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The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His AssociatesDe Vinne, Theodore Low

History

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

Name: The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates
Author: De Vinne, Theodore Low

De Vinne, Theodore Low

Incunabula -- Bibliography; Printing -- History -- Origin and antecedents

The Speculum not the Work of an Experimenter . . . Improbable that
 this was his only Typographic Book . . . Twelve Books, Eight Faces
 of Types and Forty-two Editions attributed to him or his Successors
 . . . Hessel’s Classification of these Types . . . Fac-simile of the
 Types of the Speculum . . . Fac-simile of the Fables of Lorenzo Valla
 . . . Fac-simile of the Peculiarities of Criminal Law . . . Fac-simile
 of the Epitaphs of Pope Pius II . . . The Donatus . . . Fac-simile
 of the Abecedarium . . . The Eight Faces of Types were made by the
 same Printer . . . An Indication that he Wore out Types rapidly . . .
 That he Sold many Books . . . Trivial Character of the Books . . .
 His Types not Made of Wood . . . Illustrations of Types of Wood . . .
 Their Impracticability Demonstrated . . . Books not made from Cut
 Types . . . Cause of the Dissimilar Appearance of the Types . . . Were
 Founded . . . The Press of the Unknown Printer . . . Its Defects . . .
 Indications of the Use of a Frisket.

       *       *       *       *       *

 If any shall suggest, that some of the Enquiries here insisted upon
 (as particularly those about the Letters of the Alphabet) do seem too
 minute and trivial for any prudent man to bestow his serious thoughts
 and time about, such persons may know that the discovery of the true
 nature and cause of any the most minute thing doth promote real
 knowledge, and therefore cannot be unfit for any Man’s endeavours.

 _Bishop Wilkins_, 1668.

       *       *       *       *       *

If the printer of the _Speculum_ was the rightful inventor of
typography, his workmanship, as shown in the different editions of the
book, clearly proves that he had passed the shoals of experiment, and
was on the broad sea of successful practice. We can see, even without
the help of the legends or chronicles, that he cut punches, made moulds
and founded types of different faces and bodies; that he compounded
ink in a proper manner, and printed his types upon a press constructed
for the needs of his work; that he was successful both as a publisher
and a printer. He practised printing not for amusement, nor in the way
of scientific experiment, but as a business. Rude as his workmanship
may appear, it fairly included all departments of the art: it was not
experimental, but practical typography. [p283]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

De Vinne, Theodore Low

Incunabula -- Bibliography; Printing -- History -- Origin and antecedents

The Speculum not the Work of an Experimenter . . . Improbable that
 this was his only Typographic Book . . . Twelve Books, Eight Faces
 of Types and Forty-two Editions attributed to him or his Successors
 . . . Hessel’s Classification of these Types . . . Fac-simile of the
 Types of the Speculum . . . Fac-simile of the Fables of Lorenzo Valla
 . . . Fac-simile of the Peculiarities of Criminal Law . . . Fac-simile
 of the Epitaphs of Pope Pius II . . . The Donatus . . . Fac-simile
 of the Abecedarium . . . The Eight Faces of Types were made by the
 same Printer . . . An Indication that he Wore out Types rapidly . . .
 That he Sold many Books . . . Trivial Character of the Books . . .
 His Types not Made of Wood . . . Illustrations of Types of Wood . . .
 Their Impracticability Demonstrated . . . Books not made from Cut
 Types . . . Cause of the Dissimilar Appearance of the Types . . . Were
 Founded . . . The Press of the Unknown Printer . . . Its Defects . . .
 Indications of the Use of a Frisket.

       *       *       *       *       *

 If any shall suggest, that some of the Enquiries here insisted upon
 (as particularly those about the Letters of the Alphabet) do seem too
 minute and trivial for any prudent man to bestow his serious thoughts
 and time about, such persons may know that the discovery of the true
 nature and cause of any the most minute thing doth promote real
 knowledge, and therefore cannot be unfit for any Man’s endeavours.

 _Bishop Wilkins_, 1668.

       *       *       *       *       *

If the printer of the _Speculum_ was the rightful inventor of
typography, his workmanship, as shown in the different editions of the
book, clearly proves that he had passed the shoals of experiment, and
was on the broad sea of successful practice. We can see, even without
the help of the legends or chronicles, that he cut punches, made moulds
and founded types of different faces and bodies; that he compounded
ink in a proper manner, and printed his types upon a press constructed
for the needs of his work; that he was successful both as a publisher
and a printer. He practised printing not for amusement, nor in the way
of scientific experiment, but as a business. Rude as his workmanship
may appear, it fairly included all departments of the art: it was not
experimental, but practical typography. [p283]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

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