Mechanick
Exercises: Smithing, Joinery, etc. - Download Here
Joseph
Moxon, whose distinction it is to have been the first
practical English writer on the mechanics of typography, was
born at Wakefield, in Yorkshire, on August 8, 1627, and
appears to have been brought up as a mathematical instrument
maker, in which profession he showed himself highly
proficient. In the year 1659, being either already settled
in the metropolis, or having come thither for the purpose,
he added to his stated business that of a typefounder, in
which, according to Mores, he continued till 1683.
It is
difficult to fix the precise condition of the laws relating
to typefounders in the last year of the Commonwealth. The
Ordinances of 1647 and 1649, which reimposed the main
provisions of the Star Chamber Decree of 1637, remained
nominally in force till the Restoration, so that we are to
suppose that Moxon, unless he practiced his art
surreptitiously or sub rosa, was formally installed
into a vacancy in the body of authorized founders on
execution of the usual bond to the Company of Stationers.
If, as
seems probable, he commenced operations with little or no
previous experience, and with no plant ready to his hand,
the progress of the new foundry must at first have been very
slow, particularly as he appears to have devoted much of his
time to his other scientific pursuits, to which in 1665 he
added that of hydrographer to the king.
To this office a
considerable salary was attached. In the same year, Mores
informs us, he lived at the sign of the "Atlas" on Ludgate
Hill, near Fleet Bridge, but the Fire of London in 1666
caused him to quit that abode for another of the same sign
in Warwick Lane. From Warwick Lane, where he was living in
1668, he appears to have removed to Westminster, to the sign
of the "Atlas" in Russell Street, whence in 1669 was issued
his famous specimen of types, the first complete
typefounders' specimen known in England.
|
In a
passage in the Mechanick Exercises, published several
years later, Moxon speaks of the art of letter-cutting as a
mystery, "kept so conceal'd among the Artificers of it, that
I cannot learn anyone hath taught it any other, but every
one that has used it, Learnt it of his own Genuine
Inclination."
If this be the writer's own experience -
though his subsequent intimate acquaintance with the
minutest details of the art almost disproves it - his
specimen must be taken as the production of a self-taught
typographer after ten years' intermittent practice.
Viewed
in this light, the exceedingly poor performance which the
sheet presents can to some extent be accounted for. It must
also be borne in mind that Moxon's theoretical and
mathematical studies of the proportions and form of letters
had not yet been begun, or, at least, elaborated; so that in
no sense is his Specimen to be assumed to be a reduction
into practice of those theories.
Moxon's proficiency in the processes of the art does not
appear as yet to have attained the pitch of justifying his
matrices to any regularity of line, or of casting his types
square in body.
Some lines of the specimen curve and wave
so as to make it a marvel how others kept their places in
the forme, and the press-work and ink are so bad that at a
first glance the beholder is tempted to mistake
the larger letters with their sunken faces for
open instead of solid-faced Romans.
The sheet was apparently put forward not solely
as a specimen of types. The matter of each
paragraph is an advertisement of Moxon's
business as a mathematical instrument maker.
In Great Canon Remain he calls attention to the
"Globes Celestial and Terrestrial of all sizes
made by Joseph Moxon, Hydrographer to the King's
Most Excellent Majesty, 1669."
In
Double Pica Remain he announces his Spheres; in Great Primer
"a Large Map of the World"; in Pica Italica, "a book called a Tutor to
Astronomic and Geographic," and so on.
|
|
|
Joseph Moxon’s 'The Art of Joinery'
The
Art of Joinery” was the first book
published by Lost Art Press in 2008. It
was out of print and unavailable for
several years until we released this
revised edition in the fall of 2013.
Here is what the revised edition
contains:
1. The lightly edited text of Joseph
Moxon’s landmark work on joinery – the
first English-language text on the
topic. We took Moxon’s 17th-century
verbiage and removed the long “s”
characters, broke up his run-on
sentences and added a few words here and
there (in brackets) to help the modern
reader digest the text more easily.
2. I have added modern commentary on
every one of Moxon’s sections on tools
and techniques. I have amplified the
text with photos that demonstrate many
of the processes that Moxon discusses,
such as processing stock by hand and
cutting mortise-and-tenon joints. And I
have explained the historical context
behind many of Moxon’s explanations,
sometimes supporting his conclusions;
sometimes taking issue with them. In
this revised edition, I have expanded
some of my commentary and revised some
assessments based on new information.
3. Each section is published with the
relevant illustrations embedded in the
text. In the original edition, the
plates were separate from the text. We
have put them together to make it easier
for you to read.
4. We have published the original plates
in their entirety so you can see how the
tools were arranged on the page.
5. We have included the complete and
unedited original text from the 17th
century. This text includes all the
antiquated characters, inconsistent
spellings, free-form italics and capital
letters and run-on sentences. We have
painstakingly reset the entire text in a
17th-century style typeface called
“Fell.”
6. And we have added an appendix of
select plates from André Félibien’s “Des
principes de l'architecture, de la
sculpture, de la peinture…“ (1676),
which pre-dated Moxon’s work and is
probably the source of many of Moxon’s
drawings.
“The Art of Joinery, Revised Edition” is
168 pages and – like all Lost Art Press
publications – printed and bound in the
United States. The book is hardbound and
covered with a dark-blue cloth. The
interior of the book is notched and
casebound for durability. The book has
natural-colored endsheets and the book’s
pages feature a rough exterior edge
(sometimes called a "deckle" edge), like
early books.
Christopher Schwarz |
|
To one
or two of the founts, such as the Great Canon, the Pica and
the Brevier, he adds a line of accents or signs. It
would appear, from the imprint already quoted, that Moxon
combined printing with typefounding at Westminster. If so,
he probably confined his press to the printing of specimens
and advertisements of his own goods, as we cannot ascertain
that any of his other works were printed by himself, or that
he printed anything for the public.
About
1670 he removed back to the sign of the Atlas, in Ludgate
Hill. Rowe Mores considers it probable that for some time
he resided in Holland, during which time he acquired a
certain proficiency in the Dutch language. During the same
period it is probable that he may have come across, and been
struck by specimens of the beautifully proportioned Elzevir
letters of Christoffel Van Dijk, which he admitted were the
inspiration of his Regula Trium Ordinum.
Of
this curious work, which was published in 1676, it will
suffice to say here, it is a work intended not so much for
the letter-cutter as for the sign-board and inscription
painter. Taking the Van Dijk letters as his models,
the writer attempts to demonstrate that each letter is a
combination of geometrical figures, bearing regular
proportions one to another; and by sub-division of the
square of each letter into forty-two equal parts, he
professes to be able to erect in any other square, similarly
sub-divided, the same letter in precise proportion and
harmony.
