Type foundry

“ The curious Dissertation on English Typographical Founders and Founderies by the learned Edward Rowe Mores, published in 1778, is, in fact, the only work in the language purporting to treat of Letter Founding as distinct from the art which it fosters. This quaint and crabbed sketch, full of valuable but half-digested information, was intended to accompany a specimen of the types of John James, whose foundry had gradually absorbed all the minor English foundries, and, after the death of its owner, had become the property of Mores himself. ”

“ Roman and Italic, 292, 293, 295; Script, 293, 294, 295; Shaded, 293, 295
THOROWGOOD (WM.) purchases Thorne’s foundry, 295; specimens, 295, 296; purchases Dr. Fry’s foundry, 296, 313; successors, 296; standards of type bodies in 1841, 34
——— Matrices: German, 296; Greek, 296; Hebrew, 296; Roman and Italic, 295; Russian, 72, 296
Tilloch’s patent for stereotype, 220, 261
Timmins (S.) Baskerville relics of, 268, 269, 271, 279
Tonson (J.) buys type in Holland, 216, 217, 233
Tory (Geof.) on shapes of types, 32, 53, 183; his Champfleury, 32, 183; Greek type of, 58; Initials, 80 ”

“ Thus laden, they started to plod up the hill, under the great long black building of the foundry. She walked beside him—workman of workmen he was, trudging with that luggage. The red lights flared over the deepening darkness. From the foundry came the horrible, slow clang, clang, clang of iron, a great noise, with an interval just long enough to make it unendurable. ”

“ We still speak familiarly of a foundry; but the term ‘founder’ as a worker therein is now, I believe, obsolete. Such names, however, as ‘Robert le Fundour’ or ‘John le Funder,’ whose descendants are still with us, show that this was once in common use. As an additional proof that they were formerly more distinctively engaged in the manufacture of pots and vessels, we may state that in the York Pageant, elsewhere spoken of, the ‘Pewterers’ and ‘Founders’ marched together. Speaking of ‘Founder,’ we are reminded of ‘Alefounder.’ In 1374 William Alefounder was Rector of Bichamwell. ”

“ The art of the founder is fundamental in its nature. The arts of founding and forging are, indeed, the essential preliminary steps which lead to the finer manipulations entering into all metal constructions. Whether forging preceded founding or founding forging is immaterial; both arts are as old as recorded history—much older indeed. Moulding, which is the first step in the founder’s art, should be among the oldest of human discoveries, since man had only to take in his hand a lump of moist clay to receive ocular evidence of his power to give it any desired form. ”

“ Of this specimen Rowe Mores (who informs us that it was printed at the request of foreigners) falls foul as inaccurate. “The materials from which this account (i.e., his summary of the contents of the Foundry) is drawn,” he says, “are not so accurate as might have been expected from an Archi-typographus and the Curators of the Sheldonian. ”

“ The Rules and Regulations of Thorne’s Foundry, printed about the year 1806, give an interesting glimpse into the internal economy of a foundry of that period. After fixing the prices to be paid for work (for casting, rubbing, and kerning were {118} all paid by “piece”) , they provide that the dressers shall have 25s. a week, “abiding by the old custom of leaving work at four o’clock on Mondays. Each man to dress after four casters.” ”

“ To estimate the complete revolution which had taken place in the productions of this foundry during the interval between 1807 and 1819, it is only necessary to glance through the first specimen book of the new proprietors, issued in the latter year, which may be taken to represent the state of the foundry pretty nearly as it was at the time of its transfer to Sheffield. There is not a single fount in the one book which reappears in the other. The modern fat-face Romans and Egyptians678 take the place of Jackson’s elegant old-style letters. ”

“ G. W. Bower, the foundry was continued by Mr. Henry Bower till his death about 1851, in September of which year the plant and stock were sold by auction and dispersed among the other founders. The Catalogue of this Sale contained about 50,000 punches and matrices; many of them, however, being obsolete or of small value. {358} ”

“ Thorne. Although some difficulties presented themselves in redeeming the pledge I made of renovating my small founts and casting them of metal more durable than those in common use, yet I flatter myself that those friends who relied on my professions will bear ample testimony that they have not been disappointed, and that the superior facilities of manufacturing types possessed by myself in common with the other founders of the metropolis has been used to their advantage,” etc.
610 This famous foundry, which still exists, was established by Bernard Christopher Breitkopf in 1719. ”

“ The Inventors, sensible of the great utility of their Discovery, have mentioned it to several of the Trade, who have made very considerable offers to encourage the laying open the Secret: But as their desire is, that every Printer in the Kingdom might be benefited by it they propose to make the Discovery as universal as possible, by making an honourable and generous present of it to the whole trade: To many of whom they are under some Obligations for the kind encouragement of their new Foundery. ”

“ And as they expect that the Trade in general will approve of their Plan, they beg that the Encouragers of it would send their orders with all convenient Speed to the above Foundery; (as they intend as soon as they have got a sufficient Number to lay open the whole) which they hope will not be less universal than the desire of being made Partakers of so interesting a Discovery: for it merits nothing less than the most cordial Encouragement of every Printer in Europe, though here so freely offered. ”

“ The Stationers’ Company, who from time to time supplemented the powers conferred upon them by the Star Chamber with regulations of their own on matters such as standing formes, apprentices and prices, would naturally recognise a source of danger in a new foundry starting under the circumstances described, and were prompt to assert their authority. ”

“ However, the human architect would perhaps, in this respect, be better off than the divine Creator, as he would have perfect liberty in the number of graduated subordinate 66 groups. The Creator, however, according to Agassiz, can only move within six groups or categories: the species, genus, family, order, class, and type. ”

“ But in order not to have the trouble of beginning the work of creation over again, he keeps, in the main, to his original plan of creation, and creates merely new species, or at most only new genera, and much more rarely new families, new orders, or classes. He never succeeds in producing a new style or type, and always keeps strictly within the six categories or graduated groups. ”

“ In many cases, especially with the originators of the great foundries, Caslon, Cottrell and Jackson, it was the master himself who designed and cut his own punches. It was not till the unusual demand for artists at the close of last century broke down this exclusiveness that outsiders arose to work for the trade in general. And even these, it was the policy and endeavour of each founder to attach to himself, treating him as a gentleman at large, and free from the obligations imposed on his other workmen. ”

“ British Foundry. S. & C. Stephenson respectfully submit the present edition of their Specimen to the public with the hope that they shall continue to experience the flattering encouragement hitherto received, and for which they beg to return their most sincere thanks.
“To those of the Trade who have not hitherto used the Types of the British Foundry, it may be necessary to observe, that they are composed of the very best Metal, and that they are justified to paper and body agreeable to the usual standard. ”

“ To overcome this difficulty we must understand the resemblance upon which classification is based to include resemblance of Causation, that is, the fact itself of descent from common ancestors. For organic beings, all other rules of classification are subordinate to one: trace the genealogy of every form. ”

“ Foundā′tioner, one supported from the funds or foundation of an institution; Foundā′tion-mus′lin, -net, gummed fabrics used for stiffening dresses and bonnets; Foundātion-stone, one of the stones forming the foundation of a building, esp. a stone laid with public ceremony; Found′er, one who founds, establishes, or originates: an endower:—fem. Found′ress. [Fr. fonder—L. fundāre, -ātum, to found—fundus, the bottom.]
Found, fownd, v.t. to form by melting and pouring into a mould: to cast.—ns. Found′er, one who melts and casts metal, as a brassfounder; Found′ing, metal-casting ”

“ Bowyer’s friends in 1712, after the destruction by fire of that eminent printer’s office.
JAMES GROVER, circ. 1675. THOMAS GROVER, his son.371
This foundry, which, according to Rowe Mores, was supposed to include founts formerly belonging to Wynkyn de Worde, was the most extensive, and in many respects the most interesting of the later seventeenth century foundries. It seems probable that James and Thomas Grover began business in partnership, about the year 1674, in succession to one of the “Polyglot” founders, whose matrices they appear to have acquired. ”

“ The interesting inventory of the Oxford foundry, appended to the specimen of the press in 1695, gives a good idea of the extent of that establishment. There were apparently two casters, two rubbers, and two or three dressers, and the foundry possessed twenty-eight moulds. The punches were sealed up in an earthen pot, possibly to protect them from rust or injury; or possibly, because having once served their purpose in striking the matrices, they were put aside as of little or no use. The small value put upon punches after striking is constantly apparent about this period. ”

“ Likewise in the foundry trades, ironfounders, coremakers, and other workers organised in their separate societies have been brought together under the National Federation of Foundry Trades, with a collective membership of over 50,000 members. ”

“ Any man losing or damaging a mould, matrix, or tool, to make good the loss on the following Saturday. Any man leaving his lamp or candle alight after hours is to pay 6d., and the master for a similar offence is to fine himself 1s. Rubbers must grind their stones once a fortnight, “if requested to do so either by the master or foreman.” No work to be taken out of the foundry. Casters and rubbers must take their turn at carrying in metal. Breaking-off and setting-up boys shall earn 10d. a week for each man they set-up after. ”

“ But, if succession does not imply descent, descent, at least, implies succession, and the fact that succession is the necessary corollary of descent, may be used as a corrective for the erroneous allocations made by neontologists on the basis of purely morphological considerations. The priority of a type is the sine qua non condition of its being accepted as ancestral. ”

“ Core-making is a special department of foundry work, often involving as much detail as the construction and moulding of patterns. Two perfectly plain boxes are shown in figs. 8 and 9, in both of which provision exists for removing the box parts from the core after the latter has been rammed. Core boxes are jointed and tapered, and often have loose pieces within them, and also prints, into the impressions of which other cores are inserted. ”

“ And perhaps no Founder ever had the good fortune to have his designs succeed more to his wish; this society has constantly produced one set of men after another, who have done both credit and service to their country by their practice and their writings. ”

“ They usually run as follows, the larger and higher groups standing first in order:—Kingdoms, Subkingdoms, Classes, Orders, Families, Tribes, Genera, and Species. But it must be observed that the term species has a different value from that of the other terms; for the individuals of which the species consist are not only related by resemblance of structure, but also by their origin—being supposed to have derived their origin from a parent of original creation; while the other groups have, as far as we know, no other relation than that of similarity of structure. ”

“ Every discovery or new invention in whatever branch of industry it may be, is the property of the inventor, and its enjoyment is guaranteed to him in the form and for the time specified in the following articles. Art. 2. Every means of giving to a production already in existence a greater degree of perfection shall be considered as a new discovery. ”

“ These skilled men worked together like tireless oxen under the unflinching eyes of the sweating, dirt-streaked Foundryman, the traditional Task Master of their Trade, and could readily produce any sort of cleverly carved and molded artifact, and an endless variety of molten and engraved idols and gods of all sizes, shapes, and descriptions. ”

“ Generally speaking, these establishments do not for any length of time carry out the intentions of their founders, and it sometimes happens that they become diametrically opposed to them. It is as much as one can do to trace after many long years a few vestiges of their founders' original intention. ”

“ The assumption that the wills of Founders were for ever inviolable, in spite of the lapse of ages and the total change of circumstances, had led, as it must always lead, to a perpetuity of perversion and to the defeat of the main object of the Founders themselves. ”

“ Hitherto we have spoken of cases where custom has sanctioned the application of the common class names to the particular species, but we should not limit ourselves to these. If anything else be seen to be an attribute of several things but to have no common generic name, we should take it for examination and look what are its attributes or of what it is an attribute. ”