398

INFLUENCE OF THE ART OF FEINTING OX SOCIAL FEOGEESS. [Class XVII.

were created by the rapidity with which at each actionof the lever, moved by the hand of the workman, all thepages which a whole sheet of paper was capable of con-taining, were imprinted at a single stroke; but thisrapidity, which enabled a workman to produce in oneday more than a thousand transcribers could write, couldnot long suffice to supply the constantly-increasing de-mands caused by the march of intellect.

About the beginning of the present century, Charles,the third Earl Stanhope,* by the invention of the presswhich bears his name, and of a new process of stereo-typing, more simple and more economical, had made agreat improvement in the typographical art. Subse-quently Messrs. Eauer and Koenig, aided by the geniusand knowledge of English engineers, and by the intelli-gence and perseverance of Messrs. Reusley and Walter,applied steam power to a new system, which created arevolution in the art of printing. In lieu of the platten,which the workman’s arm slowly brought down upon thetypes, two cylinders printed with rapidity both sides ofthe sheet, whatever its size might be. In November1814, by means of this machine, which was subsequentlymuch simplified, the “ Times” newspaper was printedwith a rapidity which surpassed Guttemberg’s press evenmore than the latter did the hand of the transcribers. Itmight have seemed that the rapidity of production inprinting could proceed no further; but after having beenrepeatedly altered in its form, the printing machineappears before us now in an entirely novel shape, and wemight believe on seeing the “Times” newspaper printed

* Mr. Slower remarks, “ That the common press is con-structed on the true principles of mechanism. It does not,however (he allows), produce an adequate impression fromheavy works in small letter without great labour and atten-tion. It was, therefore, a great acquisition to gain anaccession of power with, at the same time, a diminution oflabour.

“This valuable acquisition in the art of printing owes itsinvention to that enlightened and patriotic statesman, KarlStanhope. The iron press, invented by this nobleman, iscapable of ten times the force of the common press, with,perhaps, a tenth of the labour. In working upon this pressnothing is left to the judgment of the pressman but thebeating.”

The Stanhope principle has been applied in oil succeedingimprovements of the common press, whether of iron orwood.

Mr. Tilloch having given up the prosecution of the art ofstereotyping, Mr. Wilson, a printer of respectability inLondon , engaged with Earl Stanhope for the purpose ofbringing it to perfection, and eventually to establish it intliis country. Tiis Lordship, it is said, received his instruc-tions from Mr. Tilloch, and had afterwards the personalattendance of Mr. Eoulis for many months, at his seat atChevening, where his Lordship was initiated in the prac-tical part of the operation.

After two years’ application, Mr. Wilson announced tothe public, that the genius and perseverance of Earl Stan-hope, whom he styles “the Eight Honourable Inventor,”had overcome every difficulty, and that, accordingly, thevarious processes of the stereotype art had been so admi-rably contrived, combining the most beautiful simplicitywith the most desirable econom}*, the ne plus ultra ofperfection with that of cheapness, as to yield the bestencouragement to the public for looking forward to thehappy period when an application of this valuable art tothe manufacture of books would be the means of reducingthe prices of all standard works at least thirty, and, inmany cases, fifty per cent.

In January. 1804, the stereotype art (with the approbationof Lord Stanhope) was offered by Mr. Wilson to theUniversity of Cambridge , for their adoption and use in theprinting of Bibles, Testaments , and Prayer-Books , uponcertain terms and conditions highly advantageous to Mr.Wilson ; for. with his Lordship’s characteristic generosity,Earl Stanhope uniformly declined to accept even the reim-bursement of any part of the moneys by him expended inthe prosecution of this ingenious art. Some differences,however, arising between Mr. t\ ilson and the officials ofthe University , the contract was dissolved, and Mr. Wilsonpublished his case in a stereotyped pamphlet, entitled,“Arbitration between the University of Cambridge andAndrew Wilson.”

by Applegath’s new system, that the highest degree ofspeed had been attained, did not experience preventmankind from assigning a limit to the perfectibility ofhuman inventions, and to the inscrutable designs ofProvidence.

Mr. Koenig’s machines, patented in 1814, were far toocomplicated and expensive, and the inking too imper-fect, for general adoption. They were superseded byMr. Edward Cowper's machine, which he invented andpatented in 181b. Almost all the large editions ofmodern works are printed by Cowper’s machines, andthe influence they have had on the publication of booksof all kinds is far beyond any expectation entertained atthe time the machine was invented. After it had beenin use some time, it was stated in Court , by an eminentlawyer (now a noble Lord), that, “if it had not been forMr. Cowper’s machine, it would have been impossible tosupply the demand for books:” this is not correct, forat that time the hand-press did supply the demand : butthe striking and important fact is, that the machinecreated a demand, and called into existence books which,but for it, would scarcely have been thought of. As themachine-work from type and wood-cuts was far betterthan the ordinary printing of the day, booksellers wereinduced to print extensive editions, because they saw themachine could accomplish all they required. One of thefirst booksellers who availed himself of this power wasMr. Charles Knight, who projected the “ Fenny Maga-zine,” on a hint from Mr. M. D. Hill, Queen’s Counsel.Each number, published weekly, consisted of eight pagesof letterpress, illustrated with good wood-engravings.The public was astonished at the cheapness and goodquality of the work, but it was its immense sale whichrendered it profitable; for some years it amounted to180,000 copies weekly. Mr. Knight, whose services inthe cause of educational literature entitle him to thehighest praise, expended 5,000/. a-year in woodcuts forthis work. The Cowper machine has been the cause ofthe many pictorial illustrations which characterize solarge a portion of modern publications. The “ SaturdayMagazine,” “ Chambers’ Journal,” the “ Magasin Fitto-resque,” in France , and numerous others, owe their ex-istence to this printing machine. The principal of cheapeditions and lar<je salts soon extended to establish worksof a higher value. A remarkable instance of this wasthe edition of Sir "Walter Scott’s works, with notes, editedby himself: instead of the old price of 10s., they weresold at 5s. a volume, and the demand created by thisreduction of price was so great that, although the printerhad a strong prejudice against machines, he was com-pelled to have them, the presses of his large establish-ment proving totally unable to perform the work, whichamounted to upwards of 1,000 volumes per day for abouttwo years. The Universities of Cambridge and Oxfordhave adopted Mr. Cowper’s machines for printing vastnumbers of Bibles, Prayer-books, &c. See. A Bible ,which formerly cost 3s., may now be had for Is. Mr.Cowper recommended the Religious Tract Society toput aside their coarse woodcuts, to have superior woodengravings, and to print them with his machine. TheSociety adopted these suggestions, and the result is, thatby sending forth well-printed books, it could now supp; rtitself by their sale, without any aid from subscriptions.

As to newspapers, “The Times,” for instance, printsabout Thirty-Jive thousand copies every day, and as thisnewspaper is of a very large size, often with a supple-ment, the aggregate amount is more than thirty acresof printed surface per day- a quantity that could notpossibly have been effected by hand-presses. At the“ Times” office there are four machines, invented byCowper and Applegath, printing from 4,500 to 5,000impressions per hour; and two machines, lately inventedby Mr. Applegath, printing Ten thousand copies perhour—a hand-press producing only 3oO impressions perhour. The great point obtained in these machines isthe perfect distribution of the ink, and the power ofcausing the tvpe to pass under the mking-rollers twicefor newspaper work, or from four to eight times for book-work, thus insuring the type being well inked. Timeffect was so striking, as to induce Mr. Cowper to apply