Page:De Vinne, Invention of Printing (1876).djvu/69

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THE KEY TO THE INVENTION.

59

all types were cast by hand, from a hand-mould, and by a process which received no noticeable improvement for two centuries. The following illustration, taken from an engraving

Type-Casting as Practised in 1683.
[From Moxon.]"

published by an early English type-founder,^[1] can be offered as a substantially correct representation of the method of casting which was practised by all type-founders in the first quarter of this century.

The type-caster took in his left hand the mould, which was imbedded in a wood frame, and shielded about the jet,

↑ Mechanick Exercises, or the Doctrine of Handy-Works, applied to the Art of Printing. By Joseph Moxon, Member of the Royal Society, and Hydrographer to the King, etc. London, 1683.

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[1] Mechanick Exercises, or the Doctrine of Handy-Works, applied to the Art of Printing. By Joseph Moxon, Member of the Royal Society, and Hydrographer to the King, etc. London, 1683.

[1]