In 1806, after George had become a journeyman printer, the brothers were offered by publishers the printing of Lavoisier’s Chemistry. The fact that they had no plant, no equipment, and no money did not deter them from accepting the offer. Bruce managed somehow to secure a place and a press, and he borrowed a font of type. He introduced the standing press for dry pressing his sheets, and he turned out so good a piece of work that the publishers offered him all the printing that he could do. From this start he set up a successful business. In 1811 Bruce, with his usual business acumen, recognized the importance of stereotyping and went to England to study it. As we have seen, however, it was not easy to learn other people’s trades in those days and Bruce met with great difficulty. He did, however, succeed in learning something from a Scotch workman, perhaps helped by a certain sense of kinship, which is common among the Scotch, and returned home to make experiments for himself. Times were not favorable for keeping business running, to say nothing of starting new business. The conditions preceding the war of 1812 were disastrous for business in the United States. American commerce was crushed between the upper and nether millstones of England and France, who had been at war for many years and were attempting to fight each other’s commerce and industries as well as each other’s soldiers. The condition was very similar to that which preceded the entrance of the United States into the great war of 1917, excepting that it continued much longer and, owing to the comparative weakness of the United States, was much more serious than the later difficulty. The war did not mend things industrially and its close in 1815 left the United States in a bad business condition for a good many years. Nevertheless, the courage and persistency of the Bruces enabled them to weather the storm, and they not only held their own but developed along new lines. In 1814 and 1815 Bruce produced the first two sets of stereotype plates made in America. They were a common school testament in bourgeois type and a 12mo Bible in nonpareil. Bruce invented a machine for planing the backs of the plates to make them of uniform height. This was a great improvement and was so successful that it is said that of the entire two sets of plates only a single plate needed a slight overlay.