BOOK I THE KING'S ENGLISH CHAPTER I CAXTON "Good reason has England to be proud of this son of hers who opens a new era in her literature."-JUSSERAND. From xylography to typography-Gutenberg-Pre-Caxton English-William Caxton-His life and achievement-The Dictes and Sayinges of the Philosophers-Caxton's influence on the language-Early printing and manuscripts. THE invention of typography was not the result of a happy thought or of a flash of invention; it was rather the result of a long series of modifications and mechanical improvements, more especially in connection with the manufacture of tools, which took place between 1400 and 1440. This last may be taken as the critical date, which witnessed the transformation from Xylography to Typography; while the perfection of the art, as far as all its principles are concerned, is associated indissolubly with the printing of the Bible of forty-two lines, known as the Mazarine Bible, or First Bible of John Gutenberg, inaugurated at Mainz in the autumn of 1450. We do not know precisely when this impression of the Vulgate was completed, though we shall probably not be wrong in making it coincide with that of the greatest historical event of the age-the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. We know for certain that the Indulgence of Nicholas V. was printed at Mainz in November, 1454; and this is the first known specimen of typograhy which bears the date printed upon it. The progress of investigation has, in the main, led to the assertion being made with less and less hesitation, that Gutenberg first of all cast printing-types in moulds and matrices-the one critical step in advance which converted printing into a great art. And his type-mould was not merely the first; it has remained, essentially, the only practical mechanism for making types. Assuming, as we have been content to do, that Gutenberg was the prime inventor of printing, it is plain that there were many contemporary rivals in the art, who were already, as it were, on tiptoe at the threshold of the invention. Conspicuous among such rivals were Fust and Schoeffer, the printers of the admirable Mainz or Mentz Psalter of 1457. It is tolerably plain that Schoeffer had learnt the mystery of printing at the fountain-head-in the workshop of Gutenberg. Two rival printing-offices having once been established in Mainz, it was not likely that the process could long be kept secret. It was communicated to Stras 1 The merit of Gutenberg's invention was largely due to his superior method of making types by means of punch, matrix, and mould. When he began his experiments, he found already in common use paper, printing-ink, engraving in relief, some form of printing-press, and the art of printing playing-cards and block-books. It is possible even that isolated types were in use before his day (if anywhere, presumably at Haarlem and Avignon); but they could not be used to profit, because they were not scientifically made and sufficiently exact. That Gutenberg derived advantage from the successful experiments of the block-book printers of the preceding epoch is probable, but he must have added to the common stock of knowledge much more than he found. His type-founding methods were the only key to the invention of practical typography. He himself speaks of the new art as dependent upon the admirable proportion, harmony, and connection of the punches and matrices. (See De Vinne, Invention of Printing, 2d ed., 1877.) |