A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898 Part 15

At Mr. Maxwell's, 2 Presses, 0 Apprentice.

3 Compositors.

3 Pressmen.

At Mr. Lillicropp's, 1 Press.

1 Apprentice, 1 Compositor.

1 Pressman.

At Mr. Redman's, 2 Presses.

1 Apprentice.

4 Compositors.

2 Pressmen.

At Mr. Cowes [Coe's?], 1 Press.

At Mr. Lloyd's, 1 Press.

At Mr. Oake's, 2 Presses.

0 Apprentices.

2 Workmen.

At Mr. Purslowe's, 1 Press.

0 Apprentices.

1 Workman.

At Mr. Johnson's, 2 Presses.

0 Apprentices.

3 Workmen.

Mr. Darby, } These three printers are Mr. Winter, } to be indicted at ye next Mr. Rawlyns, } session.

At Mr. Crouch's, 1 Press.

0 Apprentices.

1 Workman.

CHAPTER IX

1700-1750

Having to some extent shaken itself free from the cramping influences of monopolies and State interference, the output of the English printing press at the commencement of the eighteenth century had almost doubled that of thirty or forty years before, and presses were now at work in various parts of the kingdom. But the long period of thraldom had resulted in completely destroying all originality amongst the printers, and almost in the destruction of the art of letter-founding. In fact, so far as printing with English types was concerned, the first twenty years of the eighteenth century was the worst period in the history of printing in this country. With the exception of the University of Oxford, which, owing to the generous bequests of Bishop Fell and others, was well supplied with good founts, the printers of this country were compelled to obtain their type from Holland, and all the best and most important books published in Queen Anne's days were printed with Dutch letter, as it was called. Jacob Tonson is said to have spent some 300 in obtaining this foreign letter, and one important English foundry, that of Thomas James, was almost wholly stocked with these foreign founts. Yet this Dutch letter was by no means easy to get, and the experience of James, who in 1710 went to Holland for the purpose, bore out what Moxon had said in his _Mechanick Exercises_, that the art of letter-cutting was jealously guarded by those who practised it. Some of the Dutch typefounders refused to sell him types on any terms, and it was only by getting hold of a man who was more fond of his liquor than his trade, that James was able to get matrices, for even this individual refused to sell his punches. Nor was the vendor in any hurry to part with the matrices, and it cost James much money, time, and patience before he was able to secure them. Writing from Rotterdam on the 27th July in that year, he says:--

'The beauty of letters, like that of faces, is as people opine, ...

All the Romans excel what we have in England, in my opinion, and I hope, being well wrought, I mean cast, will gain the approbation of very handsome letters. The Italic I do not look upon to be unhandsome, though the Dutch are never very extraordinary in them.'

James returned to England with 3500 matrices of various founts of Roman and Italics, as well as sets of Greek and some black letter. He set up his foundry in a part of the buildings belonging to the Priory of St.

Bartholomew, in Smithfield, and it continued to be the most important in London until the days of Caslon. The proportion of Dutch to English types in the printing offices at that time is well ill.u.s.trated by the valuable list of the types possessed by John Baskett, the Royal printer at Oxford, in the year 1718. The Royal printing-house was perhaps the largest and most lucrative office in the kingdom. For upwards of a century it had been owned by the descendants of Christopher Barker, the last of whom, Robert Barker, had died in 1645, after a.s.signing his business to Messrs. Newcomb, Hill, Mearne, and others. From these the patent was bought in 1709 by John Baskett, of whose antecedents nothing whatever is known. In addition to the business at Blackfriars, Baskett, in conjunction with John Williams and Samuel Ashurst, obtained a lease from the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of Oxford University of their privilege of printing for twenty-one years. From an indenture in the possession of Mr. J. H. Round, the substance of which he communicated to the _Athenaeum_ of September 5th, 1885, it appears that on the 24th December 1718 Baskett gave a bond to James Brooks, stationer of London, for a loan of 4000, and for security mortgaged his stock, which was set out in a schedule as follows:--

'An Account of the Letter, Presses, and other Stock and Implements of and in the Printing house at Oxford, belonging to John Baskett, citizen and stationer of London.'

1. A large ffount of Perle letter cast by Mr Andrews.

2. A large ffount of Nonpl Letter new cast by ditto.

3. Another ffount of Nonpl Letter, old, the which standing and sett up in a Com'on prayer in 24mo compleat.

4. A large ffount of Minn Letter new cast by Mr Andrews.

5. Another large ffount of Minn Letter, new cast in Holland.

6. The whole Testament standing in Brevr and Minn Letter, old.

7. A large ffount of Brevr Letter, new cast in Holland.

8. A very large ffount of Lo: Primer Letter, new cast by Mr Andrew.

9. A large ffount of pica Letter very good, cast by ditto.

10. Another large ffount of ditto, never used, cast in Holland.

11. A small quant.i.ty of English, new cast by Mr Andrews.

12. A small quant.i.ty of Great Primr new cast by ditto.

13. A very large ffount of Double Pica, new, the largest in England.

14. A quant.i.ty of two-line English letters.

15. A quant.i.ty of French Cannon, two-line letters of all sorts, and a set of silver initial letters. Cases, stands, etc. Five printing presses very good.

John Baskett is chiefly remembered for the magnificent edition of the Bible which he printed in 1716-1717, in two volumes imperial folio, and which from an error in the headline of the 20th chapter of St. Luke, where the parable of the Vineyard was rendered as the 'parable of the Vinegar,' has ever since been known as the 'Vinegar Bible.' This slip was only one of many faults in the edition, which earned for it the t.i.tle of 'A Baskett-full of printer's errors.' But apart from these errors, the book was a very splendid specimen of the printer's art, and has been described as the most magnificent of the Oxford Bibles. The type, double pica Roman and Italic, was beautifully cut, and was that which is described in the above list as the 'largest in England.' It was clearly not one of the founts belonging to the University, for, had it been, Baskett would have had no power to mortgage it. It is also noticeable that it was not described as 'cast in Holland,' as many of the others were, so we may infer that it was cast in England, and an interesting question arises, by whom? Clearly it was not cast by Mr.

Andrews, or Baskett would have said so.

During a great part of his life, Baskett was engaged in litigation over his monopoly of Bible printing, and in spite of the large profits attached to it, he became bankrupt in 1732. Further trouble fell upon him in 1738 by the destruction of his office by fire. He died on June 22nd, 1742. At one period he had been in danger of losing his patent altogether, for Queen Anne was induced by Lord Bolingbroke and others to const.i.tute Benjamin Tooke and John Barber to be Royal printers in reversion, in antic.i.p.ation of the ending of Baskett's lease in 1739; but Baskett purchased this reversion from Barber, and afterwards obtained a renewal of his patent for sixty years, the last thirty of which were subsequently acquired by Charles Eyre for 10,000.

John Barber, who for a time held the reversion of Baskett's patent, was the only printer who has ever held the high office of Lord Mayor of London, and for this reason among others he deserves a brief notice. He was born of poor parents in 1675, and according to one account was greatly helped in early life by Nathaniel Settle, the city poet.

He was apprenticed to Mrs. Clark, a printer in Thames Street, and proving himself a steady and good workman, was able to set up for himself in 1700. His first printing-house was in Queen's Head Alley, whence he soon afterwards moved to Lambeth Hill, near Old Fish Street.

Accounts differ as to his first work. Curll, in his _Impartial History of the Life, Character, etc., of Mr. John Barber_ (London, 1741), says that the alderman himself admitted that the first fifty pounds he could call his own were earned by printing a pamphlet written by Charles D'Avenant; while in the _Life and Character_, another pamphlet printed in the same year for T. Cooper, it is said that it was Defoe's _Diet of Poland_ which brought him the first money he laid up. It is also said that he was greatly indebted to Dean Swift for his rapid advancement.

By whatever means it was accomplished, Barber was introduced to Henry St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, and was engaged as printer to the Ministry, his printing-house becoming the meeting-place of the statesmen, poets, and wits of the day. Barber was himself a genial companion and hard drinker, who spent his money freely, and in this way made many friends. He printed for Dean Swift, for Pope, Matthew Prior, and Dr. King, and was also the printer of nearly all the writings of the versatile and unhappy Mrs. Manley. The story of her connection with Barber is sufficiently well known.

At the time of the South Sea scheme Barber took large shares, and, it is said, ama.s.sed a considerable fortune before the bubble burst. But he was indebted mainly to the patronage of Lord Bolingbroke for his success as a printer. Through that statesman he obtained the contract for printing the votes of the House of Commons, and by the same influence he became printer of the _London Gazette_, _The Examiner_, and _Mercator_, printer to the City of London, and finally received from the Queen the reversion of the office of Royal Printer, which he soon after relinquished to Baskett for 1500.

Elected as alderman of Baynard Castle ward, Barber filled the office of Sheriff, and in 1733 became Lord Mayor of the City of London. As Lord Mayor, he gained great popularity from his opposition to the Excise Bill, and by permitting persons tried and acquitted at the Old Bailey to be discharged without any fees. He died on the 22nd January 1740.

Much amus.e.m.e.nt, not altogether unmixed with uneasiness, was caused in the printing trade between 1727 and 1740 by a futile attempt to introduce stereotyping. A Scotch printer having complained to a goldsmith in Edinburgh of the vexatious delays and inconvenience of having to send to London or Holland for type, it occurred to William Ged, the goldsmith in question, that, to use the words of Timperley (p.

584), the transition from founding single letters to founding whole pages, 'should be no difficult matter.' He made several experiments, and at length satisfied himself that his scheme was practicable.

Accordingly, in 1727, he entered into a contract with an Edinburgh printer to carry out the invention, but after two years his partner withdrew, being alarmed at the probable cost. Ged then entered into partners.h.i.+p with William Fenner, a stationer in London, by whom he was introduced to Thomas James, the founder, and a company was formed to work the scheme. But James, perhaps influenced by the representations of his 'compositors,' whom the new invention threatened with the loss of work, instead of helping, did his utmost to ruin the undertaking and its inventor. Instead of supplying the best and newest type from which the matrices might be made, he furnished the worst, whilst his workmen damaged the formes. Much the same happened at Cambridge, where Ged was for a time installed as printer to the University. He struggled against the opposition so far as to produce two Prayer Books, but such was the animosity shown to the new invention, that the books were suppressed by authority, and the plates broken up. To add further to his troubles, dissension broke out between James and Fenner, neither of whom had any cause to be proud of their action towards Ged, who, disheartened and ruined, returned to Edinburgh. There another attempt was made by the friends of the inventor to produce a book, but no compositor could be found to set up the type, and it was only by Ged's son working at night that the edition of _Sall.u.s.t_, and a few theological books, were finished and printed at Newcastle. Ged died in 1749, and his sons subsequently emigrated to the West Indies.

Next to the King's printing-house, the press of which we have the most accurate knowledge at this time was that of William Bowyer, the elder and the younger. The seven volumes of Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_ give a complete record of the work of this printing-house, and from them the following brief account has been taken. William Bowyer, the elder, had been apprentice to Miles Flesher, and was admitted to the freedom of the Company of Stationers on October 4th, 1686. He started business on his own account in Little Britain in 1699, with a pamphlet of ninety-six pages on the _Eikon Basilike_ controversy. He afterwards moved into White Friars, where, on the night of January 29th, 1712, his printing office was burnt to the ground; among the works that perished in the flames being almost the whole impression of Atkyn's _History of Gloucesters.h.i.+re_, Sir Roger L'Estrange's _Josephus_, 'printed with a fine Elzevir letter never used before'; the fifteenth volume of Rymer's _Fdera_; Th.o.r.esby's _Ducatus Leodiensis_, and an old book, _of Monarchy_, by Sir John Fortescue, in 'Saxon,' with notes upon it, printed on an 'extraordinary paper' (Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_, vol. i. p. 56). This short list of notable works proves that Bowyer had a flouris.h.i.+ng business at the time of the catastrophe. A subscription was at once raised for his relief, and 1162 subscribed by the booksellers and printers in a very short time. A royal brief was also granted to him for the same purposes, and by this he received 1377, making a grand total of 2539, with which he began business anew. In remembrance of his misfortune, Bowyer had several tail-pieces and devices engraved, representing a phoenix rising from the flames.

In 1715 Bowyer the elder printed Miss Elstob's _Anglo-Saxon Grammar_.

The types for this were cut by Robert Andrews from drawings made by Humphrey Wanley, and were given to the printer by Lord Chief-Justice Parker. But these types were very indifferently cut. Wanley himself said 'when the alphabet came into the hands of the workman (who was but a blunderer) he could not imitate the fine and regular stroke of the pen; so that the letters are not only clumsy, but unlike those that I drew.'