DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0135
OF THE WORLD'S INDUSTRY. 107
conceived the idea of making such alterations as he thought necessary, and putting it to
the test. The changes made were simply to reduce the size of the letters and render the
faces thinner. On the 26th of October, 1836, he exhibited his first specimen of printing
in relief in the Roman capital letter at a public examination of the blind. It was Fry's
alphabet, slightly changed to improve the sharpness of the embossing. He then made a
successful appeal for a printing fund. After great exertions and most commendable per-
severance, he procured a printing press, with two founts of type, and the other necessary
printing apparatus. In January, 1837, he issued a few elementary works. By March,
1838, he had made such progress, that the whole of the New Testament was printed in
four super-royal quarto volumes; the type is great primer; and there are, in the four
volumes, 623 leaves, of forty-two lines to a page. In December, 1840, Mr. Alston com-
pleted the printing of the Old Testament in fifteen super-royal quarto volumes, in
double pica type. Of nine of the volumes he printed 200, and of the remaining six, 250
copies. There are in all these fifteen volumes, 2,505 pages, with thirty-seven lines on a
page. Mr. Alston was justly proud of his great work, the entire Bible, containing the
Old and New Testaments, in nineteen volumes. In his Statement of the Education,
Employment, and Internal Arrangements adopted at the Asylum for the Blind, Glasgow;
with a short Account of its Founder, fyc, tenth edition, 1846, 8vo, p. 80, he says, "this
is the first bible ever printed for the blind;" but in this he was evidently in error, as we
have shown that the greater part of it had long before been printed in Boston. We
allude to these facts, merely because it seems a matter of much regret that Mr. Alston
should have devoted so much enterprise and money in producing the Scriptures, when
he might have ascertained that they had already been printed, and could have been
bought at less money than it would cost him to print them. The main difference
between the Glasgow and the Boston alphabets is, that one is in the upper and the
other is in the lower case, which difference is certainly not of sufficient consequence to
demand two editions. Had he expended the same energy and money in producing other
valuable works, and exchanged them with the Boston and Philadelphia Institutions, as
he was urged to do, the three institutions would have been greatly benefited by the large
outlay, and the blind of both countries would have had a great increase to their library.
On the 18th of January, 1838, the officers of the Philadelphia Institution wrote to Mr.
Alston, informing him that they possessed a printing press, and " understanding that you
adopt the same character, it appears to our board of management that both institutions
would gain by an interchange of volumes." Mr. Alston at once acceded to this propo-
sition, and immediately shipped 150 volumes, being ten full sets of the New Testament,
and fifty single copies of the gospels, besides multiplication tables and other works.
Since the death of Mr. Alston, on the 20th of August, 1846, the Glasgow press has
almost ceased to work. A few of the volumes have been reprinted. It is at present
engaged in reprinting the Gospel of St. John and the Acts of the Apostles. Since 1837,
it has been almost the only press that has supplied England, Ireland, and Scotland with
embossed books in Roman type. These books are typographically well executed, and
the jury think Mr. Alston and the Glasgow press are deserving of great praise. The
objections, however, to the small Roman capitals, in which most of the books are printed,
are such that it is to be hoped that ere long this press will follow the example of that
at Philadelphia, and adopt Howe's typography. It has generally been supposed that the
Glasgow press was the only one in Great Britain that printed anything of consequence
in the common letter. But we cannot omit to mention a valuable work that has come
under our notice ; it is a Magazine for the Blind. London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.,
Statjoners'-court; price 6s.; in twelve monthly parts. 1839-40. After two volumes
"were printed, the first magazine for the blind in this country was discontinued. It is in
conceived the idea of making such alterations as he thought necessary, and putting it to
the test. The changes made were simply to reduce the size of the letters and render the
faces thinner. On the 26th of October, 1836, he exhibited his first specimen of printing
in relief in the Roman capital letter at a public examination of the blind. It was Fry's
alphabet, slightly changed to improve the sharpness of the embossing. He then made a
successful appeal for a printing fund. After great exertions and most commendable per-
severance, he procured a printing press, with two founts of type, and the other necessary
printing apparatus. In January, 1837, he issued a few elementary works. By March,
1838, he had made such progress, that the whole of the New Testament was printed in
four super-royal quarto volumes; the type is great primer; and there are, in the four
volumes, 623 leaves, of forty-two lines to a page. In December, 1840, Mr. Alston com-
pleted the printing of the Old Testament in fifteen super-royal quarto volumes, in
double pica type. Of nine of the volumes he printed 200, and of the remaining six, 250
copies. There are in all these fifteen volumes, 2,505 pages, with thirty-seven lines on a
page. Mr. Alston was justly proud of his great work, the entire Bible, containing the
Old and New Testaments, in nineteen volumes. In his Statement of the Education,
Employment, and Internal Arrangements adopted at the Asylum for the Blind, Glasgow;
with a short Account of its Founder, fyc, tenth edition, 1846, 8vo, p. 80, he says, "this
is the first bible ever printed for the blind;" but in this he was evidently in error, as we
have shown that the greater part of it had long before been printed in Boston. We
allude to these facts, merely because it seems a matter of much regret that Mr. Alston
should have devoted so much enterprise and money in producing the Scriptures, when
he might have ascertained that they had already been printed, and could have been
bought at less money than it would cost him to print them. The main difference
between the Glasgow and the Boston alphabets is, that one is in the upper and the
other is in the lower case, which difference is certainly not of sufficient consequence to
demand two editions. Had he expended the same energy and money in producing other
valuable works, and exchanged them with the Boston and Philadelphia Institutions, as
he was urged to do, the three institutions would have been greatly benefited by the large
outlay, and the blind of both countries would have had a great increase to their library.
On the 18th of January, 1838, the officers of the Philadelphia Institution wrote to Mr.
Alston, informing him that they possessed a printing press, and " understanding that you
adopt the same character, it appears to our board of management that both institutions
would gain by an interchange of volumes." Mr. Alston at once acceded to this propo-
sition, and immediately shipped 150 volumes, being ten full sets of the New Testament,
and fifty single copies of the gospels, besides multiplication tables and other works.
Since the death of Mr. Alston, on the 20th of August, 1846, the Glasgow press has
almost ceased to work. A few of the volumes have been reprinted. It is at present
engaged in reprinting the Gospel of St. John and the Acts of the Apostles. Since 1837,
it has been almost the only press that has supplied England, Ireland, and Scotland with
embossed books in Roman type. These books are typographically well executed, and
the jury think Mr. Alston and the Glasgow press are deserving of great praise. The
objections, however, to the small Roman capitals, in which most of the books are printed,
are such that it is to be hoped that ere long this press will follow the example of that
at Philadelphia, and adopt Howe's typography. It has generally been supposed that the
Glasgow press was the only one in Great Britain that printed anything of consequence
in the common letter. But we cannot omit to mention a valuable work that has come
under our notice ; it is a Magazine for the Blind. London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.,
Statjoners'-court; price 6s.; in twelve monthly parts. 1839-40. After two volumes
"were printed, the first magazine for the blind in this country was discontinued. It is in