Dr. Fry’s philological studies had not ceased with the publication of _Pantographia_, and he was constantly adding to the stock of punches and matrices of the “learned” languages, in which his foundry was already rich. His excellence as a cutter of Oriental punches led to his selection by the University of Cambridge[635] to execute several founts for that learned body; in addition to which he was employed to produce types for the works of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and similar biblical publications. His most important effort in this direction was an English Syriac for Bagster’s _Polyglot_, with the points cast on the body, the entire fount consisting of nearly 400 matrices. The specimen of 1824, which was issued both in octavo and (more sumptuously) in quarto, for presentation, signalised the completion of his efforts in this department, and at the same time notified that the name of the foundry had been changed—not inappropriately—to the Polyglot Foundry. It is to be regretted that Dr. Fry’s energy in one particular branch of his art, congenial as it was to his own tastes, did not turn out lucrative from a business point of view; and the last few years of his career as a type-founder were not prosperous. His latest specimen was a broadside sheet of Newspaper founts in 1827. In the same year he produced a raised type for the blind, under the following circumstances:—The Scotch Society of Arts, anxious to promote the welfare of the blind, and desirous to determine, among the many systems at that time proposed, which was the most suitable method of printing for their instruction, offered a gold medal of the value of £20 for the best communication on the subject. Twenty designs were sent in in 1833, of which Dr. Fry’s was the only one retaining the ordinary alphabetical characters. His specimen consisted of large and small square “sanseriff” capitals working in combination, with no deviation from the regular form. The committee occupied four years in arriving at a decision; employing the time in corresponding with and eliciting {309} the opinion of all the chief persons interested and experienced in the education of the blind, in reference to the various designs. Amongst others they received a long communication from the Rev. W. Taylor of York, who commended Dr. Fry’s system, approving specially of the absence of a “lower-case” letter.[636] The report was published May 31st, 1837, awarding the medal to Dr. Fry, who, however, was at that time no more, his death having occurred two years previously. The following summary of the contents of the Polyglot Foundry, as far as its foreign and rare founts were concerned, is taken from the Specimen Book of 1824, and corresponds closely to the list given in Hansard’s _Typographia_ in the following year. With the exception of the founts purchased at James’ sale in 1782 (which are distinguished by the initials), most of the characters were cut by, or under the direction of, Dr. Fry himself.