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Flash of the Comet: The Typographical Career of
Samuel N.
Dickinson
by
Rollo G. Silver
Although the name of Samuel N. Dickinson appears in the literature of nineteenth century printing, it is usually in reference to only a few of his many achievements. To De Vinne, he was a master printer who became a typefounder and introduced the Scotch face.[1] The American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking finds this aspect of Dickinson memorable and then states that his book, A Help to Printers and Publishers, was for many years "an indispensable one in all printing-offices."[2] Bigmore & Wyman refer to only two items: A Help to Printers and Publishers and his 1842 specimen book.[3] Yet here was a man regarded by his contemporaries as one of the best printers in the United States. In addition to his typefoundry, he owned one of the largest printing offices in the country, issued one of the first American technological journals, produced the first American periodical devoted to printing, compiled and printed a well-known series of almanacs, and was astute enough to discover and employ such men as Henry O. Houghton and the two John Wilsons. Unfortunately Dickinson's career ended in less than twenty years. Perhaps if he had lived long enough to have become venerable, he would have received greater attention from historians of printing.
To recount all of his various activities in one straight chronological narrative would blur and distort the picture. Therefore, after a brief biographical sketch, his work as printer, typefounder, and publisher will be discussed separately.
Samuel Nelson Dickinson, seventh child of Nancy Pullen Dickinson and Cotton Dickinson, was born in Phelps, Ontario County, New York, on 11 December 1801.[4] His grandfather, Colonel Elias Dickinson, had
His ambition to own a printing shop was realized in 1829 when he resigned and rented two small rooms at 52 Washington Street, Boston. As business thrived, it expanded into adjoining rooms until the printing shop and typefoundry (added in 1840) comprised twelve large rooms covering more than an acre (Coolidge and Wiley, p. 3).
This was accomplished while Dickinson's personal life was affected by a tragedy and increasingly poor health. His first wife, Sarah Ann Oliver, whom he married in 1830, and their seven-week-old daughter died within a day of each other in 1833 ([Boston] Columbian Centinel, 1 Sept. 1830; 3 Aug. 1833). Three years later, he married Mrs. Mary Parker (Columbian Centinel, 20 July 1836). In January and February, 1847, his health declined so remorselessly that he spent four weeks in New York consulting a "Botanic Physician" for his throat and lungs.[8] He repeated the visit one month later (Dickinson to Geer, 16 March
Printer
By the end of 1829, Dickinson had equipped his shop and was ready to solicit orders for printing. The first announcement succinctly described his objectives and policies:
SAMUEL N. DICKINSON, having established himself in the Printing Business in this city, would respectfully inform the public that he has opened an office at No. 52, Washington-street, (6 doors north of State-street,) where he has a choice selection of Type, and other apparatus, adapted to the printing of Books, Newspapers, Catalogues, Circulars, Checks, Cards & c.
In soliciting patronage, he engages that his work shall be executed in as good style, and on as reasonable terms, as at any other establishment in the city. His materials are selected from the Boston Type and Stereotype Foundry, and are among the best specimens for neatness and elegance that can be procured.
Gentlemen disposed to favour his establishment with their patronage, may depend on having their work done with punctuality, with the nicest accuracy, and according to the terms of contract.
Refer to Messrs. H. J. Oliver.
J. G. Rogers, and
Rev. Silas Blaisdale
Boston, Dec. 9.[9]
At least two of his three references had a personal interest in the success of this venture. Henry J. Oliver, Boston merchant, became his father-in-law nine months later and John G. Rogers was the agent of the Boston Type and Stereotype Foundry.[10] The third reference, Reverend Silas Blaisdale, taught at the Salem Street Academy.[11] Obviously Dickinson was starting on his own without much encouragement from the businessmen of Boston.
Throughout his career, he always attempted to obtain the best and latest equipment, announcing these acquisitions proudly in advertisements
Mr. Phinehas (sic) Dow, of this city, has, we think, been very successful in applying these progressive levers. He has contrived to place the fulcrum of the lever on the near side, thus bringing the bar-handle nearer to the pressman, and also the advantage of not extending an awkward distance out from the press. Mr. D., however, is not alone in this particular, others, have appended the bar to the near side of their presses, also; but, whether they have done it in so compact a manner admits of considerable doubt. For ourselves, we can say we never saw a press fold up so snugly, (if we may be allowed the term,) as that of Mr. D. But, its most striking feature is its simplicity; we believe it would be impossible to construct a press with less machinery. The bar or lever, is 36 inches long, from the extreme end to the centre of motion; from this centre, and at a right angle with the bar, is a short arm, to which a pitman is attached; the short arm is 2¼ inches long, and extends towards the back of the press; the pitman terminates in a ball, which acts in a socket near the top of the lower toggle; of course the toggles are pushed, and not drawn, as in other presses. Those parts giving the pressure are brought in straight lines at the greatest stress, consequently no spring, and but little friction, are important advantages in this press.
* * * * * * * *
Mr. Clymer's press, in its day, was considered an acquisition to a printing office, and no doubt it was; but, far otherwise is the case at present. In the perspective, the eye is struck with rather an agreeable picture; but, as beauty is not always indicative of superiour worth, so with this press; it may be classified with the beautiful, but not among the useful. . . . It is well known that a simple, and yet efficient, machine, always possesses decided advantages over a complicated one. . . . But, exclusive of its intricateness, we have other objections to Mr. Clymer's press. Such as its liability to accident, because of its overmuch machinery; and, (what we think a serious one,) the movement of the platen; in the perspective the platen is seen attached to the main lever by means of a piston, which piston slides between two projections from either of the inner sides of the press; these projections are grooved at the ends, and are intended to guide the piston in its perpendicular motion, but of this they fail; for the piston being made fast, as above stated, to the main
The earliest items printed by Dickinson were products of a skilled craftsman. He did excellent tabular work, as in the Report of the School Committee, Boston, 1829, and, during the next year, he demonstrated his ability to handle texts and lists in such publications as a report of the Boston Mechanics Institution (1830) and the Act of Incorporation of the Bunker Hill Monument Association. In addition to other works and job printing throughout the 1830's, he began printing books for publishers. Dickinson's production of John Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education in 1830 for Gray & Bowen must have pleased them; two years later, they selected him to print The Token (1833), one of the most distinguished American literary annuals. Another recognition of his craftsmanship is manifest in the choice of Dickinson to print the 1835 specimen book of the Boston Type and Stereotype Foundry. In six years, he had established himself as a highly respected and successful printer, enjoying an increasing amount of business.
The possibility of attaining better presswork led Dickinson to design modifications on the presses he purchased. One of the early alterations appeared so promising that he applied for a patent. This patent, for an improvement in the machinery for printing, was granted on 19 November 1833. Because of the fire in 1836, no copy survives in the Patent Office, but the patent was epitomized soon after it was granted:
The improvements here described are applied to the hand printing press, and the first of them is intended to remove the defect occasioned by the falling of the inking roller, as it is usually constructed, into the quadrats, or spaces, between the pages of matter; the impressions being usually rendered imperfect by its pressing more forcibly on the type at the sides than at other places, as it falls into, and rises from, these spaces. To obviate this, there are to be wheels, on the gudgeons of the inking rollers, which may be of the same diameter as the rollers themselves, and these are to bear, and run upon, ways, adapted to them. These ways are so constructed as to sink down when the tympan is brought upon the form, and to rise when it is raised; for this purpose, the tympan is furnished with a tail piece on each of its lower angles, which, when it is thrown up, act upon a system of levers, and produce the effect of raising the rails: the inking rollers are then conducted over the form with regularity.
The second improvement consists in a particular arrangement of the inking
The claim is to the application of a system of levers to the bed, to be acted upon by projecting pieces on the lower angles of the tympan, which raise parallel rails for the purpose described; and to the mode of applying the ink fountain for distributing and equalizing the ink.[14]
It is to be regretted that there is not even a clue to the method of distributing and equalizing the ink. That "it would be difficult to describe without a drawing" prompts one to speculate that Dickinson may have utilized the principle of the revolving disk.
The origin of the press most closely associated with Dickinson has, until now, remained obscure. His 1839 Boston Almanac contained this announcement:
S. N. D. would respectfully inform his friends and the public, that having purchased the right of use, for the city of Boston, of the Rotary Press, he intends to direct his whole attention to this branch of Printing.
The Rotary Press will introduce a new era in Card Printing, for from its construction it is capable of printing a greater number of Cards, in a given time, and of the most beautiful execution, than any other machine.
Cards are a ready and convenient medium of information, and would undoubtedly be used to a greater extent than they have been, were they obtained at lower prices. With these machines they can be furnished so low, that the barrier of a high price may be said to be entirely removed — a thousand handsome cards being furnished for four or five dollars.
Rail Road tickets printed with great despatch, and at a great saving to the proprietors.[15]
Despite the fact that the Rotary Press bears a striking resemblance to George P. Gordon's Firefly Press, Henry L. Bullen said that Stephen P. Ruggles built the Rotary Press for Dickinson.[16] Two pieces of evidence prove Bullen to be incorrect. The first, Gordon's patent of 1852 for the Firefly Press, acknowledges that it is an adaptation of a press patented by C. F. Voorhies on 8 April 1834 (U.S. Patent No. 9,234). The second is Dickinson's own statement in his Boston Almanac. Under date of 1 August in "Memoranda of Events in Boston, during the year, 1838," he listed: "The Rotary Press, invented by Mr. C. F. Voorhies, of New York, first introduced into Boston, by S. N. Dickinson, with which one person can print at the rate of 2000 cards per hour."[17]
Dickinson found the Rotary Press so promising that although he had originally purchased the right of use for the city of Boston, he decided to promote and sell it in a larger territory. Answering a query about the press from Elihu Geer, Hartford printer, in 1841, Dickinson described his marketing plans:
An aggressive sales campaign for the Rotary Press yielded results. One was probably placed in New York where the "Office of the Rotary
Dickinson's 1841 Boston Almanac contained a five-page catalogue of work that could be done and articles that could be found at his printing office. It revealed that, at the end of 1840, he was equipped to print newspapers, books, and pamphlets in English, French, or Spanish. Job work extended from cards to show bills in type from Diamond to 60-line Pica. Printing in color, gold printing, embossing, zylographic printing, and engraving were also available. He used "about a dozen different kinds of Printing Presses" in the approximately hundred-foot-long office on Washington Street.[22]
His passion for self-respect and the respect of his world asserted itself without a lull. In 1841, while he enthusiastically used and sold the Rotary Press, he purchased the Boston right for the Ruggles Engine Press which was patented in 1840 (U.S. Patent No. 1,851). Because this card and job press had the horizontal type form above the horizontal platen, it became known as the Upside Down Press.[23] Soon Ruggles advertised that two of these presses were "constantly running" in Dickinson's office (Boston Morning Post, 15 June 1841). Dickinson, in one of his own advertisements, declared that he "will avail himself of all new facilities for executing work—facilities which the inventive genius of our countrymen is constantly producing and improving—as far as honorably he can, either by fair purchase or free permission from the inventors" (Boston Daily Times, 1 July 1841). Another advertisement specified some of the other new facilities: a steam engine, several new inking apparatuses, a new cylinder engine for job work, a hydrostatic press for giving printed work a "most beautiful gloss and finish," two new power presses, as well as new type, flowers, and cuts being received via steamers from Liverpool (New England Puritan, 11 Nov. 1841).
To be known as the owner of the shop with the best equipment did not suffice; he made the shop itself express his fervor for his craft. He was, he told the public, the first in Boston "to arrange and systematize a Printing Office in such a manner as to leave impressions of respect and
By 1845, Dickinson was printer, publisher, stereotyper, and typefounder. The expanding volume of business was too large to be closely supervised by one person. On 1 April, Dickinson admitted Charles C. P. Moody, one of his chief assistants, as a co-partner under the firm name of S. N. Dickinson & Co.[28] Moody probably managed the printing department
The great variety of typographical activities under one roof provided excellent training for ambitious employees. William Filmer, one
The year 1846 marked the summit of Dickinson's career for, as the year ended, his health began to decline and he could no longer continue his constant, intensive activity. The co-partnership with Charles C. P. Moody expired by limitation on 1 April 1847. Dickinson again assumed complete financial responsibility, but the formal announcement pointed out that Moody would remain, attending chiefly to the printing department while Dickinson devoted his attention principally to the typefounding department (Daily Evening Transcript, 15 May 1847). This stop-gap arrangement ended in September when Dickinson sold his "extensive Printing Office, Book Bindery, and Card Embossing department" to Damrell & Moore.[34] Nevertheless the name of Dickinson did not disappear in the Boston printing industry. When Damrell & Moore moved to Devonshire Street in 1848, they referred to their firm as "The
Typefounder
The years at the Boston Type and Stereotype Foundry nurtured Dickinson's fascination with the design and manufacture of printing type. Undoubtedly he set up his own printing office with the intention of eventually establishing his own typefoundry when sufficient time and money were available. From the moment he began to print on his own, interest in type equalled, if not exceeded, his occupation with new printing machinery.
One can infer that, when he opened his printing office, his former employers were not aware of this intention. Otherwise they would not have encouraged him. According to Dickinson's first announcement, his "choice selection of Type, and other apparatus" were "selected from the Boston Type and Stereotype Foundry" (Boston Daily Advertiser, 9 Dec. 1829). And, it will also be remembered, his references included the Foundry's agent. However, the limited assortment of faces produced by his sponsor frustrated his ambition to own a large stock. Purchases from other foundries gradually mounted to the time when he could advertise that a "selection of the very best has been made from the London and Paris Foundries, so that his Office presents as great a variety of Type as can be found in any other Office in America."[37] In 1841, he catalogued the massive inventory of more than 285 varieties, including wood type, in his Specimen of Printing Type in S. N. Dickinson's Office, Boston.
Meanwhile he had planned to become a typefounder. He may have begun, as David Bruce, Jr., recalled many years later, in 1840 with faces which "were selected from the punches of David Bruce, Jr., Williams-burgh, L. I., and the molds and fitting under the direction of Mr. Michael Dalton, executed by Mr. Edwin Starr and Son, Philadelphia."[38] The fact that the firm of Edwin Starr & Son did not exist at that time discredits the accuracy of Bruce's memory. The other statements in his recollection await verification.
According to De Vinne, Dickinson's dislike of available faces prompted him to send his designs for a new face, modeled in 1837, to Alexander Wilson & Son, Edinburgh, where punches were cut and matrices shipped to him two years later. The face, said De Vinne, is the
The subscriber has the gratification to announce that in addition to his heretofore extensive facilities for Book and Job printing, he has added the very important item of Casting his own Type. This step enables him to keep his office abundantly supplied with type of the best and newest cut. The type for book work, already got up, presents the most beautiful faces that can be found in the country.
Authors and others interested, are requested particularly to examine the Bourgeois, Long Primer, Small Pica, and Pica. The Small Pica was cut a year or two since, but previously to being fitted up for the subscriber's use, many of the letters were re-cut, and others re-touched; and, after a thorough revision, it was pronounced perfect.[39]
The second, one year later, acknowledged that the Wilsons did punch-cutting for him:
By 1844, his successful introduction of this face tempted him to offer to design other faces:
With his well-equipped printing shop conveniently at hand, Dickinson
made two grand flourishes in publicizing the typefoundry which he said
"commenced in 1840."[42] He used his
new type in The Works of
The other flourish, Specimen of Type for Book Printing, Manufactured by Samuel N. Dickinson, issued in 1842, is not a mere series of alphabets. Its thirty-five leaves contain an assortment of complete book pages. Thus, for example, Brevier is seen in three 32mo. pages—solid, thin leaded, and leaded, in an 18mo. page, solid, in a 12mo. page, thin leaded, in three 8vo. pages—leaded, solid, and double column solid. There are also displays of Nonpareil, Minion, Bourgeois, Long Primer, Small Pica, and Pica. Dickinson also provided specimen sheets showing complete alphabets in roman and italic as well as numerals. The first paragraph of his introductory statement expressed his feeling for style and elegance:
Dickinson's enjoyment in creating a successful typefoundry was soon disturbed by rumors of a revolutionary development in the industry. Word spread that the new process of electrotyping could be utilized to produce matrices from cast type or punches, thereby permitting any typefounder to reproduce any face at very low cost. Moreover, new designs could be produced without the expense of a punchcutter. A passage in a letter to Elihu Geer implies that Dickinson conducted some experiments toward this end:
In addition to intense price competition, typefounders had to contend with pilferage of designs. In the same letter to Geer, Dickinson discussed the unreasonableness of price-cutting as well as his resentment against those who plundered his ideas:
After launching his book type, he sought out and attracted another market: newspaper type. In 1846, the Boston Daily Evening Traveller announced that its "new and elegant typographical dress" was commenced with a complete suit of type from Dickinson (Daily Evening Traveller, 1 April 1846). Only two sizes, Minion and Agate, were used because "the less the number of fonts, . . . used in the printing of a daily paper, the less the liability of getting the type mixed by the compositors, which in the hurry of getting the paper ready for press, is not of unfrequent occurrence" (Daily Evening Traveller, 28 April 1846). Yet, the editors pointed out, because of Dickinson's perseverance and skill and
Type for books and newspapers comprised only a part of the typefoundry's output. Leads, brass rules, furniture, ornaments of various styles and sizes, borders, vignettes, Greek type, and phonotype were among the other products. In 1846, Dickinson celebrated his achievement by preparing a Hand-Book Specimen of Printing Type, Cuts, Ornaments, Etc. The contents of this volume of almost 190 leaves must have been a complete display. The preface, dated January, 1847, stated that the Scotch faces (more than a dozen varieties) "were selected from the very extensive Foundry of Alexander Wilson & Sons of Edinburgh, and also from an eminent letter cutter of that city" (Hand-Book, l. 1). It concluded with a regretful sentence: "There are only three kinds of American cutting exhibited among these Book and News founts, viz: English, Pica No. 1, and Small Pica No. 1; but they are considered by many as very handsome." The preface was followed by a "Notice," dated June, 1847, in which he apologized: "We had not the time to put any extra gloss upon the Printing, and contented ourselves with letting it pass as a plain piece of work" (Hand-Book, l. 2). His dignity did not permit him to say that illness had forced him to be in New York in January, February, and March, thereby preventing him from guiding the book through the press. The imposing array of typographical materials in this volume is all the more impressive when one remembers that Dickinson had been a typefounder for only seven years.
The complications of his illness kept him away from his business for such long periods that he could not collect many of his accounts receivable. In March, 1847, the firm had to borrow money to meet the payroll (C. C. P. Moody to Geer, 25 March 1847). He soon sold the printing office, but managed to hold on to the typefoundry for another ten months. Then, as he told Geer, he surrendered to his fate:
Real Scotch Faces
have been received with general commendation, and they are daily becoming more and more popular for their elegance of form and remarkable durability.
MICHAEL DALTON.
[fist] The friends and patrons of this Foundry may rest assured that it has fallen into good and competent hands. Mr. Phelps is well known as an accomplished printer.—Mr. Dalton has had twenty years experience in the practical departments of type-founding, and his knowledge of the art is second to that of no other founder in the country. In relinquishing my favorite business, it affords me pleasure to say that, under the new arrangement, the friends and customers of this Foundry may with certainty depend upon a prompt and faithful discharge of all orders; and that if, heretofore, they have been pleased with its productions, the skill and talents of its present proprietors cannot fail, hereafter, to give them the fullest satisfaction. S. N. DICKINSON.[46]
Publisher
Interspersed among the items printed by Dickinson are those which he published as well as printed and those which he compiled, printed, and published. The former group ranges in subject from Rev. Francis Parkman's An Offering of Sympathy (1830) to the first edition of The Pirates Own Book (1837), afterwards frequently republished by others. The latter group includes four projects which deserve greater attention.
Dickinson opened his printing office at a time when Americans increasingly favored the expansion of public improvements. Canals, railroads, and steamboats, all recently developed, promised a radical transformation of the economic order which seemed limitless. Only one successful American channel for communication about this euphoric subject existed. At Philadelphia, the American Mechanics' Magazine, later the Journal of the Franklin Institute, began publication in 1825. Undoubtedly Dickinson realized that if a similar magazine on industrial research and development were established in Boston, it would enhance the reputation of his role as printer-publisher. At first he thought of republishing the London Mechanics' Magazine, but decided against it because of "the amount of matter in that periodical of a purely local character, and the speculations therein contained, which are so constantly anticipated by the ingenuity, talent and enterprize of our own countrymen."[51] Instead, within a few months after opening his printing office, he published the first number of the Mechanicks Magazine, and Journal of Publick Internal Improvement on 1 February 1830.
The Mechanicks Magazine was addressed "to the man of science, to the man of practical knowledge, and to all who are disposed to advance the Useful Arts, and the cause of Publick Internal Improvement" and articles of "a political, religious, or other publick controversy" would be rigorously excluded (Mec. Mag., p. 1). By printing relevant domestic contributions and by reprinting articles from foreign journals, Dickinson hoped to "spread a table upon which genius may lay her crude productions, and where timidity may venture to disclose her worth" (Mec. Mag., p. 1). He hoped, too, that the "pages may one day be used as a book of reference, whereby may be exhibited, on comparison with the then
During the year, this well-produced journal contained more than four hundred and forty articles of various lengths. In addition to the expected articles on railroads, canals, and steamboats, others were concerned with cloth, clocks, chemistry, physics, patents, and anything else that one could expect to find in a scientific journal of the time. At the end of the year, the publisher provided a comprehensive table of contents and a title page on which the title appeared as The Mechanics' Magazine, and Journal of Public Internal Improvement—omitting the k in "Mechanic" and "Public" in respect, no doubt, to the modernization of spelling. When the first volume was completed, Dickinson advertised that publication was suspended until April when it would be resumed if sufficient encouragement was obtained (Daily Advertiser, 25 Feb. 1831). The encouragement must have been inadequate because no succeeding volume has been located. If the climate had been less parochial, the magazine might have found more readers, and would now be the "book of reference" Dickinson anticipated.
Four years later, Dickinson had greater success with a reference book by compiling, printing, and publishing A Help to Printers and Publishers. As previously mentioned, printers for many years found it indispensable. The tables it contained were as useful to printers as interest tables to bankers. To save time in estimating jobs, Dickinson had calculated the quantity of paper required for a given number of signatures and provided the number of tokens in the amount. A printer could refer to the tables and immediately find the amount of paper and tokens required for a given number of copies and a given number of signatures. For instance, 1,000 copies of a book of 35 signatures would require 735 quires which were 70 tokens. Or 100,000 copies of a four-signature almanac would require 8,400 quires which were 800 tokens. For small quantities, the number of quires and sheets were given. All of the calculations were based on half-sheet work, "this being the most common manner of doing press work."[52] For sheet work, the number of signatures would be doubled when using the tables. With this book of more than two hundred tables at hand, printers could rapidly estimate book, newspaper, and job work. Dickinson received much praise and appreciation
Dickinson's reservoir of energy was still unexhausted. Within a year after finishing work on A Help to Printers and Publishers, he embarked on a publishing project which continued long beyond his own life. He started modestly by compiling, printing and publishing a Boston almanac for 1836. Its eighty-four pages began with a one-sentence preface: "If it be found that the present number of the Boston Almanac suit the public taste, it will be published yearly, about the 10th of the first month."[54] In the preface to the 1837 edition, he expressed satisfaction with the response and remarked about the principles of inclusion: "The reception of the first number of the Boston Almanac in town and country has encouraged the publisher to persevere. In the present number he has not striven to give a great variety of matter, but rather to present what is of greatest local importance."[55] Directed at a specific readership, Dickinson's almanac, as the years passed, was considered "the favorite year-book of Boston" (Daily Chronotype, 19 Dec. 1848). For improved distribution, the 1837 and succeeding issues were published in December rather than January (1837 Boston Almanac, p. 71). Success soon became burdensome. The work of compilation and printing demanded much of the time of a busy man and problems of distribution were less to his taste. Beginning with the 1839 issue, other firms published it, but Dickinson prepared the text and printed it:
The printing order for the 1849 Boston Almanac was 40,000 copies.[58] Dickinson's affection for the annual was so intense that he did not cease work while he was dying. He still, as he said in the 1849 preface, tried to improve it:
Information about one of Dickinson's most interesting publications is only available in contemporary newspaper accounts—a circumstance which is especially regrettable because the Typographic Advertiser was the first typographical periodical in the United States. In the first number, November, 1845, Dickinson stated the objective: "the general diffusion among printers of such specimens of type and material pertaining to the printing business, as we now manufacture and have for sale, and of such as may hereafter be perfected, as we advance in our business of type founding."[60] The periodical was "a beautifully printed sheet," on which "different varieties of type are so displayed . . . as to afford a correct specimen of their style" (Daily Evening Traveller, 18 Nov. 1845). The second number, c. June, 1846, principally devoted to newspaper type,
* * * * *
Joseph T. Buckingham summed up his wonderment at Dickinson: "Mr. Dickinson acquired an extended reputation by a perseverance and devotion to his calling, almost unparalleled, and which brought on consumption and premature death."[61] The Daily Evening Traveller's obituary praised Dickinson as "one of the most enterprising and efficient conductors and improvers of the art of printing" and referred to his "indomitable energy, industry and perseverance" (18 Dec. 1848). The Daily Chronotype said that he "gave himself no respite, not from a passion for amassing, but from his conscientious impulse to do everything well" (19 Dec. 1848). Constant pursuit of excellence drained him physically and financially. At death, the man who had once employed a hundred hands left an estate of $975.68.[62]
Notes
Theodore L. De Vinne, The Practice of Typography . . . Plain Printing Types (1900), pp. 104, 212-214.
"History of the Boston Type Foundry," Printer's Bulletin, June, 1867, extra number, p. 1; Steve L. Watts, "The Pelouze Family of Typefounders," PaGA, 4 (1956), 31.
S. N. Dickinson to Elihu Geer, 16 March 1847 (Extracts from the Geer letters are printed with permission of the American Antiquarian Society).
The Boston Directory (1825), p. 199; [Boston] Columbian Centinel, 1 Sept. 1830; "History of the Boston Type Foundry," p. 1.
Boston Daily Advertiser, 1 Jan. 1829; Joel Munsell, "Chronological Record of Printing" (manuscript at the American Antiquarian Society), II, 121.
S. N. Dickinson, The Boston Almanac . . . 1839, p. 36. When awarded a silver medal for the press in 1839, Dickinson was commended "for the valuable improvements which he has made on the original patent" (The Second Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, 1839, p. 87).
S. N. Dickinson to Elihu Geer, 24 June 1841. The advertisements stated that the Yankee Card Press had been in use for about two months (Boston Morning Post, 29 June 1841; Boston Daily Times, 10 July 1841). An advertisement probably also appeared in the Boston Daily Mail.
The Third Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (1841), p. 120. In the same catalogue, an interesting comment on printer-publisher relations appears in the report on The Token for 1842, printed by Dickinson: "The publisher is entitled to credit for his style of 'getting up' this work, so far as the paper and binding are concerned; but the Committee think, if he had left the selection of the type to his printer, (who, probably, would not have chosen a brevier type,) a better executed volume could have been produced. The printing is very good; as good, probably, as can be done on such a type; but is not equal to the English Annuals. American printing ought now to equal the English; and if our publishers will give their printers the selection of materials, there is no reason why it should not" (p. 118).
Francis N. Mitchell received silver medals for his own displays in 1841 and 1844 (The Third Exhibition, p. 89; The Fourth Exhibition, pp. 27, 142).
The books printed for Ticknor are listed in Warren S. Tryon and William Charvat, eds., The Cost Books of Ticknor and Fields (1949), pp. 449-52; for Crocker & Brewster, he printed Jacob Ide, ed., The Works of Nathanael Emmons, D. D. in 1842.
[Boston] Daily Evening Transcript, 2 April 1845. An obituary of Charles C. P. Moody (1809-1869), printer and newspaper publisher, appears in the Malden Messenger, 6 Nov. 1869 (letter from Ms. Dina G. Malgeri, Malden [Mass.] Public Library, 20 Nov. 1972).
A Votary, The Poetry of Printing (1842), p. [3]; New England Puritan, 4 Aug. 1842; Rollo G. Silver, "The Dickinson Shop in Prose and Verse," Printing Art, 1 (1974), 2-9. Biographical information about George Coolidge (d. 1888) is in Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (1892), pp. 502-3.
Daily Evening Transcript, 14 Sept. 1847. Biographical information about William S. Damrell (1809-1860) is in Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971), p. 821. Biographical information about Francis C. Moore (1820-1869) is in Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (1892), p. 139.
Hand-Book Specimen of Printing Type . . . from the Foundry of Samuel N. Dickinson (1847), title page.
Printers' Bulletin, Autumn, 1882, p. 1 Biographical information about Michael Dalton (1800-1879) is in Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (1892), pp. 262-263.
New England Historical & Genealogical Register, 2 (1848), 325; Boston Evening Transcript, 30 Aug. 1884.
Biographical information about Sewell Phelps (1797-1864) is in Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (1892), p. 74.
De Vinne, The Practice of Typography, p. 104; Henry Lewis Bullen, Duplicates of Type Specimen Books (1934), p. 19.
The picture of the printing office is on the front end-paper of the 1842 Boston Almanac; the description of the printing office is in the 1846 Boston Almanac, p. 148.
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