PRINTING

(Fr. imprimerie.) Letterpre printing, to which this article is confined, is the art of taking impre ions from engravings in relief. * The proce is generally limited to printing from types, and from engravings on wood. The history of its origin is enveloped in mystery; and this art, which commemorates all other inventions, which hands down to posterity every important event, which immortalizes the actions of the great, and which, above all, extends and diffuses the word of God to all mankind; this very art has left its own origin in obscurity, and has given employment to the studies and researches of the most.earned men in Europe, to determine to whom the honour if the invention is due. Some writers maintain that the art was practised as far P82 [s. 996]