“This little work, issued from the [Ceylon] Government Press, does credit to the author and printer alike.... We can say in all truth and honesty, that the work of Mr. Skeen would reflect credit on any Printing Office in the world. He has certainly illustrated what has been done for the improvement of Printing in Ceylon by _himself_, for to him it is entirely due. He has issued a pamphlet of sound historical matter, carefully written, admirably printed, and on excellent paper. The matter consists of a history of the discovery of the Art of Printing and its various improvements, down to the close of the Fifteenth Century; and while it contains much new and interesting matter, there is but one fault to find with it:--it is too short, and stops at a very interesting point.... We welcome such works with the right hand of fellowship; and in conclusion, we will only add, that we hope Mr. Skeen will have the inclination and leisure to complete this history of the Art of Printing, in the first part of which, now published, he has imparted his information in so agreeable a manner, and illustrated the present state of the Art by so perfect an example.”--_Colombo Examiner_, [1853.] Transcriber’s Note: Equals signs indicate the word or character was printed in an ornate font, for example, =Ornate font= The tilde character in ~TYPOGRAPHY~ indicates spaced letters Some fonts may not render the following characters as expected: n under ring --Sin̥halese --Sy-chong-n̥gén-pon --Mámyan̥gama dot under --e and d in Wẹlikaḍa --l in Avissáweḷa --é in Bẹ́na --t in Kuruwiṭa and Hẹramiṭipána Items in the Errata listed on page 424 have been changed. Otherwise, no known changes to spelling or punctuation as appeared in the original publication have been made except as follows: Page 22 papier-maché castings _changed to_ papier-mâché castings Page 243 by the name of the printing house.” _changed to_ by the name of the printing house.’” Page 316 “NO ONE KNOWS; yet it seems _changed to_ “NO ONE KNOWS;” yet it seems the assistants of Guttenberg, Faust and Schœffer _changed to_ the assistants of Gutenberg, Faust and Schœffer Page 383 and eighth formes: the next quaternion _changed to_ and eighth formes; the next quaternion Page 417 ‘experiments of his foreman H. le Blansch _changed to_ ‘experiments’ of his foreman H. le Blansch Page 420 that of Zell, who says Gutenburg _changed to_ that of Zell, who says Gutenberg Page 421 were the work of a letter-synder _changed to_ were the work of a letter-snyder Page i pleasing and anecdotal manner it which _changed to_ pleasing and anecdotal manner in which Page ii little has hitherto been known. _changed to_ little has hitherto been known.” Page iv only interesting but instructive.--_The Messenger._ _changed to_ only interesting but instructive.”--_The Messenger._