THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
i
rfomiyn foundry I have referred more than once to a typefoundry in Amsterdam belonging to
Anthony and Hendrik Bruyn. I know nothing of its history, except that in 1766
the second partner bought the other's share for 1300 florins and thereafter con¬
ducted the business alone. At the end of the century or soon after it a little octavo
specimen-book1 was issued by Hendrik Bruyn & Co. at an address on the Rokin
near the Langebrug in Amsterdam. It shows that there had been few additions to
the stock of the foundry since Anthony and Hendrik Bruyn published a specimen-
sheet some fifty years before.2 Who succeeded Hendrik Bruyn in possession of the
matrices I cannot tell; but when our firm bought some of the stock of Elix & Co.,
typefounders of Amsterdam, who went out of business in 1847 after an existence
of nine years, all the material that had belonged to Bruyn came to us. I have no
means of knowing how much there was, but I know that it was in disorder, that
the older matrices had been neglected and many of the punches were rusty and
damaged. This sad state of affairs has been largely remedied, but the older types
derived from Bruyn have yet to be catalogued. Arrears like this are not to be
wondered at ; for the identification of hundreds of punches will tax even an adept,
and in a house like ours priority has to be given to current and future business,
so that it is hard to find time for sorting material of purely historical interest.
And if it were done, would the types prove to be good and complete enough to
be worth printing? It will be some time yet before the question can be answered
and my hopes, which are slender enough, be finally brought to nothing.
l?aMu«31a. StlepS. gith fat btn І?іЕіНйіЕ lobm ban ijantftljer jjeiten: Ü5et¡¡. in ben raer
rnbr bergaberinge brr norecjiten. 2 Sinici. ï>r tuenltni Щ ï> is ¿fi iéjíI jfjn fljoot: «Palrtlj. Sg
tonîbcn nrfncìjt ban alle bltbec lull in ¡¡ebben. 3tyt. Sljn born í¡3 ,r№a|efteit mbe Ijcerlitliljcuc:
19au enbe (і)пе flerrtjjrfoöejir eeftaet ¡n brr ttutofflornt. 4 Síaln. Щ fjttft fi|nr toonbtren ten
gebarijttníífe gemaechr/ Cijrrlj. br I?i5¿fiií í¡J (jnmbíalj tnbe bannljerríglj. ùìjrc. Ijn Ijrcft ben
necnen bie tjem b:tefen fuljfe gegeeben; %aa Za gebenht í?ob In ber tEtutufgbuurioUjh aan
m berbont; 6 mm be hjonbrrtuer&en CÈt de %%
m » м ф it »я» f м * [/]. <» i » s 4 « « г e 9 « 11 • ff ir 9 • 91 * a
Fig. 498. Nonpareil Black Letter no. 552. Resetting of
part of the type-specimen of Hendrik Bruyn & Co, 1804.
%tt 5Ä Bmtïjtm tt
petírc geften: ente $щ>
ften/ gambe/ aï| Шгф
Fig. 499- Two-line English-bodied Black Letter no. 894. Resetting of
part of the type-specimen of Hendrik Bruyn & Co, 1804.
[1] Verbeterde Letterproef, n.d. List of type-specimens No. 144. Bruyn of Oprjeslagen DubbeWe capitole« (large moulded capitals)
[2] Proefvan Letteren, List of type-specimens No. 102. There is (after 1766?) in the Bibl. Nat., Paris. List of type-specimens
another broadsheet specimen by this firm of about the same nos. 103 and 109.
date (c. 1750 ?) in the Enschedé Colleftion and one by Hendrik
402
TYPEFOUNDING AT AMSTERDAM: BRUYN
1*73 127* i*73
Fig. 502. Ornaments from the foundry of Hendrik Bruyn & Co. The originals were cut in brass.
4862 4863
4864
4860 4861
Fig. 503. Ornaments from the foundry of Hendrik Bruyn & Co, cast from copper matrices.
Besides those that I have mentioned the remains of Bruyn's matrices are two
Black Letters, a Nonpareil, N0.552, (fig. 498) and a Two-line English, No. 894, (fig. 499) which
I have reset as they were in his specimen, an English-bodied Roman, No. 895, (fig. 500)
and a Two-line Pico Script, No. 896, (fig. 501). The last two are in Rosart's manner, and
the lower-case of the script is very like the one he cut for Enschedé in 1753 (fig. 328,
p. 265), though the capitals are different.
Lastly, some ornaments from Bruyn's foundry (figs. 502,503).
Ut regia folis exit erat fublimus colminus,
praemirum in altera patefecit quatre feraviramis
radianum lumine valvae. Hoc autem dedisfe
videtur in uno fuorum Capitolio, quoniamus
ABCFLOQRTUVWX.
Fig. 500. English-bodied Roman no. 895. Resetting of
part of the type-specimen of Hendrik Bruyn & Co, 1804.
гМоі&г n&venâ S&icomt UCbd: een t/roejUe
better, wcltce ae&n
'V-a,n OH-Z.&
moette noa Jccxste cvcvfi ñev a&upa-cirtj omoe,-
H.ÔVV& tn ate oroer} a&tiev-e te oroonneeren
acuì die met achttna noemt OCc.
Fig. 501. Two-line Pica Script no. 896. Resetting of
part of the type-specimen of Hendrik Bruyn & Co, 1804.
403