About the same time, it is recorded that another great printer, the elder Bowyer,[450] “accidentally saw in the shop of Mr. Daniel Browne, bookseller, near Temple Bar, the lettering of a book, uncommonly neat; and enquiring who the artist was by whom the letters were made, Mr. Caslon was introduced to his acquaintance, and was taken by him to Mr. James’s foundery in Bartholomew Close. Caslon had never before that time seen any part of the business; and being asked by his friend if he thought he could undertake to cut types, he requested a single day to consider the matter, and then replied he had no doubt but he could. From this answer, Mr. Bowyer lent him £200, Mr. Bettenham[451] (to whom also he had been introduced) lent the same sum, and Mr. Watts £100.”[452]

With this assistance Mr. Caslon established himself in a garret in Helmet Row, Old Street, and devoted himself with ardour to his new profession.[453] An opportunity for distinguishing himself presented itself shortly afterwards.

In the year 1720 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,[454] acting {235} on a suggestion made by Mr. Salomon Negri, a native of Damascus, and a distinguished Oriental scholar, “deemed it expedient to print for the Eastern Churches the New Testament and Psalter in the Arabic language for the benefit of the poor Christians in Palestine, Syria, Mesapotamia, Arabia and Egypt, the constitution of which countries allowed of no printing.” A new Arabic fount being required for the purpose, Mr. Caslon, whose reputation as a letter-cutter appears already to have been known, was selected to cut it. This he did to the full satisfaction of his patrons, producing the elegant English Arabic which figures in his early specimens. The Society was, according to Rowe Mores, already possessed of a fount of Arabic cast from the Polyglot matrices in Grover’s foundry. But Caslon’s fount was preferred for the text, and in it appeared, in due time, first the Psalter in 1725,[455] and afterwards the New Testament in 1727.[456]

61. English Arabic, cut by Caslon in 1720. (From the original matrices.)

“Mr. Caslon, after he had finished his Arabic fount, cut the letters of his own name in Pica Roman, and placed the name at the bottom of a specimen of the Arabic[457]; and Mr. Palmer (the reputed author of Psalmanazar’s History of Printing), seeing this name, advised Mr. Caslon to complete the fount of Pica. Mr. Caslon did so; and as the performance exceeded the letter of the other founders of the time, Mr. Palmer—whose circumstances required credit with those who, by his advice, were now obstructed (i.e., whose business was likely to {236} suffer from this new rival)—repented having given the advice, and discouraged Mr. Caslon from any further progress.

[Μ] 59. Pica Roman and Italic, cut by William Caslon, 1720. (From the original matrices.)

“Mr. Caslon, disgusted,[458] applied to Mr. Bowyer, under whose inspection he cut, in 1722, the beautiful fount of English (Roman) which was used in printing the edition of Selden’s Works[459] in 1726.”

Caslon’s excellent performance of this task may best be judged of by an inspection of this noble work, which remains conspicuous not only as the impression of the first letter cast at the Caslon foundry, but as marking a distinct turning-point in the career of English typography, which from that time forward entered on a course of brilliant regeneration. The Hebrew letter used in the Selden was also of Caslon’s cutting, and must therefore share with the English Roman the honour of a first place in the productions of his foundry.