HISTORY OF PRINTING

Evening Star, Issue 23744, 27 November 1940, Page 11

HISTORY OF PRINTING

500TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATED EXHIBITION AT PUBLIC LIBRARY The 500th anniversary of the invention of printing in 1440 is bein'' commemorated by an exhibition which opened in the Public Library yesterday the display of which is along most comprehensive lines, comprising a complete survey of the craft—from actual fifteenth century books to modern multicolour work, including technical processes. New Zealand’s own printing story is told, and an interesting fact emerges—that printing, witli over 8,000 employees, is tho Dominion’s third largest manufacturing industry. Tho greater part of the display is made in the (Reference Library, and here in a special show case is a facsimile of the world’s first printed book, tin; Bible printed by Gutenberg, who is believed to have invented printing in 1440. This, the first printed work, was so well printed that even to-day, it is said, “it stands as a monument of splendid typography.” A copy of this work was sold in September, 1926, to a New York collector for £55.000.

Also on display is a facsimile of printing by William Caxton in 1483, reproductions of sixteenth century printing are shown, and there is an actual copy of seventeenth century printing. Of great interest is a facsimile of the 1664 edition of Shakespeare. Modern presses are well represented, and most of these works were obtained by the library with money subscribed by tho Dunedin Savings Bank. One of the most interesting sections of the exhibits in the Reference Department is that occupied by a collection on loan from the ‘ New Zealand Tablet.’ This includes a Holy Bible in Latin, commonly called the Vulgate. It was printed in Paris in 1552. This Bible contains letters and prologues by St. Jerome (340-420 A.D.), a copious index of proper names in Hebrew, Chaldean, Greek, and Latin, an ordinary index, an index of the prophecies concerning Christ and copious notes in tho text. The verses, which were not separated as in later Bibles, have been indicated by some owner with the aid of red ink, which he has used also to “ touch up ” the woodcuts.

Contemporary New Zealand printing is divided into presses, a table is devoted to colour reproductions, and there is a display of early Dunedin newspapers. This includes the first issue of the ‘ Otago Daily Times,’ in 1861, and the first copy of the ‘ Otago Colonist and Dunedin and Invercargill Advertiser,’ published on December 26, 1856. The Rationalists’ weekly paper of the period about 1880, ‘ The Echo,’ is represented in the collection. On the ground floor are further examples of early printing in New Zealand, and it may be mentioned, in passing, that printing preceded organised settlement, for the first work was done in 1835 by a missionary, William Colenso, who translated into Maori and printed the Epistles to the Ephesians and Philippians. Five years before William Colenso’s first translation, the first actual printing to be executed in New Zealand was Page 1 of the catechism in Maori, printed by the Rev. W. Yate, of Kerikeri, in August, 1830. The first book in English appeared in 183 G, this being the Reports of the Temperance Society, Bay of Islands. Among the books displayed on the ground floor are those of early voyages to New Zealand and early printed Maori. The latter includes a ‘ Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand,’ by the Rev. Lee and Thomas Kendall, published in London in 1820. Also displayed is the first issue of the complete Bible in Maori, published in 18*68. Links with the early days of printing in Dunedin are the ‘ New Zealand Press News and Typographical Circular,’ printed in 1876, and ‘ Griffin’s Colonial Printers’ Register,’ published in 1880. Another interesting exhibit is Dunedin ‘ Punch,’ 1860. The exhibition will be open until Saturday.