M' M^m^f'''-tl:-]:^S' Mi* THEODORE LOW DEVINNE PRINTER %juu ,oC. 2^ /^ THEODORE LOW DE VINNE PRINTER NEW YORK PRIVATELY PRINTED 1915 nmwxRY! CmVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 5^ T^S^ SANTA BARBARA CONTENTS Page Theodore Low DeVinne, Printer 3 Biographical Sketch by Henry Lewis BuUen. Memorial Meeting 13 Address by John Clyde Oswald 14 Address by Robert Underwood Johnson 22 Address by Walter Gilliss 33 Resolutions of Corporations, Societies, and Clubs . . 41 The Typotheta2 43 The Century Co ♦ 45 The Grolier Club 47 Boston Typothetaa Board of Trade 49 Printers' League of America 50 Club of Printing House Craftsmen 51 The DeVinne Press Mutual Aid Association 52 The Society of Printers, Boston 53 American Institute of Graphic Arts 54 Ben Franklin Club of Cincinnati . 56 The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen 57 The Hispanic Society of America 58 The American Numismatic Society 59 Informal Tributes of Friends, Business Associates, and the Press 63 Bibliography: Books written by Mr. DeVinne , 97 Books to which Mr. DeVinne contributed lOI Contributions by Mr. DeVinne to Periodicals 104 NOTE This book has grown out of a desire to put into permanent form the expressions of love ^ appreciation ^ and esteem which came from friends^ business associates^ and the outside world^ upon the death on February 16^ 19^4^ of Theodore Low T)eVinne. /Is too pretentious a volume would have been distasteful to Mr, T)eVinne^ it has not been possible to find room for all of the numerous tributes to his memory^ deeply appreciated though they are by his family and by the Company which bears his name. The work of selection has been guided by a desire to show^ without needless repetition^ the breadth of Mr, T>eVinne^s interests and influence^ and the affectionate admiration and emulation which it was his rare gift to inspire in those with whom he came in contact, /Ifter a careful study of the types of the early printers^ Mr, T>eVinne selected the type devised by Franz ^enner of Venice^ and first used by him in his edition of the ^^Quad- ragesimale '^ of 1472, Using it as his model^ he designed a new type^ combining legibility with marked grace of form^ which he named ^enner. This type^ embodying the results of his mature judgment^ has been chosen for this memorial, J. W. ecember 1915 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES " I shall not live to see it, but I hope that the time will come when the making of a good book, from the mechanical point of view, will be regarded as an achievement quite as worthy as the painting of a good picture." Theodore Low 'DeVinne THEODORE LOW DEVINNE PRINTER H E most impressive fact in the life of Theodore Low DeVinne was his per- sistent upward progress. His aspira- tions and mental activities and enthu- siasms knew no ebb. His fame was always in the ascendant. Hisbest work was done at an a^e when most men — even those of superior capacity — have lost enthusiasm and are losing their place in the current of affairs. Eminently practical, decisively technical, a safe and sound financier, he had the qualifications which are essen- tial to the make-up of that ^rim individual, the hard-headed business man. He devoted a lar^e proportion of his time to the promotion of printing; but this concentration, which narrows the minds of many so-called successful men, culti- vated in Mr. DeVinne's life a constantly increasing enthusi- asm for his art, which brought unwearying pleasure to his THEODORE LOW DEVINNE mind, and gradually blossomed into a splendid reputation. The fruitage is a fame justly earned and enduring. Viewed from every angle, Mr. De Vinne's life was a suc- cess: as head of a family, he was devoted and generous; as an employer, just, tolerant, and paternal ; as a citizen, unexcelled in probity; as a business man, wisely economi- cal; as a guide and mentor of printing fraternities, modest to a degree, earnest in action, indefatigably loyal; and as master of his art, an inspiration to all craftsmen engaged in or allied with typography. He did more than any other American printer to create public esteem for the printer's work, especially among the scholarly. His life proved again that business — buying and selling and manufacturing — may be made as noble and as fertile with service to the community as any of the learned professions or fine arts. He idealized printing, and that ideal was the firm foundation upon which he built his reputation. Master of its history, he appreciated the greatness of his occupation, and made it respected by others. He knew that he was a master of a civilizing force which is second to none, and that this force might be expressed by exquisite art. Thus he enjoyed every laborious day, and through each day he advanced toward his ever-ascending ideal; for, like all great characters, he knew, to quote Carlyle, one of his favorite authors, that **the greatest of faults is to be con- scious of none." Mr. DeVinne was not a genius. Like Franklin, he had great natural talent. Surrounded by men of equal ability, he excelled in the use of his talents and in the cherishing of an ideal. Writing in October, I913, he said: ** Printers should be inspired with more love and admiration for their BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES trade. When any printer follows his trade simply because it is to be a money-making trade he makes a serious mistake. I would go even further in saying that a prosperous printer will be more successful when he can inspire the buyers of printing in all its forms with the understanding that meri- torious printing is really a worthy branch of the fine arts." This is one of the last utterances of the greatest authority in America on the history, art, and literature of printing. Theodore Low De Vinne had the advantage of good par- entage, inheriting a love of learning and high principles. His father, Daniel De Vinne, was a Methodist minister, born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1 793? brought to this coun- try in his infancy, and residing until his eleventh year in Charleston, Montgomery County, New York. He was a schoolmaster in Brooklyn in I8I2. He was ordained in I8I9, and the rule of his church caused him to preach in many communities in New England, New York, and the Southern States. He was proficient in Latin and Greek, taught his sons Latin (which proved helpful in later years to Theodore), and wrote, among other works, ^*The Irish Primitive Church,'' which is an authority on the life of St. Patrick. He married Joanna Augusta Low, a fortunate choice, for her character strongly influenced her children for good. He had six sons and two daughters, four of his sons becoming printers; and two, bookbinders. An acquaint- ance with the Harper brothers, all active Methodists and all successful printers, probably determined the vocations of the De Vinne lads. John, the eldest, entered the Harper establishment as apprentice. It is related that on one occasion Theodore, the second son, then aged seven years, accompanied his father and his brother to Harper's, entering THEODORE LOW DEVINNE a printing-plant for the first time. He attended schools in Catskill, Amenia, and White Plains until his fourteenth year (1842), when he be^an to learn the printing business in the office of the Newburgh ''Gazette," the owner of which was a literary printer. In 1848 he ventured to New York City, working in several printing-plants, newspaper composing-rooms, and a stereotype foundry, until in 1850 he was fortunate enough to be employed as a journeyman compositor in the establishment of Francis Hart, a fine man and a model employer, and there found his life-work. Francis Hart was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1 8 I 5 ; entered the printing-house of an uncle in that city at the age of twelve ; began business in New York, in 1 843» at I Pine Street; later (1843) he was at 106 Broadway, and in 1 847 moved to 2 and 4 Thames Street. It was there that young DeVinne first worked for Hart. In 185 I the busi- ness went to I I 7 Liberty Street; in 1 85 3, to the corner of Washington and Cortlandt Streets; in 1872, to 63 and 65 Murray Street,corner of College Place; in 1 886, to 393-399 Lafayette Street, the present home of The DeVinne Press. In 1848 Mr. Hart had advertised his business for sale for seven thousand dollars, and had printed an inventory from which it is learned that he had one Hoe cylinder press, 23 by 28-inch bed, operated by hand-wheel, three hand-presses, and a Gillman card-press. The plant was illuminated by five camphene lamps and twenty candlesticks. The reason for selling was the desire to *' engage in some active, health- promoting business, in order that before he [Hart] dies he may enjoy the pleasure of eating and drinking in modera- tion, without suffering the pangs of dyspepsia, and that he may know what it is to have elastic spirits and a clear head, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES if indeed it is not too late/' The business was good, but its owner was really an invalid and discouraged, not knowing that as he penned his lamentation a young man working about the town was heading toward 4 Thames Street with a panacea for all of Hart's troubles. Shortly after entering Hart's employ young DeVinne be- came foreman. While he was foreman his younger brother, Daniel Sieyes DeVinne, was entered as apprentice, and for nearly half a century he worked with his brother. In 1858 Theodore was offered an opportunity to buy an old, or start a new, printing establishment in Ogdensburg, New York, and he had almost decided to accept and to take his brother Daniel with him, when Mr. Hart interposed with the offer of a junior partnership, the acceptance of which was a de- cisive step in Mr. DeVinne's business career. Forthwith new stationery and new signs were ordered for the firm of Francis Hart & Company. In 1877 Francis Hart died. His will directed that the firm should continue, and he was solicitous that DeVinne's inter- ests should be protected. For example: ^'In case for any reason a dissolution of said firm or a sale of my interest therein should become necessary, then I direct that special care be taken that Mr. DeVinne's interest in the business and property thereof (one-third) shall not be unnecessarily injured or endangered." And again : *^I give and bequeath to said Theodore Low DeVinne all my right, title, and in- terest then remaining in the property and business of said firm." The terms of the will were carried out in six years, whereupon the firm of Theodore L. DeVinne & Company was formed, consisting of Theodore Low DeVinne and his son, Theodore Brockbank. In 1 908 the elder DeVinne THEODORE LOW DEVINNE retired from the active management of the company. The De Vinne Press was then incorporated with Mr. De Vinne as president; R. W. Brown, vice-president; T. B. De Vinne, treasurer; andJ.W. Bothwell, secretary. In 1872 Mr. De Vinne became printer of ** St. Nicholas/' and in 1876 of **Scribner's Monthly." These were the most important transactions of his business life. Francis Hart was in Europe enjoying the leisure and health-promoting occupations he had sighed for vainly in I 848, when informed by letter of DeVinne's efforts to secure the printing of '* Scrib- ner's." He promptly cabled the advice not to undertake a task too great for the capacity of the plant. *'Too late; it is done!" was DeVinne's reply. Five years later the house of Scribner ceased its connection with the magazine, which continued as the ** Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine," under the same artistic and editorial control, and still ( I 9 I 5) bearing the DeVinne imprint. The magazine owners had selected their printer wisely, though at that time Mr. DeVinne's reputation as a printer was merely local; but a very important phase of the transaction was that it brought DeVinne into intimate relations with a brilliant group of progressive artists and scholarly editors, whose influence confirmed his bent toward literature and scholarship, and interested him in the higher phases of the graphic arts. Be- sides, the printing of the magazine placed the plant on a manufacturing basis. Without it a hundred or more fugi- tive orders would have to be found and disposed of, involv- ing much detail, which might have deprived Mr. DeVinne of the leisure to pursue his studies and write his books. When Theodore DeVinne entered the establishment of Francis Hart, printing in America was at its lowest. L8] BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES DeVinne, with others, gradually effected improvements. The work done under his supervision in the earlier days would not have been approved in point of taste by himself a few years later, but at all times it was technically correct and workmanlike. Until 1870 the best that can be said of DeVinne's work is that it showed constant progress; after that year he developed a finer style and artistic individual- ity. His first issue of ^'Scribner's Monthly" may now be rated as typographically good; when it appeared it was hailed as great. It was the first American magazine to use old-style roman, a novelty which was admired. When the first issue of the ** Century'' appeared in 1 88 I, DeVinne was setting the pace for the world in magazine printing. At his behest, papermakers, inkmakers, and engravers worked in unison as they had never done before. Each succeeding year showed improvement. Remarkable feats were achieved in the printing of wood-engravings. By virtue of manifest excellence, Mr. DeVinne was ac- knowledged to have no superior in the printing world when process reproduction began to dethrone wood-engraving, and he set to work again to accommodate paper, ink, and presses to the new problem. He regretted the passing of wood-engraving, but soon astonished the world by the re- sults he produced from process cuts when printed on the coated paper made first for him by the Warrens. Mr. DeVinne, hard student and busiest of working part- ners as he was, found time to associate himself with other members of his craft in advancing the general interest. Time and money without stint were given by him to make the printing industry respected by the public and profit- able to all engaged in it. The first record we find of his THEODORE LOW DEVINNE activities in this work is in 1 86 1 , when, at the a^e of thirty- three, he acted as secretary of a series of meetings of em- ploying printers who desired betterment of conditions. On February 22, 1862, he was a speaker at a banquet that grew out of previous conferences at which representatives from Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Cambridge were present. This was the first interstate conference of master printers in America. The employing printers dined together again in 1863 and 1864- A report of the latter affair states that **the secretaryship continues to be filled — ably, too — by Mr. Theodore L. DeVinne." Out of these meetings in the sixties were evolved first the New York TypothetcE and finally the United Typothetse of America, of which Mr. DeVinne was the first actual president. Since the beginning of printing probably no one has con- tributed as much, and in as varied a manner, to its literature as did Mr. DeVinne. The only authoritative text-books of printing now in print in America are his four volumes on *'The Practice of Typography." His greatest work, **The Invention of Printing," is the most complete and authorita- tive history of the invention in the English language. A leading authority wrote of it that it is **a most useful book, and gives evidence of the utmost care and painstaking on the part of the author." Mr. DeVinne acquired a knowledge of French, German, and Italian that he might read the im- portant works on printing in these languages, pursuing his studies during the formative and busiest period of his firm, and yet never refusing any call to associate with other printers for the general good of typography. The Latin he learned from his father enabled him to grasp these languages with greater ease when he considered a knowledge of them vital BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES to his self-imposed studies. The earliest writings of Mr. DeVinne that we have found are in the ** Printers' Miscel- lany/' which he edited and printed in 1 8 5 9« We gather from it that he was a careful user of the Astor Library at that time. We have three issues in the Typographic Library and Mu- seum, and find no reference to the publication elsewhere. In 1 864 his ** Profits of Book Composition" appeared in the *' Printer/' and was reprinted by the Master Printers' Asso- ciation of New York. In 1869 he compiled and printed a price-list of printing which was adopted by master printers in New York and Philadelphia. In all, some ninety titles bear his name, ranging from large and elaborate volumes to mag- azine articles, and not including several second editions. In recognition of his services to the world of books, the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Yale and Columbia universities. In introducing him for his de- gree from Columbia, Dean Van Amringe said: ''In the lit- erature of the art of printing, as in the practice of it, Mr. DeVinne has no superior. As author and typographer in the broadest sense, his name will be associated, in the com- ing time, with those of Gutenberg, Caxton, Aldus, the Elze- virs, Baskerville,the Didots, theWhittinghams,andourown Franklin." President Low invested him with the master's hood, saying: ''As you are thus the master of the art pre- servative of all other arts, and because you have shown your- self a scholar in everything relating to it, I admit you to the degree of Master of Arts in this University," As an employer Mr. DeVinne was at his best. He took a personal interest in his workmen, particularly the appren- tices, and from his plant not a few master printers, as well as others holding executive positions, have graduated. His on THEODORE LOW DEVINNE practice was to say a pleasant word to every employee he met for the first time in the day's work, either in the morn- ing or toward the evening. Those who grew up in his em- ploy were thoroughly trained, and their services were in great demand. Among other employers no recommenda- tion was required other than that the applicant came from The DeVinne Press. He actively interested himself in the lives of his men outside the plant, aiding them in sickness, especially the lads. Deep attachments were the result, and men who have passed most of their lives in The DeVinne Press testify that all his workmen loved Theodore DeVinne. We have here endeavored to portray such phases of the serene yet strenuous life of our great printer as will illus- trate to those who did not know him personally how much we honor ourselves by understanding his character and ap- preciating his achievements. There are hundreds of young men in the printing craft to-day who have the ability, if they have the spirit, industry, principles, and enthusiasm, to fol- low in the footsteps of this master among printers, and who, by making him their model, may transform sordid business into ideal pleasure, and make their lives successful in the spiritual and mental and commercial phases, as did, in the superlative degree, Theodore Low DeVinne. C'2] MEMORIAL MEETING N the evening of March 10, 1 914, the printers of New York City, under the auspices of the Typothetae of the City of New York, held a meeting at the Al- dine Club in memory of Mr. De Vinne. Mr. James W. Bothwell, President of the New York Typothetce, and an officer of The De Vinne Press, pre- sided, opening the meeting with the following words: ** We have met to-night to honor the memory of a man whom we all knew and loved. My very modest testimonial to Mr. De Vinne, after a service to him of considerably over thirty years, is that while he was a great printer, he was yet a greater man." Mr. Bothwell then introduced, as the first speaker of the evening, Mr. John Clyde Oswald, editor of the ** American Printer." i:>3:i THEODORE LOW DEVINNE MR. OSWALD'S ADDRESS cMr. Chairman^ Gentlemen: The Chairman has said that we are assembled to do honor to the memory of a man. As Mark Antony said of Brutus, *'His life was gentle, and the elements so mix'd in him that Nature mi^ht stand up and say to all the world, This was a man !" With the main facts of his life most of you are, I suppose, familiar, and yet it will not be inappropriate to review them briefly at this time. In the year 1828 there lived in Stamford, Connecticut, a young Methodist minister named Daniel De Vinne, and on December 25 of that year his wife presented to him, as a Christmas present, a baby boy who was to be called Theo- dore Low De Vinne (Low being her family name). A few years later this young minister and his son Theo- dore came to New York on a visit, and it was an event — more of an event at that time than it would be now, because that was the day before there was a railroad from New York to Stamford, or, as a matter of fact, from New York to any place, so they had to use other and more primitive means of travel. One of the calls the young father and his son of seven made was upon a firm of publishers — not be- cause they were publishers, but because they were good Methodists — the firm of Harper & Brothers, of Franklin Square. It was the first sight that young Theodore had of a printing establishment, and the visit was made memorable by the presentation to him of a book by a member of the firm — a book which is to be found to this day in his library. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES We hear of him next that he has gone across country, from Stamford to Newburgh, New York, where, at the age of fourteen, he entered the office of the Newburgh ** Ga- zette" to learn the printing trade. Six years later the lure of the city had become so strong as to attract him here, and one year after that, when he was twenty-one, he made the business connection which was his final effort of that kind, because it was to continue for sixty-five years. This was with the house of Francis Hart, and he continued there until, at the age of forty-nine, he succeeded to the business. Six years later, in 1883, Mr. Hart having died, the name was changed to Theodore L* DeVinne & Company, which title it bore until 1908, being incorporated in that year as The DeVinne Press. Such is the brief business history of Mr. DeVinne. It has been stated that ** happy is the nation which has no his- tory," and happy indeed must be that firm where there have been so few changes to serve as subjects for remark. The New York Typothetee was established in 1865, and Mr. DeVinne was its first secretary. He served it later and for a long time as president, and in 1887, at the first meeting of the United Typothetce of America in Chicago, he was elected president of that organization. He began his great series of contributions to the litera- ture of printing in 1859, the first notable volume, entitled ''Printers' Price List," appearing ten years later. His greatest work, *'The Invention of Printing," appeared in 1876, when he was forty-eight years of age. There is an old Greek proverb to the effect that in the morning of life we must work, at the noontide give counsel, and in the evening pray. Mr, De Vinne's life was all morn- THEODORE LOW DEVINNE in^, in the sense that it was a continuous period of work. The series of books published under the title of ''The Practice of Typography," consisting of four volumes, was begun in 1900. It was when he was seventy-two years of age that the first volume, ** Plain Printing Types," was pub- lished; the second volume, ''Correct Composition," ap- peared in I 90 1 ; "Title-Pages," still a year later, in 1902; and " Modern Book Composition," the last one of the four, in I 904, when he was seventy-six years of age. But the most remarkable of all his achievements of the kind was that beautiful volume entitled " Notable Printers of Italy during the Fifteenth Century," which was published by The Grolier Club in I 9 10, when Mr. De Vinne was eighty-two years of age. I am told that one of the regrets of the succeeding four years of his life, to which he constantly referred, was occa- sioned by the fact that there was so much along that line which he yet wanted to do, but which somehow, he said, he did not seem to be able to drive himself into doing. The qualities which go to make ideal citizenship maybe grouped under five heads: First, Righteousness, of course, then Culture, then Industry, then Justice, and finally that quality which, for want of a better term, we call Vision, the ability to see further than the common run. Righteousness does not necessarily imply religion. The profession of religion does not always mean the possession of religion. Mr. De Vinne was a religious man in the sense that he was a member and supporter of the church, but he did not do very much along the line of profession. "Serving God," said Benjamin Franklin, "is doing good to men, but praying is thought an easier service and therefore more generally BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES chosen." Mr. DeVinne as a Christian, I think, is best set forth in the poem by Leigh Hunt entitled **Abou Ben Ad- hem," — one who loved his fellow-men. This was his pro- fession of righteousness. It implied and included honesty, adherence to truth, fair dealing with all men. Second, Culture: A man may be righteous and not necessarily cultured. Elijah, John the Baptist, Martin Luther, these were righteous men, strong, rugged, terrible in denunciation, but they could not, by any stretch of the im- agination, be termed cultivated men. Cultivation is refine- ment. Take the erudition which comes from the reading of books, the knowledge of men and affairs that we get from study and travel, the wisdom that proceeds from meditation ; put these into the melting-pot of cultivation, and there emerge personality and character. Cultivation means ap- preciation of beauty and of nature; it means simplicity and modesty, and those of you who knew Mr. DeVinne know that these were his characteristics. Over-ornamentation and over-elaboration were never to be found in his product. Vanity, conceit, and self-consciousness never entered into his make-up. Third, Industry: You may have righteousness and cul- ture, which might be classed as passive virtues, but they will count for nothing in the world unless they are supple- mented by the active virtue of industry. Industry implies energy, initiative, vigor, and courage. An acquaintance of mine recently told me the story of an experience he had with an old colored minister in Philadelphia, who has had a remarkable influence for the uplift of his race. He asked him for a definition of success, and the reverend gentleman said, ** Success consists in having a heart full of Christian- THEODORE LOW DEVINNE ity, a head as far as possible full of knowledge, and just *keepin' on the job.' " With the other virtues we must have ener^ and initiative, which, combined with vigor and cour- age, enable us to render service, and this, after all, is the great thing in life. Then we can say with Robert Louis Ste- venson, **I know what pleasure is, for I have done good work." Thoroughness was characteristic of Mr. De Vinne. He was willing to go to any length to make his printing of the very highest quality. Mr. Drake, in that beautiful trib- ute which he paid in the newspapers to Mr. De Vinne a day or two after his death, gave an instance of this characteris- tic. He said it was Mr. DeVinne's practice to stop a press and strip the make-ready, holding it just as long as was nec- essary to obtain the very highest degree of quality. His thoroughness is further set forth in the volume **The In- vention of Printing." I have a bookcase full of books giv- ing contending theories of those who say, on one side that Coster was the inventor of printing, and on the other that Gutenberg was the inventor. After Mr. De Vinne had writ- ten his book the last word seemed to me to have been said and the dispute settled forever. Fourth, Justice : The motto of Ferdinand the Great was, ** Let justice be done, though the heavens fall." There are two sides to nearly every question, but it takes the just man, the broad-minded man, always to be willing to recognize that fact. Justice implies charity toward the faults of others. That was one of Mr. DeVinne's characteristics. He could always see some good in a man — a faculty to which most of us cannot lay claim. We are accustomed so often to refer to Benjamin Franklin and his many activities, the things he did to improve conditions and methods and appliances. [18] BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES I wonder if you are all familiar with the fact that one of his proposed improvements consisted in adding a chapter to the Bible? It was to the Book of Genesis, and it states how one evening Abraham sat at the door of his tent, and there approached an old man, whom he invited to come in and make himself comfortable, to wash his feet and sit with him at meat. And as they sat down, Abraham blessed his meat by appealing to Jehovah, and he asked the stranger to do the same thing. The stranger refused and said, ** I do not wor- ship thy God, neither do I call upon his name; for I have made to myself a god which abideth always in mine house and provideth me with all things." Abraham fell upon the stranger and beat him and drove him from his tent. Later Jehovah appeared and asked, ''Abraham, where is the stranger?" Abraham replied, '* Lord, he would not wor- ship thee, and therefore I drove him from my tent." And Jehovah said unto him, ''Abraham, I have borne with him for more than three hundred and ninety years. Couldst not thou have borne with him for one night? " It was a sermon on tolerance, a virtue which is so great, yet which I am afraid it must be acknowledged is so rare. It was one of the possessions of Mr. DeVinne, and he demonstrated it espe- cially in his relations with his employees. He was always able to see their point of view as well as his own. And, finally, this quality which I have termed Vision. It is so rare, and where possessed almost invariably indicates the great man. I suppose there is no force as great as inertia (though it is paradoxical to say so, because inertia is the absence of force). There is no condition with which the man who has a new idea, who is an experimenter, who wants something applied in a new and original way, has to con- C'93 THEODORE LOW DEVINNE tend as much as inertia, for most men refuse to look beyond the present instant, and are therefore unwilling to accept the view of the newcomer. When we see a man who is willing to look a little bit beyond the vision of the average person, we find a great statesman or artist or workman. Caesar had this quality. Other statesmen could see the evils of his time, but he was the only one who could see the evils and at the same time the remedy for them. Raphael, that great young painter of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, could combine his knowledge of paints and ability to put them upon canvas or board with the religious fervor of his time and generation, and the result was the Sistine Madonna. Christopher Wren could look upon a pile of mortar and stone and iron, and could see what other men who looked could not see — great St. Paul's Cathedral that was to be made of them. In some lesser degree, but no less certainly, this quality was possessed by the master craftsmen of the printing industry, Jenson, Caxton, Plantin, and DeVinne. Only one Man ever possessed in great degree those five qualities, that young Man who walked and talked in Galilee two thousand years ago. The possession of any one of them in a superlative degree, or the possession of all of them in a moderate degree, has always been sufficient to make a great man. I am sure I am entirely within the range of truth when I say they were all in some degree possessed by Mr. DeVinne, and that is why he attained success. What is success? Is it money? If so, Mr. DeVinne could qualify. Is success fame? You have but to remember that when any public function occurred where a representative of printing was to be invited, it was always Mr. De Vinne. He [20] BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES received degrees from two great universities. He had the un- usual distinction — one that I do not know has ever come to any other man — of having presented to him, by friends and contemporaries in his own trade, a bust of himself by a sculptor of ability and standing. Is success power? Those of you who have been familiar with the workings of the United Typothetae in the last quar- ter of a century will remember that when Mr. De Vinne ap- peared at any gathering his influence was paramount. In the later years, when his enfeebled health made it inadvis- able for him to take the journeys to attend conventions, a message from him was always received with enthusiasm and acclaim. But it seems to me there is a better definition of success. That man has attained success of whom it can be said, after he has gone, that the world is better for his having lived in it. This, I am sure, can be said of Mr. De Vinne. His life as a boy, coming to the great city practically with- out friends and without influence, will always be an inspira- tion and example, a source of encouragement to other young men who may be similarly placed. The services he rendered to his trade and to his friends during the days of his matur- ity form an example to those who have passed the period of youth. And his delightful old age, when he was able to concern himself only with the things he liked to do, is a source of hope to those who have such days near at hand. And the best prospect that I can offer, it seems to me, for myself and for you is, that when the lengthening shadows indicate to each of us that the sun is setting, that the day is almost done, that life has nearly run its course, we can feel, as he did, that we have lived up to the full measure of the [21] THEODORE LOW DEVINNE admonition of that youn^ American poet who wrote a hun- dred years a^o : "So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan which moves To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death. Thou ^o not, like the quarry-slave at ni^ht. Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." Mr. Robert Underwood Johnson, former editor of the ''Century Magazine," was the next speaker. MR. JOHNSON'S ADDRESS cMr, Chairman^ Gentlemen of the Typothetce^ and Knights of the 'Press-room and Case: I have been asked to speak for a little while of Mr. DeVinne's work and character, the two aspects of life which may sum up the claims of any man for attention. To do so adequately would require a great deal of time, though not more than I should willingly devote, if it were possible, to one whose work was so important and whose character so admirable, and who, moreover, has the further claim upon many of us that he was so stanchly our friend. I can do little more than give some random impressions of him both as master printer and as man. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES In a rapid survey of Mr. De Vinne's literary work, I have been struck by its bulk, its sound sense, and its directness and clarity of expression. Outside the profession of writing there are not many men who have to their credit some ninety items — books, pamphlets, and articles — relative to their work, all of unimpeachable scholarship and many of them of large significance. In fact, Mr. De Vinne wrote more on the subject of printing than any other man who ever lived. I think it is not saying too much to place him, not merely as the first master printer of his time, but as the first au- thority on his craft. He was fairly steeped in its history, and what he has written touches upon every phase of it, technical, commercial, and artistic. Moreover, his industry and determination are shown by the fact that, with only a common-school education, this busy man, who had mastered the details of case and press, taught himself French, Ger- man, Italian, and Latin, that, as I believe, he might the more securely master the literature of the printing art. He had the most definite ideas, standards, and preferences, and did not hesitate to urge them. It is recalled, for instance, that in the question of typography he was a partisan of what he called masculine types, the strong, firm, black types and decorations of the Gothic influence, so to speak, rather than the more delicate Roman monumental types which are now much used on book covers and magazines. When one of the latter was presented to him for his consideration, he would say, **That belongs to the Laura Matilda School," or ** There's another one of those fifteenth-century tomb- stones'' ; but, however tenacious his convictions, he never carried them to the point of obstreperousness, where others were concerned, though in the later years of his life he had THEODORE LOW DEVINNE a boiling desire to write in opposition to certain tendencies in the trade. The relations of the firm now bearing the style of The Century Co. to Mr. DeVinne — relations of which I can- not speak adequately or authoritatively, since they were so largely with the business department — began in 1872 with the contract for the printing of ** St. Nicholas" by the house of Francis Hart & Company, of which we soon found that Mr. DeVinne was the active administrator. " Scribner's Monthly" (afterward the ** Century") was transferred to the same firm in 1876, after at least three trials at cut-printing elsewhere, which had not come up to the exacting standard of Mr. A. W. Drake, our art editor, of whom we were all proud, not only because of his knowledge and his achieve- ments, but because he never made any compromise with his artistic conscience. Mr. Hart often had occasion to say to Mr. Drake, ''Can't you make things a little easier for us here?" But while we were all ready to make allowances in matters of time and minor conditions, it was understood that the artistic excellence of the magazine must be kept paramount. In a discussion with Mr. DeVinne of ways and means, and particularly of the difficulties in the printing of woodcuts (of course there were no half-tones in those days), Mr. Roswell Smith, the first president of The Century Co. and a man of remarkable imagination and enterprise, said, *' Do you know, Mr. DeVinne, what I am proposing to do? I am proposing to make you the foremost printer of your time" ; and to this distinction, by the highest personal and professional qualities, Mr. DeVinne rose. It would be futile to pretend that everything was clear sailing. Mr. DeVinne himself had misgivings about the BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES ability of his house to meet the complex and subtle require- ments of what was then pioneer work. I do not mean that there had been no printing of woodcuts before, but that the demands of the artists upon the printer for the technical exe- cution of varied and novel processes were rapidly growing. Mr. De Vinne knew what a complicated process was the reproduction in lar^e quantities of the woodcuts of that day. I can remember times when something was amiss, and the trial sheets, which were carefully scrutinized by the literary editors, as well as more efficiently by Mr. Drake, would be disappointing, and there would be a general consultation; whereupon Mr. De Vinne would usually produce an alter- native set of sheets and call attention to the fact that the two sets were produced by the same presses, the same carefully considered ink, the same overlays, the same preparation, — in short, under the same general conditions, with the only dif- ference, apparently, that one five minutes of the run was not uniform with that of the next five minutes, the execution running too pale if the paper was rough, where it would have been of appropriate blackness had the paper been smooth. It must be borne in mind that at that time the production of paper for the printing of woodcuts was also a pioneer busi- ness. Messrs. S. D. Warren & Company — then, as now, purveyors of paper for these two magazines — are entitled to the credit of having invented the first coated paper for mag- azines made in this country. The coated paper of to-day, made from wood pulp at five cents a pound and upward, is none too good for the tremendous requirements made upon it: one can imagine the difficulty in those days, when the conditions were less well known and when a three times greater price had to be paid for the stock. In these sessions 1:253 THEODORE LOW DEVINNE of solicitude, as I may call them, Mr. De Vinne would some- times quote with approval the saying of Ruskin, ''There is no repentance in the engraver's trade" ; and out of such talks would come a more thorough understanding, on our part, of the tremendous and unusual tasks which we were putting upon the printers, and, on Mr. De Vinne's side, a new en- thusiasm to meet every demand. David Nichols, the en- graver, once reported that Mr. De Vinne said to him (I believe more in compliment than in criticism) that Mr. Drake was a very exacting man. ** Yes," said Nichols, *'but is n't your work all the better that he keeps at it all the time?" **Yes," said De Vinne, ** I am sure that it is." Mr. Drake would be the first one to say that he had learned as much from De Vinne as De Vinne learned from him. To our master printer time and trouble were of minor con- sideration. Indeed, healways struck measapersonwhoaimed at that first principle of business relations, namely, to give to one's employer the most loyal and ungrudging service, to do not only what may properly be expected, but more, so that one's work may become (as indeed it must become if one is to attain any happiness in it) a sort of religion; and this, in- dependent of the question of financial reward. Mr. De Vinne had not merely this point of view himself, but he succeeded in inspiring it in his men. He might be called the Goethals of the printing trade, for he succeeded by his personality, firmness, sincerity, and geniality in making his men feel that they were not merely working for a machine, but for a man, and in accomplishing large results. With his men he was democratic, sympathetic, and most appreciative, and I think respect for him was a commanding motive in the work of his printing-house. [26] BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES The thing that tries the heart of a man and an employer of this type is the question of strikes. On the one hand, his sympathies are deeply enlisted with the men, while on the other, as the one most conversant with the business, he has to consider his obligations to the public and to others. In the extensive strikes for the shorter work-day which he had to meet, Mr. DeVinne recognized that the change was bound to come; and although he stood sturdily against the methods of compulsion employed (and what a Pandora-box of evils often comes from doing the right thing in the wrong way!), nevertheless in both cases, when he had won, he voluntarily and magnanimously granted to his men the shorter day desired. I think it may truly be said of him that he never regretted a readjustment of the wages in the inter- ests of the workmen one-half as much as any temporary deterioration in the excellence of his professional output. It seems to me that the one thing that is needed as a solvent of the labor difficulties of our times is that there should be enforced, on one side, the responsibility of employers to- ward their workmen as men and women, and, on the other side, the gospel of good work. We hear in both directions ten words about rights to one word about duties, and I think we need on both sides something of the conscientiousness and sense of responsibility that Frank R. Stockton ascribed to a proof-reader in one of his stories, who was so conscien- tious that his ghost rose from his grave to mark a turned **s" in his epitaph ! Mr. Oswald has spoken of the old saying, ** Let justice be done, though the heavens fall ! " I remember that when I was a boy in Indiana an English lecturer named Henry Vincent came to the town where I was living, and after the [27: THEODORE LOW DEVINNE lecture I asked him to write down something in a small au- tograph album I had — some sentiment, with his name. I remember he wrote, ** Let justice be done, though the heav- ens fall!" Shortly after that Wendell Phillips came to lec- ture in the same course, and I asked him if he would write for me. Opening the book at random, he came upon that sentence, and, quick as a flash, he wrote on the opposite page, '• If justice is done, the heavens will not fall ! " Mr. DeVinne wrote a short article in the ** Century" on co-operation among workmen in carrying on a business, in which method his observation had given him little confi- dence. In that article he made so great a contribution toward the solution of the relations between employers and men that it is much to be desired that it should be repro- duced as a pamphlet and circulated among both parties. Mr. De Vinne's human view of things was shown by his attitude toward women who collected for charitable associ- ations of more or less obscure and sometimes doubtful type. When asked whether he would see this or that person, he would hesitate a moment, and then, touching his forehead with a characteristic gesture, would say, '*Yes, show her in. Some of these are frauds and some are not, but rather than turn away one that is worthy, I '11 take the risk of being im- posed upon by two." In his relations with all sorts of peo- ple he realized ^assanio^s words about JJntonio, for he was **The kindest man. The best-condition'd and unwearied spirit In doing courtesies." Of my personal affection for Mr. DeVinne it is not un- becoming to speak, for I feel that I represent so many who 1:28: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES are here and to whom such an affection is always sacred. Of the enthusiastic and high-minded circle who built up **St. Nicholas" and the **Century" and their allied busi- ness, Mr. DeVinne was always recognized as an important member; indeed, as a comrade. In the later years of his life there was always a tenderness of regard in the way we spoke of ^*01d DeVinne/' and there was not one of us all who did not feel the tonic of his intercourse. **Good work, good work/' was the subconscious tone of every interview we had with him. This comradeship with several members of The Century Co. extended to trips abroad and at home. Mr. William Fayal Clarke, the able and devoted editor of '* St. Nicholas," who has been on its staff almost from its foundation, has given me a brief statement covering one experience of the sort that I will introduce here in his own admirable words. He says: *' I can merely add my testimony to that of many others who have spontaneously paid tribute to Mr. De Vinne's high ideals and unswerving character, his ready sympathy and co-operation, and his willingness to take no count of time or trouble to produce the very best results obtainable in his art. **On the personal side, my pleasantest recollections of Mr. DeVinne are connected with a four months' sojourn in Europe, in 1888. It was my first trip across, and I had the good fortune to make it in company with Mr. DeVinne and Mr. Chichester. We were daily companions in a tour through England, France, Italy, South Germany, and back to London. And through this intimate association, my ad- miration for Mr. De Vinne's sturdy strength of character, 1:293 THEODORE LOW DEVINNE comradeship, and imperturbable ^ood humor strengthened day by day into a lasting friendship and affection. In all the vicissitudes and contingencies of the tour, his even temper was never ruffled ; and, though traveling with men who were by many years his juniors, he entered whole-heartedly and with equal zest into all the pleasures of the journey. *' One of the happiest memories of him at that time was our visit to the famous Plantin Museum at Antwerp. Of course, this celebrated relic of the sixteenth century is an art trea- sure which no cultivated tourist can afford to miss; but it held for Mr. De Vinne an interest, a charm, — I might say almost a sacredness, — that only a great printer could feel. I shall never forget his almost boyish enthusiasm as he piloted us from room to room of this picturesque and time-honored building, preserved in its original state for three centuries, the oldest existing printing and publishing establishment in the world; nor the pride which Mr. De Vinne expressed — the true pride of a fellow-craftsman — in the work and home of one of the earliest masters of his art. His delight in every detail of this wonderful establishment was beautiful to see. It was with a reverent touch that we handled the very press which Christopher Plantin himself had used, and no single experience of our whole tour was more interesting than the journey through the suites and corridors of the unique building, from the primitive type- foundry, through the quarters of the compositors, the press- room, and even the fine alcove set apart for the proof-readers (who were notabilities and dignitaries in that day), to the little counting-room itself where hung the calendar for the year 1593 above the very counter over which Plantin served his customers three centuries ago. [130: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES *^ But, as Mr. De Vinne told us at the outset, it is not only as a printing establishment that the Museum is unique, but also because it was the home of its founder, and a magnifi- cent home, too! And here again Mr. De Vinne could not disguise his pride in the fact that a master printer of the six- teenth century was also a well-to-do burgher, whose resi- dence, alike in its beautiful and picturesque architecture, its quaint and sleepy courtyard, and its artistic apartments and furnishings, must have rivaled that of many a prince and potentate of his time. More than once royalty itself has paid homage to the master printer and his home, as Mr. De Vinne pointed out to us when we inspected its manuscript records. For among the most interesting documents on file was one entitled * A True and Simple Account of all the Griefs which I, Christopher Plantin, have Suffered during nearly Five Years, for having obeyed the Commandments of His Maj- esty the King [Philip II], without having Received Pay- ment or Recompense,' showing that kings ran into debt in those days, and that even printers had their trials. It is duly recorded, also, that Napoleon the Great, with some of his marshals, visited the printing-house at the request of its owner, one of Plantin's descendants, and himself turned the press that Christopher Plantin worked. ** I could not help feeling that the shade of Plantin must have felt a far keener joy in that appreciative visit of his fel- low-craftsman than in any patronizing compliment from emperor or king. For ourselves, it was an unforgetable pleasure to be guided through this famous home of a mas- ter printer of three hundred years ago by the master printer of our own day. And besides the satisfaction of inspecting the building itself — a rare treasure of antiquity — there were D13 THEODORE LOW DEVINNE revealed to us anew in those few hours the depth and inten- sity of Mr. De Vinne's devotion to his art." I have been told a curious incident of his last days. It will be remembered that he died on Monday, February 16. On the previous Friday, when he was signing some papers, he said to Mr. Bothwell : ** I had a peculiar dream last night. I fell asleep and found myself wandering on the bank of a river. After a time I seemed to recognize it as the river Styx. Presently I felt a touch upon my shoulder, and, turn- ing, found it was Charon, the ferryman. He said to me: * De Vinne, you have been here about five years too long. Don't you think you had better come across?'" And the dear old man laughed as heartily as if the somber boatman were not already impatient at his oars. But Charon never had a more willing or companionable or honest passenger, nor one who has left a greater vacancy in the circle of his friends. He made many useful and beautiful books, but the most beautiful and useful book of all was his life of unfaltering ideality. His business associates of the present day, who, inspired by the traditions he has left them, are intelligently devoting themselves to the work of maintaining the repu- tation of the great house which he founded, have a right to show the greatest pride not only in his service to his art, but in his service to humanity. Mr. Johnson was followed by Mr. Walter Gilliss, repre- senting The Grolier Club, of which Mr. De Vinne was a founder. After reading a resolution^ adopted by the Club at a special meeting held on February 1 8, Mr. Gilliss spoke of his personal knowledge of Mr. De Vinne. ^The resolution will be found on page 47, 1:32: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES MR. GILLISS'S ADDRESS Mr. Chairman and brother 'Printers: While I am before you I wish to add, in a few words, my personal tribute, as a friend and a printer, to that of The Grolier Club. My first acquaintance with Mr. DeVinne was through one of his books. Probably only the older among you will recall that there appeared in 1869 a book entitled '*The Printers' Price List.'' This book, published by Francis Hart & Company, with whom Mr. DeVinne was associated at that time, and evidencing an intimate knowledge of every detail of the printers' business, was written by Mr. DeVinne with the aim of aiding in establishing rates for printing which would be fair to the customer and yet reasonably remunera- tive to the printer, instead of relying upon the haphazard method of rate-making then prevailing, which frequently re- sulted in loss to the printers. All the elaborate present-day systems for ascertaining exact costs on which to base rea- sonable rates, may, it seems to me, be said to have resulted from this first effort made by Mr. DeVinne for the benefit of the printers of this city; and on this ground alone a large debt is owed by them to Mr. DeVinne. But this was but the beginning of the obligations of the printing fraternity to Mr. DeVinne. In my younger days it was more than once said to me, by a friend of mature years, that in his youth a common saying prevailed that **it was no harm to cheat a printer" — surely an unfortunate implication and a severe reflection on the standing of the trade and its practitioners; and even as late [33: THEODORE LOW DEVINNE as the early seventies there were few in this country who looked upon printing as anything more than a trade. It is true that the Aldine Press in some of their work were striving to raise the standard of typography, Mr. Sutton's dictum being that ** printing, even if low-priced, need not be botched"; and in their monthly magazine, the **Aldine," many fine woodcuts were well printed, but **what were they among so many"? The ** Aldine" was merely an oasis in the desert. But with the development of Mr. DeVinne as a printer there came a distinct change in typographic methods, and from the lower levels of a ** trade" and strict ** com- mercialism," printing in this country began to ascend the difficult heights until it reached once more its rightful place as one of the arts. Had Mr. DeVinne done nothing more than to raise the standard of magazine printing to the height to which the printing of the** Century Magazine" attained, he would have done well ; but this was only one of the achievements of his long and busy life. The love of the printed book was innate in him, and the makingof many of the booksforTheGrolier Club established new standards. Nothing could be more admirable than the composition and presswork of such books as **A Decree of Star Chamber Concerning Printing," **The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam," **The Philobiblon," **The Scarlet Let- ter," and many others of the Club's publications, not forget- ting the reprint edition of the "Areopagitica: a Speech by John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenced Printing to the Parliament of England," which, to my mind, is one of the most perfect of the set, while the vellum copy of it is a veri- [34] BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES table ^em, comparable with the vellum copies of the Books of Hours printed by Pigouchet in Paris in 1500, which for four hundred years have been esteemed monuments of the art of printing. According to Mr» A. W. Drake, who, as well as Mr. De Vinne, was one of the founders of The Grolier Club, it was Mr. De Vinne who suggested the reprinting of **A Decree of Star Chamber'' as the Club's first publication, a happy selection. It made a small octavo volume of eighty pages, with an introduction of six pages. It has been said that ** times change, and men change with them." It was specially true regarding this little book. Well do I remember that when it appeared in 1884, the price of two dollars per copy was thought high for so small a book by some members of the Club, and yet fifteen or twenty years afterward a copy of this book sold for two hundred and twenty-five dollars I How many of our fellow-printers would like to be sub- ject in these days to the restrictions of **A Decree of Star Chamber," one paragraph of which reads: '* 1 1 . Item, That no person or persons whatsoever, shall at any time print or cause to be imprinted, any Booke or Pamphlet whatsoever, unless the same Booke or Pamph- let, and also all and every the Titles, Epistles, Prefaces, Proems, Preambles, Introductions, Tables, Dedications and other matters and things whatsoever thereunto annexed, or therewith imprinted, shall be first lawfully licenced and au- thorized only by such person and persons as are hereafter expressed, and by no other, and shall be also first entred into the Register's Booke of the Company of Stationers; D53 THEODORE LOW DEVINNE upon paine that every Printer offending therein shall be forever hereafter disabled to use or exercise the Art or Mys- terie of Printing, and receive such further punishment, as by this Court or the high Commission Court respectively . . . shall be thought fitting." Would you not say, as Milton did in his **Areopagitica" : ** I deny not, but that it is of greatest concernment in the Church and Commonwealth, to have a vigilant eye how Bookes demeane themselves as well as men ; and thereafter to confine in prison and do sharpest justice to them as male- factors: For Books are not absolutely dead things but doe contain a potencie of life in them to be as active as the soule was whose progeny they are; nay they do preserve as in a violl the purest efficacie and extraction of that living intel- lect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vig- orously productive, as those fabulous Dragons teeth ; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet on the other hand unlesse warinesse be us'd, as good almost kill a Man as kill a good Book; who kills a Man kills a reasonable creature, God's Image; but he who destroyes a good Booke, kills reason it selfe." From Mr. DeVinne's pen flowed many books and arti- cles on printing and related subjects; the most notable is his " Invention of Printing," which is an acknowledged au- thority; and it was this book which did much to establish his reputation as a student of printing. His '* Historic Printing Types," ''Christopher Plantin," **Title-Pages as Seen by a Printer," and ** Notable Printers BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES of Italy during the Fifteenth Century" were all published by The Grolier Clubhand are worthy books — worthy of the man, and worthy of his work, which reached that high standard of perfection which it is difficult to attain. It was not until the meeting of January 23, 1884, which led to the founding of The Grolier Club, that I met Mr. DeVinne personally. After that we met frequently at the meetings of the Grolier and the Typothetee, of which my firm was for many years a member, and I am glad to say that through all these years Mr. DeVinne was my friend, and I felt honored by his friendship. In the business meetings of the Typothetae I can recall no instance in which Mr. DeVinne did not stand for that which was right, that which was fair, that which was just, both to our men and to the Typothetae. In the meetings of The Grolier Club and its Council his knowledge of books and their making was always at com- mand, but not didactically put forward. Several times in the course of years I had occasion to seek Mr. DeVinne's advice. Never was it refused, but always given fully, frankly, freely, as a father would advise a son; and the advice was good. It was a happy inspiration of the artist Brenner to com- bine the medallion portraits of Franklin and DeVinne on the souvenir of the TypothetcE of January 1 7, 1 902 ; for as Franklin helped to spread the light which flowed from the printing-press in the eighteenth century, so DeVinne caught up his mantle and spread the light in the nineteenth century. Truly a great man and a great printer has been taken from us. How many among us will strive to follow him on THEODORE LOW DEVINNE worthily in the practice of that art to which he devoted his life— "Without which, all the other arts are dead, And learning from our land had quickly fled; But with which, education, arts, shall stand. As mighty bulwarks to protect our land.*' At the close of the meeting, upon the motion of William Green an appropriate resolution was unanimously adopted. The resolution will be found on page 43- [38] RESOLUTIONS OF CORPORATIONS, SOCIETIES, AND CLUBS From the bronze bust by Chester February 1 9, I914. As a token of sincere sympathy and regret at the death of the late Theodore Low De Vinne, and of his usefulness to the craft at large, the Club of Printing House Craftsmen, at their meeting held on the above date, unanimously adopted the following tribute and resolution: Whereas^ the Club of Printing House Craftsmen learns with deep regret of the death of Theodore Low De Vinne, which took place at his home. No. 3OO West Seventy-sixth Street, New York, on Monday, February 16, I 9 1 4 ; and VDhereaSj the great services rendered by Mr. De Vinne to the art of printing during his long life are well known to every member of the Club; therefore be it ^esolvedj that the Club of Printing House Craftsmen hereby testifies to its high appreciation of the great qualities and commanding ability which placed Mr. De Vinne among the foremost printers of his time; and be it further ^esolvedj that as a testimony of such appreciation these resolutions be entered in the Club's minutes and thus made part of its permanent records; and be it further Resolved, that a copy of this resolution, together with a let- ter of sympathy, be sent to the family of the deceased. The same is recorded in the minutes of the Club. CAMILLE DEVEZE, President. HENRY KANEGSBERG, Secretary. C5I] THEODORE LOW DEVINNE THE DEVINNE PRESS MUTUAL AID ASSOCIATION February 18, I 914. At a meeting of the DeVinne Press Mutual Aid Associa- tion held February 18, 1 9 1 4, the following resolutions were adopted: VOhereas, in the death of Mr. Theodore Low DeVinne the Association has suffered a severe loss; it is 'J^esohedf that the Association hereby testifies to its sincere admiration and love for its departed fellow-member; and it is further ^esolvedf that a copy of this resolution be spread in full on the minutes of the Association, and a copy sent to the family. JOHN VOGLER, 'President, JAMES B. SHAW, Secretary. O^l RESOLUTIONS THE SOCIETY OF PRINTERS, BOSTON March 28, 1 914. At the meeting of the Society of Printers, held on March 2 5 , 1 9 1 4, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted, and it was voted that they be spread upon the records and a copy sent to Mr. DeVinne's family: ^esolvedf that in the death of Theodore Low DeVinne, an honorary member of this Society, the printing craft in Amer- ica has lost its most distinguished member; That, as the recognized authority on the history of printing ; as a pioneer in the field of cost-keeping; as a promoter, both by precept and example, of artistic excellence, his life has been of lasting service to the industry which he loved; That, as the leader of his profession, he has well deserved the respect and affection which have long been felt for him by those engaged in the art of book-making; That this Society, in which a few of his many friends are enrolled, may fittingly record its appreciation of the notable example he has set. C. CHESTER LANE, Secretary. D3: THEODORE LOW DEVINNE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF GRAPHIC ARTS At the first meeting of the Board of Directors of the Amer- ican Institute of Graphic Arts, on Tuesday, February 17, I 9 1 4, the following resolution was adopted and ordered sent to the surviving relatives of the deceased: To the family of the late Theodore Low DeVinne this ex- pression of our sincere condolence is addressed. We feel that in his death America loses the greatest figure in the field of printing to-day. His was a forceful and inter- esting character, full of individual power, full of initiative. He helped, perhaps more than any other, to bring to blossom the short-lived flower of American engraving on wood, for by his ingenuity and untiring patience he discovered the way to print wood-engravings on the modern press. Among his most conspicuous work as a printer of books, in addition to many other special editions, was the long series of beautiful and carefully wrought volumes issued by The Grolier Club. In his work for magazines we pick out thatdonefor "St. Nicholas" and the'^Century," with special reference to his loving care of the series of reproductions in woodcut by Timothy Cole from old paintings. By his en- couragement of younger men in his well-known printing- bouse, as well as by his writings on the history of printing and the printer's art, be caused his influence to be felt in wide [:54j RESOLUTIONS circles which affected many persons whenever saw him face to face. His practice and his technical publications made him easily the Dean of his Guild. H is fame was by no means confined to his own land; his name is known wherever the printing-press is used. For his high-^rade work, and for the published treatises on the art to which his life was given with such singular devotion, he received honorary degrees from Yale and Columbia universities. His writings have given definite standards to all members of the printer guild, and books which he printed for others have been accepted as examples with respect to paper, types, and style. The Institute of Graphic Arts thinks it therefore proper, in addressing the remaining members of his family, to min- gle with its profound regrets a portion of congratulation for the high services to the public rendered by Theodore Low DeVinne, — congratulation over a life so well spent and so honorable in every way. A. W. DRAKE, Honorary 'President, CHARLES DE KAY, Secretary. D53 THEODORE LOW DEVINNE BEN FRANKLIN CLUB OF CINCINNATI March 3, 1914. The Ben Franklin Club of Cincinnati, through its Board of Directors, desires to express its deepest sympathy to the family of the late Theodore Low De Vinne. We feel that in his demise the whole craft has suffered irreparable loss, and his passing away leaves a niche in the printing fraternity that cannot be filled. He was a man whose sympathy and wise counsel, and his readiness always to extend a helping hand, had endeared him to all. It was resolved^ that the Cincinnati Ben Franklin Club express their sincere sympathy and condolence to his family and business associates on this occasion of their great be- reavement. J. M. THOMSSEN, C.J, KREHBIEL, ALLEN COLLIER. [56] RESOLUTIONS THE GENERAL SOCIETY OF MECHANICS AND TRADESMEN dlft> In Memoriam Brother Theodore Low DeVinne, initiated May 3, 1882; died February 16,1914. A member of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York. This memorial of respect was adopted by the General So- ciety of Mechanics and Tradesmen, and is transmitted with the sincere sympathy of its members, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fourteen. LEWIS W. HARRINGTON, President. RICHARD T. DAVIES, Secretary, i^n THEODORE LOW DEVINNE THE HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA At a special meeting of the Board of Trustees of The His- panic Society of America, held in the City of New York, June 10, I 5 M, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted: Whereas^ Theodore Low DeVinne,a member of The His- panic Society of America, departed this life the sixteenth day of February, I 9 1 4, in New York City ; and Whereas, by his high reputation as author, by the great eminence attained as printer-publisher, by the standard he set for the art of typography, in which he was universally recognized as a master unexcelled, he added through his ac- tivities to the honor and name of this Society ; therefore be it T^esolved, that we, the Board of Trustees of The Hispanic Society of America, on behalf of ourselves and the members of the Society, desire to place upon record our appreciation of his great work ; to express our deep sense of the serious loss which his death brings to the world of arts and letters, in which he occupied so distinguished a place, as well as to the immediate interests of this Society; and to offer to the family of our departed friend the assurance of our profound sympathy; and be it further Resolved, that this minute be entered on the records of the Society; and that a copy of this resolution of sympathy be suitably engrossed and presented to the family of the de- ceased. ARCHER M.HUNTINGTON, President. EDWARD L. STEVENSON, Secretarij. RESOLUTIONS THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY Whereas^ Mr. Theodore L. DeVinne, a member of this Society since 1 902, departed this Ufe on February 1 6, 1 914; therefore be it ^eso/i;ec/, that in the death of Mr. DeVinne,The American Numismatic Society has lost a valued member and the com- munity a distinguished citizen. ^esolved^ that these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of the Society, and a copy sent to Mr. De Vinne's family. BAUMAN L. BELDEN, Secretary. D93 INFORMAL TRIBUTES INFORMAL TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS, BUSINESS ASSOCIATES, AND THE PRESS HE following extracts from personal letters, newspapers, and magazine ar- ticles have been selected for quota- tion from among the large number received, because each represents a different phase of Mr, DeVinne's char- acter and influence, or sets forth a vary- ing point of view of the writer. LETTERS New York, February 18, I914. It is with sincere sorrow that we have heard of the death of your honored father, Mr. Theodore L. DeVinne, our friend of many years, our fellow-printer, and the dean of his and our craft. While assuring you and your firm of our sympathy in this bereavement, we cannot refrain from refer- THEODORE LOW DEVINNE rin^ to the well-deserved position in the trade to which your father had attained. His ^ood taste, his sense of honor and expression in typography, his instinct in grasping the true principles of the art, and his quick perception of the re- quirements of critical readers placed him at the head of his craftsmen, and stimulated the honest endeavor of those of us who were sensitive as to the most effective methods of making men's thoughts appeal to other men. This seemed to be your father's mission: he heard the call and followed the straight and direct way. Our acquaintance with your father went back many years. The four founders of our house knew him, as well as his good father, who was their contemporary. Our rela- tions with your father were of the most friendly nature: we looked up to him as an authority whose judgment was de- cisive. Although of late years, by reason of his advanced age, he had withdrawn from the activities of business life, the spirit which he had infused into the craft has proved a lasting influence. Again assuring you of our sincere sympathy, we are, dear sir, Sincerely yours, HARPER & BROTHERS. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRINCETON, N. J. February 19, I9M. It is very sad to think that your honored father is gone, but splendid to think of the long life he gave, with an ar- tist's devotion and a saint's humility, to his great work. It CM] INFORMAL TRIBUTES is to me a ^reat privilege that I knew him. With best sym- pathy and kindest regards to you and your son, Ever yours, ANDREW P. WEST. New York, February 17, 1 914. I came home from Philadelphia this evening to hear the sad news of your good father's passing away. The event cannot have been a surprise to you; but, come when it may, the last closing of so beautiful a book as his life has been is a poignant sorrow, and I send you my friendly sympathy. Though he was, of course, very much to you that he could not have been to others, yet many have shared much of his inspiration and counsel with you. His desire for the accomplishment of the best work, and his knowledge of what was the best, were always most help- ful to us of the '* Century" in endeavoring to maintain the best standards. Personally, I always found in his natural and unaffected attitude towards things an unfaltering ideal- ity. That a man of his extraordinary professional attain- ments should have been so humble was not the least charm- ing trait of his engaging personality. I cannot remember a word of blame that he ever gave if anything went wrong. His informing spirit of experience set an example for younger men, and placed your house in the very front rank, and gave it traditions which will last as long as it shall last. Good work, and treatment of others by the Golden Rule, were two of his principles that made us all his devoted admirers and friends. THEODORE LOW DEVINNE As I think of him to-ni^ht with real affection, it seems as if he had never ^rown old. I am back again in those won- derful days of the experiments which he and Mr. Drake were making in all sorts of cut-printing, passing beyond the frontier of the known to see what was to be achieved. Now that he has passed the great Last Frontier of Life, I am sure that there will be something beautiful and congenial for him to achieve. Let us share with you your just pride in his great and lasting usefulness to his time, and in the secure fame with which his days have been crowned. Faithfully yours, R. U.JOHNSON. YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW HAVEN, CONN. February 19, 1 914- It is hardly necessary to say that we feel that the whole brotherhood of printers has met with a severe loss. It is, indeed, fortunate that Mr. DeVinne's inspiration is of the enduring kind, and he has left an ineffaceable mark on the honorable profession of printing. It is pleasant to think that this University has long since realized the value of his services and held him in high esteem. Yours very faithfully, E. BYRNE HACKETT, director. L^e] INFORMAL TRIBUTES AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDERS COMPANY JERSEY CITY, N. J. February 1 9, I914. In the death of Mr. Theodore Low De Vinne, the hon- ored President of The DeVinne Press, every member of the printing fraternity has suffered a personal loss, for it is ^iven to few men to wield such a wide and far-reaching in- fluence as was the case with Mr. DeVinne. His efforts were always for the betterment and uplifting of his craft, and on that account he was honored, respected, and highly esteemed not only in our own country but abroad. There is nothing much finer in life than to come into personal con- tact with a man of such high ideals and friendly sympathy as were always expressed by Mr. DeVinne. Very sincerely, FRANK B. BERRY. Boston, February 1 9, I914. The Houghton Mifflin Company extend to The DeVinne Press their sympathy in the loss which has come to them and to printers and book-lovers all over the world by the death of Theodore Low DeVinne, a master printer in the highest sense. MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON, MASS. I am so sorry. February 19,1914. All who knew Mr. DeVinne must feel in his death a sense of deep personal loss. His memory will be kept green THEODORE LOW DEVINNE by all who loved him, and by all who value the ideals for which his life-work serves as a noble monument. He will not be forgotten. I feel honored to have known him. To the members of his family, my sincere sympathy; to the Press that bears his name, my regards, as ever. To you is fallen the heritage of his renown. Preserve it through the years to come. IT -^ur 11 raithtuUy yours, FITZ ROY CARRINGTON. New York, February 18, I 914- It does not make any difference how old is the one we love, or how expected his death may be, when it comes it comes with a shock, and I know your father's death must have been a great shock to you and yours. He was the last of the generation which was at the fore when I came into our business, and he stood for a great deal with me. He was so lovable and so kindly that he has never seemed like a business friend, but always like one of my own people. I saw but little of him these last years, but it was a comfort to know that he was there. Sincerely, •^ W. W. ELLSWORTH. (^ THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART NEW YORK February 20, 1 914- I was privileged at one time, when at The Grolier Club, to see your father often and more or less intimately ; and the spirit of his delightful personality and fine enthusiasm for the art which he professed, as well as the admiration which [68] INFORMAL TRIBUTES all of us felt for his accomplishment in this art, made a deep and lasting impression upon me. I think I may say to you without egotism — and I only say it because I think it may be a gratification to you — that the influence which he ex- erted upon my mind has remained, and will always remain, one of my most cherished possessions. Very truly yours, H. W. KENT. THE GROLIER CLUB 29 EAST THIRTY-SECOND STREET February 20, 1 914. I have been confined with a bad cold to the house, or I should have written before now just to say how sorry I am that your father has joined the great majority — a majority which, sooner or later, we must all join. I sincerely sympathize with you all in your loss. You are to be envied in that your father left a name and reputa- tion, both in a business way and otherwise, which must always be a source of pride to his descendants and a stim- ulus to them to attain the same high level. Yours sincerely, E. G. KENNEDY. BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA February 20, I 9 14. I am just in receipt of the announcement of the death of Mr. Theodore Low DeVinne. I regret exceedingly to hear of this sad event. Mr. DeVinne has stood for so many [69: THEODORE LOW DEVINNE years as the embodiment of all that is artistic and perfect in the art of printing that his death will be a very great loss. Very sincerely yours, ^ ^ ^ S. H. CHURCH, c^ Secretary. HENRY LINDENMEYR & SONS PAPER WAREHOUSES NEW YORK February 20, 1 914- We offer our tribute to the memory of Theodore L. DeVinne, whose genius and efforts gave to America the high rank it holds in the printing art, which has also influ- enced to such a great degree the art of the paper-maker. Mr. De Vinne's well-rounded and active life sets a high example, and we can best honor his memory by trying to carry out his ideals of beauty and simplicity in art. The name of Theodore Low DeVinne will take its place with the greatest printers of every age and nation. Let us be grateful that such a man has lived among us, and added honor and dignity to our city and country. Respectfully, HENRY LINDENMEYR & SONS. THE PRINTING MACHINERY COMPANY CINCINNATI, OHIO February 24, I 9 14- It is with profound sorrow that we learn of the death of Mr. Theodore Low DeVinne. In every line of endeavor there arises at some time one man so big, so broad, so progressive in his practical self, so INFORMAL TRIBUTES kindly, helpful, and loving in his personal self, as to stand out above his fellows. Such a man was Mr. DeVinne. Happy you can be in the thought that his memory will ever live in the hearts of his fellow-craftsmen, and the results of his efforts and work will be a standard to which the crafts will aspire for generations to come. Very truly yours, THE PRINTING MACHINERY COMPANY, Fred H. BEROLD, President. DIOCESAN HOUSE 416 LAFAYETTE STREET NEW YORK March 2, 19 M. I have been grieved to hear the sorrowful tidings of your great bereavement. I love to think that it has been my privi- lege to know your dear father, and that his life, of such noble and conspicuous usefulness, has been so long spared to his friends, and to his family, and to this community. Surely no one who has ever known him can fail to cherish his ^* V^i'y sincerely yours, GEO. F. NELSON. The Working Girls^ Vacation Society extends its most sin- cere sympathy to The DeVinne Press in its deep sorrow in the loss of its honored president, Theodore Low DeVinne, on Monday, February 16, I 9 14. vn THEODORE LOW DE VINNE MOUNT PLEASANT PRESS HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA March 4, 1 914. It was in my absence in the South during the past several weeks that the announcement came of the death of Mr. DeVinne, the dean of American printers, and undoubtedly the first master printer of the world at the time of his death. It has not been my good fortune to have had much direct personal intercourse with Mr. DeVinne. I have had the honor of corresponding with him, and in a singular fashion he has afforded me aid and inspiration which have had much to do with whatever I have accomplished in the great art- industry to which he devoted his notable life. It was on January 16, I 90 1, that, in answer to a letter, he wrote me the following words : **I shall not live to see it, but I hope the time will come when the making of a good book, from the mechanicarpoint of view, will be regarded as an achievement quite as worthy as the painting of a good picture, or the building of a fine house." I have presented these words to many thousands of peo- ple, and have lived to see a change at last beginning in the estimation in which the printer is held. Mr. DeVinne had the satisfaction before he died of knowing that, because of his good work and his interest in the education of printers, his art had been recognized in a great educational institu- tion, and printing taught, for the first time in the history of the world, in a university. ^ , ' "^ Yours truly, J. HORACE McFARLAND. [72] INFORMAL TRIBUTES Pou^hkeepsie, March 9, I914. I regret that my present physical indisposition should render it impossible for me to attend the memorial meeting to our dear friend, Mr. DeVinne, since it would be a grati- fication not only to hear what might be said by such gen- tlemen as Mr. Johnson and Mr. Drake, whose letters of appreciation, appearing in the ** Tribune" and ** Evening Post," recalled vividly to my mind the days when I knew him in his prime, but to add however slight a word in ac- knowledgment of my indebtedness to him; for he gave always much encouragement, and his honest, simple bear- ing and generous, manly, virile qualities impressed me from the beginning, and have inspired and will always in- spire in me sentiments of the profoundest respect and ad- miration. Thus it has been with all who came in frequent contact with him, and in whose memory he now lives a sec- ond time, and to whom it is consolation to reflect that he lived so ample and helpful a life, rounded with the kind thoughts of all who knew him. Very sincerely yours, TIMOTHY COLE. THE CHISWICK PRESS LONDON, E. C. 9 March, 1 914- I need hardly say how grieved I was to learn of the death of your dear and respected father. I had two letters from him recently, which came after a long interval, and he ex- plained to me that, apart from other things, his sight had practically failed him. 1:73: THEODORE LOW DEVINNE I be^ that you will accept from me, on behalf of The Chiswick Press, our profound sympathy for your loss, and be^ that you will convey that sentiment to the rest of the family. His work generally for printing will stand out for all time. I always appreciated very much his esteem for the work of The Chiswick Press, especially that during the William Pickering period. Yours faithfully, CHAS. T. JACOBI. SCHRIFTGIESSEREI GENZSCH & HEYSE HAMBURG March 10, 1 914- We have received with sincere sorrow the news of the death of Mr. Theodore Low DeVinne, and wish to express our heartfelt sympathy. Not only The DeVinne Press, but the whole printing world, suffers in the loss of this distin- guished man. We wish to pay this tribute to his honored ^' Most respectfully, GENZSCH & HEYSE, Type-founders. Stuttgart, Germany. It is with deep affliction that 1 have learned the news of the death of your dear father, my old respected friend, Theodore L. DeVinne. I had always cherished the hope of making his personal acquaintance when coming to Eu- INFORMAL TRIBUTES rope, but what has not been effected here below may per- haps shortly be so in the other world, for I am completing to-morrow my eighty-fifth year. With feelings of serious ^rief, I am, dear sir, Yours very truly, THEODOR GOEBEL.^ dtb MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER ARTICLES On the sixteenth of February, Theodore L. DeVinne died, past eighty-five, filled with labor and years and honors. For nearly half his lifetime he had been the printer of this magazine. It is no mere compliment to say that the eighty volumes of the ** Century,'* stretching back to 1873, are a lasting monument to him, and at the same time they affirm his title to a place in the first rank of his craft. In the final judgment his name will be placed in the company of Johan- nes Gutenberg, Aldus Manutius, Christophe Plantin, Wil- liam Caxton,the Elzevirs, Benjamin Franklin, and the bril- liant throng who have made the printing-press a leading factor in liberalizing the world through the democracy of letters and art. It was DeVinne's great achievement to lead a revolution in printing that emancipated the pictorial arts, and placed their spiritual message before the eyes of the eager masses. ^A German printer and writer on printing. Of his " Die graphischen Kiinste der Gegenwart," Mr. DeVinne wrote, in a letter to The Grolier Club : "It is a most satisfactory exhibit of the progress of the graphic arts in Germany." [75] THEODORE LOW DEVINNE No event within the craft since the invention of movable type has produced results so decisive and so transforming. The power-press had already popularized books and news- papers, but half its promise had not been realized before De Vinne made it the means of spreading the most delicate refinements of art. His resolute mind grasped the meaning of a new demand on the printer's art, and found the means to satisfy it. He was inspired, and even spurred, by the art aspirations and knowledge of the editors, whose plans he furthered, and by the liberality of the publishers, whose con- fidence in him was grandly justified. With all his force of character, De Vinne was the least obtrusive of intellectual and sociable men. His mind was so copious that if he had possessed the slightest vanity, he might easily have made himself a distinguished bore; in his perfect amiability he was an easy prey to the cult, and could even beguile the loiterer with the thought that he was con- ferring a favor; but whenever /?e was the seeker of an inter- view, the business was invariably finished before the other man realized that it was half over. De Vinne was distinctly a *' popular" man, and yet the word does not quite indicate the deference and respect that his friends and acquaint- ances showed for him in their greetings. In a wide circle of intellectual and social fellowship, he made only a modest use of the recognition of his personal achievements, and found his enjoyments mainly in his work and his home life. Of his honors, De Vinne cared most for the title of Presi- dent of The De Vinne Press and the reputation of its achieve- ments, the record of a master worker in printing the **Cen- tury Magazine" and the Century Dictionary for wider circulation, and the many choice and varied examples of INFORMAL TRIBUTES the art for The Grolier Club and other book-loving associa- tions, or the monumental book of the Bishop Jade Collec- tion; and then he valued the confidence reposed in him by his fellow master-printers, the Typothetce ; and the degrees conferred by Columbia and Yale. A record so nobly made for high public usefulness will not soon be forgotten. The Century f May, 1 9 14. d(ft> Of the men who have contributed to the development of the processes of printing during thelast half of the nineteenth century, none is more worthy of the intelligent appreciation of all the people than Theodore Low De Vinne, who, in the ripeness of a worthy life, has recently passed away. His ser- vice to printing covered the entire period of its modern de- velopment, from the time of the practical utilization of rotary presses to the introduction and perfection of machines for setting type. Mr. De Vinne's theory of printing would now be regarded as somewhat too conservative. His scheme for type com- position was thorough, and his main idea was to produce a readable page. He attained this through careful handling of accepted forms rather than through innovations. He led the way in the development of presswork, and from his estab- lishment came a large proportion of the improvements in method and practice following the general utilization of the cylinder press. Mr. DeVinne's great merit was that he promoted his good ideas. He was not content with being a good printer, but he was always trying, in his way, to make other printers good printers. He was an evangelist in printing. He had THEODORE LOW DE VINNE scarcely become settled in his work before he be^an to pub- lish books about printing, and gradually the list became lon^ and important. He was a writer to the last. He fath- ered a fine library of works relating to printing and allied arts, and he was acquainted with everything that happened anywhere in the world that was of consequence to printing. It was his especial delight to show his fine books and his- toric examples of the printing of the old masters. He was very kind to his fellow-craftsmen, taking advantage of every opportunity to encourage and assist them. He delighted in helping young men and boys who were entering the busi- ness, and never wearied in counseling and directing them. He was generous to prodigality with his great store of know- ledge concerning the history and practice of printing. He was a big-brained and big-hearted man, and the success he achieved was much more than the success he made of his business — he made a success of himself, and he helped many of his fellow-men to make successes of themselves. Nothing much better can be said of any one, when the time comes that he must lay down the life that has been such an opportunity for him. GEORGE FRENCH, The ^ialf March 16, 19 14. J^ Mr. DeVinne's work of organization among employers was unselfish in every respect, and he labored faithfully for the uplift of the industry. Appreciation of his efforts by his fellow-craftsmen came many times during his lifetime, and among the noted occasions were his election to the offices of secretary and president of the local Typothetee, and also [78] INFORMAL TRIBUTES to the office of president of the United Typothetae of Amer- ica at its first session, although not present at the meeting. During the last few years he was confined to his house and seldom appeared in public; this did not prevent his ser- vices being continued and advice sought and given on every important question in his own business and in relation to matters of vital interest to the art of printing. He was a counselor well worthy of the name. Always of a retiring disposition, he was ever ready to extend a helping hand to those who sought his advice or assistance. Perhaps the most touching incident of his later days was the appearance of his office associates at his home on his eighty-sixth birthday, Christmas Day, 1 9 1 4, with a bouquet of eighty-six roses. At that time his eyesight had grown so dim that he had to be introduced to each of the persons present. He has passed to his reward after a life well lived, and has left a place that no one can fill. CHARLES FRANCIS, The /Imerican cMonthly 'J^eview of Reviews f April, I9I4. The newspaper reports of the death of Theodore Low DeVinne spoke of him as ''one of the foremost printers of America.'' As a matter of fact, Mr. DeVinne was the fore- most printer of America. Benjamin Franklin will probably always be known as the most famous printer this country ever produced, but his fame rests principally upon his emi- nence in other fields of endeavor. M r. De Vinne devoted his energies to no calling other than printing, with the exception 1:79] THEODORE LOW DEVINNE of authorship, but it was authorship which dealt only with printing. His printed books take high rank in the com- pany of the products of any and all presses. He learned how to make money at the business long before the rules as we now accept them were established. At the same time that he was giving the attention to the business that made it suc- cessful, he found leisure to travel and also to write the books which are in themselves a sufficient monument to the fame of any one man. . . . When it came to the selection of a man to represent the printing trade in any public capacity, he was always chosen. A notable incident was the banquet given to Prince Henry of Prussia on his visit, some years ago, to America, by the one hundred *' captains of industry." Mr. DeVinne's life was an example and an inspiration alike to young and old who have to do with printing. He ar- rived in New York, a youth without money or influence, and soon made an artistic and commercial success. Throughout his whole career he gave freely of his time and energy for the benefit of others, and his old age, if such a term couldbe ap- plied to him, furnishes one of the best instances of sustained industry of which history contains a record. The /Imerican Printer; March and April, 1 914. i3fe> With the death of Mr. DeVinne . . . there passed away a man who, for over half a century, had a strong influence on American printing. Because of his ability as a business man, his skill as a writer, his profound scholarship, his ar- tistic judgment, but perhaps chiefly because he gave so abundantly of his time and knowledge to further the welfare INFORMAL TRIBUTES of the craft, posterity will doubtless give him an even higher rank than he achieved during his lifetime. He was rightly considered the Nestor of American print- ers. Few men living to-day can look back to such a long pe- riod of activity in the craft. Starting to master the printer's trade at Newburgh, New York, in 1 842, in 1850 he was fore- man of a New York office in which he afterward became a partner, eventually the chief owner, and which he later made famous throughout the world. Mr. De Vinne's most lasting fame rests, however, on his contributions to the literature of printing. He handled with equal facility its historical, artistic, and practical phases. Gifted with a graceful and lucid style of writing, and with a profound knowledge of every detail of the subject, his books and articles have become standard works. This is par- ticularly true of the four volumes making up ** The Prac- tice of Typography" series. These books cover the sub- ject in a very comprehensive manner, and are of the greatest value. Of his historical works, ''The Invention of Printing '' and ''Notable Printers of Italy during the Fifteenth Century " evince his ripest scholarship. The Printing /I rtf March J 1914. t^ Mr. DeVinne, to a very great extent, revolutionized the printing and allied arts, through his good work in various directions. He was also the originator of the standard DeVinne series of type faces. He was a highly honored member of the foremost insti- tutions and societies dealing with the art of printing, and is THEODORE LOW DEVINNE conceded to be an authority alon^ those lines. He was the first man to print on dry paper, as well as the first to use coated paper for illustrations. 'Boktryk {Kristiania, Norway)^ March, 1 914. c^ De Vinne followed the technical development of the trade with a watchful eye, and spared neither effort nor expense in introducing practical improvements. Throughout all his career type-setting machines interested him little; to him they seemed but a necessary evil, useful merely for rapidity in composition, but never to be employed on thorough and correct, much less on artistic, typography. The use of ma- chines for his pet hobby, book-lovers' editions, was indeed distasteful to him; here he gave free rein to his marvel- ous taste, ripened by constant study of the old masters. And it is mainly to these artistic creations that he owes his fame as America's foremost printer. He applied his ability more to dignified products of simple beauty than to elaborate and costly ones. De Vinne was a mighty master of the pen. His early liter- ary effort, published in 1869, entitled '' The Printers' Price List," is still the best authority on the fundamentals of the cost-finding system. His " Invention of Printing," of which the first issue appeared in I 876, the second in 1 878, became very popular with Germany's printerdom. It clearly refutes the unfounded claims of Laurens Coster as the true inventor of printing. O. W. FUHRMANN, The German 'Printer and Lithographer. L823 INFORMAL TRIBUTES Persons familiar with the history of American printing, and especially its development in the last thirty or forty years, linked to-day the name of Theodore Low De Vinne, who died here yesterday in his eighty-sixth year, with those of Gutenberg, Aldus, Caxton, Plantin, and our own Benja- min Franklin, in discussing his contribution to the art of modern printing. It was De Vinne's skill, they pointed out, that really gave rise to the illustrated magazine in this coun- try, many years before lithography made illustration so simple that almost any one could get out a periodical with pictures. It was not with the lithograph, but the woodcut, that he achieved results that many a printer had said were impos- sible; and although his work in other branches of printing was of equal importance and merit, no single achievement may be said to surpass that of popularizing the wood-en- graver's difficult art. What had been reserved for but a few to gaze upon was spread broadcast through DeVinne's won- derful skill. When De Vinne came to New York, more than half a cen- tury ago, fine printing was a rarity. There was a firm belief among printers here — and in England, too — that really good work could be turned out only on band-presses, and that they had reached the highest possible perfection in the ma- terials, machinery, and methods then available for quick work. What few magazines there were, were turned out with not much care for typographical appearance, and the illustrations were of the roughest sort. The printers simply made up their minds that it was folly to try to print wood-block engravings properly on cyl- inder presses, and their results were so shabby-looking that THEODORE LOW DEVINNE artists were discouraged and failed to use their best efforts in this field. If you wanted a good wood-engraving you paid high for one of a very few copies struck off by hand. But Dc Vinne did not share the opinion that good illus- trations could not be reproduced for magazine purposes at comparatively moderate cost. When first impressions of woodcuts failed to please him, he would spend days — weeks, if necessary — adjusting what are called the ''over- lays," in order to get the right effect. The difficulty, of course, came in transferring the original engraving from a flat surface to a curved metal plate for the press. With the machinery then at his disposal, it was the work of many days, often, to get the full tone of the original from the curved plate. It meant experimenting with "overlays" of many kinds until the right combination could be found. It meant, also, changes in the method of handling the paper, and changes even in the ink itself, and at each innovation old pressmen shook their heads and said the thing could not be done. But De Vinne did it, and in 1872, when the first copy of " St. Nicholas" came from his press, it was her- alded as the best-printed magazine in this country. The New York Evening ^ost, February 17, I9I4. cJ(b Editors, authors, publishers, engravers and printers at- tended the funeral of Theodore Low De Vinne from his late home, 300 West Seventy-sixth Street, yesterday morning. These men, who knew Mr. De Vinne and the great work he did for typography in this country, joined the great print- er's intimate friends in paying tribute to his genius. [84] INFORMAL TRIBUTES ** This community has seldom been called upon to mourn the loss of a more remarkable man," said the Rev. Dr. Robert McKenzie. ** His name and his work will last as long as the city continues.'' The pall-bearers wereW.W. Ellsworth, president of The Century Co. ; A. W. Drake, formerly art manager of The Century Co.; E. G. Kennedy, president of The Grolier Club ; Beverly Chew, former president of The Grolier Club ; William Green and Robert Schalkenbach, of the Typoth- etce of New York, and J. W. Bothwell,of the DeVinne Press. The New York Sun, February 20, 1 9 14. To the Editor of The Times : Will you permit me to pay a tribute to the late Theodore L. DeVinne from the point of view of one who has worked by his side through several decades? As a fellow founder of The Grolier Club and as an active member of its Committee on Publications during ten of the years when the now celebrated publications of the Club were printed at The DeVinne Press, the writer had an opportunity to appreciate the skill and the artistic conscience of this great master printer. If the slightest improvement could be secured in the workmanship of a book, he would make any sacrifice of time and money to secure it. The very first of The Grolier Club publications, which is now a great rarity, namely, **A Decree of Star Chamber Concerning Early Printing,"was not only the product of the celebrated DeVinne plant, but was actually suggested by DeVinne himself, who was undoubtedly the most scholarly modern historian of his art. He was eagerly sought by [1853 THEODORE LOW DEVINNE nearly all the leading publishers whenever a book of special beauty was on the ways. Nor was it only in the exquisite Grolier books and many other handsome volumes of limited editions that he excelled. He lavished the same care upon the ''Century" and **St. Nicholas" magazines, and later upon the Century Dictionary, all of which, running into large editions, offered very different problems from editions de luxe. The limited edition on hand-made paper is frequently printed ''four up"; a magazine is usually printed sixty-four pages at once. Many a time I have seen Mr. De Vinne have a press "stripped" and keep it idle for a day or so while new overlays were being cut, all this to secure the best pos- sible touch of excellence in the printing of illustrations. We would shake our heads over some slightly unsatisfactory form, and then the conversation would usually end this way : " Well, after all, we are here to get quality, are n't we?" And De Vinne would answer, "You 're right; have that press stripped, Hamilton!" Sometimes the ink would be too "stiff," and De Vinne would try a half-dozen different inks before he was satisfied. It is easily imagined how costly this kind of conscientiousness was. Not in the long run, however, for it was just this minute care that built up the reputation of De Vinne and the magazines he printed. De Vinne was appreciative of every reasonable suggestion, and always willing to try experiments. It was his demand for and use of glazed paper that had much to do with the introduction of this kind of surface that has meant so much to reproductive processes. When the half-tone appeared he was among the first to embrace it and bring it to the high- est state of perfection. [86] INFORMAL TRIBUTES His handling of his men was a model for employers. I have often seen him encourage an overlay man, saying, ^* I see you 've ^ot your blacks up nicely. Could n't you take up that sky a little? It seems to be slightly broken." I remember one case where a workman had made several mistakes on consecutive days, and, worst of all, the mistakes had actually got into print. DeVinne sent for the culprit, and with great indignation told him that he would not need his services any longer. The man did not go out promptly, and De Vinne looked up and found the employee's eyes filled with tears. He explained that he had not been in bed for three days and nights, having worked all day at the print- ing-office, and having attended his sick wife through each night. Knowing the man's integrity, DeVinne promptly re- versed his decision and told him to draw his pay for a week in advance and go home and look after his wife. It was many kindnesses like this that won wide-spread affection for this high-minded, unselfish master of his craft. It is a keen personal satisfaction for one who was associated with him for more than fifty years to submit this brief testimony. A. W. DRAKE, The New York Times ^ February 22, 1 9 14. c^ To the Editor of The Times : I should like to add a word to Mr. Drake's appreciation of Mr. DeVinne on behalf of the thousands of printers, pub- lishers, and editors who, while not having known him per- sonally, are profiting by his conscientious hard work in the direction of elevating the art preservative. [87] THEODORE LOW DEVINNE What might be called the DeVinne influence can be traced in the pages of any type-founder's specimen-book, in the output of the best paper-mills, the quality of printing- inks, the mathematical accuracy of presses, the overlay of vignetted half-tones, the perfect duplication of electrotypes, and a score of other details of perfection. Improvement in any branch has required that it be paralleled in some other, and gradually the whole lump has been leavened. Imagine the elimination to-day of everything in the quality of printing, engraving, and bookbinding which is due directly or indi- rectly to the example and precept of this master artist- printer, and there would be little left to combat the freak typography of the sensational newspapers and too many of the magazines, and even of books having some claim to recognition as literature. Mr. DeVinne has built his own monument in the momen- tum which the printer's and allied arts have acquired in maintaining high ideals, using the name of De Vinne as their basis of measurement. EDWARD ST. JOHN, The New York Times, February 23, 1 91 4. Jfc Comparatively few persons ever stop to think of a type face as a work of art. Type faces are read, and nothing more is thought of them. The type is large or small and easily read or otherwise. That is the only view we take of the value of a given type face. Printed matter is so cheap and so general, what with newspapers and libraries sown broad- cast over the land, that few persons give a thought to the beauty or lack of beauty in the type. As for a man who ess: INFORMAL TRIBUTES could love type faces as one would paintings, and delight in fashioning beautiful ones — well, he must be a queer dick. That 's just a foundry-man's job, in the general opinion. New York has such men, however, and the chief died the other day. His name was Theodore Low DeVinne, whose name has been linked with those of the historic printers of the past, — Caxton, Aldus, and the others, — who made of typography an art. One of his ideals was that type should be of such a char- acter that no one would become tired from reading it. He once took a tilt in type at those who, in his opinion, were debasers of faces. It was in the ** Liber Scriptorum," a vol- ume of signed articles by famous American authors, ar- ranged by the Authors' Club a score of years ago, that he rode forth with his lance. ** Do You Know Your Letters?" was the caption he gave it. '* This was the question," he began, ''given to me nearly sixty years ago by the teacher, when for the first time I went to her child's school. My answer was prompt and confi- dent. 'Yes, ma'am, I know the big letters and the little let- ters, and I can read a little.' ** If the question were asked now I should not answer so confidently. My lifelong business has been the combining of letters in the form of types, either by my own hands or by proxy. I have read books on writing and letters; I have some familiarity with the types used by famous printers; I have examined facsimiles and some originals of notable manuscripts; I am a close observer and student of the new styles made by type-founders here and abroad. I should know all the letters, but I have to confess that I stumble often over mysterious characters that I have never seen be- THEODORE LOW DEVINNE fore, and hope never to see again. Paul I know, and Cephas I know, but who are ye?" The New York Tribunef February 22, 1 9 14. dUb In every period of the honorable and ancient art of print- ing there is likely to be one figure which stands out as the appreciator and the teacher of appreciation of the beauty of the printed page — the artist workman who conceives the fashioning of a book or a periodical as a fine art. This was the position of the late Theodore Low DeVinne, whose work has meant more to the art of printing than that of any other American of his generation. He was both an innovator and a developer of other men's beginnings. He was both a conservative and a radical, combining these two qualities in a most valuable manner. His work began in a period when thinness of line was considered a virtue in American print- ing, just as the goose-quill and the fine-pointed pen had in- culcated a style of hair-line penmanship which was not without its influence on the printed page. The series of types which are now identified with his name are a definite reaction and protest against the slender line, yet they are ret- icent in design. Their direct appeal to the eye is made by a solidity and a simplicity which distinguish them from the older forms. Even the italics partake of these same quali- ties, and their value is attested by their now general use. Many a layman who does not know one face of type from another has chosen the DeVinne series from instinctive preference of their common-sense qualities, without realiz- ing that these qualities are properties of artistry as well. INFORMAL TRIBUTES Something in the aspect of the scholarly head in its Wag- nerian cap, as presented in the etching of Mr. DeVinne which hangs in the offices of his colleagues and his friends, recalls the fame and figure of some medieval printer devoted to his art and determined to leave the printed page a more worthy recording-place for thought than he found it. The 'Boston Transcript ^ February 18, 1 9 14.