| Show THE ART OF PRINTING row how near uie the ancients came to learn luff ienir Historical It facts the world has many timas come near to printing and just missed it the an As syrians stamped their records deep in bricks or cylinders of clay using a raised wood block or possibly separate characters A wooden hand stamp discovered in a tomb at thebes thebe left upon the egyptian brides bricks for or which it was used in raised hieroglyphics the name of possibly that very pharaoh who was tile tho taskmaster of the israelites which was cut into it the greeks not only cut exquisite seals leavi leaving nr 0 raised impressions upon wax but used also the contrary process of engraving maps upon smooth metal plates from which they might h have e taken ink impressions if they had only thought 0 of it the roman potter potte r used it would seem movable types to stamp ins his vessels vesse Is with the owners name ora or a contents label the private loaves of bread sent to the public oven were stamped with an owners mark cattle and slaves were branded by a heated stamp the I 1 of cecilias hermias ermias ll in raised brass which saved that roman citizen the trouble of writing his name or of learning how to write it as well as several incised brass stamps which seem intended for use with ink are in the british museum suggested the use of a stencil to teach roman school boys to write since by following I 1 its lines with their stylus they could trace hace the letters cicero and other latin writers come very near the idea of printing 0 types when they speak of the absurdity of expecting an intelligible sentence from chance mixing of engraved letters pliny indeed speaks of a certain invention by which marcus varro proposed to insert in his books the images 0 of illustrious persons thus saving their features from oblivion and I 1 making them known over the wide world I 1 I 1 which sounds very like our wood cut printing yet so far as we know all roman books were made by slave copyists so cheaply that horace complains that his books were too common while martiale Marti als first book of epigrams could be bought for six sest erces 84 24 cents in plain and five denardi 80 cents in fins fine binding and the daily newspaper of ciceris Cic eros rome the acts acta which contained local news and gossip of marria marriages es a and aad ad divorces as well as acts of the senate was probably made in like manner the emperor justin who could not write used a stencil to sign his name and merchants had trade marks to the same pur pose the or silver book k at upsala kupsala sweden which dates from M the sixth century or earlier must have had its ts silver giver letters stamped on its purple vellum one by one since some of the let are upside down and aid such engraved letters were in itse use byl bynane liany calligraphers calig cau grap raphers hers of the middle ages to outline initial letters for their Mumina illumination tion woven fabrics of silk and of linen were printed in colored inks from hand stamps in italy possibly is as early as the tv twelfth ath cen century tury indeed breitkopf holds that the egyptians thus printed cloths claths imil and the mexicans and polynesians had bad perhaps a like practice the printing press itself was rather an adaptation of the wine press or cheese press used in all countries than an invention and the playing cards and block books of the middle ages made from engraved wooden blocks which preceded the use of movable types we were r 0 probably printed on it R R bowker in harpers magazine |
