In the reign of Henry VI., the Archbishop of Canterbury sent R. Turnour, master of the robes, and W. Caxton, merchant, to Haerlem, to learn the art. These individuals privately prevailed upon one Corselis, an under workman to come to England: and a printing press was established at Oxford. This appears in a MS. chronicle still preserved; it informs us, that the execution of the concern entrusted to Turnour and Caxton cost 1500 marks; and that printing was established at Oxford before there was any printer or printing presses in France, Italy, or Spain.
The University of Oxford press was soon discovered to be too remote from the seat of government, and too great a distance from the sea, other presses were speedily established at St. Alban’s and the Abbey of Westminster.
In 1467, printing was established at Tours, at Reuthlingen, and Venice, in 1469; and it is likely at the same period at Paris, where several of the German printers were invited by the Doctors of the Sorbonne, who established a press in that city.
All important as the art of printing is acknowledged to be, yet three centuries elapsed from the date of the invention before it was perfected in many of its most necessary details. At first the art was kept entirely in the hands of learned men, the greatest scholars often glorying in affixing their names to the works as correctors of the press, and giving names to the various parts of the mechanism of the printing-office, as is testified by the classical technicalities still in use among the workmen. From the great improvement of punching moulds for casting types by Schoeffer, as formerly mentioned, till the invention of italic letters by Aldus Manutius, to whom learning is much indebted, no other improvement of any consequence took place. It does not appear that mechanical ingenuity was at any time directed to the improvement of the presses or any other part of the machinery used in printing, and the consequence was, that till far on in the eighteenth century, the clumsy presses, which were composed of wood and iron, and slow and heavy in working, were allowed to screech on as they had done since the days of Guttenberg, Faust, and Caxton, while the ink continued to be applied by means of two stuffed balls, at a great expense of time and labour.
At length, an almost entire revolution was effected in the printing office, both in the appearance of the workmanship and the mechanism of the presses. About the same period the art of stereotyping was discovered, and developed a completely new feature in the history of printing. One of the chief improvements in typography was, the discarding of the long s, and every description of contraction; while, at the same time, the formation of the letters was executed with more neatness, and greater regularity.
Among the first improvers of the printing press, the most honourable place is due to the Earl of Stanhope, a nobleman who will be long remembered for his mechanical genius; besides applying certain lever powers to the screw and handle of the old wooden press, by which the labour of the workman was diminished, and finer work effected; he constructed a press wholly of iron, which is known by his name.
Since the beginning of the present century, and more especially within the last thirty years, presses wholly of iron, on the nicest scientific principles, have been invented by men of mechanical genius, so as to simplify the process of printing in an extraordinary degree; and the invention of presses composed of cylinders, and wrought by steam, has triumphantly crowned the improvements in this art. The alteration effected by steam power has been as great in the printing business, as in any branch whatever; for example, with the old wooden press, it took a man two days to complete 1000 sheets, (that is, printed on both sides); whereas the London “Times,” by means of the steam press completes 24,000 in one hour! Almost every newspaper in the kingdom is printed by cylinder-presses, although some are worked by hand instead of steam; they are also used in other departments of the printing business.
The introduction of steam-presses would have been of comparatively little benefit, if it had not been furthered by another invention of a very simple nature, now of great value to the printer. We here allude to the invention of the roller for applying the ink, instead of the old clumsy and inefficient balls. The roller, which is simply a composition of glue and treacle, cast upon wooden centre-pieces, was invented by a journeyman printer from Edinburgh, about thirty years ago, and was so much appreciated by the trade, as at once to spread over the whole of Europe.
Were it possible to conjure up the spirits of the illustrious Guttenburg and his contemporaries within the office of the London “Times,” or some other large printing-office, where everything is conducted with rapidity, quietness, and order, John Faust might well think that the printers of the nineteenth century had actually consummated what he was only accused of in the fifteenth—completed a compact with the devil!
As it would be a waste of time for us to pretend to describe the various processes and materials required in this beautiful art, as we are aware that, without actual observation, no conception can be formed,—this we know from experience, and though we might, like many others, have pretended to give a description, we are perfectly aware that we would have been unintelligible to the majority of our readers, and very deservedly laughed at for our trouble by any practical printer who might happen to read our pages; as far as we have gone, however, in giving a brief historical account of the art of printing, we have no doubt it will be found correct, as have consulted the best authorities.