Although Martin’s foundry was entirely supported by, and, indeed, belonged to, the Shakespeare Press, he appears occasionally to have supplied his types to outsiders—amongst others to McCreery, the author of the well-known poem on the Press, and himself a very elegant printer. The Press,[691] was printed in 1803 from Martin’s type, as a specimen of typography, and in his preface the author pays the following tribute to that artist’s abilities:—“The extraordinary efforts which have of late years been made to produce the finest models of Printing Types, must be highly gratifying to those who have in any measure interested themselves in raising the credit of the British Press. The spirit for this species of beauty has long been gaining an ascendancy, having received a strong impulse from the talents of Baskerville, who endeavoured to combine sharpness and perfection of impression with graceful types, giving to his works a finish which was before unknown in this kingdom. Mr. Martin, whose abilities are so conspicuously displayed in the productions of the Shakespeare Press, is a pupil of that celebrated school. By the liberality of George Nicol, Esq., I am enabled to boast of being the first who has participated with Mr. Bulmer in the use of these types, a mark of kindness for which my warmest acknowledgements are the least recompense he has a right to expect.” Several of the other productions of McCreery’s press were also printed from Martin’s type.
Among the finest specimens of the Shakespeare Press printed in Bulmer’s time, the three great bibliographical works of Dibdin, viz., the Typographical Antiquities,[692] the Bibliotheca Spenceriana,[693] and the Bibliographical Decameron,[694] will always take a foremost place. Martin, whose Roman type rarely appeared to greater advantage, unfortunately did not live to see the completion of the whole of these typographical masterpieces, as he died in the summer of 1815. He was buried in St. James’s Church, Westminster.
After his death, the foundry (of which unfortunately no specimen-book exists), appears to have been continued for a short time by Mr. Bulmer, who, {334} between 1815 and 1819, when he himself retired, produced several fine works.[695]
Prior to that event—in 1817—Mr. Nichols states that the foundry was united with that of the Caslons.[696] There is, however, reason for supposing that some of the matrices were retained for the use of the Shakespeare Press, and that others went into the market and were secured by other founders.[697]
The Shakespeare Press, under the supervision of Mr. W. Nicol, continued in active operation till 1855, when he retired, and his printing materials were sold; thus closing one of the most memorable chapters in the history of British typographical enterprise.
