Popular Technology; or, Professions and Trades. Vol. 2 (of 2)
by Edward Hazen · English · Gutenberg #40101 · 455,600 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Popular Technology; or, Professions and Trades. Vol. 2 (of 2)
Author: Edward Hazen
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POPULAR TECHNOLOGY; OR, PROFESSIONS AND TRADES. VOL. 2 (OF 2) ***
POPULAR TECHNOLOGY;
OR,
PROFESSIONS AND TRADES.
[Illustration: The AUTHOR.]
BY EDWARD HAZEN, A. M.,
AUTHOR OF
"THE SYMBOLICAL SPELLING-BOOK," "THE SPELLER AND
DEFINER," AND "A PRACTICAL GRAMMAR."
EMBELLISHED WITH EIGHTY-ONE ENGRAVINGS.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS.
1870.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York.
CONTENTS
of
THE SECOND VOLUME.
Page
The Musician, and the Musical Instrument Maker 7
The Sculptor 18
The Painter 29
The Engraver 42
The Copperplate Printer 51
The Lithographer 54
The Author 58
The Printer 63
The Type-Founder 73
The Stereotyper 77
The Paper-Maker, and the Bookbinder 81
The Bookseller 92
The Architect 97
The Carpenter 111
The Stone-Mason, the Brick-maker, &c. 114
The Painter, and the Glazier 129
The Turner 136
The Cabinet-Maker, and the Upholsterer 140
The Chair-Maker 149
The Carver, and the Gilder 153
The Cooper 157
The Wheelwright 161
The Potter 169
The Glass-Blower 178
The Optician 187
The Goldbeater, and the Jeweller 198
The Silversmith, and the Watchmaker 213
The Coppersmith, the Button-Maker, &c. 224
The Tin-Plate Worker, &c. 233
The Iron-Founder 242
The Blacksmith, and the Nailer 255
The Cutler 261
The Gunsmith 266
The Veterinary Surgeon 271
[Illustration: MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER.]
THE MUSICIAN, AND THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER.
THE MUSICIAN.
1. The word _Music_, in its modern application, has reference to the
science which treats of the combination of sounds. It is founded upon
the law of our nature, that every leading passion has its peculiar
tone or note of expression understood by all human beings. Music,
therefore, may be supposed to have been practised in the earliest
ages; although it must have been a long time before it arose to the
importance of a science.
2. According to the Mosaic records, Jubal, one of the descendants of
Cain, played upon musical instruments, many hundred years before the
flood. In the early period of the nations of antiquity, and in fact
among all semi-barbarous people of later periods, the character of
poet and singer were united in the same individual; and the voice was
frequently accompanied by musical instruments. The oldest song which
has descended to our times, and which is stated to have been exhibited
in this manner, was that sung by Miriam, the sister of Moses, on the
occasion of the passage of the Red Sea by the children of Israel.
3. The Hebrews employed music in their celebration of religious
worship, which consisted, in part, in chanting solemn psalms with
instrumental accompaniments. It was also used by them on the occasion
of entertainments, as well as in the family circle. It reached its
greatest perfection amongst the Jews, in the days of David and
Solomon. It is supposed, that the priests of Egypt were versed in
music, before the settlement of the family of Jacob in that country;
but how far the Israelites were indebted to them for a knowledge of
this pleasing art, is altogether uncertain.
4. Music was held in very high estimation among the Greeks, who
attributed to it incredible effects. They even assure us that it is
the chief amusement of the gods, and the principal employment of the
blessed in heaven. Many of their laws, and the information relative to
the gods and heroes, as well as exhortations to virtue, were written
in verse, and sung publicly in chorus to the sound of instruments.
5. It was the opinion of the philosophers of Greece, that music was
necessary to mould the character of a nation to virtue; and Plato
asserts, that the music of his countrymen could not be altered,
without affecting the constitution of the state itself. But in his
time and afterwards, complaints were made of the degeneracy in this
art, and a deterioration of national manners through its influence.
The degeneracy probably consisted in its application to the
expression of the tender passions; it having been previously applied,
in most cases, to awaken patriotic and religious feeling.
6. The invention of music and of musical instruments, as in the cases
of most of the arts and sciences among the Greeks, was attributed by
the poets to some of the gods, or else to individuals of their own
nation. It appears, however, from their traditions, that they received
this art, or at least great improvements in its execution, from
Phoenicia or Asia Minor. It began to be cultivated scientifically in
Greece about 600 years before the advent of Christ.
7. The Romans seem to have derived the music which they employed in
religious services from the Etruscans, but that used in war and on the
stage from the Greeks. At an early period of their history, it was a
great impediment to the progress of the art, that it was practised
only by slaves.
8. The Roman orators pitched their voice, and regulated the different
intonations through their speech, by the sound of instruments; and on
the stage, the song, as well as part of the play itself, was
accompanied with flutes. Wind-instruments of various kinds, comprised
under the general name of _tibiæ_, and sometimes the cythera and harp,
accompanied the chorus. In all these applications of music, the Romans
had been preceded by the Greeks.
9. The Hebrews employed accents to express musical tones, but most
other nations of antiquity used letters of the alphabet for this
purpose; and, as they had not yet conceived the idea of the octave or
parallel lines, to express a variety of tones in a similar manner by
the aid of a key, they required a number of notes that must have been
exceedingly perplexing.
10. The Greeks are said to have had about one thousand notes, half of
which were for vocal, and the other half, for instrumental music. All
these were expressed by placing the letters of their alphabet, or
parts of them, in different positions. Accents were also used, partly
by themselves, and in connexion with the letters.
11. The lines of a poem, set to music, were placed under the letters
expressing the tones. The letters for the instrumental part were
placed first, and under them those for the voice. The notes of the
Greeks and Romans were not required to indicate the time in which they
were to be pronounced, since in general the syllables of their
language had a natural and distinct quantity. In the cases in which
there was a liability to mistake, the syllables were marked with A, if
long, and with B, if short.
12. The Romans expressed the fifteen chief tones of the Greeks with
the fifteen first letters of the Latin alphabet; and these were
reduced to seven, by Pope Gregory I., towards the end of the sixth
century; so that the first seven capital letters were used for the
first octave, the small letters for the higher octave, and the small
letters doubled, for the highest octave. Parallel lines were soon
after invented, on which the letters were written.
13. Musical sounds were expressed in this manner until the year 1024,
when, according to some authors, Guido Aretine, a monk of Arezzo,
invented points and rhombuses. He also introduced the use of five
parallel lines, upon and between which his notes were written. The
seven letters which had formerly been used as notes, now became clefs.
14. Still, however, the means of determining the duration of sound
belonging to each note, without consulting the quantity of syllables
in the verses to be sung, were yet to be provided. This desideratum
was supplied by one Franco, a German of Cologne, who lived towards the
end of the eleventh century. Some, however, attribute this improvement
to John de Murs. The division of one note into others of less value
was invented, in the sixteenth century, by Jean Mouton, chapel-master
to King Francis I. of France.
15. The knowledge of music, as a science, was preserved in Europe,
after the overthrow of the Western empire, through the influence of
the Church. The apostles, and Hebrew converts generally, had been
accustomed to the sacred music of the Jews; and, on this account, it
was easy to continue the use of the same psalms and hymns in the
Christian Church.
16. Many of the Grecian and Roman melodies were also set to words
adapted to Christian worship. In regard to the manner of singing, in
the early days of the Church, it was sometimes in _solo_, sometimes in
_alternate strains_, and at other times in _chorus_; in which the
whole assembly joined, repeating what had been before sung or read. In
the fourth century, with the view of securing the proper execution of
this part of divine worship, _precentors_ were instituted, who were
considered regular officers of the Church.
17. Pope Gregory I., surnamed the Great, distinguished himself by
establishing a new singing-school, which became a model for many
others, in the western division of the Church. In consequence of these
schools, the singing became more artificial; and this, together with
the circumstance that the hymns were in Latin, which had become
obsolete, at length excluded the people from any participation in this
part of the public worship.
18. Gregory also made a selection of the existing songs of the Church,
and introduced a _chant_, which, through his influence, and that of
his successors, was at length extended throughout Europe. It received
the appellation of the _Gregorian chant_ from his name. It was also
called the _choral song_, because it was sung by a choir. This chant
is said to be the foundation of our present church-music.
19. Music, in distinct parts, was not known until after the
introduction of the improved method of writing music, invented, as
before stated, by Guido Aretine and Franco. The development of
harmony, in four parts, was assisted by the _choral_; but it was more
particularly advanced by musical instruments, and especially by the
organ. In the fifteenth century, music began again to be treated
scientifically.
20. The Reformation produced great changes in the character of sacred
music. Before that event took place, this part of religious worship
was confined to a few fixed forms of texts, as in the mass, and this
is still the case in the Roman Catholic Church; but the Protestants
allow great variety both in the poetry and music. Luther's agency in
the production of these changes was very considerable. During the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, church music became continually
more brilliant, and always more corrupted, by the intermixture of
profane music.
21. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there grew up, at the
courts of the European monarchs, the free chamber style, from which
arose that which was afterwards used in the theatre. The opera, which
originated with three young noblemen at Florence in 1594, has
contributed especially to the splendor and variety of modern vocal
music, the advancement of which is claimed particularly by the
Italians, as that of the instrumental kind is claimed by the Germans
and French.
22. The composition of music, and its execution either vocally or
instrumentally, as well as the business of imparting a knowledge of it
to others, are embraced in the employment of the musician; although it
is seldom, that all these branches are practised by one and the same
individual. Music is one of the fine arts, and, during the middle
ages, was one of the branches of what was then considered a learned
education.
23. Since the scientific revival of music, the art has had so many
distinguished professors, that we will not even attempt to give a list
of their names. Their number was increased, and the art greatly
perfected, by the singing-schools, called _conservatories_,
established especially in Italy, either at the public expense, or by
the liberality of individuals.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT-MAKER.
1. This artist unites in his business some of the operations of the
cabinet-maker, turner, and brazier. He also is dependent upon the
wire-drawer, and the tanner and currier, for some of his materials. So
great, however, is the number of musical instruments, and so different
their nature and construction, that the business of making them is
divided into several branches, all of which are never pursued, or
carried on, by one person. But, without reference to the several
divisions of this business, we will proceed to mention or describe the
principal instruments which are now in most common use.
2. The _organ_ is the largest of all musical instruments, and, in its
improved state, so complex that a mere description of it cannot be
well understood. Nevertheless, we will endeavor to give the reader
some idea of the general principles on which it is constructed.
3. The most essential and prominent parts of this machine are the
_wind-chest_, the _pipes_, and the _bellows_. The former of these is
an oblong box, made perfectly air-tight, and placed in a horizontal
position. The top of this chest is perforated with several rows of
holes of different sizes, and into these are inserted the pipes. Those
for the higher notes are of a cylindrical form, and are made of a
mixture of metals, chiefly of tin and lead; but those designed for the
expression of the lowest notes of the base are made of wood, in a
square form. The dimensions of these pipes are regulated by a
_diapason_, or _scale_.
4. There are as many of these rows of pipes, which are called _stops_,
as there are kinds of tones in the organ; and to every row or stop is
a plug, attached to a slide, which is denominated a _register_, and
which is designed to regulate the admission of wind into the pipes.
The pipes are also furnished with valves, which can be opened at
pleasure, by means of keys similar to those of the piano-forte. Some
organs have few, others have many stops; and, in order to regulate the
force of sound, most church organs have two or three rows of keys,
whereby a greater or less number of pipes may be filled, and the
powers of the instrument may be controlled in what is called the
_small organ_, or let loose, so as to become the _full organ_.
5. The fingering of an organ is similar to that of the piano-forte, so
far as relates to the position of the keys; but, on account of the
great number of holding notes in organ music, and the manner in which
the sound is produced, the fingers are more kept down; whence it is
considered injurious for performers on the piano-forte to practise on
the organ, lest that lightness of touch, so necessary for the former
instrument, be affected. It is hardly necessary to remark that, during
the performance on the organ, the wind-chest is filled by means of the
bellows.
6. The structure of the organ is lofty, elegant, and majestic; and its
solemnity, grandeur, and volume of tone, have obtained for it a
pre-eminence over every other instrument for the sacred purposes to
which it has been applied. The largest organ known is in St. Peter's
Church, at Rome. It has one hundred stops.
7. The church organ was probably suggested by the _water organ_ of the
Greeks, which was invented five or six hundred years before our era.
At what period, organs began to be employed in churches, cannot now be
ascertained. By some, it is said that Pope Vitelianus caused them to
be used in Rome in the seventh century. Others are of opinion, that
they were not introduced until three hundred years later. But, be this
as it may, the church organ was not in common use until the fourteenth
century; and now it is very different in its construction from that of
early times. It has received many additions and improvements since the
beginning of the fifteenth century.
8. The _hand_ or _barrel organ_ consists of a moveable cylinder, on
which, by means of wires, pins, and staples, are marked the tunes
which it is intended to perform. These pins and staples, by the
revolution of the barrel, act upon the keys within, and give admission
to the wind from the bellows to the pipes. The hand organ is so
contrived that the revolution of the barrel gives motion to the
bellows.
9. There are several instruments belonging to the class of _horns_,
all of which are made of brass or silver. Those of the latter kind of
metal are by far the softest in tone, but brass is the material most
commonly employed. The chief instruments belonging to this class are
the trumpet, the French horn, the bugle, the Kent bugle, the trombone,
and the bass-horn. The _serpent_ seems to be the connecting link
between the trumpet and the flute.
10. The instruments classed with the flute, are the common flutes of
various keys, German flutes, and several kinds of flageolets. Nearly
allied to these are the clarionet, the hautboy, and bassoon. The
breath is applied to the flageolet through an ivory tube at the end;
and, in the three last named instruments, a thin reed, capable of a
free vibration, is a part of the mouth-piece.
11. Of the instruments which produce musical sounds by the vibration
of strings, there are a great number, of which the following are the
principal;--the lyre, the harp, the guitar, the lute, the dulcimer,
the harpsichord, the spinnet, the piano-forte, the violin, the
violincello, and the base-viol. The strings of the three last are
agitated with a bow; but those of this class first mentioned, are
vibrated by the thumb and fingers, by some little instrument held in
the hand, or by little hammers, moved by keys, as in the piano-forte.
12. The _piano-forte_ is said to be the invention of Gottlieb
Schroder, of Hohenstein, in Saxony, born in Dresden, about the year
1717. Before the introduction of this instrument, the clavichord,
harpsichord, and spinnet, supplied its place. On all of these
instruments complete harmony can be produced by a single performer,
and the most difficult series of tones can be executed with rapidity,
by means of a simple mechanism.
13. The _piano-forte_ has been gradually improved, until it has become
one of the most elegant instruments in the whole compass of musical
practice. In firmness and strength of tone, the English piano-fortes
formerly surpassed all others; but, within a few years, they have been
equalled, and in some respects excelled, by those of American
workmanship. The manufacture of this instrument constitutes the most
extensive branch of musical instrument-making.
14. The instruments of percussion are the military drum, base-drum,
kettle-drum, tabor, tamborine, and the triangle. The kettle-drum has
received its name from its conformation. It has but one head, and is
used in orchestres, and by the cavalry of modern armies, especially in
Europe. The tabor has two heads, about three inches apart, and is
beaten with one stick. The tamborine has one head, drawn over a hoop,
to which are attached small bells and bits of tin, to make a jingling
sound. The time is beaten on the head with the hand.
15. The _bag-pipe_ is a wind instrument of high antiquity among the
northern nations of Europe; but it has been so long a favorite with
the natives of Scotland, that it may be considered their national
instrument. It consists of a leather bag and three pipes. The first of
the pipes is that by which the droning noise is produced, the second
emits wind from the bottom of the bag, and the third is that on which
the music is made.
16. During the performance on the bag-pipes, the bag is placed under
the arm, and worked like a bellows, while the notes are modulated as
on a flute or hautboy, by stopping and opening the holes, nine in
number, with the ends of the fingers and thumb. The bag is filled by
means of the breath blown into it through a pipe. In Rome, at the time
of Advent, the peasants of the mountains express their veneration for
the Virgin by playing on this instrument before her image.
[Illustration: The SCULPTOR.]
THE SCULPTOR.
1. Sculpture is one of the fine arts. In its most extended sense, it
includes not only modelling figures in clay, wax, and plaster of
Paris, and carving them in wood, stone, and marble, but also _casting_
them in bronze, lead, or iron, as well as enchasing and engraving.
2. The productions of this art are known under various denominations,
but the principal are _statues_, _busts_, and _bas-reliefs_. The first
of these are entire representations of men or animals in full relief;
the second are upper parts of statues; and the last are figures more
or less elevated from the body or ground on which they are formed.
3. The different degrees of elevation in reliefs, are expressed by
various terms borrowed from the Italian. A figure is said to be in
_alto relievo_, or _high relief_, when but a small proportion of it is
buried in the back-ground; in _mezzo relievo_, or _middle relief_,
when one half of it is above the surface; and in _basso relievo_, or
_low relief_, when but little elevated, like figures upon coin.
Bas-reliefs are usually applied as ornaments to buildings, and to the
pediments of statues.
4. The subjects of sculpture, with a few exceptions, are the same as
those of painting; and the course of study essential to proficiency in
either, is very similar. They both require much taste and practice,
and a thorough knowledge of the human form and other objects
frequently represented. The young artist begins with imitating the
most perfect models of Grecian art; and, after having become well
acquainted with their beauties, he proceeds to the imitation of
nature.
5. When any considerable work in stone or marble is to be done, the
sculptor forms a model of clay or wax, to guide him in the execution.
The soft material is moulded to the proposed form with the hands and
small instruments of ivory. The model is by far the most difficult
part of the work, and it is here the genius of the artist is to be
displayed. The process of copying the model in stone or in any other
substance, is an operation merely mechanical, and can often be done by
another person as well as by the scientific sculptor himself.
6. The model having been prepared, the block of marble or stone is
marked at certain points corresponding to its chief elevation and
concavities. The material is then wrought to the rough outline of the
figure, by means of strong steel points, drills, and other perforating
tools; and the asperities are afterwards removed with chisels, and
with rasps and files of different shapes. When a high polish is
required, it is produced by friction with pumice-stone, tripoli, and
straw ashes.
7. Marble and stone are carved in a similar manner; but the latter,
being softer, can be wrought with less difficulty. The defects which
may be met with in the stone are repaired with a composition of
plaster of Paris and the same stone, pulverized and mixed with water.
8. _Casts_ in plaster of Paris and bronze are taken from models,
statues, busts, bas-reliefs, and living persons. To do this, it is
necessary to form a mould from the subject to be copied. This is done
by spreading over it some soft substance, which can be readily forced
into all the cavities, and which will harden by drying or cooling.
Plaster of Paris is the most usual material employed for this purpose.
9. When the subject is a bas-relief, or any other one-sided figure of
a similar kind, the mould can be withdrawn without injury, in a single
piece; but if it is a statue, or any other figure of like form, it is
necessary to divide the mould into several pieces, in order to a safe
removal. These pieces again united constitute a perfect mould. While
the artist is forming the mould on the face of a living person, the
latter breathes through tubes inserted into the nostrils.
10. In taking casts from such a mould, the internal surface is oiled
to prevent adhesion, and then plaster mixed with water is poured into
it through a small orifice. The mould is afterwards turned in every
direction, that the plaster may cover every part of the surface; and
when a sufficiency of it has been distributed to produce the requisite
strength, and the plaster has acquired the proper solidity, the
several pieces are removed from the cast, which, of course, is an
exact resemblance of the subject on which the mould was formed.
11. Superfluous portions of the material, produced by the seams in the
mould, are removed with suitable instruments, and applications of
fresh plaster are made, where necessary to repair blemishes. The cast
is finished by dipping it in a varnish made of soap, white wax, and
water, and afterwards rubbing it with soft linen. The polish produced
in this manner, approaches that of marble.
12. The durability of plaster casts, exposed to the weather, is
greatly increased by saturating them with linseed oil combined with
wax or rosin. They are made to resemble bronze by the application of a
soap composed of linseed oil and soda, and colored with the sulphate
of copper and iron.
13. Moulds are, also, formed of a warm solution of glue, which hardens
upon cooling, and such are called _elastic_ moulds. This material is
sometimes preferred on account of its more easy separation from
irregular surfaces. For small and delicate impressions in bas-relief,
melted sulphur is sometimes employed; also a strong solution of
isinglass in proof spirits. All three of the substances last mentioned
yield sharper impressions than plaster of Paris.
14. Statues designed to occupy situations in which they may be exposed
to the weather and mechanical violence, are often made of bronze cast
in moulds. The external portions of the mould are made on the pattern,
out of plaster, brick-dust, and water. The mould is then covered on
the inside with a coating of clay as thick as the bronze is intended
to be, and the several pieces are afterwards put together, or
_closed_. The internal cavity is next filled with a composition like
that on the other side of the clay.
15. When this has been done, the several pieces forming the outside of
the mould are separated, and the clay carefully removed. These having
been again united, and the core or internal portion of the mould
secured in its true position, the whole is bound with iron hoops, and
thoroughly dried. The melted bronze is poured into the cavity formed
by the removal of the clay, through an aperture made for the purpose.
The cast is afterwards rendered smooth by mechanical means.
16. It is conjectured with much reason, that sculpture was one of the
arts practised before the deluge, and that it was transmitted to
posterity by the survivors of that catastrophe. The first images were
probably made for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of the dead;
but, in process of time, they became objects of adoration. As the
Chaldeans were unquestionably the first idolators after the flood, so
are they supposed to have been the first who made progress in
sculpture.
17. The first notice of this art in the Mosaic writings, is found in
the passage relative to the teraphim, or idols, which Rachel, the wife
of Jacob, carried clandestinely from her father's house; and the first
persons mentioned in the Bible, as artists, are Aholiab and Bezaleel,
who formed the cherubim which covered the mercy-seat, together with
some other furniture of the tabernacle, and the sculptured ornaments
of the garments of the high-priest.
18. From the same authority, we learn that the nations expelled from
Canaan, by the Jewish people, were not ignorant of sculpture and
painting; for Moses repeatedly commands the latter to destroy the
_pictures_ and molten images which might be discovered in their
progress through the land. The Israelites crossed the river Jordan
about 1500 years before the commencement of our era.
19. From this time to the end of the Jewish polity, we often meet in
the Scriptures with indications of the fine arts; but the splendor of
Solomon's temple, clearly points out the days of that prince as the
period in which they had attained their greatest perfection in Judea.
20. The Babylonians, Assyrians, and Phoenicians, became considerably
skilful in sculpture, at a very early period, as we learn from early
history, and some existing remains. The same remark is also applicable
to the inhabitants of Hindostan. But writers have been more particular
in noticing the style of design among the Egyptians, because the
progress of the arts among that people is more easily traced, and
because it is supposed to elucidate that of most other ancient
nations.
21. The chief objects of sculpture, among the Egyptians, were pillars,
and other architectural ornaments, idols, the human figure, animals,
and hieroglyphics, engraved in a kind of bas-relief on public
edifices, and the forms of animals. Most of the great works of this
nation are supposed to have been executed during and after the reign
of Sesostris, who lived in the days of Rehoboam, king of Israel, or
about 1000 years before the Christian era.
22. But of all the nations of antiquity, the Greeks were the most
distinguished for sculpture. They derived the first rudiments of the
art from the Phoenicians, or Egyptians, although they assert that they
themselves were its inventors. Its existence, in a rude state, among
that people, preceded that of letters or scientific architecture.
23. Dædalus, who lived about 100 years after Moses, was the first
sculptor among the Greeks, of any notoriety. The statues made before
his time, were stiff, formal figures, having the arms attached to the
body, and the legs united, like the mummy-shaped productions of
Egyptian art. He separated the legs of his statues, and placed them,
and the upper extremities, in a natural position. He also was the
first sculptor who made the eyes of his statues open. On account of
these improvements, the Greeks said, that his divine genius made
statues walk, and see, and speak.
24. The disciples and imitators of Dædalus were called his sons, and
artists, generally, _Dædalides_. Soon after this period, schools of
design were established in the island of Ægina, at Corinth, at Sicyon,
and in Etruria, in Italy: but it seems that no good representations of
the human form were effected until near the time of Phidias, who was
born 444 years before Christ.
25. This most distinguished of all the votaries of sculpture,
flourished at or near the same time with the dramatic poets, Æschylus,
Euripides, and Sophocles; the philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and
Anaxagoras; and the statesmen and commanders, Pericles, Miltiades,
Themistocles, Cimon, and Xenophon. This was the most refined period of
Grecian history, and of all others, the most favorable in its moral
and political circumstances, for the development of genius.
26. Phidias was the author of the _ideal style_, which, in the fine
arts, may be defined, the union of the perfections of any class of
figures. Among the distinguished productions of this artist, the
colossal statues of Minerva and Jupiter Olympius, made of gold and
ivory, have excited the greatest astonishment. The former, executed
for the Parthenon of Athens, was twenty-six cubits in height; and the
latter, for a splendid temple at Elis, was about the same height,
although seated upon a throne.
27. The favorite disciples of Phidias, were Alcamenes, of Attica, and
Agoracritus, of Paros; and at the same time with them, flourished
Polycletus, of Argos, Miron, of Boeotia, and Pythagoras, of Rhegium.
The _beautiful style_ soon succeeded to the ideal; the authors of
which, were Praxiteles and Scopas, who brought the art to the highest
perfection,--since, in their productions, they united beauty and
grace. After the days of these two artists, sculpture began to
decline; although it continued to be practised with considerable
success, for some centuries after this period.
28. The great superiority of the Greeks in the art of sculpture, is
ascribed to various causes; among which are classed, their innate love
of beauty, and their own elegance of form, combined with the frequent
opportunities of studying the human figure, in places where youth were
in the habit of performing athletic exercises in a state of nudity. To
these may be added, the practice of awarding to citizens a statue of
their own persons, for eminent services to the state, and for
excelling in exercises at the public games.
29. The fine arts were nearly extinguished in Greece, by the conquest
of the Romans; who, with ruthless rapacity, seized upon, and
transferred to their metropolis and villas, the superb works of taste
with which the country abounded. By these means, however, a taste for
the arts was produced among the Romans, who encouraged with great
liberality the Greek artists who resorted in great numbers to their
city.
30. The arts at length declined at Rome, and finally became nearly
extinct in that city, soon after Byzantium was made the capital of the
Roman empire, in 329 of the Christian era. The new capitol was
enriched by the most valuable statuary of the old metropolis, and by a
farther pillage of Greece. Artists were also encouraged with a
munificence similar to that of former times; and many new subjects in
painting and sculpture, in illustration of the Christian scriptures,
were executed as embellishments for the sacred buildings of the city.
31. The art of sculpture necessarily declined during the time of the
unsettled state of Europe, which followed the conquests by the
barbarous nations. It, however, was not altogether lost, but was
occasionally practised, although in a very rude manner, in several
kingdoms of Europe. In the eleventh century, after the terrors of the
northern invasions had passed away, and the governments had become
more established, the arts of design began a regular course of
improvement, which has been denominated their revival.
32. This improvement was promoted by means of the frequent intercourse
which had sprung up between the commercial cities of Italy and the
Greek empire. In 1016, the Pisans founded their great church, called
the Dome of Pisa; and, in its construction, they employed many noble
pillars and other fragments of Grecian edifices. They also engaged
upon the work several Grecian sculptors and painters, who exerted in
their service the little skill which had come down from antiquity.
33. The specimens of ancient art thus introduced at Pisa, and the
works of these artists, at length incited several Italians to
emulation; among whom was Nicolo Pisano, who became the restorer of
true taste in the arts, in the thirteenth century. At this period, the
crusades had diffused such a zeal for the Christian religion, that
magnificent churches were built in every part of Italy, in the
designing of which, and in their decoration with sculpture, Pisano and
his scholars were universally employed.
34. John Pisano, the son of Nicolo, was also an architect and sculptor
of eminence; and by him was built, for King Charles, a castle, and
several churches, at Naples. He also executed several pieces of
sculpture, and superintended the construction of some edifices in
Tuscany. This sculptor, who died in 1320, had several pupils, of whom
Agostino and Agnolo Sanesi were the best sculptors of the time.
35. In 1350, an academy of design was formed at Florence by the union
of several painters, sculptors, and architects. This institution was
called after St. Luke, whom tradition makes a painter by profession.
The society was afterwards munificently patronised by the Medici, a
noble and wealthy family of that city.
36. From this school, there soon proceeded a great number of skilful
artists, among whom were the sculptors Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello,
and Brunileschi; and after these, others perhaps still more
distinguished, until it produced Michael Angelo Buonarotti, who, as a
universal genius in the arts of design, has excelled every other
artist, whether ancient or modern.
37. This great man was born in Florence, in 1474. His father, having
discovered his talent for designing, made him a pupil of Dominic
Ghirlandaio, who instructed him in the first principles of the art of
drawing. He studied statuary under Bartoldo; and, in his sixteenth
year, copied the head of a satyr in marble, to the admiration of all
connoisseurs. On account of his great promise, he was liberally
patronised by Lorenzo de Medicis, who, besides allowing him a pension,
gave him a lodging in the palace, and a place at his table. After the
death of this prince, he enjoyed the same favors from his son, Pietro
de Medicis.
38. His reputation as an artist having been established at Florence,
he was called to Rome by Julius II. From this time, he remained
chiefly in the service of the popes, for whom he executed many
inimitable works, both of sculpture and painting. He was also an
architect of the first order; and, as such, was employed on St.
Peter's Church, as well as on several other public edifices. He died
in 1564, at an advanced age.
39. Sculpture, having been brought to as high a state of perfection as
it was ever likely to be carried, began to decline in Italy, as it had
done before, under similar circumstances, in ancient times; but as
barbarism did not again occur to overwhelm it, it did not entirely
disappear. It continued to be practised, although in a very inferior
degree, until it was again revived by Antonio Canoya, near the close
of the eighteenth century.
40. The French nation, from its vicinity and intercourse with Italy,
obtained from that country the means of improvement in every branch of
the fine arts. Accordingly, native artists of considerable merit
occasionally appeared. The kings of France, also, often employed
Italian architects and sculptors on their great public works. In the
reign of Francis I., Leonardo da Vinci, and two other artists from
Italy, established a school of fine arts similar to that of St. Luke,
at Florence; and the genius of the people, added to national
munificence, have kept a respectable school of sculpture to the
present time.
41. Considerable ability in sculpture has likewise been exhibited by
native artists of Spain, Germany, Holland, England, and some other
countries of Europe; but whatever skill has been displayed in any of
these countries has been derived, in an indirect manner, at least,
from Italy. In the United States, the fine arts have been cultivated
with considerable spirit. An academy for this purpose has been
established both in New York and Philadelphia, and a picture gallery
has been connected with the Athenæum in Boston, in which the annual
exhibition of paintings is respectable.
[Illustration: The PAINTER.]
THE PAINTER.
1. Painting is the art of representing visible objects, by means of
lines and colors, on a plane surface, so as to produce the appearance
of relief. It is justly ranked among the highest of that class of arts
denominated fine, or liberal; and its tendencies and powers being
similar to those of poetry, it is considered an employment worthy of
men of the most exalted rank.
2. The theory and practice of this ingenious and delightful art, are
divided by its professors into five distinct branches,----_invention_,
_composition_, _design_, _chiaro-scuro_, and _coloring_. _Invention_
relates to the choice of subjects to be introduced into a picture. It
is this which gives the highest character to the artist, as it
affords the greatest opportunity to display the powers of his mind.
3. _Composition_ regards the general distribution and grouping of
figures, the choice of attitudes, the disposal of draperies, the
situation of the scene itself, as well as the arrangement and
connexion of the various parts of the scenery. Invention and
composition are employed particularly in the first rough sketch of a
picture.
4. _Design_ refers to the expression of a proposed picture in simple
contour, or outlines. It is applied in making the first rough sketch
of the picture, whether in miniature or in its full size, as well as
in the more accurate expression of the form of the figures, in its
final finish. The artist, in making his design, is guided in drawing
his lines by the rules of _perspective_, according to which he is able
to _foreshorten_ objects, and thereby diminish the space which they
occupy, without giving them the appearance of diminished magnitude.
5. _Perspective_ has been defined the art of delineating the outlines
of objects on any given surface, as they would appear to the eye, if
that surface were transparent, and the objects themselves were seen
through it, from a fixed position. For example; when we look through a
window at a mass of buildings, and observe that part of the glass to
which each object, line, or point appears opposite, we find that their
apparent position is very different from their real. A delineation of
these objects on the glass, as they appear, would be termed a
representation in perspective.
6. Correct perspective is the foundation of scientific painting; and,
next in importance to this, is a proper distribution of light and
shade. This branch of the art is called _chiaro obscuro_, or, when
abridged, _chiaro-scuro_. The term is Italian in its origin, and its
literal meaning is _clear_ and _obscure_. To the skilful management of
light and shade, we are indebted for the strength and liveliness of
pictures, and their relief, or the elevation which certain parts
appear to assume above the plane upon which the objects are
represented.
7. By the aid of perspective and chiaro-scuro, very good
representations in one color are attained. Drawings in India-ink and
crayons, as well as pictures taken from engraved plates and wood-cuts,
are specimens of such productions. But a nearer approach to the
appearance of nature, is made by the employment of colors analogous to
those which are found to exist in the objects to be represented.
8. To produce various hues in painting, the artist employs coloring
substances, which, either alone or by mixture, are analogous to them
all; and, in their use, he is careful to apply them in such a manner,
that the true colors remain distinct from the lights and shades
necessary to produce the objects in relief. Artificial colors are
divided into _warm_ and _cold_. The former are those in which red and
yellow predominate; the latter are blue, gray, and others allied to
them.
9. Before coloring substances can be applied in painting, they must be
reduced to extreme fineness, and be mixed with some tenacious fluid,
to cause them to adhere to the surface on which they are to be spread.
The fluid employed for this purpose, and the mode of applying the
colors, have given rise to the different kinds of painting, of which
the following are the principal: _crayon_, _water-color_, _distemper_,
_fresco_, and _oil-painting_.
10. The most simple mode of applying the colors is by means of
crayons. They are made of black lead, a species of chalk, or of a
mixture of coloring matter with gum, size, or clay. For painting in
_water-colors_, the substances employed in communicating the tints
are combined with gum, and formed into cakes or lozenges. When about
to be used, they are dissolved in water, on glass or a glazed surface.
The application in painting, is made by means of a camel's-hair
pencil.
11. Painting in _distemper_ is used for the execution of works on a
large scale, such as stage scenery, and the walls of apartments. The
coloring substances are mixed with water, rendered tenacious by size
or solutions of glue, or by skimmed milk, increased in tenacity by a
small quantity of thyme. Linseed or poppy oil often serves as a
vehicle for the colors, in this kind of painting.
12. Paintings in _fresco_ are executed on walls of plaster. The
coloring matter mixed with water, being applied to the plaster while
the latter is in a fresh state, sinks in, and incorporates itself with
it, so as to become very durable. During the execution of the work,
the plaster is applied to the wall in successive portions, no more
being added at a time, than can be conveniently painted before it
becomes dry. Works of this kind must be executed with great rapidity;
and, on this account, patterns, called _cartoons_, are previously
drawn on large paper, to guide the artist in his operations.
13. _Oil painting_ derives its name from the mixture of the colors in
oil. The oils used for this purpose are extracted from vegetables;
and, on account of the rapidity with which they dry, are denominated
drying oils. For most purposes, this mode of painting is decidedly
superior to all others. It admits of a higher finish, as it allows the
artist to retouch his works with greater precision. The colors also
blend together more agreeably, and produce a more delicate effect. Oil
paintings are executed on canvas, wood, or copper.
14. Paintings are imitated with surprising elegance, by cementing
together colored pieces of glass and marble, as well as those of wood.
Representations by these means, are called _Mosaics_, or _Mosaic
paintings_. The cause of their having received this appellation cannot
be ascertained. Some, without much reason, attribute the origin and
name of this branch of the art to Moses. Others suppose that works of
this kind have been thus denominated, because they were first employed
in grottoes dedicated to the _Muses_.
15. Drawings and paintings are divided into classes, according to the
nature of the objects represented, the principal of which are
_historical_, _architectural_, _landscape_, _marine_, _portrait_,
_still life_, _grotesque_, _botanical_, and _animal_. The subordinate
divisions of these branches are very numerous.
16. The propensity to imitation, so deeply rooted in the human mind,
is the foundation of the arts of design; and there can scarcely be
indicated a lengthened period in the history of man, in which it was
entirely inactive. It may have first been accidentally exhibited in
tracing the form of some object in the sand; or resemblances in sticks
and stones, may have originally suggested the idea of imitations by
means of lines and colors.
17. Although painting and sculpture may be supposed to have existed,
at least in a rude state, at a very early period, and even before the
deluge, yet the reign of Semiramis, queen of Assyria, 2000 years
before Christ, is the earliest to which authentic history extends.
Diodorus Siculus relates that the queen, having thrown a bridge across
the Euphrates, at Babylon, erected a castle at each end of it, and
inclosed them with walls of considerable height, with towers upon
them. The bricks of which they were constructed, were painted before
they underwent the fire, and were so put together, that single
figures, and even groups of them, were represented in colors.
18. This author supposes also, that the arts had attained nearly an
equal degree of cultivation about the same time in Egypt, sculpture,
as best serving idolatrous purposes, being in both countries much in
advance of the sister art of painting. But, in neither country, was
painting or sculpture brought to a great degree of perfection.
19. In Egypt, independent selection of objects, and variety of
exhibition, never appear to have been much regarded. When a specific
form of character had been once adopted, so it remained, and was
repeated unchanged for ages. Little action, and no expression, was
given to figures. The chief employment of the Egyptian artists, seems
to have been the painting of the chests of mummies, and the ornaments
on barges and earthenware.
20. Painting, in the early days of its existence, was employed chiefly
in the exhibition and preservation of historical facts; and, wherever
it remained faithful to these objects, it was obliged to sacrifice the
beautiful to the significant. Only in those countries where
alphabetical writing existed, could painting elevate itself to a fine
art.
21. The Pelasgi, who expelled or subdued the earlier inhabitants of
Greece, and colonized that country, probably brought with them the
rudiments of this art; and it at length grew up with its sister arts.
In some of the stages of its progress, this intelligent people, no
doubt, received useful hints from other countries, and especially from
Egypt; yet they finally surpassed all the nations of antiquity in this
branch of art.
22. The Greeks, with singular care, have preserved the names of their
artists from the earliest periods of their practice. Ardens, of
Corinth, Telephanes and Crato, of Sycion, and some others, are noticed
as such, when painting had advanced no farther than the mere
circumscription of shadows by single lines.
23. The different kinds of painting, as marked by the successive
stages of the art among the Greeks, are as follows; 1. The _skiagram_,
or drawing in simple outlines, as in the circumscriptions of shadows.
2. The _monogram_, including both the outlines and others within them.
3. The _monochrom_, or picture in a single color. 4. The _polychrom_,
or picture of many colors.
24. Although the names of the Grecian artists were carefully
preserved, the time in which they lived was not distinctly marked
until the 16th Olympiad, or 719 years before the commencement of our
era. At this time, Candaules, king of Lydia, purchased a picture
called the Battle of the Magnetes, for which he paid its weight in
gold, although painted on boards. The name of the fortunate artist was
Bularchus.
25. Notwithstanding the fame of this picture, Aglaophon and
Polygnotus, of Thasos, who flourished 300 years after this period,
were the first eminent painters. Polygnotus is said to have been the
first who gave a pleasing air to the draperies and head-dresses of
females, and to have opened the mouth so far as to exhibit the beauty
of the teeth.
26. Still, painting is considered to have been in an inferior state,
until the appearance of Timanthes, Parrhasius, and Zeuxis, who
flourished about 375 years before Christ. These again were surpassed
by their successors, Protogenes, Pamphilus, Melanthius, Antiphilus,
Theon, Euphranor, Apelles, and Aristides, who carried the art to the
greatest perfection to which it attained in ancient times.
27. Of the preceding list of artists, Apelles was the most famous,
especially as a portrait painter. He was the intimate friend of
Alexander the Great, who would never permit any other person to paint
his likeness. His most celebrated painting, was this prince holding
the lightning with which the picture is chiefly illuminated. By a
happy application of perspective and chiaro-scuro, the hand with the
lightning seemed to project from the picture.
28. From the time of these great masters, painting gradually declined,
although the art continued to be practised by a succession of eminent
men, who contended against the blighting influence of the luxury and
the internal broils of their countrymen. But soon after Greece became
subject to the Roman power, the practice of the fine arts nearly
ceased in that country.
29. Before the foundation of Rome, the arts were cultivated, to some
extent, in Etruria and Calabria; but the first Roman painter mentioned
in history, was Fabius, a noble patrician, who painted, in the year of
the city 450, the temple of the goddess Salus, and thereby obtained
for himself and family the surname of _Pictor_. Yet the citizens do
not seem to have profited by this example; for no other painter
appeared among them until 150 years after that period. At this time,
Pacuvius, the poet, amused himself, in the decline of life, with
painting the temple of Hercules.
30. They were thus inattentive to the cultivation of this, as well as
of the other fine arts, because they considered warfare, and the arts
which tended directly to support this interest, as alone worthy of the
attention of a citizen of their republic; and painting, even after the
time of Pacuvius, was considered effeminate and disgraceful. Rome,
therefore, cannot be said, at any time, to have produced a single
artist who could approach the excellences of those of its refined
neighbors, the Greeks.
31. They, however, having ornamented their metropolis and villas with
specimens of the arts plundered from the cities of Greece and Sicily,
began, at length, to appreciate their excellences; and finally, under
the first emperors, they encouraged, with great munificence, the
Greeks who resorted to their city for employment.
32. But, both sculpture and painting, as well as architecture,
declined with Roman civilization. Still, they continued to exist,
especially in the Byzantine or Eastern empire, although in a very
inferior state. The art under consideration was preserved chiefly by
its application to the purposes of Christianity. It was revived in
Italy, in the beginning of the twelfth century, by means of several
Grecian artists, who had been employed to ornament the churches, and
other edifices at Pisa, Venice, and Florence.
33. The works of Apollonius, one of these Greeks, excited in Giovanni
Cimabue a spirit of emulation; and, having been initiated into the
practice of the art, he executed a picture of the Virgin Mary, as
large as life, for a church dedicated to her, at Florence. This
production excited enthusiastic delight in his fellow-citizens, who
carried it in procession, with the sound of trumpets, to its place of
destination, and celebrated the day as a public feast.
34. Encouraged by this applause, Cimabue pursued the art with ardor;
and, although considered a prodigy in his time, his utmost efforts
failed to produce tolerable specimens of the art. He, however, far
excelled his immediate predecessors; and, by introducing more correct
proportions, by giving more life and expression to his figures, and by
some other improvements, he became the founder of the art as it exists
in modern times. He was born at Florence, in 1240, and died at the age
of sixty.
35. The favorite pupil of Cimabue, was Giotto, whom he raised from a
shepherd to be a painter; and by him the art was still more relieved
from the Greek imperfections. He abandoned the use of labels as means
of distinguishing the different figures of a picture, and aimed at,
and attained to, real expression. He marked out to the Italians the
course in which the art should be pursued, as Polygnotus had done to
the Greeks near 1800 years before; although, like him, he failed in
fully exemplifying his principles.
36. His abilities procured him the patronage of Pope Boniface VIII.,
who employed him at Rome. From this time, the art of painting became
attached to the papal dignity, and few succeeding pontiffs have
neglected its use. The skill and celebrity of this ingenious artist
excited great emulation, and the arts having obtained an earnest of
profit and honor, no longer wanted skilful professors or illustrious
patrons.
37. In 1350, fourteen years after the death of Giotto, his disciple,
Jacopo Cassentino, and nine other artists, founded the Academy of St.
Luke, at Florence. This was a grand epoch of the arts; as from this
institution arose a large display of talent, increasing in splendor
until, within 150 years, it gave to the world, Masaccio, Leonardo da
Vinci, Michael Angelo Buonarotti, and Raphael, besides others of great
ability.
38. The art advanced but little after the time of Giotto, until the
appearance of Masaccio. Under the hand of this great master, painting
is said to have been greatly improved; and it was to him, that the
artists who succeeded were indebted for a more sure and full direction
of the course in which they ought to proceed. He was born in 1402, and
died in 1443.
39. Leonardo da Vinci, who was born about two years after the death of
Masaccio, brought the art to still greater perfection; and being
endowed with uncommon genius, all the arts and sciences did not seem
to afford a field sufficient for the exertion of his talents. He
grasped at all, and succeeded far better than his predecessors in
everything he undertook; but he wasted much of his time in
experiments. Had he confined his great powers to the art of painting,
he would probably have never been exceeded.
40. About the year 1410, oil came to be used as a vehicle for paints.
It seems to have been first applied to this purpose in Flanders, by
John Van Eyck, of Brussels; or it was, at least, first used by him
successfully. The first hint of its utility in this application is
thought, with reason, to have been obtained from its use as a varnish
to pictures painted in water-colors.
41. The art of painting was introduced into Flanders about the time of
Giotto, by several Flemings, who had been to Italy for the express
purpose of learning it. It was also diffused in practice, about the
same time, in Germany; and a particular style of the art grew up in
each of these countries. But it was in Italy alone that the art may be
said to have flourished in a high state of cultivation; and even
there, the principal productions originated from artists of the
Florentine school.
42. The art of painting was perfected, perhaps, as far as human
ability can carry it, in the first half of the sixteenth century, by
Michael Angelo Buonarotti, Raphael, Titian, and Correggio; although it
cannot be said that all its excellences were united in the productions
of any one of these distinguished professors. Such a union has never
yet been displayed, nor can it hardly be expected.
43. The art was essentially aided in its progressive stages of
advancement by the liberal patronage of the family of the Medici, at
Florence, and by the pontiffs, at Rome. Angelo and Raphael were both
employed at Rome by Julius II. and Leo X., as well as by others who
succeeded them in the papal chair, in ornamenting the palaces and
sacred buildings. Their productions have never been exceeded in any
country, and they still remain the objects of careful study by artists
of this profession.
44. Titian was also liberally patronised at Rome, and in other parts
of Italy, as well as in Spain and Germany, chiefly as a portrait and
landscape painter. The unrivalled productions of these great masters,
however, were fatal to the art in Italy, since their superior
excellence extinguished emulation, by destroying the prospect of equal
or superior success.
45. The flourishing state of the art in Italy, for so long a period,
might be expected to have produced a taste for its cultivation in
other parts of Europe; but this was the case only to a limited extent.
No other countries have yet been particularly distinguished for
artists in this branch of the fine arts, except Flanders and Holland;
and these were chiefly indebted for the distinction to Peter Paul
Rubens, of Antwerp, who was born at Cologne, in 1577, and to Paul Van
Rhyn Rembrandt, who was born in 1606, in his father's mill, near
Leyden. Some of the scholars of these masters were eminent painters.
Anthony Vandyck, a pupil of the former, in particular, is said to have
never yet been equalled as a portrait-painter.
46. Very little is known of the art in Spain, until about the year
1500, although it is supposed to have been cultivated with some
success before that time. The examples which were left there by Titian
produced a favorable impression, and several native artists of
considerable eminence afterwards appeared; but the art became nearly
extinct in the following age.
47. The proximity of France to Italy, and the employment of Leonardo
da Vinci and other eminent artists of Italy by Francis I., together
with the establishment of a school of fine arts, as stated in the
preceding article, might have been expected to lay the foundation of
exalted taste in this kingdom. Nevertheless, the only French painters
whose names have come down to us with any pretensions to excellence
for one hundred and fifty years, were Jean Cousin, Jaques Blanchard,
Nicholas Poussin, and Charles Le Brun. The last, although inferior to
Poussin, is at the head of the French school of painting.
48. The successors of Le Brun were not wanting in ability, yet, with a
few exceptions, they failed in reaching an enviable eminence in the
art, on account of their servile imitation of the false taste of their
popular model. The fantastic style of Le Brun became unpopular in
France some time previous to the revolution in that country; and
another, of an opposite character, and by artists of other nations
thought to be equally distant from true taste, has been since adopted.
49. Very little is known of the state of the fine arts in England
until the time of Henry VIII., who encouraged the abilities of Hans
Holbein, an eminent painter from Switzerland. But painting and
sculpture, and particularly the former, having become intimately
interwoven with the religion of the Church of Rome, fell into
disrepute in England after the change of opinion on this subject in
that country. They, however, began to revive in the eighteenth
century, and England and English America have since produced some
eminent painters, among whom are Hogarth, Reynolds, Opie, West,
Copley, Trumbull, and Peale.
[Illustration: The ENGRAVER.]
THE ENGRAVER.
Engraving is the art of cutting letters or figures in wood, metals, or
stone. It was practised in very ancient times, and in different
countries, for the purposes of ornament and monumental inscription;
but the idea of taking impressions on paper, or on any other
substance, from engraved surfaces, is comparatively modern.
THE WOOD ENGRAVER.
1. The Chinese are said to have been the first who engraved figures or
letters on wood, for the purpose of printing. The precise time at
which they commenced the practice, is totally unknown; but a book
printed by them in the tenth century, is now extant. It is thought by
some antiquarians, that the Europeans derived the art from the
Chinese, through the Venitians, who traded in that part of the world
earlier than any other Europeans.
2. This opinion is somewhat probable, from the circumstance that the
tools employed by the early engravers in Europe, are similar to those
used in China; and also, like the Chinese, they engraved on the side
of the grain. However this may be, it is certain that the art was
practised in various parts of Europe in the fourteenth century. The
earliest subjects executed, were figures of saints, rudely engraved in
outline. The prints taken from them were gaily colored, and sold to
the common people as original paintings. The principal persons engaged
in this traffic were monks, to whom the art was confined for a
considerable time.
3. At length, larger subjects, with inscriptions in imitation of
manuscript, were executed. The success of these prints gave rise to a
more extensive application of the art. Scriptural subjects, of many
figures, with texts of scripture, were engraved, and impressions were
taken from them on one side of the paper, two sheets being pasted
together to form a leaf. Entire sets were bound up together, and thus
were formed the first printed books, which, being produced entirely
from wood-cuts, are known by the name of _block-books_. These books
made their appearance about the year 1420.
4. One of the earliest of these productions is denominated "The
Apocalypse of St. John;" another, "The Poor Man's Bible." But one of
the latest and most celebrated, is called "The Mirror of Salvation,"
published in 1440. Part of the text was printed from solid blocks, and
part, from moveable wooden types. From this fact, it is easy to
discover the origin of printing. After this, most, if not all, of the
books, were printed from moveable types; but, as they were
embellished with wood cuts, the demand for such engravings was very
much increased, although they were, at first, by no means elegant.
5. Near the close of the fifteenth century, the art began to assume a
higher character, principally by the talents of Michael Wolgermuth and
William Pluydenwurf. Albert Durer made still greater improvements,
and, in 1498, published his celebrated Apocalypse of St. John, printed
from folio blocks. Other celebrated engravers succeeded him in the
sixteenth century, which may be considered the era when wood engraving
was at its highest point of elevation. After this, the art declined,
and was considered of little importance, until it was revived in 1775,
by the distinguished William Bewick, of Newcastle, England. It is
still practised, especially in England and the United States, in a
manner which reflects credit on the ingenuity of the age.
6. The earlier artists operated on various kinds of wood, such as the
apple, pear, and beech; but these, being too soft, are now used only
for calico-printing and other common purposes. Box-wood, on account of
its superior texture, is used for every subject that can be termed a
work of art. That from Turkey is the best.
7. The engravers, in the infancy of the art, prepared the wood as the
common block-cutters now do. The tree was cut the way of the grain, in
planks, and of course they engraved on the side of the grain, as upon
a board. This mode of preparation enabled them to execute larger
subjects. The engravers now prefer the end of the grain, and therefore
cut the log transversely.
8. The end on which the engraver is to exert his skill, is planed and
scraped, to render the surface smooth, and the block having been cut
to the proper size, the drawing is made upon it in India ink, or with
a lead-pencil. The block is now ready for the artist who, in executing
the work, holds it with one hand, on a cushion made of sand and
leather, while, with the other, he cuts away the superfluous wood. The
part intended to make the impression in printing, is left standing.
9. Wood engravings, well executed, are scarcely inferior to those of
copper and steel, and, for many purposes, they are preferred. They are
remarkably convenient, since they can be inserted into a page of
types, where illustrations or embellishments may be required, and be
printed without separate expense. They will also bear a great number
of impressions--generally 100,000. In this respect, they are decidedly
superior to metallic plates. They can likewise be multiplied
indefinitely by the process of stereotyping.
THE COPPERPLATE ENGRAVER.
1. The engravers on metallic surfaces are termed copperplate
engravers, not because copper is the only metal on which they exert
their skill, but because it is the one on which they usually operate.
The plates are prepared for the artist by the coppersmith, by rubbing
them with brickdust and charcoal, after having cut them of a proper
size from sheets of copper.
2. The instruments employed by this artist are few and simple, the
principal of which are, the _graver_, the _dry-point_, the _scraper_,
and the _burnisher_. The _graver_ is a small bar of steel, of a square
or lozenge form, and, with the short handle into which it is inserted,
about five inches in length. One of the angles of the bar is always on
the under side of the instrument, and the point is formed by bevelling
the end from the upper side, or angle. The square form is used for
broad strokes, and the lozenge for fine ones.
3. The _dry-point_, or needle, is a steel wire with a long
cylindrical handle; or it is simply a wire of sufficient length and
size to be used without a handle. The _scraper_ has nearly the form of
a triangular pyramid; and the cutting part, which has three edges, is
two or three inches long. The _burnisher_ has a form nearly conical,
and, without the handle, is about three inches long. The last two
instruments are frequently made of the same piece of steel, properly
forged at each end. In such case, the middle part of the steel is the
handle by which they are held.
4. Of engraving on copper, the following are the principal varieties
or styles: 1. Line engraving; 2. Stippling; 3. Etching; 4. Mezzotinto;
5. Aquatinta. For the purpose of conveying some idea of these
different branches, we will describe them under distinct heads.
5. _Line engraving._ The first thing done, in this species of
engraving, is to transfer to the plate an exact copy of the outlines
of the design to be executed. In accomplishing this, the plate is
moderately heated, and covered with a thin coating of white wax. A
piece of transparent paper is then laid over the design to be copied,
and traced in outline with a black-lead pencil. The outline thus
sketched is turned down upon the coating of white wax, and the whole
is subjected to the action of a rolling-press; or it is kept for a
while under heavy weights. By the application of this pressure, the
lines are transferred from the paper to the wax on the plate in a
reversed position, which is necessary to make the impression of the
finished plate resemble the original.
6. The pencil-marks on the wax having been lightly traced on the
copper with the dry-point, and the wax having been melted off, a
perfect outline is found on the plate. Small subordinate parts of the
design are transferred to the plate in the same manner, except that
the transparent paper is brought in forcible contact with the waxed
surface by means of the burnisher.
7. At this stage of the process, the artist commences the use of the
graver. While operating with this instrument, he holds the handle in
the palm of his hand, and pushes the point forward with a firm and
steady motion, until a line is produced by a removal of a portion of
the metal. By a succession of such strokes, judiciously applied, the
work is completed. The _burrs_, or little elevations of the copper,
left by the graver on each side of the lines, are removed by means of
the scraper and burnisher. Mistakes or blemishes are erased from the
plate, either with the burnisher, or by friction with charcoal.
8. _Stippling._ The second mode of engraving is called stippling. This
resembles the last method in its process, except that the effect is
produced by means of minute punctures or excavations, instead of
lines. These are made either with the dry-point or graver. When
produced by the former instrument, they are of a circular form; when
by the latter, they are rhomboidal or triangular. This style of work
is always more slow, and consequently more expensive, than engraving
in lines. It has, however, some advantages in the softness and
delicacy of its lights and shades, and the prints struck from it
approach more nearly to paintings.
9. _Etching._ This mode of engraving is far more easy than any other,
being performed chiefly by chemical corrosion. In fact, any person who
can draw, may _etch_ coarse designs tolerably well, after having
learned the theory of the operation. To perform it, the plate is first
covered with a thin coating of some resinous substance, upon which the
acid employed can have no action. The design, and all the lines it
requires, are next traced on the plate with steel points, called
_etching needles_, which are instruments similar to the dry-point.
10. The second part of the process is the corrosion, or, as it is
technically called, _biting in_. This is effected by pouring upon the
design a quantity of diluted nitric acid, after having surrounded the
edges of the plate with a wall of soft wax, to prevent the escape of
the fluid. A chemical action immediately takes place in all the lines
or points where the copper has been denuded by the needle. After the
first biting has been continued long enough, in the judgment of the
operator, the acid is poured off, and the plate examined.
11. The light shades, if found sufficiently deep, are then covered
with varnish, to protect them from further corrosion. The biting is
then continued for the second shades, in the same manner, and
afterwards, for the third and succeeding shades, until the piece shall
have been finished. The plate having been cleaned, and carefully
examined by the aid of a proof impression, the deficiencies which may
be discovered are supplied with the graver.
12. _Mezzotinto._ In the production of this kind of engraving, the
whole surface of the plate is first roughened, or covered with minute
prominences and excavations too small to be obvious to the naked eye;
so that an impression taken from it, in this state, would present a
uniform velvety, black appearance. This roughness is produced
mechanically by means of a small toothed instrument, called a
_cradle_.
13. When the plate has been thus prepared, the rest of the process is
comparatively easy. It consists in pressing down or rubbing out the
roughness of certain parts of the plate, with the burnisher and
scraper. Where strong lights are required, the plate is restored to a
smooth surface; for a medium light, it is moderately burnished, or
partially erased; and, for the deepest shades, the ground is left
entire, and sometimes etched, and corroded with nitric acid.
Impressions from mezzotinto plates approach more nearly to oil
paintings than any other prints. This kind of engraving was invented
by Prince Rupert, in 1649.
14. _Aqua-tinta._ There are several methods by which this kind of
engraving can be executed; we, however, will describe the one which
seems to be the most simple and obvious. The outline of the picture
having been etched or engraved in the usual manner, the surface of the
copper is sprinkled equally with minute particles of rosin. This dust
is fixed to the surface by heating the plate until the rosin has
melted.
15. The ground having been thus laid, the parts of the plates not
intended to be occupied by the design are _stopped out_ by means of
thick varnish. The plate is now surrounded with a wall of wax, as for
etching, and diluted nitric acid is poured upon it. A chemical action
immediately takes place, by which the surface exposed between the
resinous particles is minutely excavated.
16. The lighter shades are stopped out at an early stage of the
process, and the _biting in_ is continued for the darker ones. After
the plate is judged to be sufficiently corroded, it is cleansed, and
an impression is taken on paper. The process is finished by burnishing
the shades, to give them greater softness, and by touching up the
defective parts with the graver.
17. This mode of engraving is well adapted to light subjects,
sketches, landscapes, &c.; but, owing to the fineness of the ground,
the plates wear out rapidly, and seldom yield, when of ordinary
strength, more than six hundred impressions. The prints taken from
such plates bear a strong resemblance to paintings in Indian ink, or
to drawings in black-lead pencil. Aqua-tinta is the most precarious
kind of engraving, and requires much attention on the part of the
artist. It was invented by a Frenchman, named Leprince, who, for a
time, kept the process a secret, and sold his impressions for original
drawings.
18. _Steel engraving._ The process of engraving on steel plates
differs but little in its details from that on copper plates; and the
chief advantage derived from this method, arises from the hardness or
toughness of the material, which renders it capable of yielding a
greater number of impressions.
19. This mode of engraving was first practised, in England, by the
calico-printers; but steel was first employed for bank-notes, and for
common designs, by Jacob Perkins, of Newburyport, Massachusetts; and
by him, in conjunction with Asa Spencer, of New-London, and Gideon
Fairman, of Philadelphia, the use of steel in this application was
generally introduced, not only in the United States, but also in Great
Britain, some time before the year 1820.
20. The plates are prepared for the engraver from sheets of steel
about one-sixth of an inch in thickness. A plate cut from a sheet of
this kind is first softened by heating it with charcoal, and suffering
it to cool gradually in the atmosphere. It is next _planished_, or
hammered on a peculiar kind of anvil, to make it perfectly level, and
afterwards ground on one side upon a grindstone. The operation is
completed by polishing it with Scotch stone and charcoal. When steel
was first substituted for copper, it was hardened before it was used
in printing; but it is now used in its soft state, as it comes from
the hands of the artist.
[Illustration: COPPERPLATE PRINTER.]
THE COPPERPLATE-PRINTER.
1. The copperplate-printer takes impressions on paper from engraved
plates by means of a rolling press. This machine, together with some
of the operations in its application, are well exhibited in the above
picture.
2. The period at which the practice of printing from engraved plates
commenced, cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty. The
Dutch, the Germans, and the Italians, contend for the honor of
introducing it; but the weight of testimony seems to be in favor of
the claims of the Italian sculptor and goldsmith, Tommaso Finiguera,
who flourished at Florence, about the middle of the fifteenth century.
3. It is stated that this artist, accidentally spilling some melted
brimstone on an engraved plate, found, on its removal, an exact
impression of the engraving, marked with black, taken out of the
strokes. This suggested to him the idea of taking an impression in ink
on paper, by the aid of a roller. It is hardly necessary to state,
that the experiment succeeded. Copperplate-printing was not used in
England until about 150 years after its first employment at Florence,
when it was introduced from Antwerp, by Speed.
4. The ink used in this kind of printing is made of a carbonaceous
substance, called Frankfort black, and linseed or nut oil. Oil is
used, instead of water, that the ink may not dry during the process;
and it is boiled till it has become thick and viscid, that it may not
spread on the paper. The materials are incorporated and prepared with
the stone and muller, as painters prepare their colors.
5. In taking impressions from an engraved plate, it is first placed on
an iron frame over a heated stove, or over a charcoal fire in a
furnace, and while in this position, the ink is spread over it with a
roller covered with coarse cloth, or with a ball of rubber made of the
same material, and faced with buckskin. The heat renders the ink so
thin that it can penetrate the minute excavations of the engraving.
The plate having been thus sufficiently charged, is wiped first with a
rag, then with the hand, until the ink has been removed from every
portion of it, except from the lines of the engraving.
6. The plate is next placed on the platform of the press, with its
face upwards, and the paper, which has been previously dampened, is
laid upon it. A turn of the cylinders, by means of the arms of the
cross, carries the plate under a strong pressure, by which portions of
the paper are forced into all the cavities of the engraving. The ink,
or part of it, leaves the plate, and adheres to the paper, giving an
exact representation of the whole work of the artist. The roller by
which the pressure is applied is covered with several thicknesses of
broadcloth.
7. The number of good impressions yielded by engraved copperplates,
depends upon various circumstances, but chiefly on the fineness and
depth of the work; and these qualities depend mainly upon the style in
which it has been executed. Line engravings will admit of four or five
thousand, and, after having been retouched, a considerable number
more.
8. Plates of steel will yield near ten times as many good impressions
as those of copper, and this too without being hardened. Besides, an
engraving on steel may be transferred to a softened steel cylinder, in
such a manner that the lines may stand in relief; and this cylinder,
after having been hardened, may be brought in forcible contact with
another plate, and thus the design may be multiplied at pleasure.
9. The bank-note engravers have now a great variety of designs and
figures on steel rollers, which they can easily transfer to new
plates. This practice, as applied to plates for bank-notes, originated
with Jacob Perkins. It is supposed that he must have been led to it by
an English engraver in his employ, who may have explained to him the
manner in which the British calico-printers produced engravings on
copper cylinders. This is not altogether improbable, since the
principle in both cases is substantially the same.
10. In consequence of the increased demand for maps and pictorial
embellishments in books, as well as for single prints as ornaments for
rooms, engraving and copperplate-printing have become employments of
considerable importance; and these arts must doubtless continue to
flourish to an indefinite extent, in a country where the taste for the
fine arts is rapidly improving, and where wealth affords the means of
liberal patronage.
[Illustration: LITHOGRAPHER.]
THE LITHOGRAPHER.
1. The word _lithography_ is derived from two Greek words--_lithos_, a
stone, and _grapho_, to write; and the art to which the term is
applied has reference to the execution of letters, figures, and
drawings, on stone, and taking from them fac-simile impressions. The
art is founded on the property which stone possesses, of imbibing
fluids by capillary attraction, and on the chemical repulsion which
oil and water have for each other.
2. Every kind of calcareous stone is capable of being used for
lithography. Those, however, which are of a compact, fine, and equal
grain, are best adapted to the purpose. The quarries of Solenhofen,
near Pappenheim, in Bavaria, furnished the first plates, and none have
yet been found in any other place, to equal them in quality; although
some that answer the purpose tolerably well, have been taken from
quarries in France and England.
3. In preparing the stones for use, they are first ground to a level
surface, by rubbing two of them face to face, sand and water being
interposed. Then, if they are designed for _ink drawings_, they are
polished with pumice-stone; but, if for _chalk drawings_, with fine
sand, which produces a grained surface adapted to holding the chalk.
4. When stones of proper size and texture cannot be conveniently
obtained, slabs are sometimes constructed of lime and sand, and united
with the caseous part of milk. The first part of the process which may
be considered as belonging peculiarly to the art, consists in making
the drawing on the stone. This is done either in ink, with steel pens
and camel's hair pencils, or with crayons made of lithographic chalk.
The process of drawing on stone differs but little from that on paper,
with similar means.
5. For lithographic ink, a great number of receipts have been given;
but the most approved composition consists of equal parts of wax,
tallow, shell-lac, and common soap, with a small proportion of
lamp-black. Lithographic chalk is usually composed of the same
materials, combined in different proportions.
6. When the drawing has been finished, the lithographic printer
prepares it for giving impressions, by using upon its surface a weak
solution of acid and other ingredients, which corrode the surface of
the stone, except where it is defended from its action by the grease
of the chalk or ink. As soon as the stone has been sufficiently eaten
away, the solution is removed by the application of spirits of
turpentine and water.
7. The ink employed in this kind of printing, is similar in its
composition to other kinds of printing ink. It is applied to the
drawing by means of a small wooden cylinder covered with leather. The
paper, which has been suitably dampened, is laid upon the stone, and
after it has been covered, by turning down upon it a thick piece of
leather stretched upon an iron frame, a crank is turned which brings
the stone successively under the press.
8. An impression of the drawing having been thus communicated to the
paper, the sheet is removed, and the process is repeated, until the
proposed number of prints have been taken. Before each application of
the ink, the whole face of the stone is moderately wet with water by
means of a sponge; and although the roller passes over the whole
surface of the stone, yet the ink adheres to no part of it, except to
that which is covered with the drawing.
9. The number of impressions which may be taken from chalk drawings,
varies according to their fineness. A fine drawing will give fifteen
hundred; a coarse one, twice that number. Ink drawings and writings
give considerably more than copperplates, the finest yielding six or
eight thousand, and strong lines and writings many more.
10. Impressions from engravings can be multiplied indefinitely, with
very little trouble, in the following manner. A print is taken in the
usual way from the engraved plate, and immediately laid with its face
upon water. When sufficiently wet, it is carefully applied to the face
of a stone, and pressed down upon it by the application of a roller,
until the ink is transferred to the stone. Impressions are then taken
in the manner before described.
11. The invention of lithography is ascribed to Aloys Senifelder, the
son of a performer at the theatre of Munich. Having become an author,
and being too poor to publish his works in the usual way, he tried
many plans, with copperplates and compositions, in order to be his
own printer. A trial on stone, which had been accidentally suggested,
succeeded. His first essays to print for publication, were some pieces
of music, executed in 1796.
12. The first productions of the art were rude, and of little promise;
but, since 1806, its progress has been so rapid, that it now gives
employment to a great number of artists; and works are produced, which
rival the finest engravings, and even surpass them in the expression
of certain subjects. The earliest date of the art in the United
States, is 1826, when a press was established at Boston, by William
Pendleton.
[Illustration: The AUTHOR.]
THE AUTHOR.
1. The word author, in a general sense, is used to express the
originator or efficient cause of a thing; but, in the restricted sense
in which it is applied in this article, it signifies the first writer
of a book, or a writer in general. The indispensable qualifications to
make a writer are--a talent for literary composition, an accurate
knowledge of language, and an acquaintance with the subject to be
treated.
2. Very few persons are educated with the view to their becoming
authors. They generally write on subjects pertaining to the profession
or business in which they have been practically engaged: a clergyman
writes on divinity; a physician, on medicine; a lawyer, on
jurisprudence; a teacher, on education; and a mechanic, on his
particular trade. There are subjects, however, which occupy common
ground, on which individuals of various professions often write.
3. Authorship is founded upon the invention of letters, and the art of
combining them into words. In the earliest ages of the world, the
increase of knowledge was opposed by many formidable obstacles.
Tradition was the first means of transmitting information to
posterity; and this, depending upon the memory and will of
individuals, was exceedingly precarious.
4. The chief adventitious aids in the perpetuation of the memory of
facts by tradition, were the erection of monuments, the periodical
celebration of days or years, the use of poetry, and, finally,
symbolical drawings and hieroglyphical sketches. Nevertheless, history
must have remained uncertain and fabulous, and science in a state of
perpetual infancy, had it not been for the invention of written
characters.
5. The credit of the invention of letters was claimed by the
Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Jews, as well as by some other nations;
but as their origin preceded all authentic history not inspired, and
as the book of inspiration is silent in regard to it, no satisfactory
conclusion can be formed on this point. Some antiquarians are of
opinion, that the strongest claims are presented by the Phoenicians.
6. The Pentateuch embraces the earliest specimen of phonetic or
alphabetic writing now extant, and this was written about 1500 years
before Christ. Many persons suppose that, as the Deity himself
inscribed the ten commandments on the two tables of stone, he taught
Moses the use of letters; and, on this supposition, is founded the
claim of the Jewish nation to the honor of the first human application
of them.
7. If we may believe Pliny, sixteen characters of the alphabet were
introduced into Greece by Cadmus, the Phoenician, in the days of
Moses; four more were added by Palamedes during the Trojan war, and
four afterwards, by Simonides. Alphabetical writing evidently sprung
from successive improvements in the hieroglyphical system, since a
great part of the latter has been lately discovered to be syllabic or
alphabetic.
8. A considerable number of very ancient alphabets still exist on the
monumental remains of some of the first post-diluvian cities, and
several of later date, in manuscripts which have descended to our
times. The letters employed in different languages have ever been
subject to great changes in their conformation. This was especially
the case before the introduction of the art of printing, which has
contributed greatly towards permanency in this respect.
9. The mode of arranging the letters in writing has, also, varied
considerably. Some nations have written in perpendicular lines, as the
Chinese and ancient Egyptians; others from right to left, as the Jews;
and others, again, alternately from left to right, as was the method
at one period among the Greeks. The mode of writing from left to right
now generally practised, is preferable to any other, since it leaves
uncovered that portion of the page upon which writing has been made.
10. In ancient times, literary productions were considered public
property; and, consequently, as soon as a work was published,
transcribers assumed the right to multiply copies at pleasure, without
making the authors the least remuneration. They, however, were
sometimes rewarded with great liberality, by princes or wealthy
patrons. This literary piracy continued, until a long time after the
introduction of the art of printing.
11. In almost every kingdom of Europe, and in the United States, the
exclusive right of authors to publish their own productions, is now
secured to them by law, at least for a specified number of years. The
first legislative proceeding on this subject in England, took place in
1662, when the publication of any book was prohibited, except through
the permission of the lord-chamberlain. The title of the book, and the
name of the proprietor, were, also, required to be entered in the
record of the Stationers' Company.
12. This and some subsequent acts having been repealed in 1691,
literary property was left to the protection of the common law, by
which the amount of damages which could be proved to have actually
occurred in case of infringement, could be recovered, and no more. New
applications were, therefore, made to parliament; and, in 1709, a
statute was passed, by which the property of copyright was guarded for
fourteen years, with severe penalties. This privilege was connected
with the condition, that a copy of the work be deposited in nine
public libraries specified in the act.
13. In 1774, the Parliament decided that, at the end of fourteen
years, the copyright might be renewed, in case the author were still
living. The law continued on this footing until 1814, when the
contingency with regard to the last fourteen years was removed; and,
if the author still survived, the privilege of publication was
extended to the close of his life.
14. In the United States, the jurisdiction of this subject is vested
by the Constitution in the Federal Government; and, in 1790, a law was
passed by Congress, securing to the authors of books, charts, maps,
engravings, &c., being citizens of the United States or resident
therein, privileges like those granted in England, in 1774. In 1831,
the law was altered, and again made to conform to that of England in
regard to the period of the privileges. The English and American laws
differ in no essential provision. Until the year 1839, foreigners were
permitted to hold copyrights in England.
15. In France, the first statute regarding literary property was
passed in 1793, when the right of authors to their works was secured
to them during their lives, and to their heirs for ten years after
their decease. The decree of 1810 extended the right of the heirs to
twenty years. In Russia, the period of copyright is the same as in
France, and the property is not liable for the payment of the author's
debts.
16. In some of the German states, the right is given for the lifetime
of the author; in others, it is made perpetual, like any other
property; but then the work may be printed with impunity in any of the
other states in which a right has not been secured. In Germany and
Italy, especially, authors are very poorly remunerated; and in Spain,
the book trade has been so much oppressed by a merciless censorship,
that authors are compelled to publish their works on their own
account.
17. From the preceding statement it appears, that few legislators have
been willing to place the productions of intellectual labor on the
same honorable footing with other kinds of property. No reason,
however, can be assigned for the distinction, except the unjust and
piratical usage of two or three thousand years.
18. Authors seldom publish their own works. They generally find it
expedient, and, in fact, necessary, to intrust this part of the
business to booksellers and publishers, from whom they usually receive
a specified amount for the entire copyright, or a certain sum for each
and every copy which may be sold during the term of years which may be
agreed upon. The compensation is commonly insufficient to pay them for
preparing the works for the press; but they are as well paid in this
country as in any other. In this particular, however, there has been a
manifest improvement within the last ten years.
[Illustration]
THE PRINTER.
1. From what has been said in a preceding article, it is manifest that
the art of printing arose from the practice of engraving on wood.
Letters were cut on wood as inscriptions to pictures, and were printed
at the same time with them, by means of a hand-roller. The impressions
were taken on one side of the paper; and, in order to hide the
nakedness of the blank side, two leaves were pasted together. These
leaves were put up in pamphlet form, and are now known under the
denomination of _block-books_, because they were printed from wooden
blocks.
2. Although the art of typographical printing can be clearly traced to
wood engraving, yet so much uncertainty rests upon its history, that
the honor of its invention is claimed by three cities--Harlem, in
Holland, and Strasburg and Mentz, in Germany; and, at the present
time, it is difficult to determine satisfactorily the merits of their
respective claims. The obscurity on this point has arisen from the
desire of the first printers to conceal the process of the art, that
their productions might pass for manuscripts, and that they might
enjoy the full benefit of their invention.
3. The advocates of the claims of Harlem state, that Laurentius Coster
applied wooden types, and some say, even metal types, as early as
1428, and that several persons were employed by him in the business up
to the year 1440, when his materials were stolen from him by one of
his workmen or servants, named John, while the family were engaged in
celebrating the festival of Christmas eve. The thief is said to have
fled first to Amsterdam, then to Cologne, and, finally, to have
settled in Mentz, where, within a twelvemonth, he published two small
works, by means of the types which Laurentius Coster had used.
4. These claims in favor of Harlem, however, were not set forth until
120 years after the death of Coster; and the whole story, as then
stated by Hadriamus Junius, was founded altogether upon traditionary
testimony. Perhaps wood engravings, with inscriptions, may have been
executed there; if so, the account may have originated from that
circumstance.
5. The statements which seem to be the most worthy of credit, bestow
the honor of this invention on a citizen of Mentz. Here, it appears,
that John Geinsfleisch, or Guttemburg senior, published two small
works for schools, in 1442, on wooden types; but, not having the funds
necessary to carry on the business, he applied to John Faust, a rich
goldsmith, who became a partner, in 1443, and advanced the requisite
means. Soon afterwards, J. Meidenbachius and some others were admitted
as partners.
6. In the following year, John Guttemburg, the brother of
Geinsfleisch, made an addition to the firm. For several years before
this union, or from 1436, Guttemburg had been attempting to complete
the invention at Strasburg; but it is said that he had never been able
to produce a clean printed sheet. The brothers may, or may not, have
pursued their experiments without receiving any hints from each other,
before their union at Mentz.
7. Soon after the formation of this partnership, the two brothers
commenced cutting _metal types_, for the purpose of printing an
edition of the Bible, which was published in Latin, about the year
1450. Before this great achievement of the art had been effected,
Geinsfleisch appears to have retired from the concern, some say, on
account of blindness.
8. The partnership before mentioned, was dissolved, in 1450, and Faust
and Guttemburg entered into a new arrangement, the former supplying
money, the latter, personal services, for their mutual benefit; but
various difficulties having arisen, this partnership was also
dissolved, in 1455, after a lawsuit between them, which was decided
against Guttemburg.
9. Faust, having obtained possession of the printing materials,
entered into partnership with Peter Shoeffer, who had been for a long
time a servant, or workman, in the printing establishment. In 1457,
they published an edition of the _Psalter_, which was then considered
uncommonly elegant. This book was, in a great measure, the work of
Guttemburg, since, during the four years in which it was in the press,
he was, for two years and a half, the chief operator in the
printing-office.
10. Guttemburg, by the pecuniary aid of Conrad Humery and others,
established another press in Mentz, and, in 1460, published the
"_Catholicon Joannis Januensis_." It was a very handsome work, but not
equal in beauty to the Psalter of Faust and Shoeffer. The latter was
the first printed book known to have a genuine date. From this time,
it has been the practice for printers to claim their own productions,
by prefixing to them their names.
11. Notwithstanding the great advancement which had been made in the
art of printing, the invention cannot, by any means, be considered
complete, until about the year 1458, when Peter Shoeffer contrived a
method of casting types in a matrix, or mould. The first book executed
with cast metal types was called "_Durandi Ralionale Divinorum
Officiorum_," published in 1459. Only the smaller letters, however,
were of this description, all the larger characters which occur, being
_cut types_. These continued to be used, more or less, as late as the
year 1490.
12. In 1462, Faust carried to Paris a number of Latin Bibles, which he
and Shoeffer had printed, and disposed of many of them as manuscripts.
At first, he sold them at five or six hundred crowns, the sums usually
obtained by the scribes. He afterwards lowered the price to sixty.
This created universal astonishment; but, when he produced them
according to the demand, and when he had reduced the price to thirty,
all Paris became agitated.
13. The uniformity of the copies increased the wonder of the
Parisians, and information was finally given against him to the police
as a magician. He was accordingly arrested, and a great number of his
Bibles were seized. The red ink with which they were embellished, was
supposed to be his blood. It was seriously adjudged, that the prisoner
was joined in league with the devil; and had he not disclosed the
secret of his art, he would probably have shared the fate of those
whom the magistrates of those superstitious times condemned for
witchcraft.
14. It may be well to inform the reader, that, although the story of
Faust's arrest, as above detailed, is related as a fact by several
authors, yet by others it is thought to be unworthy of credit. It is
also generally supposed, that the celebrated romance of "Doctor
Faustus and the devil" originated in the malice of the monks towards
Faust, whose employment of printing deprived them of their gain as
copiers. It seems more probable, however, that it arose from the
astonishing performances of Doctor John Faust, a dealer in the black
art, who lived in Germany in the beginning of the sixteenth century.
15. Faust and Shoeffer continued their printing operations together,
at least, until 1486, about which time it is conjectured, that the
former died of the plague, at Paris. Geinsfleisch, or, as he is
sometimes called, Guttemburg senior, died in 1462; and his brother
Guttemburg junior, in 1468, after having enjoyed, for three years, the
privileges of nobility, which, together with a pension, had been
conferred upon him by Archbishop Adolphus, in consideration of his
great services to mankind.
16. More copies of the earliest printed books were impressed on vellum
than on paper; but very soon paper was used for a principal part of
the edition, while a few only were printed on vellum, as curiosities,
to be ornamented by the illuminators, whose ingenious art, though in
vogue before and at that time, did not long survive the rapid
improvements in printing.
17. We are informed, that the Mentz printers observed the utmost
secrecy in their operations; and, that the art might not be divulged
by the persons whom they employed, they administered to them an oath
of fidelity. This appears to have been strictly adhered to, until the
year 1462, when the city was taken and plundered by Archbishop
Adolphus. Amid the consternation which had arisen from this event, the
workmen spread themselves in different directions; and, considering
their oath no longer obligatory, they soon divulged the secret, which
was rapidly diffused throughout Europe.
18. Some idea may be formed of the celerity with which a knowledge of
printing was extended, from the fact that the art was received in two
hundred and three places, prior to the year 1500. It was brought to
England, in 1471, by William Caxton, a mercer of the city of London,
who had spent many years in Germany and Holland. The place of the
first location of his press was Westminster Abbey. The first press in
North America was established at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1639.
19. Printed newspapers had their origin in Germany. They first
appeared in Augsburg and Vienna, in 1524. They were originally without
date or place of impression; nor were they published at regular
periods. The first German paper with numbered sheets was printed, in
1612; and, from this time, must be dated periodical publications in
that part of Europe.
20. In England, the first newspaper appeared during the reign of
Elizabeth. It originated in a desire to communicate information in
regard to the expected invasion by the Spanish armada, and was
entitled the "English Mercury," which, by authority, was printed at
London by Christopher Barker, her highness's printer, in 1588.
21. These, however, were extraordinary gazettes, not regularly
published. Periodicals seem to have been first extensively used by the
English, during the civil wars in the time of the Commonwealth. The
number of newspapers in Great Britain and Ireland amounted, in 1829,
to 325, and the sums paid to the government for stamps and duties on
advertisements, amounted to about £678,000 sterling.
22. No newspaper appeared in the British colonies of America until
1704, when the "News Letter" was issued at Boston. The first paper
published in Philadelphia, was issued in 1719; the first in New-York,
in 1733. In 1775, there were 37; and in 1801, there were, in the whole
United States, 203; in 1810, 358; at the present time, there are about
1500, and the number is annually increasing.
23. The first periodical paper of France originated with Renaudot, a
physician in Paris, who, for a long time, had been in the habit of
collecting news, which he communicated verbally to his patients, with
the view to their amusement. But, in 1631, he commenced the
publication of a weekly sheet, called the "Gazette de France," which
was continued with very little interruption, until 1827. There are
now, probably, in France, about 400 periodical publications most of
which have been established since the commencement of the revolution
of 1792.
24. Periodicals devoted to different objects have been established in
every other kingdom of Europe; but, in many cases, they are trammelled
by a strict censorship of the respective governments. This is
especially the case with those devoted to politics or religion. But
all Europe, with its 200,000,000 of inhabitants, does not support as
many regular publications as the United States, with its 17,000,000.
25. The workmen employed in a printing-office are of two kinds:
_compositors_, who arrange the types according to the copy delivered
to them; and _pressmen_, who apply ink on the types, and take off
impressions. In many cases, and especially where the business is
carried on upon a small scale, the workmen often practise both
branches.
26. Before the types are applied to use, they are placed in the cells
or compartments of a wooden receptacle called a _case_, each species
of letter, character and space, by itself. The letters which are
required most frequently, are lodged in the largest compartments,
which are located nearest to the place where the compositor stands,
while arranging the types.
27. The compositor is furnished with a _composing-stick_, which is
commonly an iron instrument, surrounded on three sides with ledges
about half an inch in height, one of which is moveable, so that it may
be adjusted to any length of line. The compositor, in the performance
of his work, selects the letters from their several compartments, and
arranges them in an inverted order from that in which they are to
appear in the printed page.
28. At the end of each word is placed a _quadrat_, to produce a space
between that and the one which follows. The quadrats are of various
widths, and being considerably shorter than types, they yield no
impression in printing. A thin brass rule is placed in the stick, on
which each successive line of types is arranged. When the
composing-stick has been filled, it is _emptied_ into the _galley_,
which is a flat board, partly surrounded with a rim.
29. On this galley, the lines are accumulated in long columns, which
are afterwards divided into pages, and tied together with a string, to
prevent the types from falling asunder, or into _pi_, as the printers
term it. A sufficient number of pages having been completed to
constitute a _form_, or, in other words, to fill one side of a sheet
of printing-paper, they are arranged on an _imposing-stone_, and
strongly locked up, or wedged together, in an iron _chase_.
30. The first impression taken from the types is called the _proof_.
This is carefully read over by the author or proof-reader, or both,
and the errors and corrections plainly marked in the margin. These
corrections having been made by the compositor, the form is again
locked up, and delivered to the pressman.
31. The pressman having dampened his paper with water, and put every
part of his press in order, takes impressions in the following manner:
he places the sheet upon the _tympan_, and confines it there by
turning down upon it the _frisket_; he then brings them both, together
with the paper, upon the form, which has been previously inked. He
next turns a crank with his left hand, and thereby places the form
directly under the _platen_, which is immediately brought, in a
perpendicular direction, upon the types, by means of a lever pulled
with his right hand.
32. After the impression has been thus communicated, the form is
returned to its former position, and the printed sheet is removed. The
operation just described, is repeated for each side of every sheet of
the edition. In the cut at the head of this article, the pressman is
represented as in the act of turning down the frisket upon the tympan.
The business of the boy behind the press is to apply the ink to the
types by means of the _rollers_ before him. In offices where much
printing is executed, the roller-boy is now dispensed with, simple
machinery, attached to the crank of the press, called a _patent
roller-boy_, being substituted in his place.
33. Within the present century, great improvements have been made in
the printing business generally, especially in the presses, and in the
means of applying the ink. In the old _Ramage_ press, the power was
derived from a screw which was moved by a lever; but, in those by
several late inventors, from an accumulation of levers.
34. In 1814, printing by machinery was commenced in London, and
rollers became necessary for inking the forms. These were made of
molasses, glue, and tar, in proportions to suit the temperature of the
weather. From these originated composition balls in the following
year, and in 1819, hand rollers. Formerly the ink was applied by
means of pelt balls stuffed with wool.
35. The power-press first used in this country, was invented, in 1823,
by Mr. Treadwell, a scientific mechanic, of Boston, who was originally
a watch-maker by trade. It acts on the same principle with the hand
press, and is equal to three of these of the best construction. Daniel
Fanshaw, who first applied steam to printing in the United States,
introduced several of these presses into New-York, in 1826. Messrs.
Adams and Tufts, of Boston, have each invented a power-press which act
on the same principle with Mr. Treadwell's.
36. The presses noticed in the preceding paragraph, are used chiefly
in printing books and periodicals requiring moderate speed in their
production. But they do not answer the purposes of the daily press in
large cities, where from twenty thousand to sixty thousand impressions
of a single paper are required every day. To supply this immense
demand of the public was the original aim of the inventors of
power-presses in England. The first attempt to construct a printing
machine was made, in 1790, by William Nicholson, of London; but his
machine was never brought into use. The next attempt was made by Mr.
Konig, an ingenious German, who but partially succeeded. The first
really useful machine was constructed by Messrs. Applegate and Cowper.
37. The machines used in this country are modifications of that
originally invented by Mr. Napier, of England. The paper is brought in
contact with the form of types by means of a cylinder, while the form
is passing underneath it. The press is constructed with one or two
cylinders. A double cylinder press will give from 4000 to 6000
impressions an hour. The improvements on this press were made by
Robert Hoe & Co., who have permitted Mr. Napier to introduce them into
his press in England.
[Illustration]
THE TYPE-FOUNDER.
1. The types cast by the type-founder are oblong square pieces of
metal, each having, on one end of it, a letter or character, in
relief. The metal of which these important instruments are composed,
is commonly an alloy consisting principally of lead and antimony, in
the proportion of about five parts of the former to one of the latter.
This alloy melts at a low temperature, and receives and retains with
accuracy the shape of the mould. Several hundred pounds of type-metal
are prepared at a time, and cast into bars filled with notches, that
they may be easily broken into pieces, when about to be applied to
use.
2. In making types, the letter or character is first formed, by means
of gravers and other tools, on the end of a steel punch. With this
instrument, a _matrix_ is formed, by driving it into a piece of
copper of suitable size. A punch and matrix are required for every
character used in printing. A metallic mould for the body of the type
is also made; and, that the workman may handle it without burning his
hands, it is surrounded with a portion of wood. The mould is composed
of two parts, which can be closed and separated with the greatest
facility.
3. The type-metal is prepared for immediate use by melting it, as fast
as it may be needed, in a small crucible, over a coal fire. The caster
having placed the matrix in the bottom of the mould, commences the
operation of casting by pouring the metal into the mould with a small
ladle. This he performs with his right hand, while with the other he
throws up the mould with a sudden jerk; then, with both hands he opens
it, and throws out the type. All these movements are performed with
such rapidity, that an expert hand can cast about fifty types of a
common size in a minute. Some machines have been lately introduced,
which operate with still greater rapidity.
4. Each type, when thrown from the mould, has attached to it a
superfluous portion of metal, called a _jet_, which is afterwards
broken off by hand. The jets are again cast into the pot, or crucible,
and the types are carried to another room, where the two broad sides
are rubbed on a grindstone. They are next arranged on flat sticks
about three feet long, and delivered to the _dresser_, who scrapes the
two sides not before made smooth on the grindstone, cuts a groove on
the end opposite the letter, and rejects from the row the types which
may be defective.
5. The whole process is completed by setting up the types in a
printer's composing-stick, and tying them up with packthread. Much of
the work in the type-foundry is performed by boys and females. In the
preceding cut are represented a man casting types at a furnace, and a
boy breaking off the jets; also two females rubbing types on a large
grindstone. The fumes arising from melted lead in the casting-room are
considered deleterious to health.
6. Various sizes of the same kind of letter are extensively used, of
which the following are most employed in printing books--Pica, Small
Pica, Long Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier, Minion, Nonpareil, Pearl, and
Diamond. A full assortment of any particular size is called a _fount_,
which may consist of any amount, from five pounds to five hundred, or
more. The master type-founder usually supplies the printer with all
the materials of his art, embracing not only types, leads, brass
rules, and ordinary ornaments, but also cases, composing-sticks,
galleys, printing-presses, and other articles too numerous to be
mentioned.
7. The inventor of the art of casting types was Peter Shoeffer, first
servant or workman employed by Guttemburg and Faust. He privately cut
a matrix for each letter of the alphabet, and cast a quantity of the
types. Having shown the products of his ingenuity to Faust, the latter
was so much delighted with the contrivance, that he made him a partner
in the printing business, and gave him his only daughter, Christina,
in marriage.
8. The character first employed was a rude old Gothic, mixed with
secretary, designed on purpose to imitate the hand-writing of those
times, and the first used in England were of this kind. To these
succeeded what is termed _old English_, or _black letter_, which is
still occasionally applied to some purposes; but Roman letter is now
the national character not only of England, but of France, Spain,
Portugal, and Italy. In Germany, and in the states surrounding the
Baltic, letters are used which owe their foundation to the Gothic,
although works are occasionally printed for the learned in Roman.
9. The Roman letter owes its origin to the nation whence it derives
its name, although the faces of the present and ancient Roman letters
differ materially, on account of the improvements which they have
undergone at various times. For the invention of the Italic character,
we are indebted to Aldus Manutius, who set up a printing-office in
Venice, in 1496, where he also introduced Roman types of a neater cut.
10. Before the American revolution, type-founding was carried on at
Germantown, Pennsylvania, by Christopher Sower, at Boston by Mr.
Michelson, and in Connecticut by Mr. Buel; but there was too little
demand for types, to afford these enterprising individuals much
patronage. Soon after the close of the revolution, John Baine
established a foundery in Philadelphia. The printers, however, were
not supplied with every necessary material and implement of the art
from American founderies, until 1796, when Messrs. Binny & Ronaldson
commenced the business in the same city. Baine and Ronaldson were both
from Edinburgh, Scotland. The first type-foundery was established in
New-York, in 1809, by Robert Lothian, a Scotch clergyman, and father
of the ingenious type-founder, George B. Lothian.
11. In the year 1827, William M. Johnson, of New-York, invented the
machine for casting types now used by John T. White, and in 1838,
David Bruce, Junr., produced another, which was purchased by George
Bruce. George B. Lothian has also lately invented a machine for the
same purpose, and likewise one for reducing types to an equal
thickness. Both of these machines act with great accuracy. There are
now in the United States sixteen type-founderies; viz., two in Boston,
six in New-York, three in Philadelphia, one in Baltimore, one in
Pittsburg, one in Cincinnati, one in Louisville, and one in St.
Louis.
[Illustration: STEREOTYPER.]
THE STEREOTYPER.
1. The word _stereotype_ is derived from two Greek words--_stereos_,
solid, and _tupos_, a type. It is applied to pages of types in a
single piece, which have been cast in moulds formed on common printing
types or wood-cuts. They are composed of lead and antimony, in the
proportion of about six parts of the former to one of the latter.
Sometimes a little tin is added.
2. The types are _set up_ by _compositors_, as usual in printing, and
_imposed_, or locked up, one or several pages together, in an iron
_chase_ of a suitable size. Having been sent to the _casting-room_,
the types are slightly oiled, and surrounded with a frame of brass or
type-metal. They are then covered with a thin mixture of finely
pulverized plaster and water. In about ten minutes, the plaster
becomes hard enough to be removed.
3. The mould, thus formed, having been baked in an oven, is placed in
an iron pan of an oblong shape, and sunk into a kettle of the melted
composition above mentioned, which is admitted at the four corners of
the cover to the cavities of the mould beneath. The pan is then raised
from the kettle, and placed over water. When the metal has become
cool, the contents of the pan are removed, and the plaster is broken
and washed from the plate.
4. As fast as the pages are cast, they are sent to the
_finishing-room_. Here they are first planed on the back with a
machine, for the purpose of making them level and of an equal
thickness. The letters are then examined, and, when deficient, are
rendered perfect by little steel instruments called _picks_.
Corrections and alterations are made by cutting out original lines,
and inserting common printing types, or lines stereotyped for the
purpose. The types are cut off close to the back with pincers, and
fastened to the place with solder. The plates, when they are finished,
are about one-sixth of an inch in thickness.
5. When all the pages of a work have been completed, they are packed
in boxes, which are marked with certain letters of the alphabet, to
indicate the form or pages which they contain. While the pages are
applied in printing, they are fastened to blocks of solid wood, which,
with the plates, are intended to be the same in height with common
types.
6. The first stereotype plates were cast by J. Van der Mey, a
Dutchman, who resided at Leyden about the year 1700. A quarto and
folio Bible, and two or three small works, were printed from pages of
his casting; but at his death, the art appears to have been lost,
although the plates of these two Bibles are still extant, the former
at Leyden, and the latter at Amsterdam.
7. In 1725, William Ged, of Edinburgh, without knowing what had been
done in Holland by Van der Mey, began to make stereotype plates. But
being unable to prosecute the business alone for want of funds, he
united in partnership with three others. One of the partners being a
type-founder, supposing that success in the enterprise would injure
his business, employed men to compose and print the proposed works in
a manner that he thought most likely to spoil them.
8. Accordingly, the compositors, while correcting one error in the
proof, made intentionally several more; and the pressmen battered the
letter, while printing the books. By these dishonest and malicious
proceedings, the useful enterprise of Mr. Ged was defeated. He,
however, afterwards printed, in an accurate manner, two or three
works. The first of these was a Sallust, the pages of which were set
up by his son, James Ged, who was but an apprentice to the
printing-business. This part of the work was performed in the night,
when the workmen were absent from the office.
9. After the death of Mr. Ged, no attention was paid to the art, and a
knowledge of it was lost at the decease of his son, which took place,
about the year 1771: but it was a third time invented by Alexander
Tilloch, Esq., who, in conjunction with Mr. Foulis, printer to the
University of Glasgow, made many experiments, until plates were
produced yielding impressions which could not be distinguished from
those of the types from which they had been cast. But owing to
circumstances unconnected with the real utility of the art, the
business was not prosecuted to a great extent.
10. About the year 1804, the art was again revived by the late Earl
Stanhope, assisted by Mr. A. Wilson, a printer, who turned his whole
attention that way. In their efforts to complete the invention, they
were assisted by Messrs. Tilloch and Foulis; and, although they
succeeded after many experiments, they were strenuously opposed in
their efforts to introduce the practice, the printers supposing,
perhaps with some reason, that it would prove injurious to their
business.
11. This useful art was introduced into the United States by J. Watts,
an Englishman from London, who had acquired a knowledge of the process
from A. Wilson. He entered into a partnership with Joseph D. Fay and
Pierre C. Van Wyck, Esquires. They first stereotyped the Westminster
Catechism, which was printed by J. Watts & Co., for Messrs. Whiting &
Watson, in 1813. They also stereotyped a New Testament. But the
business proving to be unproductive, Fay and Van Wyck retired from the
concern. Watts afterwards stereotyped about one third of an octavo
Bible. The moulding of all the plates produced in Watts's foundery was
executed by Mrs. Watts. On the 21st of March, 1815, Watts sold all his
plates, together with his materials and knowledge of the process, to
B. S. and J. B. Collins, for $6500. The Messrs. Collins afterwards
carried on the business successfully.
12. In 1812, David Bruce went to England for the express purpose of
obtaining a knowledge of the art, as it was kept a profound secret by
Watts; and having learned the method of one Nicholson, of Liverpool,
and having also acquired some knowledge of Earl Stanhope's plan, he
returned to New-York, and commenced stereotyping, in conjunction with
his brother, George Bruce, in the year 1813. They soon completed two
setts of 12mo plates for the New Testament, one of which they sold to
Matthew Carey, Nov. 8, 1814. Soon afterwards, they finished the whole
Bible. David Bruce invented the machine for planing the plates, in
1815.
[Illustration]
THE PAPER-MAKER, AND THE BOOKBINDER.
THE PAPER-MAKER.
1. The materials on which writing was executed, in the early days of
the art, were the leaves and bark of trees and plants, stones, bricks,
sheets of lead, copper, and brass, as well as plates of ivory, wooden
tablets, and cotton and linen cloth.
2. The instruments with which writing was practised were adapted to
the substance on which it was to be formed. The _stylus_, which the
Romans employed in writing on metallic tablets covered with wax, was
made of iron, acute at one end, for forming the letters, and flat or
round at the other, for erasing what may have been erroneously
written.
3. For writing with ink, the _calamus_, a kind of reed, sharpened at
the point, and split like our pens was used. Some of the Eastern
nations still write with bamboos and canes. The Chinese inscribe their
characters with small brushes similar to camel's hair pencils. We have
no certain evidence of the application of _quills_ to this purpose
until the seventh century.
4. As the literature of antiquity advanced, a material adapted to
works of magnitude became necessary, and this was found both in the
skins of animals, and in the celebrated plant papyrus, of Egypt; but
the time when they were first applied to this purpose cannot be
determined, although it is probable that the former has the preference
as regards priority.
5. The papyrus was an aquatic plant, which grew upon the banks of the
Nile. In the manufacture of paper from this reed, it was divested of
its outer covering, and the internal layers, or laminæ, were separated
with the point of a needle or knife. These layers were spread parallel
to each other on a table, in sufficient numbers to form a sheet; a
second layer was then laid with the strips crossing those of the first
at right angles; and the whole having been moistened with water, was
subjected to pressure between metallic surfaces. The pressure, aided
by a glutinous substance in the plant, caused the several pieces to
become one uniform sheet.
6. Parchment was manufactured from the skins of sheep and goats. In
the preparation, these were first steeped in water impregnated with
lime, and afterwards stretched upon frames, and reduced by scraping
with sharp instruments. They were finished by the application of
chalk, and by rubbing them with pumice-stone. The skins of very young
calves, dressed in a similar manner, was called vellum. Parchment and
vellum are still used for deeds and other important documents.
7. When Attalus, about 200 years before Christ, was about to found a
library at Pergamus, which should rival that of Alexandria, one of the
Ptolemies, then king of Egypt, jealous of his success, prohibited the
exportation of papyrus; but the spirited inhabitants of Pergamus
manufactured parchment as a substitute, and formed their library
principally of manuscripts on this material. From this fact, it
received the name of _Pergamena_ among the Romans, who gave it also
the appellation of _Membrana_.
8. The greatest quantity of paper was manufactured at Alexandria, and
the commerce in this article greatly increased the wealth of that
city. In the fifth century, paper was rendered very dear by taxation;
and this probably was an inducement for an effort to produce a
substitute. Accordingly, in the eighth century, it began to be
superseded by cotton paper, although it continued in use in some parts
of Europe, until three hundred years after the period last mentioned.
9. The manufacture of cotton paper was introduced into Spain, in the
eleventh century, by the Arabians, who became acquainted with it in
Bucharia as early as A.D. 704. About the year 1300, it was commenced
in Italy, France, and Germany; and, in some of the paper-mills of
these countries, paper was made from cotton rags. Linen paper is
thought to have originated in Germany, about the year 1318.
10. The first paper-mill in England was erected by a German, named
Spillman, in 1588; but no paper, except the coarse brown sorts, was
made in that country, until about the year 1690. The finer kinds, both
for writing and printing, were, before that time, imported from the
Continent. But the paper of English manufacture will now compare with
that of any other country. The French also make very fine paper.
11. In the United States, this manufacture has rapidly increased in
amount within a few years. According to an estimate made in 1829, it
appears that the whole annual product of the mills is worth between
five and seven millions of dollars, and that the rags collected in
this country amount to about two millions. The number of hands
employed in the business are ten or eleven thousand, of whom about
one-half were females. The manufacture has since been considerably
increased, although the number of operatives may have been diminished,
on account of the introduction of improved machinery.
12. Nature has supplied us with a great variety of substances from
which paper may be fabricated, as flax, hemp, cotton, straw, grass,
and the bark of several kinds of trees; but the fibres of the three
first productions, in the form of rags, are the most usual materials.
Most of these are primarily purchased from the people at large, by
retail booksellers, country merchants, and pedlers, who in turn
dispose of them to persons called rag-merchants, or directly to the
paper-makers. When the rags come from the original collectors, all
kinds are mixed together; but they are assorted according to their
color and the nature of their original fibre, either by the
rag-merchants, or by the paper-makers themselves.
13. In our attempts to afford the reader an idea of this manufacture
in general, letter-paper has been selected, as affording the best
means of illustration; since for this kind of paper, the best stock is
employed, and the greatest skill is exerted in every stage of the
process.
14. The process of the manufacture is commenced by cutting the rags
into small pieces, by the aid of a sharp instrument, commonly a piece
of a scythe, which is placed in a position nearly perpendicular before
the operator. In the reduction of very coarse rags, such as
sail-cloth, a cutting machine is also employed. Then, with the view of
sifting out the loose particles of dirt, the rags are deposited in a
large octagonal sieve made of coarse wire, and placed in a close box
in a horizontal position. The sieve is moved by machinery, like the
bolt of a flour-mill.
15. The second stage of the process consists chiefly in the reduction
of the rags to a _pulp_. This is effected by the action of a cutting
machine, the essential parts of which are two sets of blunt knives,
the one stationary, and the other revolving. The machine is placed in
a large elliptical tub, in which the rags are also deposited, with a
suitable quantity of water. The liquid and fibrous contents of the tub
are kept moving in a circle by the action of the machine, through
which it passes at one point of its revolution.
16. The maceration occupies from ten to twenty hours, according as the
material is more or less rigid; and, during part of this time, water
is permitted to run in at one side of the tub, and out at the other,
to render the pulp perfectly clean. Towards the close of this process,
the pulp, if necessary, is bleached by means of chloride of lime, and
oil of vitriol. It is also sometimes colored by adding a quantity of
dye-stuff. The bleaching and coloring are effected without
interrupting the action of the machine. The rags having been thus
reduced, the pulp, together with a suitable quantity of water, is let
out into a reservoir, from which it is drawn off into a _vat_, as fast
as it may be needed for the production of the paper.
17. With this vat is connected the paper-making machine; and the part
of the latter which first comes in contact with the material is a
hollow cylinder, surrounded with a fine web of wire-cloth. This
cylinder being immersed in the contents of the vat more than one-half
of its diameter, the water passes off with a uniform rapidity, and the
fibrous particles which had been suspended in it, settle with a
remarkable uniformity on the outside of the brazen web. As the
cylinder revolves, a continued sheet is produced, which is taken up by
an endless web of woollen cloth, and carried round another cylinder of
equal diameter, and then between two more, by which it is partially
pressed.
18. From between these rollers, the paper passes out, in a continued
sheet, upon a large cylindrical reel, called the _lay-boy_; and when a
certain quantity of it, which is determined by a gauge, has been
accumulated, the lay-boy is removed to a low table. The paper is then
cut, with a toothless handsaw, into sheets twice the size of
letter-paper. This part of the operation is very quickly performed, as
a workman can cut up and pile in heaps, to be pressed, twenty reams in
half that number of minutes, and attend to the machine at the same
time.
19. After the paper has been successively pressed, and handled by
separating the sheets two or three times, it is hung up on small
poles, in an airy room, to be dried; and having been again pressed, it
is sized by holding a quantity of the sheets at a time in a thin
solution of glue and alum, the former of which is prepared in the
paper-mill for the purpose, from shreds and parings of raw hides. The
paper is freed from superfluous portions of the size, by submitting it
to the action of a press. It is again dried as before, and again
pressed; after which, the several sheets are examined, and freed from
lumps and other extraneous substances.
20. They are then severed in half with a cutting machine, and
afterwards calendered, by passing the sheets successively between
rollers; or they are pressed between smooth pasteboards. In the latter
case, hot metallic plates are sometimes interposed between every few
quires of the sheets. The paper, when treated in this way, is called
hot-pressed. It is next counted off into half-quires, put up into
reams, pressed, trimmed, and finally enveloped in two thick sheets of
paper, which completes the whole process of the manufacture.
21. The manufacture of paper, as just described, seems to be a tedious
process; yet with two machines and a suitable number of hands, say
sixty or eighty, three hundred reams of letter-paper can be produced
from the raw material in a single day. It is hardly necessary to
remark, that paper is of various qualities, from the finest bank-note
paper, down to the coarsest kinds employed in wrapping up merchandise,
and that, for every quality, suitable materials are chosen. The
process of the manufacture is varied, of course, to suit the
materials. None but writing and drawing paper requires to be sized.
22. Until after the beginning of the present century, paper was made
exclusively _by hand_, and this method is still continued in a
majority of the mills in the United States, although it is rapidly
going out of use. It differs from that just described chiefly in the
manner of collecting the pulp to form the paper, this being effected
by means of a _mould_, a frame of wood with a fine wire bottom, of the
size of the proposed sheet. In the use of this instrument, a quantity
of the pulp is taken up, and while the _vatman_, or _dipper_, holds it
in a horizontal position, and gives it a gentle shaking, the water
runs out through the interstices of the wire, and leaves the fibrous
particles upon the mould in the form of a sheet. The sheets thus
produced are pressed between felts, and afterwards treated as if they
had been formed by means of a machine.
23. The first idea of forming paper in a continued sheet originated in
France; but a machine for this purpose is said to have been first made
completely successful in England, by Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier. Many
machines made after their model, as well as those of a different
construction, are in use in the United States, to some of which is
attached an apparatus for drying, sizing, and pressing the paper, as
well as for cutting it to the proper size. Very few machines, however,
yield paper equal in firmness and tenacity to that produced by hand.
THE BOOKBINDER.
1. Bookbinding is the art of arranging the pages of a book in proper
order, and confining them there by means of thread, glue, paste,
pasteboard, and leather.
2. This art is probably as ancient as that of writing books; for,
whatever may have been the substance on which the work was executed,
some method of uniting the parts was absolutely necessary. The
earliest method with which we are acquainted, is that of gluing the
sheets together, and rolling them upon small cylinders. This mode is
still practised in some countries. It is also everywhere used by the
Jews, so far as relates to one copy of their law deposited in each of
their synagogues.
3. The name Egyptian is applied to this kind of binding, and this
would seem to indicate the place of its origin. Each volume had two
rollers, so that the continued sheet could be wound from one to the
other at pleasure. The square, or present form of binding, is also of
great antiquity, as it is supposed to have been invented at Pergamus,
about 200 years before Christ, by King Attalus, who, with his son
Eumenes, established the famous library in that city.
4. The first process of binding books consists in folding the sheets
according to the paging. This is done by the aid of an ivory knife,
called a _folder_; and the operator is guided in the correct
performance of the work by certain letters called _signatures_, placed
at the bottom of the page, at regular intervals through the book.
5. Piles of the folded sheets are then placed on a long table in the
order of their signatures, and gathered, one from each pile, for every
book. They are next beaten on a stone, or passed between steel
rollers, to render them smooth and solid. The latter method has been
introduced within a few years. This operation certainly increases the
intrinsic value of the book; but it is not employed in every case,
since it is attended with some additional expense, and since it
diminishes the thickness of the book, and consequently its value in
the estimation of the public at large.
6. The sheets, having been properly pressed, are next sewed together
upon little cords, which, in this application, are called _bands_.
During the operation these are stretched in a perpendicular direction,
at suitable distances from each other, as exhibited in the foregoing
cut. The folded sheets are usually notched on the back by means of a
saw, and at these points they are brought in juxta-position with the
bands. After the pages of several volumes have been accumulated, the
bands are severed between each book. The folding, gathering, and
sewing, are usually performed by females.
7. At this stage of the process, the books are received by the men or
boys, who generally _take on_ one hundred at a time. The workman first
spreads some glue on the backs of each book with a brush. He then
places them, one after the other, between boards of solid wood, and
beats them on the back with a hammer. By this means the back is
rounded, and a groove formed on each side for the admission of one
edge of the pasteboards.
8. These having been applied, and partially fastened by means of the
bands, which had been left long for the purpose, the books are
pressed, and the leaves of which they are composed are trimmed with an
instrument called a _plough_. The pasteboards are also cut to the
proper size by the same means, or with a huge pair of shears. In the
preceding picture, a workman is represented at work with the plough.
The edges are next sprinkled with some kind of coloring matter, or
covered with gold leaf. A strip of paper is then glued on the back,
and a _head-band_ put upon each end.
9. The book is now ready to be covered. This is done either with calf,
sheep, or goat skin, or some kind of paper or muslin; but, whatever
the material may be, it is cut into pieces to suit the size of the
book; and, having been smeared on one side with paste, if paper or
leather, or with glue, if muslin, it is drawn over the outsides of the
pasteboards, and doubled in upon the inside.
10. The covers, if calf or sheep skin, are next sprinkled or marbled.
The first operation is performed by dipping the brush in a kind of
dye, made for the purpose, and beating it with one hand over a stick
held in the other; the second is performed in the same manner, with
the difference that they are sprinkled first with water, and then with
the coloring matter.
11. After a small piece of morocco has been pasted on the back, on
which the title is to be printed in gold leaf, and one of the waste
leaves has been pasted down on the inside of each of the covers, the
books are pressed for the last time. They are then glazed by applying
the white of an egg with a sponge.
12. The books are now ready for the reception of the ornaments, which
consist chiefly of letters and other figures in gold leaf. In
executing this part of the process, the workman cuts the gold into
suitable strips or squares on a cushion.
13. These are laid upon the books by means of a piece of raw cotton,
and afterwards impressed with types moderately heated over a charcoal
fire; or the strips of gold are taken up, and laid upon the proper
place with instruments called _stamps_ and _rolls_, which have on them
figures in relief. The portion of the leaf not impressed with the
figures on the tools, is easily removed with a silk rag. The books are
finished by applying to the covers the white of an egg, and rubbing
them with a heated steel _polisher_.
14. The process of binding books, as just described, is varied, of
course, in some particulars, to suit the different kinds of binding
and finish. A book stitched together like a common almanac, is called
a pamphlet. Those which are covered on the back and sides with
leather, are said to be _full-bound_; and those which have their backs
covered with leather, and the sides with paper, _half-bound_.
15. The different sizes of books are expressed by terms indicative of
the number of pages printed on one side of a sheet of paper; thus,
when two pages are printed on one side, the book is termed a folio;
four pages, a quarto; eight pages, an octavo; twelve pages, a
duodecimo; eighteen pages, an octodecimo. All of these terms, except
the first, are abridged by prefixing a figure or figures to the last
syllable: thus, 4to for quarto, 8vo for octavo, 12mo for duodecimo,
&c.
16. The manufacture of account-books, and other blank or _stationary_
work, constitutes an extensive branch of the bookbinder's business. It
is not necessary, however, to be particular in noticing it, as the
general process is similar to that of common bookbinding. Those
binders who devote much attention to this branch of the trade, have a
machine by which paper is ruled to suit any method of keeping books,
or any other pattern which may be desired.
[Illustration: BOOKSELLER.]
THE BOOKSELLER.
1. The book-trade has arisen from small beginnings to its present
magnitude and importance. Before the invention of typography, it was
carried on by the aid of transcribers; and the booksellers of Greece,
Rome, and Alexandria, during the flourishing state of their
literature, kept a large number of manuscript copyists in constant
employ. Among the Romans, the transcribers or copyists were chiefly
slaves, who were very valuable to their owners, on account of their
capacity for this employment.
2. In the middle ages, when learning was chiefly confined to the
precincts of monastic institutions, the monks employed much of their
time in copying the ancient classics and other works; and this labor
was often imposed upon them as a penance for the commission of sin.
From this cause, and from an ignorance of the true meaning of the
author, much of their copying was inaccurately performed, so that
great pains have been since required in the correction of the
manuscripts of those times.
3. This mode of multiplying copies of books was exceedingly slow, and,
withal, so very expensive, that learning was confined almost
exclusively to people of rank, and the lower orders were only rescued
from total ignorance by the reflected light of their superiors. For a
long time, during the reign of comparative barbarism in Europe, books
were so scarce, that a present of a single copy to a religious house
was thought to be so valuable a gift, that it entitled the donor to
the prayers of the community, which were considered efficacious in
procuring for him eternal salvation.
4. After the establishment of the universities of Paris and Bologna,
there were dealers in books, called _stationarii_, who loaned single
manuscripts at high prices; and, in the former place, no person, after
the year 1432, could deal in books in any way, without permission from
the university, by which officers were appointed to examine the
manuscripts, and fix the price for which they might be sold or hired
out.
5. For a long time after the invention of printing, the printers sold
their own publications; and, in doing this, especially at some
distance from their establishments, they were aided by those who had
formerly been employed as copyists. Some of these travelling agents,
at length, became stationary, and procured the publication of works on
their own account.
6. The first bookseller who purchased manuscripts from the authors,
and caused them to be printed without owning a press himself, was John
Otto, of Nuremburg. He commenced this mode of doing business, in 1516.
In 1545, there were, for the first time, two such booksellers in
Leipsic. The great mart for the sale of their books was Frankfort on
the Maine, where were held three extensive fairs every year. Leipsic,
however, soon became, and still continues, the centre of the German
book-trade.
7. The first Leipsic catalogue of books appeared as early as the year
1600; but the fairs at that place did not become important, as regards
the book-trade, until 1667, when it was attended by nineteen foreign
booksellers. The booksellers of Germany, as well as some from distant
countries, meet at the semi-annual fairs held in that city, to dispose
of books, and to settle their accounts with each other. Every German
publisher has also an agent there, who receives his publications, and
sends them, according as they are ordered, to any part of Germany.
8. In no other part of the world, has such a connexion of booksellers
been formed, although almost every kingdom of Europe has some city or
cities in which this branch of trade is chiefly concentrated; as
London, in England; Edinburgh, in Scotland; and Amsterdam, Utrecht,
Leyden, and Haerlem, in the Netherlands. In Spain and Portugal, the
price of every book is regulated by the government.
9. A very convenient method of effecting the sale and exchange of
books among booksellers, has been adopted in the United States; and
this is by auction. A sale of this kind is held in Boston once, and in
New-York and Philadelphia twice, every year; and none are invited to
attend it but the _trade_; hence such sales are denominated
_trade-sales_.
10. The sale is usually conducted by an auctioneer who has been
selected by a committee of the trade in the city in which it is to be
held. In order to obtain a sufficient amount of stock for the purpose,
the agent issues proposals, in which he informs publishers and others
concerned in this branch of business, of his intention, and solicits
invoices of books, to be sold at the time specified. A catalogue of
all the books thus sent for sale, is distributed among the
booksellers.
11. The booksellers having assembled, the books which may have been
accumulated from different parts of the Union, are offered in
convenient lots, and _struck off_ to the highest bidder. Each
purchaser holds in his hand the printed catalogue, on the broad margin
of which he marks, if he sees fit, the prices at which the books have
been sold; and the record thus kept affords a tolerable means of
determining their value, for a considerable time afterwards.
12. A sale of this kind occupies from four to six days; and, at the
close of it, a settlement takes place, in which the parties are
governed by the terms previously published. The payments are made in
cash, or by notes at four or six months, according to the amount which
the purchaser may have bought out of one invoice. The conductors of
the sale are allowed about five per cent. commission for their
services.
13. A vast number of books is also sold, every year, at auction, to
miscellaneous collections of people, not only in the cities and
considerable towns, but likewise in the villages throughout the
country. By many booksellers, this method of sale is thought to be
injurious to the trade, since it has reduced the prices of books, and
interfered with the regular method of doing business. These
disadvantages, however, have been far overbalanced by the increased
number of readers which has been thus created.
14. The circulation of books is likewise promoted by means of
travelling agents, who either sell them at once, or obtain
subscriptions for them with the view to their future delivery. These
methods have been employed more or less from the very commencement of
the printing business; and they have probably contributed more to the
general extension of knowledge than the sale of books by stationary
booksellers. In fact, they are among the most prominent causes of the
vast trade in books, which is now carried on, especially in the United
States.
15. Nevertheless, publishers, who do not employ agents to vend their
books, generally consider them interlopers upon their business; and
the people themselves, who owe a great share of their intellectual
cultivation to this useful class of men, are generally averse to
afford them the necessary patronage, because they require a small
advance on the city prices to pay travelling expenses.
16. A considerable amount of books is also sold by merchants who
reside at some distance from the cities and large towns. They,
however, seldom venture to purchase those which have not been well
known and approved in their neighborhood; and, in a majority of cases,
regard them as mere subjects of merchandise, without taking into
consideration the effects most likely to be produced by these silent,
but powerful agents, when circulated among their customers.
17. Some booksellers in Europe confine their trade chiefly to
particular departments; such as law, theology, and medicine. Others
deal in toy-books, and books of education, or in rare and scarce
books. This is the case, to a limited extent, in the United States,
although our booksellers commonly keep an assortment of miscellaneous
publications, as well as various articles in the stationary line; such
as paper, quills, inkstands, and blank work.
[Illustration: The ARCHITECT.]
THE ARCHITECT.
1. Architecture, in the general sense of the word, is the art of
planning and erecting buildings of all kinds, whether of a public or
private nature; and it embraces within its operations a variety of
employments, at the head of which must be placed the Architect.
Architecture is of several kinds, such as _civil_, _naval_,
_military_, and _aquatic_; but it is the first only that we propose to
notice in the present article.
2. The construction of buildings as means of shelter from the weather,
appears to have been among the earliest inventions; and, from the
skill exhibited in the construction of the ark, we have reason to
believe that architecture had been brought to considerable perfection
before the deluge. This opinion is also supported by the fact stated
in holy writ, that the descendants of Noah, not more than one hundred
years after the great catastrophe just mentioned, attempted to build a
city and a lofty tower with bricks burned in the fire. This project
could never have been thought of, had they not been influenced by the
knowledge of former centuries.
3. The confusion of the language of the people caused their dispersion
into different parts of the earth; and, in their several locations,
they adopted that method of constructing their dwellings, which the
climate required, and the materials at hand admitted; but, whatever
the primitive structure may have been, it was continued, in its
general features, from age to age, by the more refined and opulent
inhabitants; hence the different styles of building, which have been
continued, with various modifications, to the present day.
4. The essential elementary parts of a building are those which
contribute to its support, inclosure, and covering; and of these the
most important are the foundation, the column, the wall, the lintel,
the arch, the vault, the dome, and the roof. Ornamental and refined
architecture is one of the fine arts; nevertheless, every part of an
edifice must appear to have utility for its object, and show the
purpose for which it has been designed.
5. The _foundation_ is usually a stone wall, on which the
superstructure of the building rests. The most solid basis on which it
is placed is rock, or gravel which has never been disturbed; next to
these are clay and sand. In loose or muddy situations, it is always
unsafe to build, unless a solid basis can be artificially produced.
This is often done by means of timber placed in a horizontal position,
or by driving wooden piles perpendicularly into the earth; on a
foundation of the latter description, the greater part of the city of
Amsterdam has been built.
6. The _column_, or _pillar_, is the simplest member of a building,
although it is not essential to all. It is not employed for the
purpose of inclosure, but as a support to some part of the
superstructure, and the principal force which it has to resist is that
of perpendicular pressure. The column is more frequently employed in
public than in private buildings.
7. The _wall_ may be considered the lateral continuation of the
column, answering the purposes both of support and inclosure. It is
constructed of various materials, but chiefly of brick, stone, and
marble, with a suitable proportion of mortar or cement. Walls are also
made of wood, by first erecting a frame of timber and then covering it
with boards; but these are more perishable materials, which require to
be defended from the decomposing influence of the atmosphere, by paint
or some other substance.
8. The _lintel_ is a beam extending in a right line from one column or
wall to another over a vacant space. The _floor_ is a lateral
continuation or connexion of beams, by means of a covering of planks.
The strength of the lintel, and, in fact, every other elementary part
of a building used as a support, can be mathematically determined by
the skilful architect.
9. The _arch_ answers the same purpose as the lintel, although it far
exceeds it in strength. It is composed of several pieces of a
wedge-like form, and the joints formed by the contact of flat surfaces
point to a common centre. While the workmen are constructing the arch,
the materials are supported by a _centring_ of the shape of its
internal surface. The upper stone of an arch is called the
_key-stone_. The supports of an arch are called _abutments_; and a
continuation of arches, an _arcade_.
10. The _vault_ is the lateral continuation of an arch, and bears the
same relation to it that a wall bears to a column. The construction of
a simple vault is the same with that of an arch, and it distributes
its pressure equally along the walls or abutments. A complex or
groined vault is made by the intersection of two of the common kind.
The groined vault is much used in Gothic architecture.
11. The _dome_, or _cupola_, is a hemispherical or convex covering to
a building or a part of it. When built of stone it is a very strong
kind of structure, even more so than the arch, since the tendency of
the parts to fall is counteracted by those above and below, as well as
by those on each side. During the erection of the cupola, no centring
is required, as in the case of the arch.
12. The _roof_ is the most common and cheap covering to buildings. It
is sometimes flat, but most commonly oblique, in shape. A roof
consisting of two oblique sides meeting at the top, is denominated a
_pent_ roof; that with four oblique sides, a _hipped_ roof; and that
with two sides, having each two inclinations of different obliquities,
a _curb_ or _mansard_ roof. In modern times, roofs are constructed of
wood, or of wood covered with some incombustible material, such as
tiles, slate, and sheets of lead, tin, or copper. The elementary parts
of buildings, as just described, are more or less applicable in almost
every kind of architecture.
13. The architecture of different countries has been characterized by
peculiarities of form and construction, which, among ancient nations,
were so distinct, that their edifices may be identified at the present
day even in a state of ruin; and, although nearly all the buildings of
antiquity are in a dilapidated state, many of them have been restored,
in drawings and models, by the aid of the fragments which remain.
14. The different styles of building which have been recognised by the
architect of modern times, are, the Egyptian, the Chinese, the
Grecian, the Roman, the Greco-Gothic, the Saracenic, and the Gothic.
In all these, the pillar, with its accompaniments, makes a
distinguished figure. The following picture has therefore been
introduced by way of explanation. The columns are of the Corinthian
order of architecture.
[Illustration]
15. _The Egyptian style._--The first inhabitants of Egypt lived in
mounds, caverns, and houses of mud; and, from these primitive
structures, the Egyptians, at a later period, derived their style of
architecture. The walls of their buildings were very thick, and
sloping on the outside; the roof was flat, and composed of blocks of
stone, extending from one wall or pillar to another; and the columns
were short and large, being sometimes ten or twelve feet in diameter.
Pyramids of prodigious magnitude, and obelisks composed of a single
stone, sometimes often exceeding seventy feet in height, are
structures peculiarly Egyptian. The architecture of the Hindoos seems
to have been derived from primitive structures of a similar character.
[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE.]
16. _The Chinese style._--The ancient Tartars, and other wandering
tribes of Asia, appear to have lived in tents; and the Chinese
buildings, even at the present day, bear a strong resemblance to these
original habitations, since their roofs are concave on the upper side,
as if made of canvas instead of wood. Their porticoes resemble the
awnings spread out on our shop-windows in the summer. The Chinese
build chiefly of wood, although they sometimes use brick and stone.
[Illustration: A CHINESE PAGODA.]
17. _The Grecian style._--This style of building had its origin in the
wooden hut or cabin, the frame of which primarily consisted of
perpendicular posts, transverse beams, and rafters. This structure was
at length imitated in stone, and by degrees it was so modified and
decorated in certain parts, as to give rise to the several
distinctions called orders of architecture. The Greeks, in perfecting
their system of architecture, were probably aided by Egyptian
examples, although they finally surpassed all other nations in this
important art.
18. _Orders of architecture._--By the architectural orders are
understood certain modes of proportioning and decorating the column
and entablature. They were in use during the best days of Greece and
Rome, for a period of six or seven centuries. The Greeks had three
orders, called the _Doric_, the _Ionic_, and the _Corinthian_. These
were adopted and modified by the Romans, who also added two others,
called the _Tuscan_ and the _Composite_.
19. _Doric order._--The Doric is the oldest and most massive order of
the Greeks. The column, in the examples at Athens, is about six of its
diameters in height; in those of an earlier date, it is but four or
five. The temple here adduced to illustrate this order was built by
Cimon, son of Miltiades, about the year 450 before Christ. It is said
to be in a state of better preservation than any other of the ancient
Greek edifices at Athens. It will be seen that the shafts are
_fluted_, that is, cut in semicircular channels, in a longitudinal
direction. The United States' Bank, at Philadelphia, is a noble
specimen of this order.
[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF THESEUS.]
20. _Ionic order._--This order is lighter than the Doric, its column
being eight or nine diameters in height. Its shaft has twenty-four or
more flutings, separated from each other by square edges; and its
capital consists, in part, of two double scrolls, called _volutes_,
usually occupying opposite sides. These volutes are supposed to have
been copied from ringlets of hair, or from the horns of the god
Jupiter Ammon. The following example of this order consists of three
temples, each of which was dedicated to a different individual, viz.,
Erectheus, Minerva Polias, and the nymph Pandrosus.
[Illustration: THE ERECTHEUM AT ATHENS.]
21. _Corinthian order._--The Corinthian is the lightest and most
decorated of all the Grecian orders. Its column is usually ten
diameters in height, and its shaft is fluted like that of the Ionic.
Its capital is shaped like an inverted bell, and was covered on the
outside with two rows of the leaves of the plant acanthus, above which
are eight pairs of small volutes. It is said that this beautiful
capital was suggested to the sculptor Callimachus by the growth of an
acanthus about a basket, which had been accidentally left in a
garden.
22. The Greeks sometimes departed so far from the strict use of their
orders, as to employ the statues of slaves, heroes, and gods, in the
place of columns. A specimen of this practice is exhibited in the cut
illustrative of the Ionic order. It belongs to the temple dedicated to
Pandrosus.
23. The most remarkable buildings of the Greeks were their temples.
The body of these edifices consisted of a walled cell, usually
surrounded by one or more rows of pillars. Sometimes they had a
colonnade at one end only, and sometimes at both ends. Their form was
generally oblong, and as the cells were intended as places of resort
for the priests rather than for assemblies of the people, they were
but imperfectly lighted. Windows were seldom employed; and light was
admitted at the door at one end, or through an opening in the roof.
24. Grecian architecture is supposed to have been at its greatest
perfection in the days of Pericles and Phidias, when sculpture is
admitted to have attained its highest excellence. It was
distinguished, in general, by simplicity of structure, fewness of
parts, absence of arches, and lowness of pediments and roofs.
25. _Roman style._--The Romans adopted the three Grecian orders, with
some modifications; and also added two others, called the Tuscan and
Composite. The former of these they borrowed from the nation whose
name it bears, and the latter they formed by uniting the
embellishments of the Doric and the Corinthian. The favorite order in
Rome and its colonies was the Corinthian. Examples of single pillars
of these orders may be seen at the end of this article.
26. The temples of the Romans generally bore a strong resemblance to
those of the Greeks, although they often differed from the specimens
of that nation in several particulars. The stylobate of the latter was
usually a succession of platforms, which likewise served the purposes
of steps, by which the building was approached on all sides. Among the
Romans, it was usually an elevated structure, like a continued
pedestal, on three sides, and accessible in front by means of steps.
The dome was also very commonly employed rather than the pent roof.
The following is an example of a temple at Rome.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF ANTONIUS AND FAUSTINA.]
27. _Greco-Gothic style._--After the dismemberment of the Roman
empire, the practice of erecting new buildings from the fragments of
old ones became prevalent. This gave rise to an irregular style of
building, which continued in use during the dark ages. It consisted of
Greek and Roman details combined under new forms, and piled up into
structures wholly unlike the original buildings from which the
materials had been taken. Hence the appellations _Greco-Gothic_ and
_Romanesque_ have been applied to it. The effect of this style of
building was very imposing, especially when columns and arches were
piled upon each other to a great height.
28. _Saracenic style._--This appellation has been given to the style
of building practised by the Moors and Saracens in Spain, Egypt, and
Turkey. It is distinguished, among other things, by an elliptical form
of the arch. A similar peculiarity exists in the domes of the Oriental
mosques, which are sometimes large segments of a sphere, appearing as
if inflated; and at other times, they are concavo-convex on the
outside. Several of these domes are commonly placed upon one building.
The _minaret_ is a tall slender tower, peculiar to Turkish
architecture.
29. _Gothic style._--The Goths, who overran a great part of the
Western empire, were not the inventors of the style of architecture
which bears their name. The term was first applied with the view to
stigmatize the edifices of the middle ages, in the construction of
which, the purity of the antique models had not been regarded. The
term was at first very extensive in its application; but it is now
confined chiefly to the style of building which was introduced into
various parts of Europe six or eight centuries ago, and which was used
in the construction of cathedrals, churches, abbeys, and similar
edifices.
[Illustration: GOTHIC CATHEDRAL AT YORK.]
30. The Gothic style is peculiarly and strongly marked. Its principles
seem to have originated in the imitation of groves and bowers, under
which the Druid priests had been accustomed to perform their sacred
rites. Its characteristics are, pointed arches, pinnacles and spires,
large buttresses, clustered pillars, vaulted roofs, and a general
predominance of the perpendicular over the horizontal.
31. The ecclesiastical edifices of this style of building are commonly
in form of a cross, having a tower, lantern, or spire, erected at the
point of intersection. The part of the cross situated towards the west
is called the _nave_; the eastern part, the _choir_; and the
transverse portion, the _transept_. A glance at the following diagram
will enable the reader to understand the form of the ground-work more
fully.
[Illustration]
32. Any high building erected above a roof is called a _steeple_,
which is also distinguished by different appellations, according to
its form: if it is square topped, it is a _tower_; if long and acute,
a _spire_; or if short and light, a _lantern_. Towers of great height
in proportion to their diameter are denominated _turrets_. The walls
of Gothic churches are supported on the outside by lateral
projections, called _buttresses_, which extend from the bottom to the
top, at the corners and between the windows. On the top of these are
slender pyramidal structures or spires, called _pinnacles_. The summit
or upper edge of a wall, if straight, is called a _parapet_; if
indented, a _battlement_.
33. Gothic pillars or columns are usually clustered, appearing as if a
number were bound together. They are confined chiefly to the inside of
buildings, and are generally employed in sustaining the vaults which
support the roof. The parts which are thrown out of a perpendicular
to assist in forming these vaults, have received the appellation of
_pendentives_. The Gothic style of building is more imposing than the
Grecian; but architects of the present day find it difficult to
accomplish what was achieved by the builders of the middle ages.
34. In the erection of edifices at the present day, the Grecian and
Gothic styles are chiefly employed, to the exclusion of the others,
especially in Europe and America. Modern dwelling-houses have
necessarily a style of their own, so far as relates to stories,
windows, and chimneys; and no more of the styles of former ages can be
applied to them, than what relates to the unessential and decorative
parts.
[Illustration: DORIC. IONIC. CORINTHIAN. COMPOSITE. TUSCAN.
PILLARS AND ENTABLATURES OF THE FIVE ORDERS.]
[Illustration: CARPENTER.]
THE CARPENTER.
1. It is the business of the carpenter to cut out and frame large
pieces of timber, and then to join them together, or fit them to brick
or stone walls, to constitute them the outlines or skeleton of
buildings or parts of buildings.
2. The joiner executes the more minute parts of the wood-work of
edifices, comprehending, among other things, the floors,
window-frames, sashes, doors, mantels, &c. Carpentry and joinery,
however, are so nearly allied to each other, that they are commonly
practised by the same individuals; and, in this article, they will be
treated together.
3. Carpentry and joinery, as well as all other trades connected with
building, are subservient to the architect, when an individual of this
particular profession has been employed; but it most commonly
happens, that the master-carpenter acts in this capacity. This is
especially the case in the erection of common dwellings, and, in fact,
of other edifices where nothing very splendid is to be attempted. It
is to be regretted, however, that the professional architect has not
been oftener employed; for, had this been the case, a purer taste in
building would have generally prevailed.
4. Contracts for the erection of buildings are often made with the
carpenter, as master-builder or architect. In such cases, it is his
business to employ persons capable of executing every kind of work
required on the proposed edifice, from the bricklayer and stone-mason
to the painter and glazier. It not unfrequently happens, however, that
the person himself, who proposes to erect a building, chooses to
employ the workmen in the different branches.
5. The constituent parts of buildings having been explained in the
article on architecture, it is unnecessary to enter here into minute
details on this point; nor would a particular description of the
various operations of the carpenter and joiner be useful to the
general reader, since, in every place, means are at hand by which a
general view of this business may be obtained by actual inspection.
6. The carpenter and joiner are guided, in the performance of their
work, by well-defined rules, drawn chiefly from the science of
Geometry, and which they have learned from imitation and practice, as
well as, in many cases, from the valuable works which have been
published on these branches of the art of building.
7. The principal tools with which they operate are the axe, the adze,
the saw, the auger, the gauge, the square, the compasses, the hammer,
the mallet, the crow, the rule, the level, the maul, and the plane;
and of many of these there are several kinds.
8. The timbers most employed in building in the United States are
chiefly pine, oak, beech, black walnut, cypress, larch, white cedar,
and hemlock; but of these pine is in the greatest use. Oak and beech
are much used in constructing frames, in which great strength is
required. Of the pine, there are several species, of which the white
and yellow are the most valuable; the former of these grows in the
greatest abundance in the Northern, and the latter, in the Southern
states.
9. Vast quantities of timber are annually cut into boards in
saw-mills, and floated down the rivers from the interior, during the
time of high water in the spring and fall, and sometimes at other
seasons of the year. The boards, or, as they are frequently
denominated, planks, are placed in the water, one tier above another,
and fastened together with wooden pins. Several of such _rafts_ are
connected by means of withes to form one; and, at each end of this,
are placed one or two huge oars, with which it may be guided down the
stream. Upon these rafts, shingles and laths are also brought to
market.
10. Logs and scantling to be employed in the frames of buildings are
also conveyed down the rivers in the same manner. The business
connected with the production of shingles, laths, boards or planks,
and staves, is called lumbering; and it is carried on, more or less
extensively, in the regions near the sources of all the large rivers
in the United States, and in the British possessions in North America.
11. The trade in lumber has also given rise to another class of men,
called lumber merchants; these purchase the lumber from the original
proprietors, who bring it down the rivers, and, in their turn, sell it
to builders and others. The lumbering business employs a large
capital, and a numerous class of our citizens.
[Illustration: STONE-MASON.]
THE STONE-MASON, THE BRICKMAKER, &c.
THE MASON.
1. The art of Masonry includes the sawing and cutting of stones into
the various shapes required in the multiplied purposes of building,
and in placing them in a proper manner in the walls and other parts of
edifices. It is divided into two branches, one of which consists in
bringing the stones to the desired form and polish, and the other, in
laying them in mortar or cement.
2. The rocks most used in building in the United States, are marble,
granite, greenstone, scienite, soap-stone, limestone, gypsum, and
slate. These are found in a great many localities, not only on this
continent, but on the other side of the Atlantic. Of these stones,
there are many varieties, which are frequently designated by their
sensible qualities, or by the name of the place or country whence
they are obtained; as _variegated_, _Italian_, _Egyptian_, or
_Stockbridge marble_, and _Quincy stone_.
3. _The Stone-cutter._--Stone-cutters procure their materials from the
_quarry-men_, whose business it is to _get out_ the stones from the
quarries, in which they lie in beds, consisting either of strata piled
upon each other, or of solid masses. Stones of any desirable
dimensions are detached from the great mass of rock, by first drilling
holes at suitable points, and then driving into them wedges with a
sledge. These blocks are usually removed from the quarries, and placed
on vehicles of transportation, by means of huge cranes, with which is
connected suitable machinery.
4. The blocks of stone, received in their rough state by the
stone-cutter, are divided, if required, into pieces of smaller size,
by means of a toothless saw, aided by the attrition of sand and water.
The other rough sides of the blocks are reduced to the proper form by
means of steel _points_ and _chisels_ driven with a mallet. A kind of
hammer with a point or chisel-like edge, is also used to effect the
same object, especially in the softer kinds of stone.
5. For some purposes, the stones are required to be polished. This is
especially the case with those employed in the ornamental parts of
buildings. In the execution of this part of the work, the surface is
rubbed successively with sand, freestone, pumice-stone, Scotch stone,
crocus, and putty. When the face is a plane, the sand is applied by
means of another stone, which is moved backwards and forwards upon it.
In this way, two surfaces are affected at the same time.
6. In polishing irregular surfaces, the different kinds of stone are
used in masses of convenient size; and the part applied to the surface
to be polished is first brought to a form corresponding to it. The
putty is an oxyde of tin, in form of powder. Crocus is the peroxyde of
iron. The building-stone capable of receiving the highest polish is
marble; and it is on this material that the stone-cutter, and the
architectural carver or sculptor, exert their utmost skill; but some
of the other stones which have been mentioned, possess the same
quality to a considerable extent.
7. Carving architectural ornaments, such as pillars with their
capitals, is a refined branch of this business; or it may rather be
considered, of itself, a branch of sculpture. In the execution of this
kind of work, the operator is guided by patterns, formed from the
well-defined rules of the science of building. Very few stone-cutters
attempt the execution of work so very difficult.
8. From the manufacture of mantel-pieces and monuments for the dead,
the stone-cutter derives a great proportion of his profits. This will
be manifest even to the superficial observer who may visit a few of
the many stone-cutters' yards, to be found in any of our large cities.
In some of these, blocks of marble are cut into slabs by the aid of
steam-power.
9. In districts of country, also, where valuable stone is abundant,
water is extensively employed for the same purpose. This is especially
the case in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where marble of a good
quality is abundant. A great proportion of the marble slabs used by
the stone-cutter are obtained from such mills. Some other operations
of this business are also sometimes performed by the aid of machinery.
THE STONE-MASON.
1. In Philadelphia, and in many other cities not only in this country,
but also in Europe, the stone-cutters _set their own work_; and this
practice has led to the habit of applying the term stone-mason to
both stone-cutters and those who lay stone in mortar and cement. In
New-York, however, as well as in some of the cities farther east,
these two employments are kept more distinct. The stone-cutters in
Philadelphia are sometimes denominated marble-masons.
2. But, in every city, there are persons called stone-masons, whose
business consists exclusively in constructing the walls and some other
parts of buildings with stone; and their operations are considerably
enlarged in those places where there are no marble-masons. In many
cases, the bricklayer is also so far a stone-mason, as to lay the
foundation-walls of the buildings which he may erect. This is
especially the case in the country, where the divisions of labor are
not so minute as in cities. It may be well here to remark, also, that
the bricklayers, in some places, perform the services of the
marble-mason.
3. The marble-mason, in joining together several pieces in a monument,
employs a kind of cement composed of about six parts of lime, one of
pure sand, a little plaster, and as much water as may be necessary to
form it to the proper consistency. No more of this cement is used than
is required to hold the blocks or parts together, as one great object
of the artist is to hide the joints as much as possible. The substance
thus interposed, becomes as hard as the marble itself.
4. The cement employed in laying marble in common or large edifices,
is somewhat different from that just described, as it consists of
about three fourths of lime and one of sand. The latter substance is
obtained, in an unmixed state, on the bays in every part of the world;
hence it has received the appellation of _bay sand_.
5. When it cannot be conveniently had in a pure state, particles of
the same kind can be separated in sufficient quantities from their
admixture with other substances. This is effected by sifting the
compound through a sieve, into a small stream of water, which carries
off the lighter particles that are unfit for use, whilst the sand, by
its superior specific gravity, sinks to the bottom. The part which may
be too coarse, remains in the sieve. This, however, except the
rubbish, can be used in the coarser kinds of masonry.
6. The mortar, used in laying bricks and common stone, has a greater
proportion of sand, which is generally of an inferior quality.
Besides, the materials are incorporated with less care. Lime for the
purposes of building is procured chiefly by calcining limestone in a
kiln, with wood, coal, or some other combustible substance. It is also
obtained by burning chalk, marble, and marine shells. Water poured
upon newly-burnt or _quick_ lime, causes it to swell, and fall to
pieces into a fine powder. In this state it is said to be _slacked_.
7. Masonry is often required in situations under water, especially in
the construction of bridges and locks of canals. Common mortar resists
the action of the water very well, when it has become perfectly dry;
yet, if it is immersed before it has had time to harden, it dissolves,
and crumbles away.
8. The ancient Romans, who practised building in the water to a great
extent, discovered a material, which, when incorporated with lime,
either with or without sand, possessed the property of hardening in a
few minutes even under water. This was a kind of earth found at
Puteoli, to which was given the name of _pulvis puteolanus_, and which
is the same now called _puzzolana_.
9. A substance denominated _tarras_, _terras_, or _tras_, found near
Andernach, in the vicinity of the Rhine, possesses the same quality
with puzzolana. It is this material which has been principally
employed by the Dutch, whose aquatic structures are superior to those
of any other nation in Europe. Various other substances, such as baked
clay and calcined greenstone, reduced to powder, afford a tolerable
material for water-cements. Several quarries of water lime, which is
similar in appearance to common limestone, has been lately discovered
in the United States, which, being finely pulverized and mixed with
sand, makes very good water-cement.
10. In buildings constructed with marble and other costly stones, the
walls are not composed of these materials in their entire thickness;
but, for the sake of cheapness, they are formed on the inside with
bricks, commonly of a poor quality, so that in reality they can be
considered only brick walls faced with stone. These two kinds of
materials have no other connexion than what is produced by the mortar
which may have been interposed, and the occasional use of clamps of
iron. Such walls are said to be liable to become convex outwardly from
the difference in the shrinking of the cement employed in laying the
two walls.
11. The principal tools employed in cutting and laying stone are the
saw, various kinds of steel points, chisels and hammers, the mallet,
the square, the compasses, the level, the plumb-rule, the trowel, and
the hod, to which may be added, the spade and the hoe. The last three
instruments, however, are handled almost exclusively by laborers.
12. Besides these, contrivances are required to raise heavy materials
to the various positions which they are to occupy. These consist, for
the most part, of one or two shafts, commonly the mast of an old
vessel, to which are attached tackle extending in various directions,
and also those by which the blocks are to be raised. The rope
belonging to the hoisting tackle is pulled by a machine worked with a
crank.
13. Masonry is one of the primitive arts, and was carried to great
perfection in ancient times. The pyramids of Egypt are supposed to
have stood about three thousand years, and they will probably remain
for centuries to come, monuments as well of the folly as of the power
and industry of man. The temples and other magnificent structures of
Greece and Rome, exhibit wonderful skill in masonry, and leave but
little, if anything new, to be achieved in modern times.
THE BRICKMAKER.
1. Brick is a sort of artificial stone, made principally of
argillaceous earths formed in moulds, dried in the sun, and burned
with fire.
2. The earliest historical notice of bricks is found in the book of
Genesis, where it is stated that the posterity of Noah undertook to
build a city and a lofty tower of this material. Whether the bricks
were really exposed to the action of fire, as the passage referred to
seems to imply, or only dried in the sun, is an unsettled point. But
Herodotus, who visited the spot many centuries afterwards, states that
the bricks in the tower of Babylon were baked in furnaces.
3. It is evident, however, that the earliest bricks were commonly
hardened in the sun; and, to give them the requisite degree of
tenacity, chopped straw was mixed with the clay. The manufacture of
such bricks was one of the tasks imposed upon the Israelites, during
their servitude with the Egyptians.
4. The extreme dryness and heat of the climate in some of the eastern
countries, rendered the application of fire dispensable; and there are
structures of unburnt bricks still remaining, which were built two or
three thousand years ago. Bricks both sun-dried and burned, were used
by the Greeks and the Romans.
5. The walls of Babylon, some of the ancient structures of Egypt and
Persia, the walls of Athens, the rotunda of the Pantheon, the temple
of Peace, and the Thermæ, or baths, at Rome, were all built of brick.
The most common bricks among the Romans were seventeen inches long and
eleven broad; a size, certainly, far preferable, as regards
appearance, to those of modern manufacture.
6. In the United States, a great proportion of the edifices,
particularly in the cities and towns, are constructed of bricks, which
are usually manufactured in the vicinity of the place where they are
to be used. The common clay, of which they are made, consists of a
mixture of argillaceous earth and sand, with a little oxyde of iron,
which causes them to turn red in burning. The material for bricks is
dug up, and thrown into a large heap, late in the fall or in the
winter, and exposed to the influence of the frost until spring.
7. The operation of making bricks is conducted very systematically;
and, although every part of the work seems to be very simple, it
requires considerable dexterity to perform it properly and to the best
advantage. The workmen, in the yards about Philadelphia, are divided
into _gangs_ consisting of three men and a boy. The first is called
the _temperer_, who tempers the material with water and mixes it with
a spade; the second is called the _wheeler_, who conveys it on a
barrow to a table, where it is formed in moulds by the _moulder_,
whence it is carried to the _floor_ by the boy, who is denominated the
_off-bearer_.
8. The bricks are suffered to remain on the floor a day or two, or
until they have become dry enough to be handled with safety. They are
then removed and piled into a _hack_, under cover, in such a manner
that the air may circulate freely between them. It is the business of
the whole gang to remove the bricks from the floor, and also to place
them in the kiln to be burned. In both cases, each one has his due
proportion of labor to perform.
9. The day's work of a gang, when the weather is favorable, is to make
and pile in the hack a tale of bricks, which consists of 2332, or an
even 2000. The former number is called a _long tale_, and the latter,
a _short tale_. Considerable skill and much care are required in
burning the bricks in a proper manner; too much fire would cause them
to vitrify, and too little would leave them soft, and unfit for
atmospheric exposure.
10. In many places, the clay is mixed or prepared for the moulder by
driving round upon it a yoke of oxen, or by means of a simple machine,
consisting of a beam, into which has been driven a great number of
spokes. One end of this beam is confined in a central position, while
the other is moved round in a sweep by animal power.
11. Machines have also been invented by the aid of which the clay may
be both mixed and moulded; but these have been very little used. A
machine, however, is often employed in pressing bricks which have been
formed in the usual manner. The pressing is done after the bricks have
become partially dry. Such bricks are employed in facing the walls of
the better kinds of structures.
12. _Tiles._--Tiles are plates used for covering roofs. They resemble
bricks in their composition and mode of manufacture, and are shaped in
such a manner that when placed upon a building, the edge of one tile
receives that next to it, so that water cannot percolate between them.
Tiles, both of burnt clay and marble, were used by the ancients; and
the former continue to be employed in various parts of Europe. Flat
tiles are used for floors in many countries, and especially in Italy.
THE BRICKLAYER.
1. The particular business of the bricklayer is to lay bricks in
mortar or some other cement, so as to form one solid body; but he
frequently constructs the foundations of buildings in rough stones,
and, in some cities, he sets hewn stone in the superstructure. In the
country, plastering is likewise connected with this business.
2. Bricklaying consists in placing one brick upon another in mortar,
chiefly in the construction of walls, chimneys, and ovens. In
connecting these materials, especially in walls, two methods are
employed, one of which is called the _English bond_, and the other,
the _Flemish bond_. In the former method, the bricks are most commonly
of one quality, and are laid crosswise and lengthwise in alternate
rows. The bricks which are laid across the wall are called _headers_,
and those which are laid in the other direction are called
_stretchers_. The brick-work of the Romans was of this kind, and so
are the partition-walls of many modern brick edifices.
3. The bricks employed in the walls constructed according to the
Flemish method, are of two, and frequently of three, qualities. Those
placed in the front, or on the external surface, are manufactured with
greater care, and, in some cases, are formed in a larger mould. A wall
put up on this principle may be said to consist of two thin walls
composed of stretchers, with occasional headers, to unite them
together. The space between them, when the wall is thick, is filled in
with the inferior bricks.
4. The inclosing walls of all brick edifices are erected on this plan,
although they are thought to be more insecure than those constructed
on the old English method. The reasons alleged for the preference, are
its superior beauty, and a considerable saving in the most expensive
kind of bricks. Greater security might be attained by the use of
larger bricks, say sixteen inches in length, and wide and thick in
proportion. Besides, an edifice constructed of well-made bricks of
this size would be but little inferior in appearance to marble itself.
5. Most of the instruments used by the bricklayer are also employed by
the stone-mason; and they have, therefore, been already mentioned. The
particular method of laying bricks, in their various applications, can
be learned by actual inspection in almost every village, city, or
neighborhood, in our country, a more particular description of the
bricklayer's operations is hence unnecessary.
6. Before closing this subject, however, it may be well to state that
the chimney appears to be an invention comparatively modern, since the
first certain notice we have of it is found in an inscription at
Venice, in which it is stated that, in 1347, a great many chimneys
were thrown down by an earthquake. It is conjectured that this
valuable improvement originated in Italy, inasmuch as it was here that
chimney-sweeping was first followed as a business.
7. Before the introduction of the chimney, it was customary to make
the fire in a hole or pit in the centre or some other part of the
floor, under an opening formed in the roof, which, in unfavorable
weather, could be closed by a moveable covering. Among the Romans, the
hearth or fire-place was located in the _atrium_ or hall, and around
it the _lares_, or household gods, were placed. To avoid being
infested with smoke, they burned dry wood soaked in the lees of oil.
In warming other apartments of the house, they used portable furnaces,
in which were placed embers and burning coals.
8. It is said by Seneca, who flourished about the middle of the first
century of the Christian era, that in his time, a particular kind of
pipes was invented, and affixed to the walls of buildings, through
which heat from a subterranean furnace was made to circulate. By this
means, the rooms were heated more equally. In the southern parts of
Italy and Spain, there are still very few chimneys. The same may be
said of many other countries, where the climate is pleasant or very
warm.
9. Hollinshead, who wrote during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, thus
describes the rudeness of the preceding generation in the arts of
life: "There were very few chimneys even in capital towns: the fire
was laid to the wall, and the smoke issued out at the roof, or door,
or window. The houses were wattled, and plastered over with clay; and
all the furniture and utensils were of wood. The people slept on straw
pallets, with a log of wood for a pillow."
THE PLASTERER.
1. In modern practice, plastering occurs in many departments of
architecture. It is more particularly applied to the ceilings and
interior walls of buildings, and also in rough-casting on their
exterior.
2. In plastering the interior parts of buildings, three coatings of
mortar are commonly applied in succession. The mortar for the _first
coat_ is composed of about twelve parts of sand, six of lime, and
three of hair, with a sufficient quantity of water to bring it to the
proper consistence; that for the _second coat_ contains a less
proportion of lime and hair; and that for the _third coat_ is composed
exclusively of lime and water.
3. The mortar is applied directly to the solid wall, or to thin strips
of wood called _laths_, which have been fastened with small nails to
the joists, and other parts of the frame of the building. The tools
with which the plasterer applies the mortar are _trowels_ of
different sizes and shapes, and the _hawk_. The latter instrument is
a board about a foot square, with a short handle projecting at right
angles from the bottom.
4. In all well-finished rooms, cornices are run at the junction of the
wall and ceiling. The materials of these cornices are lime, water, and
plaster. The lime and water are first incorporated, and the plaster is
added with an additional quantity of water, as it may be needed for
immediate application. The composition is applied in a semifluid
state, but the plaster causes it _to set_, or to become solid
immediately. In the mean time, the workman applies to it, in a
progressive manner, the edge of a solid piece of wood, in which an
exact profile of the proposed cornice has been cut.
5. Ornaments of irregular shape are cast in moulds of wax or plaster
of Paris, and these are formed on models of the proposed figures in
clay. Such ornaments were formerly the productions of manual
operations performed by ingenious men called _ornamental plasterers_.
The casts are all made of the purest plaster; and, after having been
polished, they are fastened to the proper place with the same
substance saturated with water.
6. The branch of this business called _rough-casting_, consists in
applying mortar to the exterior walls of houses. The mode in which the
work is performed varies but little from that adopted in plastering
the walls of apartments. It, however, requires only two coats of the
cement; and, when these have been applied, the surface is marked off
in imitation of masonry. It is likewise sometimes colored, that it may
resemble marble or some other stone.
7. The cement is commonly made of _sharp sand_ and lime; but sometimes
a kind of argillaceous stone, calcined in kilns and afterwards reduced
to powder by mechanical means, makes a part of the composition. The
qualities of this material were first discovered by a Mr. Parker, who
obtained letters patent for this application of it, in England, in
1796; hence it has been called _Parker's cement_.
THE SLATER.
1. Slate stone is valuable for the property of splitting in one
direction, so as to afford fragments of a sufficient size and thinness
to answer several purposes, but especially for covering houses and for
writing slates. The best slates are those which are even and compact,
and which absorb the least water.
2. The slates used in the United States, are obtained either from our
own quarries, of which there are several, or from those of Wales, in
the county of Caernarvonshire. The stone is quarried in masses, which
are afterwards split into pieces of suitable thinness. These are
trimmed to an oblong figure by means of a knife and a steel edge,
which act upon the slate much in the manner of a large pair of shears.
3. As it is impossible to dress all the slates to the same size
without much waste of material, those engaged in their manufacture
have introduced several sizes, the smallest of which are made of the
fragments of the larger kinds. These are designated by names known to
the trade, and to those practically conversant with the art of
building.
4. The slates, when brought to market, especially those from Wales,
require additional dressing to fit them for use. The manner of
applying them to roofs differs but little from that employed in
putting on shingles, as they are lapped over each other in the same
way, and confined to their place by means of nails of a similar kind.
The nails, however, have a broader head, and are somewhat larger,
varying in size to suit the dimensions of the slate. The holes in the
slate for the nails are made with a steel point attached to the
slater's hammer, or to his knife, technically called a _saix_.
5. Slates are preferable to shingles on account of their durability,
and, in a majority of situations, for their fire-proof quality. They,
however, are objectionable on account of their weight and
expensiveness, and are therefore beginning to be superseded in this
country by sheets of zinc, and by those of iron coated with tin.
Copper and lead are also used for roofs, but the metals just mentioned
are beginning to exclude them altogether.
6. A serious objection to metal roofs has been their liability to
crack, caused by the contraction and expansion of the material, in
consequence of variations in the temperature of the weather; but a
particular method of putting the sheets together has been lately
devised, which appears to obviate the difficulty. Tiles are not used
in t
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