Page:Historic printing types, a lecture read before the Grolier club of New York, January 25, 1885, with additions and new illustrations; by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914; Grolier Club.djvu/72

 68 HISTOKIC PRINTING TYPES. Improvements in presses, paper and ink. Influence of Bewick. Changes of style by type- founders. to print the full size of a large sheet at one impression, with more control over the impression than had been possible on the old wooden press, was invented about 1802, and was in general use in 1812. Paper of greater smooth- ness and finer texture was made by paper-makers who feared the impending competition of the Fourdrinier ma- chine, which was in successful operation soon after. Some printers believed that they had discovered the secret of the smooth paper of Bodoni and Baskerville, and began to use the screw-press for the pressing of paper both before and after printing. The brilliant black ink of Baskerville had compelled ink-makers to emulation. But the greatest impulse to fine printing was given by a man who had never been taught type-making or printing processes. Thomas Bewick, the reviver of engraving on wood, had demonstrated that even from such a frail substance as boxwood it was possible to produce printed lines of a delicacy which had been thought attainable only by the process of copper-plate printing. When it was demonstrated that hair lines could be fairly printed upon an ordinary hand-press, type-founders began to cut finer lines for all new faces. Stubby serifs were rejected, the hair lines were sharpened and extended, and the body-marks were tapered down to meet hair lines. Without meaning to do so, the punch-cutters of this new style were really more intent on showing how truly they could make curves and tapers, than they were on making