PRINTING AND PRINTERS. THE ART OF PRINTING. When, where, and by whom printing was invented are equally unknown; and it may, perhaps, be matter of surprise to many that the art of printing, which throws so much light upon almost every other subject, should throw little upon its own origin. The most we know is, that it was discovered either in Germany or Holland, about 1440 ---only about four hundred years ago; that the first types were made of wood, not metal; and that some of the earliest printed works were passed off as manuscripts. The two principal cities which lay claim to the invention are Haerlem and Mentz; and either from one or the other, or perhaps from both, it was conveyed to the different cities and countries of Europe. The introduction of printing into England is undoubtedly to be ascribed to William Caxton, a modest, worthy, and industrious man, who went to Germany entirely to learn the art; and having practised it himself at Cologne, in 1471, brought it to England two years afterwards. He was not only a printer, but an author; and the book which he translated, called the Game at Chess, and which appeared in 1474, is considered as the first production of the English press. The seal-engravers were, however, the first printers; and the art of printing with blocks was merely an extension of the art, from impressions on wax to impressions on paper or vellum. Though a variety of opinions exist as to the individual by whom the art of printing was first discovered, yet all authorities concur in admitting Peter Schoeffer to be the person who invented cast-metal types; having learned the art of cutting the letters from the Guttembergs: he is also supposed to have been the first who engraved on copper-plates. The following testimony has been preserved in the family, by Jo. Fred. Faustus, of Ascheffenburg "Peter Schoeffer, of Gernsheim, perceiving his master Faust's design, and being himself desirous ardently to improve the art, found out-by the good providence of God-the method of cutting (incidendi) the characters in a matrix, that the letters might easily be singly cast, instead of being cut. He privately cut matrices for the whole alphabet. Faust was So pleased with the contrivance, that he promised Peter to give him his only daughter, Christiana, in marriage-a promise which he soon after performed." PUNCTUATION. The dash, or perpendicular line, thus,, was the only punctuation the first printers used. It was, however, discovered, that "the craft of poynting well used makes the sentence very light." The more elegant comma supplanted the long, uncouth; the colon was a refinement, "showing that there is more to come." But the semicolon was a Latin delicacy which the obtuse English typographer resisted. So late as 1580 and 1590, treatises on orthography do not recognize any such innovator; the Bible of 1592, though printed with appropriate accuracy, is without a semicolon; but in 1633, its full rights are established by Charles Butler's English Grammar. From this chronology of the four points of punctuation, it is evident that Shakspeare could never have used the semicolon; a circumstance which the profound George Chalmers mourns over, opining had was from Tonstall, Bishop of that semicolons would often have London, who had bought up half saved the poet from his commen- the impression, and enabled them to produce a second! tators. PRINTING AND BURNING OF TINDAL'S NEW TESTAMENT. ENGLISH BIBLES. The number of typographical inaccuracies which abound in the Bibles printed by the king's printers is remarkable. Dr. Lee states, "I do not know any book in which it is so difficult to find a very correct edition as the English Bible." What is in England called the Standard Bible, is that printed at Oxford, in 1769, which was superintended by Dr. Blayney; yet it has been ascertained that there are at least one hundred and sixteen errors in it. These errors were discovered in printing an edition in London, in 1806, which has been considered as very correct; yet Dr. Lee says that that edition contains a greater number of mistakes. The Rev. T. Curtis corroborates Dr. Lee's testimony. He states his general impression to be, that the text of the common English Bible is incorrect, and he gives a great variety of instances. Tonstall, Bishop of London, in the reign of Henry VIII., and whose extreme moderation, of which he was accused at the time, preferred burning books to burning authors, which was then getting into practice, to testify his abhorrence of Tindal's principles, who had printed a translation of the New Testament, a sealed book for the multitude, thought of purchasing all the copies of Tindal's translation, and annihilating them in one common flame. This occurred to him when passing through Antwerp, in 1529, then a place of residence for the Tindalists. He employed an English merchant there for this business, who happened to be a secret follower of Tindal, and acquainted him with the bishop's intention. Tindal was extremely glad to hear of the project, for he was desirous of printing a more correct edition of his version, but the first impression still hung on his hands, and he was too poor to make a new one. He furnished the English merchant with all his unsold copies, which the bishop as eagerly bought, and had them all publicly burned in Cheapside; which the people not only declared was "a burning of the Word of God," but it so inflamed the desire of reading that volume, that the second edition was sought after at any price; and when one of the Tindalists, who was sent here to sell them, was promised by the Lord-Chancellor, in a private examination, that he should not suffer if he would reveal who encouraged and supported his party at Antwerp, the Tindalist immediately accepted the offer, and assured the Lord-Chancellor that Mr. Offor, a retired bookseller, the greatest encouragement they and who made a collection of up Dr. A. Clarke, in his preface to the Bible, states that he has corrected many thousand errors in the Italics, which, in general, are said to be in a very incorrect state. Between the Oxford edition of 1830 and the Cambridge edition, there are eight hundred variations in the Psalms alone. The Rev. T. H. Horne, in his Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures, makes the following observation: "Booksellers' edition, 1806. In the course of printing, by Woodfall, this edition from the Cambridge copy, a great number of very gross errors were discovered in the latter, and the errors of the common Oxford edition were not so few as twelve hundred." wards of four hundred Bibles of different editions, states that he was not aware of any edition he had examined which was without errors; but Pasham's Bible, in 1776, and another printed at Edinburgh, in 1811, were the most accurate and the most beautiful he had found. man's elbow, to offer his magic if called upon, and as the French could not conceive how so many books should perfectly agree in every letter and point, they ascribed it to infernal agency, and poor Faust had the misfortune to be thrown into prison. Now, it will be observed, that Here it was, that, in order to the former was printed by a private | prove he had no aid from the devil, individual, the monopoly being as well as to gain his liberty, he evaded by putting at the bottom of was obliged to reveal the secret, and the pages very short notes, which show to the proper officers how the were cut off in the binding. work was done. The same witness afterwards re- Perhaps it was upon this advenmarks, that "there never was an ture that somebody built up the elegant edition of the Bible printed story of the league of the devil and at the king's printers'; the elegant Dr. Faustus, as well as wrote those editions have been those of Basker- ludicrous dialogues, which, in some ville, Macklin, Heptinstall, Ritchie, of the puppet-shows, Faust, under and Bowyer, and the whole of these the name of Dr. Faustus, is made were printed with colourable notes." to hold with the devil. He also stated, that the effect of the patents was to limit the circulation of the Scriptures; and that, if the patents were intended to protect the purity of the text, and improve the printing, they had certainly been productive of a very different result. FIRST ENGLISH PRINTING-PRESS. The first printing-press in England was set up in the almonry of Westminster, where Caxton, probably encouraged by the learned Thomas Milling, then abbot, produced the moral treatise entitled the Game and Playe of the Chesse, THE FIRST PRINTED BOOK, OR the first book printed in that counTHE DEVIL AND DOCTOR FAUSTUS. try. The ancient printing-house The first printed book on record contains nothing of the interior is the Book of Psalms, by one appearance peculiar to its original Faust, of Mentz, and his son-in-law, arrangement, having been for a Schoeffer. It appeared in 1457, less long time let in tenements, and dithan four hundred years ago. Se-vided according to the convenience veral works were printed many of the generation of lodgers that years before, by Guttemberg; but have inhabited it. as the inventors wished to keep the secret to themselves, they sold their first printed works as manuscripts. This gave rise to an adventure that brought calamity on Faust. Having in 1450, begun an edition of the Bible, and finished it in 1460, he carried several printed copies of it to Paris, and offered them for sale as manuscripts. This made him at once an object of suspicion. It was in those days when Satan was thought to be ready at every ATTEMPT TO PRINT A PERFECT BOOK. "Whether such a miracle as an immaculate edition of a classical author does exist," says one, “I have never learnt; but an attempt has been made to obtain this glorious singularity, and was as nearly realized as is perhaps possible-the magnificent edition of Os Lusíadas of Camoens by Don Joze Souza, in 1817. This amateur spared no prodigality of cost and labour, and flat BURNS IN A PRINTING-OFFICE. ance of Didot, not a single typographical error should be found in that splendid volume. 191 tered himself that, by the assist- | office, at the foot of Anchor Close, he had done typographic duty for Gilbert Stuart, Robert Fergusson, Dr. Robertson, Hugo Arnot, Adam Smith, and many others of the recent and living literati of Scotland, all of whom had been his personal friends. "But an error was afterwards discovered in some of the copies, occasioned by one of the letters in the word Lusitano having got misplaced during the working of one "His son, Alexander, who lately of the sheets. It must be confessed died at an advanced age, perfectly that this was an accident or mis- remembered the visits of the Ayrfortune, rather than an erratum!" shire Ploughman to the composingThe celebrated Foulises, of Glas-room, along which he would walk gow, attempted to publish a work about three or four times, cracking which should be a perfect specimen a whip which he carried, to the no of typographical accuracy. Every small surprise of the men. He paid precaution was taken to secure the no attention to his own copy under desired result. Six experienced their hands, but looked at any other proof-readers were employed, who which he saw lying on the cases. devoted hours to the reading of each page; and after it was thought to be perfect, it was posted up in the hall of the university, with a notification that a reward of fifty pounds would be paid to any person who could discover an error. Each page was suffered to remain two weeks in the place where it had been posted, before the work was printed, and the printers thought that they had attained the object for which they had been striving. When the work was issued, it was discovered that several errors had been committed, one of which was in the first line of the first page. The Foulis' editions of classical works are still much prized by scholars and collectors. BURNS IN A PRINTING-OFFICE. The following anecdote is related by Robert Chambers: "Meanwhile the preparation of the new edition was going rapidly on in the printing-office of William Smellie a man who, like Creech, mingled literary labours with those attending one of the trades of lite rature. "There was a vast fund of knowledge, shrewdness, and talent under the rude exterior of Smellie. In his "One day he asked a man how many languages he was acquainted with. 'Indeed, sir,' replied the man, 'I've enough ado wi' my ain.' Burns remarked that behind there was one of his companions setting up a Gaelic Bible, and another composing from a Hebrew Grammar. These two,' said the compositor, 'are the greatest dolts in the house.' Burns seemed amused by the remark, and said he would take a note of it. "Mr. Alexander Smellie also communicated the following anecdote: There was a particular stool in the office, which Burns uniformly occupied while correcting his proofsheets; as he would not sit on any other, it always bore the name of Burns' stool. It is still (1844) in the office, and in the same situation where it was when Burns sat on it. "At this time, Sir John Dalrymple was printing, in Mr. Smellie's office, an Essay on the Properties of Coal Tar. One day it happened that Sir John occupied the stool, when Burns came into the correcting-room, looking for his favourite seat. It was known that what Burns wanted was his stool; but before saying anything to Sir John on the subject, Burns was re quested to walk into the composing-room. culina, which, although pretty good Latin, alters, in some degree, the sense, as it accorded to the reverend gentleman spoken of only a good "The opportunity was taken in his absence to request of Sir John to indulge the bard with his favour-standing in the kitchen. ite seat, but without mentioning his name. Sir John said, 'I will not give up my seat to yon impudent, staring fellow.' Upon which it was replied, 'Do you not know that that staring fellow, as you call him, is Burns, the poet?' Sir John instantly left the stool, exclaiming, 'Good gracious! Give him all the seats in your house!' Burns was then called in, took possession of his stool, and commenced the reading of his proofs." By a ridiculous error of the press, the Eclectic Review was advertised as the Epileptic Review, and, on inquiry being made for it at a bookseller's shop, the bibliopole replied: "He knew of no periodical called the Epileptic Review, though there might be such a publication coming out by fits and starts." ERRORS OF THE PRESS. The original memoirs of Cowper, the poet, were apparently printed from an obscurely written manuscript. Of this there is a whimsical proof, where the Persian Letters of Montesquieu are spoken of, and the compositor, unable to decipher the author's name, has converted it into Mules Quince! JEALOUSY OF BOOKSELLERS AND PRINTERS. Day, the printer, in Elizabeth's time, envied by the rest of his fraternity, who did what they could to hinder the sale of his books, had books upon his hands, in the year 1572, to the value of £3000 or £4000-a great sum in those days. But living under Aldersgate, an obscure corner of the city, he wanted a good vent for them. His friends, who were among the learned, procured aid from the dean and chapA newspaper heads an advertise-ter of St. Paul's Church-yard, so ment, "Infernal Remedy." This that he had a neat, handsome shop may be quite true, but we imagine framed. It was little and low, and that "internal remedy" was intend-flat-roofed, and leaded like a tered. Mistakes, even of single letters, are sad things. race, railed and posted, fit for men to stand upon in any triumph or show, but could not in any wise either hurt or deface the same. This cost him £40 or £50. Án important house in New York had occasion to advertise for sale a quantity of brass hoppers, such as are used in coffee-mills. But his brethren, the booksellers, But instead of brass hoppers, the envied him, and, by their interest, newspaper read grasshoppers. In got the mayor and aldermen to fora short time the merchant's count-bid him setting it up. Archbishop ing-room was thronged with in- Parker interfered, and obtained the quirers respecting the new article queen's permission on his behalf, of merchandise. and he at length succeeded. The editor of the Evangelical Observer, in reference to an individual, took occasion to write that he was rectus in ecclesia, that is, in good standing in the church. The type-setter, to whom this was a dead language, in the editor's absence, converted it into rectus in STATIONERS' COMPANY. The Stationers' Company existed as a fraternity long previous to the invention of printing. Some of its members, indeed, have acquired immortality by being among the first to introduce this new power into |