PRINTING, the art of making an im pression upon one body by pressing it with another. This art, in some way or other, has been known in all ages. It has been done upon wax, upon plaster, upon iron, by the ancients ; their seals, their rings, their money, prove it. It has been done with wooden blocks upon cot ton and silk by the Indians. Printing, therefore, in this limited sense, was com mon to all nations. This art is now divid ed into four distinct branches : 1. Com mon, or letter-press printing. 2. Rolling press printing. 3. Calico-printing. 4.
Stereotype-printing. 1 Printing by letter-press is the most cu eious branch of the art, and demands the most particular notice. It has been often remarked, that as seven cities in Greece disputed for the birth of Homer, so three cities in Europe, Haerlem, Strasbourg, and Mentz, claim the honour of the in vention of printing.
Without entering minutely into the dis putes which have long agitated the minds of those who have felt a particular interest in this investigation, we state it as our opi nion, that Guttemberg was the,inventor of the art of printing by moveable types ; that he began the art at Strasbourg, and perfected it at Mentz. In this opinion, the earliest writers whO mention printing are all agreed.
That the first attempts at printing were made at Strasbourg is, we think, incon testably proved by the following circum stances John Guttemberg entered into a partnership with Andrew Drizeliennius, John Riff, and Andrew Hellmann, all citi zens of Strasbourg, binding himself to discover to them some important secrets, whereby they should make their fortunes. Each at first contributed eighty florins, and afterwards 125. The workshop was in the house of Andrew Dritze hen, who died. Guttemberg immediate ly sent his servant Beildeck to Nicholas, the brother of the deceased, to request him to suffer no one to enter the work shop, lest the secret should he dis covered, and the forms stolen. But this had already been done. This theft, and the claim which Nicholas made to succeed to his brother's share, occasioned a law suit, and the evidence of the servant af Ihrds explicit and incontrovertible proof in favour of Guttemberg, as the first who practised the art of printing with movea ble types. The document containing the account of this trial, &cc. is dated 1439. It was published in the original German, with a Latin version, by Schopflin, in his " Vindicin Typographicw." M. Lambi net, in his " Recherches Historiques sur l'Origine de l'Art de l'Imprimerie," pub lished at Paris a few years ago, says, that the German is obscure, and that every one will interpret the equivocal words in favour of his own opinion. It is, however, manifest, that Guttemberg expressly or dered that the forms should be broken up, and the characters dispersed ; a fact clearly proving, that the art of printing was at that time a secret, and that more over it was performed with moveable types. Guttemberg, after having sunk
what he and his associates had embarked in this speculation, returned to Mentz, where he was born, and succeeded better in a partnership with Fust.
The evidence in favour of Guttemberg appearing to us decisive, we shall not en ter into any examination of the claims ad vanced by the other candidates for the honour of being the inventor of the art of letter-press printing. The names of those persons were, John Fust, of Mentz ; John Mental of Strasbourg ; and L. John Roster, of Haerlem. When the city of Mentz was taken by Adolphus, Count of Nassau, in 1462, Fust, and Schoeffer, ser vant and son-in-law to Fust, suffered ma terially with their fellow-townsmen.— Their associates and workmen dispersed to seek their fortunes, and the art was thus diffused over Europe. When it was first established at Paris, the copiers, finding their business so materially injured, pre sented a memorial of complaint to the par liament, and that tribunal, as superstitious as the people, who took the printers for con jurers, had their books seized and confis cated. Louis XI. who, villain as he was, was the friend and patron of letters, for bade the parliament to take any farther cognizance of the affair, and restored their property to the printers.
The art of printing now began to spread itself over a great part of Europe with astonishing rapidity. It was practised at Rome in the year 1467, and the year fol lowing it was introduced into England by Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Can terbury, who sent W. Turner, master of the robes, and W. Caxton, merchant, to the continent to learn the art. Turner and Caxton met with one Corseilles, an under-workman, whom they bribed with considerable presents and large promises, to come over to England, and instruct them in the art. This business having been accomplished, a press was set up at Oxford, which was afterwards removed to St. Albans, and after that to Westminster. Abbey. The learned Dr. Conyers Mid dleton, and others, are inclined to doubt the truth of this part of the history of printing. It is certain, that Caxton did uot return immediately to England, but continued some time on the continent, following the business of a printer. In deed both the origin and the history of the first introduction of the art of print ing into this country are involved in doubt and obscurity, and nothing has ever yet been published perfectly satisfactory on this subject. We will, therefore, pro ceed to an account of