George Bruce

Allgemeines

Name	George Bruce
Ortssitz	New York City
Art des Unternehmens	Druckerei
Anmerkungen	-
Quellenangaben	[Bishop: History of American manufacturers 1 (1868) 633]

Unternehmensgeschichte

Zeit	Ereignis
26.06.1781	Geburt von George Bruce in Edinburgh, Schottland
1795	George Bruce folgt seinem älteren Bruder David aus Schottland nach Philadelphia, wo er Buchbinderei lernt.
1796	George Bruce tritt in Philadelphia in die Druckerei von Thomas Dobson als Lehrling ein, wo er zwei oder drei Jahre arbeitet.
1798	Die Druckerei von Dobson in Philadelphia wird durch Feuer zerstört, und das Gelbfieber herrscht in der Stadt. Die Brüder veralssen den Ort. Nach der Ankunft in Aruboy erkankt George am Fieber, aber unter der Pflege seines Bruders wird sein Leben gerettet. Sie gehen über New York nach Albany, wo sie eine Beschäftigung in der Druckerei von Webster Brothers erhalten..
11.1803	George Bruce wird Vorarbeiter und gelegentlicher Mitarbeiter des "Daily Advertiser". Im November des Jahres erscheint der Name von George Bruce in der Zeitung als "Drucker und Herausgeber für den Eigentümer".
1806	David und George Bruce eröffnen ihre Buchdruckerei an der Ecke Pearl Street und Coffee House Slip (später: Wall Street) in New York.
1809	Umzug in die Sloat Lane nahe Hanover Square. Zu dieser Zeit sind neun Druckpressen in Betrieb.
1812	David Bruce geht nach England. Earl Stanhope, berühmt für seine mechanischen Erfindungen, hat kürzlich seine Stereotypie-Methode durch Eintauchen verbessert. David kauft das Geheimnis und lernt den Prozeß im Detail.
1813	David Bruce kehrt von England nach New York zurück, und die Brüder treffen ihre Vorbereitungen zur Einführung des Verfahrens in Amerika. Sie haben eine Reihe Hindernisse zu überwinden, da alles versuchsweise ist.
1814	Das erste von ihnen mit Stereotypie hergestellte Buch ist das Neue Testament, in Bourgeois-Schrift, das 1814 fertiggestellt wird. Sie machen zwei Platten-Sätze, und von einem drucken sie selber; der andere Satz wird an Matthew Carey in Philadelphia verkauft.
1815	Es wird die Bibel in Nonpareil, im Stereotypie-Verfahren gedruckt. Das sind die ersten Schulausgaben der Bibel und des Neuen Testaments, die in Amerika herausgegeben werden, ausgenommen den "Westminster Catechism", der als erster hier stereotypiert wurde.
1815	Umzug der Druckerei in die William Street, nahe Garden Street
1816	Die Amerikanische Bibelgesellschaft wird gegründet, und Bruce druckt die ersten Ausgaben.
1816	Verkauf der Druckereiabteilung, und die Brüder kaufen ein Gebäude an der Eldridge Street für die Schriftgeißerei. George widmet seinen ausgezeicheten Geschmack und seine Energie der Vergrößerung des Drucktypen-Geschäfts, während David seine Gedanken und seinen Genius der Stereotypie widmet.
1817/1818	Das erste Buchexemplar von "The New York Type Foundry" wird von D. & G. Bruce, herausgegeben. Es ist ein dünnes Pamphlet, das die Vielfalt von Antiquaschiften, von Nonpareil bis English anbietet.
1818	Die Chambers Street wird geöffnet, und die Brüder kaufen die Grundstücke und errichten ein Haus für die Gießerei, das Bruce zusammen mit dem benachbarten bis zu seinem Tod bezieht.
1822	Die Gesundheit von David Bruce wird durch seine intensive Arbeit beeinträchtigt, er kauft eine Farm in New Jersey, und die Frima wird 1822 aufgelöst.
1830	Bruce erhält ein Patent auf kombinierte Drucktypen für Musik.
1833	Peter V. Cortelyou wird Partner von Bruce.
1838	David Bruce, Jr., ein vollblütiger Künster und ingeniöser Erfinder, wurde durch seinen Onkel George ermutigt, sich der Materie zu widmen. Nach fünf Jahren Untersuchung und Experiment stellt er 1838 eine Schriftgießmaschine her.
1850	Bruce scheidet aus und übergibt seinen Anteil seinem Sohn David.
1854	George Bruce erhält auf die Kühlung der Gießform durch Luft ein Patent.
1866	Änderung der Firma in "George Brace's Son & Co."
05.07.1866	Tod von George Bruce im Alter von 85 Jahren

Produkte

Produkt	ab	Bem.	bis	Bem.	Kommentar
Druckerzeugnisse	1868	[Bishop: Hist. of Amer. manuf. I (1868)]	1868	[Bishop: Hist. of Amer. manuf. I (1868)]

Allgemeines

ZEIT	1868
THEMA	Firmenbeschreibung
TEXT	One of the most eminent of American Type Founders, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, June 26th, 1781. When scarcely fourteen years of age, he left his native land for the United States, where his elder brother David had preceded him, and arrived in Philadelphia in 1795. Here he commenced to learn the trade of book binder, but rebelling against the excessive exactions of his master, he left the city, determined to follow the sea. By the persuasion of his brother, he relinquished this purpose, returned to Philadelphia, and entered the office of Thomas Dobson, as a printer's apprentice, where he served two or three years. About 1798, Mr. Dobson's office was destroyed by fire, and the yellow fever prevailing in the city, the brothers left that place. Arriving at Aruboy, George sickened with the fever, but under the care of his brother, his life was preserved, and they continued on through New York to Albany, where they obtained employment in the printing office of the Webster Brothers. In the fall they returned to New York, walking the whole distance. In 1803 he became foreman and occasional contributor to the Daily Advertiser, and in November of that year, the name of George Bruce appears on the paper as "printer and publisher for the proprietor." The extent and state of the printing business at the opening of the present century, have been alluded to elsewhere. In 1806, when David and George Bruce opened their Book Printing Office at the corner of Pearl street and Coffee House slip, now Wall street, in New York, there were less than three hundred book and newspaper offices in the whole Union, where there are now over four thousand five hundred. Their commencing business at this particular time, was rather accidental. The printing of "Lavoiser's Chemistry" was offered them, and they resolved to try to do it. Having no office, they hired the use of a font of type and a press, and the work was executed by their joint personal labors. To give greater satisfaction, they decided to procure a standing-press to press the sheets, and, on explanation of their prospects to Adam Ramage, of Philadelphia, he forwarded one to them on credit, directed to the care of D. & G. Bruce, which was assumed as the title of the firm, and so continued until its dissolution. This was the first standing-press used in the printing business in New York, and some of the printers considered it an unnecessary innovation. The printing of this book, giving great satisfaction, an abundance of work flowed in upon them; and by close attention to the economies of the business, and unremitting industry, they soon began to accumulate the materials of an extensive office, so that, in 1809, when they moved to Sloat Lane, near Hanover Square, they had nine presses in operation. They occasionally printed and published a work on their own account. In 1812, David Bruce went to England. Earl Stanhope, who was celebrated for mechanical investigations, had recently perfected his method of stereotyping by immersion. David purchased the secret, and learned the process in part. Returning the next year to New York, the brothers made their arrangements to introduce the process in this country. They had a large share of obstacles to surmount in their first efforts, as every thing was experimental. But they were not men to abandon an undertaking, once decided upon, where success was possible. To David's genius the art owes the application of the planing-machine, which overcame the objection that the plates were of irregular thickness as cast. The English used a turning-lathe to within a few years, and their plates were never true until they adopted the American machine. Mahogany shifting-blocks, to bring the plates to type height, were also his invention. Type had heretofore been cast with a bevelled shoulder, and this was so low that it interfered with the moulding and weakened the plate. To remedy this, they began that year manufacturing type for their own use, adapted to stereotyping. The first book stereotyped by them was a New Testament, in Bourgeois, completed in 1814. They made two sets of plates, publishing from one themselves; the other they sold to Matthew Carey, of Philadelphia. This was followed the next year by the Bible, in Nonpareil. These were the first school editions of the Bible and New Testament issued in America, and except the "Westminster Catechism", the first works stereotyped here. The following year, 1816, the American Bible Society was founded, and they stereotyped their first issues. Subsequently they stereotyped and published a series of Latin Classics. In 1815, they moved their office to William street, near Garden. In 1816, they sold out the printing department, and bought a building in Eldridge street for the foundry. George devoted his exquisite taste and energies to enlarging the type business, while David gave his thought and genius to stereotyping. From costly experience, George had learned that to be independent of the caprice of workmen who understood the art of punch-cutting and casting, he must acquire a thorough practical knowledge of the manufacturing process in all its details. The first attempts of Mr. Brace at punch-cutting, were crude and imperfect, though they clearly indicated the germs of that correct taste and accuracy of eye which his subsequent artistic design and mechanical skill in typography displayed. In 1818, Chambers street was opened, and they bought the lots and erected a house for the foundry, which, with the adjoining building, Mr. Bruce continued to occupy till his death. The first Specimen Book of "The New York Type Foundry" issued by D. & G. Bruce, 1817-18, was a thin pamphlet, exhibiting a variety of Roman fonts, from Nonpareil to English, with a fair assortment of plain job type and borders. Enlarged editions have been issued at various periods, until now the "Specimen Book" of this foundry is a bulky volume. The last edition contains specimens of plain and ornamental type, borders, cuts, etc., that have required the cutting and fitting up of probably two hundred thousand distinct punches and matrices. The health of David Bruce becoming impaired by excessive application to business, he purchased a farm in New Jersey, and the firm was dissolved in 1822. George relinquished stereotyping that he might devote his time and skill entirely to systematizing, improving, and enlarging the Type foundry. It would greatly enlarge our memoir to notice all his labors in this direction. Up to 1822, there had been no uniform standard of bodies for type in the several foundries. Mr. Bruce undertook to harmonize and graduate the size of the different bodies as they ranged in the eleven series from Pearl to Canon, by enlarging some and reducing, others, giving them a relative proportion. This was a difficult task, involving great labor and expense. But the system of steel gauges he then established, has generally prevailed as the standard among the American founders. He then introduced the Agate body for the first time into the series. Scarcely had the manufacture of type begun in this country, before thought and ingenuity were brought into exercise to devise a machine for casting more rapidly. The prevailing idea among the experimenters was that this must be attained by casting a number of type at the same time. The first invention of this class was patented in 1805, by William Wing, of Hartford, Connecticut. It cast twenty or thirty type at once - the type projecting from the shank like the teeth of a comb. This patent he sold to Elihu White, who spent large sums in efforts to perfect it, but was finally compelled to abandon it. But solidity and sharpness of outline could not be obtained in that direction. Several other machines of like character were patented in the succeeding thirty years. Large sums were expended, and much time and talent employed. Inventors now conceived the idea that a machine might be constructed to cast singly, on the principle of the hand-mould. The earliest of these was William M. Johnson, of Hempstead, R.I. He was followed by Starr & Stur-tevant, of Boston. The eccentric type founder, George B. Lothian, brought an original and somewhat complicated machine to great perfection. At the same time, David Bruce, Jr., a thorough artizan and ingenious inventor in all that pertains to type making, had been encouraged by his uncle George to devote his mind to the subject. After five years' study and experiment, in 1838, he produced the machine, that with some improvements of more recent date, has superseded the others, and is now in general use in all the type foundries of the world. One of the chief difficulties to be overcome in rapid casting was the danger of the mould overheating. Mr. Lothian remedied this by the ingenious device of a continuous stream of water through the mould. Mr. George Bruce met the same objection, and devised a way to cool the mould, by driving an artificial blast of wind through it, which he patented in 1854. This improvement established the success of the invention. He also devised a plan for substituting steam instead of hand power, so that one man can attend two or more machines. An expert workman can only average fifteen type a minute by the hand process, while each machine will cast one hundred in the same space of time, and more uniformly perfect. In 1833, Peter V. Cortelyou became a partner with Mr. Bruce, and remained as such until 1850. On his retiring, Mr. Bruce gave his son David an interest in the foundry, and he mainly conducted the business in the later portion of his father's life, though his name did not appear until the firm was changed in 1866, to George Brace's Son & Co. Many of the novelties and improvements introduced into the trade, to increase the facilities for printing and to elevate the standard of excellence, through new styles of type, borders, ornaments, etc., were designed or invented by Mr. Bruce, who also cut the punches and fitted up the matrices with his own hands. The Roman faces he produced in successive years were so superior that they gave his foundry a commanding reputation among printers. In 1830, he received a patent for combining printing type for music. The lines of the stave were formed by brass rules, and the characters were cast in sections to occupy the spaces between, thus forming music of any required description more perfectly than by the old method. Kerned type were avoided, and the number of characters reduced. As early as 1832, his Scripts had become famous among printers. No one ever equalled him in beauty of design and neatness of finish in any thing pertaining to his various styles of Calligraphic art. The last set of punches he cut was for a Great Primer Script, when in his seventy-eighth year, and is unsurpassed by the best artists. The first issue of the Patent Office, under the Act of 1842, for protecting designs, was granted him for one of his incomparable scripts. His designs for fancy type, combination borders, and ornaments, show rare artistic merit. He was never so happy as when he could leave the details of business, and sit quietly at the bench in his private office, devising and cutting something new in typographic art. To bring out something new and useful was his ambition. For this he would devise and labor with unwearied perseverance, and would reject, without a murmur, that which had cost him months of patient toil, if it did not please his fastidious taste. He was ready with his profound advice and means, if need be, to encourage and assist in developing any substantial improvement in the art. Several years since he desired to stimulate inventive genius to the production of a power-press that should do for the country papers what "Hoe's Lightning" lias done for the large dailies - a press that should be comparatively inexpensive, economical, and rapid. He offered a handsome premium to the successful inventor. Several new presses were the result. Some eight years before the death of Mr. Bruce, his sight began to weaken, and he was compelled to relinquish his mechanical labors from that cause. But he continued his daily walk of two or three miles to the foundry, and his oversight of business with sound discernment until the year before his decease. Gradually his strength continued to decay, though his intellect remained clear, until the final termination of his long and useful career, on the 5th of July, 1866, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Of slight frame, Mr. Bruce had the appearance of a man of infirm health, yet he was seldom sick. No doubt his extreme regularity of habits in exercise and diet, prolonged his life. His white cravat and neat, simple attire and serene countenance, gave him the appearance of a venerable clergyman. He was endowed with marked positive individuality. He had much of the simplicity, humor, self-control, and direct plainness of speech of the Quaker, combined with the unbending integrity, tenacity, and self-will of the Scotch. The peculiar deliberate and concise tone in which he spoke, always left the idea he wished to impart distinctly on the mind of the hearer. He was eminently a practical man, but slow of decision. Every thing submitted to him, or his own self-originated plans, was only decided on after mature deliberation. But when once decided, it was the end of controversy, until time or experience had found them wrong, when he was equally frank to acknowledge an error. He was not naturally devoid of temper, and had underneath his calm, cold exterior, a warm, forgiving, and generous nature. But so thorough had been his self-discipline, that all his faculties were under subjection. He never could be thrown off his guard, however great the provocation, though his sharp, cutting retorts would often be more painful and humiliating than an outburst of passion. He was ever anxious to enhance the prosperity of the craft, both mechanical or moral. He took a warm interest in the welfare of the Typographical Bociety, and was the first and most liberal patron of the Printer's Library, connected with that society. His own library was rich, containing a number of rare works of the earliest period of black letter print, with illuminated initials, and also in MSS. of the same character of an earlier date. During the existence of the Mechanics' Institute, of which he was for several years president, and the earlier years of the American, he was an active member, and at their scientific conversational meetings and lectures, frequently gave interesting and instructive talks on some mechanical subject. He was also an early member of the Historical Society, and as late as 1863, he served on the committee for the celebration of the two hundredth birthday of William Bradford, the pioneer printer of Pennsylvania. He was a member and officer, for many years, of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, and aided in the establishment of the Apprentice's Library. He was also the senior member of the St. Andrew's Society, having joined it in 1804, and a member of the Masonic fraternity. Soon after the rebellion commenced, the manufacturers of type, in the various cities of the North, organized a Type Founder's Association, for the regulation of their business. Mr. Bruce was elected president, and filled the office during the remainder of his days. The life of Mr. Bruce was contemporary with the rise and progress of typography during the present century. He found the art of printing insignificant, type founding undeveloped, stereotyping unknown, the hand-press imperfect, power-presses not conceived, American literature unwritten, and the newspaper but a handbill, and retired from the scenes of his activity with the Press the mightiest potentate of the nations.
QUELLE	[Bishop: History of American manufacturers 1 (1868) 633]