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HISTORY OF PRINTING.
roenced fur establishing a Greek press in the city of Paris. Francis Tissard, one of the most emiiieut scholars of his time, superintended this important undertaking ; and prevailed upon iEgidus or Gilles Gourmount to set up a Greek press ; and the first specimens of impressions, entirely Greek, appeared in the university of Paris, in this year. The first Greek book, which issued from Gourmount's press, was a small elementary work, containing a Greek alphabet, rules of pro- nunciation, Ike. This work came forth under the especial patronage of the Prince de Valois, (afterwards Francis I.) and of John d'Orleans, archbishop of Toulouse, afterwards cardinal de Longueville. Three other Greek works made their appearance in the same year, and these were the first Greek impressions tnat were execu- ted in the whole kingdom of France. Gourmount having, in conjunction with Tissard, thus sur- mounted the /ormidable difficulties of such a first undertaking, and merited the title which he assumed of Primiu Greeearum litterarum Paritiit impret$or. lu 1508 he established his claim to tlie like honourable distinction for the Hebrew, by his impression of two works from the zealous pen of Tissard. Gilles de Gourmount did not con- fine himself to the employment of his Greek press, but printed various other works of different descriptions. — After the example of this artist, the printers of Paris, encouraged by the univer- sity, made it a point of honour to enrich their respective typographic establishments with Greek characters. Gilles Gourmount appears to have survived till the year 1628, or longer. His usual mark or device consisted of his own arms, sur- rounded by this motto ;
TAM on tard prta on loin A le fort da foible daoin.
In addition also to the above, he frequently added certain Greek adagia.
1507. At this period, besides the books that were nrinted in England, theie were several printed for us abroad, by the encouragement of English merchants, and others, as well as for the advancement of learning, as their own profit and advantage. Among others was Mr. Bretton, a merchant of London, who seems to have bore the character of a faithful and honest man, as appears by the books printed at his expense.
In this year several of the prayer Ikk^s in Enriish, were sold at the sign of the Trinity, in St. Paul's church yard.
John of Doesborowe, a printer at Antwerp, about this time, executed many works in the English tongue. Among others, Mr. Warton says " There is an old book (or as he elsewhere terms it, an old black-lettered history) of the necromancer Virgil, printed in 1610." This hoke (intitled Virgilim) treateth of the lyfe of Vir- gilitu, and of hu deth, and many mamayles that he did in hyt lyfe tyme, by wkitchcraft and nigra- mamy, thorough the help of the drvylU of hell.
The colophon — That endeth the lyfe of Vir- giliut, with many dyten contaytes Uiat he dyd. Emprynted in the tytie ofAndewarpe by me John
Doetborche dwelling at the Canter Porte, with cuts, 8vo. Mr. Warton also says that this en- chanter Virgil is introduced in the fifty -seventh chapter of the Gesta Romanorum. This fictitious personage, however, seems to be formed of the genuine Virgil ; because of the subject of the eighth eclogue he was supposed to be an adept in the mysteries of magic and incantation.
1508. The most ancient specimen of printing in Scotland extant, is a collection entitled the Porteut of Noblenea, Edinburs^. A patent had been granted by James IV. to Walter Chapman, a merchant of that city, and Andrew Mollar, a workman, for establishing a press there in 1607. Mr. Watson, in his History of Printing, says, that the art of printing was introduced into Scotland from the Low Countries, by the priests who fled thither born the persecutions at borne. Mr. Robertson, keeper of the records in Scotland, discovered the patent of James IV. which renders it certain that printing was exercised in Scotland thirty-five years after Caxton in England.
In 1509, a Breviary of the Church of Aberdeen was printed at Edinburgh. A tecond part, was
Erinted in the following year. Very few works, owever, appear to have issued from this or any other Scotch press for the next thirty years.
The followmg amusing extract, containing the ancient method of punctuation, is firom a work entitled Aicemitu declymom with the Plain Ex- potitor. Without date, place, or printer's name, 4to. This work is ascribed to Wynkyn de Worde from a peculiar type which is found in the Ortm Vocubutorum, by the same printer.
"Of the craft ofPoynting. " Therbefiue maner pontyt, and ditdtioni most vride with cunnying men : the which, if they be wel vtid, make the tentent very light, and ety to tmderttond both to the reder, ^ the herer, j- they be thete : rirgil, come, parenthetii, playnt poynt, and interrogatif. A virgil it a tctenaer ttryke : lera/nge fyrwaide thitwyte, be tokynynge a tyiyl, short rest without any perfetnes yet of tentens : as betwene the five voyntis a fore rehersid. A come is with iway titils thiswyse : betokynyng a longer rest : and the senlens yet ether is vnpetfet : or els, if it be perfet : tker cunmith more after, longyng to it: the which more comynly*can not be perfect by itself without at the lest summat of it : that gothe a fore. A parenthesis is with tway crokyd virgils : as an olde mone, ^ a neu bely to bely : the whiche be set on theton afore the begyn- yng, and tlietother after the latyr ende of a clause: comyng within an other clause : that may be per- fect : thof the clause, so comyng betwene : wtr awey and therefore it is sowndyde comyidy a note lower, than the vtter clause, m the sentens cannot be perfet teithout the ynnir clause, then stede of the first erokyde virgil a streght virgil wol da very wel : and stede of the later must nedis be a come. A playne point is with won tittll thiswyse. jr it cvmeth after the ende of al the whole sentens betokinyng a longe rest. An interrogatif is with tway tttits; the vpper rysyng this wyse? t^ it ernneth after the ende of a whole reason : wheryn (her is sum question axtide. the whiche ende of
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