14. THOMAS COTTRELL, 1757

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

[591] See ante, p. [158].

[592] Dissertation, p. 82.

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

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

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

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

[597] Lit. Anec., ii, 358.

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

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

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

[601] Pica, which in 1798 had been 1s. per lb., is raised to 1s. 2 ½d., and Nonpareil is advanced from 5s. to 5s. 6d. The other sizes are in similar proportion.

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

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

“Barbican, 1803.

[603] See ante, p. [117].

[604] See post, chap. xxi.

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

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

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

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

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

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