OCR Text |
Show of printing, the multiplying of impressions. Like printing, the date of the invention of engraving for the purpose of taking impressions on vellum or paper has not been and possibly may not ever be finally settled. The art is known to have been practised with some skill during the first quarter of the 15th century and to have been a development of the goldsmith's craf~. It is not certain either whether 1t came into use in Italy or in Germany first but the difference is one of a few' years only. The art came ~ncreasingly into use in both countnes soon after the middle of the 15th cen-tury. Vasari contends that printing from engraved plates was discovered .by Maso de Finiguerra, a Florentme silversmith about 1460. He filled the lines of' a plate he was engraving -- 22 with lamp black and oil that he might examine it. Accidentally he placed his work face down on a piece of paper. When he picked it up he ':as surprised to observe an impresSIOn on the white sheet. Authorities do not agree with this account. It is generally held that ~ike pri~ting, this discovery of takin~ 1mpress10ns from engraved plates belongs rightfully to Germany, the mother of so many useful arts. Before the 15th century were the dark ages. The people were ignorant, and there was no call or need for multiplying devices. The writing room of the monastery, and pictures of saints printed from rudely cut wood-blocks satisfied the pious requirements of clergy, rulers, and nobles. History teaches us that when an emergency arises there ever appears the means of meeting it. So it was with the invention of printing; 23 |