and the early progress of the "Art of Printing." Such accounts, I am aware, are not without an existence—but in very many instances they are placed beyond the reach of the mass of readers, by being coupled with other matter, thereby rendering them too cumbrous and expensive to be brought into the circle of the general reader. Presuming that I shall be pardoned for such a digression, I will endeavor to furnish such a synopsis, which I doubt not, will be new, and perhaps, interesting, to many who may be induced from curiosity or otherwise to peruse these pages, if not to some of the members of the Craft.
Previous to the discovery of the Art of Printing, the thoughts of men were preserved and given to the world, (and a very circumscribed portion of it, too, owing to the great price which was demanded and received for manuscript books,) in writing. At this age of the world it is very difficult, if not almost impossible, to realize the existence of such a state of things. Dark, indeed, must have been the age, when knowledge and learning were thus pent-up, and shut out from the world! But a brighter day was in store, and soon the Art of Printing burst upon the world like a flood of light—shooting its bright effulgence into the inmost recesses, and corners of the habitable globe!—awakening a new spirit, with higher and nobler aspirations, in the breast of man!—the store house of knowledge was unlocked, and its treasures which had been so long hidden from the "vulgar gaze," scattered to the winds of heaven.
It is impossible to say at what particular juncture of the world the germ of the Art of Printing took its rise, or had its origin. Those who are deep skilled in Antiquarian researches have discovered that for at least two thousand years before the present era, the art or method of reproducing impressions, although rude and imperfect in their design and execution, had an existence. Egypt furnishes abundant evidence of this. The art of coloring was practiced by the Egyptians, and was continued by them until a more advanced state of society, and the want of something of a more general application, induced them not only to apply the art to inscriptions, at first painted or engraved upon the statues of their deities, but also entered into the more common affairs of life.
The site of the ancient city of Babylon also presents some very remarkable evidences of the existence of the art of imprinting, which consists of inscriptions upon the bricks used in building.—Some of these early evidences of the art are now in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, the British Museum, and the library of the East India Company. The imprint will compare with those stamped upon the coarser article of earthen-ware.
Other specimens of Assyrian art, showing still greater perfection and progress in it might be evidenced. China is by no means destitute of interest in this particular, and many cases might be cited to show the existence of an art, closely approximating to that of Printing, long before it was known to the nations of Europe. But it is not my purpose to give a full and perfect expose of this subject, the readers of these pages will expect nothing more than a mere glance at the art in its progress to the era of its perfection, if indeed it may be said to have arrived at that proud eminence now.
Although it is fair and safe to assume that the art, in the rude state I have mentioned, existed among the inhabitants of the old world, it is a no less remarkable fact, that among the Greeks and Romans, original and ingenious as they were, scarcely a vestige has been left by them to show their knowledge of its existence.
Nothing can be shown as evidencing the existence of a knowledge of the art of transferring characters, even among nations comparatively civilized, from the times above referred to, until the intervention of a vast lapse of time, when an attempt was made at engraving pictures upon blocks of wood. Upon this point great diversity of opinion exists as to time, but I believe the best writers on the fine arts concur in the opinion that the art was invented in the latter part of the thirteenth century, by a "brother and sister of the illustrious family of Cunio, lords of Ivnola, in Italy." The book made by these youthful artists, for they were twins, and only sixteen years of age, is the first evidence we have of block-printing.—If any of my readers have the curiosity to examine this subject more particularly, I would refer them to the Encyclopedia Britannica, edited by Professor Napier.
Thus far the art was confined to single blocks, and its progress slow and tedious. Venice furnishes good evidence of the existence of this art among its inhabitants at an early day, and from an edict issued by the government, bearing date 1441, interdicting the importation of "work of the said art that is printed or painted on cloth or on paper, that is to say, altar-pieces (or images), and playing cards," it is clearly evident that the art was by no means confined to the Venetians, but had spread over the continent to such a degree as to seriously threaten the prosperity of the artists of that city. As connected somewhat with the Art of Printing, I will here state, although the particular time cannot be settled, that playing cards were in existence in 1254, for in that year they were interdicted by St. Louis on his return from the Crusade—and also by the Council of Cologne in 1281. They were first introduced into Germany in 1300.
From single blocks, the next advance in the art of Printing was by a series of blocks, and it was by this means that the first books were printed, among the most important of which was, the "Historiae Veteris et Novi Testamenti seu Biblia Pauperum." Its extent was forty leaves, printed on one side, and on as many separate and distinct blocks—the blank sides of the sheets then pasted together, forming one leaf. It has been impossible to locate the exact time at which this book was printed, but it is supposed to have been somewhere between 1420 and 1430.
Passing over minor points, and I have been compelled to do so in more instances than one, I am now brought to that most important and interesting era in the Art of Printing, in the true and literal signification of that term; and which also involves the perplexing and still agitated question, as to where and by whom was it invented?—Similar contentions have arisen upon other subjects—the birth-place of Homer was claimed and
