a person who composes and takes impressions from moveable characters ranged in order, or from plates engraven, by means of ink, and a press: or from blocks of wood cut in flowers, &c. and taken off in various colours on calicoes, linens, silks, &c.

The most curious of these arts, and that which deserves the most particular explication, is the first; for to the printers of books are chiefly owing our deliverance from ignorance and error, the progress of learning, the revival of the sciences, and numberless improvements in arts, which, without this noble invention, would have been either lost to mankind, or confined to the knowledge of a few.

The first printers were Guttenberg, Falt, Schoeffer, Mentel, and Koster; and the first who practised this art in England was Fred. Corseilles, who brought it over from Haerlem, in the reign of king Henry VI. The great printers famous for the correctness and elegance of their works, were Aldus, and Paulus Manutius; the two Badii; William and Frederic Morel; Oporin; Frobenius; Robert, Henry, and Charles Stephens; Gryphius, Turnebus, Torres, Commelin, Plantin, Raphelengius, Vascofani, Bleau, Crispin, and the two Elzevirs; and among these, the learned printers were the Manutius, the Stephenfes, the Bodii, Turnebus, Morel, &c. Plantin had the title of archtypographus, or arch-printer, given him. him by the king of Spain in consideration of his printing the polyglot of Antwerp. The printers of Germany, etc., generally cast their own letter, and sell their own books. These are in many places ranked among the members of universities, and entitled to the privilege of students. In England, they are esteemed a part of the company of stationers and bookellers.