Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE PRINTER in Eighteenth-Century _WILLIAMSBURG_ An Account of his Life & Times, & of his Craft _Williamſburg Craft Series_ _WILLIAMSBURG_ Publiſhed by _Colonial Williamſburg_ MMI [Illustration: Decorative page header.] _A Word to the Reader about Eighteenth-Century Typography_ [Illustration: Decorative Capital.] The paragraphs on this Page and the next have been ſet in an eighteenth-century Manner. The Type uſed is _Caſlon_, developed in the early Part of the eighteenth Century by _William Caſlon_, the greateſt of the Engliſh Letter Founders. _Caſlon_ in 1734 iſſued his firſt Broadſide Specimen Sheet of Type Faces cut at his Foundry during the preceding Decade and a Half. Although _Caſlon_ is famous for the beautiful Type that bears his Name, he deſerves equal Credit for deſigning ſome of the moſt handſome Type Ornaments or “Flowers” ever developed, before or after his Time. Such Type Flowers had many Uſes—to embelliſh Initial Letters at the Beginning of a Chapter in a Book; as decorative Devices in a ſingle Row over a Type Heading ſtarting a new Page in a Book; or over Headings each Time a new Subject was introduced in a Text. Flowers were caſt to all the regular Bodies of the Letter from the ſmall (_Nonpareil_) to the large (_Great Primer_) Size. The Type Flowers uſed at the Head of this Page, in the built-up Initial opening the firſt Paragraph, and elſewhere in this Publication are reproduced from original eighteenth-century Flowers excavated at the Site of the Printing Office on _Duke of Glouceſter_ Street in _Williamſburg_. The longs “s” ſo evident in theſe Paragraphs originated in the _German_ Hand Script. Early _German_ Type Founders attempted to reproduce Handwriting as cloſely as poſſible. In the Attempt the long “s” was evolved and was adopted by the firſt _Engliſh_ Printers who learned their Trade from the _Germans_. The long “s” remained in general Uſe until about the Year 1800. It was always uſed at the Beginning and in the Middle of a Word, but never to terminate a Word. It can eaſily be recognized by the Fact of having only half a Croſſbar or none at all, whereas the Letter “f” has a full Croſſbar. Ligatures, ſuch as ct, ſb, ſſ, ſi, ſſi, ſk, ſl, ſſl, ſt, fi, ffi, ff, fl, ffl, were developed where a long “s” or an “f” overlapped the following Letter. Caſting the two Characters together avoided Damage to the overlapping Letter. Although ſome Ligatures have fallen into Diſuſe, the fi, ffi, ff, fl, and ffl are ſtill common today.