PRINTING AND BOOKMAKING.
 

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ALBION PRESS.
 

Albion Press.—An iron hand-press, with a frame
somewhat like that of the Washington press, which
gives its impression by means of a number of levers,
which are straightened when the bar is pulled, thus
giving the required downward pressure. The Albion
is very popular in England, It
is described as having an easy
pull on the bar and simple
mechanism, and working rap¬
idly.

Albumen. —In binding
generally the whites of eggs,
either fresh or dried, but some¬
times from
other sub¬
stances. In
the fresh
state that
from eggs is
known as
glair. It is
of great
utility to
the binder,
serving as a

foundation for his gold, and is used also for other pur¬
poses. Desiccated Qgg albumen is in the form of a pow¬
der. Three teaspoonfuls of cold water added to half
a teaspoonful of powder represents the normal consist¬
ency of the material. The manufacture is carried on in
the neighborhood of Moscow, at the houses of the coun¬
try people. It is also largely produced in the neighbor¬
hood of Korotscha, the largest establishment there using
8,000,000 eggs in a year. Albumen is largely manufact¬
ured from blood ; five oxen, or twenty sheep, or thirty-
four calves are said each to produce two pounds of dry
albumen. In producing blood albumen for commerce
the object to be kept in view is the attainment of a sub¬
stance whose solution is free from color, possesses the
power of coagulation and is cheap.

Alden, Timothy, the inventor of a type setting and
distributing machine which attracted much attention
thirty and thirty-five years ago, belonged to an old New
England family, and was born at Yarmouth, Mass., on
June 14, 1819. He entered a printing-office, that of the
Barre Gazette, at Barre, Mass,, when only sixteen, and
continued as a compositor till he was twenty-seven.
He was early heard to declare that if he lived he would
invent some plan by which the slow and tedious work
of the typesetter could be facilitated. His work on the
machine began as early as 1838, and was continued un¬
til his death, December 4, 1858. In 1846 he went to
New York, where he completed his machine sufficiently
to obtain patents in 1856. Those who assisted him with
money kept on experimenting with the invention until
some fifteen years ago, when the patents, the machines
and the machinery for making them were sold at auc¬
tion, bringing only a song. Half a million of money
had been spent, and the stockholders declined paying
out any more. The apparatus contained 14,626 parts,
weighing 1,460 pounds, and would cost to manufacture
in quantities $2,000 each. It was much simplified
towards the end. It was tried in several places in New
York, as well as in some other cities, but was generally
thought by printers to be slow. To be really profitable
a complex machine must regularly produce more than
3,500 ems an hour. Theoretically, this did; its own¬
ers asserted that it had done 1,000 ems in ten minutes,
but 4,000 was the most for any hour of which a record
was kept,

Aldine Club.—A club of publishers, authors and
printers in New York, having a club-house in Lafay¬
ette place. The condition of liostility between authors
and publishers which seems to be chronic in England,
of which Campbell's toast to Napoleon, at a time when
 

that country was at war with France, because he had
shot a bookseller, is an early example, and of which
the novel Mr, Meeson's Will and the periodical called the
Author, carried on by Besant, are recent ones, does
not exist in New York, and the publishers, authors and
printers form in this club a very pleasant and interest¬
ing society,

Aldine Type.—A type somewhat resembling Ro¬
man, but heavier in face and somewhat condensed.

This line is in Aldine.

Aldus Manutius, a very celebrated printer at the
beginning of the sixteenth century, who practised his
art chiefly in Venice. Aldus is a contraction of Theo-
baldus, and in this abbreviated form he and his family
are better known than under their full name. He had
for his second name Pius. He was born at Bassian, a
small town in the duchy of Sermonetta, of a good fam¬
ily, in 1446 or 1447. He was in early life the tutor of
Albertus Pius, who afterwards supplied him with the
means to begin his press. He went to Venice about
1488, it is supposed, and in 1494 began printing. He
was a man of great learning and unwearied industry,
and his work is characterized by correctness of text,
care in^ printing and good typographical appearance.
He surrounded himself with the best scholars of the
day and lectured upon the classics to the students who
congregated in the town. After Constantinople was
captured by the Turks multitudes of Greeks fled to
other parts of the world, and some of the most learn¬
ed settled in Venice, giving him much assistance in
the preparation, collation and proof-reading of Greek
works, in which he accomplished much, the majority
of his publications being in that language. To him we
owe the character known as Italic by the Latin and
English nations, and Cursiv by the Germans. It is
said to be formed upon the handwriting of Petrarch.
So great was his partiality to this character that he
composed his prefaces and introductions in it, and
sometimes even whole books. He proposed a Bible
in Greek, Hebrew and Latin, being the first who had
thought of a polyglot Bible, and he also brought out
an introduction to the Hebrew tongue. His Greek is
characterized by Mattaire as being " large, round, beau¬
tiful and elegant; adorned with frequent ligatures,
which added great
beauty to his editions,"
The present system of
punctuation was prac¬
tically devised by him,
as the points before
employed were few
and their use not well
regulated. His mind
was entirely taken up
by his calling. As soon
as he could transact
whatever business was
necessary in the morn¬
ing he would retire to
his study, where he oc¬
cupied himself in revis¬
ing his Greek and Latin
manuscripts, examin¬
ing proofs, and reading
and answering letters
from the learned in all
parts of the world.   To

prevent interruption from idle callers he had an inscrip¬
tion over his door which read thus :

"Whoever you are Aldus earnestly entreats you to
dispatch your business as soon as possible, and then de¬
part, unless you come hither, like another Hercules, to
lend him some friendly assistance ; for here will be
work to employ you and as many as enter this place."

13
 

ALDUS MANUTIUS.