[Bigmore and Wyman]
Bigmore, F.C. ; and Wyman, C.W.H.
A Bibliography of Printing with Notes & Illustrations
(London, 1880) Numerous reprints.
( London : Published jointly by The Holland Press and Oak Knoll Books, 1978)
[Notes] [text]
Notes
d Nov. 28, 1828
B&W v.2 260-261 call him "the father of English fine printing"
-says he was the "first to emulate Baskerville"
- Failed in business (seems to have traded on the bibliophile mania of the early 19th C)
-was succeeded by Bulmer.
-Hansard had him manage his warehouse
-Portrait in Hansard's Typographia [reprinted here: engraved by J. Lee]
Printed Works (to find and photo; also check for cost to DSR)
-set of classics in 8vo
-Quarto Bible, 1796 2v.
-Memoirs of Count of Grammont. 4to.
[v.2 260]
Richie (Miller) [sic]
Miller Ritchie has been called "the father of English fine printing." He died Nov. 28, 1828, aged 77 years. He was the first to emulate the achievements of Baskerville, and carried on business in Albion Building, Bartholomew Close. His first great work was an edition of the classics, in 8vo., executed at the expense of the Rev. Mr. Homer, Fellow of Magdelen College, Cambridge, who subsequently disposed of the whole of the impression to Thomas Payne, the bookseller. Ritchie' next work was a quarto Bible, in two vols., printed in 1796; he also produced, with remarkable splendour, the Memoirs of the Count de Grammont, a quarto with very small pages. There were printed 1,500 copies on small paper; 500 on Whatman's wove, royal; one copy on vellum; and three copies with dimunitive quarto page worked in the centre of the whole sheet or royal. Ritchie's difficulties in improving the art of printing, as practiced in his day, were greatly increased by the want of journeymen with sufficient appreciation of the entireprise, and sufficient technical skill to carry it into execution. He was materially assisted, however, in the matter of paper by Whatman, and in that of ink by Blackwell. Timperley says: "Men he could get who by bodily skill would pull down the press and give the impression, but the giving the colour required skill and patience far exceeding what pressmen had any idea of in this country, so that he found himself obliged to manage the balls and beat every sheet with his own hands. With all his perseverance and skill in printing, he had not [PAGE 261] the art of getting independent by his labours; he failed in business, and was succeeded by Bulmer; Bensley and McCreery followed, and from the presses of those gentlemen have issued some of the finest specimens of typography which this or any other country has produced." The likeness annexed is taken from "Typographia" of Hansard by whom Ritchie was engaged to take charge of his warehouse after Ritchie's failure.