fage that would accrue from this new process; and in 1785, he commenced his first attempts of editions to which he gave the name of omotypes, calculated to express or exhibit the combination of several types in a single one. In 1786, Carez brought out the edition of a church book, in two volumes octavo, of more than a thousand pages each, exe. cated according to uis new process; and he printed, after the same inanner, twenty volumes of liturgy, or cf instructions for the use of the diocese, successively. He likewise completed, by the same method, a dictionary of fabulous history, and a Bible in nonpareil characters. The execution is surprisingly neat, considering how small, and how close-set the characters are, agreeably to the method of stereotypage. Two authentic papers comInumicated to the author, by Carez, established the reality and success of his discoveries, from or about the year 1787. The first is a Report, signed by the municipal officers of the city of Toul, who repairing to the office of Carez, September 7, 1787, selected among his books, a page at their own option, which was afterwards composed by Carez in moveable characters, and printed according to the manner in comAnon use. Carez next proceeded to execute the same page according to his new method; and in the course of about a quarter of an hour, he produced before the commissioners, a plate of cast metal, of about a line and a half in thickness, and five inches seven lines in length (a line is the 12th part of an inch) from which a proof having been taken, and compared with that in moveable characters, it appeared to the commissaries not at all inferior to the other. The second paper, bearing date October 17, 1787, is a letter in which Thiebault, Superintendant of the Booksellers' Department, under Vidaud de la Tour, counsellor of state, in answer to a petition of Carez, expresses himself, in the following manner: "I have the satisfaction to inform you, that the keeper of the seals authorizes you to print or cast plates, according to the methods of your new invention; at the same time, recommending that, till further orders, you keep strictly secret the particulars of your process, and that from time to time, you acquaint administration or government, with the success of any new experiments you may put in practice." What is here related insures to Carez who have made discoveries in stereos to Hofmann, having been deprived of his printing-office, by an order of council, in 1787, he set his industry to work in inventing some method more expeditious than one of ordinary printing, with a view to produce solid blocks or forms. He began with forming two kinds of stamp the punches, wherewith the characters in his casts. The first class of types consisted of single letters taken from among the font charac ters that are common in the trade, and the second of the same letters, but combined, in order to form the syllables that are of most frequent use in the French language, such as air, etre, eurs, ment, The combination of several letters in a single punch was of further service, as it enabled him to press by one single movement, several letters, each of which would otherwise have required a parti cular movement to obtain an impression. By means of this combination, his printing case consisted of three hundred and seventy boxes. To the art of casting his types, he gave the name of the polytype art, and to that of combining a number of characters in a single type, the logotype art. The discoveries of Hoffinann may be thus summed up in his own words: "The idea on which my discoveries are grounded, is that of making use of punches in lieu of characters; and to form with these types, simple and complex, an article equivalent to what the founders of characters call matrixes, in which they cast their letters; I have, likewise, substituted for the font, which cannot produce very correct plates, the pressure of the metal at the instant when it arrives at a certain degree of cooling, after being heated. It is the application of these two new me thods, as relating not only to printing, but to many other arts, which I consider as depending on my invention, and which I claim as my property."-Hoffmann, in fact, undertakes in his Memoir published in 1792, to execute by his process, designs for printing linen or stuffs, geogra phical charts, &c. It appears that a patent was granted to Hoffman, February 16, 1792, auchorizing him to exercise during fifteen years, the polytype and logotype art; which patent he transferred to John Daniel Saltzmann, by a deed bearing date November 24, 1792, executed by Loquiante, a notary of Strasbourg. Other artists, after Hoffmann, made exexperiments periments on the mode of polytypage, by graving, and also attempts in stereotypage. Among these, Gingembre, who commenced his first attempts in 1789, deserves honourable mention. One of his operations, which our author considers as a real discovery, was the multiplication of plates imitating those graven on copper. By this means he was enabled to obtain from a single plate, hollow-graved, or bit in, a number of plates, also hollow-graved, and all identical. The following was the method which he adopted. He caused a head, viz. that of Ceres to be engraved on a steel plate. After the engraving was executed, the steel was tempered. He then prepared a copper-plate, hardened by the mixture of a sixteenth of platina, but afterwards made also use of copper, hardened by any other mixture, and by beating cold. The copper-plate, when laid on the steel-plate, being submitted to the action of a screw-press, the result was, that the copper yielded in relief, the strokes bitten-in on the steel. Having then prepared some plates of molten copper, or red brass, and having laid them on the hard copper-plate, he introduced the two plates laid together be tween the rollers of the flatter, taking every necessary precaution that the pressure might be equal in ever; part. By this method, he procured as many plates or forms, whether prominent or bitten-in, as he could wish. Gingembre communicated his method to Herhan and to Meunier, who shortly afterwards made use of it in the fabrication of assignats. It would be a curious and interesting speculation to notice the aggregate of experiments in different kinds, that ingenious artists had recourse to, with a view to effect the fabrication of assignats. A power which nothing could then resist, issued out its orders; men of the greatest reputation in the arts and sciences were invited to give their ideas on the subject ; all were heard who had any pretensions respecting any newly-discovered means for perfecting the fabrication of the assignats, for accelerating it, and for rendering them incapable of imitation; and their propositions were forthwith submitted to examination and to trial. The contingent expences were not at all considered, as the creators had in their own bands the means of establishing the funds from which the expences were to be disbursed. The rapidity of the movement formed the only obstacle that seemed capable of impeding the success; but this rapidity was compensated by the facility with which the means were multiplied. The fabrication of assignats gave rise to a multitude of happy discoveries and experiments, relative to the manufacture of paper, to the mechanism of printing, to the ink used in it, to engraving, and the tempering of the dies, and of the puncheons; the memory of which discoveries, says the author, will, in all probability, never be lost. The author then proceeds, with a view to illustrate the two subjects which hẹ has undertaken to investigate, viz. polyty page, as it relates to the method of graving in copper, and stereotypage, as it relates to the method of printing with characters, to give an historical detail, tracing the first fabrication of assignats, and the imperfections which experience soon detected in it. After this descriptive sketch, the an thor takes notice that Louis Etienne Herhan, Firmin Didot, and Nicolas Marie Gatteaux, obtained each, respectively, patents for the invention from the government of that time. Herhan's patent is dated the 3d N vose, year sixth, and it is granted to him in consideration of a petition from him bearing date the fifth Frimaire preceding. The preamble of the patent announces a new method as described in the petition of casting solid forms, which me thod was invented and completed by the petitioner, in the month of Messidor, year fifth. He had remarked that solid plates, fabricated by a number of artists, only produce secondary moulds from moveable types, and yielded imperfect and expensive results. The petitioner then declares, that he has invented an other process, which consists-First, in making moveable characters, graved or bitten-in, in lieu of being in reliefSecond, in composing with these characters, pages that form a matrix; and third, in taking off a cast from this matrix. Conformably to the tenor of this petition, a patent was granted to Herban, authorizing him to fabricate, use, and vend, during the term of fifteen years, solid forms calculated for printing agreeably to the method described in the pe tition. The patent of Firmin Didot, is dated 6th Nivose, and empowers him to con struct, during the term of fifteen years, stereotype forms, and to publish works from them. The patent of Gatteaux, is dated twenty-ninth Pluviose, and the term of it runs for five years. In this, Gatteaux declares himself the inventor of a method to multiply moveable characters in solid blocks or plates, under the denomination of monotypage, or of struck types. Soon after obtaining their respective patents, Pierre Didot, the elder; Firmin Didot, his brother; and Louis Etienne Herhan, published a prospectus, wherein. they announce their having entered into partnership, with a view to accelerate the publication of stereotype editions, &c. In this paper, they assume a high degree of merit as to the point of correctness; for even admitting that some faults may have crept into the first proofs, it will be easy to correct them on the form, which is always kept up, before, a new impression is taken off. The first work which they promised to publish, was a Virgil in eighteens, consisting of about four hundred pages, the printed copies of which they were to sell (embel lished with a geographical map and vignettes,) at fifteen sols each; and the forms for printing, after the rate of three francs a page; so that for about twelve hundred francs, the compleat elements of the works of Virgil may be had in perpetuity, stereotyped; that is to say, all composed in solid forms and ready for the press. In case any of the forms should be spoiled or lost, the authors of the Prospectus engage to furnish another after the rate of ten francs. Exclusively of the advantages of the most correct text, of the price much more moderate, as the copies being only printed off in proportion to the demand, there will neither be an advance of paper, nor charge for warehouse-room; the new editors engage, that if a volume, forming part of a collection, should be lost, to replace it, at prime cost, as they have always the forms in their own hands. The publication of this prospectus, gave rise to observations from the critics, but it was nevertheless admitted that the type of the new plate was much more elegant, and also more correct than the plates of Hoffmann. The point on which most discussion was excited, was the accuracy of the calculations respecting economy: here the author interposes his opinion, that the question depends on the sort of books that are stereotyped. If it relates to books, of which only a small number of copies are sold, or that many editions are not wanted, or no fresh ones at all, stereotyping would be a losing concern. On the other hand, be asserts, that sure and permanent advan-` tages may be derived from solid forms, with respect to books, great numbers of which are wanted, and particularly at certain periods, such as school books, &c. The three partners continued their labours, and in the same year they published their Virgil, (15 sous common paper), and afterwards, their Phædrus, and successively many other authors, of which their collection is formed. On the sixth Vendemaire, year seven, I repaired, says the author, to the apart ments of Pierre Didot at the Louvre, and was an eye-witness of the different parts of his process. There are two things, he proceeds, of which I must not give an account, viz, the composition of the me tal which the three partners make use of to form the plate in moveable characters, which serves them for a punch and one part of the metal in which they lay this punch, in order to make a matrix. As no secrecy was desired, as to other parts of their process, the author proceeds to describe them; the detail of which he concludes, by saying, “such was the state of the process employed in polytypage and stereotype, by Didot and Herhan, about the end of the year six. About the same time, Bouvier one of the artists employed in the fabrication of assignats, had polytyped very successfully an impression plate by a process different from that of the two Didots and of Herhan. His polytyped plate is in copper, and the font is in a cast of ar gillaceous earth. A report was made to government, twentieth Fructidor, year 6, of the printing of this plate, as likewise, of several other works executed by this artist. Since the termination of the year six, Pierre and Firmin Didot have continued to publish a number of stereotype edi tions, and Herhan has employed himself in bringing to perfection the process specified in his patent, dated Sd Nivose, year 6. Herhan has since obtained from government (24 Brumaire, year 8) a certificate specifying certain additions and improvements in his method of printing with solid forms, produ ced from moveable matrixes. Bouvier has likewise given a wider range to his operations, having applied them to several other subjects, and among others, to music; and he obtained, seventh Frimaire, year 9, a patent securing to him the property of his inven tions, GENERAL |