Shakspere & Typography Part 5

Oh, could this kiss be _printed_ on thy hand!

_2 Henry VI_, iii, 2.

The idea has been still further developed in the following anonymous quatrain:

A PRINTER'S KISSES.

_Print_ on my lips another kiss, The picture of my glowing pa.s.sion.

Nay, this wont do--nor this, nor this; But now--Ay, that's a _proof impression_.

Many of Vautrollier's publications went through several editions. In the 'Merry Wives', II, 1, Mistress Page says:

These are of the second edition,

and well can we imagine Shakspere handing volumes to a buyer with the same remark, or asking some patron with whom he was a favourite:

Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines, With written pamphlet studiously devised?

_1 Henry VI_, iii, 1.

as the author entered with a roll of 'copy' in his hand.

In the deep mine from which the foregoing quotations have been dug, many others would doubtless reward a more careful search. As it is, numerous allusions, which, though plain to a printer, would seem too forced to the general public, have been pa.s.sed over. Enough, however, has probably been brought forward to justify the belief pourtrayed in the t.i.tle-page, viz.: _That Shakspere must have pa.s.sed some of his early years in a Printing-office._

Finish.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _The exact date was probably as difficult to arrive at then as now._ The arrival of William Caxton in England may, with a certainty of being near the truth, be placed in 1475-6, the date 1474 given by most writers being a misconception of the language used by Caxton in the Preface to the Chess-book. The Art on its first introduction was looked upon suspiciously by the people, few of whom could read, its chief patrons being a few of the more educated among the n.o.bles and the rich burghers of London.

Another mistake is to suppose that Caxton printed in Westminster Abbey.

His printing-office was a tenement to the south-east of the Abbey Church; its sign was the 'Red-pale', and Caxton rented it of the Abbot. There is evidence to show that Caxton and the Abbot were on distant terms of amity--none to show that the Ecclesiastic encouraged or patronised the Printer, notwithstanding Dean Stanley's a.s.sertions in a sermon lately preached by him in Westminster Abbey. The _only_ occasion upon which Caxton mentions the Abbot is to this effect--that the Abbot, not being able himself to read a pa.s.sage in old MS., sent it to Caxton, with a request that he would translate it. (See _The Life and Typography of William Caxton_, by William Blades. 2 vols., 4to. London, 1861-63.)

[2] _Fat Pages._ 'Fat' as a conventional word is not confined to Printers.

'A _fat_ living' is a phrase not unknown among churchmen, and is used in the same sense by the compositor, who charges the master-printer for the _fat_ pages, in which no work appears, at the same rate as if they were full.

[3] This word 'counterfeit' in the sense of 'reprint' or 'duplicate', is certainly not used now-a-days by English printers; yet I find this in Marahren's Parallel List of technical Typographical terms:--'Counterfeit, to, or to Reprint, v., Nachdrucken.--Re-imprimer.' With Bibliographers the word is still retained; _e.g._ 'Lyons counterfeits of the Aldine editions.'

[4] _And Folly (doctor-like) controlling skill._ It is worth noting, that in none of the various volumes written to show Shakspere's knowledge of medicine and medical men, has the truth of this pa.s.sage been brought forward in evidence.