractères_, in which Lebé has written, "This gloss, made in Paris (1574) by me, is my fourteenth letter, and the text is made on the pattern of the preceding one for size, but of a better art; and from this was printed the great Bible of Antwerp by Plantin, to whom I sold a fount" (folio 6). On folio 20 he wrote, "I do not know whence came this small Hebrew that I received from Plantin to make a smaller one for him. He sent me this half-sheet, and I have not seen at Venice another part."] [Illustration: Fig. 64.--Plantin's mark.] Plantin died at the age of seventy-four, leaving a prosperous business to be divided between his three daughters. His first house at Antwerp employed seventeen presses even at the time when he was in trouble, and he had branches at Paris and Leyden, of less consequence. His second daughter married Moretus, and to him descended the Antwerp workshop; he and his descendants continued the printing house until recently; the house of the great printer and publisher is now a typographical museum. The Plantin printing office--"Officina Plantiniana"--was as well managed by its descendants as by himself. The fashion of engraving in metal spread itself before the death of the head of the house, and his successors continued it. The principal engravers with the burin of the Low Countries were employed by them: Wierix, Galle, Pass, Mallery, Van Sichern; it was a real school of illustration, that created by degrees a precious and sustained style, not without influence on the artists of that epoch. It was from this particular manner that came Thomas de Leu and Leonard Gaultier in France; and from Antwerp came those small religious figures that have lasted to our time in their incomprehensible mysticism. The title-pages of the Plantin printing office inaugurated the _passe-partout_ engraved by the burin, overloaded and complicated, of which the seventeenth century took advantage. To tell the truth, these elaborate displays, blackened by ink, do not accord well with the titles; and there is a long distance between this decadence and the books ornamented with wood blocks by the Italians and French of the commencement of the century. Exception must be made in favour of Rubens, who designed many of these titles. The heavy and squat architecture of the time was least of all appropriate to these decorations, which wanted grace. It passed from Plantin into France through the engravers; it went to Rome with Martin de Vos and John Sadeler; it imposed itself everywhere; and from that day to this it has not ceased. At the time of which we write it had taken its flight in France, and spread itself in Europe with extraordinary success. Engraving in relief, holding its own until then, gave way little by little before this invasion. When Henri IV. mounted the throne wood engraving had finished its upward movement, it still remained in the _canards_, or popular pieces sold at low prices, but it is easy to see what these hasty vignettes are worth. [Illustration: Fig. 65.--Frontispiece of a book from Plantin's printing office. Metal engraving.] We have now seen the history of the Book and its decoration in the sixteenth century in France: at first French epics in Italy, books of hours, romances of chivalry; then about 1550, with the reign of Henri II., the religious pamphlets commenced, bookselling spread itself; the strife between illustrations on metal plates and those in relief assumed shape, it continued under Henri III., and terminated abruptly by the victory of the first at the extreme end of the century. With political passions, printing had become a weapon of warfare, which it will never cease to be. They knew in the sixteenth century what perfidious accusations or excessive praises were worth. The Book followed the fate of its author. If the writer was burned, so was his book. Witness the _Christianismi Restitutio_ of the Catholic Servetus, printed at Vienne, in Dauphiné, and consigned to the flames with its author at Geneva in 1553. A single copy was saved from the fire, and is now preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale; it is the identical copy annotated by Colladon, the accuser of the unhappy Servetus, and still bears traces of fire on its leaves. Typography and the illustration of the Book in England in the sixteenth century did not make the same progress as in France and Italy. Much good work was done, but it was mostly with foreign material. Type was obtained from French and Dutch founders, and most of the woodcuts had the same origin. In the early part of the century most of the publications were translations of popular foreign books, such as Voragine's "Golden Legend," Caxton's translations of Cicero, Boetius, etc. Too many restrictions and privileges obtained to encourage or allow of the establishment of an English school, which was to come later with the spread of wealth and education. Books were mostly printed in Gothic type, or "black letter," and the woodcuts were of the coarsest kind. An exception was the beautiful Prayer-book of John Day, 1578, known as Queen Elizabeth's Prayer-book, from the fine portrait of the Queen, which we reproduce, on the previous page; but in this the woodcuts were designed by Albert Dürer and Hans Holbein. Pynson was the first to use Roman type in England, in the _Oratio in pace nuperrimâ_, 1518, quarto; and the first English Bible in Roman type was printed at Edinburgh in 1576. It is thought that until about 1600 printers were their own type-founders, as no record exists of founding as a separate trade until that time. [Illustration: Fig. 66.--Portrait of Queen Elizabeth from the "Book of Christian Praiers," printed by John Day, 1578.] The greatest achievement of the sixteenth century in England was the printing of the first English Bible, in Coverdale's translation, in 1535, folio, but even this was printed abroad, the latest investigation giving it to Van Meteren at Antwerp. The woodcuts in it are by Hans Sebald Beham; we reproduce one representing Cain killing Abel. Tyndall had previously printed abroad an English New Testament. Another importation was Brandt's "Shyp of Folys," printed by Pynson, 1509, and John Cawood, 1570, the woodcuts in both being copied from the originals before referred to. [Illustration: Fig. 67.--Woodcut from Coverdale's Bible, 1535. Cain killing Abel.] Folio was the size usually adopted, and in this size the series of chronicles appeared: Arnold, printed abroad in 1502; Fabian, in 1516; Froissart, by Pynson, in two volumes, 1523-5; Harding, by Grafton, 1543; Hall, by the same, 1548; Holinshed, in two volumes, 1577. In the same size Chaucer was first given to the world entire by T. Godfrey in 1532, and many times reprinted, and Sir Thomas More in 1557. Polemical and religious treatises were mostly printed in quarto, as were the poets: Spenser's _Faerie Queene_, in 1590; Langland's _Pierce Plowman_, in 1550; and Sidney's _Arcadia_, in 1590. Plays were also printed in quarto, in which shape at the end of the century some of Shakespeare's single plays were issued. From the great perfection to which the liturgies, or books of hours, had been brought by Vostre, Verard, and others in France, it is not perhaps extraordinary that the service books for English use should have been mostly printed abroad. Those for Salisbury and York were produced at Paris, Rouen, and Antwerp. A Salisbury Primer in English was printed by John Kyngston and Henry Sutton in 1557, and Wynken de Worde printed a York Manual in 1509. The first English Common Prayer Book, known as Edward VI.'s, was printed by Grafton in 1549, who also printed in 1545 Henry VIII.'s Primer in Latin and English. Edward's book is curious as having on the last page a royal order as to the price at which it was to be sold: "No maner of persone shall sell the present Booke vnbounde aboue the price of two shillynges and two pence. And bound in Forell for ii_s._ x_d._, and not aboue. And the same bound in Shepes Lether for iii_s._ iii_d._, and not aboue. And the same bounde in paste or in boordes, in Calues Lether, not aboue the price of iiii_s._ the pece." Cranmer's Catechism was printed by Nicholas Hill in 1548, with twenty-nine woodcuts by Hans Holbein, one of which we reproduce, representing Christ casting out devils. Translations from the classics were popular, and in the second half of the century arose that passion for voyage and travel which has so largely contributed to the wealth and extension of England. This was begun by Eden's translation of Peter Martyr's "Decades of the New World; or, West India," London, 1555, quarto, followed by Hakluyt's "Principall Navigations, Voyages, and Discoveries," 1589, folio. Many accounts of single voyages and discoveries were issued, and the taste thus created culminated in the establishment of the East India Company in the last year of the century. The first specimen of copper plate engraving for books in England is a frontispiece to Galen's _De Temperamentis_, printed at Cambridge 1521, and the number of books containing copper plates engraved before 1600 is extremely limited, the most notable being portraits of Queen Elizabeth, Lord Leicester, and Lord Burleigh in Archbishop Parker's Bible of 1568; Saxton's Atlas, 1579, the first atlas in England; Harrington's translation of Ariosto, 1591, with forty-seven engraved plates. [Illustration: Fig. 68.--Woodcut by Hans Holbein from Cranmer's Catechism, 1548.] The first printer at Cambridge was John Siberch, 1521. Peter of Treves established himself at Southwark in 1514. Among his productions is a Higden's _Polychronicon_, 1527, folio. John Oswen printed at Ipswich 1538, and among the English towns in which printers established themselves in the century were York, Canterbury, Tavistock, Norwich, and Worcester. The establishment of the Reformed Church, and the diffusion of education among the people which followed, created an original English school of literature in the sixteenth century, and this gave employment and great impetus to typography in England, so that by the time we reach the end of the century we find a great improvement in the art of the Book, to be carried to still greater perfection in the next. [Illustration] CHAPTER IV. 1600 TO 1700. Tendencies of the regency of Marie de Medicis--Thomas de Leu and Leonard Gaultier--J. Picart and Claude Mellan--Lyons and J. de Fornazeris--The Book at the beginning of the seventeenth century in Germany, Italy, and Holland--Crispin Pass in France--The Elzevirs and their work in Holland--Sebastian Cramoisy and the Imprimerie Royale--Illustration with Callot, Della Bella, and Abraham Bosse--The publishers and the Hotel de Rambouillet--The reign of Louis XIV., Antoine Vitré syndic at his accession--His works and mortifications; the polyglot Bible of Le Jay--Art and illustrators of the grand century--Sébastien Leclerc, Lepautre, and Chauveau--Leclerc preparing the illustration and decoration of the Book for the eighteenth century--The Book in England in the seventeenth century. [Illustration: Fig. 69.--Letter engraved by A. Bosse.] Now we have arrived at a critical epoch, in which the science of the old printers transformed itself gradually into commerce, in which taste lost itself under the influence of religious architecture. The title of the Book represents the portico of a cathedral, with columns, mitred saints, and crosses, of little decorative aspect. Figures on copper plates replaced the foliage and arabesques of the older booksellers. Through the Plantins and their imitators, the architectural passion was far spread. It inundated France, ran through Germany and Italy, and reigned pre-eminent in Holland. Literary taste also underwent change; manners were no longer those of the sixteenth century: bold, free, and gay; from the religious wars a certain hypocrisy arose; bombast replaced the natural; the gods were preparing, as a contemporary said, to receive Louis and his spirit. It is not that artists were wanting at the opening of the seventeenth century who could, in giving scope to their talent, show themselves worthy successors of those who went before them. Unhappily the booksellers no longer had a loose rein; they had the rope, for they were hung or burned at the least infraction of political or religious propriety. Yet the reign of Henri IV. was relatively an easier period for the artisans of the Book, in which they were less confined to the strict terms of excessive regulations; but after this prince severity increased, and during the year 1626 a new law was promulgated punishing with death the printers or distributers of prohibited books. Doubtless the books that were thus secretly sold, and prohibited in defence of good manners, were neither _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of typography nor art. The author threw off the indecencies by which he hoped to make profit and fame, regardless of type or illustration. But during the regency of Marie de Medicis, it was not only the authors of a bad standard that were in danger of being hung; the printer or seller of the pamphlet or book of a reputed heterodox author was also hung, and it became difficult to steer safely among the prohibitions. Enormous numbers of works were made with frontispieces decorated with colonnades and mitred saints, and bearing high-sounding titles of sound orthodoxy. A somewhat gross mysticism, from the office of Plantin, formed the most solid stock of every respectable dealer. [Illustration: Fig. 70.--Title of the _Metanealogie_, engraved by Leonard Gaultier.] Under Henri IV. and the minority of Louis XIII., two French illustrators received from the school of Antwerp their inspiration for the ornament of the Book. Thomas de Leu, probably from Flanders, was allied with the old Parisian painter and engraver of celebrated portraits, Antoine Caron, in furnishing the engraved plates for the _Images de Plate Peinture des Deux Philostrates, Sophistes Grecs_, Paris, Claude Cramoisy, 1609, folio; and Leonard Gaultier, his contemporary, collaborated with Jaspar Isaac and other artists in the Book. Leonard Gaultier contributed most to spread in France the Plantinian style, and his somewhat cold but characteristic talent suited this art more than that of any one else then could. He was an engraver of portraits, now rare and valuable, in the style of Wierix or Thomas de Leu; but, at the demand of publishers and booksellers, he composed other plates, at first historical figures representing the royal family and the nobles for the publisher Leclerc, in a simple and true manner; he also designed pious figures, recording a miracle or representing the ceremonies of a jubilee and other devotional things. But he made his great success in the composition of frontispieces to theological and pious works, printed for nearly all the booksellers. Leonard Gaultier had a fashion of his own with pilasters and Grecian columns, under which he boldly placed entire councils of cardinals and bishops; witness the heading of the _Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum_, into which he crowded nearly forty figures. He united also with a certain grace the sacred and the profane, placing among ideal saints the sinning fine ladies of the time, with their large collarettes and jewels falling on naked breasts. The work of Andrew Valladier, chaplain of the King, entitled _Métanéalogie Sacrée_, published by Peter Chevallier in 1609, was adorned with a title of this particular kind, in which Gaultier had no rival, and which preserves the precision of Flemish masters in the detail of ornaments of the toilet. He was one of the first to work for Sebastian Cramoisy, printer and publisher, who had established his shop in the Rue St. Jacques at the sign of the "Stork." We shall have occasion to speak of him later in connection with the Royal Printing House, of which he was the first director; he is mentioned now because in 1611 Leonard Gaultier engraved for him the frontispiece of _L'Aigle Français_, a collection of sermons by Thomas Girault. The publisher used the same plate in 1618 for the sermons of Raymond de Hézèque. Besides the publications of Sebastian Cramoisy and Chevallier, Leonard Gaultier adorned also those of Nicholas Buon and many other publishers of the time in Paris and Lyons. With such a profusion of works emanating from a single artist, without reckoning those which were produced in great quantity by men of less note, wood engraving was dead. At most it dared to put a wood block of a printer's mark on a title; more ordinarily this mark was not alone sufficient, and showed the disdain in which taste then held wood-cutting. Thus goes fashion, heedless of the most elementary rules of art. To put type within an engraved title, or to ornament a printed text with engravings, is a heresy of principle that was established in the eighteenth century, by the strength of its cleverness and talent. But at the beginning of the seventeenth, in spite of Leonard Gaultier or Thomas de Leu, these overloaded titles, overpowering the opening of the Book, offend the eye by their excessive blackness, and incontestably make us regret the admirable frontispiece on wood of the preceding century. This is all the ornament, properly so called, of the reign of Louis XIII. Leonard Gaultier composed also small vignettes for an edition of Homer, but they are mediocre and unskilful, and it must be said that there were others following the same path. John Picart made a frontispiece with architecture and figures for the _Histoire de la Maison de Châtillon-sur-Marne_ for account of Sebastian Cramoisy. A cold and hard artist he was, the rival of Gaultier, and one of the most employed of the vignette engravers of Paris. There was also Jaspar Isaac, a mediocre craftsman, but who could design clever titles, among them that of the continuation of the _Annales_ of Baronius for the publisher Denis de la Noue. Then Claude Mellan, whose great and clever talent did not disdain second-rate works, in which he gave free play to his burin. It must be said, however, that his bold touch did not well accommodate itself to reduced spaces, and that he was not working in the field necessary to his inventive powers. We mention his portrait of Louis XIV. at the head of the _Code Louis XIV._; the title of the _Perfection du Chrestien_, in which is included a portrait of Cardinal Richelieu, A. Vitré, 1647, folio; that of the _Instruction du Dauphin_ for Cramoisy, 1640; that of the works of St. Bernard for the Royal Printing House; and, perhaps the best of all, the _Poésies_ of Pope Urban VIII., of which we here give a copy. [Illustration: Fig. 71.--Title engraved by Claude Mellan for Urban VIII.'s _Poésies_, printed at the Royal Printing House, in 1642.] Lyons did not remain far behind in the movement, but how changed from its great reputation of the sixteenth century! J. de Fornazeris engraved the frontispieces to Justus Lipsius, published by Horace Cardon in 1613. Peter Favre and Audran imitated them. C. Audran designed for Claude Landry the _Theologia Naturalis_ of Theophilus Reynaud, and the bookseller Picquet ordered from him the title for the _Annales Minorum_ in 1628. Everywhere taste was modelled on the works of the capital, to name only the principal centres, Rouen, Rheims, Sens, down to Venes, a small town of Tarn, where William de Nautonnier published in 1603 his curious book _Mécométrie_, whose frontispiece was bordered by views of cities, with an equestrian portrait of King Henry. And if we pass to Germany, we find Mayence with mediocre engravings for titles according to the formula and process used elsewhere, the title of the _Droit Civil_ of Aymar Vailius, that of the works of St. Bonaventura in 1609 for the bookseller Antoine Hiérat, and that of the _Viridarium Virtutûm_, rather cleverly treated by the burin in 1610. What a period had passed since Gutenberg, Fust, and Schoeffer! There was still one Yves Schoeffer at Mayence, but only the name lived; nothing more remained of the old printers of the other century. It was the same at Bamberg, Cologne, Nuremberg, and Basle, in all the cities that made the honour of typography and the Book in former times. Cologne was neither better nor worse favoured than others. The booksellers Boetzer, Kinck, and De Binghy had passable engravings for their titles; and the Commentaries of Salmeron may be mentioned, with portraits from the German originals of the fifteenth century. At Nuremberg there was a curious specimen treating of natural history by Basil Besler, in which the artist gives the interior of a zoological cabinet of the time; but the blocks and the typography of the city of Koburger are wanting. Basle held its own later in relief engraving. Meantime there was a mediocre set of the Dance of Death on copper, published by Miegen, 1621. At Jena and Frankfort-on-the-Main were prosperous printing houses, but engravings and ornamentation were neglected. Frankfort employed the frontispiece in the _Traité du Commerce_ of Sigismond Scaccia, published by Zuner in 1648; it was divided into compartments, in which the Bourse, the Exchange, and the port of the city were represented. It is scarcely necessary to mention the Italian cities which followed the movement. Venice from the middle of the sixteenth century had used engraved frontispieces, among which was that of Domenic Zenoi for the _Portraits des Hommes Illustres_ of Nicholas Valegio. In the same city James Piccini worked for account of Sgava in 1648, but he was equally at the service of Roman publishers, for whom he designed a number of titles. Along with him Frederic Greuter adorned the publications of Alexander Zanetti, not without talent, but without individuality. Bologna, Brescia, Florence, and Naples, had no original sentiment; they followed indifferently the manner of the day. In Holland, artists were rather numerous. The family of the Passes designed vignettes for books, and engraved frontispieces, admirably studied and composed. The clear and truly personal style of their works places their illustrations in the first rank among those of their time. They had, at the same time, the genius that created and the intelligent burin that faithfully translated an idea. They imagined with art the scenes that they depicted without at all copying their predecessors. From 1599, the date of the publication of the _Hortus Deliciarum_, one of their best works, up to about 1623, they were in Holland, at Arnheim and at Amsterdam. In 1623 we find one of them, the most celebrated, Crispin the younger, designing figures for the _Manège Royal_ of Pluvinel, published by Angelier in Paris, and for another edition, with folding plates, in 1624 for William Lenoir, at the sign of the "White Rose Crowned." This magnificent work, in which the King, Louis XIII., is represented receiving lessons from the rider Pluvinel, had a third and more complete reimpression in 1625 with another publisher, Michael Nivelle. Here we see the Dutch accredited in France, in Paris, in the city then the most ready to understand and pay for the works of eminent artists. In 1624 Gombauld published an _Endymion_--Boileau later associated Gombauld with other poets to declare him a maker of pitiable sonnets--Nicholas Buon, the bookseller named above, undertook the publication, and employed Pass, Leonard Gaultier, and J. Picart to furnish plates in octavo size. Heavy and black as were these vignettes, they do not the less make a good appearance in the edition of the forgotten poet; and it is due to truth to recognise how much Pass was above his collaborators. The following year, 1625, he engraved the _Dionysiaques_ of Nonus, for Robert Fouet, and the _Roman des Romans_ of Du Verdier, comprising more than ten engravings, in a very free and bold manner. The _Berger Extravagant_ and the _Académie de l'Espée_ came in 1628, among numerous others. [Illustration: Fig. 72.--Title of Pluvinel's _Manège Royal_, engraved by Crispin Pass in 1624.] To speak truly, Crispin Pass did not devote himself entirely to Parisian publishers; he always preserved interests in Flanders so as to return there from time to time; but he did not find in his own country the ready and assured sales of Paris. Still the city of Leyden had then one of the most renowned workshops of typography; the Elzevirs had commenced to make a good place for themselves among the printers of Europe by the extreme correctness of their editions, the distinctness of their work, and their marvellous art in the taste and economy of the Book. In reality, the sizes and characters of their books were very small, but if the smallness of the page did not allow room for vignette or ornament, they bore a certain practical elegance that was not without charm. The origin of the printing house was due to Louis Elzevir, who published in 1592 an edition of Eutropius at Leyden. He left sons, who associated themselves together, and founded a house which was unrivalled. [Illustration: Fig. 73.--Title of the _Imitation_ of the Elzevirs.] Bonaventure Elzevir, grandson of Louis, was the most illustrious of this family, so remarkably devoted to its art. He took Abraham as partner, and together they put forth those little Latin classics in duodecimo of which the value is now so great. Among others, Pliny issued from their presses in the year 1635, in three volumes, Virgil in 1636, and Cicero in 1642. To-day amateurs, above all those afflicted with bibliomania, hunt for unbound Elzevirs, because they have full margins. From about 1633 to 1639 these volumes were composed of paper of rather small size, making a page of a hundred and thirty to a hundred and thirty-three millimetres; from 1639 onwards the paper was larger, and the page from about a hundred and thirty-five to a hundred and thirty-seven. One must be a book-lover to understand the interest attaching to these figures, and employ his entire activity in the discovery of these undiscoverable books, which are concealed as soon as they are met with. One of the most esteemed of their works is the _De Imitatione_ of Thomas à Kempis, printed by John and Daniel Elzevir about 1653, and known as the edition without date. But as the association of John and Daniel is known to have lasted from 1652 to 1654, the date 1653 appears to be very plausible. We reproduce the entire title of this typographical _bijou_, which merited a cleverer engraver. The rarest of all the numerous Elzevirs, possibly by reason of the popularity of its subject, is the _Pastissier François_, Louis and Daniel Elzevir, Amsterdam, 1655, of which M. Morgand had an uncut copy, measuring a hundred and forty-three millimetres, in 1878. The Benzon copy sold in 1875 for three thousand two hundred and fifty-five francs. It is to be remarked that the Elzevirs frequently avoided dating or even signing their books, for reasons easy to comprehend. Publishing numerous works, they were afraid of compromising themselves in the eyes of the powerful, and they let them go forth without any trade mark. These artists in typography were, besides, the most prudent and subtle of men. Working at a time when bookselling had become an acknowledged commerce, and a trade requiring all the skill and resources of others, they wisely availed themselves of these, gathering for themselves honour and profit without having done more than seize their opportunity. Employing the characters of Claude Garamond, of James Sanlecques, and the papers of Angoulême, M. Didot thence claims them as French publishers. In France the Elzevirs had no rivals; but a fashion was introduced from the end of the sixteenth century of associating together publishers in the production of important and costly books. There were, among others, the company of the "Grand Navire" in 1610, of the "Source" in 1622, and of the "Soleil" in 1629. In 1631 several publishers united and founded a second company of the "Grand Navire." These were the two Cramoisys, Sebastian and Gabriel, Denis Béchet, John Branchu, Denis Moreau, Claude Sonnius, and Denis Thierry. The associates took a ship as their mark, but without putting their names on the masts, as the original company of the "Grand Navire" had done. They published, at common expense and divided profits, great works, of which each one of them had the right of sale, but of course reserving to themselves the right to publish such others as they pleased. Sebastian Cramoisy passes as the chief, the moral director of another company, formed to publish the Fathers of the Church, with the royal types, a company affiliated to the "Grand Navire" and signed in 1638 by Denis Moreau, Gille Morel, Stephen Richer, Claude Sonnius, and Gabriel Cramoisy. But as regards their personal works, if they had neither the perfection nor the aspect of those of Froben, Aldus, the Estiennes, or even of Plantin, they at least surpassed the French books of the time. Formerly syndic of the Corporation in 1602, twenty-nine years before the constitution of the "Grand Navire," Cramoisy was besides sheriff of Paris, and he exercised his trade in a shop in the Rue St. Jacques which had been that of Father Nivelle, the _doyen_ of booksellers, who died in 1603 at the age of eighty years. The position of Cramoisy made it natural for Cardinal de Richelieu to fix his eyes on him for the direction of the Royal Printing House. This establishment, founded by the King in 1640, was installed within the Louvre, in a long series of rooms which formed a workshop without rival in the world. Sublet des Noyers was named superintendent, Trichet du Fresne corrector; and under this triple direction the presses commenced to work. The first book was the _Imitation de Jésus-Christ_, dated 1640, folio, a fine book enough, but not to be compared to the Elzevir editions. The types used in this book are attributed to Claude Garamond, founder of the sixteenth century, to whom are due the Greek types of Francis I. With the Royal Printing House, as often happens with State enterprises, the cost was great, and the return nothing. Only a few years after its foundation it had swallowed up nearly 400,000 livres, a very heavy sum for a badly balanced treasury; it had produced sixty or seventy volumes of moderate value; and after Cramoisy the management was so little in earnest that it turned the workshops into a stable, called "the little stable of the King," at the commencement of the eighteenth century. [Illustration: Fig. 74.--Plate taken from the _Lumière du Cloistre_. Copper plate by Callot.] To return to the artists of the Book under Louis XIII. and Cardinal Richelieu, we must go back a little, before the foundation of the Royal Printing House, and we shall find the French school of illustration at a time when Callot was giving it a vigorous lift and trying to do away with its affected and hard style. It must be acknowledged that Callot was not a vignettist, a special designer; his art aimed higher, and ordinarily succeeded better; yet he did not disdain frontispieces, and made them for the _Coustumier de Lorraine_, the _Harpalice_ of Bracciolini, and for a crowd of others of which the enumeration would be tedious. Certain of his works passed into Italy, where they raised a little the debased level of the Book. Then he adorned several works with etchings, among them the _Lumière du Cloistre_, published by Francis Langlois 1646. It was one of the symbolic and sententious works with which the public taste is never satiated, and a kind of guide for the priest. At the bottom of the little etching here given, representing birds falling from a tree, we read,-- "Ses petits hors du nid le courbeau jette en bas, Lorsque par leur blancheur ils lui sont dissemblables. Le bon prélat de mesme au cloistre n'admet pas Ceux qui n'ont rien d'esgal à ses moeurs vénérables." Callot also made another set of emblems on the life of the Virgin Mary, and published in 1620 a series of prints in quarto for the tragedy of _Soliman_ of Bonarelli, for the account of Cecconnelli. France imposed herself on fallen Italy, she got her works dispersed there, and if an engraver arose there, he did not disdain to consecrate himself to France. Witness Della Bella, who went from Italy to France, where he was taken under the protection of Cardinal Richelieu. It was about the time of the establishment of the Royal Printing House, and it was expected that employment would be found at once for him. Callot was the model chosen by the young Italian artist, and this choice might have been less happy. Della Bella took from his master the philosophic vein, the drollery of design, which he exercised at first in humorous frontispieces, among others that of Scarron's works, where nine fish-women, taking the place of the Muses, dance around the poet. But he passed from gay and pleasant to severe, and made large pages of architecture for serious titles. In 1649 he designed the plates for the large and undigested volume of Valdor on Louis XIII., published by Antoine Estienne at the Royal Printing House. His success was not there; Della Bella was a painter of groups, of ornaments, of subjects somewhat heavy and overdrawn, but which, after numerous transformations, opened a new way to the vignettists of the eighteenth century. [Illustration: Fig. 75.--Title of the _Manière Universelle_, by Desargues, in 1643, by Abraham Bosse.] With Abraham Bosse the decoration of the Book took a considerable extension. Numerous and charming ornamented letters, heads of pages, and tailpieces appear. There are few artists that have done so much as he for graceful illustration and harmony between the vignette and the printed page. His prodigious fecundity made him attempt every style; and after the gaieties of the print in which he laughed with his contemporaries, he adopted a grave air to trace more severe subjects on copper. However, the book entitled _La Manière Universelle_, by Desargues, with numerous geometrical figures and an agreeable frontispiece, bearing the dedication to the Seigneur de Noyers, superintendent of the Royal Printing House, was a critical work, in which Bosse, under a serious standard, did not spare an enemy. We do not bear ill-will to the artist, however, for the following year he published fourteen plates for the Suetonius printed at the Louvre. He successively designed plates for the _Histoire de St. Louis_, numerous vignettes for pious books, figures for the _Pucelle_ of Chapelain and for the _Larcins de la Fortune_. He was always himself, refined and ingenious, whether in the most barren or the most complicated subjects. [Illustration: Fig. 76.--Print by Abraham Bosse representing the booksellers of the Palace under Louis XIII.] He has left us in a celebrated print a representation of a bookseller's shop of his time. It is for us an interesting page, in which is shown simply and rather naïvely the picturesque side of these stores, with the dealer and his wife selling new works to their customers. The shop is compact, and very much like the open-air stalls of to-day; posting-bills above the shelves indicate the "new books;" and if the inscriptions given by Bosse be credited, the Palace dealer offered his books with singular eclecticism: Boccaccio, Aretin, the _Astrée_ of D'Urfé, the Bible, and Machiavelli. In the hands of the woman is seen the romance _Marianne_: "Icy les cavaliers les plus adventureux En lisant les romans s'animent à combattre; Et de leur passion les amants langoureux Flattent les mouvements par des vers de théâtre," says the text of Bosse. What was commonly done then is still done, shopping and rummaging the stalls, and those of the Palace were attractive. If we credit Sauval, the great number of booksellers, in the middle of the century, was due to the wits of the Hotel de Rambouillet. The passion for novelty, for recent works, had produced that quantity of publishers, he says, that we have seen on the Pont Neuf, and that we still see to-day at the Palace and the University, but of which the number is so multiplied in all these places that in the Palace they count more than other dealers; and as to the neighbourhood of the University, they are obliged, in order to lodge the rest, to extend the ancient bounds from St. Yves to the river (Sauval, _Antiquités de Paris_, viii., 354). In fact, each year saw an increase in the number of publishers in corporation, with syndicate and adjuncts. Under the reign of Louis XIII., the single year 1610 had fifty to take rank, and among them Antoine Vitré, who was to become the most illustrious of his contemporaries. But, as there were no more than six printers, it may be inferred that all the rest were booksellers, in the true sense of the word, of those who encumbered afterwards the great _salle_ of which Sauval speaks. Antoine Vitré was syndic in May, 1643, on the accession of Louis XIV. He had four adjuncts. With him the Book marked the solemn style that the commencement of the century had given to it. Royal printer for the Oriental languages from 1621, he undertook a Syriac work, the first that was attempted in Paris. The project of a Polyglot Bible gave him the idea of acquiring for the King the Oriental manuscripts and matrices of Savary de Brèves. The King left to him the care of negotiating the business, but did not reimburse him without numerous difficulties, in the midst of which the printer was made to lose the means of conveniently continuing his trade. The advocate Le Jay charging himself with the enormous expenses necessitated by the Polyglot Bible, it was composed in the hope that Cardinal Richelieu would pay the cost. He was willing to do so, but required that his name should figure on the book; and as Le Jay, an independent man, formally opposed it, Vitré met with ill-will from the Minister, which increased from day to day. In 1645 the impression was finished, but Le Jay was ruined, and if we admire the paper, the type, and the extraordinary size of the nine volumes of the Polyglot Bible, we find in it so many faults, errors, and misprints that it has fallen to nearly nothing, hardly being worth its binding. There were terrible mortifications in the business, and Vitré had to submit to them more than any one. Nevertheless he did not let his presses stand still, and he published successively Arabic, Turkish, and Persian works. His action against the Savary heirs, as representing the King, in the acquisition mentioned above, continued also after the impression of the Bible, and hindered his progress. He struggled on; and the assembly of clergy, of which he was the printer, sought to help him out of his difficulties. The matter being once terminated, the Cardinal being dead, and Vitré having been named by Colbert director of the Royal Printing House in place of Cramoisy, he died in his turn, and was later accused of having destroyed the types and matrices of the Polyglot Bible, so that they should not be used after him. This fable, long accredited, has since been ascertained to be false, for the punches and matrices passed to the Royal Library, thence to the Royal Printing House, reorganised in 1691. Antoine Vitré, in spite of his misfortunes, was a great personage. He was painted by Champagne and engraved by Morin, as was Richelieu himself. The portrait was reproduced in the book of M. Delaborde, _La Gravure_ (p. 189). Such was the man whom we meet at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV. as syndic of booksellers; and it was by no means a sinecure, a canonry giving honour and profit, quite the other way. With the Draconian rules on the subject, the syndic assumed a heavy burden towards the King, as well as towards his kinsmen. Religious quarrels envenomed questions, and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was to have for its immediate corollary new and more severe royal ordinances. The reign of Louis XIV. saw the zenith of engraving with the burin, but not that of printing or illustration. Doubtless it would be puerile to pretend that typography had not made any material progress; it had done so in engraving and in composition; work was done more quickly, because the presses had been made more perfect. But the wise harmony of the old printers, their sure taste, even in their old irregular blocks, was no longer there to form a graceful and charming whole, which is to modern precision as a picture by Van Eyck is to a chromo-lithograph. Under Louis XIV., titles became regular, following, as we have said above, and modelling themselves on, the affected and peruked people who read them. All art entered on this path of sublimity and grandeur. The painter Le Brun is the highest exponent of this false Olympus, where an heroic pose became necessary for the most humble movements. Made popular by engraving by Pesne, Audran, Poilly, Edelinck, and a hundred others, this tendency overran everything: art and industry, painting and tapestry, illustration and typography itself. All was grand, in reverse of other times, when all was small and mean. The embellishments of the Book were full of gods in perukes and goddesses in armour, Louis XIV. as Apollo, as the sun illuminating the world. "Nec pluribus impar" was not the device of one man; it was the mighty and glorious cry of a whole people, from great to small, from the sublime painter to the modest printer. Ordinarily these exaggerations are not useful to the arts. Here they were. But, for the matter that specially occupies us, it does not appear that the Book was much advanced. It approached a marvellous epoch of a delicate and graceful art; but it did not find its form; it dragged painfully after the Plantinian works, heavily throwing its etchings and burins in the middle of texts, gross and in bad taste. Yet taste in literature had an onward tendency; Molière and La Fontaine produced on their contemporaries the effect that in our day the naturalists have produced on the romanticists; but this was not for long. Majesty recovered its rights with Bossuet, Boileau, and the others. [Illustration: Fig. 77.--Tailpiece of Sébastien Leclerc for the _Promenade de St. Germain_.] Sébastien Leclerc was one of the rare artists of the end of the seventeenth century who dreamed of the vignette in the midst of this invasion of pompous commonplace. Successor of Callot in manner, induced by the publishers, he began this style with a romance of La Calprenède, and continued with the _Promenade de St. Germain_ of Louis le Laboureur, bailie of Montmorency, of whom Boileau said such curious things. This is one of the rarest books of Leclerc, and we reproduce one of the pages, with a charming tailpiece, which comes very near those of the eighteenth century. There was, moreover, a charm in this ingenious designer; he adorned the works of his contemporaries with graceful vignettes and decorations full of suppleness. It may be believed, besides, that he did not remain behind his _confrères_ in figure composition or allegorical and Divine emblems. His art did not throw off the errors of the existing school; he was content not to copy any one and to make his works truly his own. Such were, for example, the vignettes of the _Histoire de Turenne_, where the heads of the chapters, the ornamented letters, and the tailpieces, harmoniously agree, and make the book, a little heavy in impression, a most agreeable work. Leclerc then found himself ready to design vignettes for the works of Racine for the publisher, Claude Barbin, another name frequently encountered in Boileau. The title of Vol. ii. merits attention. The same year of this last publication, 1676, Sébastien Leclerc illustrated the "Metamorphoses" of Ovid for Benserade, the engraving of which cost the King more than 10,000 livres. Thus adorned, the book had not a bad appearance, but a satirist of the time, Hardin very probably, made on it this quatrain:-- "Mais quant à moi j'en trouve tout fort beau: Papier, dorure, images, caractère, Hormis les vers qu'il fallait laisser faire A La Fontaine." It may be imagined what an engraver could produce working from 1650 and dying in 1715, that is, a life of work the longest that could be hoped for. Leclerc was the absolute contemporary of the King. He died, like him, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, leaving work widely scattered among books, funeral orations, and placards. After the example of Callot and Bosse, he did not disdain satire. One of his prettiest vignettes served to illustrate some pamphlet of Richesource against the journalists of his time; it represents a dandy of about 1679 offering his gazette. By the side of this unrivalled antagonist it is permitted to place Lepautre, twenty years older than Leclerc, but whose studies had been principally on architecture. In the moments that he left his special work he devoted himself to frontispieces and vignettes; nevertheless, although he had before him the charming designs of Leclerc, he confined himself to a cold and hard manner, keeping, besides, as much as possible to titles, in which his particular talent could find scope. He designed also the Chartreux Missal of 1679, the _Gallia Christiana_ after Marot, the _Dioptrique Oculaire_ of P. Chérubin, engraved by Edelinck, and a thousand other works of small repute. [Illustration: Fig. 78.--Small figure of Sébastien Leclerc for Richesource's pamphlet.] Very different was Francis Chauveau, who, without having the delicacy of Sébastien Leclerc or his art of arrangement, treated at least with grace little figures and illustrations. Certainly there is an enormous distance between these correct and commonplace engraved plates and the delightful wood engravings of the time of Geoffroy Tory, for example. But, be their worth what it may, they suited very well; and even with Molière they did not make such a bad figure. Chauveau was associated with many of the works of Leclerc, who caused him often to be less heavy, inasmuch as Leclerc corrected in engraving many of his compositions. It was so with Molière, and still more with Racine in the plate of the _Plaideurs_, in which Chauveau revealed himself a precursor of the eighteenth century. Unhappily he did not always follow this manner. Successively, and with various luck, he illustrated _Alaric_, _Andromaque_, and the "Metamorphoses" of Ovid for Benserade, with Leclerc; the _Pucelle_ of Chapelain, and the _Tragédies_ of Racine, to which Le Brun did not disdain to put his hand. In short, the connecting link between the beginning of the seventeenth and that of the eighteenth century in the development of illustration is Sébastien Leclerc. He had known the artists of the first period; he was to see at his death appear one of the precursors of the vignettists of the following century, Claude Gillot. Thanks to him, overburdened titles and unskilful vignettes underwent a gradual transformation. In the delicacy and tenuity of his designs may be seen the dominant note of the eighteenth century, coquetry, and Choffard is divined. He was nearly the only one who did not fall into the exaggerations of the engravers of the time; he kept beside them without touching them, and preciously preserved his own well-accentuated personality. By the smallness and slenderness of his figures, Leclerc recalls somewhat the school of Fontainebleau; but he is above all the reflection of Callot, a Lorrainer like himself. In Holland, a Frenchman, Bernard Picart, son of Stephen and pupil of Leclerc, was making a great name as an illustrator. He established himself as a print-seller at Amsterdam at the sign of "L'Etoile," and successively designed vignettes for many works, among others the Boileau of 1718. His vignettes and tailpieces, without possessing either the spirit of Leclerc or the grace of the eighteenth century, express an ingenious and inventive art that had broken with the strained traditions of preceding epochs. From these two artists the decoration of the Book rapidly advanced. The form is found, and charming designers are not wanting to apply it. The troubled state of England during the greater part of the seventeenth century no doubt accounts for the fact that the art of the Book made but very little progress. Theological controversies, the persecutions by the Puritans, and, above all, the great civil war and its antecedents and results, gave rise to a flood of publications of an ephemeral kind, which from their nature were hurriedly produced; and there was little room for pure literature and art. In the early part of the century, under the influence which Elizabeth left, and which James fostered, some important works were issued, with finely engraved illustrations; but wood engraving declined further and further, until it was artistically dead, to be revived in the next century. The works of the numerous poets and dramatists were printed in quarto, and collected editions of them in folio. Thus were issued the works of Shakespeare, first collected by Jaggard and Blount, 1623, folio, with an engraved portrait by Droeshout, the faithfulness of which was vouched in an opposite page of verse signed by Ben Jonson. "Don Quixote" first appeared in an English dress in 1612-20, published by E. Blount in quarto; and Jaggard, Blount's partner in the Shakespeare, published Boccaccio's "Decameron," in two volumes folio, 1620. Among other notable works of the early part of the century were Drayton's "Polyolbion," 1613; Chapman's Homer, 1611-15, folio, three volumes; Lord Bacon, whose essays and other single publications appeared in the seventeenth, to be collected as his "Works" in the next century; and William Prynne, whose _Histrio Mastrix_, 1633, so offended Charles I. by its references to the Queen and the court ladies, that the author had to undergo a severe and degrading punishment. Many of these works were illustrated with meritorious engravings on steel and copper by W. Hollar, P. Lombart, W. Marshall, Hole, W. Pass, W. Faithorne, and R. Vaughan. So that here were all the materials for the foundation of an English school, to be cruelly broken up shortly afterwards by the distractions of civil warfare. In 1611 Robert Barker first printed the Authorised Version of the Holy Bible, which has been more often reprinted than any other book, and which exists to this day as the great standard of the English language. The taste for books of travel which arose in the last century was largely increased by the voyages and discoveries of the English in North America and the subsequent Puritan exodus there. These early accounts of Virginia and New England, many of which are tracts of a few leaves only, now command fabulous prices. The great collection of voyages under the name of "Purchas: his Pilgrimes," was printed in five folio volumes, 1625-6, while De Bry, Hulsius, and Linschoten were enriching the world with their collections of travels, printed in Germany and Holland. All of these works were adorned with finely engraved plates, those to "Purchas" being engraved by Elstrack, and, besides, it had a famous map of the world, engraved by Hondius. The controversial spirit engendered by the religious quarrels of the century and by the great civil war gave incessant work to the printers; and the many tracts and pamphlets thus produced were frequently illustrated by rude and coarse woodcuts, of no value from an artistic point of view, but curious from the indications they afford of the costumes and manners of the time. The first edition of Walton's "Angler" was printed by R. Marriott in 1653, 16mo, with plates in the text, engraved on steel by Lombart. Butler's "Hudibras" appeared in 1663-78, and Milton's "Paradise Lost" in 1667, quarto. Fuller's "Worthies of England" was printed 1662, folio. We have roughly mentioned the principal English books of the century, and next approach the revival of literature and art in the eighteenth century. [Illustration] CHAPTER V. THE BOOK IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. The regency--Publishers at the beginning of the eighteenth century--Illustrators in France; Gillot--The school of Watteau and Boucher--Cars--The younger Cochin; his principal works in vignettes--French art in England; Gravelot--Eisen--Choffard--The _Baisers_ of Dorat; the _Contes_ of La Fontaine--the publisher Cazin and the special literature of the eighteenth century--The younger Moreau and his illustrations--The Revolution--The school of David--Duplessis-Bertaux--The Book in Germany; Chodowiecki--In England; Boydell and French artists--Caslon and Baskerville--English books with illustrations--Wood engraving in the eighteenth century; the Papillons--Printing offices in the eighteenth century. [Illustration: Fig. 79.--Letter by Cochin for the _Mémoires d' Artillerie_ of Suvirey de St. Remy.] Like experience has shown us in our time, but in another manner, the beginning of the eighteenth century produced, in the manners and tastes of the French, an unconscious but tenacious reaction. It seemed as if the conceptions of romanticism had lasted long enough, and that the cycle of Middle Age chevaliers had passed away, and that a return to what is called nature was effected in literature and art. At the death of Louis XIV., Olympus and its gods, majestic poses and suns, had become wearisome. By a little half-open door, gaiety escaped from its prison and fled. For the Book that door was the hand of Sébastien Leclerc. The ancient school was replaced. Constrained during three quarters of a century, French manners began to be joyous under the regency of the Duc d'Orleans. If the representatives of another age still lived, if Rigaud always painted his portraits in peruke, there were new-comers, enlivened by the new fashions, less solemn and more bewitching. Le Brun was then far in the past, and as amusing to the ladies of the regency as are now to us the fashions of the Second Empire. The Book, after its manner, followed the movement, and gradually found the elements of its decoration in the tendencies of the day. Small sizes were multiplied, types showed elegance, and vignettes became more and more agreeable and intellectual. Amateurs had their _ex-libris_ engraved. The smallest pamphlets were covered with ornamental letters, vignettes, and tailpieces, already very clever. Costume also, in its shorter and lighter form, gave to designers a means of agreeably composing a page of illustration and disseminating fancy in the figures. These revolutions worked themselves simply from day to day, as taste became more pronounced and exacting. The commerce of the Book was still extending from the end of the preceding century; and if the number of printers was limited and arrested by certain somewhat hard laws, production in Paris was enormous. Among regulations that weighed most heavily on publishers figured the obligation put upon them by the ordinance of 1713 to deposit eight copies of illustrated books. In 1725 the King issued other regulations to affirm the rights of the university against the corporation, forcing the masters to assist in a body at the processions of the Sorbonne and to offer on the Day of the Purification a candle to the rector. In spite of this ordinance, more religious than useful to commerce, the fashion of vignettes increased. The principal shops were searched, as they are still, for novelties; the Rue St. Jacques and the Quai des Augustins, where they were grouped, were resorted to. The most important booksellers in 1727 were Coignard, the Barbous--who essayed afterwards, with Lengley Dufresnoy, to copy the Elzevirs,--Cavalier, Robustel, Fournier, Ballard, and D'Houry. Of the two last, D'Houry printed the calendars, and Ballard had the privilege for music. Another, Leonord, published the books of the Dauphin. At these and other publishers', recent works were examined, those who did not buy gave their advice and took ideas, and so fashion slowly formed itself. It was thus that Houdart de la Motte published with G. Dupuis in 1719 a collection of fables, with illustrations of Claude Gillot, which was the talk at the booksellers'. In this book all was original: the author, who had had, five years before, the eccentric idea of translating the Iliad without knowing a word of Greek; the text, a kind of imitation of La Fontaine, without salt or savour; the size, quarto, admirably printed by Dupuis, in the Rue St. Jacques, with plates by Coypel, Massé, and, above all, the charming vignettes of Gillot, the most pleasing and clever of all his collaborators, a sort of Callot fallen into the eighteenth century, and who ought to take the first place by birthright. Gillot has been called, not without reason, "the last pagan of the Renaissance;" and this pagan had the honour to give us Watteau. [Illustration: Fig. 80.--Vignette by Gillot for the _Chien et le Chat_, fable by Houdart de la Motte, in 1719.] The Count de Caylus tells the story. Gillot had quitted the pencil for the etching needle on seeing the work of his pupil. He had no reason to complain; his pictures were of no value, and his prints gave other artists the idea of imitating them. The whole French school of the eighteenth century may have had its origin in this forgotten book, illustrated by the master of Watteau. In fact, in the manner of the little etching here given we may easily perceive the coquetry and affectation that were later the dominant tone of vignettes. For, it may well be said, the graceful, feminine, and arch manner of which we speak was, above all, conventional and false. In opposition to the designers and engravers of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, who reproduced naturally scenes of daily life in ideal conceptions, it came, through the moral education of the artists, that they put forth the ideal in the most ordinary things of life. Shepherds were no longer the gross, rustic peasants that we find in primitive Flemish paintings or in the "Hours" of Simon Vostre; they were coxcombs, pomaded and adorned with ribbons, playing the bagpipes, and making love to the shepherdesses of the court. At first it was Watteau who influenced all the engravers in the pretty and the smart; Boucher did the rest; and fatally the Book followed, and followed impetuously, surpassing, if possible, the painted works. If the severe poses, the grave touch, of the preceding century are no longer found, they often go a little far in the contrary sense. It may be well said here that the arts are ordinarily the result of the manners of an epoch. The system of Law was not without influence on the entire eighteenth century, by the terrible manner in which he upset fortunes, awoke appetites, gave rein to aspirations hitherto held in check. Claude Gillot, the designer, was one of the first victims of the Scotch banker; he lost his fortune on the Exchange; but who may say what his artistic ambition dreamed of in the midst of all these disorders? One thing is certain: that Watteau, his pupil, broke off very short with the style of the seventeenth century. Laurent Cars was the engraver who multiplied the compositions of Boucher, and made them the fashion. He engraved also, after the painter of shepherds and nymphs, illustrations to Molière, the most agreeable that there are for style and spirit. In engraving certain works of Lemoyne, Cars did not completely desert the ancient school. He appears at the beginning of the eighteenth century as if divided between two manners each equally possible to him. The work of these engravers was almost exclusively in etching, biting with acid a copper plate covered with varnish, on which the drawing was made by means of a point. This process, always previously used for sketches, served also for finishing vignettes, which up to then had been finished by the burin. The suppleness of the work was greater, and the artist remained more himself than he could be with the stiff cutting instrument of the seventeenth century. The sizes of books had not yet all come to octavo or duodecimo. The works of Molière published by Prault in 1734 in six volumes quarto, under the direction of Marc Antoine Joly, give the idea of an important work, not at all of theatrical pieces. To tell the truth, these somewhat exaggerated dimensions allow artists more room for illustration; later, when smaller forms predominated, text and engravings were so compressed that they were not always clear and readable to every eye; but the quarto was not graceful, it was not in harmony with the finikin, the pastoral pieces, then presented, and it had to disappear as a current size in illustrated publications. The class of artisans employed on the Book is not identical in the eighteenth century with that of printers and publishers. In the beginning, as we have seen, the cutters of wood blocks and the printers were often the same people, preparing their characters or their blocks, and afterwards putting them under the press. Large printing offices had very quickly changed that. Each particular work had its special workman. Typography had its type-founders, compositors, forwarders, inkers, and pressmen. In the eighteenth century this was complicated by designers, engravers, plate-printers, and these different professions occupied themselves on the Book in manipulating the sheets in their turn. In the midst of this crowd, the designers and engravers, esteemed as was their collaboration, were not the most honoured. Their homes often reflected the effect of their life as clever artists, quick to spend the money earned during the week; and we shall have occasion to name some of the more miserable among them. The booksellers, on the contrary, had become great personages. In the preceding chapter we have seen Cramoisy and Vitré, to name only them, acquire the greatest honours, the latter painted by Philip de Champagne, with many others lords of the court. In the eighteenth century there were Brunet, Ballard, Mariette, Chardon, Didot, and a host of others, during the time of Watteau, Boucher, and Cars, of which we shall shortly speak; and these several publishers had houses of their own, and furnished shops and printing offices with the best apparatus. Saved from falling into negligences by royal regulations on printing, they composed with admirable characters, on paper of the first order, imperishable works; and, usual consequence of their high situation, they paid the artists badly charged with their work. It would be long and tedious to enter into this matter in detail. They made progress by slow degrees, and in good time they marvellously united copper plate engraving to printed text, so marvellously, that in comparing their works to the wood blocks of the sixteenth century, it may be asked which of the two styles is superior in elegance and good taste. [Illustration: Fig. 81.--Vignette for _Daphnis et Chloe_ by Cochin, for Coustelier's edition.] One of the ancestors of this group of vignettists was the younger Cochin, who had engraved the plate of the monks in the fables of Houdart, illustrated by Gillot. Cochin, in spite of his passion for allegory and his very marked taste for affectation, gave, it may be said, with the designer-engraver St. Aubin, an enormous impulse to the art of adorning books. From the beginning of his career he worked for the publishers, composing frontispieces, ornamented letters, and tailpieces, or transferring to copper the drawings of others. Singular type of artist, besides, educated, well brought up, epicurean and spendthrift, friend of great lords, and protected by Madame de Pompadour. When he travelled in Italy with her young brother Abel Poisson, Cochin did everything, was ready at the least request, inventing curious menus, giving representations of fêtes, and yet finding the time to decorate books and design vignettes profusely. He worked chiefly for Jombert, a sort of learned bookseller, King's printer for the artillery, who dates from July, 1736. Jombert was visited by painters. He gave little private soirées, which Cochin attended, and where he daily made numerous friends. It was in this house, of so special a character, and, it may be said, so little artistic at first sight, that Cochin invented his best frontispieces, among them that of the _Calcul Différentiel_, that of the _Astronomie Physique_, and the plates of the _Méthode de Dessin_, after Boucher. He was one of the first to produce engraved titles, with which the publisher Prault ornamented his dainty volumes, and which were imitated, up to the end of the eighteenth century, by all the illustrators who followed. In that to the works of Madame Deshoulières the letter itself is engraved. Since then the open letter has been copied in typography. These vignettes were used many times by publishers, sometimes simply effacing the inscription, sometimes reproducing the original design by a different artist. The boy with the swan had decorated in 1744 a "Jerusalem Delivered" in Italian, by the same publisher, Prault; it was then engraved by Aveline. Fessard engraved the second plate, which is here reproduced. [Illustration: Fig. 82.--Title-page engraved by Fessard after Cochin for the works of Madame Deshoulières, 1747.] Nearly all the frontispieces of the Book with vignettes of the eighteenth century preserve this arrangement: an ornamented and draped border, with garlands of roses, symbols, and cupids, in the middle the title, in red and black, composed in open letter, often a scroll with the address of the publisher, but rarely a mark. It was the time of little winged cupids, goddesses, and gods. The goddesses were the favourites of the kings, Madame de Pompadour or the princesses, but rarely the virtuous Marie Leczinska, too homely and too much ignored to tempt the artists; the kings or the princes were the gods. After Jombert, Prault, and Coustellier, Cochin worked for François Didot, syndic of the printers, for whom he prepared a set of illustrations to Molière. Unfortunately Didot died in 1757, and the project fell with him. Of the work of Cochin there only remains the set of _Tartufe_ etchings in octavo. In the vortex into which he was plunged, he successively illustrated the works of Rousseau, published at Brussels, quarto; those of Boileau, published by David and Durand, octavo; and Henault's "History of France," in the same size, with numerous vignettes. One of these should be noted in a book treating of printing; it is that in which Cochin pretends to show to his contemporaries the interior of a workshop in 1470. Without doubt the sketch of this print was taken in one of the houses frequented by him--at Jombert's, Didot's, or David and Durand's--for that room in which compositors are working and printed sheets drying was not an invention of Cochin, and served to reproduce a printing office of the eighteenth century. [Illustration: Fig. 83.--Vignette taken from P. Corneille's _Théâtre_, by Gravelot.] With Cochin soon worked a number of designers and aqua-fortists, too prudent to lose the opportunity. The fashion arrived for books beribboned, festooned, and flowered. Hubert François Gravelot had carried to London this style of new works, which he knew how to decorate, in his manner, better than any one, with letters, figures, and tailpieces. He did not engrave much himself, leaving this work to lesser artists, and contenting himself with subtle invention and graceful subjects. With Eisen, Cochin, and Moreau, he is the French artist in the sense of the time, free, bold, and ingenious, but perhaps a little out of place in England. He published his plates to the "Decameron" in 1757, one of the most curious of his sets of plates, and a hundred various vignettes. On his return to France he designed the _Théâtre_ of P. Corneille, from which the _Galerie de Palais_ is here reproduced, on account of the illustration of bookselling which it gives. In 1764 the large _salon_ of the Palace was still, as in the time of Abraham Bosse, a place where shops were fitted up and the new books discussed. Side by side with the dressmakers and merchants of every category, the bookseller offers to his customer the recent products of Parisian presses. Certain works were sold under cover and not shown; there is here something to pique the curiosity of unoccupied young men who strolled about and prolonged their stay in the galleries. [Illustration: Fig. 84.--Border designed by Choffard in 1758.] Eisen has a simplicity, a good taste, and a special and singularly perfect economy of artistic effect combined with typography. It appears hard that the designer had no consultative voice in the choice of impression and disposition of the Book. The union of the two forces, the vignette and the composition, is so close that it may be believed one was made for the other, neither venturing to assert itself. In the pretty and elaborate inventions of the artists reigned a lackadaisical affectation that was delightfully becoming; the rock-work, which it still had, suited admirably the borders of the first page. The _Lettres d'une Peruvienne_ has a very agreeable title, but little different, on the whole, from that of Madame Deshoulières, by Cochin. It is the same with the _Lettres Turques_, published at Amsterdam in 1750, and generally in all the frontispieces signed by him. As to the other decorations of the Book, there were also a number of ingenious artists, confusing cupids and flowers, imposing blazons, delighting in playing with accumulated difficulties. Under this assuredly involuntary but real direction, publications attained proportions of luxury and coquetry until then unknown. The volume of _Baisers_ of Dorat would not have lived but for Eisen and the delightful fancies with which he adorned it. At the same time, we find Choffard, another designer and etcher of much repute, and sought after by the booksellers. Under his pencil the vignette became a _chef-d'oeuvre_, the tailpiece was a delightful compound of judicious and sportive ornament, the taste for which grew more and more. From delicate foliage are suspended roses, shepherds' pipes, lyres, and zithers. With the zephyrs scrolls or ribbons float, carried by winged cupids. The initial letters are real pictures, of such fineness and precision that the difficulties of their reproduction prevent us from putting them before the reader. When the _fermiers généraux_, those great amateur financiers of the last century, conceived the idea of an edition of the _Contes_ of La Fontaine at their expense, their eyes naturally fell upon the artists best prepared to illustrate the inimitable fancies of the great poet, Eisen and Choffard. The first had for his task the composition of the plates, Choffard the general decoration. Ficquet was added for the portrait of the _bonhomme_ La Fontaine--Ficquet, whose specialty in this _genre_ was dazzling in its delicacy and spirit; Diderot wrote a short introduction; the composition was confided to a printer of the first order, and it was put on sale by Barbou. [Illustration: Fig. 85.--Vignette by Eisen for the Quiproquo in the Contes of La Fontaine, in the edition of the fermiers généraux.] It is not a book to be recommended from a moral point of view, but the typographical art, joined to that of designers and engravers, never obtained a more complete success: the size in octavo, the impression clear, united with the dimensions of the plates in a harmonious elegance, well calculated to please the three rich personages and the joyous amateurs to whom the _Contes_ address themselves. True, Eisen has dressed the greater part of the characters in the costume of his time, which is a little hurtful to one's feelings to-day; it may be imagined, however, that it was La Fontaine who was mistaken, so that these delicate, risky tales appear to be created for the seigneurs of the time of Louis XV. All the special literature sought for then by rich people had not the value of the _Contes_. There was at Rheims a person, who has to-day become the _mode_, as he was in the time of Louis XVI., who sold under cover a quantity of licentious books of the better kind, adorned with figures by Eisen, Marillier, or Cochin; this was Cazin, an artist in his way, but whose good name suffered under a scandalous trial. An order of the Council of State in 1764 enjoined him to cease his trade in the Place Royale at Rheims, where he sold his particular merchandise. It appears that the sentence was not without appeal, for we find Cazin at Paris about 1785. He was one of those who were ruined by the Revolution, after he had popularised the editions known as _Petits Formats_, printed by Valade, of Paris. [Illustration: Fig. 86.--Card of the publisher Prault, uncle by marriage of Moreau le Jeune.] We have come to the most beautiful illustrated books of the eighteenth century, and to the illustrious artists of whom we shall speak in good time should be added the younger Moreau and St. Aubin, the former nephew by marriage of the publisher Prault, and therefrom a decorator of the Book, the other thrown by Gravelot into full work, and rapidly becoming the most subtle and adroit of the etchers of the time. Moreau did not wait long after his marriage before setting to work. He began with ornaments destined for the _Histoire de France_ of President Henault; then he composed, in his own personal manner, titles and tailpieces for his uncle. In the Book he is the propagator of garlands of roses, which he grouped with an ideal grace; he twined them in the borders of his frontispieces, and put them judiciously in his tailpieces. He excelled in inventing subjects referring to the text which were not commonplace ornaments suitable for anything. The tailpiece on p. 202, taken from the works of Molière, brings forcibly to mind the _Médecin malgre Lui_, with its wood-cutter unmercifully beaten with sticks and muffled in a scientific robe. It is the same with other illustrations, that cannot be displaced from the position assigned to them by the artist without disappointment. [Illustration: Fig. 87.--Tailpiece from the _Médecin malgre Lui_, by Moreau le Jeune.] The year 1773, which saw the publication by De Bret of the works of Molière, may perhaps be considered as that in which the French Book of the eighteenth century reached its culminating point. M. de Laborde, first valet de chambre of the King and governor of the Louvre, published with De Lormel, printer to the Academy of Music, his celebrated collection of _Chansons_, dedicated to the young Dauphiness Marie Antoinette, and partly illustrated by the younger Moreau. The work is exquisite, of powerful yet simple grace. The sentimental note of the century was struck in it, the insipid love of shepherdesses there tenderly sighed, and the designer has delightfully rendered this arch side of the pastoral song. Our task does not permit us to linger over the works of this prodigious and charming artist, but we must mention his inimitable plates to J. J. Rousseau, the finest and most agreeable of his compositions and vignettes, also his _chef-d'oeuvre_, the _Histoire du Costume_. [Illustration: Fig. 88.--Vignette of the "Pardon Obtenu," designed by Moreau le Jeune, for Laborde's _Chansons_, in 1773.] As evidencing the activity of French artists of the Book in the eighteenth century, we cite the number of works illustrated by the respective artists enumerated in the last edition of M. H. Cohen's valuable _Guide de l'Amateur de Livres à Gravures du XVIII^e Siècle_:-- Aliamet, 34. Audran, 16. Aveline, 33. Baquoy, 87. Basan, 9. Binet, 48. Borel, 29. Boucher, 47. Bovinet, 34. Cars, 13. Chedel, 21. Chenu, 18. Choffard, 50. Cochin, 143. Coypel, 24. Dambrun, 77. Delaunay, N., 95. Delignon, 50. Delvaux, 66. Duclos, 49. Duflos, 56. Dunker, 15. Duplessis-Bertaux, 22. Eisen, 135. Elluin, 14. Fessard, E., 69. Ficquet, 14. Flipart, 24. Fokke, 14. Folkema, 17. Fragonard, 10. Freudeberg, 7. Gaucher, 55. Ghendt, 78. Godefroy, 29. Gravelot, 86. Grignion, 13. Gutenberg, 20. Halbou, 58. Helman, 22. Ingouf, 18. Langlois, 18. Le Barbier, 54. Le Bas, 39. Lebran, 21. Leclerc, 11. Legrand, 45. Lemire, 77. Lempereur, 68. Leveau, 31. Longueil, 97. Marillier, 116. Martinet, 27. Masquelier, 42. Massard, 40. Monnet, 67. Monsiau, 22. Moreau, 138. Née, 48. Pasquier, 18. Patas, 65. Pauquet, 23. Petit, 23. Picart, 62. Ponce, 65. Prévost, 40. Prud'hon, 14. Queverdo, 54. Rigaud, 18. Roger, 17. Romanet, 26. Rousseau, 24. St. Aubin, 70. Scotin, 27. Sève, 29. Simonet, 83. Tardieu, 64. Tilliard, 15. Trière, 39. Doubtless some of these ascriptions are for frontispieces only, but as a list of the principal book illustrators of the time, and as showing the measure of their popularity, this table is of much interest. With the Revolution the decline of the Book arrives, as that of all the arts. Moreau, friend of David, had become affected by the new ideas and the burlesque renaissance of Greek and Roman art. He made his apology on the altar of the gods, and engraved portraits on wood to punish himself for having painted the elegancies of fallen tyrants. At this game, nerve, as well as suppleness, was lost; and if he had had only the artistic knack of the Revolution, his daughter, married to Charles Vernet, could not have written of him, "That which can be most admired is, at the same time, the fecundity and flexibility of Moreau's talent, that marvellous facility of conceiving a picturesque scene and disposing it in an interesting and truthful manner in the least extended space." This was true before, but after? In spite of his passion for the ideas and men of the Revolution, Moreau found himself at the end of his resources. Renouard, the publisher, received him as he had received St. Aubin, to whom he advanced sum after sum to prevent him dying of hunger. Like most of his contemporaries, Moreau, pressed by want, "took, quitted, and retook the cuirass and the hair-shirt." He had drawn for everybody: for Louis XVI., for the Republic, for Napoleon I. The worst of it is that after his designs for Ovid, Molière, and Rousseau, dating from the reign of Louis XVI., he should have done them again in 1804, 1806, and 1808. The difference was great, even probably for his publishers, Renouard and Dupréel. It does not appear that the pontiff of the new school, David, knew of his distress; and Moreau succumbed in 1814 to a cancerous scirrhus of the right arm, forgotten and in the greatest misery. We have passed a little quickly to the end of the century because it is of no importance to name each of the publishers and artists, but only to sketch briefly their tastes or their manner. We have not dwelt long on the engravers so called, because of their number; but their dexterity remains proverbial; they handled etching with extreme suppleness, and often interpreted the drawings of illustrators in remitting them to the needle. Many of these, not to say all, made use themselves of the etching needle, St. Aubin for example, who knew how to give to the work of others his personal mark and distinction. [Illustration: Fig. 89.--Title designed by Moreau le Jeune in 1769 for the publisher Prault.] The Revolution passed over some among those that it ruined, and, as stated above, they followed the movement, and lost themselves in the school of David. It was Duplessis-Bertaux who, after having furnished to Cazin, the publisher, vignettes for his _Recueil des Meilleurs Contes en Vers_, 1778, and many other books, after having worked for Didot, devoted himself to patriotic engraving and to the reproduction of scenes of the Revolution. When he published his _Tableaux Historiques_, in three volumes folio, adorned with nearly two hundred large plates, it was under the Consulate, that is to say far from the time when the work was begun. Renouvier assures us, with his exclusive disdain for the eighteenth century, that Duplessis-Bertaux was a mystifier, and that his scenes of the Revolution were a hoax, "in the kind of spirit in vogue under the Directory." The truth is that the artist, in place of being a cheerful Callot, as might be thought from his manner of engraving, so like that of the Lorraine artist, was imbued with the emphatic and exaggerated impressions of the first Republic, its _sans-culottes_ in the poses of the Sabines and its _tricoteuses_ apeing Penelope. The immense artistic advance made in France in the eighteenth century in the manufacture and illustration of the Book made itself felt throughout Europe. In Germany, Chodowiecki, born at Dantzic of a family of apothecaries, developed his talent from ornamenting the boxes of his father, and from 1758 to 1794 he designed numerous plates for books and almanacs, a little heavy in engraving, but singularly clever in composition. There were a few others also designing, and Kilian, Folkema, and Ridinger produced some fine engravings, but the Book did not make so much progress in Germany as in France and England. In England a vast improvement was manifested. Fine types were cast by Baskerville and Caslon; printing machines were perfected. The illustration of books by engraved plates was in the first half of the century almost entirely done by foreigners, but an English school was arising, which attained perfection in the latter half of the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth century. Wood engraving also, which, with the exception of blocks for head and tailpieces, had become almost a lost art, was revived by Bewick, to become later one of the chief adornments of the Book. Before 1716 English printers obtained their best founts of type from Holland, but the establishment of the Caslon foundry rendered them independent. William Caslon, the first great English type-founder, was born 1692, and died 1766. The foundry still exists, pre-eminent in the beauty of its characters. Baskerville established a foundry about 1750, and printed at Birmingham with his own types a number of extremely beautiful books. The impetus given to fine printing by these two men rapidly spread itself, and laid the foundation of the perfection which English book-making reached. As mentioned above, Gravelot illustrated many English books in the early part of the century. He designed a set of plates to Shakespeare in 12mo, 1740, and another in quarto, 1744, besides numerous frontispieces and other plates in all kinds of books. Among other foreigners who engraved for English publishers were Grignion, Kip, Van der Gucht, Houbraken, and Bartolozzi. Bartolozzi, who was very prolific in the production of engraved plates, may perhaps be called the founder of that great English school of engraving which arose with the establishment of the Royal Academy in 1769 and the encouragement given by Alderman Boydell. Houbraken and Vertue engraved a set of fine portraits in folio for Rapin's "History of England," 1736; William Hogarth designed plates for Butler's "Hudibras," 1744; and among other curiosities of English engraving before 1750 were Sturt's edition of the Common Prayer, entirely engraved on copper plates, 1717, and an edition of Horace entirely engraved by Pine, 1733. That the taste for illustrated books soon grew to be great is evidenced by the publication of such expensive works as Boydell's edition of Shakespeare, in nine volumes folio, commenced in 1791, and adorned with a hundred plates from pictures specially commissioned by the spirited publisher; Claude's _Liber Veritatis_, with three hundred engravings by Richard Earlom 1777, Sir Robert Strange's engravings of fifty historical prints about 1750, collections of views in Great Britain by Kip, Buck, and Boydell; Holbein's "Collection of Portraits" 1792, a hundred and fifty plates to Shakespeare engraved by S. and E. Harding 1793, all of which cost great sums to produce, and greatly contributed to the elevation of public taste. Among the artists of the latter half of the century who contributed to the decoration of the Book are Thomas Stothard, whose very beautiful designs, extending into the next century, excelled those of all his contemporaries in their grace and spirit; Robert Smirke, best known by his plates for Shakespeare, "Don Quixote," and "Gil Blas;" Burney; and Richard Westall. It may be said generally that the English books of the eighteenth century were of a more solid character than the French, although English art, especially in the decoration of the Book, owes much to French initiation. It is curious to read now the opinion of a contemporary French engraver on English art. Choffard, in the preface to Basan's _Dictionnaire_ 1767, wrote, "They" (the English), "having been supported by some foreign talent, are trying to create talent among themselves; but they have not seized the flame of genius that vivifies all art in France." [Illustration: Fig. 90.--Tailpiece engraved on wood by John Baptist Papillon (before 1766).] However, what had become of engraving by cutting in reverse, the figure in relief, from which printing could be done? It had, we may think, nearly disappeared in the midst of the continued invasion of the burin and etching. It only appeared from time to time in head and tailpieces, remaining purely typographical and lost in other decorations. There were always wood engravers, not very clever, capable only of working simple lines without charm. One of them resolved to resuscitate the art, and made various attempts about the end of the reign of Louis XIV. and beginning of that of Louis XV. He was named John Papillon, and was born at St. Quentin in 1661. His experiments did not go beyond a book of prayers, with thirty-six figures in relief after Sébastien Leclerc. His son, John Baptist, succeeded him, and continued to engrave without ceasing subjects of ornament, letters, often tailpieces, of a good style upon the whole, and taking an excellent place in an elaborate book. Unfortunately, grace had fled; the processes that the practitioners exhibited one after the other were lost; and the Papillons reconstituted, we may say, a vanished art. John Baptist also published in 1766 a theoretical treatise on wood engraving, abounding in historical errors, but in which something to learn may be found if taken with discernment. He says in his preface, "Now that excellent work is done on copper, wood engraving is neglected, and the use lost of designing and cutting the shadows of the pencil on the wood block; most of those who work in it have neither design nor taste, and only follow their own ideas; it is not astonishing that only very mediocre pieces come from their hands, to say nothing stronger; the profound ignorance of nearly all who meddle with it contrives more and more to destroy the beauties of this art in which many people find neither pleasure nor grace. To obviate all this, if it be possible to me, I have undertaken to give my precepts and observations to those who wish to apply themselves to my engraving." It was probably the essays of Papillon that provoked curious experiments on the part of other wood engravers. Duplat, at the beginning of this century, proposed to prepare a relief on stone, and as this would be broken under pressure, he invented a mould; that is to say, he took a leaden matrix from the stone cutting, and ran a resistant metal into this mould, thus obtaining a relief similar to the stone. Renouard, the publisher, made the trials; and the younger Moreau made the designs. Moreau become an essayer of processes in 1811! One of the plates of La Fontaine's _Fables_, published by Renouard in 1812, in two volumes, 12mo, is here reproduced. [Illustration: Fig. 91.--Experiment in engraving in relief by Moreau le Jeune for Renouard's edition of La Fontaine's _Fables_.] It appears, however, that the publisher was thwarted by bad printing. The printers of Didot or Mame, much as they consecrated all their care to it, did not yet know perfect workmanship; they put the most intense blacks into fine sheets. The great publishers trusted that better days would leave to more clever men the task of perfecting the invention. [Illustration: Fig. 92.--Portrait of Thomas Bewick.] Wood engraving owes its revival and almost perfection in England to Thomas Bewick, who published his first work in 1770, his "General History of Quadrupeds" 1790, and his "Birds" 1797. In these works he not only depicted his subjects with the most scrupulous fidelity, but in the tailpieces of the several chapters he drew the most quaint, humorous, and faithful representations of country life. He, with his brother, John Bewick, and their pupils, among whom was Luke Clennell, had an influence upon English art and the decoration of the Book in England which exists to our day. Not alone with us, for he may be said to have repaid the debt which we owed to France for her illustrated books of the eighteenth century by stimulating the art of wood engraving, which was practised by Tony Johannot and the other illustrators of the nineteenth century. To return to the eighteenth century, with which this chapter is specially occupied, we have said that the Royal Printing House, after various fortunes, still existed; and in 1788 it worked, for better or for worse, at the Louvre. According to the budget of that year, it cost the King 90,000 livres, of which the director had 1,400. There were, on the other hand, a certain number of official printing offices, that of war, for example, which was devoted entirely to the work of the Ministry. It was situated at Versailles, and was created in 1768. It is told of Louis XV. that, being one day in this workshop, he found a pair of spectacles, left as if in inadvertence on a printed sheet. As his sight was weakening, he took the spectacles and looked through them. The sheet was a hyperbolical eulogium composed, as if at random, by the director Bertier, in honour of the King. Louis XV., having read the dithyramb, replaced the spectacles, and quietly said, "They are too strong; they make objects too large." Who would believe that at the end of the century of Voltaire and Rousseau a craftsman would be found desirous of leading back the typographical art to its cradle, and of making xylographs again, under the name of polytypes? A German was the original who conceived the plan. He obtained an order of council for the establishment of his presses in 1785, but the same council suppressed them 1st November, 1787. His process was to substitute for movable characters a plate of fixed letters, and probably engraved. Another eccentricity of typography at the end of the century was the introduction of "logography" by John Walter, the proprietor and printer of the _Times_ newspaper, which consisted in casting whole the words in most common use, in place of separate letters. The system had soon to be abandoned, but the early numbers of the _Times_, which was started January 1st, 1785, were printed on it. In the eighteenth century there was a printing establishment for each of the constituted bodies; the King, the Queen, the princes, each had their own. The royal lottery occupied a special printing house. The young inmates of the blind asylum worked under the direction of M. Clousier, royal printer. Louis XVI. authorised the celebrated Haüy, their master, to allow them to print; and in 1786 they composed an essay on the education of the blind. Pierre François Didot was in 1785 printer to the Prince, afterwards Louis XVIII.; and he published the _Aventures de Télémaque_, in two quarto volumes, from this special printing office. The English colonies in North America early established printing there, their first book, the "Book of Psalms," known as the Bay Psalm Book, being dated 1640. By the middle of the eighteenth century literature held a strong position in the colonies, the greater part of it being, as might be expected, English; but the revolution and subsequent establishment of the United States created a national American literature, which has flourished to this day. Among the printers of North America in the eighteenth century, the most famous was the celebrated philosopher Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who served his apprenticeship to the printing press in London. He returned to America in 1726, and worked as a printer with his brother at Philadelphia. [Illustration] CHAPTER VI. THE BOOK IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. The Didots and their improvements--The folio Racine--The school of Didot--Fine publications in England and Germany--Literature and art of the Restoration--Romanticism--Wood engraving--Bewick's pupils, Clennell, etc.--The illustrators of romances--The generation of 1840--The Book in our days in Europe and America. Political imitators had not been found for the French Revolution in all the neighbouring countries of Europe, but its Greco-Roman art established itself, and by degrees was introduced into the studios of painters and the printing offices. Prud'hon, Gerard, Girodet, and later Desenne, without counting the younger Moreau and his contemporaries of the older regime, rallied to the new study, forming a school of illustrators and vignettists with which the publishers could resolutely advance. England followed suit with Flaxman, West, Fuseli, Barry, and a crowd of others. Among the publishers the powerful family of the Didots took first rank, and its members, at once type-founders, printers, booksellers, and _savants_ of the first order, were the best fitted to direct an artistic and literary movement. When Napoleon crowned himself emperor of the French, the elders of the family had already brought about a number of perfections and discoveries in their profession by which their workshops had profited. François Ambroise, who died in the year of the Empire, had given an exact proportion to types, a free and elegant turn, but perhaps too regular and precise to be agreeable. He had also invented a press called the _presse à un coup_, in which the impression was taken by a single pull instead of being produced by a series of successive strikings. His brother, Pierre François, spoken of in the preceding chapter, was a type-founder and paper-maker at Essones, and counted among his official titles "printer to the Comte de Provence," as François Ambroise was to the Comte d'Artois. Of these two branches equally faithful to typography, Pierre Didot, son of François Ambroise, became the head on the death of his father. Born in 1760, he had studied his art with passion, and had merited the installation of his workshops in the Louvre, where he published a celebrated collection known as the Louvre editions, the _chef-d'oeuvre_ of which was the works of Racine. The splendid execution of this book, in three large folio volumes, was a true typographical revolution. Never in any country had scrupulous perfection of detail been joined to so masterly a knowledge of disposition and form of characters. The great artists of the Davidian school had the honour of seeing their drawings reproduced as illustrations, and those named above designed the fifty-seven plates with which the edition was adorned. Pierre Didot displayed a great affectation in only printing two hundred and fifty copies of his irreproachable and marvellous work, of which a hundred had proofs of the plates before letters. Published by subscription, the ordinary edition was issued at 1,200 francs, and with proofs 1,800 francs. To these superb works Firmin Didot, his brother, added ingenious discoveries. Struck with certain difficulties of printing as well as of correction, he imagined the welding together of the types of a forme, when once obtained without faults, so as to avoid the trouble of new composition. This process, useless for books of small number, had a capital importance in the case of reimpressions of popular and successful works. He named this method stereotype, and from 1799 he published a Racine in 18mo by this method; but the originality of the method, which he was the first to call stereotype, ended with its name, for the process had already been discovered by William Ged, a goldsmith of Edinburgh, in 1725, the first book produced in this manner being an edition of Sallust, printed in 1744, 8vo, "non typis mobilibus ut vulgo fieri solet, sed tabellis seu laminis fusis, excudebat." This admirably directed house, we may indeed say this school of typography, formed with Renouard, Claye, Rignoux, and others, the greater number of the French publishers of the middle of the century. When the Czar Alexander went to Paris, he wished to do honour to the greatest French practitioners in the science of printing, in the persons of the brothers Pierre and Firmin Didot. But these were not the only ones. The sons of Pierre François, Henri and Pierre François II.--the latter specially applied himself to paper-making, under the name of Didot St. Leger--followed in the footsteps of their father and uncle. Pierre François made at Essones an excellent paper, which he brought to the perfection of making it in endless rolls, such as are made to-day for rotary machines. Bernardin de St. Pierre retired to Essones about the end of the last century, and there married the daughter of Pierre François II. It is a curious coincidence that the same village contained at once the man whose works at the beginning of the century had so extraordinary a success and the great family of printers who had given definitive impetus to typographical work. It was in this tranquil circle that the author of "Paul and Virginia," at the age of sixty, sought repose; that the publication of his book was resolved upon with all the luxury due to its success, with admirable type and with plates by Prud'hon and others. He added to it the _Chaumière Indienne_, written in 1790, on the eve of the Terror, which is one of the most delicate novels of the time. The homely and sweet literature of Bernardin de St. Pierre, the heroic inventions of Girodet, Gerard, and Chaudet in the Greek or Roman style, the clever but severe typography of the Didots--such is the composition of the Book at the beginning of the century, and also its avowed tendency and good taste. Under Louis XV. the nymphs carried panniers; Polyeucte had peruke and sword. It would be unbecoming not to give Juno or Venus the head-dress adopted in paintings and vignettes. At the time which now occupies us fashion in clothing directed designers also. The hair of goddesses was _à la Titus_; the waist was under the arms; golden circles were on the brow. Simple mortals walked naked on the roads, with plumed casques and superb shields. There were heroes putting forth their disproportioned arms, others raising their eyes to heaven in impossible attitudes. Such were all the vignettes, from Girodet to the humblest, the last, the most forgotten. It happens, by an oddity of which the cause is vainly sought, that this classic and revolutionary school of David identifies itself so well with the Napoleonic epoch, then with the people of the Restoration, that it seems expressly made for them. At the same time, under Louis XVIII. and Charles X. the Romans and Greeks had not the bold carriage of their early days; they became more citizenised, and assumed the air of the national guards of the kingdom of which later an excessive use was made. England also had a splendid series of publishers and printers. From Boydell, Harding, the Murrays, Fisher; from Bulmer, Bensley, Strahan, the Whittinghams, and Hansard, to our day, there has been an unbroken and constantly increasing line of clever, practical men, adorning the professions to which they devoted their energies, often realising that fortune which properly directed energies command. In the first half of the century a vast number of splendidly printed books were issued, ornamented in the most lavish manner with beautiful illustrations, engraved on steel or copper plates, and with delicate woodcuts. Book illustration in England may be said now to have reached perfection. When the banker-poet Samuel Rogers wished to bring out an illustrated edition of his works, he employed the two most capable artists of the time, Thomas Stothard and J. M. W. Turner; and they produced an admirable series of designs, which were exquisitely engraved by Finden, Goodall, and Pye. The work was printed by T. Davidson, in two volumes, octavo: the "Italy" in 1830 and the "Poems" in 1834; these two volumes, from the perfect harmony of the typography and illustration and their combined beauty, may be referred to as the perfection of book-making. A very charming series of volumes is found in the "Annuals," "Keepsakes," "Amulets," and similar annual publications, illustrated with beautiful steel plates by the best engravers. The splendidly printed and illustrated bibliographical works of Dr. T. F. Dibdin may also be mentioned. They extend to several volumes, and were printed by Bulmer and his successors Nicoll and T. Bensley, illustrated by engraved plates and woodcuts by F. C. Lewis and others. H. G. Bohn, besides the fine series known as "Bohn's Libraries," numbering over six hundred volumes, in every branch of literature, art, and science, published many finely illustrated books, and as a bookseller had the largest stock of his day. Charles Knight did marvels in popularising literature in his day. William Pickering published a long series of very beautiful books, and in conjunction with Charles Whittingham, printer, of the far-famed Chiswick Press, revived the Aldine or old-faced types; one of the most beautiful of his publications was Sir Harris Nicolas's edition of Walton's "Angler," in two volumes, imperial octavo, with a very fine set of steel plates, designed by Stothard and engraved by Augustus Fox and W. J. Cooke, besides engraved vignettes and representations of fish drawn by Inskipp. In Germany perhaps the most remarkable achievement of the century is the extraordinary series of volumes of English authors, now (1887) numbering 2,500, issued by Baron Tauchnitz, of Leipzig, which, although eminently popular in their character, are well and tastefully printed. Among the most notable of the printing and publishing houses of Germany, many of them combining the two trades, are J. G. Cotta, dating from 1640; Breitkopf and Härtel, dating from 1719; Justus Perthes, founded 1796; T. O. Weigel, 1797; F. A. Brockhaus, 1805; B. G. Teubner, 1811; W. Drugulin, 1829; J. J. Weber, 1834, etc. Germany has advanced with England and France in fine typography and illustration in their several kinds. The modern school of book illustration in Germany undoubtedly has its origin in the influence given to it by the designs of the artist Adolph Menzel, amongst which a series of two hundred illustrations to the works of Frederick the Great, engraved on wood by the Vogels, Unzelman and Müller, show him to be one of the most powerful and accurate draughtsmen of the century. To return to France, a new literature arose that was to react against the Greek full of Gallicisms; but the movement, in reversing the ancient state of things, in wishing to replace antiquity by the Middle Ages, old Romans by old French, completely changed the physiognomy of the Book. The engraved vignette and the copper plate of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were to lose their supremacy and to give way to etching and wood engraving, also a revival of the Middle Ages. [Illustration: Fig. 93.--Wood engraving by Clennell after West, for the diploma of the Highland Society.] It is not sufficiently known that wood engraving, after the unfortunate attempts of Papillon in France, was restored in England by Thomas Bewick, who founded a school, of which, at the commencement of our century, Clennell and the brothers Thompson were members. One of the Thompsons went to France about the middle of the Restoration, doubtless with the hope of profiting by his art, and he offered to the Print Department of the National Library the diploma of the Highland Society, a large folio wood block, very adroit and very curiously cut, after the drawing of the celebrated Benjamin West, and copied from Clennell's original block of the same subject. M. Duchesne, then Keeper of the Prints, speaks of this last process as of an apparition: "This print makes apparent the long-neglected and often reappearing art of wood engraving, which, though it could never equal copper engraving, nevertheless merits the attention of amateurs when a capable hand is exercised upon it." It was, we see, a curiosity then, this relief cutting, of which the resurrection was to give an enormous impulse to the Book from the facilities of printing and the economies realised by the possibility of intercalation in periodicals. In fact, metal printing necessitated so much trouble, more for engraving than for the impression. With wood blocks surrounded by type the ordinary press sufficed. The _Magasin Pittoresque_, which was commenced in 1833, and the success of which from the first was very great, was born of these new combinations. Before it the _Messager Boiteux_ of Strasbourg and other popular almanacs progressed very well with their illustrations on wood. A kind of firm of engravers, at the head of which were Best and Andrew, undertook the illustrations of the _Magasin Pittoresque_. In a few years progress was immense, other publications came into existence, and a definitive return was made to the vignette in relief. The French illustrated paper preceded our _Illustrated London News_ by nine years. Lavish use was now made of wood engraving, which had thus been suddenly revived in the very midst of the new romantic effervescence, amid a war of books, which, in order to please, had above all to captivate the eye, reacting at once against the spirit and the art of the Restoration. Never before had artists to such an extent taken active part in a purely literary warfare. All the fantastic tendencies of young France were embodied in the lame and halting lines of the time and similar wretched doggerel. Doubtless the leaders of the school did not go quite so far, and their reputation even suffered from such theories; but, as always happens in such cases, the disciples outstripped their masters. [Illustration: Fig. 94.--Vignette by Devéria for the _Fiancé de la Tombe_.] The brothers Johannot were the first to join in the fray, under the flag of the poets and others of the romantic school, such as Victor Hugo, De Vigny, Paul Lacroix, George Sand, and Devéria, most ruthless of illustrators. The last-named had designed vignettes on wood, of all others, for Baour-Lormian, that is to say for the foe of the new ideas, at once the interpreter of Ossian and the bourgeois bard, full of fire and fury against everything in turn. The _Légendes, Ballades, et Fabliaux_, illustrated by Devéria in 1829, although a sort of compromise with the lovesick swains of mediæval times, did not escape the shafts of ridicule. In the midst of this movement the Book became democratic; it was printed on sugar-paper for reading-rooms and scullery maids. The generation of romancists diffused its paper-covered works, printing a thousand copies and selling five hundred with great difficulty. Poets publishing five hundred were happy with a sale of two hundred and fifty. Unheard-of titles were then needed to catch the eye, ridiculous and ghastly frontispieces to tickle the fancy of the riffraff. Paul Lacroix called himself the "Bibliophile Jacob," and invented surprising headpieces and foolish designs. And then, as in the fifteenth century, as in the old times, certain signs become popular with the reading public. In the place of the Doctrinals, Complaints, and Disputes, so common in the titles of those epochs, new fancies spring up and have their day. Eccentric devices recommend romantic trash, in which the assassin's dagger, blood, and the horrors of the tomb have replaced the insipid fantasies of the fallen regime. Pétrus Borel, the werewolf, a sort of historic ghoul prowling about the graveyards, enjoyed a monopoly, as it were, of the ghastly titles and contents of this charnel-house literature; it was for his _Champavert_, published in 1833, that Gigoux composed a kind of Bluebeard surrounded by female skeletons, that opened the eyes of publishers to his value as a vignettist. Although he threw himself soul and body into the romantic movement, the young artist did not alone design subjects called "abracadabrants," following the neologism of the time, any more than the booksellers only published romances. An attempt was made, by publishing them in parts, to still further popularise the old writers at all harmonising with the current taste. The publisher Paulin thus issued the _Gil Blas_ of Le Sage, with illustrations in the text by the younger Gigoux, of which the best was hoped. The history of this celebrated enterprise has been written by the artist himself in the curious _Causeries_ published recently by him, fifty years after his work on Gil Blas; and this interesting view of an epoch already far distant gives us in a few words the ordinary economy of these popular impressions in parts. [Illustration: Fig. 95.--Vignette by John Gigoux for _Gil Blas_.] It appears that Paulin, publisher in the Rue de Seine, not being very well off, had associated himself with a man of business named Dubochet, who had before made an enormous fortune with gas. The two represented fifteen thousand to twenty thousand francs, and they ordered a hundred drawings on wood from the young artist. He set to work with precaution, for Dubochet was hard to please, without knowing much about the business, and fined the engravers for the least faults. Gigoux set himself to give his compositions in simple line, without complicated shadows, so as to allow the wood-cutters to preserve a free outline. It was nearly the same thing as the process of the old artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, of Vostre and Holbein: true engraving in relief. The success of the first sheets was extraordinary; new vignettes were ordered from Gigoux; in place of a hundred they wanted three hundred, then four hundred; then at the end of the work they counted six hundred at least. Money filled the chests of the firm, but when the artist claimed a small share of the benefits, they laughed in his face. Properly speaking, it was the first serious attempt at illustration by the recovered method of engraving in relief, but it was not the only one. Curmer, the publisher of the Rue Richelieu, prepared a Bible in 1835 and several other volumes, among which were the "Paul and Virginia" and the _Chaumière Indienne_ of Bernardin de St. Pierre. He had also collected around him a circle of artists that included Wattier, Devéria, and Meissonier, who was the most perfect and correct of the designers on wood. Meissonier designed very soberly, without effects of light, little scenes admirably cut by an engraver named Lavoignat, a master in the largest sense of the word. Curmer wrote in 1835 in the preface to one of his books, "We hope we have raised a monument to wood engraving. It is easy to judge of the resources presented by this art. We are compelled to have recourse to England to accomplish our work. Peace to willing publishers!" [Illustration: Fig. 96.--Vignette by Daumier for the _Cholera à Paris_.] Curmer acknowledges the importance of English specialists in this new process for vignettes, and the willing publishers were not wanting; they came from all parts. He himself did not stop on the way; he continued his work on a large scale; and Charles Blanc was able to say of him later, as well as of Furne, "He desired to illustrate books for everybody, as the great booksellers of the last century had illustrated their rare editions for a small number of privileged persons." But he did not always confine himself to wood engraving; he also employed etching and lithography. These, requiring separate printing, did not make intercalation with the text any easier than engraving with the burin; but they served to illustrate periodicals, the _Charivari_ and _L'Artiste_, as well as some books, where they replaced the engraved plates of the preceding century. At the same time, the latter process was not altogether neglected; about 1840 it was revived, and steel was used in place of copper, as it better resisted repeated impressions. The publisher Furne, while he employed wood engraving, adorned with separate plates on steel his better publications. For him worked Raffet, one of the romanticists enamoured of the Napoleonic epic, which he had popularised, with Charlet and Bellangé, by the pencil, wood, and lithography. Raffet had transferred upon wood, as if in play, the three hundred and fifty-one vignettes of the _Histoire de Napoléon_, by De Norvins, which would to-day suffice for the glory and reputation of many artists. In fact, the analytical and inductive spirit of the artist led him to leave nothing to the chances of inspiration and commonplace of illustration. He laboriously reconstituted, fragment by fragment, the physiognomy of the "old army;" and imbued with the perfect science of detail, he allowed his pencil full play in bold and luminous inventions, where may be seen again, with their peculiar appearance, the heroes of other days, the soldiers of the Rhine and Italy, of Austerlitz and Waterloo. A truly lively period was that of 1840, a living and unthinking generation. By the side of those great artists of whom we have spoken, and who will be more admired some day, there were the fantasists Traviès and Daumier, who adorned the illustrated journals with innumerable sketches, and Grandville and Gavarni, one caricaturing animals in a celebrated book, _Les Animaux Peints par Eux-mêmes_, which is more than a _chef-d'oeuvre_; the other coolly studying the vices and faults of his time, with the precision of an anatomist, in _Les Anglais Peints par Eux-mêmes_ of Labedollière, in the _Diable à Paris_, without counting a thousand other works which his penetrating imagination produced. [Illustration: Fig. 97.--Vignette by Gavarni for _Paris Marié_.] Presently photography came, which was to reverse completely the conditions of illustration of the Book by the numerous means of reproduction to which it gave birth. Then wood engraving entered on a new phase, a complete transformation of its ordinary terms, under the influence of Gustave Doré. Little by little it had been attempted to render in relief that which engraved plates only had hitherto done. Black, half-tints, lowered tones, were tried where formerly a simple line, bold and spirited, signified everything. The house of Hachette, founded by one of the normal teachers of the liberal movement, at the beginning of the century, was, together with Lahure, the promoter of relief so inclusive and practical. The numerous periodicals of these publishers spread the taste afar. England, for its part, entered on the road, followed by America and Germany. To-day wood engravings have reached perfection, finesse, and suppleness; but they are not, properly speaking, engravings on wood. [Illustration: Fig. 98.--Balzac writing his _Contes Drôlatiques_. Vignette by Gustave Doré.] [Illustration: Fig. 99.--Wood block by Bewick, from his "Fables," 1818. The fox and the goat.] We have seen that French publishers were largely indebted to English wood engravers for their blocks. The school that was established by Bewick and his pupils made enormous progress. From the "Fables," published in 1818, we reproduce an illustration as also a specimen from the second volume of the "British Birds." Luke Clennell was one of the most distinguished of Bewick's pupils; and he made some excellent blocks, among them the illustrations to an edition of Rogers's "Poems" (1812), engraved from pen-and-ink drawings by Thomas Stothard. It was Stothard's opinion that wood engraving best reproduced pen-and-ink drawings. Other pupils of Bewick were J. Jackson, John Thompson, who engraved Harvey's beautiful illustrations to Milton and Henderson's "History of Wines," S. Williams, Orrin Smith, Robert Branston, and C. Nesbit. The most prolific and perhaps the most popular book-illustrator of the century in England, was George Cruikshank, who engraved most of his own designs on wood, steel, or with the etching needle; the catalogue of his works by Mr. G. W. Reid, formerly keeper of the Prints in the British Museum, occupies three quarto volumes. The designs of "Phiz," as H. K. Browne called himself, largely contributed to the popularity of the works of Charles Dickens; and the mere mention of Richard Doyle and John Leech will recall the palmy days of _Punch_, although both of these artists did excellent work in book illustration. From the days of the Bewicks to the present wood engraving has formed the most widely used means of illustration in England and the United States. Its adaptability to the printing machine renders it admirably suited to the production of books in large numbers and at low expense. Without it we could not have our _Graphics_ and _Illustrated News_, nor the floods of cheap but splendidly illustrated magazines which are appearing on both sides of the Atlantic. True, many of these blocks are due to the "processes" which photography has made available, but they are nevertheless the outcome of wood engraving. We cannot leave this subject without mentioning the admirable "Treatise on Wood Engraving," by W. A. Chatto, with numerous illustrations, published originally by H. G. Bohn in 1839 and since reprinted. [Illustration: Fig. 100.--Wood block from Bewick's "British Birds." The common duck.] [Illustration: Fig. 101.--Wood engraving by Clennell, after Stothard, for Rogers's Poems, 1812.] In our days the great Paris publishers have returned to the books of the eighteenth century, ornamented with vignettes on copper; many of them purely and simply imitate by photographic processes the pretty editions of Eisen and Moreau, but they do not merit the name which they bear. As to those whose specialty is handsome books with figures by contemporary artists, those who always are in the front, as the Mames, Quantins, Hachettes, Plons, Jouausts, of France; the Longmans, Murrays, Macmillans, Kegan Pauls, Cassells, and Chattos of England; the Harpers, Scribners, Lippincotts, and Houghtons of the United States, they are to us what the ancients of whom we have spoken were to their contemporaries. Now the processes of illustration are without number: wood, metal, heliogravure, phototype, and others. And if the mechanical means, if the heliogravures, have at present the importance claimed, they by no means add to the intrinsic value of wood engravings, but to the rapidity and economy of their manufacture. The Book, the true Book, has nothing to do with all these inventions, and may well confine itself to the burin or the relief block. But as regards the Book, properly so called, it never was the object of more excessive care or of more unfortunate precipitation. It may be remarked that works least destined to live in the libraries, those thousands of lame pamphlets on questions of small provincial erudition or the cap-and-sword romances, are ordinarily the best and most carefully printed, in opposition to other more important works composed in heads of nails and on worn-out paper. There are in reading-rooms a good number of pamphlets that will not be found in fifty years, and will be worth their weight in banknotes, even if dirty and tattered, on account of their intrinsic value. [Illustration] CHAPTER VII. TYPES, IMPRESSION, PAPER, INK. After this summary, and necessarily very compressed, sketch of the general history of the Book, it will not be without importance to place some technical information before the reader, to explain as clearly as possible the function of the presses, the practical side of typography, from the engraving of the character and the founding of types up to the binding, taking by the way composition, impression, and collation. Many of these operations have been already sketched in the preceding part of our work; we have spoken of engraving of the punch, of impression, of the thousand details that constitute the typographic art, and the knowledge of which is so little diffused. We return to it now, with more method, on the different subjects, and shall try to point out the principal features. We have seen in our first chapter what patient researches the discovery necessitated for the Mayence printers in the founding of the character in matrix. True, the punch and the matrix had existed from time immemorial for coins and seals. To engrave in relief a punch of material hard enough to strike a resisting metal, and to run into the space obtained by this blow a melted alloy, which took at its extremity the same form as the punch had given, is, in a few words, the whole economy of the process. For the engraving of the punches a sort of burin of tempered steel was used, which scooped out the part intended to remain white in the letter. From the beginning the printers themselves engraved their own characters. The most ancient, whose constant preoccupation was the imitation of manuscript, copied the Gothic letter of ordinary writing. Soon afterwards, Jenson, the French refugee at Venice, designed a round letter, like that of Sweynheim and Pannartz, the Roman publishers, in 1467; and his type, absolutely perfect, is used to this day. In France the introducers of the invention in Paris also imitated the Roman, but multiplied abbreviations until they became tedious. We can imagine what the engraving of a character could be where so few letters stood alone, where lines abridged the nasals; the words _pro_, _pre_, figured as in manuscripts; the sign 9 signified _cum_ or _con_ in Latin or French words, without reckoning a thousand other rigorous usages. This truly perplexing profusion of signs as well as the want of precision and clearness in the letter enables us now to recognise the first Parisian _incunabula_.[A] [Footnote A: See above, figs. 10, 11, 12.] The first English printers used Gothic or black letter. Caxton brought his first fount from Cologne, but that which he made afterwards for himself was of the same character. Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and their successors used the same style; and for official publications and Bibles the black letter was used up to the seventeenth century. [Illustration: Fig. 102.--Type-founder in the middle of the sixteenth century. Engraving by Jost Amman.] But the art of the founder-engraver was destined to specialise itself. There were artisans in this branch, and among them in France, in the fifteenth century, Simon de Collines, who engraved good Roman characters about 1480. Later was Claude Garamond, of Paris, who died about 1561, a pupil of Geoffroy Tory, the most celebrated of all of them; Tory definitely proscribed the Gothic character, of which Vostre and Verard had made constant use. Garamond worked in this way, producing with microscopical precision new letters, among others those of Robert Estienne, the most marvellous and the most distinct. It was he who was charged by Francis I. to form the celebrated royal Greek types. He assisted in getting up the _Champfleury_ of Geoffroy Tory. On his death William Lebé succeeded him, and inherited his punches. Lebé engraved by preference Hebrew characters, of which he made a specialty. His travels to Rome and Venice had given him a singular value in his art; and when he died about the end of the century, he was incontestably the first cutter of Oriental characters in the whole world. Philip II. of Spain had begged him to engrave the letters of the Bible of which Plantin had undertaken the impression, and Francis I. had charged him to make types for the Estiennes. At the commencement of the seventeenth century we find James Sanlecque, pupil of Lebé, and his son. During this period several women succeeded their husbands as type-founders. In the eighteenth century Philip Grandjean, an artist who was royal printer to Louis XIV., was keeper of the foundry afterwards united, in 1725, to the Royal Printing House; Fournier succeeded the Lebés, then P. S. Fournier the younger, who engraved with great success. In our days we have seen above the Didots themselves working their punches; and one of them, Henri, founded microscopical characters for a La Rochefoucauld about the middle of the nineteenth century. We have referred to English type-founders of the eighteenth century in Chapter V. The type, or character used in printing, is a composition of lead and pure antimony, which, melted, form a resisting and at the same time supple mixture. Lead alone would be crushed, and the first printers often suffered in making their experiments. The proportion of the mixture is four of lead to one of antimony. The matrix is combined in such manner that the _eye_--that is to say, the part of the character intended to produce the impression--and also the shank intended to hold the letter are cast together. The letters, once founded according to their different forms, are afterwards disposed in boxes with compartments, or "cases." These cases serve to classify the character by letters, italics, capitals, lower case, punctuations, accents, etc. As we have said, the relation of letters among themselves in the composition of a language is called the "fount." For example, it is certain that the Italian employs the letter _a_ more than _b_, the letter _a_ appearing in nearly every word; a compositor to compose in this language should therefore have more of _a_ than of _b_. The relation between these two letters and all the others is the "fount." In French the proportion of a fount is about 5,000 _a_ for 800 _b_, 3,000 _c_, 3,000 _d_, 11,000 _e_, etc. The fount varies with the languages. In English the proportion is 8,500 _a_ to 1,600 _b_, 3,000 _c_, 4,400 _d_, etc. Before 1789 there were in all twenty different "bodies" of letters that bore fantastic names. The "Parisienne" was the smallest size, and the "Grosse Nonpareille" the largest. In the sixteenth century a character called "Civilité" was invented. It sought to imitate fine cursive writing. In the last century this idea was reproduced, and the "Bâtarde Coulée," which did not have great success, was made. In English types, Joseph Moxon in 1669 had eleven sizes; Caslon in 1734 had thirty-eight. [Illustration: Specimen of imposition] When a printer wishes to compose a work, he first decides in which body he will print it. His choice made, he places in the compositors' "cases"--that is, in the boxes placed before each one of his workmen--the chosen character, with its italics, capitals, signs, etc. Then he gives them the "copy," that is to say the manuscript of the author to be reproduced. The compositors take a "galley" according to the size of the book; and, letter by letter, by running their fingers through the different cases, they place side by side the words laboriously composed, and necessarily presenting their reverse, so that they will show their proper face when printed. The composition terminated, the process of "imposition" takes place. This is the disposition by pages in an iron chase, in such manner that the sheet of paper shall be printed on both sides, the pages exactly following one another. It will be seen by the specimen on the preceding page that if the two sheets be brought together, page 2 of II. will fall exactly opposite page 1 of I, page 7 opposite page 8, and so on. Nothing is easier than this combination for folio, quarto, or octavo sizes, but as the smaller sizes are multiplied even to 128mo, tables are necessary to prevent error. The imposition is completed by building up the composition in a chase by means of pieces of metal called "furniture," which regulate the margins. When the whole is in proper place, it is squeezed up and adjusted by means of sunk reglets. The chase may now be placed under the press without fear of the characters falling out or getting mixed. A pressman takes a "proof" after having rubbed the relief of the characters with ink, and on this proof are corrected the author's or compositor's faults by indications in the margin by understood signs. By this amended proof the compositor amends his faults one by one: leaves out superfluous characters, puts turned characters straight, spaces or draws closer the lines, etc. The corrections finished, the time has come to print. In the time of Geoffroy Tory this operation was made as we shall explain; it was the same before and the same after. Two pressmen have tempered with water the tympan, or more elastic part of the carriage, against which will be directed in good time the blow from the type; they have also damped the paper intended for the impression, so that it may retain the greasy ink with which the characters are charged; then the formes are washed before putting them under the press. In the figure which we reproduce, which dates from about 1530, we see the workshop of Jodocus Badius, of Asch, father-in-law of two celebrated printers, Vascosan and Robert Estienne. The press rolls--that is to say, the formes--have been placed in the "carriage," or movable chase, which, coming forward, receives the sheet of paper and the ink, and returns under the press to receive the blow of the "bar." In the room, lighted by two windows, the compositors work. In front one works at the bar, while his comrade distributes the ink on the "balls." These balls are leather pads, on which the greasy ink, made of lampblack and oil, is spread, to more easily rub the forme after each blow. Ordinarily the inker had two functions: he prepared the ink, distributed it, and kept his eye on the printed sheets to correct faults, blots, and difference of tint. Here the workman is simply occupied by the balls. Printed sheets and prepared paper are on a table by the side of the press. This press is composed of the rolling chase, the tympan, and the "frisket," a smaller tympan, which work against one another. The tympan, we have said above, receives directly the blow. And it was so for nearly four centuries; the mechanical means of our days have a little changed the work, but the principle is always the same. [Illustration: Fig. 103.--Mark of Jodocus Badius of Asch, representing the interior of a printing office about 1535. Engraving _à la croix de Lorraine_.] Towards the end of the sixteenth century, a press cost about a hundred and twenty-seven crowns, with its diverse utensils, as may be seen in an unpublished piece analysed by Dr. Giraudet, of Tours, in a very interesting pamphlet: _Une Association d'Imprimeurs et de Libraires de Paris Réfugiés à Tours au XVI^e Siècle_. The workshop of Jamet Métayer, of Tours, cost a rent of eighty-three crowns--about twenty pounds of current money. Workmen were then paid by the "day;" and it came to be one of the expressions then so much used in manual labour, corresponding to the sum of the least work of a good workman. M. Ladevèze, printer, thought that the "day" represented the work of about twenty thousand Roman or Cicero letters employed by a compositor. With us the "day" of compositors and pressmen is differently calculated. The latter have to take a certain number of sheets. The sheet, composition and press work, cost nearly seven crowns, or nearly two pounds. Jamet Métayer paid twenty crowns for four sheets in Italics; he demanded three months for the work. The primitive presses were wooden screw presses, and they so remained until the beginning of this century, when Lord Stanhope, a celebrated electrician, author, and politician, perfected them and gave his name to a new machine. His improvement consisted in that the bar was no longer fixed to the vice, but to a cylinder outside. A counter-weight brought back the platen at each blow. Pierre Didot had previously made metal platens. In 1820 the use of the Stanhope press commenced in France. England had, besides, taken a preponderating place in typographical invention. The printer of the _Times_, John Walter, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, seeking to publish his journal quicker, associated himself with craftsmen who constructed mechanical presses for him. The Didots lost no time, and themselves made improvements. In 1848, the presses of the _Constitutionnel_, thanks to the application of steam, produced twenty thousand papers an hour. In our time there are machines that print only on one side, as well as double machines, printing both sides at once. The rotary machines, with endless paper, take thirty-five thousand impressions an hour. In the newspaper machines of Marinoni, the great inventor, the paper is unrolled, printed, cut, and folded without leaving the machine, and falls into a place from which it is taken ready for the subscriber. The latest perfection of the printing press is the Walter press and the rotary machine of R. Hoe and Co., of New York, extensively used throughout the world. The elaborate book has little to do with these marvellous processes, although in its turn it largely benefits by the improvement of the printing machine. It is apart from our purpose to speak at length on the manufacture of paper. It is certain that it was well made before the invention of printing, for most of the accounts of the fifteenth century are written on linen paper, very resisting and well sized. Later on rags were used in this manufacture; and here, in a few words, is how paper was made in the mould, or "hand-made" before the invention of machinery for the purpose:-- [Illustration: Fig. 104.--Paper-making. Workman engaged on the tub with the frame of wires. Engraving by Jost Amman.] The rags, having been thoroughly cleansed, were put into vats, where they were worked up under a beating press until they were reduced to pulp. This pulp was thrown into hot water and stirred until the mixture was uniformly made. Then a mould of fine wire cloth, fixed upon a wooden frame, and having a "deckle" to determine the size of the sheet, was taken; in the middle of this frame was disposed, also in brass wire, a factory mark, intended to appear in white in the sheet of paper, and called the "water mark." This mould was dipped into the vat of pulp and drawn out again. After gently shaking it to and fro in a horizontal position, the fibres of the pulp became so connected as to form one uniform fabric; and the water escaped through the wires. The deckle was then removed from the mould, and the sheet of paper turned off upon a felt, in a pile with many others, a felt intervening between each sheet, and the whole subjected to great pressure, in order to absorb the superfluous water. After being dried and pressed without the felts, the sheets were dipped into a tub of size and again pressed to remove surplus size. This primitive method of paper-making is represented in fig. 104, and the same principle is still in use for the production of hand-made paper. Machinery has effected many improvements and economies in the production of woven paper. China and Japan have their special paper manufacture. In Japan the material employed is the bark of the _morus papifera sativa_. [Illustration: Balance used by Jenson, at Venice.] According to their fineness, size, and weight, papers have received different names, proceeding from the water mark. Faust at Mayence used paper marked with a bull's head. Jenson at Venice used a balance of which the form varied. This latter came from a mill which furnished Vicenza, Perugia, and Rome. Jenson used, besides a crown, a cardinal's hat. The bull's head underwent transformations, it had stars and roses, and was special to Germany, and it may sometimes be found in Italy. The wires and bridges served to determine the size of a book. Looking at a folio leaf against the light, the wires will be seen to be horizontal, and the bridges vertical. In quarto they will be reversed, the paper having been folded in four instead of in two. The bridges become horizontal. They return to the vertical in octavo, and so on. As for ink, it was from the beginning a composition of lampblack and oil of different quality and nature, mixed with resin to obtain a greater and quicker dryness. Ink for engravings was more carefully made. For coloured inks various powders are mixed with the oil and resin, and a title in red and black has to go through the press twice: once for the red and once for the black. From the above it can be understood that illustrations in relief can easily be introduced into the composition, whether in combination with text or in separate pages. Another question presents itself: Did the old printers employ casting, or did they print directly from the wood block itself? In other words, the block having been cut, did they make with it a mould into which melted metal could be poured to obtain a more resistant relief? The fact is difficult to elucidate. It appears to-day that Simon Vostre, Verard, and others printed relief engravings on metal, but were they cut directly or obtained by casting, as they are now? It cannot be determined yet. CHAPTER VIII. BOOKBINDING. The binding of the first printed books--Ancient German bindings--Binding in the time of Louis XII.--Italian bindings--Aldus--Maioli--Grolier--Francis I.--Henri II. and Diane de Poitiers--Catherine de Medicis--Henri III.--The Eves--The "fanfares"--Louis XIII.--Le Gascon--Florimond Badier--Louis XIV.--Morocco leathers--Cramoisy--The bindings of the time of Louis XIV.--The regency--Pasdeloup--The Deromes--Dubuisson--Thouvenin--Lesné--The nineteenth century--English binders--Roger Payne--Francis Bedford. Leading the reader now towards the final perfection of the Book: printing, which had stirred up and reversed so many things, created, so to speak, the art of binding. Previously the binder was simply a workman sewing together the leaves of a manuscript, with no science or device but to clasp the whole together solidly with cord and string. As luxury increased the old binder was no longer thought of. On the wooden boards which closed the Book, jewellers encrusted their wares, lavishing ivory and precious stones to the taste of the amateur or the bookseller. Generally these works covered books of precious miniatures, the _Horoe_, or manuscripts that were deemed worthy of such magnificent clothing, rarely copies without importance. Printing at once disordered the tribe of copyists as well as the binders did jewellers. The demand increasing, rich bindings were soon abandoned, and each bookseller applied himself to the work, or at least covered in his own house books intended for sale. The fashion was not then to expose for sale, as now, unbound books. Purchasers wanted an article easy to handle, and which they were not obliged to return for ulterior embellishment. So to the public were presented the works laboriously composed by Gutenberg, Schoeffer, and Fust, somewhat after the manner of manuscripts, which they pretended to imitate, with their solid wooden boards covered with pig or calfskin. At the four corners, copper nails, with large heads, prevented rubbing against the shelves of the bookcase, for at that time books were ranged on their sides, and not as they are to-day. We must return to the bibliomaniac of the "Ship of Fools" to get an idea of these depositories; before him may be seen ranged on a desk large folios, with nails on their sides, in the shelves, so defying the dust, in place of being placed upright on their edges, which rendered them liable to spots and stains. (See fig. 23.) Unhappily the wooden sides had in themselves a germ of destruction, the worm, capable first of reducing the sides to powder and then ravaging the body of the work, the ligatures and cords. Certain preparations destroy the insect, but the precaution often has no effect, and it is thus that the disappearance of volumes formerly so abundant, but almost impossible to find now, may be explained. [Illustration: Fig. 105.--Bookbinder's shop in the sixteenth century. Engraving by Jost Amman.] From the beginning the operations of the binder were what they still are, except for improvements. They consist in the collation of the sheets of a book, folding them, beating them to bring them together and give them cohesion, and sewing them, first together, then on the cords or strings, which form the five or six bands seen on the backs. Primitively these cords were united to the wooden boards, and over both was placed a resistant skin, on which from relief or metal engravings were struck the most pleasing decorative subjects. Pigskin, white and fine, lent itself, especially among the Germans, to these fine editions; and although they were issued in great number, the wooden boards have not permitted them all to exist in our time. The most ancient that we are able to cite are German works of the time of Louis XI.; they are very strong and coarse. The cords in them form an enormous and massive projection. The inside of the board was often without lining of paper or stuff. In the case of fine editions a sombre velvet was sometimes used, such as Verard used to bind the books of the father of Francis I., as we have before said. Art did not enter into these works of preservation until about the end of the fifteenth century, with arms and emblems. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, some bindings were ornamented for Louis XII. and the Queen, Anne de Bretagne; but not more than five or six specimens remain. They are of coarse aspect. The workman who tooled the binding here reproduced from the curious example of M. Dutuit, of Rouen, has thrown his subjects one upon another. Arms, porcupines, ermines, are treated so as to be confusing, and form a medley that is not pleasing. In recalling the delightful borders of Vostre and Pigouchet, contemporaries of this mediocre work, it is astonishing to see the degree of inferiority reached by a profession that should be inspired by graceful subjects of decoration. [Illustration: Fig. 106.--Binding for Louis XII. Collection of M. Dutuit, of Rouen.] It happened that France again found in Italy masters capable of revealing secrets of composition and arrangement to enable her to strike out a new road. The Italian wars would not have had these artistic results if it had not been for the enormous sums that they swallowed up. The curious part of the enterprise was that a war treasurer, a financier, employed by the French kings in these expeditions, through his relations of taste and friendship with the Alduses of Venice, brought to France the love of sumptuous bindings, of editions superbly clothed. He was named Jean Grolier, that bibliophile of the sixteenth century, who was, above all others, even King Francis, the first to appreciate the art of binding. It is not too much to say art, for if better had not been done before, it may safely be said that nothing better has been done since; and the books of Grolier remain as the most perfect and most admirable types of this kind of decoration. Born of an Italian family established at Lyons, where most of his relatives did a great business, Jean Grolier had the good fortune to succeed his father, Stephen Grolier, treasurer of the Duke of Milan. He became in his turn Minister of Finances, and was called to accompany the kings in their expeditions in Italy. The situation of the treasurers during these campaigns was important; they handled the pence levied with great trouble in the cities of France "for making war." Many abused their trust, and were punished, and among others the Lallemants, whom documents show us to have been in connection with Grolier, and who suffered, with Semblançay, the most terrible trials of the time. Italian art gave then a free course in the decoration of books. Of the interior we have spoken in our first chapters on the wood engravings; for the exterior, the cover of the volume, foliage, golden flowers worked with a hot iron, and polychromatic compartments obtained by coloured pastes were multiplied. Thus was produced on the outside that which it was not sought to obtain on the inside, the variation of tints so select among the Italians, and so forsaken since the invention of printing. In the midst of these literary men was a lover of books and fine connoisseur who, not content with choosing the best editions, such as those of Ferrara, Venice, and Basle, bound them superbly, with compartments of admirable tone, and had his name and device inscribed on the sides in the fashion of the time. He was named Thomas Maioli, and following the custom of the amateurs of the time, he offered the enjoyment of his library to his friends. "Tho. Maioli et amicorum," he inscribed, as did later Grolier, as also did others, but he somewhat modified the enthusiasm of his friendship by a sceptical device, "Ingratis servire nephas," which might very well be the cry of the owner of books betrayed by his borrowers. Maioli did not alone use these devices; he had also a macaronic phrase of which the sense is not very clear: "Inimici mei mea michi, non me michi." He also sometimes used his monogram, which was composed of all the letters of his name. The relations of Grolier with this unknown and mysterious bibliophile, whose name is not always found outside his volumes, are not doubtful. Brunet possessed a volume that had belonged to Maioli and had passed through the hands of Grolier. What better proof could be wished of the communion of ideas and tastes between the two collectors? But these amateurs were not alone. Beside them were princes and great lords, lay and ecclesiastic. From the commencement of the sixteenth century bookbinding had received an enormous impulse from the tastes and the predilections for these lofty fancies. And it cannot be ascribed to the simple skill of the workmen experimenting in that line. In the century that saw Italian artists occupied in making designs for mounted plates and painting beautiful ladies, the courtesans of Venice could not be alarmed at finding them painting models for bindings, with compartments of varied tone and style. Maioli affected white on a dark background, that is to say on a background of dark leather. He made scrolls of foliage in white or clear paste with a very happy effect. This was the time when Grolier travelled in Italy, in the suite of the French, and when he began his collections. He had adopted as his heraldic emblem the gooseberry bush, which in French came very near to his name--_groseillier_; and his motto was "Nec herba nec arbor" ("Neither tree nor herb"), explicative of the moderation of his wealth. He was soon in connection with the Alduses, and through them with the principal learned men and binders of the time, for it was not in the offices of the Manutiuses that could be found workmen, like those of the Chamber of Accounts in France, obliged to swear that they did not know how to read. The master was not hindered by details of difference of language, and it followed that his workmen understood Greek and Latin, for he often gave them instruction in those languages. How far off these erudite and conscientious workmen appear to-day! Following the fashion, Grolier put his name on the upper side of his books--"Jo. Grolierii et amicorum"--in gold letters, and on the other side a pious motto, the sense of which was a hope often uttered by the financiers of the sixteenth century, imprisoned and hung every instant: "Portio mea, Domine, sit in terra viventium." Generally all the Grolier books which came from the Alduses have the name on the upper side and the motto on the other side; the title was placed above the name, and often disposed in rows. Some large volumes had the cover ornamented with an architectural design, like the Jamblichus of the Libri collection, which had on the front the façade of a temple, with the title in rows on the door. This volume was printed by Aldus in 1516, and probably decorated by him for the account of the great French amateur. Jean Grolier is said to have himself designed some of the subjects of his ornaments, and their perfection indicates an active and enlightened supervision. On his return to France, where he had a house near the Porte de Bucy, he was put in relation with Geoffroy Tory, the artist best fitted to understand him, and who was at once painter, engraver, printer, and binder. It was there that, in the leisure of his financial functions, between two projects of revictualling the forts of Outre Seine and Yonne, Grolier invented combinations, sought interlacings, and laid out foliage. Tory himself teaches us these works in combination. He invented antique letters for Grolier, he tells us in his _Champfleury_. It was for him, too, that he interwove so finely his compartments for binding, and that he reproduced the delightful ornaments of his books of hours in golden scrolls. As we have said, Grolier placed his titles on the sides of his books on account of the arrangement of the works on the shelves of the library where they were laid. For this reason also the back was neglected, and no ornament used upon it; thick and heavy with its projecting bands, without decoration between the bands, this part of the bound volume was a kind of waste in a splendidly cultivated garden. The profusion of books brought about a revolution. There was no longer room to place on their sides the innumerable books that were produced; they were then placed on their edges, as now, and the back also was decorated. For this the bands were made to disappear, and replaced by decorative subjects in compartments like the sides. Then with Grolier the bands reappeared, and the title was placed between them, as it still is. The books of Grolier have been divided, according to their production, in four or five principal classes, in which they may always be placed. First were the works ornamented in compartments, gilt, with scrolls in full gold; then the same with the scrolls _azurés_, that is to say equally gilt, but having parallel lines like the _azure_ of heraldry. Following comes the school of Geoffroy Tory, with gilt compartments in the style of the great French decorator; last the polychromatic bindings, in which, by the aid of colour or mastic, the alternating tones are mixed. Grolier also had some mosaic bindings, composed of little pieces of leather connected by incrustation or paste, pure Italian bindings; but these were not numerous, especially if compared with those conceived in the manner of Geoffroy Tory. One of these latter works is here reproduced from one of the beautiful books in the collection of M. Dutuit. This copy has the back flat, and the interlacings of the decoration are most complicated and clever. [Illustration: Fig. 107.--Binding for Grolier in the collection of M. Dutuit.] Grolier got his Levant moroccos through the dealers of Venice, to make sure of the material he employed. Born in 1479, the Treasurer-general of Outre Seine lived until 1565. In 1563 an original manuscript shows him much occupied with finance at over eighty-four years of age; but his passion for bindings had cooled down, for few books signed with his name are found the manufacture of which could descend to the son of Henri II. After great trials, after having seen Semblançay suffer at Montfaucon, John Lallemand beheaded, and himself having come nearly to losing life and fortune at one blow, Grolier passed away quietly in his house, having collected most of the fine books of the time and many curious medals. Christopher de Thou, his friend and _confrère_ in the love of books, had saved his reputation before the Parliament of Paris. After his death his library was transported to the Hotel de Vic, and from there dispersed in 1675, a hundred years after. Thus from Italian art came French binding, still remaining original. The kings did not fail to follow the movement, and even to anticipate it, thanks to the means at their disposal. We have seen Francis I. at work with the energy of an artisan at least; but Geoffroy Tory was his principal inspirer, and who knows but that he was the chief operative for the prince, as for the great financier? [Illustration: Fig. 108.--Binding for Francis I., with the arms of France and the salamander.] [Illustration: Fig. 109.--Mark of Guyot Marchant, printer and bookbinder. He published the _Danse Macabre_ of 1485.] We have said that Louis XII. knew nothing of fine bindings. During his travels in Italy he had received presentation copies of magnificently covered books, and among others that of _Faustus Andrelinus_, that was bound in calf in honour of the King. He, who was so little expert in fine arts, purchased the entire library of the Sire de la Gruthuse, and substituted his own emblems for those of the high and mighty lord. Francis I., with innate sentiment for masterpieces and the powerful protection he had given them, did not allow the experiments of Grolier to pass unnoticed. The King did not desire to be behind the treasurer, and the workmen were put to the task. He adopted the salamander, which emblem he used on his castles and furniture and the liveries of his people; he lavished it also on the sides of his books. On the side the "F" is often seen crowned, then the emblem of France and the collar of St. Michael. In the binding of which a facsimile is here given, Geoffroy Tory has singularly inspired the gilder, if he did not himself make the design. For it must not be thought that this work is done at a single blow by means of an engraved plate or a block. On the contrary, every line is impressed by the hot tool that the workman applies by hand to the gold laid on in advance, making it, so to speak, enter into the skin or morocco. There is the art; blocks serve only for commercial bindings, quickly impressed and intended for ordinary purchasers. [Illustration: Fig. 110.--Binding for Henri II., with the "H" and crescents.] Under the reign of Francis I. the binders were the booksellers, as Verard and Vostre were. The King was ordinarily served by a publisher named Pierre Roffet, and he frequently figures in accounts that have been preserved. Roffet not only bound, but it appears that he rebound books to patterns which the King desired. Philip Lenoir and Guyot Marchant were also royal workmen. The latter, whose mark is here reproduced, frequently added to it the saints Crispin and Crispinian, patrons of the leather-dressers, who prepared the leather for the binder. [Illustration: Fig. 111.--Binding for Henri II. (Mazarine Library)] The discoveries of Grolier did not allow the binders much time to be idle. Thousands of volumes were then destroyed to make the boards for sides. From this many discoveries are made in our days by pulling to pieces sixteenth century work, unknown playing cards, and early printed works. To mention only one example, twenty leaves of the "Perspective" of Viator were discovered in the National Library of Paris. The board thus formed was covered indifferently with sheepskin, parchment, calf, morocco, or goatskin; the books were sewn on raised or sunk bands, according to the owner's taste; the edges were gilt, sometimes gauffered, and designs often impressed upon them to match those of the sides. In large folios wooden boards were still used, more solid, and protected from rubbing by nails in relief. But the inside of the cover was as yet only covered with paper. Leather linings were very uncommon. The reign of Henri II. increased yet more the importance of bindings; it was the time when Grolier collected, and clever artists came from all parts. Geoffroy Tory had given the best models for letters and interlacings. The Queen, Catherine, derived from her parents the taste for decoration in gold and colours, and patronised the artists called by her from the court of Florence; and the favourite, Diane de Poitiers, Duchess of Valentinois, rivalled her in luxury and expenditure. Henri II. in the decoration of his castles, as well as his books, introduced equivocal emblems, of which the signification may be doubtful, but those of his mistress may be recognised, not those of the legitimate Queen. He interlaced two reversed "D's" by an "H," in the form shown in the border on the preceding page. Strictly speaking, we ought to see there two "C's" back to back; but as we find the "D" on all the bindings displaying the arms of Diana, there can be no doubt, and Queen Catherine doubted less than anybody. Other emblems of Diana are to be found in the arcs and crescents that are plentifully displayed. The library of Diana was large, owing to the King not hesitating to take valuable books from the public collections for her. Two centuries after her death it was dispersed, and the greater part of the books belonging to the national collections were restored on the deaths of those who then purchased them. Hence the largest number of the bindings of Henri II. and Diana of Poitiers will be found in the National Library of Paris. [Illustration: Fig. 112.--Italian binding for Catherine de Medicis, with the initials "C. C."] Queen Catherine also had special patterns with a monogram identical with the double "D" mentioned above, but the branches of the "C" were a little longer than the branches of the "H;" she also used a "K" on the sides of her books. The specimen which we reproduce is a purely Italian work. From kings and queens the fashion passed to the great lords, it having come to the kings and queens from a private individual. The Constable Anne de Montmorency adorned his bindings with a cross and spread eagle. Among the amateurs of binding of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries using distinctive marks, we may mention Philip Desportes, the poet, who used two [phi] enlaced, as did also Superintendent Fouquet in the seventeenth century. The brothers Dupuy adopted the double [delta], arranged as a star. Colbert had a curled snake (_coluber_ for Colbert!), the Gondis two masses of arms, Madame de Pompadour three towers, etc. Fouquet beside the [phi] used a squirrel on some of his bindings. [Illustration: Fig. 113.--Binding with the arms of Mansfeldt, with _azure_ scroll work, from the Didot collection.] In Germany, Count Mansfeldt adopted the ornamental style with arms, of which a specimen is here given; and Marc Laurin de Watervliet also decorated and dedicated his books to his friends, using the motto "Virtus in arduo." Among the lords of the French courts who favoured polychromatic ornament and bold compositions were the young Valois, Louis de Sainte Maure, Marquis of Nesle, and Henri de Guise, called "Le balafré." Charles IX. had his emblems and devices, the double "C" crowned the legend "Pietate et justitia," but his brother, Henri III., loved the decoration of books more than he did. The passion of the King for miniatures which he cut out of books is known; this passion for golden things he repeated on bindings, for which he chose special designs. Henri III. was an amateur of dances of death; he visited cemeteries, attended funerals, and took a death's-head for his emblem. This emblem was not his invention; long before him Marot had addressed an epigram to a lady in which he brought love and death into close conjunction. However that may be, the King chose skeletons and penitents' tears to ornament his books. He also tolerated diamonds, although he absolutely prohibited them in the clothing of ladies or fixed the number _pro rata_ with the rank of the authorised person. There was in this prince a singular mixture of taste and artistic acuteness by the side of a mania or hallucination which was reflected on the most intimate objects of his apparel or of his furniture. Thus if we find, at the end of the sixteenth century, a death's-head on the sides or the back of a volume, the binding is of the period of Henri III. The binders of his time are known by the mention that is made of them in the royal accounts; the Eves were the most celebrated among all of them. Nicholas Eve was charged with the binding of the Statutes of the Order of St. Esprit, with which the King gratified his friends. Mention of this work is found in the Clairambault manuscripts, where we read, "To Nicholas Eve, washer and binder of books and bookseller to the King, forty-seven and a half escus for washing, gilding, and squaring the edges of forty-two books of statutes and ordinances of the Order, bound and covered with orange Levant morocco, enriched on one side with the arms of the King, fully gilt, and on the other of France and Poland, with monograms at the four corners, and the rest flames, with orange and blue ribbons," etc. [Illustration: Fig. 114.--Sixteenth century binding, called _à la fanfare_. In the Dutuit collection.] Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III., counted for little in the life of her husband; nevertheless she had a certain number of books decorated with their united escutcheons. The bindings attributed to Eve were decorated all over the sides and back with interlacing patterns of geometrical character, the spaces between the parallel lines and in the middle of the figures left at first quite blank, but afterwards filled in with palm branches and wreaths of foliage; to these delicate and elaborate yet brilliant toolings have been given the name of bindings _à la fanfare_. This designation requires explanation, and is a good example of the grotesque style adopted by modern amateurs in their appellations. [Illustration: Fig. 115.--Le Gascon binding.] The fine work of that time prepared for the coming in the seventeenth century--about 1620--of the works of Le Gascon, or at least for the artist with whom in our days are connected the works of the reign of Louis XIII. Under Henri IV. the fleur-de-lys occupied most of the covers of the royal books, from vellum to Levant morocco; works in this class had nothing very remarkable. The first years of Louis XIII. revealed a new process, inspired by the Eves. Le Gascon embroidered delightfully on the fanfare ornaments; showing the fibres of the leaves, he made a new kind of ornament, consisting of minute gold dots elaborated into lines and curves of singular brilliancy and elegance. Of this style, called _pointillé_, we give a specimen from the collection of M. Dutuit. The fashion had arrived all at once; lace, banished from clothing by severe edicts, found a refuge on the covering of books. The times were hard then for binders; they were constrained to live in the university and to employ only its workmen. A binder was never his own gilder; he employed the _gaufreurs_ of shoe-leather, more expert and bolder, to gild his leather. Among these artisans was one named Pigorreau, whom the edict found living in the midst of publishers and working for them; he was compelled to choose either to remain bootmaker or become bookseller; he chose the latter, against the syndics of the trade, against every one, and he made enemies for himself. He revenged himself by turning the masters into ridicule in a placard. [Illustration: Fig. 116.--Le Gascon binding for Cardinal Mazarin.] Le Gascon was probably the assumed name of an artist in this style. The _Guirlande de Julie_, worked by him for Mademoiselle de Rambouillet, gave him great honour in the special circle of this little literary court. It was the fashion then for poor authors to put a fine covering on their works and to offer them to the great for their own profit. Tallement des Reaux notably signalises the poet Laserre, who displayed his luxury in irreproachable bindings. And then the farmers of the revenue, successors of Grolier in financial trusts, formed libraries for pure fashion, never opening the volumes covered for them in sumptuous attire. If we may believe Sauval, author of the _Antiquités de Paris_, they went further, and on covers without books inscribed imaginary titles and fantastic squibs to mislead their visitors. The bookcase being carefully closed, it was difficult to discover the imposition. Sauval writes, "In place of books, they are content with covers of Levant morocco, on the backs of which, in gold letters, are inscribed the names of the most celebrated authors. A binder of the university assured me that not long since he and his _confrères_ had made them for a single financier to the amount of 10,000 crowns!" The works of Le Gascon will be found more among great personages than with the so-called collectors, which gives value to their grace and charm. The King's brother Gaston possessed them, then Mazarin, an example from whose library is here reproduced. On this binding Le Gascon worked gilt compartments and elaborate arabesques; in the middle of the sides are the arms of the Cardinal and his pretentious device: "Arma Julii ornant Franciam!"--"The arms of Jules the ornament of France!" In spite of the profusion of subjects, nothing could better please the eye or indicate a man of taste. But if Le Gascon be a legendary personage, he had an imitator or rival, very near to him, named Florimond Badier, whose works had at least the advantage of being signed. At the bottom of the inside cover of an inlaid morocco binding in the National Library at Paris is the inscription "Florimond Badier fec., inv." The analogy between this work and those known as Le Gascon's is palpable; inside and outside, the cover is stippled with small tools (_au petit fer_) in the same manner. Florimond Badier was not appointed bookseller until 1645, and so could not have composed earlier bindings attributed to Le Gascon, but this resemblance of style evidences the existence of a Parisian school, the adepts of which copied one another, as they do nowadays. The work was soon simplified; pallets and wheel-shaped tools were invented to produce that which was improperly called _dentelle_; this mechanical work was done by a wheel-shaped tool, previously heated, on gold in sized leaves, on which it impressed its projections. With Louis XIV. the passion for gilding increased. Charming festoons were designed, but they were soon abused, and inundated the libraries. On the sides were seen rising suns, arms, and golden garlands. Cramoisy directed the royal bindings, the King having devoted large sums to the purchase of Levant leathers. In 1666 the Director of Works ordered red moroccos; in 1667 he received twenty-two dozen skins, amounting, with the expenses of transport, to 1,020 livres tournois. Successive supplies were made, and were used for the royal library, sixty-nine dozen in 1667, forty-six dozen in 1668, and three hundred and thirty-three dozen in 1670, costing the King more than 12,000 livres. On these admirably dressed skins, which, in spite of incessant use, still remain now as in their first days, the King caused to be applied, according to the size, tools of borders, having in the middle the arms of France, with the collar of St. Esprit. Among the binders mentioned in the very useful work of M. J. J. Guiffrey on the expenditure of Louis XIV., we find Gilles Dubois, who died before 1670; Levasseur, binder of Huet, Bishop of Avranches; La Tour, Mérins or Mérius, who died before 1676; and also Ruette, the reputed inventor of marbled paper for fly-leaves of books: to him the bindings of the Chancellor de Séguier, with their ornament of the golden fleece, and of Madame de Séguier, are attributed. It was probably these men who decorated the books of the brothers Dupuy, Fouquet, and Colbert, marvellous works of solidity, if not always of elegance, which have resisted all assaults. Unhappily, in many instances the mechanical _dentelle_ overburdened the work, and gave it a commonplace regularity. In the Condé, Colbert, and perhaps even Madame de Longueville's collections, there are many specimens of this kind with two or three filleted borders. We have come to an epoch when the difficulties resulting from confusion between the booksellers' and binders' trades began to be understood. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes had implicitly prepared a crowd of measures and rules in all branches of national industry. It was a good occasion to prevent the artisans of binding unduly parading themselves as booksellers and selling merchandise of which they understood nothing; Louis XIV. interfered, and separated the two communities. The binders then became the _relieurs-doreurs_ of books; they had their own organisation, but remained subject to the university; the heads of the fraternity were called the "guards." The principal arrangements of the regulation of 1749 were: the members of the corporation had the sole right to bind books, from the elegant volume to registers of blank paper. Five years of apprenticeship and three of companionship were necessary to obtain the brevet of freedom and to hold a shop. Moreover, it was indispensable to read and write. One regulation ordained that the workman should be "able to bind and ornament ordinary books or others, to render them perfect and entire, to sew the sheets at most two together with thread and real bands, with joints of parchment, and not paper, and in case of infraction the said books were to be remade at the expense of the offender, who was besides condemned to a penalty of thirty livres for each volume." Their establishment was confined to the quarter from the Rue St. André des Arts to the Place Maubert; they regulated the sale of calfskin and of tools; in a word, they were surrounded by precautions by which the production remained always under the supervision of the masters and completely satisfied the client. This calculating policy was, in fact, a close imitation of the royal ordinance of 1686. [Illustration: Fig. 117.--Mosaic binding of the eighteenth century for the _Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfante_.] The mosaic bindings used from the end of the reign of Louis XIV. were an application of pared leathers of colours different from the background, pasted on to the side. The binders of the regency composed a great number, attributed now to Pasdeloup, as all the crayons of the sixteenth century are called Clouets, and all the panels on wood Holbeins. It is not that there was great originality in these works, or a particular art; more often the workman did no more than transcribe Le Gascon or Eve or the older binders, and accommodated the processes of these artists to the fashion of his time. In this style we may cite the _Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfante_, printed at Paris 1584, for which the binder designed a cover of doubtful taste and, above all, an undeniable want of proportion. The tendency was then to flowers occupying three-fourths of the page, to compartments too large, to open pomegranates, like the _Spaccio_ here reproduced. If Pasdeloup had discovered these mediocre combinations, he could not be proclaimed the regenerator of a fallen art. The bastard style of these works may be compared to their mosaics, constructed of pieces; it is a little of everything, and together it is nothing. However, in the midst of the quantity of mediocre things, some pleasing decoration is from time to time met with; the design of a volume with the arms of the Regent and his wife, Mademoiselle de Blois, wants neither elegance nor taste; without being perfection, it has better proportion and balance. [Illustration: Fig. 118.--Mosaic binding of the eighteenth century, with the arms of the Regent. M. Morgand's collection.] We should, however, hesitate to give names to all these works. Besides Pasdeloup, there were the Deromes, abandoning a little the mosaics, devising flowers and _dentelles_ in combination, and no longer the simple products of the fillet. They formed a dynasty; and if the Pasdeloups were at least twelve, there were fourteen Deromes all booksellers and binders from the reign of Louis XIV. The most celebrated was James Anthony, who died in 1761. Peter Paul Dubuisson was not only a binder; he was a designer. He invented heraldic ornaments, and composed models of gilding tools, in which his contemporaries emulated him. He was intimate with the delicate vignettist Eisen, and the counsels of an artist of this value could not but be useful to him. It is an extraordinary thing that in this world of celebrated printers, amateur financiers, and notable painters and engravers, not a single man can be met to give a real impulse to the art of which we speak, and to prevent the dull continuance of experiments on the whole so poor. Doubtless the _dentelles_ of Derome had a certain air of gaiety, to which the books of the eighteenth century accommodated themselves perfectly; the tools of Dubuisson produce most pleasing designs; but the old, the great binders, had altogether disappeared. Besides, Derome massacred without pity the rarest works. He loved edges very regularly cut, and he did not fail to hew down margins opposed to his taste. He sawed books as well; that is to say, in place of sewing the sheets on to projecting bands, he made a groove in the back, in which the cord was embedded. The books have no resistance. To these celebrated names of French binders of the eighteenth century we may add Le Monnier, who worked for the Orleans princes; Tessier, his successor; Laferté, who decorated the small volumes of the Duc de la Vallière as Chamot covered the large ones; in 1766 Chamot was royal binder. There was also Pierre Engerrand, then Biziaux, an original, who worked for Madame de Pompadour and Beaumarchais. Boyet, or Boyer, worked (1670-80) in the style of Le Gascon, with the same minute tooling, but simpler in character. Duseuil put very elaborate and delicate tooling on his covers from about 1710 to 1720. The Revolution effaced many of the fine works which displayed the symbols "of a royalty justly detested," and Mercier wrote certain wicked little poems against binding. Lesné was the poet of bookbinding, and he invented the process of plain calf without boards. Certainly from Grolier to Lesné there were numerous changes, so numerous that, in spite of the nude calf, it may be said that the art was nearly dead. In our days it has a little recovered. Amateurs have found new names, and often artists, to patronise: Trautz-Bauzonnet, Capé, Duru, Lortic, Marius Michel, in France; Bedford, Rivière, Zaehnsdorf, Pratt, in England; Matthews, Bradstreet, Smith, in the United States; and many others. Unhappily, fortune does not permit every one to furnish his library luxuriously; the true connoisseur searches rather for Groliers, Eves, and Le Gascons, than concerns himself about modern workmanship. Whatever may be its value, it is only fit to clothe the works of the time. A book published by Lemerre and bound by Petit is in true character, but a fifteenth or sixteenth century book passed under the hands of Trautz-Bauzonnet himself will be very much like an ancient enamel in a modern frame newly gilt. Bookbinding in England has, with very few exceptions, never attained the artistic excellence reached in France. From the earliest times to the present day servile imitations of foreign work only are seen. The one purely original English binder is Roger Payne, who from about 1770 worked for thirty or forty years in London, performing with his own hands every stage of the work, even to cutting his own tools. The result was good, solid work, with perfectly original and often very beautiful decoration, appropriate to the character of the work itself. His favourite style was drooping lines of leaf ornaments in the borders and geometrical patterns in small tools. After him came Charles Lewis, who was an artist in the true sense of the word, and, coming down to our own time, Francis Bedford, who, never pretending to originality, copied the best designs of the old French and Italian binders. His full calf books, with handsomely tooled backs, are models of solidity and taste; and his decorations on the sides of morocco-bound books are always in good taste, and often of great elegance. The binders of the present day, perhaps for lack of patronage, seem to have abandoned originality; and although much excellent work is done, it is no more than a copy of the Eves, Le Gascon, Derome, and the older artists. Parallel with the luxurious bindings with which we have been exclusively occupied, there has always been the commercial work, prepared in advance. Liturgical works, above all, are sold in this form. Books in the Grolier style or other grand personages were worked from a pattern engraved in relief, leaving nothing to the caprice of the artist, by being applied to the side by a press. This process is termed blocking. Germany made use of this process principally; also Vostre, Verard, and Tory employed the same means. Even the interlacings and the capricious arabesques of Grolier were imitated by means of a fixed plate, parts of which were finished by hand to make it appear a complete work of imagination and handicraft. [Illustration] CHAPTER IX. LIBRARIES. Art, science, and literature took refuge in convents before the invention of Printing, and libraries did not count many books. According to daily wants, the monastery scribes copied the treatises lent by neighbouring houses, and the collection was thus painfully made during many centuries. Two or three hundred works constituted ordinary collections; the powerful abbeys found in their staff the means of enriching their libraries, as we have said, but they were the privileged ones. Excepting kings and some princes, few people possessed a library. The great expense of transcription, the want of facility for procuring originals, and the enormous price of manuscripts left no hope to bibliophiles of moderate fortune. Typography, on the contrary, having multiplied books and put at relatively modest prices reproductions formerly inaccessible, private collections commenced. We have had occasion to speak before of Grolier and Maioli; they were the most illustrious, but not the only ones. At first a public library was an unknown thing. The richest and the most easily got together, that of the King of France, was private. Since John the Good in France the acquisitions were numerous, and Gutenberg's invention contributed to augment the stock of volumes everywhere. Charles VIII. and Louis XII. found or took in their expeditions in Italy, and were able to add to the original nucleus, many rare editions, especially from the Sforzas at Pavia, who had marvels without number. Brought together at Blois, under the care of John de Labarre, the royal library did not yet occupy a very large space, in spite of its increase. Under Charles V. the number of books was about a thousand; about 1500 or 1510 they were nearly doubled, and the printed books did not number more than two hundred. So restricted, the royal library travelled with the other treasures of the Crown; Francis I. transported it from Blois to Fontainebleau, and even parts of it to the Italian wars, as related above. In its new quarters the royal collection, in spite of the successive accessions of the books of John d'Angoulême, grandfather of the King, and of those of the dukes of Orleans, counted but 1,781 manuscripts and a hundred and nine printed books on the shelves. The King, ambitious in literature no less than in arts, nominated an illustrious _savant_, Guillaume Budé, to the office of master of his library; and this qualification was maintained by his successors until the fall of the royal power. With Budé commenced the system of continuous acquisitions. The treasury was liberally opened to vendors of rarities. At this time the books, placed upon their sides, one upon another, gave no idea of a modern library, with its volumes ranged on end, having their titles between the bands of the back. In speaking of Grolier, we remarked that the sides of a binding alone had importance on account of their place on the shelves; it was the same with Francis I. Under Henri II. the Fontainebleau collection was somewhat pillaged for Diana of Poitiers, but, as a corrective for this dilapidation, the King adopted a measure, since preserved, which substituted for acquisitions a regular and uninterrupted supply; this was the contribution by publishers to the library of one bound copy on vellum of all the works printed under privilege. The ordinance was made in 1556; the successors of Henri II. had only this means of increasing the number of their volumes, with the exception that Charles IX. expended a large sum in the purchase of Grolier's collection of medals. Such was the working of the royal library for about a half-century, but the idea of making it public had not come. Diffused as was then the passion for books, it had not yet been democratised to the point of being understood by the people. Amateurs and lovers of reading formed special collections in their houses, at times rivalling that of the King. Then the fashion was no more to lay the books on their sides, but they were now ranged to allow room for new acquisitions. Henri IV., who had not his great-uncle's predilection for Fontainebleau, commanded the removal to Paris of the books buried in the castle. He added to them those of Catherine de Medicis coming from Marshal Strozzi; and as the college of Clermont had become vacant by the dispersion of the Jesuits, he lodged the library in 1599 in one of the rooms of that establishment, under the care of James Augustus de Thou, master of the library. We now see the royal collection brought to Paris, which it has never quitted; but before its definitive installation, before it was made public, it passed through a century, during which additions were made, purchases increased, and the number of manuscripts and printed books augmented in enormous proportions. Henri IV. desired to place it near the court, to avoid pillage and to have the chief librarian near to him. The return of the Jesuits in 1604 upset the first establishment a little; the college of Clermont was evacuated; the books were transported to the Cordeliers and distributed in rooms on the ground and first floors, whence the names of upper and lower libraries. There was a mass of volumes very little used, for the public did not enjoy them, and the King held them as his own; but the time was near when the collection was to take a very serious step under the influence of the brothers Dupuy in 1645, and afterwards of Jerome Bignon. Always shut up in the incommodious chambers of the Cordeliers, the library contained 5,259 volumes, manuscript and printed, perhaps less than some private libraries; after the Dupuys it had at least 10,329 printed books. Mazarin was the first to comprehend the natural use of collections of books: publicity. His private library, placed before 1651 in his magnificent house in the Rue Richelieu, where later was definitively lodged the royal library, was opened to readers every Tuesday, from eight to eleven and two to five. Dispersed in 1651, at the fall of the Cardinal, it was later reconstituted, and in less than ten years afterwards the former minister was able to open it in its new quarters, the College of the Four Nations, where it is still. While the Mazarin library was administering liberally to the wants of the public, that of the King remained closely shut up in the rooms of the Cordeliers. Colbert, influenced by this state of things, offered two houses in the Rue Vivienne to the King, where the books could find a more convenient lodging, and allow room for increase. The removal was made in 1666. The royal collection for fifty-five years was lodged only a few steps from its final resting-place, the Hotel de Nevers. So was called at the end of the seventeenth century the splendid mansion of Mazarin, situated near the Porte de Richelieu, in the street of the same name, whence his books had been previously torn and sold to all the dealers. Divided into two parts at the death of the Cardinal in 1661, the palace fell, one part to the Duc de Mazarin, the other to the Duc de Nevers, his nephews. At first the King dreamed, under the advice of Louvais, of acquiring the land in the neighbourhood of the Rue Vivienne and of elevating a monument for his library, for the thought of putting the Hotel de Nevers to this use had not then occurred to him; but the Duc de Mazarin having alienated his part of the palace in favour of the Company of the Indies, Abbé Bignon, then royal librarian, perceived the part he could play from that fact. Thanks to the administration of Colbert and the liberalities of the King, the collection had been augmented threefold. At the time of the removal to the Rue Vivienne, Nicolas Clément worked at the classifying and cataloguing of 35,000 volumes. He distributed them into methodical classes, and devoted nine years--1675 to 1684--to his work. But this first unravelling was soon insufficient. Less than four years after, he commenced a new inventory in twenty-one volumes, which occupied thirty years, having been finished in the course of March, 1714. This time the numbers amounted to 43,000 printed volumes; his twenty-three principal divisions, containing all the letters of the alphabet, are very nearly preserved up to our day. In 1697 the question of publishing this enormous work was agitated, and on this point Clément had a curious correspondence with a learned Dane named Frederick Bostgaard; he also, in a celebrated pamphlet, _Idée d'une Nouvelle Manière de dresser le Catalogue d'une Bibliothèque_, indicated practical observations; he resolved this arduous question for important collections by difference of sizes; but his project was not executed, although favoured from the first by Abbé Bignon. As the collection was not available for workers, the work of Clément had only a relative importance. A councillor of the Prince of Waldeck, a German of the name of Nemeitz, who travelled in France in the beginning of the eighteenth century, having seen it in the houses of the Rue Vivienne, says that the library occupied then twenty-six rooms and contained 75,000 volumes in all; it was shown voluntarily to strangers, but not to the public. Nemeitz gives some other curious particulars as to the libraries of Paris (_Séjour à Paris:_ Leyde, 1727, 8vo). The bank of Law, that had been lodged for some time in the Hotel de Nevers, alienated by the heirs of Mazarin, soon disappeared with the ruin of his system. As we have said above, Bignon appreciated the importance of the neglected palace for commodiously lodging the royal collections. This was in 1721. The collection was about to be subdivided into four sections, or, as they were then called in the administrative style, four distinct departments: manuscripts, printed books, titles, and engraved plates. The master of the library pressed the Regent to profit by the occasion, to which he agreed. In the month of September the removal commenced, and from the Rue Vivienne, the royal library, the first in the world and the most valuable, as Naudé says, entered the former palace of the Cardinal, which it was never to quit again. We approach the epoch when this great scientific establishment was to quit its private character and to open its doors to the learned of all countries. In 1735 it was decided to print the catalogue of some divisions only: theology, canonical law, public law, and _belles lettres_. This resolution coincided precisely with the opening of the doors which took place in 1737, in which year appeared the first volume of the catalogue comprising the sacred Scriptures. At the end of the eighteenth century the royal library was finally established; the printed books then comprised about 200,000 volumes, and access was had by a staircase leading to six grand saloons, which were surrounded by galleries. From this moment the rooms became too small. At the Revolution the number of books had increased to 300,000, and projects of enlargement commenced, to be continued to our time; but, in spite of these proposals, the surface occupied by the library has remained the same since the time of Louis XV. Enlargements and alterations have been made year after year on the same ground without much new construction. But how the treasures have been augmented to this time! If the printed books at the Revolution represented a little more than 300,000 volumes, to-day they exceed two millions; the prints number two and a half millions; the medals, 100,000; the manuscripts, something over 90,000. If we have thus brought the summary history of the National Library of Paris to our days, it was to avoid mixing it with other matters. We have entered into such detail regarding it as is fitting for the most important library in the world. We now return to the seventeenth century. At the time when Henri IV. carried from Fontainebleau to Paris the nucleus of volumes that was to have so brilliant a destiny, the passion for books had singularly spread itself in France. We have already spoken of Mazarin; after him Cardinal Richelieu designed to open his private collection to the public, and in his will he manifested his clearly held intention. He went further in his last wishes: he prescribed the daily sweeping and dusting of the precious collection, and its augmentation by a thousand livres tournois each year. The great personages of the time were not behind; and Sauval says that in the seventeenth century there were 1,000 or 1,200 private libraries in Paris, numbering 1,700,000 volumes. In the provinces there were few public libraries. The communities and learned Societies, the Jesuits and other religious houses, and the universities had collections At Orleans a library was opened for Germans, and the students of that country were able to work at their ease under the supervision of two librarians. At the end of the eighteenth century the number of libraries had increased in large proportions; the amateurs had made their influence felt. The Book was not sought only for what it contained, but also for its exterior clothing. Only the great libraries open to everybody remained eclectic, and provided a little of everything. Besides the royal library, there were in Paris a great number of other collections, which the revolutionary storm upset and often destroyed. That of St. Germain des Près was burnt in 1794. That of St. Geneviève, founded in 1625, had benefited by celebrated donations, among others those of the cardinals De Berulle and De la Rochefoucauld; the Arsenal, created by the Marquis de Paulmy, was successively enriched by important acquisitions, among which was the collection of the Duc de la Vallière. These collections still exist, and are open to the public, as also are the National Library, the Mazarine, the Sorbonne, the Museum, the School of Fine Arts, the City of Paris, the Institute, the Louvre, and the several scientific faculties. The provinces have not been behind in the movement. Many of the great cities contain a considerable number of books easily accessible, among them the libraries of Bordeaux and Rouen, amounting to 150,000 volumes; Troyes and Besançon, 100,000, etc. Few important centres have less than 20,000. These collections have been generally composed of those of the religious establishments, closed by the Revolution. In our time public libraries are augmented by the legal deposit, gifts of the State, legacies of private persons, and purchases. The legal deposit in France relates almost exclusively to the National Library, and proceeds from the measures taken by Henri II. in 1556. Each French printer has now to deposit a certain number of copies of the works that he issues, and these volumes go to swell the number of books in the Rue de Richelieu. At the rate of 30,000 a year, the time is easily anticipated and very near when the space will be found insufficient. Some measures will have to be taken. Germany, the cradle of printing, was not favoured in the beginning. It had, however, in the seventeenth century, in Wolfenbüttel, a little town in the duchy of Brunswick, a curious collection of books, in a detached building, of which the engraver Merian has preserved for us the physiognomy; it contained nearly 200,000 volumes, an enormous number for the time. The rather low rooms were shelved all round; in the middle were cases of the height of a man, also filled with books; the readers helped themselves, and were seated for working. The exterior of the building, without being sumptuous, was isolated and detached. In our time this collection includes the Bible, glass, and inkstand of Luther and his portrait by Lucas Cranach. Another curious library, dating from the beginning of the seventeenth century, is that of the city of Leyden. An engraving by Woudan shows its state in 1610, with its classifications and divisions. The books were ranged in cases provided with breast-high desks. The books were placed with the edges in front, and not as now, and were so attached that they could only be consulted in their place. Each body of shelving contained a series of authors: theology, philosophy, mathematics, history, medicine, law, and literature. The room, of square shape, was lighted by windows right and left. Between the bays were portraits, views of cities, and maps. On the right, in a shrine, was enclosed the legacy of Joseph Scaliger. Communication was less liberal than at Wolfenbüttel; the readers were obliged to take the books from the shelves themselves and read them standing before the desks. In England, the celebrated Oxford Library should be mentioned, augmented and restored in 1597 by Sir Thomas Bodley, ambassador of Queen Elizabeth. The generous overtures of this rich gentleman met with unanimous approbation. He offered to the library of the university the volumes collected by him during his travels on the Continent, whose value exceeded £10,000. The first stone of a new building was laid in 1610, but from 1602 the collection was open to readers in a provisional locality. David Loggan, the engraver, has preserved for us interior views of the Bodleian of the seventeenth century. The rooms are disposed in the form of the letter H, with pavilions to east and west, united by a gallery. The books were and are still in the body of the library, placed against the walls, with tables and immovable seats. The volumes were not displaced; they were consulted in their own place. Each room had two floors, with access to the second by stairs. In London it was Hans Sloane who had the idea of founding a great collection by offering to the State for £20,000 his collection of books, which was valued at £50,000. Created in 1753 by an Act of Parliament, the British Museum, as it was named, was quickly augmented by many private libraries, among which was the library of printed books and manuscripts collected by the kings of England from Henry VII. to William III., which was added in the reign of George II. The very extensive and valuable library of George III., 250,000 volumes, was added by George IV. The Harleian collection added 7,500 volumes, and Robert Cotton his manuscripts. To-day the printed books amount to 1,300,000, and are only surpassed by the National Library of France as well in number of books as in number of readers. This immense collection increases at a great rate, one source being the compulsory deposit of a copy of every new book in order to secure copyright. Donations and legacies are constantly being made, and an annual sum for purchases is voted by Parliament. Besides the copy deposited by publishers in the British Museum, the law of copyright compels the deposit of four other copies, which go to augment the collections of the Bodleian Library of Oxford, the University Library of Cambridge, and the libraries of Edinburgh and Dublin. If we search among the cities of Europe where establishments of this kind are most honoured, Berlin will take the third place with 900,000 printed books and 20,000 manuscripts, preserved in the Imperial Library. The building, constructed between 1775 and 1780, owes its special form to Frederick II., who desired that it should take the form of a chest of drawers. On the façade an inscription in the Latin tongue, but conceived in German spirit, indicates that here is a spiritual refectory--_nutrimentum spiritus_. Following come Munich, with 800,000 printed books; Vienna 400,000; Dresden, 300,000; then the universities: Leipzig, whose library, founded in 1409 and reorganised in 1830, contains 150,000 books and 2,000 manuscripts; Heidelberg; Göttingen, etc. In Italy, Florence keeps, in the National Library, 300,000 volumes, proceeding from various amateurs, and formed since 1860. The collection of the goldsmith Magliabecchi, that was open to readers since 1747, has been transported there. Besides this library, Florence possesses the celebrated Laurentian, created by Cosmo de Medicis in the middle of the fifteenth century, where are united more than 8,000 manuscripts of an incalculable value. Milan has at the Brera a collection of 200,000 printed books and 50,000 medals, and at the Ambrosian, due to Cardinal Frederick Borromeo, 160,000 printed books and 8,000 manuscripts. Rome possesses a dozen collections and celebrated deposits. The Vatican, not numerous, is most choice; the importance of its manuscripts is known to the entire world, but only a part of the 50,000 printed books are catalogued. The Library of Victor Emmanuel, formerly of the Jesuits, amounts to about 66,000 volumes. At Venice the splendid monument called the Antiqua Libraria di St. Marco has changed its destination; constructed in the sixteenth century and commenced by Sansovino for a library, it is now a royal palace. This city has lost that which had made its glory, and its collections are very modest in our days. The magnificent educational establishments in the form of public libraries provided in the United States deserve special mention. Nearly every city has its public library, supported by a small tax; and many large libraries are wholly supported by private munificence. The first to be established was founded in 1732 by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, and still exists as the Library Company; many important bequests have been made to it, the latest being £200,000 by Dr. Richard Rush. The library now numbers 150,000 volumes. The Congressional Library of Washington, besides its annual income from Government, receives by deposit for copyright a copy of every work published in the United States; it now has 565,000 volumes. The Astor Library and the Lenox Library of New York were both founded and endowed by the families whose name they bear; the former has 223,284 volumes, the latter 25,000. The city of Chicago recently fell heir to the magnificent sum of over one million sterling for the establishment of a library of reference, and New York was benefited by the late Mr. Tilden to the extent of £800,000 for a public library. When we have named the libraries of St. Petersburg and Moscow for Russia, Stockholm for Sweden, and the Escurial for Spain, we shall have mentioned very hastily the most important establishments in the world. For more than four centuries the love of books has preserved and fortified itself, and increases each day. If we were to endeavour to approximately imagine the number of printed books diffused, we should be frightened at it. It is by miles that to-day are counted the shelves of the National Library or of the British Museum; and each year the production is accelerated, as is also the number of readers. THE END. INDEX. Albi, first printer at, 47. Alciati, books of emblems, 126. Alding, Henry, printer in Sicily, 35. Aldus Manutius, son-in-law of Torresani, 51; printer in Venice, 99, 103, 128; books for Grolier, 260. America, North, printing in, 216. Antwerp, early printing at, 67; Plantin, 140. _Ars Memorandi_, block book, 10. _Ars Moriendi_, block book, 8. Asola, Andrew d', successor of Jenson, 50. Audran, C., engraver, 158. Augsburg, _Formschneiders_ at, 58. Badier, Florimond, bookbinder, 280. Badius, Jodocus, printer in Paris, 122, 246. Baldini, designs for early Italian books, 54. Ballard, printer for music, 186. Bamberg, early printing at, 25, 29. Barcelona, first printer, 36. Bartolozzi, engraver, 209. Baskerville, printer of Birmingham, 208. Basle, first printer, 36; school of engraving, 125. Beaujoyeux, Balthasar de, _Ballet Comique_, 136. Bechtermuncze, Henry, pupil of Gutenberg, 25, 36. Bedford, Francis, bookbinder, 288. Belfort, Andrew, printer at Ferrara, 35. Berlin, Imperial Library of, 301. Bernard, _le petit_, designer, 128. Bewick, Thomas, engraver, 209, 213, 225, 234. Bible, Gutenberg's, 15, 20; of 1462, the Mayence, 27; first English, 146; Authorised Version, 182; the Polyglot, Plantin's, 141; Richelieu's, 173. _Biblia Pauperum_, block book, 8. Bignon, Jerome, royal librarian, 293. Binding, early, 253. Biziaux, bookbinder, 287. Blind Asylum, printers in 1786, 216. Bocard, Andrew, printer in Paris, 88. Bodleian Library, 300. Bohn, H. G., publisher, 223. Bologna, Francisco da, engraver of type, 100. Bonhomme, printer in Lyons, 128. Book, the, earliest forms of, 1, 6. Books of Hours, 70, 112; for English use, 147. Booksellers of Paris, 170, 186, 190, 196. Bosse, Abraham, engraver, 170. Botticelli, plates to Dante, 55. Boucher, designer, 188. Bourdichon, John, artist, 69. Boydell, Alderman, publisher, 210. Boyet, bookbinder, 287. Brandt's "Ship of Fools," 65. British Museum, library, 301. Brothers of Common Life, printers, 1468, 36. Browne, H. K., book illustrator, 235. Bruges, early printing at, 37, 67. Buckinck, Arnold, printer at Rome, printed the first atlas, 55. Budé, Guillaume, royal librarian, 291. Cæsaris, Peter, and John Stol, second Paris printers, 68. Callot, engraver, 167. Cambridge, first printing at, 149. Cars, Laurent, engraver, 189. Cases for type, 243. Caslon, William, type-founder, 208. Catherine de Medicis, bindings for, 270. "Catholicon," the, of 1460, printed by Gutenberg, 23. Caxton, William, first English printer, 37, 92, 240. Cazin, publisher, 200. Cerceau, _Bastiments de France_, 1576, 135. Chaillot, Robin, publisher in Paris, 82. Challeux, James le, wood engraver, 137. Chamot, bookbinder, 287. _Champfleury_, Geoffroy Tory's, 116, 261. Characters, variety of, 243. Charles VII. sends Jenson to Mayence, 38. Charles VIII., royal library, 291. Charles IX., bindings for, 274. Charles of Angoulême, books specially printed for him, 78. Chauveau, Francis, engraver, 179. Chess, Caxton's book on, 92. Chodowiecki, engraver, 208. Choffard, engraver, 198, 211. Clement V., _Constitutiones_, 1460, printed by Schoeffer, 26. Clément, Nicholas, royal librarian, 294. Clennell, Luke, wood engraver, 215, 225, 234. Cochin the younger, engraver, 191. Colbert, bindings for, 272, 282. Collines, Simon de, type-founder, 241. Cologne, first printer, 36. "Cologne Chronicle," 58. Colonna, Francis, Poliphilus of, 1499, 56; in French, 1545, 123. Colophons, use of, by early printers, 88. Commin, Vincent, bookseller in Paris, 82. Companies of printers in France, 165. Copper plate engraving, 135; in England, 149. Coster, Laurent, alleged inventor of printing, 6, 30. Cousin, John, designs for books, 132. Cramoisy, Sebastian, printer of Paris, 155, 165; director of bindings for Louis XIV., 281. Cranach, Lucas, his _Passional Christi_, 106. Cranmer's Catechism, 1548, 148. Cruikshank, George, book illustrator, 235. Curmer, publisher of Paris, 230. Dances of death, 58, 72, 85, 124. Dante, 1481, with engraved plates, 54; 1491, with Botticelli plates, 55; 1487, printed by Bonnini, 58. Day, John, printer, 146. Della Bella, engraver, 168. Deromes, bookbinders, 286. Desportes, Philip, bindings for, 272. Devéria, engraver, 227. Dibdin, T. F., bibliographical works, 223. Didot, François, printer of Paris, 194. Didot, Pierre F., printer of Paris, 216, 219. Didot family, 218, 242. Dijon, first printer at, 47. Diodorus Siculus, Geoffroy Tory's edition, 118. Donatus, the Latin syntax of, 4, 30. Doré, Gustave, influence on illustration, 234. Doyle, Richard, book illustrator, 235. Dritzehen, Andrew, associate of Gutenberg, 13. Dubois, Gilles, bookbinder, 281. Dubuisson, Peter Paul, bookbinder, 286. Duchesne on wood engraving, 225. Duplat, relief engraving on stone, 213. Duplessis-Bertaux, engraver, 206. Du Pré, John, printer of Books of Hours, 80. Dupuy brothers, bindings for, 272, 282; royal librarians, 293. Durand's _Rationale_, 1459, printed by Schoeffer, 26. Dürer, Albert, pupil of Wohlgemuth, 60; "Apocalypse," 62, 104; influence on Geoffroy Tory, 116. Duseuil, bookbinder, 287. Eisen, engraver, 196. Eltvil, first printer, 36. Elzevirs, printers at Leyden, 162. Emblems, books of, 126, 135. England, bookbinding in, 288; public libraries, 300. English books, in the fifteenth century, 92; in the sixteenth century, 144; seventeenth century, 181; eighteenth century, 208; nineteenth century, 222, 234; school of engraving eighteenth century, 209. Engraved plates, first book with, 52; in France, 134, 190. Engravers, employed by Plantin, 142; in relief, the first, 3. Engraving, introduction of metal plates for, 32; the process, 52; in the Books of Hours, 71. Erasmus, visit to Aldus, 101. Estienne, Robert, printer in Paris, 121, 242. Etching, process of, 189. Eustache, William, printer of Books of Hours, 82. Eve, Nicholas, bookbinder, 274. Ferrara, first printer, 35. Fichet, William, ascribes invention of printing to Gutenberg, 31. Flemish, illustration, 66; printers, early, 36, 106. Florence, National Library of, 302. Foligno, first printer, 35. Fontainebleau school of engraving, 128. Fornazeris, J. de, engraver, 158. Foucquet, John, artist, 69. Fount of type, 243. Fouquet, Superintendent, bindings for, 272, 282. Fournier, type-engraver, 242. France, early printing in, 47. Francis I., father of letters, 120; bindings for, 266; royal library, 291. Frankfort, books of the seventeenth century, 159. Franklin, Benjamin, printer at Philadelphia, 217; founded first American public library, 303. French book illustration, 68, 76, 106, 166, 203; provinces, public libraries of, 298. Fresne, Trichet du, corrector of Royal Printing House, 166. Furne, publisher of Paris, 232. Fust, John, 12 _et seq_.; in partnership with Gutenberg, 15. Garamond, Claude, type-founder, 121, 166, 241. Gaultier, Leonard, engraver, 142, 154. Gavarni, designer, 233. Ged, William, inventor of stereotype, 220. Gering, Freyburger, and Crantz, first printers in Paris, 41. German books, in the seventeenth century, 158; eighteenth century, 208; nineteenth century, 224. German public libraries, 299. Gigoux, John, vignettist, 228. Gillot, Claude, engraver, 180, 186. Giunta, Lucantonio, printer at Venice, 102. Gondi, bindings for, 272. Gourmont, John de, wood engraver, 137. Grandjean, Philip, royal printer, 242. Grandville, designer, 233. Gravelot, Hubert Francis, engraver, 196, 213. Grolier, John, bindings for, 256. Guadagnino, artist of Venice, 102. Guise, Henri de, "Le Balafré," bindings for, 274. Gutenberg, John, 12 _et seq_.; at Mayence, 15; death of, 29. Haarlem, book illustration at, 67. Hachette, publisher of Paris, 234. Hagenbach, Peter, printer at Toledo, 36. Hahn, Ulrich, printer at Rome, 35; printed first illustrated book in Italy, 48. Hardouins, printers of Books of Hours, 82. Haye, Cornelis de la, painter, 130. Heilmann, Andrew, associate of Gutenberg, 13. Heinlein and Fichet introduce printing into Paris, 40. Henri II., _Entrée à Lyon_, 1549, 130; bindings for, 270; royal library, 292. Henri III., bindings for, 274. Henri IV., royal library, 292. Hoe printing machines, 249. Holbein, "Dance of Death," 86, 124; Cranmer's Catechism, 148. Holland, artists in the seventeenth century, 160. Illustrations, first, in books, 47; in the sixteenth century, 123. Imposition, process of, 245. Ink, composition of, 252. Ipswich, first printer, 149. Isaac, Jasper, engraver, 156. Italian, books in the seventeenth century, 159; influence on French illustration, 125; on bindings, 256. Italic type introduced, 100. Italy, public libraries of, 302. Jenson, Nicholas, sent to Mayence to learn type-founding, 38; printer at Venice, 38, 103. Johannot brothers, engravers, 227. John of Cologne, master _à la navette_, 67. Jombert, printer of Paris, 192. Junius, Hadrian, narrator of the Coster legend, 6, 12. Kerver, Thielman, printer of Books of Hours, 80, 88. Knight, Charles, publisher, 223. Koburger, first printer at Nuremberg, 36, 60. Koelhof, first printer to use signatures, 36. Labarre, John de, royal librarian, 291. Laborde, _Chansons_, 202. Laferté, bookbinder, 287. La Fontaine, the _Contes_, 198. La Marche, Oliver de, his _Chevalier Delibéré_, 67. Laserre, luxury in bindings for, 278. La Tour, bookbinder, 281. Lavoignat, wood engraver, 230. Lebé, William, type-founder, 140, 242. Le Brun, painter, 175. Leclerc, Sébastien, engraver, 176. Leech, John, book illustrator, 235. Leeu, Gerard de, printer at Antwerp, 67. Le Gascon bindings, 276. Le Jay and the Polyglot Bible, 173. Le Maire, John, _Illustrations de la Gaule_, 107. Le Monnier, bookbinder, 287. Lenoir, Philip, bindings for Francis I., 268. Lepautre, engraver, 179. Lesné, poet of bookbinding, 287. Letters of Indulgence, the first printed, 17. Lettou, John, early English printer, 95. Leu, Thomas de, engraver, 142, 154. Levasseur, bookbinder, 281. Lewis, Charles, bookbinder, 288. Leyden, the Elzevirs at, 162; public library of, 299. Libraries, 290. Library, National, of Paris, 291. Lipsius, Justus, employed by Plantin, 140. Logography, invention of, 216. Lorenzo, Nicholas di, printer of _El Monte Santo di Dio_, first book with engraved plates, 52. Loslein, Peter, printer at Venice, 35. Louis XII., ordinance on printing, 108; bindings for, 256, 264; royal library, 291. Louis XIV., bindings for, 281; regulations for bookbinders, 282. Louvain, printer in 1474, 37. Lutzelburger, Hans, engraver of "Dance of Death," 125. Lyons, first printing at, 47; in the sixteenth century, 124; seventeenth century, 158. Machlinia, William, early English printer, 37, 95. Macon, first printer at, 47. _Magasin Pittoresque_, 226. Mainyal, George, associate of Gering, 47. Maioli, Thomas, bindings for, 259. Mansfeldt, Count, bindings for, 272. Mansion, Colard, printer at Bruges, 1473, 37. Manuscripts, influence of printing upon, 34. Manutius. See Aldus. Marchant, Guyot, his "Dance of Death," 86; bindings for Francis I., 268. Marinoni printing press, 249. Marnef, Geoffroy and Gilbert, French printers, 107. Mayence, revolution at, in 1462, 27; printing in the seventeenth century, 158. Mayer, Henry, printer at Toulouse, 47. Mazarin, Cardinal, bindings for, 280; his library, 293. Meissonier, designer on wood, 230. Mellan, Claude, engraver, 156. Menzel, Adolph, book illustrator, 224. _Mer des Histoires_, 1488, 70, 107. Mérius, bookbinder, 281. Meslier, Denis, publisher in Paris, 82. Metal plates used for illustration, 134. Metlinger, printer at Dijon, 47. Milan, printing in the sixteenth century, 103; public libraries of, 302. Montenay, Georgette de, his emblems, 135. Monteregio, _Calendario_, first book with title-page, 50. Montmorency, Anne de, bindings for, 272. Moreau the younger, engraver, 200. Moretus, printer of Antwerp, 141. Mosaic bindings, 284. Motte, Houdart de la, his "Fables," 186. Necker, Jost, engraver of the _Theuerdanck_, 105. Neumeister, John, printer at Albi, 47. Neumeister, John, printer at Foligno, 35. Nevers, Duc de, book published in 1577, 138. Notary, Julian, early English printer, 96. Noyers, Sublet de, superintendent of Royal Printing House, 166. Nuremberg, first printer, 36; books of the sixteenth century, 104; Chronicle, 1493, 62; books of the seventeenth century, 159. Orleans, public library at, 298. Os, Peter van, his _Biblia Pauperum_, 67. Oswen, John, first printer at Ipswich, 149. Oxford, first printer, 37; Bodleian Library, 300. Palermo, first printer, 35. Palmart, Lambert, printer at Valencia, 1477, 36. Pannartz, Arnold, printer at Rome, 35. Paper, manufacture of, 249. Papillons, wood engravers, 212. Paris, Fust's visit to, 27; first book printed at, 42; public libraries of, 298. Pasdeloup, bookbinder, 284. Pasquier-Bonhomme, printer in Paris, 68. Pass family, engravers, 160. Pasti, Matteo, designs for Valturius, 49. Paulin, publisher of Paris, 228. Payne, Roger, bookbinder, 288. Perréal, John, artist, 69. Pfinzfing, _Theuerdanck_, 104. Pfister, Albert, printer of Bamberg, 25. Philippe, Laurent, publisher in Paris, 82. Photography, use in illustration, 233. Picart, Bernard, engraver, 180. Picart, John, engraver, 156. Piccini, engraver, 159. Pickering, William, publisher, 223. Pictor, Bernard, printer of Venice, 35. Pigouchet, Philip, printer of Paris, 68, 70. Plantin, Christopher, printer of Antwerp, 140. Pluvinel, _Manège Royal_, 160. Poitiers, Diane de, bindings for, 270. Poliphilus, printed by Aldus, 1499, 56; by Kerver, 1545, 123. Polytypes, invention of, 216. Pompadour, Madame de, bindings for, 272. Portraits as illustrations, 89, 123, 137. Prault, publisher of Paris, 192. Prayer-book, Queen Elizabeth's, 146; Edward VI's., 148. Presses, printing, 248. Press work, process of, 246. Printers' marks, 87. Prohibitions on printers, 152, 185. _Promptuaire des Médailles_, printed by Roville, 130. Psalter of 1457, the first dated book, 23. Ptolemy, 1478, first printed atlas, 55. Pynson, Richard, early English printer, 37, 95, 146. Racine, works, the Louvre edition, 219. Raffet, wood engraver, 232. Ratdolt, Erhardt, printer at Venice, 35; printed first title-page, 50, 103. Rembold, Berthold, associate of Gering, 47. Richelieu, Cardinal, his library, 297. Roffet, Peter, bindings for Francis I., 267. Rogers, Samuel, his poetical works, 222. Roman character, 38, 240. Rome, first printers, 35; public libraries of, 302. Rood, Theod., first printer at Oxford, 37. Roville, printer of Lyons, 128, 130. Royal Printing House in Paris, 166, 215. Royer, John le, printer for mathematics, 1560, 132. Ruette, bookbinder, 282. Rüppel, Berthold, first printer at Basle, 36. St. Albans, first printer, 37. St. Aubin, designer and engraver, 192, 200. St. Pierre, Bernardin de, and the Didots, 221. Salomon, Bernard, designer, 128. Sanlecque, James, type-founder, 242. Schäufelein, designs for the _Theuerdanck_, 105. Schiedam, early printing at, 67. Schoeffer, Peter, associate of Gutenberg and Fust, 16. Schongauer, Martin, influence on French art, 72. Schönsperger, printer of Augsburg, 105. Séguier, bindings for, 282. Siberch, John, first printer at Cambridge, 149. Sicily, first printer, 35. Sizes of books, 147, 189. Sloane, Sir Hans, founder of the British Museum, 300. Smirke, Robert, book illustrator, 210. Southwark, first printer at, 149. Spain, book illustration in, 106. _Speculum Humanæ Salvationis_, 7. Spindeler, Nicholas, printer at Barcelona, 36. Spire, John and Vendelin of, printers at Venice, 35. Spyes, Weigand, pupil of Gutenberg, 25. Stanhope press, 248. Steel plates for illustrations, 232. Stereotype, invention of, 220. Stothard, Thomas, book illustrator, 210, 222, 234. Strasbourg, Gutenberg's retreat to, 13. Sweynheim, Conrad, printer at Rome, 35. _Tailleurs d'images_ of the Middle Ages, 3. Tauchnitz, Baron, publisher of Leipzig, 224. Tessier, bookbinder, 287. Ther-Hoenen, Arnold, first printer using Arabic numerals for pages, 36, 58, 88. _Theuerdanck_, printed at Nuremberg, 104. Thevet, books with plates, 135. Thompson brothers, wood engravers, 225. Thou, James Augustus de, royal librarian, 293. Titian, influence on book illustration, 103. Title-page, the first, 50, 86; illustrated, 133, 142. Toledo, first printer, 36. Tornes, Hans de, printer in Lyons, 128. Torresani, Andrea, succeeded Jenson, 50. Tortorel and Perrissin, plates on the religious wars, 137. Tory, Geoffroy, printer and engraver, 110, 241, 261. Toulouse, first printer, 47. Travel, books of, 148, 182. Treschel, John, printer at Lyons, 88, 124. Treves, Peter of, first printer at Southwark, 149. Trithemius, account of Peter Schoeffer, 16. Turner, J. M. W., designs for Rogers' works, 222. Type-founding, 239, 243. United States, printing in, 216; public libraries in, 302. Utrecht, early printers at, 36, 67. Valdarfer, Christopher, printer at Venice, 35. Valencia, first printer, 36. Valladier, Andrew, _Métanéologie_, 155. Valturius, _De Re Militari_, 1472, 49. Veldener, John, printer at Louvain, 67. Venice, first printers, 35; first title-page printed at, 50; sixteenth century work, 102; seventeenth century, 159; libraries of, 302. Verard, Antony, printer in Paris, 68, 76; his Books of Hours, 78. Versailles, printing office of the Minister for War, 215. Vinci, Leonardo da, influence on book illustration, 103. Vitré, Antoine, publisher of Paris, 172. Voragine, "Golden Legend," Venice, 1518, 103. Vostre, Simon, printer in Paris, 68; his Books of Hours, 70. Vyel, Andrew, printer at Palermo, 35. Walchius, story of Fust's visit to Paris, 28. Walter, John, printer of the _Times_, 216, 249. Water marks in paper, 251. Watervliet, Marc Laurin de, bindings for, 272. Watteau, engraver, 187. Wechel, printer in Paris, 128. Wensler, Michael, printer at Macon, 47. Westminster, Caxton first printer at, 37. Westphalia, John of, printer at Louvain, 1474, 37, 67. Whittingham, Charles, printer, 223. Woériot, Peter, engraver of emblems, 135. Wohlgemuth, Michael, designs for the _Schatzbehalter_, 60. Wolfenbüttel, public library of, 299. Woodcuts, first book printed with, 48. Wood engraving, revival of, 209, 213, 230. Wynken de Worde, early English printer, 37, 95. Xylographs of the fifteenth century, 8. Zainer, Gunther, printer at Augsburg, 58. Zell, Ulrich, pupil of Gutenberg, 25, 30, 36. Zwoll, book illustration at, 67. Transcriber's Note In this text version, symbols and Greek letters in the text are replaced by their name, enclosed in square brackets, e.g. [phi], [double cross]. In addition, oe ligatures are replaced with the letters oe, and superscripts are introduced with the caret character, e.g. XVIII^e 
48313	----	[Frontispiece: AT WORK IN THE PRINTING-OFFICE.] PHAETON ROGERS A NOVEL OF BOY LIFE BY ROSSITER JOHNSON _ILLUSTRATED_ NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 743 AND 745 BROADWAY 1881 COPYRIGHT BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1881 TROW'S PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY, _201-213 East 12th Street_, NEW YORK. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. A Morning Canter CHAPTER II. Rapid Transit CHAPTER III. Aunt Mercy CHAPTER IV. Jack-in-the-Box CHAPTER V. Jimmy the Rhymer CHAPTER VI. The Price of Poetry CHAPTER VII. Phaeton's Chariot CHAPTER VIII. A Horizontal Balloon-Ascension CHAPTER IX. The Art Deservative CHAPTER X. Torments of Typography CHAPTER XI. A Comical Comet CHAPTER XII. A Literary Mystery CHAPTER XIII. A Lyric Strain CHAPTER XIV. An Alarm of Fire CHAPTER XV. Running with the Machine CHAPTER XVI. A New Fire-Extinguisher CHAPTER XVII. How a Church Flew a Kite CHAPTER XVIII. An Extra Fourth-of-July CHAPTER XIX. A Conquest CHAPTER XX. Rings, Scissors, and Boots CHAPTER XXI. A Tea-Party CHAPTER XXII. Old Shoes and Orange-Blossoms LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The Printing-Office Rapid Transit by Cable Rapid Transit by Car The Boys Consult Jack-in-the-Box Ned's Invention "The Whole Caravan went Roaring down the Turnpike" Ned's Plan for a Press The Meddlesome Poet The Frame of a Comet "A Comet, Gentlemen--A Blazing Comet!" "It Rose Like a Fountain" A Broken Poem "Jimmy Looked so Pale and Thin" "Ned Looked Up into the Face of a Policeman" Phaeton is Taken for a Burglar "Jump Her, Boys! Jump Her!" "This Must Be Put in a Safe Place" Phaeton's Fire-Extinguisher The Kite on the Steeple Discharging the Arrow Riding Home in the Barouche How the Chair was Mended Taking Home the Chairs The Boys Run the Red Rover Bridal Favors PHAETON ROGERS. CHAPTER I. A MORNING CANTER. Nothing is more entertaining than a morning canter in midsummer, while the dew is sparkling on the grass, and the robins are singing their joyful songs, and the east is reddening with the sunrise, and the world is waking up to enjoy these beautiful things a little, before the labors of the day begin. And here is one of the many advantages of being a boy. When ladies and gentlemen ride horseback, it is considered necessary to have as many horses as riders; but an indefinite number of boys may enjoy a ride on one horse, all at the same time; and often the twenty riders who walk get a great deal more fun out of it than the one rider who rides. I think the best number of riders is three--one to be on the horse, and one to walk along on each side and keep off the crowd. For there is something so noble in the sight of a boy on a horse--especially when he is on for the first time--that, before he has galloped many miles, he is pretty certain to become the centre of an admiring throng, all eyes being turned upon the boy, and all legs keeping pace with the horse. It falls to the lot of few boys to take such a ride more than once in a lifetime. Some, poor fellows! never experience it at all. But whatever could happen to any boy, in the way of adventure, was pretty sure to happen to Phaeton Rogers, who was one of those lucky fellows that are always in the middle of everything, and generally play the principal part. And yet it was not so much luck or accident as his own genius; for he had hardly come into the world when he began to try experiments with it, to see if he couldn't set some of the wheels of the universe turning in new directions. The name his parents gave him was Fayette; but the boys turned it into Phaeton, for a reason which will be explained in the course of the story. It was my good fortune to live next door to the Rogers family, to know all of Phaeton's adventures, and have a part in some of them. One of the earliest was a morning canter in the country. Phaeton was a little older than I; his brother Ned was just my age. One day, their Uncle Jacob came to visit at their house, riding all the way from Illinois on his own horse. This horse, when he set out, was a dark bay, fourteen hands high, with one white foot, and a star on his forehead. At the first town where he staid overnight, it became an iron-gray, with a bob tail and a cast in its eye. At the next halt, the iron-gray changed into a chestnut, with two white feet and a bushy tail. A day or two afterward, he stopped at a camp-meeting, and when he left it the horse was a large roan, with just the hint of a springhalt in its gait. Then he came to a place where a county fair was being held, and here the roan became piebald. How many more changes that horse went through, I do not know; but, when it got to us, it was about eleven hands high (convenient size for boys), nearly white, with a few black spots,--so it could be seen for a long distance,--with nice thick legs, and long hair on them to keep them warm. For these particulars, I am indebted to Ned, who overheard the conversation between his father and his uncle, and repeated it a few times to the boys. Now, Mr. Rogers had no barn, and his brother Jacob, who arrived in the evening, had to tie his horse in the wood-shed for the night. He might have taken it to the "Cataract House, by James Tone," which was only a short distance away, and had a first-rate stable; but it was not the custom, in that part of the country, ever to patronize a hotel if you could by any possibility quarter yourself and your horse on a friend. Just before bedtime, Ned came over to tell me that Phaeton was to take the horse to pasture in the morning, that he was going with him, and they would like my company also, adding: "Uncle Jacob says that a brisk morning canter will do us good, and give us an appetite for breakfast." "Yes," said I, "of course it will; and besides that, we can view the scenery as we ride by." "We can, unless we ride too fast," said Ned. "Does your uncle's horse go very fast?" said I, with some little apprehension, for I had never been on a horse. "I don't exactly know," said Ned. "Probably not." "Has Phaeton ever been on a horse?" said I. "No," said Ned; "but he is reading a book about it, that tells you just what to do." "And how far is the pasture?" "Four miles,--Kidd's pasture,--straight down Jay street, past the stone brewery. Kidd lives in a yellow house on the right side of the road; and when we get there we're to look out for the dog." "It must be pretty savage, or they wouldn't tell us to look out for it. Are you going to take a pistol?" "No; Fay says if the dog comes out, he'll ride right over him. You can't aim a pistol very steadily when you are riding full gallop on horseback." "I suppose not," said I. "I never tried it. But after we've left the horse in the pasture, how are we to get back past the dog?" "If Fay once rides over that dog, on that horse," said Ned, in a tone of solemn confidence, "there won't be much bite left in him when we come back." So we said good-night, and went to bed to dream of morning canters through lovely scenery, dotted with stone breweries, and of riding triumphantly into pasture over the bodies of ferocious dogs. A more beautiful morning never dawned, and we boys were up not much later than the sun. The first thing to do was to untie the horse; and as he had managed to get his leg over the halter-rope, this was no easy task. Before we had accomplished it, Ned suggested that it would be better not to untie him till after we had put on the saddle; which suggestion Phaeton adopted. The saddle was pretty heavy, but we found no great difficulty in landing it on the animal's back. The trouble was, to dispose of a long strap with a loop at the end, which evidently was intended to go around the horse's tail, to keep the saddle from sliding forward upon his neck. None of us liked to try the experiment of standing behind the animal to adjust that loop. "He looks to me like a very kicky horse," said Ned; "and I wouldn't like to see any of us laid up before the Fourth of July." Phaeton thought of a good plan. Accordingly, with great labor, Ned and I assisted him to get astride the animal, with his face toward the tail, and he cautiously worked his way along the back of the now suspicious beast. But the problem was not yet solved: if he should go far enough to lift the tail and pass the strap around it, he would slide off and be kicked. Ned came to the rescue with another idea. He got a stout string, and, standing beside the animal till it happened to switch its tail around that side, caught it, and tied the string tightly to the end. Then getting to a safe distance, he proposed to pull the string and lift the tail for his brother to pass the crupper under. But as soon as he began to pull, the horse began to kick; and not only to kick, but to rear, bumping Phaeton's head against the roof of the low shed, so that he was obliged to lie flat and hang on tight. While this was going on, their Uncle Jacob appeared, and asked what they were doing. "Putting on the saddle, sir," said I. "Yes, it looks like it," said he. "But I didn't intend to have you take the saddle." "Why not, uncle?" said Phaeton. "Because it is too heavy for you to bring back." "Oh, but we can leave it there," said Phaeton. "Hang it up in Kidd's barn." "No; that won't do," said his uncle. "Can't tell who might use it or abuse it. I'll strap on a blanket, and you can ride just as well on that." "But none of us have been used to riding that way," said Ned. Without replying, his uncle folded a blanket, laid it on the horse's back, and fastened it with a surcingle. He then bridled and led out the animal. "Who rides first?" said he. I was a little disappointed at this, for I had supposed that we should all ride at once. Still, I was comforted that he had not merely said, "Who rides?"--but "Who rides first?"--implying that we were all to ride in turn. Phaeton stepped forward, and his uncle lifted him upon the horse, and put the bridle-reins into his hand. "I think you won't need any whip," said he, as he turned and went into the house. The horse walked slowly down till he came to a full stop, with his breast against the front gate. "Open the gate, Ned," said Phaeton. "I can't do it, unless you back him," answered Ned. This was true, for the gate opened inward. "Back, Dobbin!" said Phaeton, in a stern voice of authority, giving a vigorous jerk upon the reins. But Dobbin didn't back an inch. "Why don't you back him?" said Ned, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. "Why don't you open that gate?" said Phaeton. By this time, three or four boys had gathered on the sidewalk, and were staring at our performance. "Shall I hit him?" said Ned, breaking a switch. "No," said Phaeton, more excited than before; "don't touch him! Back, Dobbin! Back!" But Dobbin seemed to be one of those heroic characters who take no step backward. "I know how to manage it," said Ned, as he ran to the wood-pile and selected a small round stick. Thrusting the end of this under the gate, he pried it up until he had lifted it from its hinges, when it fell over outward, coming down with a tremendous slam-bang upon the sidewalk. A great shiver ran through Dobbin, beginning at the tips of his ears, and ending at his shaggy fetlocks. Then, with a quick snort, he made a wild bound over the prostrate gate, and landed in the middle of the road. I don't know how Phaeton managed to keep his seat, but he did; and though the boys on the sidewalk set up a shout, Dobbin stood perfectly still in the road, waiting for the next earthquake, or falling gate, or something, to give him another start. "Come on, boys! Never mind the gate!" said Phaeton. When he said "boys," he only meant Ned and me. But the boys on the sidewalk promptly accepted the invitation and came on, too. "You walk on the nigh side," said Phaeton to me, "and let Ned take the off side." I was rather puzzled as to his exact meaning; and yet I was proud to think that the boy who represented what might now be considered our party on horseback, as distinguished from the strangers on foot crowding alongside; was able to use a few technical terms. Not wishing to display my ignorance, I loitered a little, to leave the choice of sides to Ned, confident that he would know which was nigh and which was off. He promptly placed himself on the left side, near enough to seize his brother by the left leg, if need be, and either hold him on or pull him off. I, of course, then took a similar position on the right side. "He told you to take the nigh side," shouted one of the boys to me. "He's all right," said Phaeton. "I'd advise you to hurry home before your breakfast gets cold. We'll run this horse without any more help." "Run him, will you?" answered the boy derisively. "That's what I'm waiting to see. He'll run so fast the grass'll grow under his feet." "If there was a hot breakfast an inch ahead of your nose," said another of the boys, addressing Phaeton, "it'd be stone cold before you got to it." Notwithstanding these sarcastic remarks, our horse was now perceptibly moving. He had begun to walk alone in the middle of the road, and--what at the time seemed to me very fortunate--he was going in the direction of the pasture. "Can't you make him go faster, Fay?" said Ned. "Not in this condition," said Phaeton. "You can't expect a horse without a saddle on him to make very good time." "What difference does that make?" said I. "You read the book, and you'll see," said Phaeton, in that tone of superior information which is common to people who have but just learned what they are talking about, and not learned it very well. "All the directions in the book are for horses with saddles on them. There isn't one place where it tells about a horse with just a blanket strapped over his back. If Uncle Jacob had let me take the saddle, and if I had a good pair of wheel-spurs, and a riding-whip, and a gag-bit in his mouth, you wouldn't see me here. By this time I should be just a little cloud of dust, away up there beyond the brewery. This animal shows marks of speed, and I'll bet you, if he was properly handled, he'd trot way down in the thirties." So much good horse-talk, right out of a standard book, rather awed me. But I ventured to suggest that I could cut him a switch from the hedge, which Dobbin could certainly be made to feel, though it might not be so elegant as a riding-whip. "Never mind it," said he. "It's no use; you can't expect much of any horse without saddle or spurs. And besides, what would become of you and Ned? You couldn't keep up." I suggested that he might go on a mile or two and then return to meet us, and so have all the more ride. But he answered: "I'm afraid Uncle Jacob wouldn't like that. He expects us to go right to the pasture, without delay. You just wait till I get a good saddle, with Mexican stirrups, and wheel-spurs." By this time, the boys who had been following us had dropped off. But at the next corner three or four others espied us, and gathered around. "Why don't you make him go?" said one who had a switch in his hand, with which at the same time he gave Dobbin a smart blow on the flank. A sort of shiver of surprise ran through Dobbin. Then he planted his fore feet firmly and evenly on the ground, as if he had been told to toe a mark, and threw out his hind ones, so that for an instant they formed a continuous straight line with his body. The boy who had struck him, standing almost behind him, narrowly escaped being sent home to his breakfast with no appetite at all. "Lick those fellows!" said Phaeton to Ned and me, as he leaned over Dobbin's neck and seized his mane with a desperate grip. "There are too many of them," said Ned. "Well, lick the curly-headed one, any way," said Phaeton, "if he doesn't know better than to hit a horse with a switch." Ned started for him, and the boy, diving through an open gate and dodging around a small barn, was last seen going over two or three back fences, with Ned all the while just one fence behind him. When they were out of sight, the remaining boys turned their attention again to Dobbin, and one of them threw a pebble, which hit him on the nose and made him perform very much as before, excepting that this time he planted his hind feet and threw his fore feet into the air. "Go for that fellow!" said Phaeton to me. He struck off in a direction opposite to that taken by the curly-headed boy, and I followed him. It was a pretty rough chase that he led me; but he seemed to know every step of the way, and when he ran into the culvert by which the Deep Hollow stream passed under the canal, I gave it up, and made my way back. That he should have run from me, seemed at first a mystery, for he had a far better pugilistic record than I. But he probably ran because he was conscious of being in the wrong, as he had no shadow of right to throw a pebble at the nose of another boy's horse. This proves the power of a just cause. Calculating that Phaeton must have passed on some distance by this time, I took a diagonal path across a field, and struck into the road near the stone brewery. Phaeton had not yet arrived, and I sat down in the shade of the building. Presently, Dobbin came up the road at a jog trot, with Phaeton wobbling around on his back, like a ball in a fountain. The cause of his speed was the clatter of an empty barrel-rack being driven along behind him. On arriving at the brewery, he turned and, in spite of Phaeton's frantic "Whoas!" and rein-jerking, went right through a low-arched door, scraping off his rider as he passed in. "So much for not having a gag-bit," said Phaeton, as he picked himself up. "I remember, Uncle Jacob said the horse had worked fifteen or sixteen years in a brewery. That was a long time ago, but it seems he hasn't forgotten it yet. And now I don't suppose we can ever get him out of there without a gag-bit." He had hardly said this, however, when one of the brewery men came leading out Dobbin. Then the inquiry was for Ned, who had not been seen since he went over the third fence after the curly-headed boy who didn't know any better than to hit a horse with a switch. Phaeton decided that we must wait for him. In about fifteen minutes, one of the great brewery wagons came up the road, and as it turned in at the gate, Ned dropped from the hind axle, where he had been catching a ride. After we had exchanged the stories of our adventures, Ned said it was now his turn to ride. "I wish you could, Ned," said Phaeton; "but I don't dare trust you on his back. He's too fiery and untamable. It's all _I_ can do to hold him." Ned grumbled somewhat; but with the help of the brewery man, Phaeton remounted, and we set off again for Kidd's pasture. Ned and I walked close beside the horse, each with the fingers of one hand between his body and the surcingle, that we might either hold him or be taken along with him if he should again prove fiery and untamable. When we got to the canal bridge, we found that a single plank was missing from the road-way. Nothing could induce Dobbin to step across that open space. All sorts of coaxing and argument were used, and even a few gentle digs from Phaeton's heels, but it was of no avail. At last he began to back, and Ned and I let go of the surcingle. Around he wheeled, and down the steep bank he went, like the picture of Putnam at Horseneck, landed on the tow-path, and immediately plunged into the water. A crowd of boys who were swimming under the bridge set up a shout, as he swam across with Phaeton on his back, and, climbing out on the other side, accompanied us along the road as far as the requirements of civilization would permit. Ned and I crossed by the bridge. "I only hope Uncle Jacob won't blame me if the horse takes cold," said Phaeton. "Can't we prevent it?" said Ned. "What can you do?" said Phaeton. "I think we ought to rub him off perfectly dry, at once," said Ned. "That's the way Mr. Gifford's groom does." "I guess that's so," said Phaeton. "You two go to that hay-stack over there, and get some good wisps to rub him down." Ned and I each brought a large armful of hay. "Now, see here, Fay," said Ned, "you've got to get off from that horse and help rub him. We're not going to do it all." "But how can I get on again?" said Phaeton. "I don't care how," said Ned. "You've had all the ride, and you must expect to do some of the work. If you don't, I'll let him die of quick consumption before I'll rub him." This vigorous declaration of independence had a good effect. Phaeton slid down, and tied Dobbin to the fence, and we all set to work and used up the entire supply of hay in rubbing him dry. After several unsuccessful attempts to mount him by bringing him close to the fence, Phaeton determined to lead him the rest of the way. "Anyhow, I suppose he ought not to have too violent exercise after such a soaking as that," said he. "We'll let him rest a little." As we were now beyond the limits of the town, the only spectators were individual boys and girls, who were generally swinging on farm-yard gates. Most of these, however, took interest enough to inquire why we didn't ride. We paid no attention to their suggestions, but walked quietly along,--Phaeton at the halter, and Ned and I at the sides,--as if guarding the sacred bull of Burmah. About a mile of this brought us to Mr. Kidd's. "What about riding over the dog?" said Ned. "We can't very well ride over him to-day, when we've neither saddle nor spurs," said Phaeton; "but you two might get some good stones, and be ready for him." Accordingly we two selected some good stones. Ned crowded one into each of his four pockets, and carried one in each hand. I contented myself with two in my hands. "There's no need of getting so many," said Phaeton. "For if you don't hit him the first time, he'll be on you before you can throw another." This was not very comforting; but we kept on, and Ned said it wouldn't do any harm to have plenty of ammunition. When we reached the house, there was no dog in sight, excepting a small shaggy one asleep on the front steps. "You hold Dobbin," said Phaeton to me, "while I go in and make arrangements." I think I held Dobbin about half a minute, at the end of which time he espied an open gate at the head of a long lane leading to the pasture, jerked the halter from my hand, and trotted off at surprising speed. When Phaeton came out of the house, of course I told him what had happened. "But it's just as well," said I, "for he has gone right down to the pasture." "No, it isn't just as well," said he; "we must get off the halter and blanket." "But what about the dog?" said Ned. "Oh, that one on the steps won't hurt anybody. The savage one is down in the wood-lot." At this moment a woman appeared at the side door of the farm-house, looked out at us, and understood the whole situation in a moment. "I suppose you hadn't watered your horse," said she, "and he's gone for the creek." Phaeton led the way to the pasture, and we followed. I shouldn't like to tell you how very long we chased Dobbin around that lot, trying to corner him. We tried swift running, and we tried slow approaches. I suggested salt. Ned pretended to fill his hat with oats, and walked up with coaxing words. But Dobbin knew the difference between a straw hat and a peck measure. "I wish I could remember what the book says about catching your horse," said Phaeton. "I wish you could," said I. "Why didn't you bring the book?" "I will next time," said he, as he started off in another desperate attempt to corner the horse between the creek and the fence. Nobody can tell how long this might have kept up, had not an immense black dog appeared, jumping over the fence from the wood-lot. Phaeton drew back and looked about for a stone. Ned began tugging at one of those in his pockets, but couldn't get it out. Instead of coming at us, the dog made straight for Dobbin, soon reached him, seized the halter in his teeth, and brought him to a full stop, where he held him till we came up. It only took a minute or two to remove the blanket and halter, and turn Dobbin loose, while a few pats on the head and words of praise made a fast friend of the dog. With these trappings over our arms, we turned our steps homeward. As we drew near the place where we had given Dobbin the rubbing down to keep him from taking cold, we saw a man looking over the fence at the wet wisps of hay in the road. "I wonder if that man will expect us to pay for the hay," said Phaeton. "It would be just like him," said Ned. "These farmers are an awful stingy set." "I haven't got any money with me," said Phaeton; "but I know a short cut home." Ned and I agreed that any shortening of the homeward journey would be desirable just now,--especially as we were very hungry. He led the way, which required him to go back to the first cross-road, and we followed. It seemed to me that the short cut home was about twice as long as the road by which we had come, but as I also was oppressed with a sense of having no money with me, I sympathized with Phaeton, and made no objection. When I found that the short cut led through the Deep Hollow culvert, I confess to some vague fears that the boy I had chased into the culvert might dam up the water while we were in there, or play some other unpleasant trick on us, and I was glad when we were well through it with only wet feet and shoulders spattered by the drippings from the arch. We got home at last, and Phaeton told his uncle that Dobbin was safe in the pasture, at the same time giving him to understand that we were--as we always say at the end of a composition--much pleased with our brisk morning canter. But the boys couldn't help talking about it, and gradually the family learned every incident of the story. When Mr. Rogers heard about the hay, he sent Phaeton with some money to pay for it, but the stingy farmer said it was no matter, and wouldn't take any pay. But he asked Phaeton where we were going, and told him he had a pasture that was just as good as Kidd's, and nearer the town. CHAPTER II. RAPID TRANSIT. If Phaeton Rogers was not an immediate success as a rider of horses, he certainly did what seemed some wonderful things in the way of inventing conveyances for himself and other people to ride. One day, not long after our adventures with Dobbin, Ned and I found him sitting under the great plane-tree in the front yard, working with a knife at some small pieces of wood, which he put together, making a frame like this: [Illustration: RAPID TRANSIT BY CABLE.] "What are you making, Fay?" said Ned. "An invention," said Phaeton, without looking up from his work. "What sort of invention? A new invention?" "It would have to be new or it wouldn't be an invention at all." "But what is it for?" "For the benefit of mankind, like all great inventions." "It seems to me that some of the best have been for the benefit of boykind," said Ned. "But what is the use of trying to be too smart? Let us know what it is. We're not likely to steal it, as Lem Woodruff thinks the patent-lawyer stole his idea for a double-acting washboard." Phaeton was silent, and worked away. Ned and I walked out at the gate and turned into the street, intending to go swimming. We had not gone far when Phaeton called "Ned!" and we turned back. "Ned," said he, "don't you want to lend me the ten dollars that Aunt Mercy gave you last week?" Their Aunt Mercy was an unmarried lady with considerable property, who was particularly good to Ned. When Phaeton was a baby she wanted to name him after the man who was to have been her husband, but who was drowned at sea. Mrs. Rogers would not consent, but insisted upon naming the boy Fayette, and Aunt Mercy had never liked him, and would never give him anything, or believe that he could do anything good or creditable. She was a little deaf, and if it was told her that Phaeton had taken a prize at school, she pretended not to hear; but whenever Ned got one she had no trouble at all in hearing about it, and she always gave him at least a dollar or two on such occasions. For when Ned was born she was allowed to do what she had wanted to do with Fayette, and named him Edmund Burton, after her long-lost lover. Later, she impressed it upon him that he was never to write his name E. B. Rogers, nor Edmund B. Rogers, but always Edmund Burton Rogers, if he wanted to please her, and be remembered in her will. She never called him anything but Edmund Burton. Whereas, she pretended not to remember Fayette's name at all, and would twist it in all sorts of ways, calling him Layit and Brayit, and Fater and Faylen, and once she called him Frenchman-what's-his-name, which was as near as she ever came to getting it right. "Why should I lend you my ten dollars?" said Ned. "For the information you kindly gave us about your invention?" "Oh, as to that," said Phaeton, "I've no objection to telling you two about it, now that I have thought it all out. I did not care to tell you before, because I was studying on it." "All right; go ahead," said Ned, as we seated ourselves on the grass, and Phaeton began. "It is called the Underground Railway. You see, there are some places--like the city of New York, for instance--where the buildings are so close together, and land is worth so much, that they can't build railroads enough to carry all the people back and forth. And so they have been trying, in all sorts of ways, to get up something that will do it--something different from a common railroad." "Balloons would be the thing," said Ned. "No; balloons won't do," said Phaeton. "You can't make them 'light where you want them to. I've thought of a good many ways, but there was some fault in all of them but this last one." "Tell us about the others first," said Ned. "I'll show you _one_ of them," said Phaeton, and he drew from his pocket a small sheet of paper, which he unfolded. [Illustration: RAPID TRANSIT BY CAR.] "This," said he, "represents the city of New York. _A_ is some place far up-town where people live; _B_ is the Battery, which is down-town where they do the business. I suppose you both know what a mortar is?" "A cannon as big around as it is long," said Ned. "And shoots bomb-shells," said I. "That's it," said Phaeton. "Now here, you see, is a big mortar up-town; only, instead of shooting a bomb-shell, it shoots a car. This car has no wheels, and has a big knob of India-rubber on the end for a buffer. When you get it full of people, you lock it up tight and touch off the mortar. This dotted mark represents what is called the line of flight. You see, it comes down into another sort of mortar, which has a big coiled spring inside, to stop it easy and prevent it from smashing. Then the depot-master puts up a long step-ladder and lets the people out." Ned said he should like to be the one to touch off the mortar. "And why wasn't that a good plan?" said I. "There are some serious objections to it," said Phaeton, in a knowing way. "For instance, you can't aim such a thing very true when the wind is blowing hard, and people might not like to ride in it on a windy day. Besides, some people have a very strong prejudice, you know, against any sort of fire-arms." "There wouldn't be much chance for a boy to catch a ride on it," said Ned, as if that were the most serious objection of all. "But tell us about the real invention." "The real invention," said Phaeton, "is this," and he took up the little frame we had seen him making. Taking an India-rubber string from his pocket, he stretched it from one of the little posts to the other, and fastened it. "Now," said he, "suppose there was a fly that lived up at this end, and had his office down at that end. He gets his breakfast, and takes his seat right here," and he laid his finger on the string, near one of the posts. "I call out, 'All aboard!' and then----" Here Phaeton, who had his knife in his hand, cut the string in two behind the imaginary fly. "Where is the fly now?" said he. "At his office doing business--" "I don't understand," said Ned. "I've only half explained it," said Phaeton. "Now, you see, it's easy enough to make a tunnel under-ground and run cars through. But a tunnel always gets full of smoke when a train goes through, which is very disagreeable, and if you send a train every fifteen minutes, all the passengers would choke. So, you see, there must be something instead of an engine and a train of cars. I propose to dig a good tunnel wherever the road wants to go, and make it as long as you please. Right through the centre I pass an India-rubber cable as large as a man's leg, and stretch it tight and fasten it to great posts at each end. All the men and boys who want to go sit on at one end, as if on horseback. When everything is ready, the train-despatcher takes a sharp axe, and with one blow clips the cable in two behind them, and zip they go to the other end before you can say Jack Robinson." Ned said he should like to be train-despatcher. "They'd all have to hang on like time," said I. "Of course they would," said Phaeton; "but there are little straps for them to take hold by." "And would there be a tub at the other end," said Ned "to catch the passengers that were broken to pieces against the end wall?" "Oh, pshaw!" said Phaeton. "Don't you suppose I have provided for that?" The fact was, Phaeton had spent more study on the question of landing his passengers safely than on any other part of his invention. It was not the first instance since the days of the hand-mill that made the sea salt, in which it had been found easy to set a thing going, but difficult to stop it. "There are several ways," said he, continuing his explanation, "to let the passengers off safely. I haven't decided yet what I'll adopt. One way is, to have a sort of brake to squeeze down on the cable and make it stop gradually. I don't exactly like that, because it would wear out the cable, and these cables are going to cost a great deal of money. Another way is, to throw them against a big, soft mattress, like pins in a bowling-alley. But even that would hurt a little, I guess, no matter how soft you made the mattress. The best way is, to have it drop them in a tank of water." "What! and get all wet?" said Ned. "Don't be in a hurry," said Phaeton. "Each one would wear an India-rubber water-proof garment (a sort of over-dress), covering him all over and fastened up tight. Of course, these would be provided by the company." "But wouldn't it use up a cable every time you cut it?" said Ned. "Not at all; it could be stretched again by hitching a team of horses to the end and drawing it back, and then we should solder it together with melted India-rubber. Probably a dozen teams would be at work at night stretching cables for use next day. You see, we should have as many cables as the business of the road required." I have never known whether Phaeton was sincere in all this, or whether he was simply fooling Ned and me. I have since suspected that he had a purpose which did not appear at the time. At any rate, we took it all in and believed it all, and looked upon him as one of the world's great inventors. "And what do you want the ten dollars for?" said Ned. "Well, you know nothing can be done without more or less money," said Phaeton. "The first thing is, to get up a model to send to the Patent-Office, and get a patent on it." "What's that?" said Ned. "What's what?" "A model." "A model," said Phaeton, "is a little one, with tunnel and all complete, to show how it works." "But a tunnel," said Ned, "is a hole in the ground. You can't send a hole in the ground to the Patent-Office, no matter how small you make it." "Oh, pshaw! Don't you understand? There would be a little wooden tube or shell, painted red, to represent the brick-work that the real tunnel would be arched in with." "Well, what then?" "I suppose it would cost about ten dollars to get up a model. If it's going to the Patent-Office it doesn't want to be botched up with a pocket-knife." "Of course not," said Ned. "But the model will be only a beginning. It will take a great deal more money than that to build the real thing." "Now you talk business," said Phaeton. "And I'm ready to talk with you. I've thought it all out. I got an idea from the way that Father says Mr. Drake manages to build so many houses." "Let's hear about it." "There are two ways to get the thing into operation. One is, to try it first in this town. You know we boys could dig the tunnel ourselves, and it wouldn't cost anything." "Yes, I suppose so--if enough boys would take hold." "Then we could give a mortgage on the tunnel, and so raise money to buy the cable, and there you are." "That's all very fine," said Ned; "but they foreclose mortgages. And if there was a mortgage on our tunnel, and they foreclosed it while we were in there, what would become of us? How should we ever get out?" Phaeton laughed. "I'll tell you how we'll fix it," said he. "We'll have a secret shaft leading out of the tunnel, and not let the man we give the mortgage to know anything about it." Ned didn't exactly know whether he was being quizzed or not. "What's the other way of getting the thing into operation?" said he. "The other way," said Phaeton, "is to go to New York and see Uncle Silas, and have him get up a company to start it there." "I think I like that way best," said Ned. "But, to tell you the truth, I had made arrangements to do something else with that ten dollars." Phaeton looked disappointed. "Then why didn't you say so in the first place?" said he, as he put his things into his pocket and turned to walk away. "Don't get mad, Fay," said Ned. "Perhaps we can get another ten." "Where can we get it?" "Of Aunt Mercy." "You might, but I can't." "Well, I'll try to get it for you, if you'll let me take your machine." "All right," said Phaeton. "When will you go?" "I might as well go this evening as any time," said Ned. So it was agreed that he should visit his Aunt Mercy that evening, and see if she would advance the money for a model. I was to go with him, but Phaeton was to be kept entirely in the background. "Do you suppose Fay can really make anything out of this machine?" said Ned to me, as we were on the way to his Aunt Mercy's. "I should think he might," said I. "For he is certainly a genius, and he seems to have great faith in it." "At any rate, we might as well get fifteen dollars while we are about it," said Ned. "I suppose we might," said I. CHAPTER III. AUNT MERCY. "Good evening, Aunty." "Good evening, Edmund Burton." Aunt Mercy was sipping a cup of tea, and reading the evening paper. "What's the news, Aunty?" "Another railroad accident, of course." "Nobody hurt, I hope?" "Yes; a great many. I wonder that anybody's foolhardy enough to ride on the railroads." "How did it happen?" said Ned, beginning to think it was a poor time to get money for a railroad invention. "Train ran off the track," said Aunt Mercy, "and ran right down an embankment. Seems to me they always do. I don't see why they have so many embankments." "They ought not to," said Ned. "If they only knew it, there's a way to make a railroad without any track, or any wheels to run off the track, or any embankment to run down if they did run off." "You don't say so, Edmund Burton! What sort of a railroad would that be?" "I happen to have the plan of one with me," said Ned. "Edmund Burton! What _do_ you mean?" "I mean this," said Ned, pulling from his pocket the little frame with a rubber string stretched on it. "It's a new invention; hasn't been patented yet." "Edmund Burton!" was all his aunt could say. "I'll explain it to you, Aunty," said Ned, as he picked up the newspaper which she had dropped, and rolled it into a tube. "This," said he, "represents a tunnel, a big round hole, you know, as big as this room, bored along in the ground. It goes right through rocks and everything, and is perfectly straight. No dangerous curves. And this"--showing the frame and then passing it into the paper tube--"represents an India-rubber cable as large as a stove-pipe. It is stretched out as far as possible, and fastened tight to posts at the ends." "Edmund Burton!" "Now, Aunty, we'll call this end Albany, and this end Buffalo." "Edmund Burton!" "All the men and boys in Albany that want to go to Buffalo could come down to the depot, and get on the cable right there, sitting just as if they were on horseback, and there will be nice little straps for them to hold on by." "Edmund Burton!" "When everybody's ready, the train-despatcher just picks up a sharp axe, and with one blow cuts the cable in two, right here, and zip! the passengers find themselves in Buffalo. No boiler to burst, no track to get off from, no embankment to plunge down, no wheels to get out of order." "Edmund Burton, you _are_ a genius! But ladies can't ride that way." "Of course not," said Ned, catching an idea. "We have a car for the ladies. This"--and he picked up a spool of thread and a lead pencil, and passed the pencil through the spool--"represents it. The pencil represents the cable, and the spool represents the car, which is fastened tight on the cable. When the ladies are all in, it is locked up, and then the cable is cut behind it." "Edmund Burton!" "And the great advantage of it is, that the car is perfectly round, and so whichever way it might happen to turn, it would always be right side up, for every side is the right side!" "Edmund Burton, you _are_ a genius!" "But you mustn't tell anybody about it, Aunty, for it hasn't been patented yet." "Why don't you patent it, Edmund Burton?" "We think of doing so, Aunty, but it will cost more money than we have just now. The first thing is to get up a model." "What's that, Edmund Burton?" "A little one, with tunnel and everything complete, to show how it works. That has to go to the Patent-Office and be put in a glass case." "And how much will it cost to make a muddle, Edmund Burton?" "Fay says he thinks one _could_ be made for ten dollars; but I suppose more money would build a better one." "Your brother knows nothing about it, Edmund Burton. _He_ would get up a miserable cheap muddle, and disgrace the family. Don't let him have anything to do with it. Jane!"--calling to the servant--"bring me my pocket-book from the right-hand corner of my top bureau drawer." Jane brought it. "How much will it take for a good muddle, Edmund Burton?" said his Aunt Mercy, as she opened her pocket-book. "I should think fifteen dollars ought to be a great plenty," said Ned, and she handed him a crisp new ten-dollar bill and a five. "Thank you, Aunty." "You're welcome, child. Always come to me when you want money to make a muddle. But mind what I tell you, Edmund Burton. Don't let that numskull brother of yours have anything to do with it, and be sure you get up a handsome muddle that will do credit to the family." "Yes, Aunty. Good-night!" "Good-night! But come and kiss me before you go, Edmund Burton." * * * * * "Don't you think," said Ned, as we were walking home, "before Fay goes any further with this invention, and spends money on it, he'd better talk with somebody who knows more about such things than we do?" I didn't quite know whether Ned said this because he was really anxious about the fate of the invention, or because he did not like to part with the money, now that he actually had it. Some people are always ready to say that they would lend money to a friend, if they had it; but when they feel it in their hands, they are not in such a hurry to let it go out. However, I thought this was a good idea, whatever might be Ned's reason for suggesting it; so I said, "Certainly, he ought! Who do you think would be the best person for him to talk with?" "I don't know anybody better than Jack-in-the-Box," said Ned. "Of course he knows all about railroads." "Of course he does," said I, "and he'll be glad to help us. Jack-in-the-Box is the very one!" CHAPTER IV. JACK-IN-THE-BOX. The box was a red box, about five feet square and eight feet high, with a pointed top. Jack was about five feet nine inches high, with a brown beard and mustache and dark hazel eyes, and might have been twenty-six years old, possibly older. When he was in the box, he wore a blue blouse and dark trousers and a small cloth cap. The only time I ever saw him away from the box was on Sundays, when he always came to the Presbyterian Church, and sat in pew No. 79. One of the great pillars that supported the gallery was planted in this pew, and spoiled nearly the whole of it; but there was a comfortable seat for one at the outer end, and Jack had that seat. The box had two small square windows on opposite sides. On another side was a door, with 248 over it. The fourth side was covered in summer with morning-glory vines, planted by Jack, and trained to run up on strings. A stove-pipe about as large as your arm stuck out at the top. When Jack looked out at one of his windows, he looked up the railroad; when he looked out at the other, he looked down the railroad; when he stepped out of his door, he stood beside the track, and on those occasions he generally had in his hand either a red flag or a red lantern. Close beside the box rose a tall, heavy pole, with a cross-piece on the top and short iron rods stuck through it at intervals all the way up. A rope passed over pulleys in the ends of the cross-piece, and Jack used to hoist sometimes three white balls, sometimes two red balls, at night tying on white or red lanterns below the balls. To us boys, Jack was a delightful character, in an enviable situation, but to older people he was a mystery. I remember one day I was walking with Father, when Mr. Briggs joined us, and as we came in sight of the box, Jack was rolling up his flag, a train having just gone by. "What do you make of that young man?" said Mr. Briggs. "I don't know what to make of him," said Father. "He is evidently not the sort of man they generally have in those positions. You can tell by his speech and manner, and his whole appearance, that he is an educated man and a gentleman." "Oh, yes," said Mr. Briggs. "If you peep in at the window, you will see a shelf full of books. He seems to have taken this way to make a hermit of himself--not a bad way, either, in these modern times, when there are no uninhabited wilds to retire to, and when a little money income is absolutely necessary to existence." "I should like to know his history," said Father. "Either he has committed some crime--forgery, perhaps--and escaped," said Mr. Briggs, "or he has quarrelled with his family, or in some way been disappointed." "I don't think it's for any crime," said Father; "his appearance forbids that." "Still, you can't always tell," said Mr. Briggs. "I tried to make his acquaintance once, but did not succeed. I am told he repels all advances. Even the Presbyterian minister, whose church he attends, can't get at him." "I understand he likes the boys, and makes their acquaintance," said Father. We had now arrived at our gate, and Mr. Briggs said good evening, and passed on. It was true that Jack-in-the-Box was partial to boys; in fact, nobody else could make his acquaintance. He liked to have us come and talk with him, but never wanted more than two or three to come at a time. Perhaps this was on account of the size of the box. We used to consult him on all sorts of occasions, and got a great many shrewd hints and useful bits of information from him. The inside of the box was a romance to me. I never saw so many things in so small a space. In one corner was a stove about as large as a coffee-pot, and beside it a sheet-iron coal-box, not much larger. In another corner stood the red flag, when it was furled, and a hatchet. Behind the door, hung flat on the wall, was a large coil of rope. Overhead, on one side, was a shelf, nearly filled with tools and trinkets. On the opposite side--lower, but still over the window--was another shelf, filled with books. I took a special interest in this shelf, and studied the backs of the books so often, that I think I can give the title of every one, in their order. They were, beginning at the left hand, a Bible, "Essays of Elia," "Henry Esmond," "Life of Columbus," "Twice-told Tales," "Anatomy of Melancholy," "Modern Painters," "The Shadows of the Clouds," "The Middle Ages," "Undine and Sintram," "Tales of the Great St. Bernard," "Sordello," "Divina Commedia," "Sophoclis Tragoediæ," "Demosthenis Orationes," "Platonis Dialogi," "Q. Horatii Flacci Opera," "Robinson Crusoe," "Byron's Poems," and Shakespeare. I was so curious about them, that I copied off all the hard ones on a card, and, when I went home, tried to find out what they were. Under the book-shelf, at one side of the window, fastened to the wall, was a little alarm-clock. Jack knew exactly what time every train would come along. As soon as one had passed, and he had rolled up his flag, he used to set the alarm so that it would go off two minutes before the next train was due. Then he could sit down with his book, and be sure of not forgetting his duty. Jack generally sat in a sort of easy chair with one arm to it, on which a board was fastened in such a way as to make a little writing-desk. The space under the seat of the chair was boxed, with a little door on one side, and in there he kept his stationery. Hardly a day passed that Jack did not have boy visitors. There were only two things about him that seemed singular to me. We could never find out his real name. He told us to call him simply Jack; whereupon Isaac Holman said the full name must be Jack-in-the-Box, and after that we always called him by the full name. The other queer thing was, that he was never known to read a newspaper. The boys sometimes brought one to him, but he always said he didn't care about it, and would not open it. Father and Mr. Briggs appeared to think it very strange that he should live in that box and attend to the flags and signals. To me it seemed the most delightful life imaginable, and Jack-in-the-Box was one of my heroes. I often thought that if I could choose my own station in life, my choice would be a flag-station on the railroad. Phaeton adopted Ned's suggestion as to consulting Jack-in-the-Box about his invention, and we three went together to see him. When we got there, the door of the box stood wide open; everything seemed to be in its place, but Jack had disappeared. "Probably gone up the road, to flag an extra train," said Phaeton. "No, he hasn't, for there's his flag in its place in the corner." "He can't have been murdered," said Ned, "or they would have robbed the box. Must be suicide. Perhaps we'd better take charge of his things." "I wouldn't be in a hurry about that," said Phaeton. "Or he may have been run over by a train that he didn't see," said Ned, getting excited, and examining the rails in search of blood-marks. "If he was trying to remember all that funny-looking Greek stuff in some of those books, I shouldn't think he would notice a train, or anything else. And we'll all have to sit on the coroner's jury. Poor Jack! I don't believe we can say the train was to blame, or make it pay damages. I think I should like to sit near the feet; for he had handsome feet and only wore number six boots. He was an awful good fellow, too. But that'll take us out of school one day, anyway." "So you think there is no great loss without some small gain," said Phaeton. "I didn't say so!" said Ned, a little offended at this plain interpretation of his last sentence. "I feel as badly as anybody about Jack's death. But, at any rate, they'll have to do something with his property. I suppose, if he had no relations--and I never heard of any--they'll give it to his best friends. I think I should like the alarm-clock, and the chair, and perhaps a few of the tools. What will you take?" turning to me. "I think I should like to take his place, if anything," said I. Ned took a look at the box. "I tell you what it is," said he, "the prettiest design for a monument over Jack's grave would be a box just like that--all cut in marble, of course--with Jack's name and age on the door, and beside it a signal-pole struck by lightning and broken off in the middle, or something of that sort." A slight noise, or else the allusion to the signal-pole, caused us to look up. There was Jack coming down, with an oil-can in his hand! He had been at the top oiling the pulleys, and had probably heard every word we said, for there was a quiet smile all over his face. "Good morning, Jack," said Phaeton, who seldom lost his presence of mind. "Good morning, boys. I'm glad to see you," said Jack. As soon as Ned and I could recover from our abashment, we also said good morning. "Is there anything I can do for you to-day?" said Jack, as he set away the oil-can, observing that Phaeton had the little frame and a small drawing in his hand. "Yes, sir," said Phaeton. "I want to get your advice about a little invention that I've been making." "It's a new kind of railroad," said Ned; "and we thought you'd be the one to know all about railroads. Beats these common railroads all to nothing. Why, three months after ours is introduced, and the public understand it, they'll have to take up this track and sell it for old iron." [Illustration: THE BOYS CONSULT JACK-IN-THE-BOX.] Ned had thoroughly identified himself with the invention, and thought it was as much his as Phaeton's. "But then," he added thoughtfully, "that would spoil your business, Jack. And we should be sorry to do that." Jack smiled, and said it didn't matter; he wouldn't wish to let his private interests obstruct the march of improvement. Phaeton explained the invention to Jack, illustrating it with a rubber-string stretched on the frame, just as he had explained it to us. "I see," said Jack. "Quite a novel idea." "We haven't made up our minds," said Ned, "what sort of depot we'll have. But it'll be either a big tank full of water, or an awful soft mattress." "How is that?" said Jack. "Why, you see," said Ned, "this railroad of ours is going to go like lightning. There's no trouble about its going." "None whatever," said Jack. "But it's going to stop rather sudden." "How so?" said Jack. "I mean the trains," said Ned. "That is, the cables. They're going to fetch up with a bang at the other end. At least, they would, if we hadn't thought of a way to prevent it. Because it wouldn't do to break the heads of all the passengers every time." "No," said Jack. "That would be too much." "Too much," said Ned. "And so you see the depot must be some sort of contrivance to let 'em off easy." "Of course," said Jack. "And the first thing anybody thinks of is a bowling-alley, and the pins flying every which way." "Quite naturally," said Jack. "And that makes you think of a soft mattress to stop them. But Fay thinks it would be better, on some accounts, to drop them into a big tank of water." "I suppose in winter you would have the water warmed?" said Jack. "Of course we should; though we hadn't thought of it before," said Ned. "And that would give the passengers a ride and a bath, all for the price of one ticket," said Jack. "Certainly; and you see that would be favorable to the poor," said Ned, willing to indulge in the joke. "Exactly; a great boon to mankind," said Jack. "And I think it would not only make them cleaner, but more religious." "How so?" said Ned. "Well, I think every passenger would feel like saying his prayers, as the train, or cable, drew near the getting-off station." Phaeton and I burst out laughing. "I'm afraid you're only making fun of our invention," said Ned. "Not I," said Jack. "I like to encourage the inventive faculty in boys." "Well, then, tell us honestly," said Ned,--"where would you introduce it first? Would you go to New York, and build it under Broadway at once? Or would you go slow, and try it first in this town, on a rather small scale?" "I think I'd go slow," said Jack. "And where would be the best place to build it?" "You'll have to survey the town," said Jack, "and find out where there is the most travel." "We thought we'd dig the tunnel ourselves," said Ned, "and then give a mortgage on the tunnel, and raise the money to buy the cable." "I see you have the true business idea," said Jack. "In that case, I think you'd better build it wherever you find the softest dirt." "That's worth thinking about," said Ned. "And now, Jack, I'll tell you what 'tis. We don't want to throw you out of employment; and when our road's running, and this one stops, you shall have a good situation on ours. There won't be any signal stations, but you may be the train-despatcher--the one that chops off the cable, you know." "Thank you," said Jack. "I'll think about it." "It will probably be good pay," said Ned, "and it's certain to be lots of fun." "Oh, there can be no doubt whatever about that," said Jack, drily. "Good morning!" "Good morning!" "Jack-in-the-Box takes a deep interest in our invention," said Ned, in a low, confidential tone, as we walked away. "I can see that he thinks it's going to be a great success." Phaeton burst out laughing. "What are you laughing about?" said Ned. "I am laughing to think how Jack-in-the-Box fooled you to the top of your bent." "What do you mean?" "I mean that the thing won't do at all; and he saw it wouldn't, as soon as he looked at it; but he thought he wouldn't say so. He just liked to hear you talk." "Do you think so?" said Ned to me. "I'm afraid it's true," said I. "Well," said Ned, growing a little red in the face, "I don't care. It's no invention of mine, anyway. It was all your idea, Fay." "Oh, was it?" said Phaeton. "When I heard you talk to Jack-in-the-Box about it, I began to think it was all yours." "If I was going to make an invention," said Ned, "I'd make one that would work--something practical." "All right," said Phaeton; "you're at liberty to do so if you wish. I should be glad if you would." "Well, I will," said Ned. "I'll make one to beat yours all hollow." * * * * * Three or four days afterward, Ned came to me with a look on his face that showed he had something important in his mind. "Can you go?" said he, almost in a whisper. "That depends on where you're going," said I. "To see Jack-in-the-Box," said he. "Yes, I always like to go to the Box," said I. "But I've got to split these kindlings first." "Oh, never mind your kindlings! You can split those any time. I've got a sure thing now; and if Jack says it's all right, I'll let you go partnership." Of course, this was more important than any paltry consideration of lighting the fires next morning; so I threw down the hatchet, and we started. "I think we'd better go by the postern," said I. Postern was a word we had found frequently used in "The Haunted Castle;" and we had looked out its meaning in the dictionary. Whenever we thought it desirable to get away from the house without being seen,--as, for instance, when we were leaving kindlings unsplit,--we climbed over the back fence, and called it "going by the postern." "All right," said Ned, for in these things he was a wise boy, and a word to him was sufficient. "What is it?" said I, as soon as we were fairly out of sight of the house. "Tell me all about it." "Wait till we get to Jack's," said he. "Has your Aunt Mercy given you money to make a muddle of it?" said I. "That troubles me a little--that fifteen dollars," said Ned. "You see, we got it honestly; we thought Fay's invention was going to be a great thing, and we must have money to start. But now, if Aunt Mercy knew it was a failure, it would look to her very much as if we had swindled her." "Not if you gave her back the money," said I. "But I don't exactly like to do that," said Ned. "It's always a good thing to have a little money. And, besides, she'd lose faith in me, and think I couldn't invent anything. And next time, when we had really made a good thing, she'd think it was only another failure, and wouldn't furnish the money. That's one reason why I made this invention that I have in my pocket now. We can use the money on this, and tell Aunt Mercy we changed off from the Underground Railroad to a better thing." "How do you do to-day, Jack?" "Pretty well, thank you! How are you? Come in, boys; I'm glad to see you." "Would you be willing to look at another invention for us?" "Certainly; with the greatest pleasure." "I hope it will turn out to be better than the other--that is, more practical," said Ned. "But you see, Jack, that was our first invention, and I suppose we can only improve by practice." "That is about the only way," said Jack. "What is your second invention?" Ned drew a bit of paper from his pocket. "The other day," said he, "I heard Father reading a piece in the newspaper about a church that was struck by lightning, although it had a lightning-rod. The reason was, that the rod was broken apart at one place, and nobody had noticed it, or if they had, they didn't take the trouble to fix it. People are always careless about those things. And so they lost their church. Father says there are a good many things that spoil lightning-rods. He says, if there's rust in the joints they won't work." "That's true," said Jack. "Well, then, all this set me to thinking whether I couldn't invent a lightning-rod that would be a sure thing. And here you have it," said Ned, as he unfolded his paper. Jack looked at it. [Illustration: NED'S INVENTION.] "I don't understand it," said he, "you'll have to explain." "Of course you don't," said Ned. "I will explain." Jack said he was all attention. "What does fire do to ice?" said Ned, taking on the tone of a school-master. "Melts it," said Jack. "Right," said Ned. "And when ice is melted, it becomes what?" "Water," said Jack. "Right again!" said Ned. "And water does what to fire?" "Puts it out," said Jack. "Exactly so," said Ned. "And there you have it--action and reaction. That's the principle." I think Ned borrowed his style of explanation not so much from the school-master as from a young man who appeared in the streets one day, selling a sort of stuff to clean the teeth, calling a crowd around him, and trying it on the teeth of one or two boys. "That's all true," said Jack; "but how do you apply it to lightning-rods?" "Here is a picture," said Ned, "of a house with a rod on it. The family think it's all right, and don't feel afraid when it thunders. But that rod may be broken somewhere, or may be rusted in the joints, and they not know it. What then? We simply fasten a large ball of ice--marked _I_ in the illustration--to the rod at _R_--freeze it on tight. You see it isn't likely there will be any break, or any rusty joint, between the point of the rod and the ball." "Not likely," said Jack. "But there may be one lower down." "There may be," said Jack; "though there couldn't be one higher down." Ned was too intent on his invention to notice this criticism on his expression. "We'll say a thunder-storm comes up," said he. "The lightning strikes this rod. What then? In an instant, in the flash of an eye, the lightning melts that ball of ice--it becomes water--in another instant that water puts out the lightning--and the family are safe!" "It will if there's enough of it," said Jack. "Oh, well," said Ned, "if there should happen to be a little lightning left over, that wasn't put out, why, you see, as lightning-rods are _generally_ in good order, it would probably be carried off in the usual manner, without doing any harm." Jack sat with the paper in his hand, and looked at it in silence, as if he were spell-bound. "What do you think of it?" said Ned. "I think it's a work of genius," said Jack. "I'm glad you think so," said Ned. "And yet," said Jack, "some things that exhibit great genius, don't work well in practice." "Certainly!" said Ned. "That was the way with Fay's Underground Railroad." Jack smiled, and nodded. "And now," continued Ned, "how would you go to work to introduce it? You wouldn't like to take it and introduce it to the public yourself, would you?--on shares, you know,--you take half of the profits, and we half." Jack said his business engagements wouldn't permit him to go into it at present. "Then we must manage it ourselves. Where would you advise us to put it first?" "On a tall hickory-tree in Burke's woods," said Jack. "Why so?" said Ned. "Because the great trouble's going to be with the lightning that's left over. You don't know what that may do." "I'm afraid the invention doesn't look practical to you," said Ned. Before Jack could answer, Isaac Holman appeared at the door of the box, with a Latin grammar under his arm. At that time of day, there was an interval of an hour and a half when no train passed, and Isaac had arranged to come and take of Jack a daily lesson in Latin. "I see it's time for your school to begin; we'll finish talking about this some other day," said Ned, as he hastily thrust the paper into his pocket. For he didn't want Isaac (nor anybody else, I guess) to know about it. "Don't hurry yourself; I can wait awhile," said Isaac. "To-morrow will do as well for us," said Ned. "_Totus dexter!_--all right!" said Isaac, as we left the box, and made room for him to enter. Isaac had been studying the language only a fortnight, but was fond of using Latin expressions in talking to the boys. Yet he was very considerate about it, and always gave an immediate translation, as in the sentence just quoted. As Ned and I walked away, I was the first to speak. "Ned, I have an idea! That ball of ice would only stay on in winter." "I suppose so," said Ned, a little gloomily. "And nearly all the thunder-storms are in summer," said I. "I'm afraid they are," said Ned. "And this invention isn't worth a cent. It's not any better than Fay's." And he tore up the paper, and threw the pieces into the gutter. "Then what will you do with the fifteen dollars?" said I, after another pause. "That's a thing we must think about," said he. "But here comes Jimmy the Rhymer. I wonder if he has anything new to-day." CHAPTER V. JIMMY THE RHYMER. James Redmond, the boys used to say, was small for his size and old for his age. He was not exactly humpbacked, but his shoulders came so nearly up to the level of his ears that he seemed so; and he was not exactly an invalid, though we never counted on him in any of the games or enterprises that required strength or fleetness. I have no idea what his age was. He must have been some years older than I, and yet all the boys in my set treated him tenderly and patronizingly, as if he were a little fellow who needed their encouragement and protection. Jimmy used to make little ballads, generally taking for his subject some incident that had occurred among the boys of the neighborhood, and often sticking to the facts of the case--at the expense of rhyme and rhythm--with a literalness that made him valuable as a historian, whatever he was as a poet. He was called "Jimmy the Rhymer," and the polite thing to do, on meeting him, was to ask him if he had anything new to-day--meaning any new poem. If he had, he was always willing to read it, sometimes accompanying it with remarks in prose that were quite as entertaining as the ballad itself. "Hello, Jimmy!" "Hello, boys!" "Got anything new to-day?" "Not much." "That means that you have something." "Well, yes; a little one. But I don't think very much of it." This didn't satisfy us. Jimmy, like many greater artists, was a poor judge of his own productions. Some of his ballads of which he had been proudest were so long and dull that we had almost told him they were failures; but it would have required a very hard-hearted boy to say anything unpleasant to Jimmy. Others, which he thought little of, the boys would call for again and again. "Let us hear it, please," said Ned. "I'm afraid I've left it at home," said Jimmy, feeling in his pockets. "Oh, no; here it is." So we sat down on the horse-block in front of the Quaker meeting-house, and while Ned whittled the edge of the block--which had not been rounded off quite enough, by previous jack-knives, to suit his fancy--Jimmy read his newest ballad. "It is called 'The Unlucky Fishermen,'" said he; "and you will probably recognize some of the characters. "Joe Chase and Isaac Holman, They would a-fishing go; They rose at sunrise Friday morn, And called their dog Fido." "What!" said Ned, interrupting, "the little yellow cur that Joe bought of Clam Jimmy for a six-pence?" "Yes, that's the one." "But his name isn't Fido--it's Prince. Haven't you ever noticed that the smaller and snarlier and more worthless a dog is, the surer it is to be called Prince?" "Perhaps that's the way with princes," said Jimmy, who had more than once uttered the most extreme democratic sentiments, expressing contempt for all royalty, merely because it was royalty. "But I don't know,--I never saw one. At any rate, I didn't know the dog's name, and I had to call him something. I think you'll find that everything else is correctly stated." I ventured to suggest that it didn't make much difference whether the dog's name was right or wrong, in a poem. "Oh, yes, it does," said Jimmy. "I always try to have my poems true to life; and I shall change that, and make it Prince--that is, after I have inquired of Joe, and found out that the dog's name really is Prince. I am glad you spoke about it." Then he continued the reading. "In two small willow baskets-- One white, the other brown-- Their mothers put the dinners up Which they were to put down. "They'd dug their bait the night before,-- The worms were live and thick; Their bamboo poles were long and strong, Their hooks were Limerick." "My brother Fay says there isn't a Limerick hook in this whole town," said Ned. "You can buy plenty of them at Karl's--two for a cent," said Jimmy. "Oh, no, you can't," said Ned. "Fay says you can't get a Limerick hook this side of New York." "What is a Limerick hook?" said I, for I was not much of a fisherman. "Why, don't you know?" said Jimmy. "A hook that's made like a little file on the end where you tie the line, instead of a flat knob." "A real Limerick hook is one that's made in Limerick," said Ned. "Those you get in this town are made in Connecticut, and are only imitations." I began to suspect that Ned had been nettled at the failure of his lightning-rod invention, and was venting his spite on poor Jimmy's literary invention. "I can't see," said I, "that it makes any difference with the poem, whether they were real Limerick hooks, or only imitation. The poetry is just as good." "Oh, no, it isn't," said Jimmy; "and I'm glad to have my attention called to it. I'll inquire about that, and if I find they were not true Limericks, I'll change that line." Then the reading proceeded. "'Now let us make it doubly sure That nothing's left,' said Joe. And '_Totus dexter!_' Ike replied-- Which means 'All right!' you know. "These jolly boys set off at once When everything was found; Their fathers said, 'We wish good luck!' Their mothers, 'Don't get drowned!'" "Holman's father hasn't been at home for four months," said Ned. "He's gone to Missouri to see about an iron mine." "I admit," said Jimmy, "that there I drew a little on my imagination. I didn't know what they said, and so I put in what I thought they would be likely to say. But if Holman's father wasn't at home, of course he couldn't have said anything at all. However, I think you'll find that the rest of the poem is entirely true to nature. "When they unto the river came, Where they should cast the lead, The dew still glistened under foot, The robin sang o'erhead." "I doubt if any robin sings so late in the season as this," said Ned. "Still," said Jimmy, "if one did sing, it would certainly be overhead, and not on the ground. No robin ever sings when he's on the ground. You admit that?" "Oh, certainly," said Ned. "Then I think that line may stand as it is," said Jimmy. "All down the road and through the woods They had a lovely walk; The dog did frisk, and chase the birds, And they did laugh and talk." "He's been anything but a frisky dog when I've seen him," said Ned. "Perhaps so," said Jimmy; "but there are exceptions to all rules. "But here their luck all left them-- The case seemed very sad: For everything was good before-- Now everything was bad. "Their sinkers were not large enough, The current was so strong, And so they tied on pebble-stones, To help the thing along. "And bitterly they did regret They bought their lines at Karl's; For every time they hauled them out, They found them full of snarls." "Of course they did," said Ned. "There's not a thing in Karl's store that's not a cheat--all imitation." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Jimmy. "I thought you would see that the rest of the poem was true to nature. "When little fish got on the hooks, They soon flopped off again; When big ones bit, they gave a jerk, And snapped the line in twain." "Isaac told me," said Jimmy, interrupting himself, "that that thing happened every time with him, and every time but once with Joe." "He probably said that as an excuse for coming home with no fish," said Ned. "Oh, no,--Ike wouldn't lie about it," said Jimmy. "He's one of the most truthful boys I ever knew." "Everybody lies about fishing," said Ned. "It's considered the proper thing to do. That's what they mean by a fish-story." "But I saw the lines myself," said Jimmy. And then he hurried on with the reading. "The dog lay by the dinners, And was told to guard them well-- To let no stranger, man or beast, Come near, touch, taste, or smell. "But Fido--of course I mean Prince--fell asleep, and kicked The baskets in a dream; The contents tumbled o'er the bank, And floated down the stream. "And once a bass robbed Isaac's hook, Just as he tried to haul; Which made him nervous, and in haste He let the bait-box fall." "How could he know what kind of fish it was that robbed his hook?" said I. "I didn't think to ask," said Jimmy. "But, at any rate, he said it was a bass, and Isaac is generally pretty correct. "It fell between two rugged rocks, Where out of reach it lay; And when with sticks they fished it up, The worms had crawled away. "Now when the golden setting sun Was shining down the glen, They sadly turned their steps toward home, These luckless fishermen. "And when they came upon the road, All tired in foot and side, They said, 'Let's hide our poles away, And try to catch a ride.' "They caught upon an omnibus-- They did not stir or talk; But some one cried out, 'Whip behind!' And so they had to walk." "That must have been a Dublin boy," said Ned. "Nobody on our side of the river is mean enough to holler 'whip behind!'" "I think it was a Dublin boy," said Jimmy. "If I can find out for certain, I shall state it so in the poem. "They came up slowly from the gate, And Fido--that is to say, Prince--walked behind; Their parents sat about the door, Or on the grass reclined. "Their fathers said--at least Joe's father did--'It grieves us much That you no luck have found.' Their mothers said, 'Our precious boys, We're glad you are not drowned.'" "That's a good poem," said I, as we rose from the horse-block. "I like that." "Yes," said Ned; "it ought to be printed." "I'm glad to hear you say so," said Jimmy. "But I think I can improve it in a few spots, if I can get at the facts. At any rate, I shall try." Jimmy continued his walk up the street, while we sauntered toward home. "I think you were too severe in your criticisms on the poem," said I. "I'm afraid Jimmy felt hurt." "Do you think so?" said Ned. "Well, now, I didn't mean to be. I wouldn't hurt that boy's feelings for the world. I suppose I must have been a little cross on account of my lightning-rod. But I shouldn't have played it off on Jimmy, that's a fact." "I think he has great genius," said I, "and it ought to be encouraged." "Yes, it ought," said Ned. "I've often thought so, myself, and wished I could do something for him. Perhaps I can, now that I have capital. Father says nothing can be done without capital." "Jimmy's folks are very poor," said I. "That's so," said Ned. "I don't suppose his father ever had fifteen dollars at one time in his life. Do you think of any good way in which I could help him with a little capital?" "I don't know of any way, unless it is to print his poems. I should think if his poems could once be published, he might make a great deal of money out of them, and be able to support himself, and perhaps help his mother a little." "That's so," said Ned. "I'll publish his poems for him. Come over after supper, and we'll talk it up." CHAPTER VI. THE PRICE OF POETRY. When I went over in the evening, I found that Ned had gone to Jimmy's house, and obtained thirteen of his poems in manuscript, and was now carefully looking them over, correcting what he considered errors. "I tell you what 'tis," said he, "Jimmy's an awful good poet, but he needs somebody to look out for his facts." "Do you find many mistakes?" said I. "Yes; quite a few. Here, for instance, he calls it a mile from the Four Corners to Lyell street. I went with the surveyors when they measured it last summer, and it was just seven eighths of a mile and three rods over." "But you couldn't very well say 'seven eighths of a mile and three rods over' in poetry," said I. "Perhaps not," said Ned; "and yet it won't do to have that line stand as it is. It'll be severely criticised by everybody who knows the exact distance." I felt that Ned was wrong, but I could not tell how or why. In later years I have learned that older people than he confidently criticise what they don't understand, and put their own mechanical patches upon the artistic work of others. "Perhaps we'd better see what Fay thinks about it," said I. "He probably knows more about poetry than we do." "He's in the library, getting Father to help him on a hard sum," said Ned. "He'll be here in a minute." When Phaeton returned, we pointed out the difficulty to him. "That's all right," said he. "That's poetic license." "What is poetic license?" said I. "Poetic license," said Phaeton, "is a way that poets have of making things fit when they don't quite fit." "Like what?" said Ned. "Like this," said Phaeton; "this is as good an example as any. You see, he couldn't say 'seven eighths of a mile and three rods over,' because that would be too long." "That would be the exact distance," said Ned. "I mean it would make this line too long," said Phaeton; "and, besides, it has to rhyme with that other line, which ends with the word _style_." "And if that other line ended with _cheek_, would he have to call it a _league_ from the Four Corners to Lyell street?" said Ned. "I suppose so," said Phaeton, "though it wouldn't be a very good rhyme." "And is that considered all right?" "I believe it is." "Then you can't depend upon a single statement in any poem," said Ned. "Oh, yes, you can," said Phaeton--"a great many." "Mention one," said Ned. "'Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November,'" said Phaeton. "That's true," said Ned; "but it's only because the words happen to come so. At any rate, you've greatly lessened my respect for poetry, and I don't know whether I'd better publish them, after all." "These poems?--were you going to publish them?" said Phaeton. "Yes." "Why?" "To make a little money for Jimmy. You know his folks are very poor," said Ned. "The papers won't pay you anything for them," said Phaeton. "Alec Barnes's sister had a poem two columns long in the _Vindicator_ last week, and Alec told me she didn't get a cent for it." "But we're going to make a book of them," said Ned. "You can make money on a book, can't you?" "I believe you can," said Phaeton. "Wait a minute." He went to the library, and came back with three volumes of a cyclopædia, out of which, after looking through several articles, he got, at intervals, these bits of information: "Moore received three thousand guineas for 'Lalla Rookh.'" "How much is that?" said Ned. "Over fifteen thousand dollars," said Phaeton. "Whew!" said Ned. "Scott made a profit of ten thousand dollars on 'The Lady of the Lake.'" "Good gracious!" said Ned. "Byron received more than seventy-five thousand dollars for his poems." "Great Cæsar!" said Ned. "Tupper must have made thirty thousand dollars on his 'Proverbial Philosophy.'" "That's enough!" said Ned. "That's plenty! I begin to have great respect for poetry, in spite of the license. And I suppose that if the poets make all that money, the publishers make a little something, too." "They probably know how to look out for themselves," said Phaeton. "But who is going to publish this book for you?" "I'm going to publish it myself. You know we haven't used up the capital I got from Aunt Mercy," said Ned. "But you're not a publisher." "Nobody is a publisher until after he has published something," said Ned. "But that won't be capital enough to print a book," said Phaeton. "Printing costs like fury." "Then I shall have to get more from Aunt Mercy." "Yes, I suppose you can--she'd give you anything; but, the truth is, Ned, I--I had a little plan of my own about that." "About what?" "About the fifteen dollars--or a part of it. I don't think I should need all of it." "What is it? Another foolish invention?" "Yes, it is a sort of invention; but it is sure to go--sure to go." "Let's hear all about it," said Ned. "Will you lend me the money to try it?" "How much will it take?" "Six or eight dollars, I should think." "Yes; I'll lend you six dollars on it. Or, if it is really a good thing, I'll put in the six dollars as my share, and go partnership." "Well, then, it's a substitute for a balloon," said Phaeton. "Much cheaper, and safer, and better in every way." "How does it work?" said Ned. "It makes a horizontal ascension. I could tell you all about it; but I would rather wait a week, and then show you." "All right!" said Ned. "You can have the money, and we'll wait." "Thank you!" said Phaeton. "But now tell me how you are going to publish Jimmy's poems." "Why, just publish them, of course," said Ned. "And what do you understand by that?" "Take this copy to the printer, and tell him to print the books. When it's done, load them into big wagons, and drive around to the four book-stores and leave them. After a few days, call around and get the money, and divide with Jimmy. We wouldn't ask them to pay for them till they had a chance to look them over, and see how they liked them." "I don't believe that would work," said Phaeton. "Why not?" said Ned. "The booksellers might not take them." "Not take them!" said Ned. "They'd be only too glad to. Of course they would make a profit on them. I suppose the price would be--well, about half a dollar; and we should let them have them for--well, say for forty-seven cents apiece. Maybe if they took a large number, and paid cash down, they might have them for forty-five." Phaeton laughed. "They don't do business for any such small profits as that," said he. "I've heard Father tell of a man," said Ned, "that made his fortune when wheat rose three cents on a bushel. And who wouldn't rather have a volume of Jimmy's poems than a bushel of wheat? If nobody happened to buy the wheat for a year or two, it would spoil; but that volume of poems could stand on the shelf in the book-store for twenty years, and be just as good at the end of that time as the day it was put there." "All that sounds very well," said Phaeton; "but you'd better talk with some one that knows about it, before you rush into the enterprise." "I'll go and see Jack-in-the-Box, of course," said Ned. "He must know all about books. I never yet asked him anything that he didn't know all about." Ned could hardly wait for the night to pass away, and when the next day came, off we posted once more to see Jack-in-the-Box. When we got there, Ned plunged at once into the business, before we had fairly said good morning. "Jack," said he, "did you ever publish a book?" Jack blushed, and asked why he wanted to know. "I am thinking of publishing one," said Ned. "Indeed?" said Jack. "I didn't know that you had written one." "I haven't," said Ned. "Jimmy the Rhymer wrote it. But I talk of publishing it." "I see," said Jack. "I didn't understand you before." "I thought you would understand all about it," said Ned. "Your expression might have meant either one of two things," said Jack. "When a publisher prints a book and sells it, he of course is said to publish it; and when a person writes a book, and gets a publisher to publish it for him, he also is said to have published a book." "I see," said Ned. "And did you ever publish one?" "I never was a publisher," said Jack. "Still, you may know a good deal about it." "I know a little about it," said Jack, "and shall be glad to give you all the advice I can. Is this the manuscript?" Ned said it was, and handed him a roll which he had brought in his hand. "Ah, poetry, I see," said Jack, turning over the leaves. "Yes, first-rate poetry," said Ned. "A few licenses here and there; but that can't be helped, you know." "Of course not," said Jack. "We want to make as much money as we can," said Ned, "for Jimmy's folks are awful poor, and he needs it, and poetry's the stuff to make money." "Is it?" said Jack. "I'm glad to hear it." "There was Sir Walter Tupper," said Ned, "made thirty thousand dollars, clean cash, on a poem called 'The Lady and the Snake'--probably not half so good as these of Jimmy's. Who'd want to read about such a dreadful thing? And Mr. Barrons was paid seventy-five thousand dollars for his poem called 'The Little Rook,' whatever that is. And there was Lord Moore got three thousand guineas--that's fifteen thousand dollars, you know--for some sort of philosophy all turned into rhyme. I don't see how a philosophy could be in rhyme, though, for you know everything in philosophy has to be exact, and in poetry you have to take licenses. Suppose you came to the five mechanical powers, and the line before ended with _sticks_, what could you do? You'd have to say there were _six_ of them." Jack laughed heartily. "Yes, it would be ridiculous," continued Ned. "But that's Lord Moore's lookout. In these poems of Jimmy's, there isn't any trouble of that sort. They don't need to be exact. Suppose, for instance, one of them says it's a mile from the Four Corners to Lyell street. What odds? Very few people know that it's just seven eighths of a mile and three rods over. I might not have known it myself, if I hadn't happened to be with the surveyors when they measured it. Jimmy admits that he has drawn on his imagination in one or two places; but he isn't going to do it any more, and I think those can be fixed up somehow." Jack laughed again, said he thought imagination was not altogether objectionable in poetry, and kept on turning over the leaves. "Where is the title-page?" said he. "What is that?" said Ned. "The one with the name on it--the first page in the book," said Jack. "Oh!" said Ned, "we never thought about that. Won't the printer make it himself?" "Not unless you write it first." "Then we've got to name the book before we go any further," said Ned. "That's it, exactly," said Jack. "Couldn't you name it for us?" "I might suggest some names," said Jack, "and let you choose; but it seems to me, the person who wrote it ought to name it." "Oh, never mind Jimmy," said Ned. "He'll be satisfied with anything I do." "It might be called simply, 'Poems. By Jimmy the Rhymer,'" said Jack. "His name is James Redmond," said Ned. "I'll write down a few," said Jack, as he reached into the box under his chair and took out a sheet of paper and a pencil, and in five minutes he showed us the list: "Rhymes and Roundelays. By James Redmond." "A Picnic on Parnassus. By James Redmond." "The Unlucky Fishermen, and other Poems. By James Redmond." "Jimmy's Jingles." "Songs of a School-boy." "Minutes with the Muses. By James Redmond." It did not take Ned very long to choose the third of these titles, which he thought "sounded the most sensible." "Very well," said Jack, as he wrote a neat title-page and added it to the manuscript. "And how are you going to publish it?" "I thought I'd get you to tell me how," said Ned, who by this time had begun to suspect that he knew very little about it. "The regular way," said Jack, "would be to send it to a firm in New York, or Boston, or Philadelphia." "And then what?" "They would have a critic read it and tell them whether it was suitable." "He'd be sure to say it was; but then what?" "Then they would have it printed and bound, and advertise it in the papers, and sell it, and send it to other stores to be sold." "But where would our profits come from?" "Oh, they would pay you ten per cent. on all they sold." "And how many do you think they would sell?" "Nobody can tell," said Jack. "Different books sell differently--all the way from none at all up to a great many." Ned borrowed Jack's pencil, and figured for two or three minutes. "Then," said he, "if they should sell a hundred of our book, we would only get five dollars--two and a half for Jimmy, and two and a half for me." "That's about it," said Jack. "Then that won't do," said Ned. "Jimmy's folks are very poor, and he needs more than that. Isn't there some way to make more money out of it?" "Not unless you pay for the printing and binding yourself," said Jack. "And how much would that cost?" Jack looked it over and said he guessed about two hundred dollars for an edition of five hundred. "We can't do it," said Ned, with a sigh. "Aunt Mercy wouldn't give me so much money at a time." "There is one other way," said Jack. "How is it?" "To get up a little printing-office of your own, and print it yourselves." "That sounds like business; I guess you've hit it," said Ned, brightening up. "How much money would it take for that?" "I should think twenty-five or thirty dollars would get up a good one." "Then we can do it," said Ned. "Aunt Mercy will let me have that, right away." "Do you know anything about printing?" said Jack. "Not much; but my brother Fay knows all about it. He worked in a printing-office one vacation, to earn money to buy him a chest of tools." "Indeed! what did your brother do in the printing-office?" said Jack. "They called him second devil," said Ned, "but he was really a roller-boy." "They're the same thing," said Jack. "There's no harm in a printer's devil; he's only called so because he sometimes gets pretty well blacked up with the ink." "I'm glad to hear you say so," said Ned, who had been a little ashamed to tell what Fay did in the office, but now began to think it might be rather honorable. "In fact, he was first devil one week, when the regular first devil was gone to his grandfather's funeral in Troy." "Then he knows something about the business," said Jack; "and perhaps I can help you a little. I understand the trade to some extent." "Of course you do," said Ned. "You understand everything. And after we've finished Jimmy's book, we can print all sorts of other things--do a general business, in fact. I'll see what Fay says, and if he'll go in, we'll start it at once." While Ned was uttering the last sentence, Jack's alarm-clock went off, and Jack took his flag and went out to flag the Pacific express, while we walked away. We must have been very much absorbed in the new project, for we never even turned to look at the train; and a train of cars in swift motion is a sight that few people can help stopping to look at, however busy they may be. Readers who have followed this story thus far will perhaps inquire where the scene of it is laid. I think it is a pertinent question, yet there is a sort of unwritten law among story-writers against answering it, excepting in some vague, indefinite way; and I have transgressed so many written laws, that I should like at least to keep the unwritten ones. But if you are good at playing "buried cities," I will give you a chance to find out the name of that inland city where Phaeton and his companions dwelt. I discovered it buried, quite unintentionally, in one of Jimmy the Rhymer's poems. Here is the couplet: "Though his head to the north wind so often is bared, At the sound of the siroc he's terribly scared." CHAPTER VII. PHAETON'S CHARIOT. Ned and I pushed on the project for a printing-office with great energy. We made the acquaintance of a man named Alvord, who kept a job office--where they never seemed to be in a hurry, as they always were in the newspaper offices--and was never unwilling to answer questions or sell us old type. It was great fun to explore the mysteries of his establishment. I think he liked boys as much as Jack-in-the-Box did, and I'm sure it was a pleasure to us, in laying out Ned's capital, to pay so much of it to so pleasant a man. But energy without skill is like zeal without knowledge; in fact, it is about the same thing, and we couldn't really make much progress till Phaeton should take hold; and he would have nothing to do with it till he had finished his apparatus for "a horizontal balloon-ascension," which he was at work upon every minute that he could spare from sleep and meals. With the help of the carriage-maker and the blacksmith, and Ned's capital--which he drew upon much more freely than had been bargained for--he constructed a low, broad, skeleton-like carriage, the body of which was hung below the axles of the wheels, instead of above them, and almost touched the ground. This was to prevent it from tipping over easily. The front axle turned on a swivel, and was controlled by two stout handles, by means of which the carriage could be steered. On the front of the box were three iron hooks. At the back there was a single hook. The wheels were pretty large, but the whole was made as light as possible. When it was finished, Phaeton brought it home and put it away carefully in the wood-shed. "I am afraid," said he, "that somebody will steal this car, or come in and damage it, unless we put a lock on this wood-shed door." "Who would want to steal it or damage it?" said Ned. "The Dublin boys," said Phaeton, half under his breath. "Two of them were seen prowling around here the other day." One section of the town, which was divided from ours by the deep gorge of the river, was popularly known as Dublin, and the boys who lived there, though probably very much like other boys, were always considered by us as our natural enemies--plotters against the peace of boy society, capable of the most treacherous designs and the darkest deeds ever perpetrated in the juvenile world. Every piece of mischief not obviously to be accounted for in any other way, was laid to the Dublin boys as a matter of course. "But we haven't any padlock," said Ned, "except that old brass one, and the key of that is lost, and we couldn't turn it when we had it." "I suppose we shall have to buy a new one," said Phaeton. "All right--buy one," said Ned. "I haven't any money," said Phaeton. "Nor I," said Ned--"spent the last cent for a beautiful little font of Tuscan type; weighed just five pounds, fifteen cents a pound--nothing the matter with it, only the Es are gone." "The Es are gone?" said Phaeton. "Do you mean to say that you have been buying a font of type with no Es in it?" "Yes; why? What's the harm in that?" said Ned. "You don't expect everything to be perfect when you buy things second-hand." "Of course not," said Phaeton; "but what can you do without Es? If the Qs or the Xs were gone, it wouldn't so much matter; but there's hardly a word that hasn't at least one E in it. Just count the Es on a page of any book. And you've been fooling away your money on a font of type with no Es! Mr. Alvord ought to be ashamed of himself to cheat a boy like that." "You needn't be scolding me for fooling away the money," said Ned. "What have you been doing, I should like to know? Fooling away the money on that old torrid-zontal balloon thing, which will probably make a shipwreck of you the first time you try it. And, besides, I didn't buy the type of Mr. Alvord." "Where did you get it?" "Bought it of a boy that I met on the stairs when I was coming down from Alvord's." "Who was he?" "I don't know. He lives on one of those cross-streets down by the aqueduct. I went to his house with him to get the type. He said he used to have a little office, but his father wouldn't let him keep it any more, just because the baby ate some of the ink." "It's too bad," said Phaeton; "the type will never be of any use. What do you suppose could have become of the Es?" "I don't know," said Ned, a little morosely, "unless the baby sister ate them too." "They'd set rather heavy on her stomach," said Phaeton. "But how are we going to get a lock for this door?" "I don't see that we can get one at all," said Ned. I suggested that the door of the wood-shed might be nailed up, to keep out the Dublin boys, till we had a chance to get a padlock. "That's a first-rate idea," said Phaeton, and he at once brought out the hammer and nail-box, and began to nail up the door. It was a heavy, panelled door, which had evidently come from some old mansion that was torn down. "It's as well to make it strong while we're about it," said he; "for if those fellows should come, they'd pry it open if they could," and he put in a few more nails. "Father showed me how to drive nails so as to make them hold," said I. "Let me show you;" and taking the hammer from his hand, I drove eight or ten more nails into the door, driving them in pairs, each pair slanting in opposite directions. "That's a thing worth knowing," said Ned. "Let me practice on it a little." He took the hammer, and drove one or two pairs in the manner I had shown him, and was so pleased with his success, that he kept on till he had used up all the nails in the box. "No Dublin boy is going to get that car this night," said he, as he gave a final blow to the last nail. "No," said Phaeton; "I think that's pretty safe." As it began to rain, I was obliged to hurry home. That night, as I afterward learned, there was sorrow in the breast of the youngest member of the Rogers family. Little May Rogers, who never went to sleep without her favorite cat, Jemima, curled up on the foot of her little bed, couldn't go to sleep because Jemima was nowhere to be found in the house, and had not come when every outside door in turn was opened, and she was called from the vasty darkness. Even when Mrs. Rogers stood in the kitchen-door and rasped the carving-knife on the steel, Jemima failed to come bounding in. That was considered decisive as to her fate. The cat would be sure to come at that sound, if she were able to come at all. But a much more serious commotion shook the family next morning. When Mr. Rogers went down to his breakfast, it was not ready; in fact, the kitchen fire was not made. "How is this, Biddy?" said he to the cook. "Sure, I couldn't help it, sir; I could get no kindlings." "Why so, Biddy?" "Because, sir, the wood-shed door's bewitched. I couldn't get it open. And everything outside is soakin' wet wid the rain, and so of course I couldn't kindle the fire." Mr. Rogers walked out to the wood-shed door, and attempted to open it with an impatient and vigorous jerk, but the handle came off in his hand. Then he tried to get hold of it by the edge, but there wasn't a crack where he could insert his fingers. Then he took hold of it at the bottom, where there was considerable space, but it would not budge a hair. He was becoming a little excited, for he had an engagement to leave town by the early train. He went into the house for some sort of tool, and brought out the poker. Cutting a little hole with his pocket-knife at the edge of the door, he inserted the poker, and pried; but the poker bent double, and the door did not stir. Then he went in again, and brought out the stove-wrench. Cutting the hole a little larger, he pried at the door with the wrench; but the wrench was of cast-iron, and snapped in two. "Biddy," said he, "I see a light at Robbins's,"--it was very early in the morning--"go over and borrow an axe." Biddy soon returned with an axe, and Mr. Rogers tried to pry the door open with that, but only succeeded in breaking splinters from the edge. "Biddy," said he, "bring a light, and let's see what ails it." Biddy brought out a candle, but trembled so at the idea of letting out the witches, that she dropped it at Mr. Rogers's feet, and it struck on its lighted end and immediately went out. Biddy made rapid apologies, and ran in for another candle. But Mr. Rogers would wait no longer. He raised the axe in fury, and began to slaughter the door, like a mediæval soldier before the gate of a besieged castle. Slice after slice was torn off and flew inward, striking the opposite side of the shed; but the door as a whole would not fall. When a considerable hole had been made, a frightened cat, its eyes gleaming wildly, and its tail as large as a feather-duster, leaped out from the inner darkness, passing over Mr. Rogers's head, and knocking his hat off, landed somewhere in the yard, and immediately made for the woods. Biddy, who arrived on the ground with the second candle just in time to witness this performance, dropped the light again, and fled screaming into the house. This aroused two neighbors, who threw up their windows, thrust their heads out, and, hearing the powerful blows of the axe, thought a maniac was abroad, and hallooed for the police. The watchman on that beat, ever on the alert, waited only eight or nine minutes, till he could call four others to his aid, when all five of them started for the scene of the trouble. Separating after they had entered Mr. Rogers's gate, they made a little circuit through the yard, and cautiously approached him, two on each side, and one behind. As the one behind laid his hand on his shoulder, Mr. Rogers dropped the axe, whirled around, and "hauled off," as the boys say, but caught the gleam of the silver star on the policeman's breast, and dropped his fist. "What do you want?" said he. "If it's you, we don't want anything," said the policeman, who, of course, knew Mr. Rogers very well. "But we thought we wanted a crazy man." "Then you might as well take me," said Mr. Rogers, "for I am pretty nearly crazy. The mischief has got into this door, so that it couldn't be opened, and the cook had no kindlings and I no breakfast; and I shall lose the early train, and if I don't reach Albany to-day, I can't tell how many dollars it will cost me, but a good many." Mr. Rogers drew out his handkerchief, and wiped the perspiration from his brow. One of the policemen produced a bull's-eye lantern, and examined the ruined door, passing it up and down the edge where the outer frame, studded with many nails, still clung tightly to the jambs, all the central portion having been cut away in ragged slices. "This door has been nailed up with a great many nails," said he. "I can't imagine who would do that," said Mr. Rogers; "this isn't the first day of April." Neither could the policemen. In fact, I have observed that policemen have very little imagination. In this instance, five of them, all imagining at once, could not imagine who nailed up that door. The nearest they could come to it was, that it was probably done with a heavy, blunt instrument, in the hands of some person or persons unknown. When, later in the day, we boys stood contemplating what Ned called the "shipwreck of the door"--older people than he call all sorts of wrecks shipwrecks--he remarked that he didn't know what his father would say, if he should find out who did it. Mr. Rogers had taken the next train for Albany. "He will find out," said Phaeton; "for I shall tell him as soon as he gets home." The day that his father returned, Phaeton told, at the tea-table, the whole story of how the door was bewitched. A week had then passed, and--such are the soothing influences of time--Mr. Rogers laughed heartily at the whole affair, and at his own excitement most of all. "I had no idea," said Ned, solemnly, "that so much trouble could be caused by a few nails." His mother thought "few" was good. The next day I heard little May Rogers telling another child about it. This was her story: "You see, brother Fay and brother Neddie, they drived a nail in the wood-shed door; and Biddy, she lended Mr. Robbins's axe; and then Papa, he got besited; and so we haven't any wood-shed door any more." * * * * * Meanwhile, the preparations for the horizontal balloon ascension had gone on. But, as Ned remarked long ago, nothing could be done without capital, and he was obliged to make another business call upon his Aunt Mercy. "What's new down at your house?" said she, after the greetings were over. "Nothing particular," said Ned. "I hear that idiotic brother of yours has been cutting up a pretty caper," said Aunt Mercy, after a pause. "What was it?" said Ned. "Why, don't you know?" "I don't know what you have been told, and I can't think of anything very bad that Fay has done." "Gracious me!" said Aunt Mercy. "Don't you call it bad to go around slyly in the night and nail up every door and window in the house?" "Yes, that would be pretty bad, Aunty. But Fay hasn't done so." "You admit that it was bad, then?" "Why, certainly--but it isn't true. Only one door was nailed up--the wood-shed door." "I do believe you're standing up for him. But I tell you, a boy that would nail up one door would nail up a hundred." "He might if he had nails enough," said Ned, in a low voice. "That's just it," said Aunt Mercy. "That fellow would nail up just as many doors as he could get nails for. I've no doubt it was only the givin' out of the nails that prevented him from going through every house in the neighborhood. Mark my words, he'll come to some bad end. Don't you have anything to do with him, Edmund Burton." Ned said he thought it would be rather hard not to have anything to do with his own brother. "Yes, I suppose so," said Aunt Mercy. "But do the best you can." "Yes, Aunty, I'll do my best." "Now tell me," said she, "about your muddle. Have you made a muddle yet?" I thought Ned might have answered conscientiously that he had made a muddle. But he said: "No, Aunty, we've put that off for a while. We think it will be best to do some other things first." "What are the other things?" "One of them is a printing-office. We think of setting up a little printing-office to print little books and papers and cards and things, if we can get together enough money for it. It takes rather more capital than we have at present." I suppose Aunt Mercy thought I was the other one besides himself included in Ned's "we." "I should have supposed," said she, "that it was best to finish one muddle before going into another. But you know best, Edmund Burton. I have great confidence in your judgment." And she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, and seemed to be dreaming for some minutes. I doubt if she more than half knew which Edmund Burton she was talking to--the one who had long since gone down beneath the waters of a distant sea, or the young scapegrace who, without intending to represent anything falsely, had got so much money from her on false representations. "I don't know how it is," said he to me one day. "I never intend to cheat Aunt Mercy; and yet, whenever I go to see her, things seem to fix themselves somehow so that she misunderstands. I guess it's her imagination." "How much money do you need for your new muddle?" said she, when she came out of her reverie. "Jack-in-the-Box says he thinks twenty-five or thirty dollars would fit up a good one," said Ned. "Who is Jack-in-the-Box?" "A gentleman connected with the railroad." "Queer name for a railroad director," said Aunt Mercy. "But I suppose you've blundered on it. French, very likely. Might be Jacquin Thibaux. (I studied French two terms at Madam Farron's.) Some of those old Huguenot names have got into strange shapes. But it doesn't matter. I dare say Monsieur Thibaux is right about it. I haven't any money with me to-night, but I'll send it over to you to-morrow. Don't let that ignorant brother of yours meddle with your printing-office; he'll misspell every word, and disgrace the family." "I'll try to keep him straight," said Ned. "Good-night, Aunty." "Good-night, Edmund Burton, my dear boy." "I thought part of this capital," said I to Ned, as we walked away, "was for the horizontal balloon." "So it is," said he; "but I couldn't explain that to Aunt Mercy, because Fay has never explained it to me. I have no idea how he's going to make that queer thing go." When Phaeton was furnished with a little more money, we soon saw how the thing was to go. He built three enormous kites, six feet high. They were not bow-kites--the traditional kite always represented in pictures, but seldom used in our country. They were the far more powerful six-cornered kite, familiar to the boys of the Middle States. He certainly built them with great skill, and Ned and I had the pleasure of helping him--if holding the paste-cup and hunting for material to make the tails was helping. As each was finished, Phaeton carefully stood it up in the wood-shed to dry, where there was no more danger of Dublin boys; for Mr. Rogers had sent a carpenter to put on a new door and furnish it with a lock. Nevertheless, Phaeton took the first kite to his room for the night, and put it against the wall behind the bed. But Ned, who tossed a great deal, managed to kick a hole through it in his sleep. After that, they were left in the wood-shed over night, where a similar misfortune befell the second. Biddy, breaking kindlings in an unscientific way with the hatchet, sent a piece of wood flying through the kite, tearing a large hole on what a sailor would call the starboard quarter. When Phaeton complained of her carelessness, she seemed to think she had improved the kite, saying: "The two kites were not comrades before--but they are now." When an enterprising boy attempts to carry out some little project of his own, it is astonishing to see how even the best natured household will seem to conspire against him. If he happens to leave a few of his things on the dining-room floor, they are carelessly stepped upon by his own mother, or swept out-of-doors by an ignorant servant. I have seen a boy trying to make a galvanic battery, and his sister looking on and fervently hoping it would fail, so that she could have the glass cups to put into her play-house. However, Phaeton had about as little of this sort of thing to endure as any boy ever had. When the kites were finished and dry, and the holes patched up, and the tails hung, Phaeton said he was ready to harness up his team as soon as the wind was right. "Which way do you want it?" said I. "It must be a steady breeze, straight down the turnpike," said he. One reason why Phaeton chose this road was, that here he would encounter no telegraph wires. At the railway crossing, two men, riding on loads of hay, had come in contact with the wires and been seriously hurt. Another repetition of the accident might have been prevented by raising the wires on higher poles, but the company had chosen rather to run them down the pole on one side, under the street, and up the next pole. "But I don't see how these kites are going to work," said Ned, "if you fly them side by side, and hitch the strings to those three hooks." "Why not?" "Because they'll interfere with each other, and get all tangled up." "You would think so," said Phaeton, "if you haven't made a study of kite-flying, as I have. If you look at a dozen boys flying their kites at once on the common, you will see that, no matter how near together two or three boys stand, their kites will not go in exactly the same direction. Either the strings will slant away from each other a little, or else they will cross." "How do you account for that?" said Ned. "I suppose it's because you never can make two kites exactly alike; or, if they are exactly alike, they are not hung precisely the same; and so the wind bears a little more on the left side of one, and a little more on the right side of the other." "I guess that's so," said Ned. "And yet it seems to me it would be better to fly them tandem." "How would you get them up?" said I. "First get up one," said Ned. "And when it was well up, fasten the end of the string to the back of the next kite, and let that up, and do the same with the third. Then you would have a straight pull by the whole team in line." "And the pull of all three kites would come on the last string, and probably break it," said Phaeton. "I didn't think of that," said Ned. "I see your way is the best, after all. But hurry up and have it over with, for we want you to help us about the printing-office; we can't get along without you." "It never will be 'over with,'" said Phaeton. "I shall ride out every fine day, when the wind is in the right direction." "Why, is that all it's for?" said Ned--"merely your own amusement?" "Not at all," said Phaeton. "It is a great invention, to be introduced all over the country. Better than a locomotive, because it will run on a common road. Better than horses, because it doesn't eat anything. But then, I'm going to enjoy it myself as much as I can. However, we'll find time for the printing." CHAPTER VIII. A HORIZONTAL BALLOON-ASCENSION. Phaeton had to wait three days for a fair wind, and in that time the secret--for we had tried to keep it quiet--leaked out among the boys. It was Saturday, and everything seemed favorable. As Ned and I wanted to go up town in the forenoon, and Phaeton could not start the thing alone, he appointed two o'clock in the afternoon as the hour for the experiment. On our way up town we met Isaac Holman. "I'm going down to see your brother's new flying machine, or whatever it is," said he. "'Tisn't going to start till two o'clock," said Ned. "_Totus dexter!_--all right! I'll be around at that hour," said Holman. Phaeton gave his apparatus a thorough inspection, newly greased the wheels, tested every string about the kites, and made sure that all was in perfect order. Exactly at two o'clock, he took a strong stake and a heavy mallet, walked out into the street, and, amid a babel of questions from about twenty boys, who had gradually gathered there, drove the stake exactly in the middle of the road, leaving it a foot and a half out of the ground. He answered none of the questions, and, in fact, did not open his lips, except to return the greeting of Holman, who sat on the bowlder by the horse-gate, and was the only one that asked nothing. I saw Monkey Roe hanging on the outskirts of the crowd. His name was James Montalembert Roe; but he was never called anything but Monkey Roe, and he seemed to like it just as well. The moment I saw him, I began to fear mischief. He was a thoroughly good-natured fellow, but was always plotting some new sort of fun, and was as full of invention, though in a very different way, as Phaeton himself. When Phaeton had returned and put away his mallet, we all took hold of the car and ran it out into the street, where Phaeton fastened a short rope to the hook at the back, and tied the other end firmly to the stake. Then I stood by the car, as a sort of guard, while he and Ned brought out the kites, one at a time, and got them up. When each had risen to the full height of the string, which was pretty long,--and they were the best-behaved kites I ever saw,--Phaeton tied the string to one of the hooks on the front of the car. When all three were harnessed up, they lifted the fore-wheels from the ground. This work used up considerable time, and while it was going on, the crowd about us was increasing by the addition of Dublin boys, who kept coming, singly or in twos and threes, and were distinguishable by the fact that they were all barefooted, without jackets, and had their trousers supported by one suspender buckled around the waist like a belt. It seemed evident that somebody had told them about the horizontal balloon-ascension, for they did not come as if by accident, but as if by appointment, and made straight for the car, which they inspected with a great deal of curiosity. Phaeton brought out four shot-bags filled with sand, and placed them in a row in the front of the car. Then he brought out a rope five or six yards long, with a small balloon-anchor fastened to it. A balloon-anchor is made of three iron hooks placed back to back, so that the points project in three different directions, and the three backs or shanks welded together into one stem, which ends in a ring, through which the rope is tied. Phaeton tied the end of the anchor-rope to the hook on the back end of his car, coiled it up in one corner of the box, and laid the anchor on the coil. His calculation was, that when he threw it out on the road it would catch a little here and there in the ground, as the hooks dragged over the surface, making the car go more slowly, till after a while it would take a firm hold of something and bring him to a full stop. Phaeton also brought out a small American flag, on a light staff, and stuck it up in a place made for it, on one of the back corners of the car. The kites were now tugging away at the car, with a steady and strong pull. The arrangement was, that when Phaeton was seated (on a light board laid across the top of the car) with the steering handles in his grasp, and all was ready, he would give the word, and I was to draw a sharp knife across the rope that held the car to the stake. All now was ready. Ned, who had gone down the road a short distance, to see if any teams were coming, signalled that the coast was clear, and Phaeton stepped into the car. "I say," said one of the Dublin boys, "why don't you put up the stake before we start?" "The stake is all right," said Phaeton, just glancing over his shoulder at it. "Who's holding it?" said the Dublin boy. "Don't you see, the ground is holding it?" said Phaeton, arranging the sand-bags. "Oh, don't try to get out of it in that way," said the Dublin boy. "I don't understand you," said Phaeton. "What do you mean?" "Didn't you say," said the Dublin boy, "you'd give a dollar to any boy that could beat your machine in a mile run?" "No," said Phaeton. "I have never said anything of the sort--nor thought of it. Who told you so?" "Lukey Finnerty." "And who told Lukey Finnerty?" "Berny Rourke." "And who told Berny Rourke?" "Teddy Dwyer." "And who told Teddy Dwyer?" "Owney Geoghegan" (pronounced Gewgan). "And who told Owney Geoghegan?" "Patsy Rafferty." "And who told Patsy Rafferty?" "Oh, never mind who told me!" broke in another Dublin boy, who, it seems, was Patsy Rafferty. "The question is, are you going to put up the money?" "I never offered to put up any," said Phaeton. "And I haven't any with me, just now, to put up." "Then somebody's played us a trick," said Patsy. "I'm sorry for that," said Phaeton. "Ah, well, we don't mind--we'll run all the same," said Patsy. "But I don't care to have you run," said Phaeton. "In fact, I'd rather you wouldn't." "Well, we're all ready for it," said Patsy, giving his trousers a hitch, and tightening the suspender a little by giving another twist to the nail that fastened it in lieu of a buckle. "And I suppose the road's as free to us as 'tis to you?" "Oh, certainly!" said Phaeton. "If you haven't any money," spoke up another Dublin boy, "you might say you'll give a ride in your car to the fellow that beats it--just to lend a little interest to the race, you know." Phaeton somewhat reluctantly said he would,--"although," he added, in an undertone, "if you can beat it, I don't see why you should want to ride in it." Casting one more glance about, to see that all was ready, Phaeton told me to cut the rope and let him start. Partly because he spoke in a low tone, wishing to make as little excitement as possible, and partly because I was watching what I considered certain suspicious movements on the part of Monkey Roe, I did not hear or heed him. "_Littera lapsa!_--let her slide!" roared out Holman, who saw that I had not understood. With a quick, nervous stroke I drew the knife across the rope. The machine started--at first with a little jerk, then with a slow rolling motion, gradually increasing in speed, until at the end of six or eight rods it was under rapid headway. The Dublin boys at first stood still, looking on in gaping admiration at the wonder, till they suddenly remembered that they were there to race it, when they started off after it. Our boys naturally followed them, as we couldn't see any more of the fun unless we kept up with it. It was a pretty even race, and all was going on smoothly, when down the first cross-street came a crowd of women, apparently very much excited, many of them with sticks in their hands. The sight of our moving crowd seemed to frenzy them, and they increased their speed, but only arrived at the corner in time to fall in behind us. At the same time, down the cross-road from the other direction came a drove of cattle, pelted, pounded, and hooted at by two men and three boys; and close behind them was Dan Rice's Circus, which had been exhibiting for two days on the Falls Field, and was now hurrying on to the next town. Whether it was because of the red skirts worn by many of the women in front of them, or the rumbling of the circus so close behind them, I did not know, but those cattle did behave in the most frantic manner. And so the whole caravan went roaring down the turnpike--Phaeton in his flying car at the head, then the Dublin boys, then our boys, then the mothers of the Dublin boys, then the drove of cattle, then the circus, with all its wagons and paraphernalia,--the striped zebra bringing up the rear. [Illustration: "THE WHOLE CARAVAN WENT ROARING DOWN THE TURNPIKE."] It soon became evident that the mothers of the Dublin boys were proceeding on erroneous information--however they got it--and supposed that the contest between us and their sons was not a friendly one. For whenever one of our boys lagged behind in the race, and came within reach of their sticks, he was pretty sure to get a sounding whack across the shoulders. I dare say the Dublin boys would have received the same treatment if they had not been ahead of us in the race, which they always were, either because they were better runners, or better prepared. Foremost of all was Patsy Rafferty, who, by doing his prettiest, had closed up the distance between himself and the car, and was now abreast of it. Phaeton became excited, and, determined not to be beaten, lightened his car by hurriedly throwing out one of the bags of sand. Unfortunately, it struck the ground right in front of Patsy, and the next instant he stubbed his toes on it and went sprawling into the gutter. When the Dublin women saw this, they probably took it as full confirmation of the evil designs which somebody had told them we had on their sons, and some of our boys immediately paid the penalty by receiving a few extra whacks. As for Patsy, he soon picked himself up and renewed the race, all the more determined to win it because he thought Phaeton had tripped him purposely--which I am happy to say was not true. As we neared the railway crossing, Jack-in-the-Box was half way up the signal-pole. Hearing the outcry, he looked down upon us, took in the situation at a glance, then descended the pole two steps at a time, seized his red flag, and ran up the track at lightning speed. He had calculated that the Pacific express would arrive at the crossing just in time to dash through some part of our procession, and as he saw it would be useless to try to stop us, with everything crowding on behind us, he went to flag the train and stop that. This he just succeeded in doing, and when my section of the procession passed that given point,--you know it is the inveterate habit of processions to pass given points,--there stood the great locomotive stock still by Jack's box, with its train behind it, and seemed to look down upon us like an astonished and interested spectator. We swept on across the track, and as there was a straight, smooth piece of road before us, all went well till we neared the canal. There a stupid fellow, as we afterward learned, leading home a cow he had just bought, had tied her to the corner-post of the bridge by which the turnpike crossed the canal, and gone into a neighboring grocery. The cow had placed herself directly across the narrow road-way of the bridge, and there she stood contentedly chewing her cud, entirely ignorant of the fact that an important race was in progress, and that she was obstructing the track. Phaeton saw her with horror; for if he kept on, the car would run into her--the foot-path over the bridge was too narrow for it. He threw out his anchor, which ricochetted, as an artillerist would say. That is, it would catch the ground for an instant, and then fly into the air, descend in a curve, catch again, and fly up again. At last it caught on a horse-block, stuck fast, and brought the car to a stop. But before Phaeton could climb out, Patsy Rafferty had come up, and, whipping out his jack-knife, cut the anchor-rope in two. In an instant the machine was off again. Phaeton's situation was desperate. There stood the stupid cow like an animated toll-gate closing the bridge, and he rushing on to destruction at the rate of a good many miles an hour, with no way to stop the machine, and a certainty of broken bones if he jumped out. In his agony, he half rose in the car and gave a terrific yell. The cow started, saw him, and then clumsily but quickly swung herself around against the truss of the bridge that divided the carriage-way from the foot-path. But the carriage-way had been newly planked, and the planks were not yet nailed down. As the cow stepped on the ends, four or five of these planks were instantly tilted up like a trap door, while the cow sank down till she was wedged between the truss and the first sleeper or lengthwise beam (the space being not quite large enough to let her drop through); the planks of course being held in an almost perpendicular position between her body and the sleeper. Into the abyss that thus suddenly yawned before him, Phaeton and his chariot plunged. After him went Patsy Rafferty, who on seeing the danger had laid hold of the car and tried to stop it, but failed. Whether he jumped through, or let himself down more cautiously by hanging from the floor of the bridge and dropping, I did not see; but, at all events, when the rest of us reached the tow-path by running down the embankment, the waters of the canal had closed over both boys and the car. At this moment another accident complicated the trouble and increased the excitement. This was a "tow-path bridge"--one which the boat-horses have to pass over, because at that point the tow-path changes from one side of the canal to the other. The "Red Bird" packet-horses, coming up at a round trot, when they reached the crown of the bridge and saw the rushing, roaring caravan coming at them, and heard Phaeton's yell, stopped, and stood shivering with fear. But the packet was all the while going ahead by its own momentum, and when it had gone the length of the tow-line, it jerked the horses over the parapet into the water, where they floundered within a yard of the sunken machine. The Dublin women gathered on the tow-path, and immediately set up an unearthly wail, such as I have never heard before or since. I think that some of them must have "cried the keen," as it is called in Ireland. Patsy soon emerged from beneath the wreck, hauling Phaeton out by the hair, and as half a dozen of the boys, from both parties, were now in the water, they had plenty of help. The bow-hand of the "Red Bird" cut the tow-line with a hatchet,--if he had been attending to his business, he would have done it soon enough to prevent the accident,--and the horses, thus released, swam ashore. Meantime the circus had stopped, and many of the men came to the scene of the disaster, while most of the packet passengers stepped ashore and also joined the wondering crowd. The steersman brought a long pike-pole, with which he fished out Phaeton's car. Every one of the kite-strings was broken, and the kites had gone down the sky, with that wobbling motion peculiar to what the boys call a "kite-broke-away," to find lodgment in some distant forest or meadow. Great was the wonderment expressed, and many were the questions asked, as the packet passengers and the circus people crowded around the rescued car and the dripping boys. The Dublin women were wringing out the jackets of our boys, and talking rather fast. A benevolent-looking old gentleman, who wore a white vest and a large fob-chain, said, "Something ought to be done for that boy"--pointing to Patsy Rafferty. The Clown of the circus said "Certainly!" and taking off his hat passed it first to the benevolent-looking old gentleman, who seemed a little surprised, but soon recovered, and hastily dropped in ten cents. Then the Clown passed it all around, and nearly everybody, excepting the boys, of course, put in a little something. The Patagonian Woman of the circus, who had very red cheeks and very round eyes, and wore a large diamond ring on nearly every finger, gave the most of anybody,--half a dollar,--which she borrowed of the Strong Man, who used to lift the big iron balls on the back of his neck. The Clown counted the money, and said there were three dollars and eighty-four cents, and a crossed shilling, and a bogus quarter, and two brass buttons, and a pewter temperance medal. "Well," said he, in a solemn tone, looking down at the collection, and then around at the people, "I should say this crowd was about an average specimen of humanity." I didn't see the Clown himself put in anything at all. "Here, sonny," said he to Patsy, "we'll tie it up in your handkerchief for you." Patsy said he hadn't any handkerchief with him, just then; whereupon the Patagonian Woman gave him hers--excellent people, those Patagonians!--and the Clown tied it up with two hard knots, and Patsy tucked it into his trousers pocket, which it caused to bulge out as if he had just passed through 'Squire Higgins's orchard. The boss of the circus offered to give Patsy a place, and take him right along, at fifteen dollars a month and his board. Patsy was crazy to go; but his mother said she couldn't spare him. Some of the circus men brought a pole and tackle from one of their wagons, and lifted the cow out of her uncomfortable position, after which they replaced the planks. "All aboard!" shouted the captain of the "Red Bird," for the tow-line had been mended and the horses rubbed down, and all the passengers started on a run for the boat, excepting the benevolent-looking old gentleman, who walked very leisurely, seeming to know it would wait for him. "All aboard!" shouted the boss of the circus, and his people climbed upon the wagons, whipped up the horses, and rumbled over the bridge. The Dublin women each laid hold of one or more of their boys, and marched them home; Lukey Finnerty's mother arguing, as they went along, that her boy had done as much as Patsy Rafferty, and got as wet, and therefore ought to have a share of the money. "Oh, there's no doubt," said Mrs. Rafferty, in a gently sarcastic tone, "but your boy has taken in a great deal of cold water. He shall have the temperance medal." The other women promptly took up the question, some on Mrs. Finnerty's side and some on Mrs. Rafferty's, and thus, all talking at once, they passed out of sight. CHAPTER IX. THE ART DESERVATIVE. When Phaeton's kites went wobbling down the sky, Owney Geoghegan and three or four others of the Dublin boys who had escaped their mothers, started off on a chase for them. Phaeton, Ned, Holman, and I took the car up the bank, and when we arrived at the top we saw Monkey Roe walking away pretty rapidly. "_Gravitas pro vehiculum!_--wait for the wagon!" shouted Holman to him. Roe seemed a little uncertain whether to stop, but finally leaned against the fence and waited for us. I observed that the drove of cattle had gone down to a shallow place in the canal on the other side of the bridge, and were most of them standing in the water, either drinking or contemplating. Their drivers were throwing stones at them, and saying uncomplimentary things, but they took it philosophically--which means they didn't mind it much. When you are stolidly indifferent to anything that ought to move you, your friends will say you take it philosophically. "Wasn't it an odd thing, Roe," said Holman, "that all those Dublin boys should have got the idea that a prize was offered for anybody who could beat this machine?" "Yes, it was very odd," said Roe. "Fay, what sort of wood is this?" "Chestnut." "But I say, Roe," continued Holman, "who in the world could have told them so?" "Probably somebody who was fond of a practical joke," said Roe. "Who did the blacksmith work for you, Fay?" "Fanning." "And I suppose," persisted Holman, still talking to Roe, "that it must have been the same practical joker who sent their mothers after them." "Very likely," said Roe. "Are you going to get the kites and harness her up again, Fay?" "Haven't made up my mind." It was evident that Monkey Roe didn't want to talk about the mystery of the Dublin boys, and Holman--probably satisfied by this time that his suspicions were correct--himself changed the subject. "When I saw this thing tearing down the turnpike," said he, "with all that rabble at its heels, and go splash into the canal, I was reminded of the story of Phaeton, which I had for my Latin lesson last week." Of course, we asked him to tell the story. "Phaeton," said Holman, "was a young scapegrace who was fond of fast horses, and thought there was nothing on four legs or any number of wheels that he couldn't drive. His father was the Sun-god Helios--which is probably a corruption of 'Held a hoss' (I must ask Jack-in-the-Box about it)--and his mother's maiden name was Clymene--which you can easily see is only changed a little from 'climb-iny.' This shows how Phaeton came by his passion for climbing in the chariot and holding the hosses. "One day, one of the boys, named Epaphus, tried to pick a quarrel with him by saying that he was not really a son of Helios, but was only adopted out of the poor-house. Phaeton felt pretty badly about it, for he didn't know but it might be true. So he went home as fast as he could, and asked Helios, right out plump, whether he was his own son, or only adopted out of the poor-house. 'Certainly,' said the old gentleman, 'you are my own son, and always have been, ever since you were born.' "This satisfied Phaeton, but he was afraid it might not satisfy the boys who had heard Epaphus's remark. So he begged to be allowed to drive the chariot of the Sun one day, just to show people that he was his father's own boy. Helios shook his head. That was a very particular job; the chariot had to go out on time and come in on time, every day, and there couldn't be any fooling about it. But the youngster hung on and teased so, that at last his father told him he might drive just one day, if he would never ask again." "Did he have a gag-bit?" said Ned, remembering his brother's remarks on the occasion of our brisk morning canter. "Probably not," said Holman, "for gag-bits were not then invented. The next morning old Helios gave the boy all the instructions he could about the character of the horses and the bad places in the road, and started him off. "He hadn't gone very far when the team ran away with him, and went banging along at a terrible rate, knocking fixed stars out of their places, overturning and scattering an immense pile of new ones that had been corded up at the side of the road to dry (that's what makes the Milky Way), and at last setting the world on fire. "Jupiter saw that something must be done, pretty quick, too, so he threw a sand-bag, or a thunder-bolt, or something of that sort, at him, and knocked over the chariot, and the next minute it went plump into the river Eridanus--which I've no doubt is the Latin for Erie Canal. You can easily see how it would come: Erie canal--Erie ditch--Erie drain--Erie drainus--Eridanus. That's the way Professor Woodruff explains words to the advanced class. He can tell you where any word came from in two minutes. "Phaeton wasn't so lucky as you, Fay, for there was no Patsy Rafferty to pull him out, and he was drowned, while his poor sisters stood on the tow-path and cried till they turned into poplar-trees." We were all deeply interested in this remarkable story from Grecian mythology, told in good plain American, and from our report Holman was often called upon to repeat it to the other boys. It was this that gave Fayette Rogers the name of Phaeton. The fate of the horizontal balloon for a time dampened Phaeton's ardor for invention, and he was willing at last to unite with Ned and me in an enterprise which promised to be more business-like than brilliant--the printing-office scheme. Meanwhile, we had been doing what we could ourselves. The first necessity was a press. Ned, whom we considered a pretty good draughtsman, drew a plan for one, and he and I made it. There was nothing wrong about the plan; it was strong and simple--two great virtues in any machine. But we constructed the whole thing of soft pine, the only wood that we could command, or that our tools would cut. Consequently, when we put on the pressure to print our first sheet--feeling as proud as if we were Faust, Gutenberg, Schöfer, the Elzevirs, Ben Franklin, and the whole Manutius family rolled into one--not only did the face of the types go into the paper, but the bottoms of them went right into the bed of the press. [Illustration: NED'S PLAN FOR A PRESS.] "It acts more like a pile-driver than a printing-press," said Ned, ruefully. "It'll never do," said I. "We can't get along without Fay. When he makes a press, it will print." "When Fay makes a press," said Ned, "he'll probably hire somebody else to make it. But I guess that's the sensible way. I suppose the boys would laugh at this thing, even if it worked well; it looks so dreadfully cheese-pressy." "It does look a little that way," said I. "But Fay will get up something handsome, and I've no doubt we can find some good use for this--perhaps keep it in the corner for the boys to fool with when they call. They'll be certain to meddle with something, and this may keep their hands from the good one." "I don't intend to run the office on any such principles," said Ned. "The boy that meddles with anything will be invited to leave." "Then you'll make them all angry, and there won't be any good-will to it," said I. "I've heard Father say that the good-will of the _Vindicator_ office was worth more than all the type and presses. He says the _Vindicator_ lives on its good-will." "That may be all very nice for the _Vindicator_," said Ned; "but this office will have to live on hard work." "But we must be polite to the boys that patronize the establishment," said I. "Oh, yes; be polite to them, of course," said Ned. "But tell them they've got to keep out of our way when the press is running." Whether the press ever would have run, or even crawled, without Phaeton to manage it, is doubtful. But he now joined in the enterprise, and very soon organized the concern. As Ned had predicted, he hired a man who was a carriage-maker by trade, but had a genius for odd jobs, to make us a press. In those days, the small iron presses which are now manufactured in great numbers, and sold to boys throughout the country, had not been heard of. Ours was a pretty good one, made partly of wood and partly of iron, with a powerful knee-joint, which gave a good impression. The money to pay for it came from Aunt Mercy _via_ Ned. There was a small, unused building in our yard, about fifteen feet square, sometimes called the "wash-house," and sometimes "the summer-kitchen," now abandoned and almost empty. Phaeton, looking about for a place for the proposed printing-office, fixed upon this as the very thing that was wanted. He said it could not have been better if it had been built on purpose. After some negotiation with my parents, their consent was obtained, and Phaeton and Ned took me into partnership, I furnishing the building, and they furnishing the press and type. We agreed that the name of the firm should be Rogers & Co. On the gable of the office we erected a short flag-staff, cut to the form of a printer's "shooting-stick," and whenever the boys saw the Stars and Stripes floating from it, they knew the office was open for business. "This font of Tuscan," said Ned to Phaeton, as we were putting the office in order, "is not going to be so useless as you suppose, even if the Es are all gone." "How so?" said Phaeton. "Because I asked a printer about it, and he says when you find a box empty you simply use some other letter in place of the one that is missing--generally X. And here are plenty of Xs." Phaeton only smiled, and went on distributing type into his case of pica. "I say, Fay," said Ned again, after awhile, "don't you think it would be proper to do a little something for Patsy Rafferty, just to show your gratitude for his services in pulling you out of the canal?" "I've thought about it," said Phaeton. "We might print him a dozen cards, with his name on," said Ned, "and not charge him a cent. Get them up real stylish--red ink, perhaps; or Patsy in black and Rafferty in red; something that'll please him." And Ned immediately set up the name in Tuscan, to see how it would look. It looked like this: MR. PATSY RAFFXRTY, XSQ. "How do you think he'd like that, done in two colors?" said Ned. "I don't believe he'd care much about it," said Phaeton. "But I've invited him to come over here this afternoon, and perhaps we can find out what he would like." Patsy came in the afternoon, and was made acquainted with some of the mysteries of printing. After a while, Ned showed him what he intended to print on a dozen cards for him. "It's very nice, indeed," said Patsy; "but that's not my name." "Not your name?" said Ned. "No," said Patsy. "My father's name is Mr. Patsy Rafferty, Esquire; but I'm only Patsy Rafferty, without any handle or tail to it." "If that's all that ails it," said Ned, "it's easy enough to take off the handle and tail," and he took them off. Patsy took another look at it. "That's not exactly the way I spell my name," said he. "There ought to be an E there, instead of an X." "Of course there ought," said Ned, "but you see we haven't any Es in that style of type, and it's an old established rule in all printing-offices that when there's a letter you haven't got, you simply put an X in place of it. Everybody understands it." "I didn't understand it," said Patsy, "and I think my name looks better when it's spelled the way I was christened." "All right!" said Ned. "We'll make it as you want it; but it'll have to be set in some other kind of type, and that Tuscan is the prettiest thing in the office." Patsy still preferred correctness to beauty, and had his way. "And now what color will you have?" said Ned. "We can print it in black, or red, or blue, or partly one color and partly another--almost any color, in fact." Patsy, true to the tradition of his ancestors, chose green. "I'm awful sorry," said Ned, "but we haven't any green ink. It's about the only color we haven't got." "You can make it by mixing blue and yellow together," said Patsy. "True," said Ned; "but the fact is, we haven't any yellow. Green and yellow are about the only colors we haven't got." After studying the problem a few minutes, Patsy chose to have his visiting-cards printed in alternate red and blue letters, and we set about it at once, Ned arranging the type, while I took the part of devil and managed the ink. As they were to be in two colors, of course each card had to go through the press twice; and they were not very accurately "registered," as a printer would say--that is, the red letters, instead of coming exactly on even spaces between the blue, would sometimes be too far one way, sometimes too far the other, sometimes even lapping over the blue letters. But out of fifty or sixty that we printed, Patsy selected thirteen that he thought would do--"a dozen, and one for luck"--and, without waiting for them to dry, packed them together and put them into his pocket, expressing his own admiration and anticipating his mother's. He even intimated that when she saw those she would probably order some for herself. Patsy asked about Phaeton's chariot, and whether it was hurt much when it went into the canal. "Hardly damaged at all," said Phaeton. Patsy hinted that he would like to see it, and he and Phaeton went over to Rogers's. When Phaeton returned an hour later, he was alone. "Where's Patsy?" said Ned. "Gone home with the chariot," said Phaeton. "Gone home with the chariot?" said Ned, in astonishment. "Yes," said Phaeton, "I have given it to him. I saw, by the way he looked at it and talked about it, that it would be a great prize to him, and I didn't intend to use it any more myself, so I made him a present of it." "But you had no right to," said Ned. "That chariot was built with my money." "Not exactly," said Phaeton. "It was built with money that I borrowed of you. I still owe you the money, but the car was mine." "Well, at any rate," said Ned, who saw this point clearly enough, "you might have sold the iron on it for enough to buy another font of type." "Yes, I might," said Phaeton. "But I preferred giving it to Patsy. He's a good deal of a boy, and I hope Father won't forget that he said he should do something for him." "But what use will the car be to him?" said Ned. "He says it'll be a glorious thing to slide down hill in summer," said Phaeton. A few days afterward, Patsy came again to see Phaeton, and wanted to know if he could not invent some means by which the car could be prevented from going down hill too fast. He said that when Berny Rourke and Lukey Finnerty and he took their first ride in it, down one of the long, grassy slopes that bordered the Deep Hollow, it went swifter, and swifter, until it reached the edge of the brook, where it struck a lump of sod and threw them all into the water. "Water is an excellent thing," said Ned, "for a sudden stoppage of a swift ride. They always use it in horizontal balloon-ascensions, and on the Underground Railroad they're going to build all the depots of it." Phaeton, who appeared to be thinking deeply, only smiled, and said nothing. At last he exclaimed: "I have it, Patsy! Come with me." They went off together, and Phaeton hunted up an old boot, the leg of which he drove full of shingle-nails, driving them from the inside outward. Then he filled it with stones and sand, and sewed the top together. Then he found a piece of rope, and tied one end to the straps. "There, Patsy," said he, "tie the other end of the rope to one of the hooks on the car, and take the boot in with you. When you are going fast enough, throw it out for a drag. I don't believe a streak of lightning could make very good headway, if it had to pull that thing along on the ground after it." Patsy, Berny, and Lukey tried it, but were thrown into the brook as before. Phaeton said the true remedy was, more old boots; and they added one after another, till they had a cluster of seven, which acted as an effectual drag, and completely tamed the spirit of the machine, after which it soon became the most popular institution in Dublin. Patsy said seven was one of the lucky numbers. To return to the printing business. When I was about to sit down at the tea-table, that evening, Mother exclaimed: "What in the world ails your hands?" I looked at them. Some of my fingers were more red than blue, some were more blue than red, and some about equally red and blue. I said I guessed Patsy Rafferty's visiting-cards were what ailed my hands. "Well, I wish you'd wash your hands of Patsy Rafferty's visiting-cards," said she. "Can't do it with any such slimpsy water as we have here," said I. "And where do they have any that is less slimpsy?" said Mother. "At the printing-offices," said I. "They put a little ley in it. We haven't any at our office, but that's the next thing we're going to buy. Don't worry; it won't rub off on the bread and butter, and we shall have a can of ley next week." "The next thing to be done," said Ned, when we had the office fairly in running order, "is to get up a first-rate business-card of our own, have it large enough, print it in colors, and make a stunning thing of it." "That reminds me," said Phaeton, "that I was talking with Jack-in-the-Box about our office the other day, and I told him we ought to have a pretty poetical motto to put up over the door. He suggested two or three, and wrote them down for me. Perhaps one of them would look well on the card." "What are they?" said Ned. After some searching, Phaeton found a crumpled piece of paper in one of his pockets, and smoothing it out showed the following, hastily scratched in pencil: Faith, he'll prent it.--_Burns_. I have misused the king's press.--_Shakespeare_. So careful of the type she seems.--_Tennyson_. "I don't like one of them," said Ned. "Why not?" said Phaeton. "Well, the first one is spelled wrong. We _print_ here, we don't _prent_." "But it means the same thing," said Phaeton; "that's the Scotch of it. Burns was a Scotchman." "Was he?" said Ned. "Well, I never heard of him before, and we don't want any of his Scotch spelling. That second motto is all wrong; the press belongs to us, not to any king, and we're not going to misuse it. The third one would do pretty well, but it says 'she,' and we're none of us girls." "Perhaps you can think of a better one," said Phaeton. "Yes, I can," said Ned. "I heard Uncle Hiram say that printing was called the art deservative of all arts, and that would be just the motto for us." "What does it mean?" said I. "It means," said Ned, "that printers deserve more than any other artists." "Didn't he say _pre_servative?" said Phaeton. "Oh, no," said Ned; "that wouldn't mean anything. Printing has nothing to do with preserving--unless we should print the labels for Mother's fruit-cans next fall. He said 'deservative,' I heard him distinctly, and we'll put it on the card." "Very well," said Phaeton; "you set up the card according to your own taste, and we'll see how we like it." The next day Phaeton and I went fishing. While we were gone Ned set up the card, and on our return we found, to our consternation, that he had not only set it up, but printed scores of them, and given away a good many to the boys. It ran as follows: [Illustration] "Good gracious, Ned!" said Phaeton, "why did you print this thing before we had seen it?" "Because I felt sure you'd like it," said Ned, "and I wanted to surprise you." "You've succeeded admirably in that," said Phaeton. "I hope there's nothing wrong about it," said Ned. "I took a great deal of pains with it. Oh, yes; now I see there's one letter upside down. But what of that? Very few people will notice it, and they will know it's an accident." "One?" said Phaeton. "There are half a dozen standing on their heads. And that's not the worst. Just look at the spelling!" "I don't see anything wrong about that," said Ned. "You must remember that what's wrong by Webster may be right by Worcester." "What do you call that?" said Phaeton, pointing at the first word in the third line. "Job, of course," said Ned. "Some people spell it with a J, but that can't be right. J-o-b spells Job, the name of that king of Israel who had so many boils on him at once." "He wasn't king of Israel," said Phaeton. "Well, king of Judah, then," said Ned. "I always get those two mixed. What's the use of being too particular. Those old kings are as dead now as Julia Cæsar. And everybody knows how dead she is." "Well, then, what's this?" said Phaeton, pointing to the second word on the right-hand side of the press. "Don't you know what dodgers are?" said Ned. "Little bills with 'Bankrupt Sale!' or 'Great Excitement!' or something of that sort across the top, to throw around in the yards, or hand to the people coming out of church." "Oh, yes; dodgers," said Phaeton. "But I never saw it spelled so before. Have you given out many of these cards?" "I gave one to Holman," said Ned, "and one to Monkey Roe, and one to Jack-in-the-Box." "What did Jack-in-the-Box say to it?" said Phaeton. "Oh, he admired it amazingly," said Ned. "He said it was the most entertaining business-card he had ever seen. But he thought perhaps it would be well for us to have a proof-reader. I asked him what that was, and he said it was a round-shouldered man, with a green shade over his eyes, who knew everything. He sits in the corner of your office, and when you print anything he reads the first one and marks the mistakes on it, so that you can correct them before you print any more. We might get Jimmy the Rhymer; he's awful round-shouldered, but he doesn't know everything. The only man in this town who knows everything is Jack-in-the-Box himself, and I suppose we couldn't get him." "I suppose not," said Phaeton, "though I know he'd look over a proof for us, any time we took one to him. But now tell me whether you've given out any more of these cards." "Well, yes, a few," said Ned. "Patsy Rafferty was over here; he rolled for me, or I couldn't have got them done so soon; and when he went home, he took fifty to leave at the doors of the houses on his way. I thought if we were going to do business, it was time to be letting people know about it." "Just so," said Phaeton. "And is that all?" "Not quite. Uncle Jacob was going to ride out to Parma, and I gave him about forty, and asked him to hand them to people he met on the road." "Y-e-s," said Phaeton, with a deep sigh; "and is _that_ all?" "I put a dozen or two on that little shelf by the post-office window," said Ned, "so that anybody who came for his letters could take one. And now that's all; and I hope you won't worry over one or two little mistakes. Everybody makes some mistakes. There is no use in pretending to be perfect. But if you two fellows had been here in the office, instead of going off to enjoy yourselves fishing and leaving me to do all the work, you might have had the old card just as you wanted it. Of course you'd have spelled it right, but there might have been bad taste about it that would look worse than my spelling. And now I'm going home to supper." "The worst thing about Ned," said Phaeton, after he had gone, "is, that there's too much go-ahead in him. Very few people are troubled in that way." "But what are we going to do about that dreadful card?" said I. "When the people see that, they may be afraid to give us any jobs, for fear that we'll misspell everything." "I don't know what we can do now," said Phaeton, "unless we get out a good one, and say on it that no others are genuine. I must think about it over night." CHAPTER X. TORMENTS OF TYPOGRAPHY. In spite of Ned's declaration that he would tolerate no loungers, the office soon became a favorite gathering-place for the boys of the neighborhood; which fact contributed nothing to the speed or accuracy of the work. They made us a great deal of trouble at first, for few of them knew better than to take a type out of one box, examine it curiously, and throw it into another; or lift a page of type that had just been set up, "to see how heavy it was," and let it drop into a mass of pi. They got over this after a while, but they never did quite get over the habit of discussing all sorts of questions in a loud voice; and sometimes, when we happened to be setting type, and were interested in what they were talking about, fragments of the conversation would mingle in our minds with the copy before us, and the curious effect would horrify us in the proof. For instance, Monkey Roe's mother had employed us to print her a few copies of Mrs. Opie's poem, "The Orphan Boy," which she had known since she was a child, and very greatly admired, but of which she had never had any but a manuscript copy. While I was setting it up, three boys were carrying on an animated discussion about the city fire department, and when I took a proof of my work, I found it read like this: Stay, lady, stay, for mercy's sake, And hear the Brick Church bell strike the 4th District. Ah! sure my looks must pity no by crackie Orph Bo Cataract Eight can't begin to throw the stream Red Rover Three can--Tis want that makes Reliance Five wash my cheek so pale at annual inspection. Yet I was once a mother's pride, Three's men cut her hose at the Orchard street fire before Bix Six's air chamber busted my brave father's hope and joy. But in the Nile's proud fight he sucked Archer's well dry in three minutes and a half, and I am now Assistant Foreman of Torrent Two with a patent brake on the Orphan Boy. I am afraid if Monkey's mother had seen that, she would hardly have recognized it as the first stanza of her favorite poem. Instead of feeling sorry for spoiling my work, the boys seemed to think it was a good joke, and nearly laughed their heads off over it. They insisted on my printing a few copies of it, just as it was, for them to keep. Next time I saw Jack-in-the-Box, he showed me one of them pasted into a little old scrap-book that he kept under his chair. On the opposite page was one of our business-cards, as printed by Ned. Jack very kindly explained to me some of the mysteries of proof-reading. "The next thing to be done," said Ned, when the office was fairly in running order, "is to get out Jimmy the Rhymer's poems. That's what we got up the establishment for, and it'll be more profitable than all these little puttering jobs put together. And, besides, Jimmy's awful poor and needs the money. I've been around to the book-stores and told them about it. Hamilton promises to take ten copies, and Hoyt twenty-five. When they see how good the poems are, they'll be sure to double their orders; and when the other stores see the book going off like hot cakes, they'll rush in and want to buy some, but they'll have to wait their turn. First come, first served." There were enough of Jimmy's poems to make a little book of about sixty pages, and we all went to work with a will to set the type. It would have been a pretty long job for us, as it was, but Jimmy made it a great deal longer, and nearly drove us crazy, by insisting on making changes in them after they were set up. He could not understand how much extra work this made for us, and was as particular and persistent as if his whole reputation as an author had hung on each disputed comma. Sometimes when we had four pages all ready to print, he would bring in a new stanza, to be inserted in the first page of the form, which, of course, made it necessary to change the arrangement of all the others. At last Ned got out of patience. "You try it yourself once," said he to Jimmy, "and you'll find out whether it's easy to make all these little changes, as you call them." Jimmy secretly made up his mind that he would try it himself. He went to the office one day when we were not there, found four pages "locked up" ready for printing, and went to work to make a few corrections. As he did not know how to unlock the form, he stood it up on edge, got a ten-penny nail and a mallet, and tried to knock out an obnoxious semicolon. The result was a sudden bursting of the form, which rattled down into ruin at his feet, and frightened the meddlesome poet out of his wits. [Illustration: THE MEDDLESOME POET.] In his bewilderment, Jimmy scooped up a double handful of the pi and was in the act of pouring it pell-mell into one of the cases, when Phaeton, Ned, and I arrived at the door of the office. Ned, who saw him first, and instantly comprehended the situation, gave a terrific yell, which caused Jimmy to drop the handful of type, some of which went into the case, and the rest spattered over the floor. "Are you trying to ruin the office?" said Ned. "Don't you know better than to pi a form, and then throw the pi into the cases? After all the trouble we've had with your old poems, you ought to have more gratitude than that." Jimmy was pale with terror, and utterly dumb. "Hold on, Ned," said Phaeton, laying his hand on his brother's shoulder. "You ought to have sense enough to know that it must have been an accident of some sort. Of course Jimmy wouldn't do it purposely." "Pieing the form may have been an accident," said Ned; "but when he scoops up a double handful of the pi and goes to pouring it into the case, that can't be an accident. And it was my case, too, and I was the one that did everything for him, and was going to bring him out as a poet in the world's history. If he had behaved himself, I'd have set him up in business in a little while, so he could have made as much money as Sir Walter Tupper, or any of those other fellows that you read to us about. And now, just look at that case of mine, with probably every letter of the alphabet in every box of it." "But I tell you it must have been a mere accident," said Phaeton. "Wasn't it, Jimmy?" "Suppose it was an accident," said Ned; "the question is, _whose_ accident was it? If it had been my accident, I should expect to pay for it." Phaeton took hold of his brother's arm with a quiet but powerful grasp, and led him to the door. "You're needlessly excited, Ned," said he. "Go outside till you get cooled off." And he put him out and shut the door. Then he asked Jimmy how it happened, and Jimmy told us about it. "I'm sorry you poured any of it in the cases," said Phaeton. "For, you see, the cases have a different letter in every box, and if you take a handful of type like that and pour it in at random, it makes considerable trouble." "Oh, yes; I knew all that before," said Jimmy; "but when the form burst, and I saw the type all in a mess on the floor, I was so frightened I lost my head, and didn't know what I was about. I wish I could pay for it," he added, as he left the office. "Don't let it trouble you," said Phaeton. For a long time Jimmy did not come near us again, and as he had carried off the copy of his remaining poems, that enterprise came to an end--for the time being, at least. There was no lack of other jobs, but we sometimes had a little trouble in collecting the bills. Small boys would keep coming to order visiting-cards by the hundred, with their name on them in ornamental letters,--boys who never used any visiting-card but a long, low whistle, and never had a cent of money except on Fourth of July. When Phaeton or I was there, they were given to understand that a pressure of other work compelled us to decline theirs with regret; but, if they found Ned alone, they generally persuaded him that they had good prospects of getting money from some source or other, and so went away with the cards in their pockets. There was no lack of advice, either. The boys who lounged in the office were always proposing new schemes. The favorite one seemed to be the publication of a small paper, which some of them promised to write for, others to get advertisements for, and others to distribute. After the book of poems had come to an untimely end, Ned was fierce for going into the paper scheme; but Phaeton figured it up, declared we should have to do an immense amount of work for about a cent an hour, and put an effectual veto on the plan. Charlie Garrison, who, while the other boys only lounged and gossiped, "learned the case," and quietly picked up a good deal of knowledge of the trade, intimated one day that he would like to be taken into the partnership. "Yes," said Ned; "there's work enough here for another man; but you'd have to put in some capital, you know." "Put in capitals wherever they belong, of course," said Charlie; "begin proper names and every line of poetry." "I mean money," said Ned. "Money's called capital, you know, when it's put into business. We put capital into this office, and you'd have to, if we took you into partnership." "Oh, that's it," said Charlie, musingly. "Well, I suppose I could; we live on the Bowl System at our house; but I should hardly like to take it." "The Bowl System? What's that?" said Ned. "Soup, or bread-and-milk, for every meal?" "No; not that at all," said Charlie. "You see, on the highest shelf in our pantry there's a two-quart bowl, with a blue-and-gold rim around it. Whenever any member of the family gets any money, he puts it into that bowl; and whenever any of us want any money, we take it out of that bowl. I've seen the bowl full of money, and I've seen it when it had only five cents in it. The fullest I ever saw it was just before sister Edith was married. For a long time they all kept putting in as much as they could, and hardly took out anything at all, till the bowl got so full that the money slid off from the top. Then they took it all out, and went down town and bought her wedding things. And oh, you ought to have seen them! Stacks and stacks of clothes that I don't even know the names of." "Then I suppose you could help yourself to all the capital you want, out of the bowl?" said Ned. "Yes, I could," said Charlie; "but I shouldn't like to; for I am the only one of the family that never puts anything into it. Perhaps other people don't know it by that name, but brother George calls it living on the Bowl System." "Why don't you put the money into the bank?" said Phaeton. "Father had a lot of money in a bank once," said Charley, "but the bank broke, and he said he'd never put in any more." "I wish we lived on the Bowl System at our house," said Monkey Roe. "It wouldn't be many days before I'd have a velocipede and a double-barrelled pistol." CHAPTER XI. A COMICAL COMET. The business of the printing-office went on pretty steadily, so far as Ned and I were concerned. Phaeton's passion for invention would occasionally lead him off for a while into some other enterprise; yet he, too, seemed to take a steady interest in "the art deservative." The most notable of those enterprises was originated by Monkey Roe, who had considerable invention, but lacked Phaeton's powers of execution. One day Monkey came to the door of the office with Mitchell's "Astronomy" in his hand, and called out Phaeton. "There's some mischief on foot now," said Ned; "and if Fay goes off fooling with any of Monkey Roe's schemes, we shall hardly be able to print the two thousand milk-tickets that John Spencer ordered yesterday. It's too bad." When they had gone so far from the office that we could not hear their conversation, I saw Monkey open the book and point out something to Phaeton. They appeared to carry on an earnest discussion for several minutes, after which they laid the book on the railing of the fence and disappeared, going by the postern. Ned ran out, and brought in the book. On looking it over, we found a leaf turned down at the chapter on comets. Neither of us had studied astronomy. "I know what they're up to," said Ned, after taking a long look at a picture of Halley's comet. "I heard the other day that Mr. Roe was learning the art of stuffing birds. I suppose Monkey wants Fay to help him shoot one of those things, or catch it alive, may be, and sell it to his father." Then I took a look at the picture, and read a few lines of the text. "I don't think it's quite fair in Fay," continued Ned, "to go off on speculations of that sort for himself alone, and leave us here to do all the work in the office, when he has an equal share of our profits." "Ned," said I, "I don't believe this is a bird." "Well, then, it's a fish," said Ned, who had gone back to his case and was setting type. "They stuff fishes, as well as birds." "But it seems to me it can hardly be a fish," said I, after another look. "Why not?" "Because I don't see any fins." "That's nothing," said Ned. "My book of natural history says a fish's tail is a big fin. And I'm sure that fellow has tail enough to get along very well without any other fins." This did not satisfy me, and at length we agreed to go and consult Jack-in-the-Box about it. "Jack," said Ned, as soon as we arrived at the Box, "did you ever stuff a fish?" "Do you take me for a cook?" said Jack, looking considerably puzzled. "I don't mean a fish to bake," said Ned. "I mean one to be put in a glass case, and kept in a museum." "Oh," said Jack, "I beg pardon. I didn't understand. No, I never stuffed a fish." "But, I suppose you know all about how it's done?" said Ned. "Oh, yes; I understand it in a general way." "What I want to get at," said Ned, "is this: how much is a fish worth that's suitable for stuffing?" "I don't know exactly," said Jack, "but I should say different ones would probably bring different prices, according to their rarity." "That sounds reasonable," said Ned. "Now, how much should you say a fellow would probably get for one of this sort?" and he opened the Astronomy at the picture of Halley's comet. Something was the matter with Jack's face. It twitched around in all sorts of ways, and his eyes sparkled with a kind of electric light. But he passed his hand over his features, took a second look at the picture, and answered: "If you can catch one of those, I should say it would command a very high price." "So I thought," said Ned. "Should you say as much as a hundred dollars, Jack?" "I should not hesitate to say fully two hundred," said Jack, as he took his flag and went out doors to signal a freight-train. "I see it all, as plain as day," said Ned to me, as we walked away. "Fay has gone off to make a lot of money by what father would call an outside speculation, and left us to dig away at the work in the office." "Perhaps he'll go shares with us," said I. "No, he won't," said Ned. "But I have an idea. I think I can take a hand in that speculation." "How will you do it?" "I'll offer Fay and Monkey a hundred dollars for their fish, if they catch it. That'll seem such a big price, they'll be sure to take it. And then I'll sell it for two hundred, as Jack says. So I'll make as much money as both of them together. And I must give Jack a handsome present for telling me about it." "That seems to be a good plan," said I. "And I hope they'll catch two, so that I can buy one and speculate on it. But, then," I added, sorrowfully, "I haven't the hundred dollars to pay for it, and there's no Aunt Mercy in our family, and we don't live on the Bowl System." "Never mind," said Ned, in a comforting tone. "Perhaps you'll inherit a big fortune from some old grandmother you never heard of, till she died and they ripped open her bed-tick and let the gold tumble out. Lots of people do." As we arrived home, we saw Phaeton and Monkey coming by the postern with half a dozen hoops--that is to say, half a dozen long, thin strips of ash, which would have been hoops after the cooper had bent them into circles and fastened the ends together. "That's poor stuff to make fish-poles," said Ned, in a whisper; "but don't let them know that we know what they're up to." They brought them into the office, got some other pieces of wood, and went to work constructing a light frame about ten feet long, three feet high at the highest part, and a foot wide--like that shown in the engraving. [Illustration: THE FRAME.] "What are you making, Fay?" said Ned. "Wait a while, and you'll see," said Phaeton. Ned winked at me in a knowing way, and we went on printing milk-tickets. When the frame was completed, Monkey and Phaeton went away. "I see," whispered Ned. "They're going to catch him with a net. The netting will be fastened on all around here, and this big end left open for him to go in. Then, when he gets down to this round part, he'll find he can't go any farther, and then they'll haul him up. It's all as plain as day." But when Monkey and Phaeton returned, in about half an hour, instead of netting they brought yellow tissue-paper and several candles. We pretended to take very little interest in the proceeding, but watched them over our shoulders. When we saw them fasten the tissue-paper all around the frame, except on the top, and fit the candles into auger-holes bored in the cross-pieces at the bottom, Ned whispered to me again: "Don't you see? That isn't a net. They're going to have a light in it, and carry it along the shore to attract the fish. It's plain enough now." "If you'll be on hand to-night," said Monkey, "and follow us, you may see some fun." "All right! We'll be on hand," said Ned and I. In the evening we all met in the office--all except Phaeton, who was a little late. "Monkey," said Ned, in a confidential tone, "I want to make you an offer." "Offer away," answered Monkey. "If you catch one," said Ned, "I'll give you a hundred dollars for it." "If I catch one?" said Monkey. "If--I--catch--one? Oh, yes--all right! I'll give you whatever I catch, for that price. Though I may not catch anything but Hail Columbia." "But I won't take it unless it's the kind they stuff," said Ned. "The kind--they--stuff?" said Monkey. "Did you say the kind _they_ stuff, or the kind _of_ stuff? Oh, yes--the kind of Hail Columbia they stuff. That would be a bald eagle, I should think." At this moment Phaeton joined us. "It's no use, Fay," said Monkey. "Jack won't let us hoist it on the signal-pole. He says it might mislead some of the engineers, and work mischief." "Hoist it on the signal-pole," whispered Ned to me. "Then it's a bird they're going to catch, after all, and not a fish. I see it now. Probably some wonderful kind of night-hawk." "Well, then, what do you think is the next best place?" said Phaeton. "I think Haven's barn, by all odds," Monkey answered promptly. "Haven's barn it is, then," said Phaeton, and they shouldered the thing and walked off, we following. Before we arrived at the barn, Holman, Charlie Garrison, and at least a dozen other boys had joined us, one by one. The numerous ells and sheds attached to this barn enabled Monkey and Phaeton to mount easily to the ridgepole of the highest part, where they fastened the monster, and quickly lighted all her battle-lanterns, when she blazed out against the blackness of the night like some terrific portent. "Now you stay here and keep her in order," said Monkey, "while I go for Adams." Mr. Adams was an amateur astronomer of considerable local celebrity, whose little observatory, built by himself, was about fifty rods distant from Haven's barn. Unfortunately, his convivial habits were as famous as his scientific attainments, and Roe knew about where to find him. I went with him on the search. We went first to the bar-room of the "Cataract House, by James Tone," but we did not find him there. "Then," said Roe, "I know where he is, for sure," and he went to a dingy, wooden building on State street, which had small windows with red curtains. This building was ornamented with a poetical sign, which every boy in town knew by heart, and could sing to the tune of "Oats, peas, beans." W. WHEELER KEEPS IN HERE, SELLS GROCERIES, CIDER, ALE, AND BEER; HIS PRODUCE IS GOOD, HIS WEIGHT IS JUST, HIS PROFITS SMALL, AND CANNOT TRUST; AND THOSE WHO BUY SHALL BE WELL USED, SHALL NOT BE CHEATED, NOR ABUSED. "Is Professor Adams present?" said Monkey, as he opened the door and peered through a cloud of tobacco smoke. An individual behind the stove returned a drowsy affirmative. Roe stepped around to him, and with a great show of secrecy whispered something in his ear. He sprang from his chair, exclaimed, "Good night, gentlemen! You will wake up to-morrow morning to find me famous," and dashed out at the door. "What is it?" said one of the loungers, detaining Monkey as he was about to leave. "A comet," whispered Monkey. "A comet, gentlemen--a blazing comet!" repeated the man aloud; and the whole company rose and followed the astronomer to his observatory. When they arrived there, they found him sitting with his eye at the instrument, uttering exclamations of thankfulness that he had lived to make this great discovery. [Illustration: "A COMET, GENTLEMEN--A BLAZING COMET!"] "Not Biela's, not Newton's, not Encke's--not a bit like any of them," said he; "all my own, gentlemen--entirely my own!" Then he took up his slate, and went to figuring upon it. Several of the crowd, who were now jammed close together around him in the little octagonal room, made generous offers of assistance. "I was always good at the multiplication-table," said one of them. "I have a fine, clear eye," said another; "can't I help yez aim the pipe?" This excited a laugh of derision from another, who inquired whether the man with the fine, clear eye "didn't know a pipe from a chube?" Another rolled up his sleeves, and said he was ready to take his turn at the crank for the cause of science; while still another expressed his willingness to blow the bellows all night, if Professor Adams would show him where the handle was. They all insisted on having a peep at the comet through the telescope, and with some jostling took turns about. One man, after taking a look, murmured solemnly: "That thing bodes no good to this city; I'm going home to make my will," and elbowed his way out of the room. "Ah, Professor," said another, "your fortune's made for all time. This'll be known to fame as the Great American Comet. I dare say it's as big as all the comets of the old world put together." Mr. Wheeler took an unusually long look. "Gentlemen," said he, "I don't believe that comet will stay with us long. We'd better leave the Professor to his calculations, while we go back and have a toast to his great discovery." But nobody stirred. Then Mr. Wheeler left the observatory, and walked straight up to Haven's barn. He picked up a cart-stake, swung it around his head, and hurled it; and, in the twinkling of an eye, that comet had passed its perihelion, and shot from the solar system in so long an ellipse that I fear it will never return. Unfortunately, the flying cart-stake not only put out the comet, but struck Phaeton, who had been left there by Monkey Roe to manage the thing, and put his arm out of joint. He bore it heroically, and climbed down to the ground alone before he told us what had happened. Then, as he nearly fainted away, we helped him home, while Holman ran for the family physician, who arrived in a few minutes and set the arm. "It serves me right," said Phaeton, "for ever lending myself to any of Monkey Roe's schemes to build a mere fool-thing." "I'm sorry you're hurt," said Ned; "but it does seem as if that comet was a silly machine, only intended to deceive me and Professor Adams, instead of being for the good of mankind, like your other inventions. And now you won't be able to do anything in the printing-office for a long while, just when we're crowded with work. If you were not my own brother, and such an awful good fellow, we wouldn't let you have any share of the profits for the next month." CHAPTER XII. A LITERARY MYSTERY. The printing-office enjoyed a steady run of custom, and, as Ned had said, we were just now crowded with work. Almost every hour that we were not in bed, or at school, was spent in setting type or pulling the press. It was not uncommon for Ned to work with a sandwich on the corner of his case; and, as often as he came to a period, he would stop and take a bite. "This is the way Barnum used to do," said he, "when he started his museum--take his lunch with him, and stay right there. It's the only way to make a great American success"--and he took another bite, his dental semicircle this time inclosing a portion of the bread that bore a fine proof-impression of his thumb and finger in printer's ink. Though Phaeton was not able, for some time, to take a hand at the work, he rendered good service by directing things, as the head of the firm. He was often suspicious, where Ned and I would have been taken in at once, as to the circuses and minstrel shows for which the boys used to come and order tickets and programmes by the hundred, always proposing to pay for them out of the receipts of the show. The number of these had increased enormously, and it looked as if the boys got them up mainly for the sake of seeing themselves in print. Sometimes they would write out the most elaborate programmes, and then want them printed at once, before their enterprises had any existence except on paper. One boy, whose father was an actor, made out a complete cast of the play of "Romeo and Juliet," with himself for the part of _Romeo_, and Monkey Roe as _Juliet_. One day a little curly-headed fellow, named Moses Green, came to the office, and wanted us to print a hundred tickets like this: +-------------------+ | MOSE GREEN'S | | MINSTREL SHOW. | | Admit the Bearer. | +-------------------+ "Where's your show going to be?" said Phaeton. "I don't know," said Moses. "If Uncle James should sell his horses, perhaps he would let me have it in his barn." "Yes, that would be a good place," said Phaeton. "And who are your actors?" "I don't know," said Moses. "But I'm going to ask Charlie Garrison, because he's got a good fife; and Lem Whitney, because he knows how to black up with burnt cork; and Andy Wilson, because he knows 'O Susanna' all by heart." "And what is the price of admission?" said Phaeton. "I don't know," said Moses. "But I thought if the boys wouldn't pay five cents, I'd take four." "I'll tell you what 'tis, Moses," said Phaeton; "we're badly crowded with work just now, and it would accommodate us if you could wait a little while. Suppose you engage your actors first, and rehearse the pieces that you're going to play, and get the barn rigged up, and burn the cork, and make up your mind about the price; and then give us a call, and we'll be happy to print your tickets for you." "All right," said Moses. "I'll go home and burn a cork, right away." And he went off, whistling "O Susanna." "Fay, I think that's bad policy," said Ned, when Moses was out of sight. "I don't see how you can say that," said Phaeton. "It's as plain as day," said Ned. "We ought to have gone right on and printed his tickets. Suppose he hasn't any show, and never will have one--what of it? We shouldn't suffer. His father would see that our bill was paid. I've heard Father say that Mr. Green was the very soul of honor." "Ah, Ned, I'm afraid you're getting more sharp than honest," said Phaeton. From the fact that our school has hardly been mentioned in this story, it must not be inferred that we were not all this time acquiring education by the usual methods. The performances here recorded took place out of school-hours, or on Saturdays, when there was no school. The events inside the temple of learning were generally so dull that they would hardly interest the story-reader. Yet there was now and then an accident or exploit which relieved the tediousness of study-time. On one occasion, Robert Fox brought to school, as part of his luncheon, a bottle of pop-beer. An hour before intermission we were startled by a tremendous hissing and foaming sound, and the heads of the whole school were instantly turned toward the quarter whence it came. There was Fox with the palm of his hand upon the cork, which was half-way in the bottle that stood upon the floor beside his desk. Though he threw his whole weight upon it, he could not force it in any farther, and the beer rose like a fountain almost to the ceiling, and fell in a beautiful circle, of which Fox and his bottle were the interesting centre. [Illustration: "IT ROSE LIKE A FOUNTAIN."] Any boy who has ever attended a school taught by an irascible master will readily imagine the sequel. Isaac Holman recorded the affair in the form of a Latin fable, which was so popular that we printed it. Here it is: VULPES ET BEER. _Quondam vulpes bottulum poppi beeris in schola tulit, quod in arca reponebat. Sed corda laxa, ob vim beeris, cortex collum reliquit, et beer, spumans, se pavimento effudit. Deinde magister capit unum extremum lori, ci vulpes alterum sentiebat. Hæc fabula docet that, when you bring pop-beer to school, you should tie the string so tight that it can't pop off before lunch-time._ When Jack-in-the-Box saw this fable, he said it was a good fable, and he was proud of his pupil, though some of the tenses were a little out of joint. Holman said the reason why he put the moral in English was, because that was the important part of it, and ought to be in a language that everybody could understand. Monkey Roe said he was glad to hear this explanation, as he had been afraid it was because Holman had got to the end of his Latin. Charlie Garrison, in attempting to criticise the title of the fable, only exposed himself to ridicule. "It must be a mistake," said he; "for you know you can't eat beer. It's plain enough that it ought to be, _Vulpes_" (he pronounced this word in one syllable) "_drank beer_." This shows the perils of ignorance. If Charlie had had a thorough classical training, he wouldn't have made such a mistake. It was a curious fact that the boys who had never studied Latin, and to whom the blunder had to be explained, laughed at him more unmercifully than anybody else. But Holman's literary masterpiece (if it was his) was in rhyme, and in some respects it remains a mystery to this day. One evening he called to see me, and intimated that he had some confidential business on hand, for which we would better adjourn to the printing-office, and accordingly we went there. "I want a job of printing done," said he, "provided it can be done in the right way." "We shall be glad to do it as well as we possibly can," said I. "What is it?" "I can't tell you what it is," said he. "Well, let me see the manuscript," said I. "There isn't any manuscript," said he. "Oh, it isn't prepared yet?" said I. "When will it be ready?" "There never will be any manuscript for it," said he. I began to be puzzled. Still, I remembered that small signs and labels were often printed, consisting of only a word or two, which did not require any copy. "Is it a sign?" said I. "No." "Labels?" "No." "Then what in the world is it? And how do you suppose I am going to print for you, unless I know what to print?" "That's the point of the whole business," said Isaac. "I want you to let me come into your office, and use your type and press to print a little thing that concerns nobody but myself, and I don't care to have even you know about it. I want you to let me do all the work myself, when you are not here, and I shall wash up the rollers, distribute the type, destroy all my proofs, and leave everything in the office as I found it. Of course I shall pay you the same as if you did the work." "But how can you set the type?" said I. "You don't even know the case, do you?" "No," said he; "but I suppose the letters are all in it somewhere, and I can find them with a little searching." "And do you know how to lock up a form?" said I. "I've often seen you do it," said he; "and I think I'm mechanic enough to manage it." "When do you want to go to work?" "_Duo eques, rectus ab_--to-night, right away." "Very well--good night!" said I. When I went to the office next day, I found Ned busily at work trying to fit together some small torn scraps of paper. They were printed on one side, and, as fast as he found where one belonged, he fastened it in place by pasting it to a blank sheet which he had laid down as a foundation. When I arrived, the work had progressed as far as this: TO ON ED. Vainly trive sweetness-- Instantly comet back: Over rt rol dream its fleetness, with its tor and rack. how I sigh my od. Going in fan long agone.-- Looking cross he jo I knew er me dawn earest and bes aughters. aspire t ove regard? Even in otus dext aters, Never again to ai ward. "Here's a mystery," said Ned. "What is it?" said I. "Did you print this?" said he, suddenly looking into my face suspiciously. "No," said I, calmly; "I never saw it before." "Well, then, somebody must have broken into our office last night. For when I came in this morning, I found the oil all burned out of the big lamp,--I filled it yesterday,--and these torn scraps in the wood-box. I got so many together pretty easily, but I can't find another one that will fit." "It looks as if it had been a poem," said I. "Yes," said Ned; "of course it was. And oh, look here! It was an acrostic, too!" Ned took out his pencil, and filled in what he supposed to be the missing initial letters, making the name VIOLA GLIDDEN. "It _may_ have been an acrostic," said I; "but you can't tell with certainty, so much is missing." "There isn't any doubt in my mind," said Ned; "and it's perfectly evident who was the burglar. Everybody knows who's sweet on Viola Glidden." "I should think a good many would be sweet on her," said I; "she's the handsomest girl in town." "Well, then," said Ned, "look at that 'otus dext.' Of course it was _totus dexter_,--and who's the boy that uses that classic expression? I wouldn't have thought that so nice a fellow as Holman would break in here at midnight, and put his mushy love-poetry into print at our expense. He must have been here about all night, for that lamp full of oil lasts nine hours." "There's an easy way to punish him, whoever he was," said Phaeton, who had come in in time to hear most of our conversation. "How is that?" said Ned. "Get out a handbill," said Phaeton, "and spread it all over town, offering a reward of one cent for the conviction of the burglar who broke into our office last night and printed an acrostic, of which the following is a fac-simile of a mutilated proof. Then set up this, just as you have it here." "That's it; that'll make him hop," said Ned. "I'll go to work on it at once." "But," said I, "it'll make Miss Glidden hop too." "Let her hop." "But then perhaps her brother John will call around and make you hop." "He can't do it," said Ned. "The man that owns a printing-press can make everybody else hop, and nobody can make him hop--unless it is a man that owns another press. Whoever tries to fight a printing-press always gets the worst of it. Father says so, and he knows, for he tried it on the _Vindicator_ when he was running for sheriff and they slandered him." At this point I explained that Holman had not come there without permission, and that he expected to pay for everything. "Then why didn't you tell us that before?" said Phaeton. "I was going to tell you he had been here," said I, "and that he did not want any of us to know what he printed. But when I saw that you had found that out, I thought perhaps, in fairness to him, I ought not to tell you _who_ it was." "All right," said Ned. "Of course, it's none of our business how much love-poetry Holman makes, or how spooney it is, or what girl he sends it to, if he pays for it all. But don't forget to charge him for the oil. By the way, so many of the boys owe us for printing, I've bought a blank-book to put the accounts in, or we shall forget some of them. Monkey Roe's mother paid for the 'Orphan Boy' yesterday. I'll put that down now. Half a dollar wasn't enough to charge her; we must make it up on the next job we do for her or Monkey." While he was saying this, he wrote in his book: _Mrs. Roe per Monkey 12 orphan boys 50 Paid._ Hardly had he finished the entry, when the door of the office was suddenly opened, and Patsy Rafferty thrust in his head and shouted: "Jimmy the Rhymer's killed!" "What?" "What?" "I say Jimmy the Rhymer's killed! And you done it, too!" I am sorry that Patsy said "done," when he meant _did_. But he was a good-hearted boy, nevertheless; and probably his excitement was what made him forget his grammar. "What do you mean?" said Ned, who had turned as pale as ashes. "You ought to know what I mean," said Patsy. "Just because he had the bad luck to spill a few of your old types, you abused him like a pickpocket, and said he'd got to pay for 'em, and drove him out of the office. And he's been down around the depot every day since, selling papers, tryin' to make money enough to pay you. And now he's got runned over be a hack, when he was goin' across the street to a gentleman that wanted a paper. And they've took him home,--and his blood's all along the road,--and my mother says it's on your head, too, you miserable skinflint! I won't have any of your gifts!" And with that Patsy thrust his hand into his pocket, drew out the visiting-cards that Ned had printed for him, and threw them high into the room, so that in falling they scattered over everything. "I'll bring back your car," he continued, "as soon as I can get it. I lent it to Teddy Dwyer last week." Then he shut the door with a bang, and went away. We looked at one another in consternation. "What shall we do?" said Ned. "I think we ought to go to Jimmy's house at once," said I. "Yes, of course," said Ned. And he and I started. Phaeton went the other way--as we afterward learned, to inform his mother, who had long been noted for her benevolence in cases of distress and sorrow among her neighbors. Ned and I not only went by the postern, but made a bee-line for Jimmy's house, going over any number of fences, and straight through door-yards, grass-plots, and garden-patches, without the slightest reference to streets or paths. We left in such a hurry that we forgot to lock up the office. While we were gone, Monkey Roe sauntered in, found Holman's acrostic which Ned had pieced together, and, when he went away, carried it with him. CHAPTER XIII. A LYRIC STRAIN. The impulse which had sent Ned and me headlong toward Jimmy's home as soon as we heard of the accident, found itself exhausted when we reached the gate. As if by concert, we both came to a dead halt. "What shall we do?" said Ned. "If Jimmy was alive, we could whistle and call him out; or we might even go and knock at the door. But I don't know how to go into a house where somebody's dead. I wish we had gone first and asked Jack-in-the-Box what was the right way to do." "Perhaps Jimmy isn't dead," said I. "There's no black crape on the door." "That doesn't prove it," said Ned; "for Jimmy's folks might not have any crape in the house." While we were still debating the question, the front door opened, and Jack-in-the-Box came out. "You're the very boy--I mean man--I wanted to see," said Ned, running up to him, and speaking in a whisper. "That's fortunate," said Jack. "Tell me what I can do for you." "Why, you see," said Ned, "we came right over here as soon as we heard about Jimmy. But we don't know the right way to go into a house where anybody's dead. We never did it before." "Jimmy isn't dead," said Jack. Ned literally gave a great bound. I suppose he felt as if he had been suddenly acquitted of a serious charge of murder. "Oh, Jack, how lovely!" said he, and threw his arms around Jack's neck. "But I suppose he must be hurt, though?" "Yes," said Jack, "he's pretty badly hurt." "Still, if he's alive, we can do something for him," said Ned. "Oh, certainly!" said Jack. "A great deal can be done for him--a great deal has been done already. But I think you'd better not go in to see him just yet. Wait a few days, till he gets stronger," and Jack hurried away. We still lingered before the house, and presently a little girl came out, eyed us curiously, and then went to swinging on the chain that supported the weight which kept the gate shut. "You don't seem to go along," said she, after a while. We made no answer. "Did you want to know about my brother Jimmy?" said she, after another pause. "Yes," said I, "we'd be glad to hear all about him." "Well, I'll tell you all about it," said she. "Jimmy's hurt very bad--because he was runned over by a wagon--because he got in the way--because he didn't see it--because a gentleman wanted a paper on the other side of the street--because Jimmy was selling them--because he wanted to get money--because he had to pay a great lot of it to a naughty, ugly boy that lives over that way somewhere--because he just touched one of that boy's old things, and it fell right to pieces. And he said Jimmy'd got to pay money for it, and shouldn't come in his house any more. And Jimmy was saving all his money to pay; and he's got two dollars and a half already from the papers, besides a dollar that Isaac Holman gave him to write a poem for him. And that makes almost five dollars, I guess." "Let's go home," said Ned. But I lingered to ask one question of the voluble little maiden. "What poem did Jimmy write for Isaac Holman?" "I don't know," she answered. "It's the only poem Jimmy ever wouldn't read to me. He said it was very particular, and he mustn't let anybody see it." A literary light dawned in upon me, as we slowly walked away. Ned was silent for a long time. At last he spoke. "I feel sick," said he. "What's the matter?" said I. "The matter is," said he, "that everybody seems to be trying to make out that it's all my fault that Jimmy got hurt." "Patsy Rafferty and Jimmy's sister are not everybody," said I. "Of course not; but they only talk what they hear other people say." "I suppose you were a little to blame," said I. "Perhaps I was," said Ned, "and I wish I could do something for him. I'd get any amount of money out of Aunt Mercy--if money would do him any good." As our way home led us past Jack's box, I suggested that we should stop and consult him about it. "Jack," said Ned, "please tell us exactly how it is about Jimmy." "The poor boy is fearfully hurt," said Jack. "One leg is broken, and the other badly bruised." "Do you know of anything we can do for him?" "What do you think of doing?" said Jack. "If money was wanted," said Ned, and the tears started in his eyes, "I could work on Aunt Mercy's feelings and get him any amount." Jack drummed with his fingers on the arm of his chair, and said nothing for some minutes. Then he spoke slowly. "I doubt if the family would accept a gift of money from any source." "Couldn't I, at least, pay the doctor's bill?" said Ned. "You might," said Jack. "Yes, of course," said Ned; "I can go to the doctor privately, and tell him not to charge them a cent, and Aunt Mercy'll pay him. That's the way to do it. What doctor do they have?" "Dr. Grill." "Dr. Grill!" Ned repeated in astonishment. "Why, Dr. Grill doesn't know anything at all. Father says somebody said if a sick man was made of glass, and had a Drummond light in his stomach, Dr. Grill couldn't see what ailed him." "We don't need a Drummond light to see what ails Jimmy," said Jack, quietly. "Still," said Ned, "he ought to have a good doctor. Can't you tell them to get Dr. Campbell? Father says he has tied the croaking artery nineteen times. Dr. Campbell is the man for my money! But how queer it must feel to have nineteen hard knots tied in your croaking artery. Do you think Jimmy's croaking artery will have to be tied up, Jack? If it does, I tell you what, Dr. Campbell's the man to do it." Jack laughed immoderately. But Ned was not the only person who ever made himself ridiculous by recommending a physician too enthusiastically. "I don't see what you're laughing at," said he. "It seems to me it's a pretty serious business." "I was only laughing at a harmless little mistake of yours," said Jack. "When you said 'the croaking artery,' I presume you meant the carotid artery--this one here in the side of the neck." "If that's the right name of it, that's what I meant," said Ned. "And when your father said Dr. Campbell had tied it nineteen times," continued Jack, "he didn't mean that he had tied nineteen hard knots in one person's, but that he had had occasion to tie the artery in nineteen different persons." "And will Jimmy's have to be tied?" said Ned. "As the carotid artery is in the neck, and Jimmy's injuries are all in his legs, I should say not," said Jack. "Of course not; I might have thought of that," said Ned. "But you see, Jack, I don't know much about doctor-things anyway, and to-day I don't know what I do know, for everybody's been saying I'm to blame for Jimmy's hurt, and making me feel like a murderer. I'll do whatever you say, Jack. If you say run for Dr. Campbell, I'll go right away." "I think Dr. Grill will do everything that ought to be done," said Jack. "There's nothing you can do now, but perhaps we can think of something when Jimmy begins to get well." "Then you think he will get well?" said Ned. "I hope he will," said Jack. "I tell you what 'tis," said Ned, as we continued our walk toward home, "that Jack-in-the-Box is the nicest fellow that ever waved a flag. Sometimes I think he knows more than Father does." A day or two later, Ned went to see his aunt, and I went with him. "Aunt Mercy," said he, "one of the best boys in this town has got badly hurt--run over down by the depot--and his folks are so awful poor I don't see what they're going to do." "Yes, I heard about it," said Aunt Mercy. "It was that wretched, brutal brother of yours who was to blame for it all." "Oh no, Aunty, Fay had nothing at all to do with it," said Ned. "Don't tell me, child; you needn't try to shield your wicked brother; I know all about it. Miss Pinkham came to call on me, and told me the whole story. She said the poor little fellow tipped over a type or something, and one of those Rogers boys drove him away, and swore at him dreadfully, and made him go and sell papers under the wheels of the cars and omnibuses, to get money to pay for it. Of course I knew which one it was, but I did not say anything, I felt so deeply mortified for the family." It is difficult to say what answer Ned ought to have made to this. To convince his aunt that Miss Pinkham's version of the story was incorrect, would have been hopeless; to plead guilty to the indictment as it stood, would have been unjust to himself; and to leave matters as they were, seemed unjust to his brother. And above all was the consideration that if he vexed his aunt, he would probably defeat the whole object of his visit--getting help for Jimmy. So he remained silent. "What were you going to say, Edmund Burton, about poor Jimmy Redmond?" said his aunt. "I was going to say," Ned answered, "that I wished I could help him a little by paying his doctor's bill, and not let him know anything about it." "You lovely, benevolent boy!" exclaimed Aunt Mercy, "that's exactly what you shall do. You're an ornament to the family. Your right hand doesn't know what your left hand's doing. As soon as you find out what the doctor's bill is, come to me, and I'll furnish you the money. Oh, what a pity that hard-hearted brother won't follow your noble example." Jimmy had the best of care; Mrs. Rogers did a great deal, in a quiet, almost unnoticeable way, to add to his comforts; and after a while it was announced that he might receive short visits from the boys. Phaeton, Ned, and I were his first visitors. We found him lying in a little room where the sunbeams poured in at a south window, but not till they had been broken into all sorts of shapes by the foliage of a wistaria, the shadows of which moved with every breeze to and fro across a breadth of rag carpet. The walls were ornamented with a dozen or twenty pictures--some of them out of old books and papers, and some drawn and painted in water-colors by Jimmy himself--none of them framed. The water-colors were mainly illustrations of his own poems. I am not able to say whether they possessed artistic merit, for I was a boy at the time, and of course a boy, who only knows what pleases him, can not be expected to know what is artistic and ought to please him. But some of them appeared to me very wonderful, especially one that illustrated "The Unlucky Fishermen." It was at the point where Joe and Isaac were trying to catch a ride behind an omnibus. Not only did the heroes themselves appear completely tired out by the long day of fruitless fishing, but the dog looked tired, the bus horses were evidently tired, the driver was tired, the boy who called out "Whip behind!" was tired, even the bus itself had a tired look, and this general air of weariness produced in the picture a wonderful unity of effect. [Illustration: "JIMMY LOOKED SO PALE AND THIN, AS HE LAY THERE."] Jimmy looked so pale and thin, as he lay there, that we were all startled, and Ned seemed actually frightened. He lost control of himself, and broke out passionately: "Oh, Jimmy, dear Jimmy, you mustn't die! We can't have you die! We'll get all the doctors in the city, and buy you everything you need, only don't die!" Here he thrust his hand into his pocket, and brought out two silver dollars. "Take them, Jimmy, take them!" said he. "Aunt Mercy's got plenty more that you can have when these are gone. And we don't care anything about the type you pied. I'd rather pi half the type in the office than see your leg broken. We can't any of us spare you. Live, Jimmy, live! and you may be proof-reader in our office,--we need one dreadfully, Jack-in-the-Box says so,--and you know pretty nearly everything, and can soon learn the rest, and we'll get you the green shade for your eyes, and you're awful round-sho--that is, I mean, in fact, I think you are the very man for it. And you can grow up with the business, and always have a good place. And then, Jimmy, if you want to use your spare time in setting up your poems, you may, and change them just as much as you want to, and we won't charge you a cent for the use of the type." Ned certainly meant this for a generous offer, and Jimmy seemed to consider it so; but if he could have taken counsel of some of the sad-faced men who have spent their lives in proof-reading, I think, perhaps, he would have preferred to die. Ned had scarcely finished his apostrophe, when Jimmy's little sister brought in a beautiful bouquet, sent by Miss Glidden to brighten up the sick boy's chamber. Looking around, we saw that other friends had been equally thoughtful. Isaac Holman had sent a basket of fruit; Monkey Roe, a comic almanac, three or four years old, but just as funny; Jack-in-the-Box a bottle of cordial; and Patsy Rafferty, a small bag of marbles. Whether these last had been acquired by honest purchase, or by the gambling operation known as "playing for good," it would be ungenerous to inquire. "How do you amuse yourself, Jimmy?" said Phaeton. "I don't have much amusement," answered Jimmy; "but still I can write a little." "Poetry?" said Phaeton. "Oh, yes," said Jimmy; "I write very little except poetry. There's plenty of prose in the world already." "Perhaps," said Phaeton, "if you feel strong enough, you'll read us your latest poem." "Yes, certainly, if you'd like to hear it," said Jimmy. "Please pull out a box that you'll see under the head of my bed here." Phaeton thrust his arm under, and pulled out a pine box, which was fastened with a small brass padlock. "The key is under the dying hound," said Jimmy. Looking around the room, we saw that one of Jimmy's pictures represented a large dog dying, and a little boy and girl weeping over it. Whether it was Beth Gelert, or some other heroic brute, I do not know. The corner of this picture being lifted, disclosed a small key, hung over the head of a carpet-tack driven into the wall. When the box was opened, we saw that it was nearly full of manuscripts. "The last one," said Jimmy, who could not turn from his one position on the bed, "is written on blue paper, with a piece torn off from the upper right-hand corner." Phaeton soon found it, and handed it to Jimmy. "It is called an 'Ode to a Horseshoe'--that one over the door," said Jimmy. "I found it in the road the day before I was hurt, and brought it right home, and put it up there." "Then it hasn't brought you much good luck, so far, has it?" said Phaeton. "I don't know about that," said Jimmy. "It's true I was hurt the very next day; but something seems to have brought me a great many good friends." "Oh! you always had those, horseshoe or no horseshoe," said Ned. "I'm glad if I did," said Jimmy; "though I never suspected it. But now I should like to read you the poem, and get your opinions on it; because it's in a different vein from most of my others." And then Jimmy read us his verses: ODE TO A HORSESHOE. Thou relic of departed horse! Thou harbinger of luck to man! When things seem growing worse and worse, How good to find thee in the van! A hundred thousand miles, I ween! You've travelled on the flying heel-- By country roads, where fields were green, O'er pavements, with the rattling wheel. Your toe-calk, in that elder day, Was sharper than a serpent's tooth; But now it's almost worn away; The blacksmith should renew its youth. Bright is the side was next the ground, And dark the side was next the hoof; 'Tis thus true metal's only found Where hard knocks put it to the proof. For aught I know, you may have done Your mile in two nineteen or twenty; Or, on a dray-horse, never run, But walked and walked, and pulled a plenty. At last your journeys all are o'er, Whether of labor or of pleasure, And there you hang above my door, To bring me health and strength and treasure. When the reading was finished we all remained silent, till Jimmy spoke. "I should like to have you give me your opinions about it," said he. "Don't be afraid to criticise it. Of course, there must be faults in it." "That's an awful good moral about the hard knocks," said I. "Yes," said Phaeton, "it might be drawn from Jimmy's own experience. And as he says, the poem does seem to be in a new vein. I noticed a good many words that were different from any in his other pieces." "That," said Jimmy, "is because I've been studying some of the older poets lately. Jack-in-the-Box lent me Shakespeare, and I got three or four others from the school library. Probably they have had some effect on my style." Ned walked to the door, and, standing tiptoe, looked intently at the horseshoe. "One thing is certain," said he, "that passage about the toe-calk is perfectly true to nature. The toe-calk is nearly worn away, and the heel-calks are almost as bad." "It's a good poem," said I. "I don't see how you could make it any better." "Nor I," said Phaeton. "It tells the whole story." "I'm glad you like it," said Jimmy. "I felt a little uncertain about dipping into the lyric strain." "Yes," said Ned; "there's just one spot where it shows the strain, and I don't see another thing wrong about it." "What's that?" said Jimmy. "Perhaps we'd better not talk about it till you get well," said Ned. "Oh, never mind that," said Jimmy. "I don't need my legs to write poetry with, or to criticise it, either." "Well," said Ned, "I hate to find fault with it, because it's such a good poem, and I enjoyed it so much; but it seems to me you've strained the truth a little where you say 'a hundred thousand miles.'" "How so?" said Jimmy. "Calculate it for yourself," said Ned. "No horse is likely to travel more than about fifty miles a day. And if he did that every day, he'd go three hundred miles in a week. At that rate, it would take him more than six years to travel a hundred thousand miles. But no shoe lasts a horse six years--nor one year, even. So, you see, this couldn't have travelled a hundred thousand miles. That's why I say the lyric strain is strained a little too much." "I see," said Jimmy. "You are undoubtedly right. I shall have to soften it down to a dozen thousand, or something like that." "Yes," said Ned; "soften it down. When that's done, the poem will be perfect; there won't be a single fact misstated in it." At this point, Phaeton said he thought we had staid as long as we ought to, and should be going. "I wish, Jimmy," said Ned, "you'd let me take this poem and read it to Jack-in-the-Box. I know he would enjoy it." "I've no objection," said Jimmy. "And if you can find time some day to print it for me, here's two dollars to pay for the job," and he thrust Ned's money back into his hand. "All right!" said Ned, as he saw that Jimmy would not accept the money, and yet did not want to refuse it rudely. "We'll try to make a handsome job of it. Perhaps some day it will be printed on white satin, and hung up in the Emperor of China's palace, like--whose poem was it Father told about the other day, Fay?" "Derzhavin's," said Phaeton. "Yes, Derzhavin's, whoever he was," said Ned. "And this one of Jimmy's ought to have a horseshoe embroidered in gold thread on the corner of the satin. But those funny ladies with slant eyes and little club feet will have to do that. I suppose they haven't much else to keep them busy, as they're not able to do any housework. It might have a small gold horseshoe on each of the four corners, or it might have one big horseshoe surrounding the poem. Which do you think you would like best, Jimmy?" "I've no choice; either would suit me," answered the poet. "Good-bye, Jimmy!" "Good-bye, boys!" CHAPTER XIV. AN ALARM OF FIRE. Every day some one of us called to see Jimmy. He was well taken care of, and got along nicely. Jack-in-the-Box lent him books, and each day a fresh bouquet was sent in by Miss Glidden. One day Monkey Roe called on him. "Jimmy," said he, "you know all about poetry, I suppose." "I know something about it," said Jimmy. "I have written considerable." "And are you well enough yet to undertake an odd job in it?" "Oh, yes," said Jimmy. "A fellow doesn't have to be very well to write poetry." "It isn't exactly writing poetry that I want done," said Monkey. "It's a very odd job, indeed. You might call it repairing poetry. Do poets ever repair poetry, as well as make it new?" "I don't know," said Jimmy. "I should think it might be done in some cases." "Well, now," said Monkey, "I have a broken poem. Some part of every line is gone. But the rhymes are all there, and many of the other words, and most of the beginnings of the lines. I thought a poet would know how to fill up all the blank spaces, and make it just as it was when it was whole." "I don't know," said Jimmy, doubtfully. "It might be possible to do it, and it might not. I'll do what I can for you. Let me see it, if you have it with you." Monkey pulled out of his pocket the mutilated poem of Holman's which Ned had pieced together, and, after smoothing it out, handed it to Jimmy. As Jimmy looked it over, he turned every color which it is possible for an unhappy human countenance to assume, and then gave a heavy groan. "Where did you get this, Monkey?" said he. "Found it," said Monkey. "Found it--impossible!" said Jimmy. "Upon my word, I did find it, and just in the shape you see it now. But what of it?" "Where did you find it?" said Jimmy. "In Rogers's printing-office, kicking around on the floor. It seemed to be thrown away as waste paper; so I thought there was no harm in taking it. And when I read it, it looked to me like a curious sort of puzzle, which I thought would interest you. But you seem to take it very seriously." "It's a serious matter," said Jimmy. "No harm done, I hope," said Monkey. "There may be," said Jimmy. "I can't tell. Some things about it I can't understand. I must ask you to let me keep this." "If it's so very important," said Monkey, "it ought to be taken back to Phaeton Rogers, as it was in his office that I found it." "No," said Jimmy; "it doesn't belong to him." "Then you know something about it?" said Monkey. "Yes, Monkey," said Jimmy, "I do know considerable about it. But it is a confidential matter entirely, and I shall have to insist on keeping this." "All right!" said Monkey. "I'll take your word for it." A few days after this, we were visiting Jack in his box, when, as he was turning over the leaves of his scrap-book to find something he wanted to show us, Phaeton exclaimed: "What's that I saw?" and, turning back a leaf or two, pointed to an exact fac-simile of the mutilated poem. It had evidently been made by laying a sheet of oiled paper over the original, and carefully tracing the letters with a pencil. "Oh, that," said Jack, "is something that Monkey Roe brought here. He said it was a literary puzzle, and wanted me to see if I could restore the lines. I've been so busy I haven't tried it yet." Phaeton at once wrote a note to Monkey, asking him to bring back the original; whereupon Monkey called at the office and explained why he could not return it. "All right! I'll see Jimmy about it myself," said Phaeton. "But have you made any other tracings of it besides the one Jack-in-the-Box has?" "Only two others," said Monkey. "Where are they?" "One I have at home." "And the other?" "I sent it to Miss Glidden, with a note saying that, as I had heard she wrote poetry sometimes, I thought she might be interested in this poetical puzzle." "Good gracious!" said Phaeton. "There's no use in trying to dip up _that_ spilled milk." * * * * * In those days there was an excitement and pleasure enjoyed by many boys, which was denied to Phaeton, Ned, and me. This was the privilege of running to fires. Nearly all large fires occurred in the night, and Mr. Rogers would not permit his boys to turn out from their warm beds and run at breathless speed to the other side of the town to see a building burned. So they had to lie still and possess their souls in impatience while they heard the clanging of the bells and the rattling of the engine, and perhaps saw through their window the lurid reflection on the midnight sky. There was no need for my parents to forbid me, since none of these things ever woke me. Running to fires, at least in cities, is now a thing of the past. The alarm is communicated silently by telegraph to the various engine-houses, a team is instantly harnessed to the engine, and with two or three men it is driven to the fire, which is often extinguished without the inhabitants of the next street knowing that there has been a fire at all. At the time of this story, the steam fire-engine had not been invented, and there were no paid fire departments. The hand-engine had a long pole on each side, called a brake, fastened to a frame that worked up and down like a pump-handle. When the brake on one side was down, that on the other was up. The brakes were long enough for nearly twenty men to stand in a row on each side and work them. No horses were used, but there was a long double rope, called a drag-rope, by which the men themselves drew the engine from its house to the fire. They always ran at full speed, and the two men who held the tongue, like the tongue of a wagon, had to be almost as strong as horses, to control and guide it as it went bumping over the pavement. Each engine had a number and a name, and there was an organized company, of from forty to seventy men, who had it in charge, managed it at fires, drew it out on parade-days, took pride in it, and bragged about it. The partiality of the firemen for their own engine and company was as nothing in comparison with that of the boys. Every boy in town had a violent affection for some one company, to the exclusion of all others. It might be because his father or his cousin belonged to that company, or because he thought it had the handsomest uniform (for no two companies were uniformed alike), or because it was first on the ground when his uncle's store was on fire, or because he thought it was the company destined to "wash" all others. Sometimes there would be no discoverable reason for his choice; yet the boy would be just as strong in his partisanship, and often his highest ambition would be to be able to run with the hose-cart of his favorite company. The hose was carried wound on a reel, trundled on two light wheels, which was managed by half a dozen boys, fifteen or sixteen years of age. When a fire broke out, the bells of all the churches were rung; first slowly, striking one, two, three, four, etc., according to which district of the town the fire was in, and then clanging away with rapid strokes. Thus the whole town was alarmed, and a great many people besides the firemen ran to every fire. Firemen jumped from their beds at the first tap of a bell; or, if it was in the day-time, they instantly threw down their tools, left their work, and ran. There was an intense rivalry as to which engine should first get to the fire, and which should pour the most effective stream of water upon it. But the highest pitch of excitement was reached when there was an opportunity to "wash." If the fire was too far from the water-supply to be reached through the hose of a single engine, one engine would be stationed at the side of the river or canal, or wherever the water was taken from, to pump it up and send it as far as it could through its hose, there discharging into the box of another engine, which, in turn, forced it another distance, through its own hose. If the first engine could send the water along faster than the second could dispose of it, the result would be that in a few minutes the box of the second would be overflowed, and she was then said to be "washed," which was considered a great triumph for the company that had washed her. This sort of rivalry caused the firemen to do their utmost, and they did not always confine themselves to fair means. Sometimes, when an engine was in danger of being washed, some member of the company would follow the line of the other company's hose till he came to where it passed through a dark place, and then, whipping out his pocket-knife, would cut it open and run away. When there were not enough members of a company present to man the brakes, or when they were tired out, the foreman had the right to select men from among the bystanders, and compel them to take hold. Monkey Roe was a born fireman. He never failed to hear the first tap of the bell, about ninety seconds after which he dropped from the casement of his window to the roof of the kitchen, thence to the roof of the back piazza, slid down a pillar, and was off for the fire, generally following in the wake of Red Rover Three, which was the company he sided with. It was entertaining to hear him relate his exciting adventures; but it was also somewhat exasperating. "I don't see," said Ned, after Monkey had finished one of these thrilling narratives, "what Father means by never letting us run to a fire. How does he suppose he's going to make men of us, if we never begin to do anything manly?" "Perhaps he doesn't think it is especially manly," said Phaeton. "Not manly!" exclaimed Ned, in astonishment. "I should like to know what's more manly than to take the tongue of Big Six when there's a tremendous fire and they jump her all the way down State street. Or to stand on the engine and yell at the men, when Torrent Two is trying to wash her. Why, sometimes the foreman gets so excited that he batters his trumpet all to pieces, pounding on the brakes, to cheer his men." "Knocking trumpets to pieces is very manly, of course," said Phaeton, smiling. "I didn't mean to say Father wouldn't consider it manly to be a fireman. What I should have said was, that perhaps he thought there were other ways to become manly. I should like to run to a fire once in a while; not for the sake of manliness, but to see the fun." The more Ned thought about it, the more it seemed to him it was a continuous wrong. At last he spoke to his father about it, and set forth so powerfully the danger of growing up without becoming manly, that Mr. Rogers laughingly told the boys they might run to the very next fire. The next thing was to count me in. The only difficulty to be overcome in my case was sleepiness. We canvassed many plans. Ned suggested a pistol fastened to the side of my window, with a string tied to the trigger and reaching to the ground, so that he or Phaeton could pull it on their way to the fire. The serious objection to this was that a shower would prevent the pistol from going off. It was also suggested that I have a bell, or tie the cord to a chair or something that could be pulled over and make a racket. "The objection to all those things is," said Phaeton, "that they will disturb the whole family. Now, if you would make a rope-ladder, and hang it out of your window every night, one of us could climb up quietly, and speak to you. Then you could get out at the window and come down the ladder, instead of going through the house and waking up the people." This suggestion struck us with great force; it doubled the anticipated romance. Under instructions from Phaeton, Ned and I made the ladder. In the store-room we found a bed-cord, which answered well for the sides. The rungs must be made of wood, and we had considerable difficulty in finding anything suitable. Any wood that we could have cut would be so soft that the rungs, to be strong enough, must have been very bulky. This was an objection, as I was to roll up the ladder in the day-time, and hide it under my bed. At last, Ned came over to tell me he had found just the thing, and took me to the attic of their house to see. "There," said he, pointing to half a dozen ancient-looking chairs in a cobwebbed corner. "That is exactly what we want. The rounds of those old chairs are as tough as iron." "Whose chairs are they?" said I. "Oh, anybody's, nobody's," said Ned. "I suppose they are a hundred years old. And who's ever going to sit in such awkward-looking old things as those?" It did seem preposterous to suppose that anybody would; so we went to work to take out the rounds at once. The old chairs were very strong, and after we had pulled at them in vain to spring them apart enough for the rounds to drop out, we got a saw and sawed off all the rounds an inch or two from the legs. With these, the ladder was soon made, and I went home and drove two great spikes into the sill of my window, to hang it by. I used to hang out the ladder every night, and take it in every morning. The first two nights I lay awake till almost daylight, momentarily expecting the stroke of the fire-bell. But it was not heard on those nights, nor the next, nor the next. "It would be just like our luck," said Ned, "if there should never be another fire in this town." "It would be lucky for the town," said Phaeton, who overheard him. "Perhaps so," said Ned; "and yet I could point out some houses that would look a great deal better burned up. I wonder if it would do any good to hang a horseshoe over the door." "What for?" said Phaeton. "To prevent them from burning?" "Oh, no," said Ned. "I mean over the door of our office, to--to--well, not exactly to make those houses burn, but to bring us good luck generally." It did seem a long time for the town to be without a conflagration, and one day Ned came into the office looking quite dejected. "What do you think has happened now?" said he. "Just like our luck, only worse and worse." "What is it?" said I. "The whole fire department's going to smash." "I shouldn't think you'd call that bad luck," said Phaeton. "For now when there _is_ a fire, it will be a big one, if there's no fire department to prevent it from spreading." "But the best fun," said Ned, "is to see the firemen handle the fire, and to see Red Rover Three wash Cataract Eight. I saw her do it beautifully at annual inspection. What I want is a tremendous big fire, and plenty of engines to play on it." The explanation of Ned's alarming intelligence was that the fire department had got into a quarrel with the common council, and threatened to disband. One company, who had rather a shabby engine-house, and were refused an appropriation for a new one, tied black crape on the brakes of their engine, drew it through the principal streets, and finally, stopping before the court-house yard, lifted the machine bodily and threw it over the fence. Then they threw their fireman hats after it, and quietly disbanded. This company had been known as Reliance Five. The incident frightened the common council into giving the other companies what they asked for; but there was never more a Number Five company in that city. I had got pretty tired of hanging out my rope ladder every night, and rolling it up every morning, when at last the hour of destiny struck, as the majority of poets would say--that is, the court-house bell struck the third district, and steeple after steeple caught up the tune, till, in a few minutes, the whole air was full of the wild clangor of bells. At the same time, the throats of innumerable men and boys were open, and the word "Fire!" was pouring out from them in a continuous stream. "Wake up, Ned!" said Phaeton. "Here it is at last, and it's a big one." Ned bounded to his feet, looked out at the window, exclaimed "Oh, glory!" as he saw the lurid sky, and then began to get into his clothes with the utmost rapidity. Suddenly he stopped. "Look here, Fay," said he. "This is Sunday night. I'm afraid Father won't let us go, after all." "Perhaps not," said Phaeton. "Then, what must we do?" said Ned. "Do the best we can." "The question is, what _is_ best?" said Ned. "It is evident we ought to go out of the window, but it's too high from the ground." "Then we must make a rope," said Phaeton. "What can we make it of?" "The bedclothes, of course." "That's a splendid idea!--that saves us," said Ned, and he set about tying the sheets together. Before Phaeton was dressed, Ned had made the rope and cast it out of the window, first tying one end to the bedpost, and sliding down to the ground, made off, without waiting for his brother. He came straight to my ladder, and had his foot on the first rung, when a heavy hand was laid upon his shoulder. "So you're the one he sends in, are you?" said a deep voice, and Ned looked up into the face of a policeman. "I'd rather have caught the old one," he continued, "but you'll do. I've been watching this burglar arrangement for two hours. And by the way, I must have some of it for evidence; the old one may take it away while I'm disposing of you." And he turned and with his pocket-knife cut off about a yard of my ladder, taking which in one hand and Ned in the other, he hurried away to the police-station. [Illustration: "NED LOOKED UP INTO THE FACE OF A POLICEMAN."] It was useless for Ned to protest that he was not a burglar, nor a burglar's partner, or to tell the true story of the ladder, or to ask to be taken to his father. The policeman considered himself too wise for any such delusive tricks. "Mr. Rogers's boy, eh?" said he. "Why don't you call yourself George Washington's boy, while you're about it?" "Washington never had any boys," said Ned. "Didn't eh? Well, now, I congratulate George on that. A respectable man never knows what his sons may come to, in these times." "Washington didn't live in these times," said Ned; "he died hundreds of years ago." "Did, eh?" said the policeman. "I see that you're a great scholard; you can go above me in the history class, young man. I never was no scholard myself, but I know one when I see him; and I always feel bad to put a scholard in quod." "If I had my printing-office and a gun here," said Ned, "I'd put plenty of quads into you." "Would, eh?" said the policeman. "Well, now, it's lucky for me that that are printing-office and them ere quads are quietly reposing to-night in the dusky realms of imagination, aint it, young man? But here's the quod _I_ spoke about--it's reality, you see." And they ascended the steps of the station-house. In the midst of sound sleep, I woke on hearing my name called, and saw the dark outlines of a human head and shoulders at my window, projected against a background of illuminated sky. I had heard Father reading an article in the evening paper about a gang of burglars being in the town, and I suppose that in my half-wakened condition that mingled itself vaguely in my thoughts with the idea of fire. At any rate, I seized a pitcher of water and threw its contents toward the light, and then, clubbing the pitcher, was about to make a desperate assault on the supposed burglar, when he spoke again. [Illustration: PHAETON IS TAKEN FOR A BURGLAR.] "What are you doing? Don't you know me?" "Oh, is that you, Fay?" "Yes, and you've drenched me through and through," said he, as he climbed in. "That's too bad," said I. "I didn't know what I was about." "It's a tremendous fire," said he, "and I hate to lose the time to go back home and change my clothes. Besides, I don't know that I could, for we made a rope of the bedclothes and slid down from our window, and I couldn't climb up again." "Oh, never mind, put on a suit of mine," said I, and got out my Sunday suit, the only clothes I had that seemed likely to be large enough for Phaeton. It was a tight squeeze, but he got into them. "Why did you make your ladder so short?" said he. "It reaches to the ground," said I. "No, it doesn't," said Phaeton; "I had hard work to get started on it. I expected to find Ned standing at the foot of it, but he was so impatient to see the fire, I suppose he couldn't wait for us." We dropped from the shortened ladder to the ground, passed out at the gate and shut it noiselessly behind us, and then broke into a run toward that quarter of the town where both a pillar of flame and a pillar of cloud rose through the night and lured us on. At the same time our mouths opened themselves by instinct, and that thrilling word "Fire!" was paid out continuously, like a sparkling ribbon, as we ran. CHAPTER XV. RUNNING WITH THE MACHINE. Presently we heard a tremendous noise behind us,--a combination of rumble, rattle, and shout. It was Red Rover Three going to the fire. She was for some reason a little belated, and was trying to make up lost time. At least forty men had their hands on the drag-rope, and were taking her along at a lively rate, while the two who held the tongue and steered the engine, being obliged to run at the same time, had all they could do. The foreman was standing on the top, with a large tin trumpet in his hand, through which he occasionally shouted an order to the men. "Let's take hold of the drag-rope and run with her," said Phaeton. If I had been disposed to make any objection, I had no opportunity, for Phaeton immediately made a dive for a place where there was a longer interval than usual between the men, and seized the rope. Not to follow him would have seemed like desertion, and I thought if I was ever to be a boy of spirit, this was the time to begin. When a boy for the first time laid his hand upon the drag-rope of an engine under swift motion, he experienced a thrill of mingled joy and fear to which nothing else in boy-life is comparable. If he missed his hold, or tired too soon, he would almost certainly be thrown to the ground and run over. If he could hang on, and make his legs fly fast enough, he might consider himself as sharing in the glory when the machine rolled proudly up in the light of the burning building, and was welcomed with a shout. There comes to most men, in early manhood, a single moment which perhaps equals this in its delicious blending of fear and rapture--but let us leave that to the poets. Phaeton and I hung on with a good grip, while the inspiration of the fire in sight, and the enthusiasm of our company, seemed to lend us more than our usual strength and speed. But before we reached the fire, a noise was heard on a street that ran into ours at an angle some distance ahead. The foreman's ear caught it instantly, and he knew it was Cataract Eight doing her best in order to strike into the main road ahead of us. "Jump her, men! jump her!" he shouted, and pounded on the brakes with his tin trumpet. The eighty legs and four wheels on which Red Rover Three was making her way to the fire each doubled its speed, while forty mouths yelled "Ki yi!" and the excited foreman repeated his admonition to "Jump her, boys! jump her!" [Illustration: "JUMP HER, BOYS! JUMP HER!"] Phaeton and I hung on for dear life, though I expected every moment to find myself unable to hang on any longer. Sometimes we measured the ground in a sort of seven-league-boot style, and again we seemed to be only as rags fastened to the rope and fluttering in the wind. The men at the tongue were tossed about in all sorts of ways. Sometimes one would be lying on his breast on the end of it where it curved up like a horse's neck, and the next minute one or both of them would be thrown almost under it. Whenever a wheel struck an uneven paving-stone, these men would be jerked violently to one side, and we could feel the shock all along the rope. It seemed sometimes as if the engine was simply being hurled through the air, occasionally swooping down enough in its flight to touch the ground and rebound again. All the while the church-bells of the city, in the hands of sextons doubly excited by fire and fees, kept up a direful clang. I doubt whether the celebrated clang of Apollo's silver bow could at all compare with it. As we neared the forks of the road, the foreman yelled and pounded yet more vociferously, and through the din we could hear that Cataract Eight was doing the same thing. At last we shot by the corner just in time to compel our rival to fall in behind us, and a minute or two later we burst through the great ring of people that surrounded the fire, and made our entrance, as it were, upon the stage, with the roaring, crackling flames of three tall buildings for our mighty foot-lights. We had jumped her. The fire was in the Novelty Works--an establishment where were manufactured all sorts of small wares in wood and iron. The works occupied three buildings, pretty close together, surrounded by a small strip of yard. Either because the firemen, from the recent demoralization of the department, were long in coming upon the ground, or for some other reason, the fire was under good headway, and all three buildings were in flames, before a drop of water was thrown. Phaeton whispered to me that we had better get away from the engine now, or they might expect us to work at the brakes; so we dodged back and forth through the crowd, and came out in front of the fire at another point. Here we met Monkey Roe, who had run with Red Rover's hose-cart, was flushed with excitement, and was evidently enjoying the fire most heartily. "Oh, she's a big one!" said he, "probably the biggest we ever had in this town--or will be, before she gets through. I have great hopes of that old shanty across the road; it ought to have been burned down long ago. If this keeps on much longer, that'll have to go. Don't you see the paint peeling off already?" The "old shanty" referred to was a large wooden building used as a furniture factory, and it certainly did look as if Monkey's warmest hopes would be realized. I observed that he wore a broad belt of red leather, on which was inscribed the legend: WE HAVE CAN AND WILL "Monkey," said I, "what's that?" "Why, don't you know that?" said he; "that's Red Rover's motto." "Yes, of course it is," said I; "but what does it mean?" "It means," said Monkey, with solemn emphasis, "we have washed Eight, we can wash Eight, and we will wash Eight." There were older people than Monkey Roe to whom the washing of Eight, rather than the extinguishing of fires, was the chief end of a company's existence. "Yes," said I, catching some of Monkey's enthusiasm, in addition to what I had already acquired by running with Red Rover, "I think we can wash her." The next moment I was pierced through and through by pangs of conscience. Here was I, a boy whose uncle was a member of Cataract Eight, and who ought, therefore, to have been a warm admirer and partisan of that company, not only running to a fire with her deadly rival, but openly expressing the opinion that she could be washed. But such is the force of circumstances in their relative distance,--smaller ones that are near us often counterbalancing much larger ones that happen, for the moment, to be a little farther off. It did not occur to me to be ashamed of myself for expressing an opinion which was not founded on a single fact of any kind whatever. The consciences of very few people seem ever to be troubled on that point. "The Hook-and-Ladder is short-handed to-night," said Monkey. "I think I'll take an axe." "What does he mean by taking an axe?" said I to Phaeton. "I don't know," said Phaeton; "let's follow him, and find out." Monkey passed around the corner into the next street, where stood a very long, light carriage, with two or three ladders upon it and a few axes in sockets on the sides. These axes differed from ordinary ones in having the corner of the head prolonged into a savage-looking spike. Monkey spoke to the man in charge, who handed him an axe and a fireman's hat. This hat was made of heavy sole-leather, painted black, the crown being rounded into a hemisphere, and the rim extended behind so that it covered his shoulder-blades. On the front was a shield ornamented with two crossed ladders, a trumpet, and a large figure 2. He took the axe, and put on the hat, leaving his own, and at the man's direction went to where a dozen axe-men were chopping at one side of a two-story wooden building that made a sort of connecting-link between the Novelty Works and the next large block. Monkey seemed to hew away with the best of them; and, though they were continually changing about, we could always tell him from the rest by his shorter stature and the fact that his hat seemed too large for him. Before long, a dozen firemen, with a tall ladder on their shoulders, appeared from somewhere, and quickly raised it against the building. Three of them then mounted it, dragging up a pole with an enormous iron hook at the end. But there was no projection at the edge of the roof into which they could fix the hook. "Stay where you are," shouted the foreman to them through his trumpet. Then to the assistant foreman he shouted: "Send up your lightest man to cut a place." The assistant foreman looked about him, seized on Monkey as the lightest man, and hastily ordered him up. The next instant, Monkey was going up the ladder, axe in hand, passed the men who were holding the hook, and stepped upon the roof. While he stood there, we could see him plainly, a dark form against a lurid background, as with a few swift strokes he cut a hole in the roof, perhaps a foot from the edge. The hook was lifted once more, and its point settled into the place thus prepared for it. The pole that formed the handle of the hook reached in a long slope nearly to the ground, and a heavy rope formed a continuation of it. At the order of the foreman, something like a hundred men seized this rope and stretched themselves out in line for a big pull. At the same time, some of the firemen near the building, seeing the first tongues of flame leap out of the window nearest to the ladder,--for the fire had somehow got into this wooden building also,--hastily pulled down the ladder, leaving Monkey standing on the roof, with no apparent means of escape. A visible shudder ran through the crowd, followed by shouts of "Raise the ladder again!" The ladder was seized by many hands, but in a minute more it was evident that it would be useless to raise it, for the flames were pouring out of every window, and nobody could have passed up or down it alive. "Stand from under!" shouted Monkey, and threw his axe to the ground. Then, getting cautiously over the edge, he seized the hook with both hands, threw his feet over it, thus swinging his body beneath it, and came down the pole and the rope hand over hand, like his agile namesake, amid the thundering plaudits of the multitude. As soon as he was safely landed, the men at the rope braced themselves for a pull, and with a "Yo, heave, ho!" the whole side of the building was torn off and came over into the street with a deafening crash, while a vast fountain of fire arose from its ruins, and the crowd swayed back as the heat struck upon their faces. By this time the engines had got into position, stretched their hose, and were playing away vigorously. The foremen were sometimes bawling through their trumpets, and sometimes battering them to pieces in excitement. The men that held the nozzles and directed the streams were gradually working their way nearer and nearer to the buildings, as the water deadened portions of the fire and diminished the heat. And, through all the din and uproar, we could hear the steady, alternating thud of the brakes as they struck the engine-boxes on either side. Occasionally this motion on some particular engine would be quickened for a few minutes, just after a vigorous oration by the foreman; but it generally settled back into the regular pace. And now a crack appeared in the front wall of one of the tall brick buildings, near the corner, running all the way from ground to roof. A suppressed shout from the crowd signified that all had noticed it, and served as a warning to the hose-men to look out for themselves. The crack grew wider at the top. The immense side wall began to totter, then hung poised for a few breathless seconds, and at last broke from the rest of the building and rushed down to ruin. It fell upon the burning wreck of the wooden structure, and sent sparks and fire-brands flying for scores of yards in every direction. The hose-men crept up once more under the now dangerous front wall, and sent their streams in at the windows, where a mass of living flame seemed to drink up the water as fast as it could be delivered, and only to increase thereby. It might have been ten minutes, or it might have been an hour, after the falling of the side wall,--time passes so strangely during excitement,--when another great murmur from the crowd announced the trembling of the front wall. The hose-men were obliged to drop the nozzles and run for their lives. After the preliminary tremor which always occurs, either in reality or in the spectator's imagination, the front wall doubled itself down by a diagonal fold, breaking off on a line running from the top of the side wall still standing to the bottom of the one that had fallen, and piling itself in a crumbled mass, out of which rose a great cloud of dust from broken plaster. The two other brick buildings, notwithstanding thousands of gallons of water were thrown into them, burned on fiercely till they burned themselves out. But no more walls fell, and, for weeks afterward, the four stories of empty and blackened ruin towered in a continual menace above their surroundings. The old shanty which Monkey Roe had hoped would burn, had been saved by the unwearied exertions of the firemen, who from the moment the engines were in action had kept it continually wet. "The best of the fire was over," as an habitual fire-goer expressed it, the crowd was thinning out, and Phaeton and I went to look for Ned, who, poor fellow! was pining in a dungeon where he could only look through iron bars upon a square of reddened sky. We had hardly started upon this quest when several church-bells struck up a fresh alarm, and the news ran from mouth to mouth that there was another fire; but nobody seemed to know exactly where it was. "Let's follow one of the engines," said Phaeton; and this time we cast our lot with Rough-and-Ready Seven--not with hand on the drag-ropes to assist in jumping her, but rather as ornamental tail-pieces. "I think I shall take an axe this time," said Phaeton, as we ran along. "I've no doubt you could handle one as well as Monkey Roe," said I,--"that is,"--and here I hesitated somewhat, "if you had on an easy suit of clothes. Mine seem to be a little too tight to give perfectly free play to your arms." "Oh, as to that," said Phaeton, who had fairly caught the fireman fever, "if I find the coat too tight, I can throw it off." The new fire proved to be at Mr. Glidden's house. It had probably caught from cinders wafted from the great fire and falling upon the steps. All about the front door was in a blaze. At the sight of this, Phaeton seemed to become doubly excited. He rushed to the Hook-and-Ladder carriage, and came back in a minute with an axe in his hand and a fireman's hat on his head, which proved somewhat too large for him, and gave him the appearance of the victorious gladiator in Gérôme's famous picture. He seemed now to consider himself a veteran fireman, and, without orders from anybody, rushed up to the side door and assaulted it vigorously, shivering it, with a few blows, into a mass of splinters. He passed in through the wreck, and, for a few minutes, was lost to sight. I barely caught a glimpse of a man passing in behind him. What took place inside of the house, I learned afterward. Miss Glidden had been sitting up reading "Ivanhoe," and had paid no attention to the great fire, except to look out of the window a few minutes on the first alarm. Hearing this thundering noise at the door, she stepped to the head of the stairs, in a half-dazed condition, and saw ascending them, as she expressed it, "a grotesque creature, in tight clothes, wearing an enormous mediæval helmet, and bearing in his hand a gleaming battle-axe." She could only think him the ghost of a Templar, screamed, and fainted. The man who had gone in after Phaeton, passed him on the stairs, and soon emerged from the house, bearing the young lady in his arms. It was Jack-in-the-Box. Phaeton came out a few minutes later, bringing her canary in its cage. [Illustration: "THIS MUST BE PUT IN A SAFE PLACE."] "This must be put in a safe place," said he to me; "Miss Glidden thinks the world of it. I'll run home with it, and come back again." And he ran off, just escaping arrest at the hands of a policeman who thought he was stealing the bird, but who was not able to run fast enough to catch him. Meanwhile the firemen were preparing to extinguish the new fire. There was no water-supply near enough for a single engine to span the distance. Some of them had been left at the great fire, to continue pouring water upon it, while the chief engineer ordered four of them to take care of this one. They formed two lines, Red Rover Three and Big Six taking water from the canal and sending it along to Cataract Eight and Rough-and-Ready Seven, who threw it upon the burning house. As Phaeton, Jack-in-the-Box, Miss Glidden, and the canary emerged from the house, half a dozen men rushed in--some of them firemen, and some citizens who had volunteered their help. In a little while, one of them appeared at an upper window, having in his hands a large looking-glass with an elaborately carved frame. Without stopping to open the window, he dashed the mirror through sash, glass, and all, and as it struck the ground it was shivered into a thousand fragments. Then another man appeared at the window with an armful of small framed pictures, and, taking them one at a time by the corner, "scaled" them out into the air. Then the first man appeared again, dragging a mattress. Resting this on the window-sill, he tied a rope around it, and let it down slowly and carefully to the ground. The second man appeared again in turn; this time with a handsome china wash-bowl and pitcher, which he sent out as if they had been shot from a cannon. In falling, they just escaped smashing the head of a spectator. Bearing in mind, I suppose, the great mercantile principle that a "set" of articles should always be kept together, he hurriedly threw after them such others as he found on the wash-stand,--the cake of soap striking the chief engineer in the neck, while the tall, heavy slop-jar--hurled last of all to complete the set--turned some beautiful somersaults, emptying its contents on Lukey Finnerty, and landed in the midst of a table full of glassware which had been brought out from the dining-room. Next appeared, at another upper window, two men carrying a bureau that proved to be too large to go through. With that promptness which is so necessary in great emergencies, one of the men instantly picked up his axe, and, with two or three blows, cut the bureau in two in the middle, after which both halves were quickly bundled through the window and fell to the ground. The next thing they saved was a small, open book-case filled with handsomely bound books. They brought it to the window, with all the books upon it, rested one end on the sill, and then, tripping up its heels, started it on the hyperbolic curve made and provided for projectiles of its class. If the Commissioner of Patents could have seen it careering through the air, he would have rejected all future applications for a monopoly in revolving book-cases. When it reached the ground, there was a general diffusion of good literature. They finally discovered, in some forgotten closet, a large number of dusty hats and bonnets of a by-gone day, and came down the stairs carefully bringing a dozen or two of them. Close behind them followed the other two, one having his arms full of pillows and bolsters, while the other carried three lengths of old stove-pipe. "We saved what we could," said one, with an evident consciousness of having done his duty. "Yes," said another, "and it's too hot to go back there, though there's lots of furniture that hasn't been touched yet." "What a pity!" said several of the bystanders. Meanwhile the Hook-and-Ladder company had fastened one of their great hooks in the edge of the roof, and were hauling away with a "Yo, heave, ho!" to pull off the side of the house. They had only got it fairly started, separated from the rest of the frame by a crack of not more than five or six inches, when the chief engineer came up and ordered them to desist, as he expected to be able to extinguish the fire. And now the engines were in full play. A little trap-door in the top of Cataract Eight's box was open, and the assistant foreman of Red Rover Three was holding in it the nozzle of Three's hose, which discharged a terrific stream. The same was true of Big Six and Rough-and-Ready Seven. I never heard a more eloquent orator than the foreman of Cataract Eight, as he stood on the box of his engine, pounded with his trumpet on the air-chamber, and exhorted the men to "down with the brakes!" "shake her up lively!" "rattle the irons!" "don't be washed!" etc., all of which expressions seemed to have one meaning, and the brakes came down upon the edges of the box like the blows of a trip-hammer, making the engine dance about as if it were of pasteboard. The foreman of Red Rover Three was also excited, and things in that quarter were equally lively. For a considerable time it was an even contest. Eight's box was kept almost full of water, and no more; while it seemed as if both companies had attained the utmost rapidity of stroke that flesh and bones were capable of, or wood and iron could endure. But at last four fresh men, belonging to Red Rover Three, who had been on some detached service, came up, leaped upon the box, and each putting a foot upon the brakes, added a few pounds to their momentum. The water rose rapidly in Eight's box, and in about a minute completely overflowed it, drenching the legs of her men, and making everything disagreeable in the vicinity. A shout went up from the bystanders, and Three's men instantly stopped work, took off their hats, and gave three tremendous cheers. We had washed her. Big Six was trying to do the same thing by Rough-and-Ready Seven, and had almost succeeded when the hose burst. Phaeton and I were standing within a step of the spot where it gave way, and we ourselves were washed. "Let's go home," said he, as he surrendered his axe and fire-hat to a Hook-and-Ladder man. "Yes," said I, "it's time. They've poured water enough into that house to float the Ark, and all the best of the fire is over." As we left the scene of our labors, I observed that my Sunday coat, besides being drenched, was split open across the back. "Phaeton," said I, "you forgot to throw off my coat when you went to work with the axe, didn't you?" "That's so," said he. "The fact is, I suppose I must have been a little excited." "I've no doubt you were," said I. "Putting out fires and saving property is very exciting work." CHAPTER XVI. A NEW FIRE-EXTINGUISHER. It was not yet morning, and my rope-ladder was still hanging out when Phaeton and I reached the house. We climbed up, and as soon as he could tie up his wet clothes in a bundle, he went down again and ran home. When our family were assembled at the breakfast-table, I had to go through those disagreeable explanations which every boy encounters before he arrives at the age when he can do what he pleases without giving a reason for it. At such a time, it seems to a boy as if those who ought to sympathize with him, had set themselves up as determined antagonists, bringing out by questions and comments the most unfavorable phase of everything that has happened, and making him feel that, instead of a misfortune to be pitied, it was a crime to be punished. Looking at it from the boy's side, it is, perhaps, wisest to consider this as a necessary part of man-making discipline; but, from the family's side, it should appear, as it is, a cowardly proceeding. It was in vain that I strove to interest our family with vivid descriptions of how we jumped Red Rover Three, how we washed Cataract Eight, and how we saved Mr. Glidden's property. I suppose they were deficient in imagination; they could realize nothing but what was before them, visible to the physical eye; their minds continually reverted to the comparatively unimportant question as to how my clothes came to be in so dreadful a condition. As if 'twas any fault of mine that Big Six's hose burst, or as if I could have known that it would burst at that particular spot where Phaeton and I were standing. The only variation from this one-stringed harp was when they labored ingeniously to make it appear that the jumping, the washing, and the saving would all have been done quite as effectually if I had been snug in bed at home. Phaeton came over to tell me that Ned was missing. "I don't wonder that we didn't happen to run across him in that big crowd," said he; "but I shouldn't think he'd stay so long as this. Do you suppose anything can have happened to him?" "What could happen?" said I. "He may have taken an axe, and ventured too far into some of the burning buildings," said Phaeton. "No," said I, after a moment's consideration; "that wouldn't be like Ned. He might be very enthusiastic about taking care of the fire, but he wouldn't forget to take care of himself. However, I'll go with you to look for him." As we went up the street, we came upon Patsy Rafferty and Teddy Dwyer, pushing Phaeton's car before them, with Jimmy the Rhymer in it. They were taking him out to see what remained of the fire. Jimmy said he was getting well rapidly, and expected soon to be about again on his own legs. His parents never knew who paid the doctor's bill, but thought it must have been the unknown gentleman who was calling him to come across the street when he was run over. A few rods farther on, we met Ned Rogers walking toward home. "Hello! Where have you been all this time?" said Phaeton. "Can't you tell by the feathers?" said Ned. "What feathers?" "Jail-bird feathers. I've been locked up in jail all night." Of course we asked him how that came about, and Ned told us the story of his captivity, which the reader already knows. "But how did you get out?" said Phaeton. "Why, when 'Squire Moore came to the office and opened the court, I was brought out the first one. And when I told him my story and whose boy I was, he said of course I was; he'd known Father too many years not to be able to tell one of his chickens as soon as it peeped. He advised me not to meddle any more with burglar things, and then told me to go home. 'Squire Moore's the 'squire for my money! But as for that stupid policeman, I'll sue him for false imprisonment, if Aunt Mercy will let me have the funds to pay a lawyer." "Aunt Mercy's pretty liberal with you," said Phaeton, "but you may be sure she'll never give you any such amount as that." When Ned heard of our adventures at the fire, he fairly groaned. "It would be just like my luck," said he, "if there shouldn't be another good fire in this town for a year." The lost brother being found, Phaeton said the next thing to be done was to take home the bird he had rescued. I went with him on this errand. As we approached the house, Phaeton carrying the cage, a scene of desolation met our eyes. Nearly everything it contained had been brought out-of-doors, and had sustained more or less injury. The house itself, with all the windows and doors smashed out, the front burned to charcoal, the side so far wrenched apart from the rest of the frame that it could not be replaced, and the whole browned with smoke and drenched with water, was a melancholy wreck. Mr. Glidden and his son John stood in the yard looking at it, and their countenances, on the whole, were rather sorrowful. "Good-morning, Mr. Glidden," said Phaeton. "Good-morning, sir." "I should like to see Miss Glidden," said Phaeton. "She is at her aunt's, over on West street," said Mr. Glidden. Phaeton seemed a little disappointed. "I've brought home her bird," said he. "I carried it out when the house was on fire, and took it up to our house for safety." "My sister will be very much obliged to you," said John Glidden. "I'll take charge of it." Phaeton intimated his entire willingness to run over to West street with the bird at once, saying that he knew the house where she was staying perfectly well; but John said he wouldn't trouble him to do that, and took the cage, which Phaeton gave up with some appearance of reluctance. "I don't believe the smell of smoke will be good for that bird," said Phaeton, as we walked away. "Canaries are very tender things. He'd better have let me carry it right over to his sister." "Yes," said I, "and relieve her anxiety of mind about it. But I suppose he and his father are thinking of nothing but the house." "I don't wonder at that," said Phaeton. "It must be a pretty serious thing to have your house and furniture knocked to pieces in that way. And the water seems to do as much harm as the fire." "Yes, and the axes more than either," said I. "But it can't be helped. Houses will get on fire once in a while, and then, of course, they must either be put out or torn down." "I am inclined to think it can be helped," said Phaeton. "I've been struck with an idea this morning, and if it works out as well as I hope, I shall be able to abolish all the engines and axe-men, and put out fires without throwing any water on them." "That would be a tremendous invention," said I. "What is it?" "Wait till I get it fully worked out," said he, "and then we'll talk it over. It needs a picture to explain it." A day or two afterward, Phaeton asked me to go with him to see Jack-in-the-Box, as he had completed his invention, and wanted to consult Jack about it. "By the way," said he, as we were walking up the street, "I received something this morning which will interest you." He took from his pocket, and handed me, a note written on delicate scented paper and folded up in a triangle. It was addressed to "Dear Mr. Rogers," and signed "V. Glidden." It acknowledged the receipt of the bird, and thanked him handsomely for his "gallantry in rescuing dear little Chrissy from the flames." "That's beautiful," said I, as I folded it up and handed it back to Phaeton, who read it again before putting it into his pocket. "Yes," said he, "that's lovely." "You never were called 'Mr. Rogers' before, were you?" said I. "No," said he. "I tell you what 'tis, Fay," said I, "we're getting along in life." "Yes," said he; "youth glides by rapidly. It was only a little while ago that we had never run with a machine, never taken an axe at a fire, and--never received a note like this." "And now," said I, "we--that is, you--have made an invention to abolish all fire departments." "If it works," said Phaeton. "I haven't the least doubt that it will," said I, although I had not the remotest idea what it was. Jack, who had just flagged a train, and was rolling up his flag as we arrived, cordially invited us into his box. "I want to consult you about one more invention," said Phaeton, "if you're not tired of them." "Never tired of them," said Jack. "I have found something to admire in every one you've presented, though they were not all exactly practicable. The only way to succeed is to persevere." "It's very encouraging to hear you say so," said Phaeton. "The thing that I want to consult you about to-day is a method of putting out fires without throwing water upon the houses or chopping them all to pieces." "That would be a great thing," said Jack. "How do you accomplish it?" "By smothering them," said Phaeton. "I know you can smother a small fire with a thick blanket," said Jack, "but how are you going to smother a whole house, when it is in a blaze?" "If you will look at this drawing," said Phaeton, "you will easily understand my plan." And he produced a sheet of paper and unfolded it. [Illustration: PHAETON'S DRAWING.] "I first build a sort of light canvas tent," he continued, "somewhat larger than an ordinary house. It has no opening, except that the bottom is entirely open, and there is a long rope fastened to each of the lower corners. Then I have a balloon, to which this tent is fastened in place of a car. Of course the balloon lifts the tent just as far as the ropes--which are fastened to something--will let it go." "That's plain enough," said Jack. "Then," continued Phaeton, "whenever a fire occurs, the firemen (it needs only a few) take these ropes in their hands and start for the fire, the tent and balloon sailing along over their heads. When they get there, they let it go up till the bottom of the tent is higher than the top of the burning house, and then bring it down over the house, so as to inclose it, and hold the edge close against the surface of the ground till the fire is smothered." "I see," said Jack; "the theory certainly is perfect." "I have not forgotten," said Phaeton, "that the tent itself might take fire before they could fairly get it down over the house. To prevent that, I have a barrel of water at this point,--below the balloon and above the tent,--and have a few gimlet-holes in the bottom of the barrel; so that there is a continual trickle, which just keeps the tent too wet to take fire easily." "That's as clear as can be," said Jack. "It's the wet-blanket principle reduced to scientific form." "And how shall I manage it?" said Phaeton. "As to that," said Jack, "the most appropriate man to consult is the chief engineer." CHAPTER XVII. HOW A CHURCH FLEW A KITE. As soon as possible, Phaeton went down town with his drawing in his pocket, and hunted up the office of the chief engineer. This, he found, was in the engine-house of Deluge One,--a carpeted room, nearly filled with armchairs, having at one end a platform, on which were a sofa and an octagonal desk. The walls were draped with flags, and bore several mottoes, among which were "Ever Ready," "Fearless and Free," and "The Path of Duty is the Path of Glory." Under the last was a huge silver trumpet, hung by a red cord, with large tassels. This was the room where the business meetings of Deluge One were held, and where the chief engineer had his office. But the young men who were now playing cards and smoking here, told Phaeton the chief engineer was not in, but might be found at Shumway's. This was a large establishment for the manufacture of clothing, and when Phaeton had finally hunted down his man, he found him to be a cutter,--one of several who stood at high tables and cut out garments for the other tailors to make. "I've come to consult you about a machine," said Phaeton. "How did you happen to do that?" said the chief engineer, without looking up. "A friend of mine--a railroad man--advised me to," said Phaeton. "Clever fellers, them railroad men," said the chief engineer; "but what's your machine for?" "For putting out fires," said Phaeton. "One of them gas arrangements, I suppose," said the chief engineer,--"dangerous to the lives of the men, and no good unless applied in a close room before the fire begins." "I don't know what you mean by that," said Phaeton; "but there's no gas about mine." The chief engineer, who all this time had gone on cutting, laid down his shears on the pattern. "Let's see it," said he. Phaeton produced his drawing, spread it out before him, and explained it. "Why, boy," said the chief engineer, "you couldn't--and yet, perhaps, you could--it never would--and still it might--there would be no--but I'm not so sure about that. Let me study this thing." He planted his elbows on the table, each side of the drawing, brought his head down between his hands, buried his fingers in the mass of his hair, and looked intently at the picture for some minutes. "Where did you get this?" said he, at last. "I drew it," said Phaeton; "it's my invention." "And what do you want me to do about it?" "I thought perhaps you could help me in getting it into use." "Just so! Well, leave it with me, and I'll think it over, and you can call again in a few days." Phaeton did call again, and was told that the chief engineer was holding a meeting in the engine-house. Going over to the engine-house, he found it full of men, and was unable to get in. The next time he called, the chief engineer told him he "hadn't had time to look it over yet." Next time he was "not in." And so it seemed likely to go on forever. But meanwhile something else took place, which called out Phaeton's inventive powers for exercise in another direction. It happened that the pastor of the Baptist church, in talking to the Sunday-school, dwelt especially on Sabbath-breaking, and mentioned kite-flying as one of the worst forms of it. "This very day," said he, "as I was coming to church, I saw three wicked boys flying kites in the public street, and one of them sits in this room now." A boy who knew whom the pastor referred to, pointed out Monkey Roe. As many of the school as could, turned and stared at Monkey. The truth was, he had not been flying a kite; but on his way to church he passed two boys who were. It was the universal practice--at that time and in that country, at least--when a boy was flying a kite, for every other boy who passed to ask "how she pulled?" and take the string in his hand a moment to see. If she pulled hard, the flyer was rather proud to have his friends ask the question and make the test. In fact, I suppose it would hardly have been polite not to ask. Monkey had just asked this interesting question, and had the string in his hand, when the pastor happened to pass by and see the group. Of course it would have been well if he could have stood up in the Sunday-school, and simply told the fact. But he was not the sort of boy who could do such a thing at any time, and he was especially unable to now, when he was taken by surprise, and felt that an outrage had been committed against his character and reputation. But perhaps the pastor was not much at fault. He had probably been born and brought up in a breezeless country where kite-flying was unknown, and therefore was ignorant of its amenities. Just before the school closed, Monkey was struck with a mischievous idea. "I prophesy," said he to the pastor's son, who sat next to him, "that this church will fly a kite all day next Sunday." "I should be greatly delighted to see it," answered the pastor's son. Early Monday morning, Monkey went over to Dublin, and found Owney Geoghegan, who had chased and recovered one of the kites that drew Phaeton's car. Monkey obtained the kite, by trading a jack-knife for it, and carried it home. Every day that week, as soon as school was out, he took it to a large common on the outskirts of the town, and flew it. He thoroughly studied the disposition of that kite. He experimented continually, and found just what arrangement of the bands would make it pull most evenly, just what length of tail would make it stand most steadily, and just what weight of string it would carry best. It occurred to him that an appropriate motto from Scripture would look well, and he applied to Jack-in-the-Box for one, taking care not to let him know what he wanted it for. Jack suggested one, and Monkey borrowed a marking-pot and brush, and inscribed it in bold letters across the face of the kite. Finally he procured a good ball of string, a long and strong fish-line, and a small, flat, light wooden hoop, which he carefully covered with tin-foil, obtained at the tobacco-shop. Saturday night Monkey's mother knew he was out, but not what he was about, and wondered why he stayed so late. If she had gone in search of him, she might have found him in Independence square, moving about in a very mysterious manner. The Baptist church, which had a tall, slender spire, ending in a lightning-rod with a single point, faced this square. It was a bright, moonlight night, and it must have been after eleven o'clock when Monkey walked into the square with his kite, accompanied by Owney Geoghegan. Monkey laid the kite flat on the ground near one corner of the square, stationed Owney by it, and then walked slowly to the opposite corner, unwinding the string as he went. After looking around cautiously and making sure that nobody was crossing the square, he raised his hand and gave a silent signal. Owney hoisted the kite, Monkey ran a few rods, and up she went. He rapidly let out the entire ball of string, and she sailed away into space till she hovered like a night-hawk over the farthest corner of the sleeping city. The Sunday-school room was hung round with mottoes, printed on shield-shaped tablets, and Monkey had made copies of some of them on similarly shaped pieces of paper, which he fastened upon the string at intervals as he let the kite up. Among them I remember "Look aloft!" "Time flies!" and "Aspire!" Then Monkey took up the hoop, and tied the string through a hole that was bored near one edge. Through a similar hole on the opposite side of the hoop, and near the same edge, he tied about a yard of comparatively weak string. To the end of this he tied his long fish-line, which he carefully paid out. The kite sailed still higher and farther away, of course carrying the hoop up into mid-air, where it was plainly visible as the tin-foil glittered in the moonlight. So far, Monkey's task had all been plain mechanical work, sure of success if only performed with care. But now he had arrived at the difficult part of it, where a great amount of patience and no little sleight-of-hand were necessary. The thing to be done was, to let out just enough string for the kite to carry the hoop exactly as high as the top of the steeple. It took a vast deal of letting out, and winding in, walking forward, and walking backward, to accomplish this, but at last it seemed to be done. Then he must walk back and forth till he had brought the hoop not only on a level with the top of the spire, but directly over it, which took more time. As the strings were fastened at one edge of the hoop, of course it remained constantly horizontal. When, at last, Monkey had brought it exactly over the point of the lightning-rod, he carefully and steadily brought the hand in which he held the string down to the ground. The hoop encircled and slid down the rod, and, after two hours' hard work, his task was virtually done. He had now only to walk up to the church, and give a steady, hard, downward pull at the fish-line, when the weak piece of string that fastened it to the hoop snapped in two. Winding up the fish-line, he slipped it into his pocket, looked about once more, said good-night to Owney, walked rapidly home, and went softly up to bed. Sunday morning dawned beautifully, and everybody in town, who ever went to meeting at all, prepared for church. As the time for services approached, the bells rang out melodiously; down every street of residences, door after door opened, as individuals and families stepped forth, attired in their best, and soon the sidewalks were full of people passing in every direction. Somebody discovered the kite, and pointed it out to somebody else, who stopped to look at it, and attracted the attention of others; and thus the news spread. A few groups paused to gaze and wonder, but most of the people passed on quietly to their respective places of worship. [Illustration: THE KITE ON THE STEEPLE.] Somebody told the Baptist pastor of it as he was ascending the pulpit-stairs. "I will have it attended to," said he; and, calling the sexton, he ordered him to go into the steeple at once and take down the kite. Easy to say, but impossible to do. The highest point the sexton could reach was more than forty feet below the top of the spire, and there he could only poke his head out at a little trap-door. The appearance of his head at this door was the signal for a derisive shout from a group of boys on the sidewalk. By the time the services in the various churches were over, and the people on their way home, nearly everybody in town had heard of the phenomenon. They gathered in small groups, and gazed at it, and talked about it. These groups continually grew larger, and frequently two or three of them coalesced. They soon found that the best point to view it from--considering the position of the sun, and other circumstances--was the southwest corner of the square; and here they gradually gathered, till there was a vast throng, with upturned faces, gazing at the kite and its appendages, and wondering how it got there. It was amusing to hear the wild conjectures and grave theories that were put forth. One man thought it must have been an accident. "Probably some boy in a neighboring town," he said, "was flying the kite, when it broke away, and, as the string dragged along, it happened to catch somehow on that steeple." Another said he had read that in China grown-up people flew kites, and were very expert at it. "Depend upon it," said he, solemnly, "you'll find there's a Chinaman in town." Another presumed it was some new and ingenious method of advertising. "Probably at a certain hour," said he, "that thing will burst, and scatter over the town a shower of advertisements of a new baking-powder, warranted to raise your bread as high as a kite, or some other humbug." Still another sagacious observer maintained that it might be merely an optical illusion,--a thing having no real existence. "It may be a mirage," said he; "or perhaps some practical joker has made a sort of magic-lantern that projects such an image in mid-air." Patsy Rafferty happened to see a lady sitting at her window, and looking at the kite through an opera-glass. Immediately he was struck with an idea, and ran off home at his best speed. His mother was out visiting a neighbor; but he didn't need to call her home; he knew where she kept his money. Going straight to the pantry, he climbed on a chair and took down what in its day had been an elegant china teapot, but was now useless, because the spout was broken off. Thrusting in his hand, he drew out the money which the Clown had collected for him from the crowd on the tow-path,--every cent of it, except the crossed shilling, the bogus quarter, the brass buttons, and the temperance medal. Patsy then ran to a pawnbroker's shop, before the window of which he had often stood and studied the "unredeemed pledges" there displayed. The pawnbroker, whose Sabbath was the seventh day, sat in the open door, smoking a pipe. "How much for a spy glass?" said Patsy, as soon as he could get his breath. "Come inside," said the pawnbroker. "This one I shall sell you for five dollars--very cheap." And he handed Patsy an old binocular, which really had very powerful glasses, though the tubes were much battered. Patsy pointed it out of the door, and looked through it. "Oh, Moses!" said he, as a dog larger than an elephant ran across the field of vision. "Sir?" said the pawnbroker. "I can't buy it," said Patsy, with a sigh, laying it upon the counter. "Why not?" said the pawnbroker. "I haven't enough money," said Patsy. "How much have you got?" said the pawnbroker. "Three dollars and eighty-four cents," said Patsy. "And you don't get some more next Saturday night?" said the pawnbroker. "No," said Patsy. "Well, you are a good boy," said the pawnbroker; "I can see that already; so I shall sell you this fine glass for three dollars and eighty-four cents,--the very lowest price. I could not do it, but I shall hope that I trade with you again some day." Patsy put down the money in a hurry, took the glass, and left the shop. He went to where the crowd was gazing at the kite, took a long look at it himself, and then began renting out the glass at ten cents a look, at which price he found plenty of eager customers. When they looked through the glass, they read this legend on the face of the kite: Ye shall have in abomination the kite after his kind. LEVIT. XI. 13, 14. When Teddy Dwyer saw the success of Patsy's speculation, he thought he also had an idea, and running home, he soon reappeared on the square with a large piece of newly smoked glass. But nobody seemed to care to view the wonder through smoked glass, though he offered it at the low price of "wan cent a look," and Teddy's investment was hardly remunerative. Patsy, before the day was over, amassed nearly thirteen dollars. He carried it all home, and without saying anything to his mother, slipped it into the disabled teapot, where the money collected for him by the Clown had been kept. The next day he quietly asked his mother if he might have ten cents of his money to spend. "No, Patsy," she answered, "I'm keeping that ag'in the day you go into business." But Mrs. Rourke was present, and she pleaded so eloquently Patsy's right to have "a little enjoyment of what he had earned," that his mother relented, and went to get it. "Either my hands are getting weak," said she, as she lifted it down, "or this teapot has grown heavy." She thrust her hand into it, uttered an exclamation of surprise, and then turned it upside down upon the table, whereupon there was a tableau in the Rafferty family. "I often heard," said Mrs. Rafferty, "that money breeds money, but I never knew it bred so fast as that." She more than half believed in fairies, and was proceeding to account for it as their work, when Patsy burst out laughing, and then, of course, had to tell the story of how the money came there. "And so you got it be goin' after pawnbrokers, and be workin' on Sunday?" said his mother. Patsy confessed that he did. "Then I'll have none of it," said she, and opening the stove, was about to cast in a handful of the coins, when she hesitated. "After all," said she, "'tisn't the money that's done wrong; why should I punish it?" So she put it back into the teapot, and adopted a less expensive though more painful method of teaching her son to respect the Sabbath. In the bitterness of the moment, Patsy firmly resolved that when he was a millionnaire--as he expected to be some day--he wouldn't give his mother a single dime. He afterward so far relented, however, as to admit to himself that he might let her have twenty thousand dollars, rather than see her suffer, but not a cent more. CHAPTER XVIII. AN EXTRA FOURTH-OF-JULY. Deacon Graham had predicted that "the wind would go down with the sun," and then the kite would fall. But the prediction was not fulfilled: at least there seemed to be a steady breeze up where the kite was, and in the moon-lighted evening it swayed gently to and fro, tugging at its string, and gracefully waving its pendulous tail. All the young people in town appeared to be walking out to see it, and the evening services were very slimly attended. Monday morning the trustees of the church began to take vigorous measures for the suppression of the mysterious kite. The cart of Hook-and-Ladder No. 1 was wheeled up in front of the church, and the two longest ladders taken off, spliced together, and raised with great labor. But they fell far short of reaching any point from which the hoop that held the kite could be touched. "I hope you are satisfied," said the foreman to the trustees. "I told you them ladders wouldn't reach it, nor no others that you can get." "Yes, I see," said Deacon Graham. "I supposed the ladders were longer. But we're very much obliged to you and your men." "You're welcome," said the foreman, as the men replaced the ladders on the cart. "And by the way, Deacon, if you was thinking of sending a dish of oysters and a cup of coffee around to the engine-house, I may say that my men prefer Saddle-rocks and Java." "Just so!" said the Deacon. "I'll send Saddle-rocks and Java, if I send any." One of the trustees suggested that the most muscular of the firemen might go up in the steeple, open the little trap-door, and from there throw clubs at the string. One of the firemen procured some sticks, about such as boys like for throwing into chestnut-trees, and went up and tried it. But the door was so far below the top of the steeple, and the position so awkward to throw from, that he did not even hit the string, and after one of the clubs in descending had crashed through the stained-glass skylight of a neighboring mansion, this experiment was abandoned. The next consisted in firing with rifles at the kite, the hoop, and the string. The trustees looked up two amateur huntsmen for this purpose, and furnished a small amount of ammunition. As there was a city ordinance against discharging firearms "in any street, lane, or alley, park, or square of the said city," the trustees were obliged to go first to the Mayor and get a suspension of the ordinance for this special purpose, which was readily granted. As soon as the two huntsmen saw this in black and white, they fired half a dozen shots. But they did not succeed in severing the string or smashing the hoop. Like all failures, however, they gave excellent reasons for their want of success, explaining to the trustees that there was a difference between a covey of partridges and a small hoop on the top of a steeple. Their explanation was so lucid that I feel confident the trustees must have understood it. "In rifle-shooting," added one of the huntsmen, "you always have to make allowance for the wind, and we can't tell how it may be blowing at the top of that spire till we learn by experimental shots. But we shall get the range after awhile; it's only a question of time." What little ammunition they had with them was soon exhausted, and Deacon Graham, who was very excitable and over-sensitive as to anything connected with the church, rushed down town to buy some more. "How much powder will you have?" said the clerk. "Enough to shoot a kite off from a steeple," said the Deacon. The clerk couldn't tell exactly how much that would take--had not been in the habit of selling powder for that purpose. "Give me enough, at any rate," said the Deacon. The clerk suggested that the best way would be to send up a small keg and let them use as much as was necessary, the remainder to be returned. To this the Deacon assented, and accordingly a small keg of powder, with a liberal quantity of bullets and caps, was sent up at once,--all to be charged to the account of the church militant. At the first shot the boys had begun to gather. When they found what was going on, that the ordinance was suspended, and that ammunition was as free as the gospel, they disappeared one after another, and soon reappeared carrying all sorts of shot-guns, muskets, and even horse-pistols and revolvers. No boy who could get a fire-arm failed to bring it out. Most of us had to hunt for them; for, so far as I know, not one of our boys was guilty of the folly of habitually carrying a pistol in his pocket. The powder and bullets were on the church steps, where all who wished to aid in the good work could help themselves; and within half an hour from the time the ball opened, at least thirty happy and animated boys were loading and firing. The unsectarian spirit of those boys was beautiful to behold. They were from all denominations, and yet every one of them was both willing and eager to burn Baptist powder in firing Baptist bullets at a Baptist steeple. The noise had attracted the townspeople, and several hundred of them now stood looking on at the strange spectacle. Patsy Rafferty ran home to draw some money from his teapot-bank, but found the cashier present, and hesitated. However, he soon plucked up courage, and said, with a roguish twinkle: "Mother, will you please lend me two dollars of my money?" Ordinarily, Mrs. Rafferty would have said no. But she was a very bright woman, and was so pleased with this evidence that Patsy had inherited some of her own wit, that she could not find it in her heart to refuse him. "There's two dollars, and I suppose when you come back it'll be four," said she, remembering how money breeds money. "Yes--four o'clock," said Patsy, as he ran out of the door and made for his friend the pawnbroker's, who sold him an old musket, with which, in a few minutes, Patsy joined the volunteers. Ned Rogers had not been able to find any fire-arm; but when he learned where Patsy got his musket, and that the pawnbroker had a mate to it, he ran off to his aunt's house at his best speed, and entering unceremoniously, exclaimed: "Aunty, I want two dollars quicker than lightning!" "Edmund Burton! how you frighten me," said his Aunt Mercy. "Jane, get my pocket-book from the right-hand corner of my top bureau-drawer, and throw it downstairs right away." The instant the pocket-book struck the floor, Ned snatched two dollars out of it and was off like a shot. "Sweet, benevolent boy!" said Aunt Mercy. "I've no doubt he's hastening to relieve some peculiar and urgent case of distress he has discovered among the poor and sorrowful." As it was rather late when Ned arrived at the church with his weapon, and the keg of powder was in its last quarter, he thought he'd make up for lost time. So he slipped in three bullets, instead of one, with his first load, and in his excitement rammed them so hard as almost to weld them together. The consequence was that, when he discharged it, a large sliver was torn from the spire, and at the same time he found himself rolling over into the gutter, a very peculiar case of distress, indeed. When Deacon Graham saw how fast the ammunition was disappearing, while the desultory firing produced no effect upon the kite, he thought some better plan should be devised, and conceived of a way in which, as he believed, concerted action might accomplish the desired result. But when he tried to explain it to the crowd, everybody was excited, and nobody paid the slightest attention to him. The spectators partook of the general excitement, and applauded the performance. "Bang away, boys! Never mind the Deacon!" said the pastor's son, as he pulled both triggers of a neat little double-barrelled shot-gun. "_Epigrus via, generosissimi tormentarii!_ Peg away, most noble gunners!" shouted Holman. The Deacon, who had been growing more and more excited, was now beside himself. In his desperation, he sat down upon the keg of powder, and declared that no more should be used till he was listened to. Whereupon the pastor's son produced a lucifer match, lighted it, and declared that if the Deacon didn't get up at once, he'd send him kiting. "Get up, or go up," was the laconic way in which he put it; and the Deacon got up. "I'll tell you, Deacon," said one of the huntsmen, "a chain-shot would be the thing to break that string with." "You shall have it," said the Deacon, and off he posted down town again, to order chain-shot. But the article was not to be had, and when he returned, the kite still rode triumphant. The trustees held a meeting on the steps of the church. "Now don't get excited," said Mr. Simmons, the calmest of them; "the first shower will bring down the kite. We've only to go off quietly about our business, and leave it to nature." "I don't know about that," said Monkey Roe, in a low tone, to one of the boys who had crowded around to learn what the trustees would do. "The back of that kite is pretty thoroughly greased. It'll shed water like a duck, and nothing less than a heavy hail-storm can bring it down." "How do you know that, young man?" said Mr. Simmons, who overheard him. "Why," said Monkey, seeing that he had betrayed himself, "you see--the fact is--I--I--saw a little bird try to light on the kite, but he slipped off so quick I knew it must be greased." "Humph!" said Mr. Simmons. "That's a likely story." "Brother Simmons," said Deacon Graham, "we can't wait for a storm,--there is no prospect of any. If we don't dispose of this thing pretty soon, I'm afraid it'll make us ridiculous." Nobody was able to suggest any means of relief. Perhaps a sailor could have climbed the lightning-rod; but there was no sailor in town, and half way up the spire the rod was broken and a section was missing. There seemed to be no way short of building a scaffolding to the top of the steeple, which would have cost considerable money. The pastor's son took Monkey Roe aside. "Your prophesy has been nobly fulfilled," said he, "and you've given us a tremendous piece of fun. Get us up another as good as this." The result of the deliberations of the trustees was, that they resolved to offer a reward of twenty dollars to any one who would get the kite off from the steeple; and this offer was formally proclaimed to the crowd by Deacon Graham. Hardly had the proclamation been made, when Phaeton Rogers, who had conceived a plan for getting down the kite, and had been preparing the necessary implements, appeared on the scene with his equipment. This consisted of a powerful hickory bow, about as tall as himself, two heavy arrows, and a large ball of the best kite-string. After measuring with his eye the height of the steeple and the direction of the kite, Phaeton said he must mount to the roof of the church. "Certainly, young man," said Deacon Graham; "anything you want, and twenty dollars reward if you'll get that thing down. Here, sexton, show this young gentleman the way to the roof." Phaeton passed in at the door with the sexton, and soon reappeared on the roof. The crowd seemed to watch him with considerable interest. Standing on the ridge-pole, he strung his bow. Then he unwound a large part of the ball of string, and laid it out loosely on the roof; after which he tied the end of it to one of the arrows, and laid the arrow across his bow. A murmur of approbation ran through the crowd, as they thought they saw his plan. Pointing the arrow upward at a slight angle from the perpendicular, and drawing it to the head, he discharged it. The shaft ascended gracefully on one side of the string of the kite, and descended on the other side. [Illustration: "POINTING THE ARROW UPWARD AT AN ANGLE, PHAETON DREW IT TO THE HEAD."] At sight of this, the crowd burst into applause, supposing that the task was virtually accomplished. It would have been easy enough now to take hold of the two ends of the string that had been carried by the arrow, and by simply pulling bring down the kite. But this would not have taken off the hoop from the top of the spire, and it would have been necessary to break off the kite-string, leaving more or less of it attached to the hoop, to float on the breeze like a streamer till it rotted away. Phaeton intended to make a cleaner job than that. When the arrow fell upon the ground, Ned, by his brother's direction, picked it up and held it just as it was. Phaeton threw down the ball of string still unwound, and then descended to the ground. He very quickly made a slip-knot on the end of the string, passed the ball through it, and then, by pulling carefully and steadily on the ball-end, made the slip-knot slide up till it reached the string of the kite. Before it was pulled up tight, he walked out on the square in a direction to pull the slip-knot as close as possible to the hoop. This done, he placed himself, with the string in his hand, on the spot where he supposed the one who got up the kite must have stood while putting the hoop over the point of the lightning-rod. That is to say, he walked from the church in such a direction, and to such a distance, that the string he held in his hand formed a continuous and (but for the sag) straight line with the string that held the kite to the hoop. He expected, on arriving at this point, to raise his hand, give a jerk or two at the string, and see the hoop slide up and off the rod, from the tendency--caused by the kite's pulling at one end of the string, and himself at the other--to take up the sag. His theory was perfect, but the plan did not work; probably because the wind had died down a little, and the kite was flying lower than when it was first put up. When he saw that the hoop was not to be lifted by this means, he cast about for a further expedient, the crowd meanwhile expressing disappointment and impatience. Carrying the string entirely across the square, he stopped in front of the house that was in line with it, and asked permission to ascend to the roof, which was granted. Breaking off the string, and telling Ned to stand there and hold the end, he put the ball into his pocket, took a pebble in his hand, and went up through the house and came out at the scuttle. Tying the pebble to the end of the string, he threw it down to his brother, who tied the end of the string to the end he had been holding. Phaeton then drew it up, and once more pulled at the hoop. It stuck a little at first; but as he alternately pulled and slackened, it was started at last, and began to slide up the lightning-rod; whereupon the crowd set up a shout, and a great many people remarked that they knew all the while the boy would succeed. But the hoop only rose to a point about half way between its former resting-place and the tip of the rod, and there it remained. No sleight-of-hand that Phaeton could exercise would make it rise another inch. If the wind had freshened, so as to make the kite sail higher, the hoop would have slid to the top of the rod at once. But the wind did not freshen, and there was no taller building anywhere in line with the string than the one Phaeton was standing on. The crowd expressed disappointment again, some of them groaned, and remarked that they had been confident all the while the boy couldn't do it. "Ned," said Phaeton, "come up here." Ned went up. "Now," said Phaeton, "stand right in this spot; hold the string just as you see me holding it now; and try to pull on it just hard enough to make the hoop hang loosely around the rod instead of being held close against it either by the tugging of the kite one way, or by your pulling the other." "I understand," said Ned. "I'll do my best." Phaeton then went back to the church, and ascended to the roof again with his bow and arrow and the ball of string. Laying out the string as before, and tying the end to the arrow, he shot it over the kite-string so that the arrow fell upon the roof. Making a slip-knot as before, he pulled upon the end of his string till the knot slid up to the kite-string at a point pretty near the hoop. He now broke off the string, leaving it just long enough to reach from the point where it was attached to the kite-string straight down to where he stood on the roof. He tied the end to his arrow, and, drawing the shaft to the head, shot it straight upward. As the arrow left the bow, the crowd cheered again, for it was evident that when the arrow, in its course, should reach a point as far above the kite-string as Phaeton was below it, it would begin to pull the kite-string upward, and if it had force enough to go a yard or two higher, it must, of course, pull the hoop off from the rod. But it lacked force enough. It rose till it had almost straightened the string it was carrying, and then wearily turned its head and dropped to the roof again. The crowd groaned, and some of them left for their homes or their business, saying they knew all the while that foolery wouldn't work. Phaeton sat down on the ridge-pole of the church, put his head between his hands, and thought. While he sat there, the crowd shouted all sorts of advice to him, most of which was intended to be sarcastic, though some spoke seriously enough, as those who suggested that he use a larger bow and a lighter string. After some moments he got up, went to the arrow, and detached it from the string; then, taking the end of the string between his palms, he rolled it and rolled it, until he had very greatly hardened the twist. If you have ever twisted a piece of common string up tight, and then, taking the two ends between your thumb and finger, let go of the middle, you know what it does. It doubles and twists itself together, in the vain effort to untwist. When Phaeton had tightened the twist of his string as much as he could, he tied the arrow on again, laid it across his bow, pointed it toward the zenith, drew it to the head, and once more discharged it. While the arrow was climbing, the string--wherever the slack folds of it hung near enough to one another--was doubling and twisting together, thus greatly shortening itself. The arrow had not gone much more than half its former distance above the kite-string when it arrived at the end of its own now shortened string, and gave such a jerk as pulled the hoop clear up from the end of the lightning-rod. When the crowd saw this, they burst into a tremendous cheer, threw their caps into the air, and bestowed all sorts of compliments upon Phaeton. Phaeton took off his hat and made a low bow to the people, and then disappeared through the little door in the tower, by which he had gained access to the roof. He soon reappeared, emerging from the front door, and then ran across the square, to the house where Ned still stood on the roof, like a statue, or Casabianca, waiting for his next orders. "Haul her in," said Phaeton, and Ned immediately began winding in the kite, using his left forearm as a reel, and passing the string around his elbow and through the notch between his thumb and forefinger. He wound on everything as he came to it--hoop, mottoes, even Phaeton's arrow. Phaeton stood in the street before the house, caught the kite by the tail as it approached the ground, and soon had it secure. He broke off the string, and Ned came down through the house. An immense crowd surrounded them, and impeded their progress as they started for home. "Jump into my carriage; I'll take you home," said the driver of an open barouche, who had stopped to see the performance, and like everybody else was intensely interested in it. Phaeton was instantly seized in the arms of three or four men and lifted into the carriage. Then Ned was lifted in the same way and seated beside him. Then the kite was stood up on the front seat, leaning against the driver's back, with its astonishing motto staring the boys in the face. Lukey Finnerty, who had been proudly holding Ned's musket for him, handed it up, and it was placed aslant of the seat between the two boys. The bow, brought by the sexton, was placed beside it, and the carriage then moved off, while a large number of boys followed in its wake, three of them being suspended from the hind axle by their hands, while their feet were drawn up to clear the ground. [Illustration: RIDING HOME IN THE BAROUCHE.] "Why is he carrying away that kite?" said Deacon Graham, asking the question in a general way, as if he expected the crowd to answer it in concert. "That belongs to the church." "_Sic nodus_--not so," said Isaac Holman. "It belongs to him; he made it." "Ah, ha!" said the Deacon; "I smell a mice, I s-m-e-l-l a mice!" As the driver had recently procured his new and handsome barouche, and was anxious to exhibit it, he drove rather slowly and took a somewhat circuitous route. All the way along, people were attracted to their windows. As the carriage was passing through West street, Phaeton colored a little when he saw three ladies standing on an upper balcony, and lifted his hat with some trepidation when the youngest of them bowed. The next moment she threw a bouquet, which landed in the carriage and was picked up and appropriated by Ned. "I am inclined to think," said Phaeton, "that bouquet was intended for me." "Was it?" said Ned. "Then take it, of course. I could buy one just like it for a quarter, if I cared for flowers. But, by the way, Fay, what are you going to do with the twenty dollars you've won? That's considerable money." "I am going to put it to the best possible use for money," said Phaeton. "I didn't know there was any one use better than all others," said Ned. "What is it?" "To pay a debt," said Phaeton. "I never should have guessed that," said Ned; "and I don't believe many people think so." As they rode by Jack's Box, Jack, who stood in the door, learned for the first time what Monkey Roe had wanted the Scripture motto for. They also passed Aunt Mercy's house, and their aunt and Miss Pinkham were on the piazza. Ned stood up in the carriage and swung his hat. Phaeton saluted his aunt more quietly. "What in the world are those boys doing in that barouche?" said Aunt Mercy. "I don't know, but I'll go and find out," said Miss Pinkham, and she ran to the gate and got the story from one of the Dublin boys, who spoke of Phaeton and Ned as "the Rogers boys," without differentiating them, as a scientific man would say. Miss Pinkham returned to the piazza and repeated the whole story. "Edmund Burton always was a smart boy," said Aunt Mercy. "I could have predicted he would be the one to get that kite off. He'd find a way to scrape the spots off the sun, if they wanted him to. But I don't see why that stupid brother of his should be stuck up there to share his glory." When it came to the question of paying the reward, Deacon Graham stoutly opposed the payment, on the ground that Phaeton himself had been concerned in putting the kite on the steeple--or, at least, had furnished the kite--for the very purpose of getting it down as he did. He said "no boy could fool him,--it was too long since he was a boy himself,"--which seemed to me a very singular reason. It looked for a while as if Phaeton would not get the money; but the other trustees investigated the matter, rejected the deacon's theory, and paid the reward. On their complaint, Monkey Roe was brought before 'Squire Moore, the Police Justice, to answer for his roguery. The court-room was full, about half the spectators being boys. "What is your name?" said the Justice. "I'm not sure that I know," said Monkey. "Not know your own name? How's that?" "Because, my mother calls me Monty, my father calls me James, and the boys call me Monkey Roe." "I suppose the boys are more numerous than your parents?" said the Justice. "Much more," said Monkey. "And you probably answer somewhat more readily when they call?" "I'm afraid I do." "Then," said the Justice, "we'll consider the weight of evidence to be in favor of the name Monkey Roe, and I'll enter it thus on the record." As he wrote it down, he murmured: "We've often had Richard Roe arraigned in this court, but never Monkey, I believe." "Now, Monkey, I'm going to ask a question, which you need not answer unless you choose to. Did you, on Saturday night last, between the hours of sunset and sunrise, raise, fly, and elevate one six-cornered paper kite, bearing a motto or sentiment from the sacred book called Leviticus, and tie, fix, anchor, attach, or fasten the same to the lightning-rod that surmounts the spire, or steeple, of the First Church of the sect or denomination known and designated as Baptist, fronting and abutting on Independence square in this city?" "To the best of my knowledge and belief, I did," said Monkey. "Please state to the court, Monkey, your motives, if you had any, for this wicked and atrocious act." In answer to this, Monkey told briefly and clearly the whole story, which the reader already knows, beginning at the point where he "just stopped half a second, Sunday morning, to see how that boy's kite pulled." When he came to the scene in the Sunday-school room, he gave it with a dramatic effect that was well calculated to arouse sympathy for himself. 'Squire Moore had been as much interested as anybody in the kite on the steeple, and had laughed his enormous sides sore when he scanned it and its appendages through Patsy's glass. When Monkey had finished his story, the 'Squire delivered the decision of the court in a little speech. "I have searched the Revised Statutes," said he, "and have consulted the best authorities; but I look in vain to find any statute which makes it a penal office to attach a kite to a steeple. The common law is silent on the subject, and none of the authorities mention any precedent. You have succeeded, young man, in committing a misdemeanor for which there is no penalty, and the court is, therefore, obliged to discharge you, with the admonition never to do so any more." As Monkey left the bar, there was a rush for the door, the boys getting out first. They collected in a body in front of the building, and, when he appeared, gave him three tremendous cheers, with three others for 'Squire Moore,--in which performance the pastor's son was conspicuous. But when Monkey came to face the domestic tribunal over which his father presided, he found that a lack of precedent was no bar to the administration of justice in that court. About a week later, a package addressed to me, and bearing the business-card of a well-known tailor, was left at our door. When I opened it, I found a new Sunday suit, to replace the one which had been ruined when Phaeton wore it to the fire. It must have taken about all of his reward money to pay for it. For years afterward, the boys used to allude to that season as "the summer we had two Fourth-of-Julys." The scars made by the bullets on the steeple were never healed, and you can see them now, if you chance to pass that way. CHAPTER XIX. A CONQUEST. When, at length, Phaeton got an answer from the chief engineer concerning his invention, it seemed rather surly. "This thing won't do at all, boy," said he. "It can't be made to work on a large scale." And he handed the drawing to Phaeton, and then turned his back to him and resumed his work. Phaeton thrust it into his pocket, and walked out of the shop, quite crestfallen. When he told us about it, Ned became indignant. "I don't believe a word of it," said he; "I see through the whole plot. The chief engineer has entered into a conspiracy with himself to crush out your invention, because he knows it would do away with all the fire-engines and hook-and-ladders, and the city wouldn't need a chief engineer any more, and he couldn't draw that nice little salary of a thousand dollars just for running to fires and bossing things." "I didn't know that the firemen got any pay," said I. "I thought it was only a patriotic duty,--besides all the fun." "That's just it," said Ned. "The men who do the hard work don't get a cent; but the chief engineer, who has more fun than any of us,--for he can choose the best place to see the fire from, and can order the engines to play any way he likes,--gets a thousand dollars a year." I thought almost everybody had had a better place than Ned's to see the Novelty Works' fire, but kept my thoughts to myself. "I'll spoil that job for him," continued Ned. "How can you do it?" said I. "By getting Fay's invention patented, and then having it brought before the Common Council at their very next meeting. We might let this city use it free; that would give us a great reputation for patriotism, and bring it into notice, and then we could make all the other cities pay a big price for it." "Wouldn't some people oppose it?" said I. "Yes, the boys would, because it spoils all the fun of fires; and the chief engineers would, because it spoils their salaries; but all the other people would go for it, because it saves millions of dollars' worth of property. The women, especially, would be friendly to it, because it saves the scare." "What do you mean by that?" said I, not quite understanding him. "Why, you must know," said Ned, "that when a woman wakes up in the middle of the night and finds the four walls of her room on fire, and the floor hotter than an oven, and the ceiling cracking open, and the bed-clothes blazing, she's awfully scared, as a general thing." "I don't doubt it," said I. "But Fay's invention puts out the fires so quick, besides keeping them from spreading, that it saves all that anguish of mind, as well as the property." "It seems to me it's a good plan," said I, referring to Ned's proposal for taking out a patent at once. "Then we'll go to Aunt Mercy and get the money right away," said he. "What do you say, Fay?" This conversation took place in the printing-office. Phaeton, after telling us the result of his interviews with the chief engineer, had taken no further part in it, but busied himself setting type. "I've no special objection," said he, in answer to Ned's question. "Then let's have your drawing," said Ned, and with that in hand, he and I set off for Aunt Mercy's. "I don't feel quite right," said Ned, as we went along, "about the way Aunt Mercy has always misunderstood these things. This time I am determined to make her understand it right." "You mean to let her know that it's Phaeton's invention, and not yours?" said I. "That's the main thing," said he. "I've got a good deal of credit that belonged to him; but I never meant to take it. She has always managed to misunderstand, somehow, and I could never see any way to correct it without spoiling the whole business." "But if you tell her that, will she let you have the money?" said I. "Not so easily, of course," said Ned; "but still Aunt Mercy's a good-hearted woman, after all, and I think I can talk her into doing the generous thing by Fay." We found Aunt Mercy apparently in an unpleasant mood, from some mysterious cause. But Ned talked away in a lively manner, and when she began to brighten up, he gradually approached the subject which he really had in mind. "Aunty," said he, sympathetically, "don't you ever feel afraid of fire?" "Yes, indeed, Edmund Burton," said she. "I'm afraid of it all the time, especially since I've had this new girl in the kitchen. It seems to me she's very careless." "If your house should take fire in the night, and burn up the stairs the first thing, how would you get out?" said Ned. "I really don't know," said she. "I ought, by good rights, to be taken out of the window and down a ladder by some gallant fireman. But it seems to me they don't have any such gentlemen now for firemen as they used to. They're more of a rowdy set." "They're certainly not very gentle," said Ned. "Did you hear how they knocked Mr. Glidden's house and furniture to pieces at the last fire?" "Yes; but why were they allowed to do so?" said Aunt Mercy. "That's it," said Ned. "Somebody, out of all the people there, ought to have had sense enough to stop them. As for myself, I wasn't there. I was going, but was detained on the way." "If you had been, you'd have stopped them, I've no doubt," said his aunt. "I should have tried to, I hope," said Ned. "And now, Aunty, I'd like to show you a little invention for doing away with all those horrors." "Something you want me to furnish money to make a muddle of, I suppose?" said she. "Well, yes, if it pleases you," and here Ned produced the drawing of the fire-extinguisher. "And now I want to tell you, Aunty, that this is not my own invention, but my brother's; and I think it's about the best that he's ever made." "U-m-m-m," said Aunt Mercy. Ned then proceeded to explain the drawing. "I see it all quite plainly," said Aunt Mercy, when he had finished. "My house takes fire----" "I hope not," said Ned. "The alarm is given, and this thing is brought out----" "Just so," said Ned. "In about a minute it is clapped right down over the house----" "Precisely," said Ned. "And smothers the fire instantly----" "That's it exactly," said Ned. "And smothers me in it, as well." Ned was dumbfounded for a moment, but soon came to his senses. "As to that," said he, "it's to be supposed that you'd run out of the house just before we put on the extinguisher. But the fact is, you've suggested an improvement already. I guess Fay must have inherited his inventive genius from you. Of course we shall have to build the extinguisher with several flaps, like tent-doors, so that if there _are_ any people in the house, they can easily escape." "And you think I ought to furnish that brother of yours the money necessary to make a proper muddle of this thing?" "I should be glad if you would," said Ned. "Well," said Aunt Mercy, "there's a piece of his work in the kitchen now. I wish you'd step out and look at it, and _then_ tell me what you think." Ned and I walked out to the kitchen. There stood the skeletons of half a dozen chairs--those from which we had taken the rounds to make our rope-ladder. "Those look well, don't they?" said Aunt Mercy, who had followed us. "They belonged to my great-grandfather, and were probably not new in his time. I had them stored at your house, and yesterday I sent a furniture man to get them and polish them up for me. He brings them home in this plight, and tells me the mischief has been done recently, for the saw-cuts are all fresh. They were priceless relics; I wouldn't have taken ten dollars apiece for them; and your brother has ruined every one of them." Ned was staggered, and I wondered what he would find to say. But he was equal to the occasion. "Aunty," said he, "Fay didn't do that----" "Don't tell me, child; nobody but a boy would ever have thought of such mischief." "Very true," said Ned; "it _was_ a boy--two boys--and we two are the ones." Aunt Mercy turned pale with astonishment. Apparently it had never occurred to her that Ned could do any mischief. "We sawed out the rounds," he continued, "to make a rope-ladder. But we didn't know the chairs were good for anything, or we wouldn't have touched them. If there's any way we can put them in again, we'll do it. I suppose we can get them all--except a few that the policeman carried off." Aunt Mercy was still more confounded. "Rope-ladder"--"policeman"--that sounded like robbery and State-prison. "Go home, Edmund Burton," said she, as soon as she could get her breath. "Go home at once, and take away out of my house this bad boy who has led you into evil ways." Ned wanted to explain my innocence; but I took myself out of the house with all possible haste, and he soon followed. "It's of no use," said he. "Aunt Mercy's heavily prejudiced against me." When all this was told at the Rogers's breakfast-table next morning, Mr. Rogers could not help laughing heartily. He said his sister valued the chairs far above their real worth, though of course that did not excuse us for sawing out the rounds. "But as for patenting your invention, boys," said he, "you need not trouble yourselves. It has been tried." "How can it have been tried?" said Phaeton. "As a great many others are," said his father. "By being stolen first. The reason why our worthy chief engineer kept putting you off, was because he thought it was a good invention and wanted to appropriate it. He had a model built, and applied for a patent through lawyer Stevens, from whom I have the information. The application was rejected by the Patent Office, and he had just received notice of it when you called on him yesterday, and found him so surly. His model cost him forty dollars, the Patent Office fee on a rejected application is fifteen dollars, and he had to pay his lawyer something besides. You can guess at the lawyer's fee, and the express company's charge for taking the model and drawings to Washington, and then reckon up how much his dishonesty probably cost him." "But what puzzles me," said Ned, "is the rejection. That's such a splendid invention, I should think they would have given it a patent right away." "It does seem so," said Mr. Rogers, who never liked to discourage the boys by pointing out the fatal defects in their contrivances; "but the Commissioner probably had some good reason for it. A great many applications are rejected, for one cause or another." Phaeton had suddenly ceased to take any part or interest in the conversation, and Ned observed that he was cutting his bread and butter into very queer shapes. One was the profile of a chair; another was a small cylinder, notched on the end. As soon as breakfast was over, Phaeton took his hat and disappeared. He went up to his aunt's house, and asked to see the mutilated chairs. "I think they can be mended," said he. "Of course they can," said his aunt. "The cabinetmaker can put in new rounds, but those wouldn't be the old rounds, and he'd be obliged to take the chairs apart, more or less, to get them in. I don't want anything new about them, and I don't want them weakened by being pulled apart. Unless they are the same old chairs, every splinter of them, that stood in Grandfather's dining-room, they can have no value for me." "I think I could put in the old rounds without taking the chairs apart," said Phaeton; "and if you'll let me, I'll take one home and try it." "Try what you like," said Aunt Mercy. "You can't make them look any worse than they do now." So Phaeton took up one of the ancient chairs, inverted it and placed it on his head as the easiest way of carrying it, and marched home. His next care was to secure the missing rounds. He came over to our house and got the rope-ladder, and then went to the police-station and had the good fortune to recover the piece which the over-shrewd policeman had carried off as evidence. This gave him the whole twenty-four rounds, and it did not take him long to select from them the four that had been sawed from the particular chair which he had in hand. Ned and I had done our work hurriedly, and somewhat roughly, and no two were sawed precisely alike. We had sawed them so that stubs, perhaps an inch long, were left sticking out from the legs. Phaeton procured a fine saw, and sawed one of the rounds in two, lengthwise, thus splitting it in halves, each of which, of course, had one flat side and one curved side. Then he sawed in each of the two stubs which had originally been parts of that same round, a notch, or "shoulder," which cut away about half of the stub,--the upper side of one and the lower side of the other,--carefully saving the pieces that came out of the notches. Then he put the two halves of the round together, as they were before being sawed apart,--except that he slid them by each other, lengthwise, a distance equal to the length of the notches in the stubs. [Illustration: HOW THE CHAIR WAS MENDED.] Now, as he held the reconstructed round in its place in the chair, it just fitted, and there was sufficient overlap on the stubs to make a secure fastening possible. Near each end there was a small vacant space, into which the pieces that had been cut out to make the notches in the stubs exactly fitted. Phaeton procured a pot of glue, and fastened the pieces together and in place. To give the work greater strength, he carefully bored a hole through the stub and the overlapping end of the round, put in a piece of large copper wire, a trifle longer than the hole, and, holding a large hammer against one end, gently pounded on the other with a tack-hammer, till he had flattened it out into a rivet-head; then reversed the hammers, and made a head on the other end. Finally, as he had no vise or hand-screws, he placed a strip of wood on each side of the mended round, tied a piece of strong cord in a loose hanging-loop around each end, put a stick through, and twisted them up tight,--the sticks resting against the legs of the chair, which prevented the cords from untwisting. He thus made what a surgeon would call a couple of tourniquets, to hold his work firmly together while the glue was hardening. Ned and I had watched all these operations with intense interest. "I tell you what 'tis," said Ned, "Fay sometimes makes mistakes when he goes sailing off in the realms of imagination with his inventive genius, like that fire-extinguisher; but when you come down to a real thing that's got to be fixed, and nobody else can fix it, he's right there every time." Phaeton treated the other three rounds of the chair in the same manner, and then set it away for the glue to harden. When that had taken place, he took off the tourniquets, scraped and sand papered the rounds, so as to leave no unevenness at the edges of the pieces, and then varnished them. Waiting for that varnish to dry was one of the severest trials of patience we ever endured. But it was dry at last, and of course Ned and I were proud to go with Phaeton when he carried home his work. He left the chair in the hall, where Ned and I also remained, and went in first to speak to his aunt. "Seems to me things are mightily changed," said Ned, in a humiliated tone, "when Fay walks in to see Aunt Mercy, and I stay outside. But I suppose it's all right." We heard his aunt say to Phaeton: "I'd given up looking for you. I thought you'd find you couldn't do it; but I know you tried hard, poor boy, and I'm just as much obliged to you." Presently Phaeton came out and got the chair, and this time we went in with him. He set it down before his astonished aunt, and carefully explained to her the whole process, showing her that not a splinter of any but the original wood had been used. That cobbled-up old chair went straight to Aunt Mercy's heart, and seated Phaeton in her affections forever. She made us stay and take tea with her, and after tea we took home the other five chairs, to be similarly treated; Phaeton marching first with two on his head, then Ned with two more, and I bringing up the rear with the odd one on my head. [Illustration: TAKING HOME THE CHAIRS.] CHAPTER XX. RINGS, SCISSORS, AND BOOTS. Phaeton's fame as an inventor and general engineer was growing rapidly among the boys. They had great faith in his powers, and in some of them a similar inventive spirit was awakened, though none of them accomplished much. They very commonly came to consult him when they thought they had an idea. One day Holman came to the printing-office when we were all there,--including Jimmy, who, with the help of Wilson's "Treatise on Punctuation," was learning to read proof,--and said he thought he knew how we could make a fortune. "That's a good thing to know," said Phaeton. "But I can't be quite sure that I do know it," said Holman, "till I talk with you about some parts of the scheme." "I shall be glad to help you if I can," said Phaeton. "I don't care to make any secret of it," continued Holman, "because, if it can be carried out, we shall have to make a sort of joint-stock company, and take in several of the boys." "Will it make us a fortune apiece?" said Ned, "or only one fortune, to be divided up among the company?" "That depends on how much you consider a fortune," answered Holman. "The main thing I want to know, Fay, is this: whether it is possible to invent some way of going under water, and working there, without a big, heavy diving-bell." "I think," said Phaeton, "that other and lighter apparatus has been invented already; but if not, I should think it could be." "Then we are all right," said Holman. "I know where the fortune is,--there's no uncertainty about that,--but it's under water a few feet, and it won't do to go for it with any large and noticeable machinery." "Fay can easily invent a pocket diving-bell," said Ned. "Do you know the history of Venice?" said Holman. Phaeton said he knew the outlines of her history, Jimmy said he knew about the Bucentaur and the brass horses, but Ned and I confessed total ignorance. "I've just been reading it," said Holman, "and that's where I got my idea. You must know that when Venice was a rich republic, the Doge--who was the same as a president or mayor--used to go out once a year in a big row-boat called the Bucentaur, with banners and streamers, and a brass band, and a lot of jolly fellows, and marry the Adriatic Sea, as they called it. That is, he threw a splendid wedding-ring into the water, and then I suppose they all gave three cheers, and fired a salute, and had some lemonade, and perhaps made speeches that were a little tedious, like those we have to listen to at school on examination-day. At any rate, he threw in the ring, and that's the important thing." "What was all that for?" said Ned. "Jack-in-the-Box told me," said Holman, "it was because the Venetians were a sea-going people, and all their wealth came from commerce, and so this ceremony signified their devotion to the sea. But, as I was saying, this was done regularly every year for six hundred and twenty years; and what makes it lucky for us is, that it was always done at the same spot--the Porto di Lido, a channel through that long, narrow island that lies a little off shore." "I don't see where the luck for us comes in," said I. "If the Doges had been our grandfathers, and bequeathed us the rings instead of throwing them away, there might be some luck in that." "Wait till you see what I'm coming to," said Holman. "The Adriatic is a shallow sea,--I've looked up all the facts,--and my idea is, that we might as well have those rings as for them to lie there doing nobody any good." "How much are they worth?" said Ned. "You can calculate it for yourself," said Holman. "As I said before, the ceremony was repeated every year for six hundred and twenty years. Of course, we might not get quite all of them--throw off the twenty; there are six hundred rings. They must have been splendid ones, and were probably worth at least a hundred dollars apiece. There's sixty thousand dollars, all in a huddle in that one spot." "But don't you suppose," said Ned, "that after a while those cunning old Doges would stop throwing in solid gold rings with real diamonds on them, and use brass ones washed with gold, and paste diamonds?" "I think not," said Holman; "for they didn't have to pay for them--the bill was footed by the Common Council. And they couldn't try that without getting caught. For of course the ring would be on exhibition a week or so in the window of some fashionable jewelry store, and the newspapers would tell that it was furnished by the celebrated establishment of So-and-So." "But don't you suppose," said Phaeton, "that as soon as it was dark, some fellow went out quietly in a little skiff, and dove for the rings? Some of those Italians are wonderful divers." "I think not," said Holman; "for the ring would be of no use to a Venetian; he wouldn't dare offer it for sale." "How do you propose to get them?" "My plan is, first, to invent some kind of diving apparatus that is small, and can be packed in a valise; then, for us to save up all the money we can get, till we have enough to pay the travelling expenses of two of us from here to Venice. We could go cheap in a sailing-vessel. Suppose you and I went, Fay; we'd ask the Venetians about the fishing, and buy or hire some tackle, and put a lunch in our valise, with the diving apparatus, and get a skiff and start off. I've planned the very course. When you leave the city you steer a little east of north-east; row about four miles, and there you are." "That's easy enough," said I,--"only a little over half the distance from here to Charlotte, which we've all rowed scores of times." "When we get there," Holman continued, "we'll fish a while to lull suspicion, and then I'll quietly get into the diving apparatus and drop into the water, with the valise in my hand. It wouldn't take me long to scoop up those rings, once I got amongst them; then, of course, Fay would haul me up, and we'd hurry home and divide. We could easily turn the rings into money." "I should think we might get more for them as curiosities than as old gold," said I. "That's a good idea," said Holman. "But we mustn't be in a hurry to sell them _all_," said Jimmy the Rhymer. "When a fellow grows up and gets engaged, one of those would be an awful romantic thing to give to the lady." "I know a better way than that to get them, though," said Ned. "Let's hear." "Just invent some kind of magnet that'll stick to gold, as a common magnet sticks to iron, and put a good strong one in the butt end of your fish-pole; then, when the Venetians were looking, you could be fishing; and when they were not looking, you could drop the big end of the pole into the water, poke around a little on the bottom, and haul up a ring. Maybe sometimes you'd haul up a dozen at once, all sticking together like a cluster of grapes." Whether Holman was in earnest, or was only testing the credulity of us younger boys, I never knew; but we took it all in good faith, and went home that night to dream of loading our fingers with rings, and spending sixty thousand dollars divided into five shares. However Holman may have been jesting in this scheme for acquiring a fortune for himself, it was not many days after this when he actually entered upon a rather ludicrous performance to get a little money for somebody else. There were two Red Rovers in our town--in fact, there were three. The reader has already made the acquaintance of the fire-company and engine known as Red Rover Three. A man who had once belonged to that company, but was now past the prime of life, and honorably retired from the service, made his living by grinding knives and scissors. But he was too much of a Yankee to go about with a wheel in a little frame strapped upon his back, and a bell in his hand, to be rung monotonously, from street to street. He built a peculiar carriage,--a square framework, about four feet high and six feet long,--running on four large wheels, wherein was a bewildering mass of machinery. Standing behind it, and laying his hands upon two great brass knobs, he walked slowly through the streets, pushing it before him in a dignified manner, to the awe of the boys and the wonderment of the whole town. It went with an easy motion, the wheels making only a subdued and gentle noise. Surmounting it in front was a large bell, which was struck at solemn and impressive intervals. This apparatus both increased his patronage and elevated the dignity of the profession. He had no vulgar and noisy cry, soliciting custom in a half-intelligible jargon. People who wanted their scissors ground came to the doors with them when they heard his bell. Then the wheels of the chariot stopped, the charioteer lifted his hat in salutation, and the negotiation seemed like a matter of friendly favor, rather than bargain and pay. In order to grind, he opened a little gate in the rear of the machine, stepped inside, closed the gate behind him, and seated himself upon a small shelf which was fastened to the gate. His feet were then placed upon two pedals, and the machinery began to move. Five small grindstones, of different sizes and fineness, revolved before him. At his right hand was a little anvil; at his left was a vise; and under this was a box of small tools. About the middle of the machine, on the top, was a small figure of a Scottish Highlander, with bag-pipes under his arm. The bag--which was of painted tin--was filled with water; and a plug, withdrawn from the longest of the pipes, allowed the water to trickle down upon the knife-wheel. Scissors were generally ground on a dry wheel. When the machinery was in motion, the pipes played something, intended for music, between a squeak and a whistle; so that when he was travelling, the bell rang, and when he was grinding, the pipes played. On one of the front corners was a little bronze bust of Washington, and on the other was one of Franklin; between them was a clock, with a marine movement. The whole frame and running gear were painted a bright red, and garnished with shining brass ornaments. The man called his machine Red Rover, after the beloved engine with which he used to run, and the name appeared on the side in brass letters. It seemed as if he must spend the greater part of his earnings on its improvement and embellishment. The man himself, whose hair was broadly streaked with gray, was called "The Old Red Rover," and we never knew him by any other name. He lived in a little bit of a house by the canal; and the machine, which was always kept in shining order, had to be taken in-doors every night. How he managed to find room in the house for himself, his wife, and his four children, besides the machine, we could never imagine--and it was none of our business. That little house by the canal was as much the Old Red Rover's castle as the palaces that you and I live in, dear reader, are ours. I think it was a week after our conversation concerning the Doge's rings, when, one Saturday, Ned and I heard the bell ring, and saw the Red Rover coming up State street, with Isaac Holman propelling it, instead of its owner. This was rather astonishing, and, of course, an immediate explanation was demanded. "Why, you see," said Holman, "Mother had been for a long time wishing the Old Red Rover would come around, for every pair of scissors in the house was as dull as a Dutch grammar. At last she got tired of waiting, and so I went to his house with them. I found he was laid up with rheumatism, and hadn't been out for five weeks. It looked to me as if the family were on short rations, and I began to think what I could do for them. I thought the best thing would be, to take the machine and spend the day in going around grinding scissors, and at night take home the money to the Old Red Rover." "Yes," said Ned, "that's the very best thing; it's more fun than anything else you could have thought of." "He was rather afraid to let me try it," continued Holman, "but Mrs. The-Old-Red-Rover was greatly pleased with the idea, and soon persuaded him. 'Be very tender with her--she's the pride of my life,' said he, as we rolled it out of the door; and he didn't mean his wife--he meant the machine." We had often kept this machine company as it passed through the streets in charge of its owner, and it was doubly interesting now when one of our own number was allowed to run it. So, of course, we went along with Holman on his benevolent tour. Other boys also joined us, and the unusually large crowd attracted attention. We were all ready to explain the situation to people who stood in the doors or looked out at the windows, and the result was that Holman had plenty of work. [Illustration: THE BOYS RUN THE RED ROVER.] Soon after turning into West street, he began to go much more slowly. At the house where Miss Glidden had been living since the fire, nobody appeared at door or window. It happened that right here something got out of order in the machine--at least, Holman said it did, and he had to stop stock-still and tinker at it a long time; but I was not able to see what was out of order. At last Miss Glidden appeared at the door, and inquired what was going on. Monkey Roe ran up the steps and informed her. "It's entirely out of mercy," said he, "and you'd be doing a benevolent thing to give him as many scissors as possible to sharpen." Miss Glidden invited him in, and soon collected three pairs of scissors and a pair of shears, which she requested him to take out and have ground for her. "Is this all you have?" said he, in a tone signifying that he considered it a very small crop. "There may be more," said she. "Biddy"--to the servant--"bring here any scissors you have that need grinding." Biddy brought from the kitchen a pair that were used to trim lamps. "Is this all, Biddy?" said Monkey. "I don't know--I'll see, sir," said Biddy; and Monkey followed her to the kitchen. Next to it he found a sort of combined work-room and store-room, the door of which stood open, and, looking over its contents, soon discovered a pair of tinsmith's shears, a pair of sheep-shears, a drawing-knife, a cooper's adze, and a rusty broad-axe, all of which, with the family carving-knife, brought by Biddy, he added to the collection, and came down the steps with them in his arms. "Here, Holman," said he, "Miss Glidden wants you to sharpen these few things for the good cause." "_Boni cani calcei!_--Good gracious!" exclaimed Holman, "does she think I'm Hercules?" "No," said Monkey, in a low tone, "but I guess she thinks you're Her--admirer." "But I suppose it must be done," Isaac added, not hearing Monkey's remark. And he took off his jacket and went to work manfully. The scissors were soon disposed of, as were also the carving-knife and the drawing-knife; but the other articles were somewhat troublesome. About all he could do with the broad-axe was to grind off the rust that completely coated it. The tinsmith's shears were a heavy job, and the sheep-shears completely baffled him, till he gave up trying to sharpen them on the grindstone, and, finding a file in the tool-box, applied that to their edges, against the solemn protest of Monkey Roe, who declared it would take the temper out of the steel. "And when Miss Glidden sees them, it may bring her temper out too," he added. "Can't help it," said Holman, "and now the lot's finished; you may take it in and collect the pay." He had just begun to study book-keeping, and, opening a little drawer in the machine, he found a scrap of paper, and made out this bill: MISS V. GLIDDEN. To MR. THE OLD RED ROVER. _Dr._ To sharpening 3 prs. scissors, @ 6c $0 18 " 2 " shears, @ 8c 16 " 1 pr. tinsmith's shears 15 " 1 " sheep-shears 10 " 1 drawing-knife 8 " 1 adze 6 " 1 broad-axe 20 " 1 carving-knife 8 ---- $1.01 Received payment, THE OLD RED ROVER, pr. Holman. Monkey took this and the armful of cutlery, and carried them in to Miss Glidden, who was somewhat surprised, as she had not known exactly what he was about. However, she laughingly paid the bill, and he carefully piled the articles on the parlor table, and came away. I observed that Holman put the dollar into the drawer where he had put all the other money, but the cent he put into his pocket. Then he took another cent from another pocket, and threw it into the drawer. We had travelled perhaps half a mile farther, and Holman had ground something like forty pairs of scissors in all, when we were joined by Phaeton, who watched him as he ground the next pair. "Is that the way you've ground them all?" said he, when it was finished. "Yes, of course--why?" said Holman. "Because if you have, you've ruined every pair you've touched," said Phaeton. "Don't you know that scissors must be ground on the edge of the blade, not on the side, like a knife? If you grind away the sides, the blades can't touch each other, and so can't cut at all." "I declare, I believe that's so," said Holman. "I thought it was kind of queer that none of the scissors would really cut anything; but I was sure I had made them sharp, and so supposed they were all old, worn-out things that wouldn't cut, any way. I guess you'd better take my place, Fay." Phaeton declined to do this, but went along as confidential adviser. We wound about through a great number of streets, the accompanying crowd of boys being sometimes larger and sometimes smaller, and ground a great many knives and scissors. On turning a corner into a by-street that bore the proud name of Fairfax, we came suddenly upon Jimmy the Rhymer. He was sitting on a bowlder, with a quantity of printed bills over his left arm, a paste-brush in his right hand, and a small bucket of paste on the ground beside him. He looked tired and melancholy. The outward situation was soon explained. A man who had kept a cobbler's shop for many years, but had recently enlarged it into something like a shoe-store, had employed us to print some bills to be posted up on the fences and dead-walls, announcing the event. They began with the startling legend, printed in our largest type, GO IT BOOTS! which was followed by an account of the new store and new goods, the favorite rhetorical figure being hyperbole. Looking about for some one to post them who would do it more cheaply than the regular bill-poster of the town, he had thought of Jimmy the Rhymer, who accepted the job because he wanted to earn a little money. "Are you sick, Jimmy?" said Phaeton, observing his dejection. "Not in body," said Jimmy, "but I am sick in mind--sick at heart." "Why, what's the matter?" "Look at that," said Jimmy, slowly raising his hand and pointing at one of the bills which he had just posted on a barn-door. "Go it Boots!"--he quoted it very slowly. "What do I care about going it boots? I couldn't go it boots if I wanted to. There is no more going it boots for me in this world." "I don't quite understand you," said Phaeton. "I mean," said Jimmy, "that my soul yearns for poetry--for the beautiful in nature and art. And it disgusts me to think of spending my time in spreading such literature as this through the world." "That isn't very complimentary to us," said Ned. "We spent considerable of our time in printing it." "I suppose you get paid for it," said Phaeton. "Of course," said Jimmy, "or I shouldn't do it at all." "Then it seems to me," said Phaeton, "you might look upon it cheerfully as only so much drudge-work done to purchase leisure and opportunity for the work you delight in. You know a great many famous men have been obliged to get through the world in that way." "Yes, cheer up," said Monkey Roe. "Look at us: we're having lots of fun over drudgier work than yours. Come along with us, and we'll make one circus of the whole thing--two entertainments under one canvas, as the bills say. Holman has plenty of help, so I'll be your assistant." And he took the brush and paste-bucket, while Jimmy still carried the bills, and we all moved on together. As Jimmy walked beside the machine, he and Holman seemed to resume some former conversation. "Can't you make up your mind to do it, if I double the price?" said Holman. "On the contrary," said Jimmy, "I've made up my mind that I _won't_ do it at _any_ price." "Why not?" asked Holman. "For two reasons," answered Jimmy. "One is, that I don't think it's exactly honest to write such things for anybody else to pass off as his own." "And the other?" said Holman. "The other is," said Jimmy, speaking much lower, but still so that I who was next to him could hear, "and I may as well tell you plainly, Isaac,--the other is, that I have some hopes in that direction myself, and if I write anything more for her, I'll send it as my own." "You?" said Holman, in astonishment. "Certainly," said Jimmy, with great coolness, as if he felt himself master of the situation, "and I think my claim is better than yours. Whatever there is between you and her--if there is anything--is entirely of your seeking. But in my case it's all of her seeking; she sent me flowers every day when I was laid up." "That's nothing--that doesn't mean anything," said Holman. "If it doesn't, then I've read the poets all wrong," said Jimmy. "_Poetæ apis suspensi!_--poets be hanged!" exclaimed Isaac, and then gave a prolonged whistle, which closed the conversation. Phaeton, who was next to me, and also overheard, opened his mouth as if to say something to Jimmy, but checked himself. Yet he was so full of his idea that he was obliged to utter it somehow, and so whispered it in my ear: "If it comes to that, my claim is even better than his, for she gave flowers to me when I was not an object of pity." * * * * * The way Monkey Roe did that job created an epoch in bill-posting. We passed the office of a veterinary surgeon, who had the skeleton of a horse, mounted on a board, for a sign; and before anybody knew what he was about, Monkey whipped off one of the bills from Jimmy's arm, and pasted it right across the skeleton's ribs. We came to a loaded coal-cart, broken down in the middle of the street by the crushing of a wheel, and he posted one on that. We passed a tobacco-shop, in front of which stood a life-size wooden statue of a bare-legged and plaided Highlander; and Monkey pasted a Go it Boots! on his naked shin. We met a beggar who went about on two crutches, but who was known to be an impostor; and after he had passed us, one of the bills was attached to his coat-tail, like the cheapest kind of April-fool. We passed a windmill that had been put up as an experiment, and had failed; and Monkey posted a bill on each of the sails--revolving it enough to bring each of them near the ground in turn--and one on the door. There was an omnibus-horse that had fallen by the roadside that morning, and Monkey unfeelingly pasted a Go it Boots! on his poor, dead back. On whatever he saw that couldn't go it at all, he was sure to fasten this advice to go it boots. I think Monkey was a very ironical boy. "There, Jimmy," said he, as he disposed of the last bill, "you see it's only necessary to approach your work in the right spirit to make it a pleasure, as the school-master says. But I'll tell you what to do, if you don't want to spread this sort of literature. The next time Dunderson, or any other cobbler, wants to get out a bill, you write it for him, and put it all in poetry. Then it'll be a delight to post it." Jimmy said he'd consider it. About five o'clock in the afternoon, when we were all pretty tired, we returned the Red Rover safely to its home, and Holman gladdened Mrs. The-Old-Red-Rover with more money than she had seen in a long time, for which she was very grateful. As we turned away, we met their eldest boy, Johnny The-Old-Red-Rover, bringing a basketful of bark which he had cut from the oaken logs in the saw-mill yard. Before we were out of sight of the house, the smoke curled out of the little chimney, and I've no doubt they celebrated the day with a joyful supper. As we passed the Box, we stopped to speak with Jack. He was flagging an express train that was creeping slowly into the city, retarded by a hot box. When it had reached the crossing, it stopped entirely, and most of the passengers thrust their heads out at the windows. One of these heads came out in such a way as to be exactly face-to-face with Jack, the interval between them being less than a yard. Jack gave a piercing shriek, and fell to the ground. Phaeton and I ran to him, and picked him up. "He's in a fit," said I. "No," said Phaeton, "I think he has only fainted. Bring water." I found a pitcher-full in the Box, and we poured it upon his face, which brought him to. He looked about in a bewildered manner for a moment, then seemed to recollect himself, and turned toward the track. But the train had passed on. "Phaeton," said he, "will you please stand here and flag a special freight train that will come along in about ten minutes?" "Certainly, with pleasure," said Phaeton, receiving the flag. "And after that has passed, haul down the red ball and run up the white one; then turn that second switch and lock it." "All right!" said Phaeton. "I understand." Jack then picked up his cap, and started on a run, crossing the public square diagonally, evidently taking the shortest route to the passenger station. CHAPTER XXI. A TEA PARTY. The mending of the chairs had entirely changed Aunt Mercy's demeanor toward us. "I've given you money to make a great many muddles," said she; "but, so far as I can learn, this is the first successful muddle you've produced. However, this is fine enough to make up for all. And I want you both to come and take tea with me Saturday evening." Phaeton and Ned not only accepted the invitation with thanks, but asked to have me included in it. "Certainly," said Aunt Mercy; "it wouldn't do to separate you and him. And if you have any other very particular friends among the boys, bring them along too. Only let me know how many are coming." Phaeton said he should like to invite Jimmy the Rhymer. "Invite Jimmy," said Aunt Mercy. "And Monkey Roe is awful lively company," said Ned. "Invite Monkey," said Aunt Mercy. "If we're going to have so many," said Phaeton, "I shouldn't like to leave out Isaac Holman." "It isn't exactly a spelling-match, but choose away," said Aunt Mercy. "It's your turn now, Edmund Burton." Ned chose Charley Garrison, and then Phaeton chose Patsy Rafferty, and after some discussion they determined to let the list end there. "You haven't mentioned a single girl," said Aunt Mercy. "Sister May is too little," said Ned; "and besides that, I don't much believe in girls, any way." "That's complimentary to your mother and me," said his aunt. "I don't think we know any girls well enough to ask them," said Phaeton,--"unless it may be one," and he blushed a little. "One will do," said Aunt Mercy; and so it was agreed that she should invite Miss Glidden, whom she called "a very sweet girl." The evening that had been designated was the evening of the day recorded in the last chapter, and not one of the eight boys included in the invitation forgot it. We gravitated together, after a series of whistlings, and all went to Aunt Mercy's in a crowd. When we arrived at the house, Phaeton went up the steps first, and rang the bell. There was no immediate response, and while we were waiting for it, Ned and Monkey Roe, who had lagged behind a little, came up. "Oh, pshaw!" said Ned, "don't fool around out here. Probably the girl's cooking something that she can't leave right away; but Aunty expects us--come in, boys," and he opened the door and led us into the hall. "I ought to know the way around this house pretty well," he continued. "Here's the place to hang your caps," and he pointed out the hat-rack under the slope of the stairs. With a soft, pattering noise, the eight caps almost instantly found lodgment on the pegs, some being thrown with great precision by the boys who were hindmost over the heads of the others. "Now follow me, boys; I'll introduce you to Aunt Mercy; I'm perfectly at home here," said Ned, and throwing open the parlor door, he ushered us in there as unceremoniously as he had admitted us to the house. The parlor was beautifully though not brilliantly lighted by an argand lamp. Aunt Mercy was sitting on the sofa, and beside her--"awful near together," as Ned expressed it--sat a tall gentleman, with a full beard and a sun-browned face. "Why! What does this mean?" said Aunt Mercy, as soon as she could get her breath. Ned was considerably abashed, and had fallen back so that he was almost merged in the crowd of boys now huddled near the door. But he mustered courage enough to say: "We've come to tea." Phaeton stepped forward, and relieved the situation: "You remember, Aunty, you asked us to come to tea this evening, and bring our friends. But, perhaps now it isn't convenient for you. We can come some other day just as well." "Really," said his aunt, "I made preparations for you to-day, and it's perfectly convenient; but in the last two hours I had totally forgotten it. You see I have an unexpected visitor." Phaeton introduced those of the boys whom his aunt had never seen before, and she then introduced us all to Mr. Burton. She had not the least trouble in remembering Phaeton's name, and she called Mr. Burton's attention especially to Ned as his namesake. "Is this the Mr. Burton who was dead long ago?" said Ned. "The very same one," said his aunt, laughing. "But he has suddenly come to life again, after many strange adventures, which he has just been telling me. I must ask him to tell them over again for you. But did none of you call for Miss Glidden?" We all looked blank. "Then," said she, "Fayette must go after her now." Phaeton took his cap and started at once. Three of the boys kindly offered to go with him, fearing he would be lonesome, but he said he didn't mind going alone. While he was gone, we made the acquaintance of Mr. Burton very rapidly. He seemed a good deal like Jack-in-the-Box in one respect--he liked boys. In Ned he appeared to be particularly interested. Several times over he asked him how old he was, and how tall he was. I suppose Ned seemed to him to be a sort of visible measure of the time that had been lost out of his life; for he must have disappeared from the knowledge of his friends about the time that Ned was born. Soon after Phaeton returned with Miss Glidden, tea was announced. Both during the meal and afterward, Mr. Burton did the greater part of the talking, and his conversation consisted mainly of a running account of his adventures since he left his home, more than a dozen years before. I give the story as nearly as possible in his own words. It was of a nature to seize upon a boy's fancy; but I fear it has not lain in my memory all these years without losing many of its nicest points. "I was a tall and slender boy," said Mr. Burton,--"so slender that my parents feared I would become consumptive, and I reached the age of twenty without improving much in that respect. Our family physician said a long sea-voyage might build me up and make a strong man of me, and as my uncle owned a large interest in a whaler then fitting out, at Nantucket, for a cruise in the North Pacific, it was arranged that I should make the voyage. By my own choice, I shipped as a common sailor before the mast, as it seemed to me that was the only way to get the full benefit of the experience. "I need not tell you the story of the tedious passage around Cape Horn, against head winds and through rainy seas. You have all read it dozens of times. The greenest hand on board was an accomplished sailor by the time we reached the whaling-ground. We had a prosperous cruise, and I calculated that though the hundred and twenty-fifth lay, which was to be my share, would not make me rich, it would give me considerable pocket-money when we got home. "When we turned our prow southward for the long homeward voyage, our troubles began. Week after week we labored against heavy gales and head seas. It was many months since we had been in port, and we were not well equipped for so long a strain. At last, when we were barely out of the tropics, a terrific and long-continued easterly gale struck us, and drove us helplessly before it. Just before daylight, one morning, she struck heavily, with a shock that sent one of the masts overboard. Dawn showed us that we were wrecked on a lonely island. As nearly as the captain could calculate, this was in south latitude 27 degrees and longitude 110 degrees west. "We judged that the island must be about a dozen miles long. Three volcanic peaks rose in plain sight, to a height of more than a thousand feet, and between their branching ridges were green valleys sloping down to the shore. If you ever see an old cart-wheel, with half its spokes broken or missing, which has lain upon the ground till the grass has sprung up through it, you may look upon it as a rude representation of the appearance that island presented from the sea. The hub would be the cone of an extinct volcano, the weather-beaten wood being about the color of the volcanic rock, and the remaining spokes the irregular, sharp ridges that radiated from it, some of them reaching to the water's edge and others stopping half-way. "An hour or two after daylight, we found there was no possibility of saving the ship, though the storm was over. We launched the boats, but could make no landing on that side of the island, which was steep and rocky. So we pulled southward, and through a channel where two rocky islets lay off the south-east point, and soon came to a pretty bay, where we made a landing. "Looking at the shore through the misty dawn, we had seen what looked like giants standing on the flat roofs of their houses and watching us. But they showed no signs of life, and the captain at length made them out, through his glass, to be images of some sort. We afterward had abundant opportunity to examine them, and found them to be stone statues of colossal size. What we had taken for houses were three platforms of solid masonry, built on ground that sloped toward and overlooked the sea. Four of these great statues had originally stood on each of the platforms, but most of the twelve were now overthrown. We measured one that lay on the ground, and found it was fifteen feet high and six feet across the shoulders. "They were cut in gray stone, and each statue that was still standing had on its head an immense red stone, smoothly cut to the shape of a cylinder, at least a yard high,--as if it wore what you call a band-box hat, but with no brim. We afterward found there were great numbers of these statues in various places on the island, though mostly on the east side. Few of them seemed to be finished. It was as if the sculptor had taken the rough blocks and begun work at the top, and, after bringing out the statue perhaps as far down as the waist, had left it in that condition, and begun on the next one. The largest one we found was over twenty-five feet high. "It was two hours after our landing before we saw any living being. Then we saw three children peeping at us from the top of a little hill. When we discovered them, they scampered away, and pretty soon a crowd of people appeared, led by an old man whose face was painted white, and who carried a long spear. "The captain made them understand that we were cast away, and wished to be taken care of. They led us along the shore, to the entrance of one of those green and beautiful valleys, where we found a village and were made welcome. They kept saying '_Taya, taya_, which we found meant 'friends,' and gave us a feast of yams, bananas, and roast chicken. The next day they went through a ceremony which we understood to mean that they formally adopted us into their tribe, and considered us their brothers. They also exchanged names with us. The man who adopted my name (Burton) called it Obuttee, and his which he gave me in exchange was Moaneena." Mr. Burton gave a considerable account of his adventures on the island, which we found very entertaining; but I cannot remember it with sufficient accuracy to attempt repeating it. As we were walking home, Monkey Roe pointed out what he thought were improbabilities in the narrative too great to be believed,--especially the account of the gigantic stone statues, which he said could not possibly have been made by people who had no iron tools. I was inclined to share Monkey's incredulity at the time; but I now know that Mr. Burton told the truth, and that he must have been cast away on Easter Island, where Roggeween, the Dutch navigator, had discovered the mysterious statuary more than a century before. "That little island," he continued, "was our home for nearly ten years. It is far out of the usual track of ships, and as good water is very scarce upon it, there is little temptation for them to go out of their way to visit it. We had two small boats, but the coast of South America was more than two thousand miles distant. "At last a merchantman, driven out of her course by stress of weather, came to anchor off the western shore, and sent in a boat, the crew of which were naturally astonished at being greeted by white men. "We were taken off, and carried to Melbourne, where every man took his own way of getting home. About half of them went to the newly discovered gold-fields. I got a chance after a while to ship before the mast in a vessel going to Calcutta. "There I made the acquaintance of a young man who, I found, was from my native town; though I had not known him at home, as he was nearly, or quite, ten years my junior. His name was Roderick Ayr. He offered to lend me money, but I would take it only on condition that he receive my watch as security, to be redeemed when we reached home. It was a splendid watch, but had long since ceased to keep time, for want of cleaning. "Mr. Ayr had been educated at one of the older colleges, knew something of engineering, had studied law, had spent a year in journalism, and had done a little something in literature--in fact, I think he told me he had published a small volume of poems, or essays. His talents were so varied that he found it difficult to settle down to one occupation; and so he had made a voyage to India, merely to see something of the world, while he was growing a little older and finding out what he was best fitted for. "He was about to return home as a passenger, when I found an opportunity to ship before the mast in the 'Emily Wentworth,' bound for Boston. To keep me company, he shipped in the same capacity. "We passed down the Hoogly, and wound through the horrible swamps and jungles of the Sunderbunds, where tigers and crocodiles were an every-day sight, till our pilot left us, on a sunny July morning, with the deep blue waters of the Bay of Bengal before us, and a gentle breeze from the north-east. "Two days later we were struck by a cyclone, and the vessel was reduced to a helpless wreck. Everybody on board seemed paralyzed with terror, except Ayr and the captain, and the captain was soon swept away by a heavy sea. Three of the men, headed by the second mate,--a fellow named Hobbes,--managed to launch the only boat that had not been stove, threw into it a keg of water, a few provisions, and the charts and instruments, and were about to pull away and leave the rest of us to our fate, when Ayr ordered them back. As they paid no attention to him, he sprang into the boat and took Hobbes by the throat. Hobbes drew his knife, but as quick as lightning Ayr gave him a blow that sent him overboard. One of the sailors caught him and drew him in, and then they all consented to return to the deck. The next sea swept away the boat. "Ayr was now recognized as commander, by virtue of his natural superiority, and the first mate, a well-meaning but forceless man, had the good sense to resign his authority to the only one who could do anything for us--if anything could be done at all. "With a few volunteers to assist him, Ayr rigged and launched a raft, upon which nine of us embarked. The remainder of the crew had already been lost, or were afraid to leave the vessel, and some had lashed themselves to her spars. Ayr was the last to leave her. He jumped overboard, swam to the raft, cut the hawser, and we drifted away from the hulk, which heeled and went down before we were out of sight. "The raft floated low, and half the time we were up to our necks in water, for all that day and all night heavy seas broke over her. Ayr, who was a powerful swimmer, was swimming about the raft the greater part of the time, sometimes tightening the fastenings where she threatened to break apart, and often saving and hauling on board again some poor wretch who had been swept off. But every few hours a man would be carried away whom Ayr could not reach, and our little company was continually growing smaller. "As for myself, I was rather a poor swimmer, and either the exposure, or some disease that I had previously contracted, caused an uncomfortable swelling and puffiness in my fingers and toes. I took off, with some difficulty, a ring which I had worn for a dozen years, as it now begun to hurt me, and slipped it upon Ayr's finger, asking him to keep it for me till some happier time. "In the afternoon of the second day, it became evident that the raft was too large for the strength of the ropes that held it together, and that a smaller one must be made. Ayr set to work to build it almost alone. Indeed, but four of us were now left--Simpson, an Englishman, Hobbes the mate, Ayr, and I. Ayr had lost a great deal of his strength, and his knife slipped from his hand and sank in the sea. I lent him mine, for the other two men were destitute of knives; Hobbes had lost his when Ayr knocked him out of the boat. "Just as the new raft was ready to be cut loose, a great sea struck us, and widely separated the two, leaving Ayr and Hobbes on what remained of the old one, while Simpson and I were on the new. I saw Ayr plunge into the water and strike out toward us; but after a few strokes he turned back, either because he felt he had not strength to reach us, or because he would not leave Hobbes helpless. The sudden night of the tropics shut down upon us, and when morning dawned the old raft was nowhere to be seen. "The sea was now much less violent, and Simpson and I managed to maintain our position in spite of our wasted strength. I felt that another night would be our last. But an hour before sunset we were picked up by a Dutch vessel, bound on an exploring voyage to the coasts of Borneo and Celebes. We had not the luck to sight any vessel going in the opposite direction, and so could only return after the explorations had been made, which kept us away from home nearly two years longer. "When at last I crossed my father's threshold again, a week ago, I found that I was not only given up for dead, but was supposed to have been murdered by my dearest friend, Roderick Ayr. He and Hobbes had been picked up by a vessel bound for Liverpool. "Hobbes, who, it seems, had never given up his grudge against Ayr, passing through my native town on his way from Boston to his own home, had stopped over a train for the purpose of setting afloat the story of the wreck, in which he so far mingled truth and falsehood as to represent that Ayr, in view of the scanty stock of provisions on the raft, had successively murdered three of the men in their sleep,--of whom I was one,--robbed them, and rolled their bodies off into the sea. "When Ayr came along on the next train, a policeman's hand was laid upon his arm before he stepped off from the platform. He was taken to police headquarters and searched, and as my watch, my ring, and my knife were found in his possession, the evidence against him seemed conclusive. But the living, lying witness had disappeared, and could not be found. Either he had felt that he would be unable to confront Ayr and withstand cross-questioning, or else he had no desire to send Ayr to the gallows, but only to disgrace him in the estimation of his townsmen. In this he succeeded to a considerable extent. Ayr told the straight story, which his nearest friends believed--except some who feared he might have done, under the peculiar temptations of a wreck, what he would not have done under any other circumstances; and as no murder could be actually proved, he, of course, could not be held. But most of the people ominously shook their heads, and refused to receive his account of the watch, the ring, and the knife as anything but an ingenious triple falsehood. It was more than he could stand, and between two days he disappeared, his nearest relatives not knowing what had become of him. "When I suddenly appeared in the town a few days since, those overwise people of two years ago were dumbfounded, and I hope by this time they are sufficiently ashamed of themselves. But some one besides Roderick Ayr had left the town during my absence. Miss Rogers had removed to Detroit six years before, and I took the next train for that city, only to learn that after a brief residence she had come here. So I retraced my journey. "As we were entering the city this afternoon, I put my head out of the car-window in an idle way, and thought I saw a strange vision--a man standing beside the track with a flag in his hand, who wore the features of Roderick Ayr. In a moment it was gone, and I could not tell whether it was fancy or reality, whether I had been dreaming or awake. But as I was passing through the door of the railway station he accosted me, and sure enough it was my friend." "By jolly!" said Monkey Roe, and brought his fist down upon the table with a whang that made every dish leap up an inch. "_Johannes in perpetuo!_--Jack for ever!" said Isaac Holman. "O-o-o-o-h!" said Ned, three times--once with his mouth, and once with each eye. Phaeton leapt to his feet, and waving his napkin over his head, proposed "Three cheers for Roderick Jack-in-the-Box!"--whereupon all the boys rose instantly and gave three terrific cheers and a handsome tiger. "Please excuse me, Aunty," said Phaeton; "I'm going to bring Jack-in-the-Box," and he was off. "I don't know what he means by that," said Aunt Mercy. "You see, Edmund Burton, there's a gentleman connected with the railroad--either president or one of the directors--Monsieur Thibaux, Jacquin Thibaux, originally a Frenchman, who seems to have befriended these boys in some way, and they talk a good deal about him. I always have to laugh at the way they pronounce his name; as they don't understand French, they call it Jack-in-the-Box. I believe Monsieur Thibaux is a very fine man, but I don't know why my nephew should bring him here." "The explanation is this," said Miss Glidden, "that Jack-in-the-Box, Jacquin Thibaux, and Roderick Ayr are one and the same person." "Then of course I shall be most happy to welcome him," said Aunt Mercy. "But I confess I can't understand how a runaway young man could so soon become president of a great railroad, nor why the president should be waving a red flag, like a switch-tender." The good lady had surpassed both of her nephews in making a muddle, and before it could be cleared up to her satisfaction, Mr. Ayr was announced. The hostess rose to greet him, and "all the boys except Miss Glidden," as Patsy Rafferty expressed it, made a rush for him and wound themselves around him like an anaconda. "Where's Fay?" said Ned, as he looked about him when the anaconda had loosened its folds. "He's at the Box, managing the signals," said Jack. The hero of the evening was now beset with inquiries, and nearly the whole story was gone over again, by question and answer. "I understand it all now," said Ned, "except one thing. Why did you always refuse to look at a newspaper?" "There were several reasons for that," said Jack. "One was, that the paragraph about my supposed crime was constantly turning up. Another was, that I thought my friends would advertise for me, and was afraid some of them might attempt to decoy me with what they would consider a justifiable fib,--as, that my mother was at the point of death, or something of that sort. If such a thing appeared, I preferred not to see it." CHAPTER XXII. OLD SHOES AND ORANGE-BLOSSOMS. Not many weeks after the tea party, there were two weddings. Mr. Burton and Aunt Mercy were married on Wednesday quietly at her house, and none of the boys were there except Phaeton and Ned. Roderick Ayr and Miss Glidden were married next morning in church, and all the boys were there. In the arrangements for this wedding, it was planned that there should be no bridesmaids and no best man, though it was then the fashion to have them,--but four ushers. Jack had asked Phaeton and Ned Rogers, Isaac Holman, and me, to officiate in this capacity; and we, with a few of the other boys, met in the printing-office to talk it over. "I suppose we shall get along somehow," said Ned, "but I never ushed in my life, and I wouldn't like to make any blunder." "You can buy a behavior-book that tells all about it," said Charlie Garrison. "I don't much believe in books for such things," said Ned. "I remember once when we were going to take Uncle Jacob's horse to pasture, Fay sat up half the night reading a book about horseback-riding, and yet when we actually had the horse under us, we didn't get along very well." "That," said I, "was only because we hadn't the proper things. If we had had a Mexican saddle and a gag bit and wheel spurs, we should have galloped over the ground so fast we could hardly have viewed the scenery as we rode by." "Yes," said Charlie, "and you'll find you must have a lot of trappings for this affair--white gloves and bouquets, and rosettes and cockades, and bridal favors, and a little club with ribbons on it, to hit the boys when they don't keep still." "Oh, pshaw!" said Jimmy the Rhymer, "half of those are the same thing. And as for hitting the boys, they'd better hit the whole congregation, who never know any better than to jump up and gaze around every time there's a rumor that the bridal party have arrived." "I don't think we need be troubled about it," said Phaeton. "Of course Jack will rehearse us a little, and instruct us what to do." "_Bonus ego cervus!_ Good idea!" said Holman. "Let's go up to the Box this afternoon and ask him." And we agreed that we would. "That's all very well for that part of the business," said Jimmy the Rhymer; "but there's something else we ought to talk over and agree upon, which we can't ask Jack about." "What's that?" "I mean," said Jimmy, "our own demonstration. Of course we're not going to stand by and see Jack-in-the-Box married and disposed of without doing something to show our friendship for him." "They won't receive any presents," said Holman. "And I think all the flowers there need be will be provided by somebody else," said Phaeton. "Then," said Jimmy, "there is but one thing left for us." "What's that?" "Old shoes." "Old shoes?" "Yes. Don't you know that it's a famous custom to throw old shoes after people, as a sign that you wish them good luck--especially when they're just married and starting off on their wedding journey?" "I've heard of it," said Phaeton, "but I never saw it done." "I'll go for that," said Monkey Roe. "Horseshoes, or human shoes?" "For Roderick Ayr and his beautiful bride, nothing but the softest velvet moccasins," said the poet. "Don't believe I can get them," said Monkey. "We don't wear that kind at our house." "I'm afraid it won't do to have any throwing about it," said Holman. "Last week I read a paragraph about a negro wedding where they all threw their old shoes after the couple as they were riding away, and one of them knocked the bridegroom's five-dollar silk hat into the middle of next week, while another broke the bride's jaw." "Was there a full account of the other ceremonies at that wedding?" said Patsy Rafferty. "I don't remember," said Holman. "Why?" "Because," said Patsy, "whatever they did, we must do the very contrary." "There needn't be any throwing, that's certain," said Jimmy. "And that will give us a chance to put in an old horseshoe, which is luckier than any other." "Those carriages," said Phaeton, "generally have a platform behind to carry trunks on. While the bridal party are in the church, we might have all our old shoes piled up on that platform." "That's it," said Jimmy. "And that will give us a chance to decorate them with a few flowers and ribbons." We appointed Jimmy a committee of one to manage the old shoes. In the afternoon we four who were to be ushers went to see Jack-in-the-Box. "Jack," said Ned, "if we're going to ush for you, you'll have to instruct us a little. None of us understand the science very well, and we're afraid to try learning it from books." Jack laughed heartily. "As to the science of ushing, as you call it," said he, "it's a very simple matter." Then he got a sheet of paper and a pencil, drew roughly a ground plan of the church, showed us our places at the heads of the aisles, and gave us all the information that was needed for our simple duties. "And about the clubs?" said Ned. "Will you make those? or do we buy them?" "What clubs?" said Jack. "The little clubs with ribbons wound around them," said Ned, "to hit the boys with when they don't keep still." Jack laughed more heartily than before. "I guess we won't hit the boys," said he. "They needn't keep any stiller than they want to, at my wedding." And then he explained to us the difference between a marshal and an usher. "A marshal," said he, "is a sort of commander, and the little club, as you call it, is the symbol of his authority. But an usher stands in the relation of servant to those whom he shows to their places." "I must tell Charlie Garrison about that," said Ned; "it was he who started the story about the little clubs. Charlie's an awful good boy, but he generally gets things wrong. I'm afraid he's too ready to believe everything anybody tells him." In trying to describe Charlie, Ned had so exactly described himself, that we all broke into a smile. As we were walking away, Holman suggested that perhaps while we were about it we ought to have got instructions as to the reception, also; for there was to be a brief one at the house immediately after the ceremony in the church. "Oh, I know all about that," said Phaeton. "Then let's hear how it is," said Holman. "It's simply this," said Phaeton. "You go up to the couple, and shake hands, and if you're a girl you kiss the bride--What did you say? You wish you were?--and wish them many happy returns of the day; then you say what kind of weather you think we've had lately, and the bridegroom says what kind he thinks, and the bride waves her fan a little; then you give a real good smile and a bow, and go into another room and eat some cake and ice-cream; and then you go home. That's a reception." "It sounds reasonable," said I; "but I don't feel quite certain about it. I will ask my sisters." When I asked them, they laughed, but said that if I did as Phaeton had directed, I'd probably get through safely. Two days before the wedding, Jack resigned his place in the employ of the railroad, and took all his things away from the Box. Patsy Rafferty's father succeeded him as signal-man. Thursday was a beautiful, dreamy October day, and as we had settled all the weighty questions of etiquette, we put on the white gloves with a feeling of the most dignified importance. The people began coming early. The boys, who were among the earliest, came in a compact crowd, and we gave them first-rate seats in the broad aisle, above the ribbon. Before ten o'clock every seat was filled, and in the steep gallery beauty and fashion were banked up, "like Niobe, all tiers." Everybody in town seemed to be present. There were matrons with a blush of the spring-time returned to their faces, who must have witnessed scores of weddings and become connoisseurs in all that pertains to them. There were little misses in short dresses, who had never looked on such a spectacle before. There were young ladies evidently in the midst of their first campaign, just a little excited over one of those events toward which ill-natured people say all their campaigning is directed. There were fathers of families, with business-furrowed brows, brushing the cobwebs from dim recollections, and marking the discovery of each with the disappearance of a wrinkle. There were bachelors who, if not like the irreverent hearers of Goldsmith's preacher, were at least likely to go away with deep remorse or desperate resolve. There were some who would soon themselves be central figures in a similar spectacle. There were those, perhaps, whose visions of such a triumph were destined to be finally as futile as they were now vivid. Frequent ripples of good-natured impatience ran across the sea of heads, and we who felt that we had the affair in charge began to be a little anxious, till the organ struck up a compromise between a stirring waltz and a soothing melody, which speeded the precious unoccupied moments on their long journey. The usual number of false alarms caused the usual automatic turning of heads and eyes. But at last the bridal party, like the wolf in the fable, really came; and as they glided up the broad aisle, the bride might almost have mounted bodily to the seventh heaven on the substantial stares that were directed at her,--whence perhaps she could have slidden down again on some whispered railing at her want of bridesmaids. But her eyes were on the ground, and she heard nothing but the rustle of her own train, and saw nothing, I trust, but the visions that are dear to every human heart, in spite of the sorrowful comment of human experience. The organ checked its melodious enthusiasm as the party reached the chancel. Then the well-known half-audible words were uttered, with a glimmer of a ring sliding upon a dainty finger. The benediction was said, a flourish of the organ sounded the retreat, and the party ran the gauntlet of the broad aisle again, while the audience, as was the fashion of that day, immediately rose to its feet and closed and crushed in behind them, like an avalanche going through a tunnel. While we were in the church, Jimmy the Rhymer, with Lukey Finnerty to help him, had brought the old shoes in an immense basket, and arranged them on the platform at the back of the bridegroom's carriage. The cluster of seven boots which Patsy had used for a drag to control Phaeton's car, was laid down as a foundation. On this were piled all sorts of old shoes, gaiters, and slippers, bountifully contributed by the boys, and at the top of the pyramid a horseshoe contributed by Jimmy himself. Sticking out of each shoe was a small bouquet, and the whole was bound together and fastened to the platform with narrow white ribbons. [Illustration: BRIDAL FAVORS.] "I wanted to write a little poem for the occasion," said Jimmy to me, the next day, "and tie it to the horseshoe; but somehow when I tried there was a lump in my throat, and the inspiration wouldn't come." My young lady readers will want to know what the bride wore. As nearly as I can recollect--and I have refreshed my memory by a glance at the best fashion-magazines--it was a wine-colored serge Sicilienne, looped up with pipings of gros-grain galloon, cut _en train_ across the sleeve-section; the overskirt of Pompadour passementerie, shirred on with striped gore of garnet silk, the corners caught down to form shells for the heading, and finished off in knife plaitings of brocaded facing that she had in the house. Coiffure a fanchon remnant of pelerine blue, laced throughout and crossing at the belt. The corsage was a pea-green fichu of any material in vogue, overshot with delicate twilled moss-heading cut bias, hanging gracefully in fan outline at the back, trimmed with itself and fitted in the usual manner with darts; bertha panier of suit goods, and Watteau bracelets to match. With such a costume as this overflowing its open sides, and our contribution on the trunk-board, the carriage presented a very original and picturesque appearance as it rolled away. The boys went to the reception as they had gone to the tea party and the wedding, in a solid crowd. When we presented ourselves, Ned made us all laugh by literally following his brother's humorous instructions. The caterer thought he had provided bountifully for the occasion; but when the boys left the refreshment-room, he stood aghast. The premium boy in this part of the performance was Monkey Roe. As Ned and I walked silently toward home, he suddenly spoke: "It's all right! For the fact is, Miss Glidden was too awful old for Fay and Jimmy and Holman. She's nineteen, if she's a day." "I've no doubt of it," said I, "and besides, they couldn't all have had her. But how came you to know that about Fay and Jimmy and Holman?" I thought Ned had not discovered what I had. Without a word, he placed his forefinger in the corner of his eye, then pulled the lobe of his ear, and then, spreading the fingers of both hands, brought them carefully together, finger-end upon finger-end, in the form of a cage. By which he meant to say that he could see, and hear, and put this and that together. "Ah, well!" said I, "let us not talk about it. We may be nineteen ourselves some day." THE END.