 | A series of talks on the history of the written word 37. Britain 1700-1800. (Contents list) |
The Oxford University Press was the only exception to the general low ebb of printing in Britain as the 18th century dawned. This was largely due to Fell's efforts. Though fewer books and printed at Oxford in the 18th century, this was more than compensated for by the quality of the impressive folio publications.
Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon's The history of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England came out in three volumes between 1702 and 1704. The University was granted by perpetual copyright in this work which was printed in a fine large type cut by Peter Walpergen. Engraved decorations were by Michael Burghers, another Dutchman who worked for the press in Oxford from about 1673 until his death in 1727. The head and tail pieces in the grandest baroque style were matched in the detail of execution and general effect by the woodcut initials. As a result of the profits accruing from the sale of this work the press was able in 1713 to move to the Clarendon Building in Broad Street where it remained for a little more than a century when it moved to larger premises. The Bible Press occupied the eastern half the premises and was more active than the learned press.
John Baskett produced a magnificent be printed Folio Bible between 1716 and 1717 in a fine roman fount with matching the italic, both of English origin. It was marred by numerous misprints and was known as a "basketful of errors", also as the "vinegar Bible" because of an error in the parable of the vineyard in Luke chapter 20.
John Baskett was a stationer for many years before becoming a printer a shrewd businessman. In 1710 he purchased a share in the King's patent from the executors of Henry Hills and Thomas Newcombe, later acquiring the whole patent. In 1711 he obtained a lease of the Oxford privilege and a third share of the Scottish patent. In 1716 he obtained a new privilege, shared with the widow of Andrew Anderson as King's printer in Scotland. In 1725 he set up press in Edinburgh, producing several mediocre editions of the Bible. He had a long feud with the Edinburgh printer James Watson who accused Baskett of running a scandalous monopoly, upping prices by 50 or 60 per cent. This was partly sour grapes on Watson's part as he had aimed to get the patent for himself on expiry of Mrs. Anderson's patent.
The Foulis brothers, Robert (1707-1776) and Andrew (1712-1775) were the greatest names in 18th century Scottish printing. Robert began life as a barberbut attended classes at Glasgow University. In 1738 and 1739 he and his Brother Andrew made two trips to England, France and the Netherlands, buying books which they sold on their return to cover their expenses.
In 1741 Robert decided to set up as a bookseller, closely associated with his brother though not an official partner until about 1748. At first books were printed for them by other printers. The standards were usually poor, as was all Glasgow printing at that time. The brothers determined to improve the appearance of their books so attended a press in the town until a thorough knowledge of the art had been gained.
In 1743 Robert printed their first Greek text: Demetrius Phalerus De elocutione, which they submitted with an application for the post of printer to Glasgow University. He was nominated in the same year.
In 1744 the foundry of Wilson and Bain moved to a village near Glasgow. They supplied the Foulis press with type and even cut special founts for them, both roman and Greek. Their type was never leaded but achieved the same spacious effect by having it cast on a larger body.
Alexander Wilson (1714-1784) was a native of Saint Andrews destined for the medical profession but the patronage of the Duke of Argyll enabled him to undertake scientific research. He later became professor of astronomy. A chance visit to the letter foundry led to an interest in typography. The firm was founded in 1742 with his friend Bain.
Both brothers loved good literature, and editions of the classics formed a great part of their output, as well as books on philosophy. They were renowned for their accuracy. In 1744 an edition of Horace was dubbed "the immaculate Horace". Proof sheets were hung up in the college grounds and a reward offered for each typographical error discovered. No reward was ever claimed, though the printers later discovered six error themselves.
From 1748 a steady stream of books appeared, most of them comparing well with any in England or the continent. Some were outstanding, including a fine edition of Sophocles. Their crowning glory was a four volume folio edition of Homer, published from 1756 to 58, one of the finest specimens of Greek printing in Britain. The Greek type was especially cut by Wilson. A 21 volume edition of Cicero in 1749 earned the commendation of Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765-1853) the Parisian book dealer, printer and bibliographer, who preferred their type to the Elseviers.
In 1755 a small folio of Callimachus won the Edinburgh Society's silver medal for printing as the finest book of not fewer than ten sheets. They also produced fine editions of English authors: Gray, Pope and Milton's Paradise lost.
Their influence on book design was considerable.They abandoned the mixed type of their predecessors on the title page and dispensed with lower case and Italics. They were models of classical simplicity and severity. Their works had an open appearance because their type was cast on a larger body. Their paper, inking and presswork were good. They attempted to found a school for art students with their profits and the failure probably hastened their deaths; Andrew died suddenly in 1775 and Robert in 1776.
They were succeeded by Robert's son Andrew who was associated with Tilloch in a patent for stereotype in 1779. The business was closed down in 1795 after the firm had issued more than 700 titles.
John Watts 1678 to 1763 was probably the most important English printer of the first half of the 18th century. He had an extensive and varied output and could produce duodecimo classics as well as large folio volumes.
In 1718 Matthew Prior's Poems on several occasions was one of several large folios he printed for Jacob Tonson with John Barber. The engraved decorations were by Cheron and the edition included large paper subscription copies.
The decoration of his books was always of a high standard as was the printing. John Nichols in 1812 sensed that his fame will "endure as long as any public library shall exist". For some time he was partner to the younger Tonson and his proteges included Benjamin Franklin who worked for him in 1724 and 1725, and the typefounder Caslon, to whom he lent £400 to start up in business.
John Pine (1690-1756) was the ablest English engraver in this period. He was probably a pupil of the French engraver Bernard Picart (1673–1733).
In 1733 and 1737 he published Horace in Latin in two volumes with the text and ornaments entirely engraved. It is said that the text was first set in type and then transferred to the copperplate before engraving and the layout is certainly typographic rather than calligraphic. There is a unity between the text and the illustrations and a spacious impression from the wide space between the lines. The thick/thin contrast of the lettering foreshadows Baskerville later in the century. It also echoes the works of the writing masters, notably Thomas Bickham, which were elaborately engraved.
Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) was a novelist who was also a successful printer. Between 1706 and 1713 he "served a diligent seven years to a master who grudged every hour to me that turned not to his profit". At first he was a journeyman corrector who also compiled indexes and prefaces. As business grew he obtained a contract for the Journal of the House of Commons, of which heprinted 26 volumes. In the late 1730s he was also a newspaper printer.
He is best known for his novels. In 1741 Pamela appeared, in 1747 Clarissa Harlowe in 1735 Sir Charles Grandison, which was pirated by Dublin printers not covered by the 1709 Coppyright Act before his own edition appeared. He claimed that the sheets were stolen from his warehouse. Irish booksellers claimed that they can procure sheets for any London work whichwas in the press.
In 1754 he was master of the Stationers'Company and in 1760 be purchased a half share in the law patent.
In 1761 he died and was buried in Saint Bride's church.
William Bowyer I (1663-1737) was apprenticed in 1679 and free in 1686. He began to print in Little Britain in 1699. He moved to Dogwell Court, Greyfriars in 1699 and was admitted to the livery and of the Stationers' Company 1700.
On the 29th of January 1713 his premises were destroyed by fire with almost his entire stock. A subscription was have once raised among his colleagues £1,162 was obtained. There was also royal permission for special collections to be raised in churches, and that raised £1,377,so he was able to resume business. Lord Chief Justice Parker paid for recutting the Anglo Saxon types of the Primer by Miss Elizabeth Elstob, the original fount was destroyed in the fire. Although it was based on designs of the eminent Saxonist Humphrey Wanlet, it proved unsatisfactory. It was used in the Primer in 1715 and in occasional later works. His son William II presented them to the Oxford University Press.
In 1722 he was joined by his son William I He was closely connected with Caslon's early steps in punch cutting together with John Watts.
In 1724 he published Samuel Negus A compleat and private history of all the printing houses in and about the cities of London and Westminster. This was arranged in a classified order under headings such as "well affected by King George" or "high flyers" and so on.
William Bowyer II (1699-1777) was the most learned printer of the 18th century. He was elected as fellow of the Society of Antiquaries to which he contributed many papers. From 1736 he was their printer. After joining his father in 1722 he was mainly concerned in reading the proofs of learned works. He was almost unrivalled as a publisher of learned books after his father's death. He was known for his generosity; in 1738 John Baskett and his family barely escaped a fire with their lives, and Bowyer gave them a press in memory of their generosity to his father. In his will he left £180 a year to the Stationers' Company for charities besides other trusts for aged printers.
William Strahan (1715-1785) was born in Edinburgh and apprenticed there. In the 1730s he moved to London and became free of the Stationers' Company by redemption in 1737. He was actively engaged in printing to his death. His methodical records show the success of his business. The wage bill in 1739 was £234; in 1783 it was more than £3,500. In his early years he printed for many notable booksellers and publishers including the Rivingtons. In 1743 Fielding's Joseph Andrews was printed for Millar, for whom he had printed from the start of his career. It appearedin a large edition of 3,000 copies in 20 sheets at £2/5/- a sheet. He later acquired shares in Fielding's work from the publisher Millar.
In 1766 he acquired of one third share of the patent of King's Printer from Eyre for £5,000 pounds plus £300 a year for managing the printing office and in 1762 he succeeded to the law patent from the widow of Samuel Richardson and the daughter of Henry Lintot. In 1771 he wrote that he had an interest in more than 200 books, each with a separate account.
In 1755 he published Johnson's A dictionary of the Eng;ish language for Dodsley and a syndicate of others. He participated in the share-book system which had developed from the earlier congers.
From 1776 he printed Gibbon's Decline and fall of the Roman empire. Originally 500 copies were planned but Strahan's foresight doubled thisnumber. The work was not completed until after Strahan's death, impression was exhausted in a few days. Two Dublin piracies appeared almost immediately.
In 1785 he died leaving an estate of £95,000 and was succeeded by his son Andrew. He claimed: "I have made the name of printer more respectable than ever it was before", emancipating them from "slavery to the booksellers".
John Bell (1745-1831) was apprenticed to Strahan and was a bookseller by the age of 24.
In 1774 Alexander Donaldson won an appeal to the House of Lords in claiming the right to reprint books when copyright term had expired.Booksellers had held that there was perpetual common law copyright. This emboldened Bell to publish cheap reprints: in 1774 Shakespeare in 11 volumes, from 1776 to 1778 the British theatre in 21 volumes - among the first to discard the long "s" - rom 1779 to 1792 The poets of Great Britain from Chaucer to Churchill in 109 volumes. Most were printed in York and Edinburgh, beyond the irate London booksellers who commissioned Samuel Johnson to write Lives of the poets for a rival edition. There was much prejudice and hostile criticism but the books were very elegant. Though they were cheap, he chose engravers not for their cheapness but for their excellence, and in 1785 he was able to engage Samuel Johnson for are duodecimo edition of Shakespeare.
In 1785 he visited Paris to study printing and in 1787 he established the British Letter Foundry with Richard Austin as punchcutter. In 1788 a specimen sheet was published which shows the influence of Didot. He laked an opeen page; this was one reason for dropping the long "S". He was fond of leading between lines and careful over quality. From 1772 onwards he was in the newspaper and periodical business, in 1787 he founding The World, the first neatly printed periodical with leading to ease legibility. Thre is more on this side of his work in the talk on newspapers and periodicals.
Horace Walpole was an author who set up a press in a cottage in the grounds of his villa at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham. Here it was in existence for 32 years from 1757 to 1789 and produced numerous works, starting well with Poems by Thomas Gray. He was unlucky with his printers, having five in the first seven years. Robinson "a foolish Irishman" was the first. The next stayed three weeks, the next one week. In 1759 Thomas Farmer printed Walpole's Anecdotes of painting in England but ran away for debt and getting two girls with child.
He also printed his bio-bibliographies of Royal and noble authors and Royal and noble engravers, also some rather more ephemeral and second-rate of his writings, but above all his gothic novel The castle Otranto.
His was one of the first private presses; he called himself "a volunteer". The books were not too amateurish but the small format usually makes the cut of the villa on the title page disproportionately large.
John Baskerville (1705-1775) was like William Morris in several ways. He came to printing late in his career, he was also rich could afford to experiment, and profit is not his prime aim. But unlike Morris he was a self-made man.
He was born in Wolverley near Kidderminster. His family was not rich,but was able to give him an education. He started life as a footman in a country rectory but from childhood he had a love of letters and writing.
In 1725, aged 19, he went to Birmingham to teach writing.He also had and interest in stone cutting especially for gravestones. An advertisement stone cut by him in five difference hands is now in Birmingham Public Library.
In 1736 he began to show an interest in the new fashion of japanned ware, a kind of varnished ware hardened in kilns. He noted that John Taylor was at work using child labour. It is alleged that he had discovered the secret ofthe process by following him from shop to shop as he purchased his materials. Baskerville was a craftsman, avoiding mass production: "their beauty without violence would not be impaired in several ages" - ironically he is now remembered for his printing.
In 1742 he was granted a patent for a new method of making flat and grinding thin metal plates.
In 1745 he acquired enough money to buy a plot of land just outside Birmingham and build his own villa, Easy Hill. Finally Baskerville had arrived. He was a respected citizen but the subject of gossip and ridicule for his showy dress of green and gold and his lavish carriage. He was called a "pretentious coxcomb" but was strong-willed and independent. He took the wife of Richard Eaves,a forger who had fled abroad, into his house at Easy Hill with her four children as housekeeper. They lived together as man and wife for 16 years until the death of Richard in 1764 enabled them to marry.
In 1767 he was appointed High Bailiff of Birmingham. He inserted an advertisement in newspaper asking people to observe fair dealings are not indulge in idle gossip, also another that despite rumours to the contrary he could pay debts in cash and on site.
In 1750, aged 44, he took up printing. His aims he states as: "having been an early admirer of the beauty of letters, I became sensibly desirous of contributing to the perfection of them". So he took up printing but not as a commercial printer: "it is not my desire to print many books but only such as are books of consequence, intrinsic merit or established reputation [...] at such a price that will repay the extraordinary care that must necessarily be bestowed upon them". He had much to learn as an amateur especially as a craftsman. He had presses built to his own specification. There was no difference in design from the contemporary press but his practice in milling plates enabled him to produce flat a platen and greater accuracy in other respects. He used brass an inch thick for his platen where others had used wood or slate. He also experimented to obtain an ink of a deeper black and velvety texture. His experience in varnishes useful here. The ink was also allowed to mature for longer than normal. There is no evidence that he made his own paper, but he was the first to use wove paper without chain lines. He had introduced new writing paper with a vellum-like surface marketed through Dodsley in London and made for him by James Whatman in Maidstone but he produced so much that Dodsley had to beg him to send no more, and even had to return some. He also increased the sheen of the paper by pressing the printed sheets between hot copper plates when they had come from the press. This could be the cause of foxing, which is frequently found in his works.
His types were cut at Easy Hill from Baskerville's designs by John Handy who had joined Baskerville about 1750 in the foundry and press set up in hishouse. He was able to cut Baskerville's designs without old face taint. The designs were amongst the first with modern face tendencies, a vertical engraved emphasis with a greater thick/thin contrast.
Birmingham, John Baskerville, 1757, roman type.
Baskerville knew William Shenstone, the poet and landscape gardener who introduced Baskerville to the publisher Dodsley. They became firm friends and reached an agreement on publishing. However Baskerville was a perfectionist. The correspondence shows Dodsley's impatience. In October 1752 Baskerville sent in the specimen sheet but only 14 punches of two-line great primer. In a footnote he added "Pray, put it in no one's power to let Mr Caslon see them". The first book planned was a Virgil, which was advertised by Dodsley in 1753 and subscriptions invited. However in the following year Baskerville was still worrying about punches. In 1755 baskerville went to London, presumably to persuade London publishers to use the press lying idle during his preparations.
In 1756 Baskerville went to Cambridge to seek permission to print the Bible and prayer book, and he also wanted to print Milton. In the same year he wrote to Dodsley saying that the Virgil would be ready next January. By April Dodsley was complaining there was still no sign. In 1757 the Virgil was finally published. In six years Baskerville had spent between £600 and £800 in his preparations. It was published at one guinea as a square quarto in great primer leaded type. Italic capitals were used for the running heads. It was described as the first book wholly printed on wove paper, but all known copies are partly on laid paper. Paradise lost, printed in 1759, was probably the first to be printed solely on wove paper.
Reactions were mixed. There were complaints that it dazzled the eyes. More writesof "trim glossy paper to dim the sight". It was a fashion to belittle Baskerville and London printers called him an "amateur". Benjamin Franklin tells of a trick he played. A friend said "Baskerville would be the means of blinding all the readers of the nation, for the strokes of your letters being two thin and narrow hust the eye, and he would never read a line of them without pain". Franklin next day tore off the top sheet of a Caslon specimen and showed it to him, asking him to point out faults, which he did as ifit were Baskerville's. "I spared him that time the confusion of been told that these were the types he had been reading all his life with so much ease to his eyes." In more recent times he has been criticised for overloaded pages in Virgil - a few less lines to the page would have improved it. The title page was criticised as the widely spaced capitals gave a monumental appearance rather like a gravestone. However many recognized his care and the skill that had gone into the work.
In 1758 Milton's Works came out in four quarto volumes, a fine piece of printing and a great success. A octavo volume came out the same year and a quarto volume in 1759. These were published by J and R. Tonson. In the preface he states his aim as printer to produceonly books of consequence. It is fortunate that he had a thriving japanning trade to help support the press and his half dozen staff. He was compelled to produce some work for private customers which were not always as well done.
His desire to print the Bible and prayer book led to problems. He entered into negotiations with the Cambridge University Press, who drove a hard bargain: "under such shackles as greatly hurt me". He told Horace Walpole that he had the Syndics of the press £20 per 1,000 copies of the Octavo prayer book and £12/10/- per 1,000 sheets for the duodecimo prayer book. He also had topay £32 to the Stationers' Company for the permission to add the psalms in metre. The privilege also carried with it the honorary office of printer to the University so the printing had to be done in Cambridge. Baskerville did not go himself; he stayed at Easy Hill producing Milton, but he must have made many journeys. He sent two presses and equipment in charge of his assistant Thomas Warren.
In 1760 the Prayer book was published. He had sent a specimen sheet to Dodsley with the remark that the size of type was "calculated for those who begin to want spectacles but are ashamed to use them in church". Three editions in octavo appeared between 1760 and 1762, one with two columns and in 1762 and edition in duodecimo.
In 1763 the Bible appeared although it was dated 1762, Baskerville's crowning achievement and one of the most beautiful Bible editions in English.It was a folio in a handsome great prime type, but it was a financial failure. He claimed to Horace Walpole that he had to borrow to print the Bible, he would have to sacrifice his patrimony of £72.00 a year and so on. However there is no evidence that Baskerville was ever in want. Other presses in Birmingham were producing Milton and other works on demand, so he had to lower prices to attract customers, and he also sold some types.
In 1761 he printed Addison's works for the Tonson's, also Congreve's works and series of small format classics and Horace in 1762, which was delayed by Baskerville searching for suitable for artists for illustrations. In he ended it only contained a frontispiece. However the Horace was among the best works from Baskerville's press.
Unfortunately this was more than counteracted by the Bible. The price was four guineas in sheets. Subscribers for more than six copies of were allowed another gratis. Only half of the edition were sold and within two years the rest was remaindered.
Altogether 1763 was a bad year for Baskerville. His stepson died - Baskerville had designated him his heir - and eleven days later Shenstone, who had introduced him to Dodsley. Baskerville was weary of being a printer; he was approaching the age of 60. He had previously talked of selling the press to Russia or Denmark and even sent specimens. In 1762 he offered to sell his press to the Court of France for £8,000 but he was politely refused. He later suggested to Benjamin Franklin that he reduce the offer to £6,000 but the French treasury had no spare cash. Also the Greek octavo and quarto editions of the New Testament of 1763 and did nothing for his reputation. The type was described as "stiff and cramped" and "execrable". He had approached Oxford in 1758 with an offer to cast a Greek found but the reception had been hostile. After use in the Bible his plans to produce Euripides in the same fount were abandoned. The punches and matrices are still preserved of Oxford. It was Baskerville's one and only venture into exotic founts.
In 1764 Dodsley died. Baskerville wearily handed over control of the business to his foreman William Martin who offered his services in Birmingham to "print for gentlemen or booksellers on the best moderate terms". Martin sold founts to local printers and produced five main works including a nine volume duodecimo Shakespeare in 1768 and Somerville's The chase, a fine work with charming engravings.
In 1769 Baskerville's interest was resumed when Martin began to print sections of a Bible as subcontractor to a rival printer, Nicolas Boden. Baskerville's pride was hit. He took over command of the press and aimed to produce a finer rival Bible. The first number was advertised or 2½d the copy in January 1769 in the Birmingham Gazette. It was to be completed in thirty parts, twenty less than Boden's, as he indicated, a saving in money. Boden retaliated that in fact his Bible was in less parts and a lot cheaper not 15 shillings dearer. The quarrel continued in the pages of the Birmingham Gazette for two years until both were completed in 1772. They were very alike - perhaps they had spies in each other's shops.
Between 1770 and 1775 appeared a quarto series of Latin authors: Lucretius, Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Terence, Sallust and Florus, also a Horace, the only one to be illustrated.
In 1772 the brothers Pietro and Giovanni Molini, booksellers with branches in London, Paris, and Florence, commissioned an edition of Orlando furioso. The four volume work was printed in quarto and octavo and was an exception to the usual lack of illustrations.It contained 46 plates by Moreau le jeune, Eisen, Cochin and Cipriani. Through the Molinis he he tried yet again to sell his equipment to France but in vain.
Baskerville died 8 January 1775. He had made a controversial will, expressing contempt of the "farce of consecrated ground" and "Irish barbarism of sure and certain hopes". He felt that morality, the duties a man owes to God and his fellow creatures, were sufficient to entitle him to divine favour without having to believe absurd doctrines of mysteries which they have no more conception or idea of than a horse. His body was to be buried in a conical building in his garden recently converted from a mill. When he was asked how he wanted to be buried, he retorted that they could bury him "sitting, standing or lying, but he did not think they could bury him flying". He was buried standing.
Easy Hill was burned by rioters in 1791. Six rioters drank themselves silly in the cellars and were burned to death. In 1826 a canal was built through his garden. The proprietor uncovered the coffin, opened it to find the body magnificently dressed in court costume and still well preserved. The coffin was left in wharves for four or five years until rediscovered during a spring clean when it was passed to the shop of a plumber named Marston who showed the coffin and its occupant to the public for a fee. Decay soon made burial imperative and, after problems over consecrated ground, he was buried with some subterfuge in Christ Church. Since then the remain have been twice removed.
His widow sold the books kept up the foundry until 1779 when she sold it for £3,700 with the remains of the press to Beaumarchais who printed an edition of Voltaire's works at the fortress of Kehl. Eventually the types were acquired by Deberry et Peignot who in March 1953 presented them to Cambridge University Press.
His Roman was midway between old and new face. His design eliminated superfluous ornament and relied on pure typography. His title pages were clear and uncluttered, slightly cold in larger formats but the coldness mitigated by the yellowing of the paper over the years possibly due to hot pressing. Although typographically excellent, Baskerville texts were not always accurate. This was not due to lack of proof reading - Baskerville felt this to be very important - but his method whereby the copy was spelt out letter by letter, especially especially bad for a foreign language. His influence was widespread, but more in Europe than in England. Didot praised his designs. Bodoni said that the finest printing houses wereto be found in Birmingham and Madrid. Baskerville himself recognised that he was better regarded abroad than at home. Thiscould be due to the English mistrust of the gifted amateur, also his methods of printing and particularly their costs. Yet his influence revived later when an imitation fount was cut by Fry and Wilson.A monotype version was cut in 1924.
William Bulmer (1757-1830) was born and apprenticed in Newcastle where he formed a lifelong friendship with the wood engraver Bewick. The moved to London to serve in the printing office of John Bell who was producing a miniature edition of the English poets.
In 1787 he met the bookseller George Nicol by chance. Nicol was looking for printer good enough for his grand design of an edition of Shakespeare illustrated with plates commissioned by the art publishers Messrs. Boydell, which had come into his possession by marriage. William Martin of Birmingham, the brother of Robert Martin Baskerville's foreman, was engaged to cut the type. A handsome modern design influenced by Baskerville was the result. Robert Martin helped him in the search for a rich black ink and Whatman's mills supplied the paper.
In 1790 premises were established in Cleveland Road, Saint James's named the Shakspeare Press.
In 1791 the first volume of Shakespeare was published, containing Richard III and Much ado about nothing. According to the bibliographer Plomer this was one of the most pretentious books that had ever come from an English press. But it was well printed and gained a high reputation for Bulmer. The bibliographer Thomas Frognal Dibdin praised the work - it was ornate and to his taste. The Shakespeare was completed in nine volumes to 1805.
Milton was published in three Folio volumes from 1793 to 1797.
In 1795 the poems of Oliver Goldsmith and Thomas Parnell appeared in a quarto edition. It was illustrated by thetechnically brilliant engravings of Thomas and John Bewick, although less spontaneous than some of their work. In his advertisement Bulmer says "much pains have been bestowed on the present publication to render it a complete specimen of the arts of type and block printing". He stresses that the products of the Shakspeare Printing Office were meant to combine the various beauties of printing, type founding, engraving and papermaking. The paper was by Whatman and the ink by Robert Martin.
In 1796 William Somerville's poem The chase appeared with thirteen wood engravings designed and drawn on the block by John Bewick, who died before he could engrave them; apart from the final tail-piece, all were engraved by his brother Thomas Bewick.
From 1810 to 1817 The bibliographer Dibdin entrusted his Typographical antiquities, an enlarged edition of Ames's work, to the Shakspeare Press after volume one have been printed by William savage. He was a great admirer Bulmer, who also printed his Bibliotheca Spenceriana in four volumes in 1814-15 and his Bibliographical Decameron in three volumes in 1817.
They displayed Martin's roman type to advantage, giving a severe classical impression under the influence of Baskerville. Bulmer had a monopoly of his type in his earlier works. Despite the technical advances of the industry he still talk a craftsman's pride in his work and became the first choice for learned publishers seeking well printed text to accompany illustrated works. After the founding of Roxburghe Club in 1812 (the oldest society of bibliophiles in the world with membership limited to 40) Bensley was chosen to print many of their publications. He also printed for learned bodies such as the British museum the Society odf Antiquaries, the Royal Society, the East India company and others.
In 1816 Bensley printed A series of portraits of the Emperors of Turkey, from the foundation of the monarchy to the year 1815 with mezzotints by John Young (1755–1825), printed in color à la poupée with hand coloring, the plates 38.2 × 26.4 cm in size. They were printed at the expense of Sultan Selim and the whole impression was sent to the Ottoman court. In 1802 Bulmer had made a previous nod to the Orient with the Arabian nights translated by Rev. Edward Foster. The engravings after pictures by Robert Smirke made it one of his finest books.
Bulmer was more successful than his rival Bensley and was able to retire to Clapham Rise in 1819, where he died in 1830.
Thomas Bensley (1759-1835) was the son of a London printer. At first he worked in the Strand, later off Fleet Street in Bolt Court. His first productions were not particularly outstanding, but from the late 1780s he began to specialise in fine books as a rival to Bulmer.
In 1789 appeared the first part of John Caspar Lavater’s Essays on Physiognomy, designed to promote the knowledge and the love of mankind translated by Henry Hunter. It was “A sumptuous edition” according to William Thomas Lowndes, The bibliographer’s manual of English literature. It appeared as three volumes in five issued in 41 fascicles over eleven years, from January 1789 to March 1799 with “more than eight hundred engravings . . . executed by, or under the inspection of Thomas Holloway,” (in fact there were rather less than that number) and published by John Murray, by the translator, and by the supervising engraver.
In 1797 James Thomson's The seasons was an outstanding production with a very striking title page. He mentions Vincent Figgins as a type Cutter who produced a softer and ultimately more influential face than Martin's whose later faces were much more modern. Besides the title page (Bensley was always renowned for their layout) there were stiple engravings by Francesco Bartolozzi and P. W. Tomkins after originals by W. Hamilton R. A. Talbot Baines Reed in A history of the old English letter foundries called it "one of the finest achievements of English typography".
In 1800 he produced a folio Bible in seven volumes. Figgins was commissioned to cut a fount to match the roman cut for Macklin's Bible by his Master Joseph Jackson who had died in 1792. He was able to do this very cleverly.
In 1806 he printed Hume's History of England and Figgins was again called upon to complete a fount cut by Bensley's first type Cutter Jackson.
Between 1804 and 1807 J. T. Smith's Antiquities of Westminster, the first English book with a lithographic illustration, contains Smith's description of the process and an account of how only 300 copies could be printed as the operator had not kept the stone moist overnight> The rest of the plates were in mezzotint and aquatint.
In 1808 Blair's poem The grave, published in 1808, contains several of William Blake's best known drawings etched by Louis Schiavonetti.
In 1807 on the 5th of November the works were badly damaged by boys setting off fireworks. In 1819 they were almost totally destroyed, the office, warehouse and dwelling house, which was the former home of Dr. Johnson.
John Johnson the Author of Typographia, or or the printer's instructor, published in 1824, worked with Bensley before setting up his own Apollo Press in Holborn.
Bensley was associated with Friedrich König in producing the first practical steam powered press. In 1811 he printed section H of the Annual register for that year in Bensley's office. In 1817 König left England disgusted with Bensley for his refusal to take proceedings against infringers of his patent. The partner in the patent wrote that Bensley was "always shabby and overreaching [...] while he destroyed the prospects of his partners,he outwitted himself and, grasping at all, lost all, becoming bankrupt in fortune as well as in character".
Shortly after the 1819 fire Bensley retired from his main business, continuing management of the smaller one, and lived in Clapham Rise,like his rival Bulmer, and he died there in 1835.
Bensley and Bulmer were two of the main printers who kept British typography's flag flying in the face of creeping mechanical mediocrity. They were recognized in their own time by McCreary in his poem The press, printed in Liverpool by the author in 1803 with William Martin's types:
Their skill the sharp fine outline still supplies,
From vellum leaves their graceful types arise,
And whilst our breasts the rival hopes expand,
Bulmer and Bensley well-earned praise demand.
This page last updated 20 October 2020
