7S4
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
types ; but no purcbaser could be found in the wDole commoowealth of letters.* The universi- ties ngected the offer, and the London booksellen pieferred the types of Caslon and Jackson. The property lay a dead weight, till purchased by the celebrated M. de Beaumarchais, at Paris, in 1779, for je3,700."t Had the letter-founding of Baskerrille equalled his printing, his success in typography would not haTe been doubtful, ikgreeable to the singularity of his opinions, and by an express direction containea in his will, he was buried in a tomb of masoniy in the shape of a cone, under a windmill in his garden belonging to a handsome house which he had built at ue upper end of the town of Birming- ham. On the tomb was placed this inscription :
nraAMotB I
BBMIATB THK OOlfl, IN VHCONSICaATID OBOOITO, A raiBND TO TBB MBBBTIBI Or HAKBIND DIBBCTBD
BII lODT TO ■! IMUBMBD.
MAT TBB BZAHrLI CONTKISCTB TO BHAHCIFATB TBY
MIND rBOM TBB IDLB mAB> OF aurBBlTITION,
AND TBB WICBBD ABTB OB PBIBITHOOD.
The house of Mr. Baskerrille was destroyed in the riots of 1791, but his remains continued undisturbed till the year 1821, when the spot having been let for a wharf, it became necessary to temoTC the coffin : it was in consequence removed to a fiesh place of interrment.
I776,/im. 19. Died, JoHn Oliver, printer to the society for promoting Christian knowledge, and who carriea on a considerable business in Bartholomew-close, where he died at the age of seventy-three years.
1776, Jan. 31. An order was issued by the house of lords to take into custody H. Randall,
Srinter of the Public Ledger ; but sir Francis lolyneux, usher of the black rod, would not give the printer a meeting at his house, lest the public virtue of the lord mayor should lodge the man in Newgate who ventured to execute the orders of the nouse of lords against any printer residing in the city of London.
1776. Benjamin Edes, a printer of Boston, made his escape by night from that place, with
- In iTds, Bukerrille applied to bii Mend, the eminent
Dr. Fmnklin, tlien >t Piria, to Kund the Uteraii iwpeetinc the poRhiM of his trpes, bat receiTed no answer.
t Lm (Euvnt dt Voltaire, avee da Avertigaement ei da Ntta, par Cottdorett, ie. KtU, ie flmprtmerie dt la SoeUUHUrwin et tfpograpkiqu; 1785-8t, 70 vol*, gro.— lUs fiunoBB edition ofBeaamarcliaia ecUpeed erery thing of it* kind, on a dmilar scale of magnitode ; bnt for in- tilnaie worthy if not for extrinsie qilendonr, it has been antpassed by the recent impression of Renooard. Bcan- marrhals bcsan with buying the whole of Baskerrille's typas, poncfies, and matrices. He re-established mined paper mills In the Vosges, about IS miles born Kehli was nice to ezceas in the paper to be mannfartured, and em- ployed the most knovring woriuaen engaged in the mano- Ctctory at Dutch paper. His printing-ofke and establish- ment at Kehl were Immense. Many millions of llvies were ezpended, and the ultimate Ion of a million was the reBolt of his vast prqiects, and Incessant activity and aoUdtode. Bnt the proof-sheeta (espeeially of the duo- decimo edition) were carelessly revisedi and Beaumar- chais, in an evil hoar, exalted Voltaire, at the expense of Racine. In short, the impreasian betrayed the absence of a correct editorial tact i and La Haipe tdls ns that those of Didot are very much superior in accaraey and nlility." Marie Ftands Arouet de Voltaire was born at Chatcnay, Not. so, 1694, and died at Paris, May so, 1778.
a press and a few types, in the eariy part of the American war,* and opened a printiiig-office is Watertown, a pleasant town of Middlesex county, in the province of Massachusetts ; when he cen- tinued the BoiUm Gazette, and printed fcv the provincial congress of Massachusetts. Thomas acquaints us, that "the printing which Eds executed at Watertown did not do much credit to the art ; but the work at this time, done A other presses, was not greatly superior. The war broke out suddenly, and few of any proff iw wero prepared for the event. All kinds of print- ing materials had usually been imported fen England ; even ink for printers had not, in ai^ great quantity, been made in America. This resource was,'by the war, cut off; and a gnat scarcity of these articles soon ensued, 'atat were but three small paper-mills at Massachu- setts : New Hampshire none : and Rhode Island contained only one, which was oat of rgak The paper, wluch these mills could make, leu £n short of the necessary supply. Paper, of oonne, was extremelv scarce, and what co^d be pn>- cured was badly manufactured, not baring moe than half the requisite labour bestowed upon it It was often taken from the mill wet, and sa. sized. People had not been in the habit of savB^ rags, and stock for the manufacture of paper ve obtained with great difficulty. Every thing lib rags was ground up together to make a subnitBic for paper. This, with wretehed ink and woo- out types, produced miserable printing-** vol i. In 1776 Edes returned to Boston, and probaUr the Watertown typography then came to a cl<«-
1775, March. Dwd, JoBN Osborne, junki, a bookseller and member of the stationers' c«n- pany, London.
1775. itfay 3. The MattaehutetU Spy. Tbs was a periodical work commenced at Woicesla, capital of Worcester county, in the province^ Massachusetts, North Amenca, printed by Isaid Thomas, the historian of American typ^^pb;, at the solicitations of several gentlemen of the county, who were at this period zealously ea- gagea in the cause of their countiv. Thomars business speedily prospered, and it was greath extended ; he united the two branches of print- ing and bookselling ; erected a paper mill, aoi set up a bookbinding establishment. He w3> the tirst man who printed in America a biblt d the folio and royal 4to. form. The Mattatia- situ Spy was continued imtil the year 1818.
1775. May 11. The Universities of OxiM and Cambriage vested by law with the copyricb in books given them by the authors ; but Uds exclusive right is to conUnue so long only » those universities shall print sndi works at ue; own presses.
1775, May. 29. Thomas Carnan, bookselkt. in St. Paul's church-yard, London, whose name deserves honourable mention, detected or pre- sumed the illegality of the exclusive rig^bt of the
- The American war between Oteat Britaia and bs
colonies commenced at Lexington, In the ndglibourlKiod of Boston, April ig, 177s, and on Jan. t», 1763, <&«si Britain acknowledged their independence.
VjOOQ IC
