justification of the mould is then described ; after which the important operation of striking the steel punch into copper, and forming and justifying the matrix, is treated of, with instructions for "botching" matrices in the event of a mistake in the latter process. The matrices being thus ready, the founder is instructed how to adjust them to the mould in preparation for casting,-a solemn process which may be best described in the writer's own language :

“Wherefore, placing the under-half of the Mold in his left hand, with the Hook or Hag forward, he clutches the ends of its Wood between the lower part of the Ball of his Thumb and his three hind-Fingers. Then he lays the upper half of the Mold upon the under half, so as the Male-Gages may fall into the Female Gages, and at the same time the Foot of the Matrice place itself upon the Stool. And clasping his left-hand Thumb strong over the upper half of the Mold, he nimbly catches hold of the Bow or Spring with his right-hand Fingers at the top of it, and his Thumb under it, and places the point of it against the middle of the Notch in the backside of the Matrice, pressing it as well forwards towards the Mold, as downwards by the Sholder of the Notch close upon the Stool, while at the same time with his hinder-Fingers as aforesaid, he draws the under half of the Mold towards the Ball of his Thumb, and thrusts by the Ball of his Thumb the upper part towards his Fingers, that both the Registers of the Mold may press against both sides of the Matrice, and his Thumb and Fingers press both Halves of the Mold close together. Then he takes the Handle of the Ladle in his right Hand, and with the Boll of it gives a Stroak two or three outwards

upon

the Surface of the Melted Mettal to scum or cleer it from the Film or Dust that may swim upon it. Then he takes up the Ladle full of Mettal, and having his Mold as aforesaid in his left hand, he a little twists the left side of his Body from the Furnace, and brings the Geat of his Ladle, (full of Mettal) to the Mouth of the Mold, and twists the upper part of his right-hand towards him to turn the Mettal into it, while at the same moment of Time he Jilts the Mold in his left hand forwards to receive the Mettal with a strong Shake (as it is call'd) not only into the Bodies of the Mold, but while the Mettal is yet hot, running swift and strongly into the very Face of the Matrice to receive its perfect Form there as well as in the Shanck."

This done, the mould is opened, and the type released ; Moxon adding that a workman will ordinarily cast 4,000 such letters in a day.

Then follow rules to be observed in breaking off, rubbing, kerning, settingup and dressing, with descriptions of the dressing-sticks, block-groove, hook, knife and "plow." That these operations, as well as the casting, had undergone no alteration nearly a century after Moxon's day, may be judged from the fact that Moxon's descriptions are used verbatim to accompany the view of the

injected by the descent of a plunger, which recovers itself by a spring. After the casting the spindle begins to revolve, immediately upon which the matrix is disengaged from the type and withdrawn clear of the flanges. The flanges are then opened, and the cast type pushed from the mould by the action of spring pins. A type is thus cast for each revolution of the spindle. The “break” is disengaged from the letter by two small pins, one of which protrudes from each jaw after the casting.'

1828.—THOMAS ASPINWALL. An improved method of casting types, by means of a “Mechanical Type Caster.” The working parts of this machine are mounted on a table suspended so as to move to and from the melting-pot. The mould is in two parts, mounted on two sliding “carrier pieces" on the table, inclined to each other at a slight angle. The matrix is held during the casting by a spring. On the revolution of the crank shaft (by hand) a sliding rod on the table is made to move towards the melting-pot, and the carrier pieces being acted upon by a cross-bar attached to it by springs, are drawn forward so as to unite the two parts of the mould for the casting. By a further revolution of the crank shaft, a projecting piece on the end of the sliding rod, coming in contact with an adjusting screw on one end of a bent lever, causes it to turn on its centre, and by a friction roller at the other end forces down the plunger of a cylinder communicating with the metal pot, so as to inject the metal into a chamber, whence it ejects a portion previously there through a nozzle into the mould as it is moved forward by the forward motion of the table. The handle of the crank is then turned the reverse way, the table swings back from the metal pot, the plunger rises by a spring, the parts of the mould separate, the matrix is withdrawn from the cast type by a lever (which overcomes the force of the spring by which it is held during the casting), and the type itself loosened from the mould by coming in contact with an inclined plane.

We conclude these extracts with a proposal suggestive more of the primitive experiments of the first printers than of nineteenth century letter-founding.

1831.- JAMES THOMSON. Certain improvements in making or producing printing types. “My improvements consist in making printing types by casting or forming a cake of metal having letters formed and protruding on one side of it, and in afterwards sawing this cake directly or transversely, so as to divide it into single types.” The casting is effected in two ways. First by forming a mould from types set up, and immersing this within an iron box in a pot of melted type-metal, “as in making stereotype plates ; with this difference, however, that in the present case, the plate must be as thick as the length of the intended type; and further, that in setting up the types for the cast, proper spaces must be made between each letter and between the lines, in order to allow for what will be taken away in the sawing.” The second mode is “by taking a plate of copper or other suitable metal, and making in it indentations or matrices with a punch having on it the letter for the intended type, taking care to make them in straight rows, direct and transverse. The plate being so indented, is put into an iron box and immersed in a pot of liquid type-metal, and kept there the proper depth and proper time, so as to enable the metal fully to enter into those indentations or matrices, that the letter may be well formed. The cake thus cast or formed, after being taken out and cooled, is sawed as before.”

1 The type-casting machine, of which this is the first patented attempt in England, was not generally adopted till after the International Exhibition of 1851, at which the hand-mould alone was shown. The model generally adopted was the machine patented in America in 1838, by David Bruce, which Alexander Wilson introduced in this country about 1853. Previous to David Bruce's machine, a machine invented by Edwin Starr had been introduced at Boston in 1826, and tried for five years.

UR Statute Books and Public Records do not throw

any very important light on the early history of English letter-founding. Although a busy import trade in type appears to have been maintained by theearliest printers, and although as early as the days of De Worde, as we have seen, there were English printers who not only cast types for themselves, but are supposed to have supplied

them to others, we search in vain for any definite reference to letter-founding in the decrees and proclamations which, prior to 1637, had for their object the regulation or repression of printing. It is true that the term printing was at that period wide enough to cover all its tributary arts, from papermaking to book-selling. At the same time, it is noteworthy that, whereas in many of the early decrees paper-making, book-binding and book-selling are distinctly mentioned, letter-founding is invariably ignored. If any inference is to be drawn from this fact, it is that type was one of the latest of the printer's commodities to go into the public market. A printer's type was his own, and no one else's ; and if occasionally one great printer was pleased to part with founts of his letter to his brother craftsmen, either by favour or for a consideration, it was not till late in the day—that is, not for about a century after the introduction of printing into England—that English-cast types became marketable ware in the country.

It is not our purpose here to review in detail the various decrees and pro

clamations which regulated printing in this country?; but it will be interesting to notice such of them as appear to have special reference to letter-founding.

The earliest Statute relating to printing was made in 1483, before the art had well taken root in the country; and proclaimed free trade in all printed matter imported from abroad. In 1533 this enactment was repealed, on the ground that “at this day there be within this realm a great number of cunning and expert in the said science or craft of printing."