THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Appreciation of
vleisdiman'$ art
However, as happens with consumptives, he got better only to suffer a relapse
into worse. In 1766 and 1767 the industrious old man was unable to undertake any
serious task. Feeling his end coming, he decided to go back to Amsterdam; and
there, as though the change of air had done him good, he grew better in the spring
of 1768 and wanted to work. Enschedé was, of course, anxious to provide him
with occupation and asked him to cut a script, our Two-Ііие Long Primer Script N0.05
(fig. 270), matching his Double Pica (see p. 233) in design. Almost as soon as he had
finished it Fleischman began another script for the Brothers Ploos van Amstel.
It is now our Two-line Small Pica Script No. ф (figs. 271,272, pp. 244,245). That was the
last type that he made: before he had justified all the matrices he became very ill.
He died on 27 May 1768, at the age of 67, and was buried in the Old Lutheran church
at Amsterdam on 2 June. '
That was a summary account of Fleischman's achievement in his forty years as
a punchcutter; and I have done my best to illustrate it with specimen settings of
Galjart Curcyf, Courant-Letter, No. i.
Saturday, den 4 dito, zynde de dag tot bet ver trek van hunne
Doorlucbtige en Koninglyke Hoogbeden beflemd, kwamen de Hu¬
ren van de Regeering met hunne Vrouwen, ten half 8 uurrn op
het Stadbuis, en na dat dezelve van de Hoog-Vorfilyke Perfoonen
Affcheid genoomen hadden, nam bet Hooge Gezelfchap ten acht
uuren de Reis aan, onder het fpeelen der Klokken enz. Zo dra
de Train tot voor de Utrechtfche Poort genaderd ivas, nam zyne
Doorlucbtige Hoogheid van de vier Heeren Kolonellen op eene
zeer vriendelyke wyze Affcheid, en reed vervolgens tot aan de
Beerebyt: Aldaar uitgetreeden zynde, namen hunne Doorlucb¬
tige en Koninglyke Hoogbeden 00k een zeer minzaam en teder Af¬
fcheid van de Heeren van de Regeering, flapten in de Jagten,
en vcrtrokkeii over IFcefp na Zuylen. In den Amftel zag men alle
de Plaifier-Jagtjes en Boejers met volle Zeilen, onder hunne Kom¬
mandanten in Linien gefchaard, от hunne Hoogbeden te faluee-
ren, gelyk 00k uit het Gefchut van de St ad gefchiedde enz.
ABCDEFGHlJKLMNOPQRSTUriVXrZAi
J. M. Fleifchman fculpfic. 1763.
Fig. 267. Bourgeois Italic No. 94, cut by Fleischman
in 1763. Resetting of part of the type-specimen of
Johannes Enschedé,1768.
N. i. Nieuwe Brevier Romein.
Balìa lauta nimis quidam me jüngere dicunt,
Qualia rugofi non didicêre patres,
Ergo, ego cum cupidis Arringo tua colla lacertis,
Lux inea, bafiolis immoriorque tuis,
Anxius exquiram quid de me quisque Ioquatur:
Ipfe quis, aut ubi firn, vix meminisfe vacat,
Audiit, et rifit formofa ІЧегега, meuinque
Hinc collum nivea cinxit et inde manu,
Bafiolumque dedit, quo non lafcivius unquam
Inferuit Marti Cypria blanda fuo:
Et quid, ait, metuis turba; decreta fevers?
Causfa meo tantum competit ifta foro.
AABBCCEEHHIILLMMNNacdennnnssuuuujs
Fig. 268. Brevier Roman no. 53, cut by Fleischman
in 1765. Resetting of part of the type-specimen of the
Brothers Ploos van Amstel, 1767.
N. i. NiEuwE Brevier Cursyf.
Perficos odi, puer, apparatus:
Displicent nextt philyra corona :
Mitte fectari, rofa quo locorum
Sera moretur.
Simplici myrto nihil allabores
Sedulus curo, ncque te ministrum
Dedecet myrtut, ncque me fub arcta
Vite bibentem.
AABBGCDDEEFFGGHHMMPPS
Fig. 269. Brevier Italic no. 173, cut by Fleischman
in 1765. Resetting of part of the type-specimen of the
Brothers Ploos van Amstel, 1767.
[1] Johannes Enschedé received a printed invitation to be ended the in memonam by predicting that Fleischman's name
present at the funeral on 2 June 1768. On it he wrote 'Ofriit and art will be still praised by the 'Learned World' after several
27 mey 176S'. In the Oprecltte Haarlemse Courant of 31 May 1768 he centuries. The Amsterdamse and the Leidse Courant also recorded
put a notice informing his readers of Fleischman's death. He Fleischman's death. (Haarlem, Museum Enschedé, CT v 298g).
242
JOHANN MICHAEL FLEISCHMAN
his types. Some of them, it is true, are not quite in their original state owing to
replacements of broken punches ; but I believe these examples are enough to show
that Fleischman was more than a laborious and conscientious craftsman: he de¬
serves to be rated as a talented artist. The posthumous praise of him by Enschedé
was in no way exaggerated: he called him the greatest punchcutter who ever lived
and probably the greatest who would ever live. He must be forgiven if in his tributes
to Fleischman he was sometimes less than just to other punchcutters. It must be
remembered that Enschedé was conscious that his success as a typefounder was
largely due to the skill of his punchcutter. He thought him superior to Van Dijck
and Voskens; and although we now rate the art of the seventeenth century far
higher than that of the eighteenth, a competent critic should agree that Fleischman
far surpassed all his predecessors.
Throughout the eighteenth century Fleischman's types were in the highest
repute. No typefounder could prosper unless the name of this artist were associated
with his material. Accordingly, in 1781 we find }. de Groot publishing a specimen-
cJJ lië-ë-clde Lfarmond
C&ofGZfCZfiSty&ÜV ofGS%3lJíF3~.
Fr. Garmond à deux Points.
en en
■e, voor
J^ieffieo-v-era van ubonfti
УУ eeten,tcn,appen z,ien nier net tweco>
de- Ubacrcem-fctie- <=L^e£teraiete,ry, aefneedenj
(^ьспге&ѵ-еп QJcnriftj ooor ѵшоеп осп
Щш- ^ОЛЖ MJG3ß 'tr^ßQjOfGZfCül^tÄ^JV, den arootfun en à/>nftiaften U^etter-Q/tem-p-eCfmioer ; die, er oolt in oe /Vaerefd aeweeft іб ; en пгоаеСик, Лопгелъ zau^ in 1768 voteinoia-t; ttunoe zun Caatfte, Лмп-ft- Wer/L-líu-íL voor date Fig. 270. Two-line Long Primer Script no. 95, cut by Fleischman in 1768. 24З
•=L^etteraiet&ru ; en oe Caatfte- ooor nem ae=
it/fteeroe uVùatrub&n. Àou-n оУаатп, en Jbonft
£■0,0) ooor ішпе іоФпышСепое, ^L^etteren ; àie
ten aetaCe van rubrn &&ventia onoer-feneidene
QJcnriften &ia in oe Ubaarl&mfcne <=lZeCter=,
aieteru, wvinoenj na ver Loop- van veece
(b&uwen, noa- door de Lte,tee,roe yyaereCd met
roem vermefd woroen.
Resetting of part of the type-specimen of Johannes Enschedé, 1768.