tion was due to
the tools being imperfect, and Coster in the first practice of his
invention was inexperienced and therefore bound to produce such
imperfections as are found in the Speculum. Coster's type were cast in
one tempo, that is, the character itself and the shank cast at the
same time in one piece.

Gutenberg's patrices, according to Enschede, were made like
bookbinders' stamps, of yellow copper, i. e., brass. With such
patrices only lead matrices could be made, but the latter could be
produced in two ways. Molten lead could be poured over the patrices or
the patrices could be pressed into cold lead. The first mode is
somewhat complex, but the matrix would have a smooth surface and need
no further adjustment.

The second mode is more simple, but required great force, although
lead is a soft metal. Moreover the surface of the matrix would have to
be trimmed, as the impression forces the metal downwards and
sidewards, which makes the surface uneven, though by this pressure the
lead becomes firmer and more compact, to the advantage of the
type-founder.

Enschede thinks that Gutenberg obtained his matrices by the second
mode. He arrives at this conclusion by reason of the fact that
Gutenberg's types were sharper in their impressions than Coster's.
Developing this theory, he believes that Gutenberg had each letter
engraved on a brass plate 2 mm. thick, therefore a mere letter without
anything underneath it. This brass letter patrix was pressed, by means
of a small flat plate, so far into the lead that its back formed an
unbroken plane with the top surface of the lead, and was then removed.

After the matrix had been made this way, the type were cast, which was
done, not by pouring metal into the matrix, but by pressing the latter
into semi-fused metal. In this way a great many letters could be cast
from one matrix without any injury to it. Gutenberg's method was to
cast in two tempos, according to Enschede, that is, the character was
cast first and the shank was cast by another operation joining it to
the character.

Enschede warns us, however, that his theories are simply those of a
practical founder and not a bibliographer's. But since no tools used
by those early printers and type-founders have come to light to prove
or disprove him, his theory is as valuable as any others advanced as
to the methods used for casting type in those primitive days of
printing.

The shape of the type used as early as 1470 do