Specimen of Printing Types, Vincent Figgins, Letter-Founder
The first specimen of Vincent Figgins's new letter foundry at Swan Yard, Holborn Bridge, London, printed by T. Bensley.
What it is
The first specimen of Vincent Figgins's new letter foundry at Swan Yard, Holborn Bridge, London, printed by T. Bensley. It opens with a one-page address to 'the Master Printers, and other Literary Gentlemen'. Figgins cites ten years of training under the late Joseph Jackson, much of it managing Jackson's foundry, announces an entirely new foundry, admits he has only a few founts finished, promises that orders will be executed punctually, and offers space lines, rules, quotations and justifiers at the usual prices, with more italics and sizes to follow. The showings are romans on Cicero's speech against Catiline (Two-line English, Long-bodied English No. 2, Pica, Small Pica, an open Pica) and a strong run of learned faces: Hebrew with and without points, Rabbinical Hebrew, Greek including Alexandrian, Ethiopic, Samaritan and Anglo-Saxon. The Greek and Saxon pages set the Lord's Prayer.
Why read it now
The address is a short launch letter with a sound structure. It opens on the state of the trade, borrows authority from a named and respected master, states the new offer, admits the weakness (few founts finished) before the buyer finds it, and closes on service: orders attended to and executed punctually. Meta-analyses of two-sided advertising find that admitting a limit tends to raise the credibility of the claims around it, which supports this order. The learned faces do quiet positioning. A foundry that can set Hebrew, Greek, Ethiopic and Samaritan shows its skill to the scholarly printers the address courts, without saying so. What has dated: the deferential tone, hoping he will not be thought arrogant for asking, reads as weak today, and the promise of specimens to come asks the buyer to wait. The long s and the Latin also narrow its audience. Use it this way: when you launch on your own after years inside another firm, name where you trained, say plainly what is not ready yet, and show only finished work at full quality.
Passages worth keeping
AT a period when the Art of Printing has, perhaps, arrived to a degree of excellence hitherto unknown in the annals of Literature, the improvement of Types will, no doubt, be generally considered as an object worthy of attention.
يبدأ فيغينز بحال السوق: الطباعة بلغت مستوى غير مسبوق، فتحسين الحروف أمر يستحق الاهتمام. بهذا يجعل مسبكه الجديد جوابًا عن حاجة قائمة.
having had the advantage of ten years instruction and servitude under the late ingenious Mr. Joseph Jackson
يقدم خبرته من خلال معلمه: عشر سنوات تدرب فيها عند صانع حروف معروف. فالثقة تنتقل من اسم راسخ إلى اسم جديد.
Although as yet he has but few Founts finished, he is anxious to submit a Specimen for approbation.
يعترف بأن خطوطه الجاهزة قليلة، ومع ذلك يعرضها على المهنة لتحكم عليها. الاعتراف المبكر يمنع المشتري من اكتشاف النقص بنفسه.
All orders he may be favoured with shall be duly attended to, and punctually executed.
وعد بالخدمة بدل الوعد بالحجم: كل طلب يصل سيُنفذ بعناية وفي موعده.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
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