Next to these extremely ancient stamped bricks, in point of interest and antiquity, are specimens of the earliest engraving of letters on stone. We are informed by various historical writers that Cadmus, a Phœnician, who lived one thousand five hundred years before Christ, at a period contemporary with Moses, and who was esteemed as the builder of the city of Thebes, was the first who taught the Greeks the use of alphabetic symbols, an art he most likely acquired from the Hebrews. The most ancient specimen of an engraved inscription now known to be extant, is the Sigean Inscription, so called from having been disinterred upon a promontory named Sigeum, situate near the ancient city of Troy, in Phrygia. It is engraved on a pillar of beautifully white marble, nine feet high, two feet broad, and eight inches thick, and which, from the inscription, served as the pedestal of the heathen god Hermocrates. The letters used in this inscription are the capitals of the Grecian language, though rudely cut, but read from right to left like the Hebrew. This specimen of engraving must be about three thousand years old.
Another not less interesting relic of the earliest age of printing is found in a Roman signet ring or stamp, approaching in character to that species of stamp now used by the post-office on letters. This curiosity is preserved in the British Museum. It is the very earliest specimen we possess of printing, by means of ink or any similar substance. It is made of metal, a sort of Roman brass; the ground of which is covered with a green kind of verdigris rust, with which antique medals are usually covered. The letters rise flush up to the elevation of the exterior rim which surrounds it. Its dimensions are, about two inches long, by one inch broad. At the back of it is a small ring for the finger, to promote the convenience of holding it. As no person of the name which is inscribed upon it is mentioned in Roman History, he is therefore supposed to have been a functionary of some Roman officer, or private steward, and who, perhaps, used this stamp to save himself the trouble of writing his name. A stamp somewhat similar, in the Greek character, is in the possession of the Antiquarian Society, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
It will be perceived that however curious these relics of antiquity may be, they do not bear any connection with the art of printing books. The origin of this invention seems to be quite independent of a preceding knowledge of impressing by means of stamps. What is, however, worthy of remark, the art of printing books, though on a rude principle, was known and in use among the Chinese, at least one thousand four hundred years before it was invented in Europe. The printing of the Chinese has never resembled anything of the kind in this country. From the first it has been conducted without moveable types. Each page has been, and continues to be, a block or cut stamp, which is thus useful for only one subject—so that every book must have its own blocks. No press is used. The paper being thin, when laid on the block receives the impression by being smoothed over with a brush. There is reason to infer that the art of printing, as thus practised by the Chinese, may have originated through a knowledge of the still more ancient Chaldean mode of printing by blocks on clay. But we may expect, from the well-known ingenuity of the Chinese, and their (in general,) having the organ of imitation so fully developed, that they will not much longer continue this primitive method of printing, as an enterprising practical printer has emigrated, with an excellent assortment of presses, types, &c., from Edinburgh, to conduct his business in the celestial empire. We wish him all success.
The discovery of the art of printing with moveable types, which took place in the fifteenth century, in Germany, was considerably aided by a fashion, which had been some time prevalent, of cutting blocks of wood into pictures, or representations of scenes illustrative of Scriptural history, and printing them on paper, simply by the pressure of the hand, a brush, or cushion behind.
One of the earliest of these wood-cuts is still extant, and represents the creation of man, as detailed in the book of Genesis. In the centre of the picture stands a figure, intended for the Divinity, having the appearance of an old man with flowing garments, a venerable beard, and rays proceeding from the head; on the ground, before him, lies a human being, intended for Adam, fast asleep; and from an opening in his side is seen proceeding the slender figure of a female, meaning Eve, who is taken by the hand by God, and is apparently receiving His blessing. The execution of this, and cuts of a similar nature, is of the rudest description, and is a striking testimony of the low scale of art at the time. Pictures of this nature, which were bound up into books, nevertheless, were the immediate forerunners of the great invention itself. Books of prints, it will naturally be imagined, would soon be found imperfect, for want of descriptive text; this, therefore, urged on the great discovery. The manufacturers of the books, at first, cut single sentences or words, and stamped them below the pictures; but this not conveying a sufficient idea of the subject represented, an anxiety arose to give a lengthened description on the opposite pages. This it seems was, at length, accomplished; still the sentences were all cut in a piece, and the notion of having separate letters, so as to form words at pleasure, was unknown at that period. We will now proceed to the introduction of the modern art of printing.
Ever since the typographic art has been introduced into modern Europe in its present form, the best, and one of the most certain criterions,—which prove the undoubted sense of our species,—exists in the multiplicity of claims which have been made by several cities for the honour of affording the earliest shelter to the infancy of this art. It really appears to be a question yet undecided, to what city, individual, or even era, to attribute this beneficial invention.
However, there is every reason to believe that in this art, as well as in most others, the improvements which have subsequently taken place, have benefited the art itself, as much as that has benefited mankind: therefore, the question of its origin does not appear to us to be of so much importance.
Amidst the claims of various individuals, Mr. Bouzer, in his “Origin of Printing,” says, that this honour ought to be adjudged to one of the three cities of Haerlem, Mentz, or Strasburg; of which, in his opinion, the first named city has best established her legitimate right. “But it appears,” to use his own words, “that all those cities, in a qualified sense, may claim it, considering the improvements they have made upon each other.”
The real and original inventor of the modern art of printing, as at first used, and from whence the improved practice is descended, was one Laurentius, of Haerlem; who, however, proceeded no further than to cut separate wooden letters. There is every reason to believe that, at first, these wooden forms were made upon the principle of the forma literarum of the Romans. This Laurentius, it appears, made his first essay about the year 1430; he died ten years afterwards, having first printed the “Horarium,” the “Speculum Belgicum,” and two editions of “Donatus.”
The individual on whom history most generally places the honour of being the earliest discoverer of the art of printing by means of moveable letters, or types, was John Guttenberg, a citizen of Mayence, or Mentz, who flourished from the year 1436 to 1466, in the reign of Frederick III. of Germany. The ingenious Guttenburg was born at Mayence, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, and removed to Strasburg about the year 1424, or, perhaps rather earlier. Here he became acquainted with the above-named Laurentius, with whom he proceeded to Haerlem, and continued in the employment of Laurentius for some time. However, he returned to Strasburg, where, in 1435, he entered into partnership with Andrew Dritzehan, John Riff, and Andrew Heelman, citizens of Strasburg, binding himself to disclose to them some important secrets, by which they would make their fortunes. The workshop was in the house of Dritzehan, who dying, Guttenberg immediately sent his servant, Lawrence Beildick, to Nicholas, the brother of the deceased, and requested that no person might be admitted into the workshop, lest the secret should be discovered, and the forms stolen. But they had already disappeared; and this fraud, as well as the claims of Nicholas Dritzehan, to succeed to his brother’s share, produced a law-suit among the surviving partners. Five witnesses were examined; and from the evidence of Guttenburg’s servants, it was incontrovertibly proved that Guttenberg was the first that practised the art of printing with moveable types in Strasburg; and that on the death of Andrew Dritzehan, he had expressly ordered the forms to be broken up, and the types dispersed, lest any one should discover his secret. The words given in his order, which were supported by documentary evidence, were these—“Go, take the component parts of the press, and pull them to pieces; then, no one will understand what they mean.” In the same document mention is made of four forms, kept together by two screws, or press spindles, and of letters and pages being cut up and destroyed.