BOOK AND JOB FACES.

6 POINT No. 60.
PRINTING is the art of producing impressions, from characters or
figures, on paper or any other substance. There are several dis-
tinct branches of this important art-as the printing of books with
movable types, the printing of engraved copper and steel plates,
and the taking of impressions from stone, called lithographing. We
have now to describe the printing of books or sheets with movable
types, generally called letter-press printing, and which may un
doubtedly be esteemed the greatest of all human inventions. The
art of printing is of comparatively modern origin, only four hun-
dred years having elapsed since the first book was issued from the
press; yet we have proofs that the principles upon which It was
ultimately developed existed among the ancient Assyrian nations.
Entire and undecayed bricks of the famed city and tower of Babylon
have been found stamped with various symbolic figures and hiero-
glyphc characters. In this, however, as in any similar relic of
quty, the object which stamped the figures was in one block
or piece, and could therefore be employed only for one distinct
subject. This, though a kind of printing, was totally useless for
the propagation of literature, on account both of its expensiveness
and tediousness. The Chinese are the only existing people who
still pursue this rude mode of printing by stamping paper with
blocks of wood. The work which they intend to have printed is, in
the first place, carefully written upon sheets of thin, transparent
paper; each of these sheets is glued, with the face downwards,
upon a thin tablet of hard wood, and the engraver then, with proper
instruments, cuts away the wood in all those parts upon which
nothing is traced, thus leaving-the transcribed characters in relief
and ready for printing. In this way, as many tablets are neces-'
sary as there are written pages. No press is used; but when the
ink is laid on, and the paper carefully placed above it, a brush is
passed over with the proper degree of pressure. A similar kind of
printing by blocks, for the production of playing cards and rude
pictures of scriptural subjects, was In use in Europe towards the
end of the fourteenth century. But in all this there was little merit.
The great discovery was that of forming every letter or character
of the alphabet separately, so as to be capable of rearrangement.
and forming in succession the pages of a work, thereby avoiding the
interminable labor of cutting new blocks of types for every page.
The credit of the discovering of this simple yet marvelous art is
contested by the Dutch in favor of Laurence Coster, and the Ger-
mans on behalf of Johann Gansfleisch, of the Gutenberg family. In
all probability, the discovery was made almost simultaneously-
such a theory being consistent with the general social progress at
the period, and the secrecy which both inventors at first main-
tained respecting their art. The types first employed were of wood.

6 POINT NO. 12.
PwrNTINe is the art of producing impressions, from characters or
figures, on paper or any other substance. There are several dis-
tinct branches of this important art-as the printing of books
with movable types, the printing of engraved copper and steel
plates, and the taking of impressions from stone, called lithograph-
ing. We have now to describe the printing of books or sheets with
movable types, generally called letter-press printing, and which
may undoubtedly be esteemed the greatest of all human inventions.
The art of printing is of comparatively modern origin, only four
hundred years having elapsed since the first book was issued from
the press; yet we have proofs that the principles upon which it
was ultimately developed existed among the ancient Assyrian
nations. Entire and undecayed bricks of the famed city and
tower of Babylon have been found stamped with various symbolic
figures and hieroglyphic characters. In this, however, as in any
similar relic of antiquity, the object which stamped the figures
was in one block or piece, and could therefore be employed only
for one distinct subject. This, though # kind of printing, was
totally useless for the propagation of literature, on account both
of its expensiveness and tediousness. The Chinese are the only
existing people who still pursue this rude mode of printing by
stamping paper with blocks of wood. The work which they intend
to have printed is, in the first place, carefully written upon sheets
of thin transparent paper; each of these sheets is glued, with
the face downwards, upon a thin tablet of hard wood, and the
engraver then, with proper instruments, cuts away the wood in
all those parts on which nothing is traced, thus leaving the tran-
scribed characters in relief, and ready for printing. No press Is
used; but when the ink is laid on, and the paper carefully placed
abofe it, a brush is passed over with the proper degree of pres-
sure. A similar kind of printing by blocks, for the production of
playing cards and rude pictures of scriptural subjects, was in use
in Europe towards the end of the fourteenth century. But in all
this there was little merit. The great discovery was that of form-
ing every letter or character of the alphabet separately, so as to
be capable of rearrangement, and forming in succession the
pages of a work, thereby avoiding the interminable labor of cut-
ting new blocks of types for every page. The credit of the discov-
ering of this simple yet marveulos art is contested by the Dutch
in favor of Laurence Coster, and the Germans on behalf of Johann
Gansfeisech, of the Gatenburg family. In all probability, the dis-
covery was made almost simultaneously--such a theory being
consistent with the general social progress at the period, and the
secrecy which both inventors maintained respecting their art.
The types first employed were of wood, but soon the practice of

FOR ITALICS, STANDARDS AND PRICES, SEE PAGES 2, 15 AND 16.