Α ! DICTIONARY OF PRINTERS AND PRINTING, WITH THE Progress of Literature, ANCIENT AND MODERN; BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ILLUSTRATIONS, ETC. ETC. BY C. H. TIMPERLEY. "If asked, why Printers and Booksellers.in particular?-1 answer, they are a valuable class STON-LIBRARY SOCIETY LONDON: H. JOHNSON, 49, PATERNOSTER-ROW; FRASER & CO. EDINBURGH; SYMINGTON & CO. GLASGOW; CURRY & CO. DUBLIN, MDCCCXXXIX. PREFACE. It has been remarked that "a preface is the history of a book;" it may therefore be expedient to lay before the reader an ingenuous account of the origin and design of the present publication. In April, 1828, that portion of the work which now forms the introduction, was delivered as one of two lectures, before the Warwick and Leamington Literary and Scientific Institution; and the very flattering commendations then bestowed, induced me to pursue the subject further, as a means both of selfinstruction and amusement for my leisure hours. From that time to the present, scarcely any other object has engrossed more of my attention than that of obtaining every information relative to PRINTERS AND PRINTING. Not aware of the labours that others had performed, and without an assistant, I had many obstacles to contend with; and soon became well convinced, that the design I had formed was above the bibliographical acquirements of a journeyman printer.† Stimulated, however, to proceed, I continued my researches with increased ardour; and though conscious of not having made the work what it might have been under more favourable circumstances, yet I trust some merit may be thought. due for the attempt; and shall feel gratified if placed in the field of literature only as a pioneer, to induce some abler hand to improve the work, and make it more worthy of the literary world, and the profession of which it treats. Those who are conversant with the history of printing, cannot be unacquainted with the learning, virtue, honourable exertions, and ardent and daring LECTURE 1.-On the Origin and Progress of Language, with the mode and materials employed by the Ancients in propagating Knowledge before the Invention of Printing. LECTURE II.-The Origin and early History of Printing, with its progress in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries; its influence upon the Manners and Customs of the People, as well Civil as Religious. ↑ I received the rudiments of my education at a day school in my native town, Manchester, and was afterwards removed to the free grammar school, under the rev. Thomas Gaskell. Early attached to a love of reading, I have remained all my life an ardent inquirer after knowledge. From the month of March, 1810, (being then little more than fifteen years of age,) to November 28, 1815, my days were passed in the 33rd regiment of foot, from which I obtained my discharge, in consequence of wounds received at the battle of Waterloo. During those years I had few facilities of self-improvement. Having been apprenticed to an engraver and copper-plate printer, I resumed the latter, on returning from the army; but from a distaste, and other causes, which need not be here stated, in the year 1821, I adoped the profession of a letter-press printer, under indenture, with Messrs. Dicey and Smithson, proprietors of the Northampton Mercury; and feel gratified that an opportunity has occurred of publicly recording my gratitude to Mr. Robert Smithson, printer and editor of the Mercury, for his uniform kindness during my abode at Northampton; and to whose advice I am solely indebted for a very material change, both in my circumstances and conduct. Adopting the profession of a printer, with the view of affording me that literary information which I so ardently desired, I endeavoured to become acquainted with its history. From this desire arose the Lectures, at Warwick; the Songs of the Press, at Nottingham; and finally, the Dictionary of Printers and Printing, with the Printers' Manual, at Manchester. zeal of most of the early printers, who, by the number of beautiful and correct impresssions which they gave of the ancient authors, (and thereby laying the foundation of classical and polite learning,) have secured to their memories the everlasting respect of all lovers of liberal and enlightened education. Who can read the biographies of many of the early printers, without awarding to them that admiration which the most eminent benefactors of mankind deserve?— It is true, that popes, emperors, and kings, bestowed upon many of these men honours and rewards for their personal worth and literary pre-eminence. But, it is also true, that many of the nobles, ecclesiastics, and rulers of the land, endeavoured to cramp the energies of the rising press-by confiscation of life and property-by exclusive privileges-and expurgatory enactments-having a fear, rather than any desire, to foster an art which promised so fair to benefit the mass of the people, by the diffusion of knowledge. "Sola nobilitas virtus," though generally a very improper motto, where it is most commonly placed, is yet true enough to make a maxim, and might very properly have been engraven on the monuments of many learned and noble typographers. Eulogium is often bestowed on beings whose qualities, however splendid in the outward show, are often questionable in their lives, and unworthy of comparison with others whose faculties have been busied in supplying and extending the sources of knowledge. My aim has been to record, with as much fidelity as possible, the names and deeds of ancient and modern typographers, who have benefitted literature by their labours-society by their exertions-and whose conduct it would be easy to adopt, and desirable to emulate. Nor will it, I hope, be deemed presumption for having introduced the names of many of our humbler artists, "Who earn'd their bread by labour's active hand;" whose meritorious conduct when living obtained the meed of praise; and whose honourable industry deserves to be recorded as a laudable example to the young typographer, who wishes to obtain respect from his fellow-men. With regard to the origin and progress of newspapers, the various laws by which they have been restricted, the duties imposed to retard their circulation, and other information connected with the periodical press, the reader will find sufficient to engage his attention. Of that "glory of a free country" I need make very little observation; yet it is deplorable to notice the present state of the newspaper press of the British empire. From being a free and independent record of the vicissitudes of politics and power, noticing the moral and physical career of nations, recording all accidents by flood and field, aiding the cause and dissemination of knowledge, which, while it amuses, ought also to instruct,—has descended from this high estate, and become the vehicle of party strife and petty feuds, in the hands of designing men, who make no shame of being bought and sold like common ware. If in the course of the work I have indulged too freely in quotations on the "liberty of the press," I wish it to be understood that they are meant to convey what the press should be, not what it is. Without detracting in any degree from the works of those who have preceded me, it will be sufficient to remark, that the expense in the purchase of their valuable works, particularly those highly illustrated ones of Dr. T. F. Dibdin, has been the means of prohibiting their circulation among the greater portion of the community, but more so in the profession; in order, therefore, to render some information on the subject attainable in as cheap a manner as possible, the present work is published. I have been indebted to the works of many British bibliographers; and though I cannot enumerate them, I must mention Dr. Adam Clarke's Bibliographical Dictionary, Robert Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica, Beloe's Anecdotes of Literature, Brydges' British Bibliographer and Censura Literaria, Savage's Librarian, Ottley's Enquiry into the Origin and Early History of Engraving, Singer's Researches into the History of Playing Cards, Dibdin's Bibliographical Decameron and other works, Horne's Introduction to Bibliography, Nichols' Anecdotes of Literature and other works, Townley's Illustrations of Biblical Literature, Greswell's Annals of Parisian Typography, and his View of the Early Parisian Greek Press, D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature; the works of Ames, Herbert, Dibdin, Luckombe, Lemoine, and Stower, on Printing; and, though last, not least, to the pages of Mr. Urban, for the notices of modern printers and booksellers. For the account of those curious and interesting subjects, the ancient mysteries and miracle plays, I am indebted to the works of William Hone, and others; and if it be concluded that a compiler is only a literary thief, I must plead guilty to such a charge, and hope for mercy; at the same time trusting to be exonerated from having any wish to print one line of another's as being my own. In a work which contains such a multiplicity of dates, it is to be expected that numerous errors may be detected, occasioned by the contradictory evidences from which they have been taken, and from those inaccuracies which, with the utmost care, will arise in going through the press; but the most scrutinizing attention. has been paid to make the work as perfect as possible, though, it should be taken into consideration, that during the time of compilation and printing, I have not in the least neglected my labours in a printing office; and the only time I have had in collecting the matter, or of correcting the proof sheets, has been taken from the hours of rest or leisure. For the assistance which I have received from a few individuals during the progress of the work, it becomes me to return my acknowledgments. To the |