12. In 1812, David Bruce went to England for the express purpose of obtaining a knowledge of the art, as it was kept a profound secret by Watts; and having learned the method of one Nicholson, of Liverpool, and having also acquired some knowledge of Earl Stanhope's plan, he returned to New-York, and commenced stereotyping, in conjunction with his brother, George Bruce, in the year 1813. They soon completed two setts of 12mo plates for the New Testament, one of which they sold to Matthew Carey, Nov. 8, 1814. Soon afterwards, they finished the whole Bible. David Bruce invented the machine for planing the plates, in 1815. [Illustration] THE PAPER-MAKER, AND THE BOOKBINDER. THE PAPER-MAKER. 1. The materials on which writing was executed, in the early days of the art, were the leaves and bark of trees and plants, stones, bricks, sheets of lead, copper, and brass, as well as plates of ivory, wooden tablets, and cotton and linen cloth. 2. The instruments with which writing was practised were adapted to the substance on which it was to be formed. The _stylus_, which the Romans employed in writing on metallic tablets covered with wax, was made of iron, acute at one end, for forming the letters, and flat or round at the other, for erasing what may have been erroneously written. 3. For writing with ink, the _calamus_, a kind of reed, sharpened at the point, and split like our pens was used. Some of the Eastern nations still write with bamboos and canes. The Chinese inscribe their characters with small brushes similar to camel's hair pencils. We have no certain evidence of the application of _quills_ to this purpose until the seventh century. 4. As the literature of antiquity advanced, a material adapted to works of magnitude became necessary, and this was found both in the skins of animals, and in the celebrated plant papyrus, of Egypt; but the time when they were first applied to this purpose cannot be determined, although it is probable that the former has the preference as regards priority. 5. The papyrus was an aquatic plant, which grew upon the banks of the Nile. In the manufacture of paper from this reed, it was divested of its outer covering, and the internal layers, or laminæ, were separated with the point of a needle or knife. These layers were spread parallel to each other on a table, in sufficient numbers to form a sheet; a second layer was then laid with the strips crossing those of the first at right angles; and the whole having been moistened with water, was subjected to pressure between metallic surfaces. The pressure, aided by a glutinous substance in the plant, caused the several pieces to become one uniform sheet.