Note 38 — INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER THE TYPES AND TYPEFOUNDING OF THE FIRST PRINTERS.

In the 2nd edition of Isaiah Thomas’ History of Printing in America, Albany, 1874, i, 288, an anecdote is given of Peter Miller, the German who printed at Ephrata in the United States in 1749, which we think is suggestive of the possible expedients of the first printers with regard to the mould. During the time that a certain work of Miller was in the press, says Francis Bailey, a former apprentice of Miller’s, “particular sorts of the fonts of type on which it was printed ran short. To overcome this difficulty, one of the workmen constructed a mold that could be moved so as to suit the body of any type not smaller than brevier nor larger than double-pica. The mold consisted of four quadrangular pieces of brass, two of them with mortices to shift to a suitable body, and secured by screws. The best type they could select from the sort wanted was then placed in the mold, and after a slight corrosion of the surface of the letter with aquafortis to prevent soldering or adhesion, a leaden matrix was cast on the face of the type, from which, after a slight stroke of a hammer on the type in the matrix, we cast the letters which were wanted. Types thus cast answer tolerably well. I have often adopted a method somewhat like this to obtain sorts which were short; but instead of four pieces of brass, made use of an even and accurate composing-stick, and one piece of iron or copper having an even surface on the sides; and instead of a leaden matrix, have substituted one of clay, especially for letters with a bold face.” De Vinne describes an old mould preserved among the relics in Bruce’s foundry at New York, composed (with the matrix) of four pieces, and adjustable both as to body and thickness. Bernard also mentions a similar mould in use in 1853.