Berthold Ruppel is usually credited with the introduction of printing into Switzerland, the date being possibly 1468. The most famous and learned printer in Swiss history was John Fro ben. With him was associated, as a press corrector the great Dutch scholar, Desiderius Erasmus. In the Low Countries (Holland and Belgium) printing was done at Utrecht as early as 1471, but the name of the printer is unknown. N. Ketelaer and G. de Leempt were the first Dutch printers to place their names in a printed book of their own production, the date being Spain's first known printer was Lambert Palmart who began at Valencia in 1474. The best known name in the history of Span ish printing is that of Kromberger, Jacob and John (father and son), the elder having begun at Seville soon after the opening of the i6th century, the exact date being unknown.
William Caxton was England's first printer. He was a native of Kent. After serving an apprenticeship to a London mercer, he resided for a period of about 3o years in the Low Countries, where he eventually became governor of a company of English merchants known as the English Nation. He learned the art at Cologne and, with Colard Mansion, started business at Bruges, removing in 1476 to Westminster where he set up a press at "The Red Pale" in the Almonry. His first production in England was a papal indulgence, issued on Dec. 13, 1476. He continued there during an active period of 15 years, producing about 10o volumes. He died in 1491 and his press passed to his assistant, Wynkyn de Worde.
The introduction of printing into England was characterized by a number of innovations. In all other countries the pioneers were wandering German printers who began to print in Latin. England's first printer was an Englishman who used only his own language. Caxton wrote or translated much of the material he converted into books, and he printed with type faces of a design that was neither Gothic nor Roman.
The quality of printing began to deteriorate in the i6th century, owing somewhat to the fact that the ruling powers in church and State became alarmed because the new art seemed to be cre ating too much freedom of thought. Measures of repression were adopted and printing ceased to be an art and became merely a vehicle for the conveyance of information. Some great printing and publishing families, such as the Estiennes in France and Plantin and the Elzevirs in the Low Countries, carried on the traditions, but the general level of quality was low. A change came in England early in the i8th century. In 1720 William
Caslon began to produce a Roman type face that was little more than a refinement of that designed by Nicolas Jenson, but it was accepted as a practically new design and has ever since borne Caslon's name. It exercised a profound influence upon 18th century typography. A generation later John Baskerville, after seven years of experimenting with type, ink and paper-making, began to print in Birmingham. Because of the high quality of his productions he, too, exercised a decided influence upon the print ing of the time. Just before Baskerville's death in 1775, another printer of similar eminence was coming into notice in Italy. He was Giambattista Bodoni, who began at Parma in 1768 and con tinued until his death in 1813.
Printing began in the Western Hemisphere in Mexico City, probably in 1539, when a printer named Giovanni Paoli reached there with an equipment sent, at the request of the reigning arch bishop, by John Kromberger, of Seville, Spain. In what is now the United States, the first press began at Cambridge. Mass.. in 1638. The Rev. Jesse Glover had left England with it, but had died on the way over. It was set up by Stephen Day and his son Matthew, a lad of 18 years, who had some knowledge of printing. Their first work was called the "Freeman's Oath." The first book from the press, known as the Bay Psalm Book, was produced in 1640.
The deterioriation in the quality of printing, which began to manifest itself in the i6th century, continued with exceptions noted through the i7th, i8th and 19th centuries. A revival came in the last decade of the 19th century, led by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press in England. Morris' books were issued in limited editions and are prized by book-collectors. They cannot be said to be highly successful, however, as books; it was pic torial effect rather than legibility for which Morris strove. He has had many imitators, but few successful followers.
The present standard of book-making is high. In England, apart from the few excellent private presses, good work is being produced by the presses of the universities and many other com mercial printing-houses. Bruce Rogers in New York, and Daniel Berkeley Updike at the Merrymount Press, in Boston, are pro ducing volumes that from all the points that go to make up good book-making have never been surpassed. Frederic W. Goudy is producing type designs that will give his name a permanent place in printing history.