In 1524 Pynson possessed a fount of Greek which he used in _Linacre’s De Emendatâ Structurâ_.[162] This is of special interest, since the preface contains the first distinct reference to letter-founding which occurs in any English book. The Greek accents and breathings, it appears, were not sufficient for the whole of the quotations in the book, and their paucity is made the subject of the following interesting apology: “Lectori. S. Pro tuo candore optime lector æquo animo feras, si quæ literæ in exemplis Hellenissimi vel tonis vel spiritibus vel affectionibus careant. Iis enim non satis erat instructus typographus videlicet _recens ab eo fusis characteribus græcis_, nec parata ea copia, quod ad hoc agendum opus est.”[163] The _Linacre_ is printed in a good Great Primer Roman type, with which the Greek ranges fairly. The letters of the latter character are cast wide, so that each letter stands apart from the next, instead of joining close.
A further mention of Pynson’s types occurs in a Latin letter of his own, printed at the end of the _Lytylton Tenures_ of 1527, in which he thus inveighs against the piracy of his rival and contemporary, Robert Redman: “Richard Pynson, the Royal printer, salutation to the Reader. Behold, I now give to thee, candid Reader, a Lyttleton corrected (not deceitfully), of the errors which occurred in him; I have been careful that not my printing only should be amended, but also that with a more elegant type it should go forth to the day: that which hath escaped from the hands of Robert Redman, but more truly Rudeman, because he is the rudest out of a thousand men, is not easily understood.”
The new fount here referred to must have been among the latest productions of this printer’s industrious labours, as he ceased printing in 1528, having issued upwards of 210 works.
WILLIAM FAQUES, another contemporary of De Worde’s, who printed in London between 1504 and 1511, appears to have had a more direct connection with the Norman typographers than any of his fellow printers. He learned his art at Rouen with Jean le Bourgeois, and probably came over to this country furnished with types, if not with matrices, from that market. He is praised with justice as an excellent workman, and some of his Black-letter founts are described by Mores as equalling in beauty any which were to be found in { 94} England as late as his day (1778). It is supposed that De Worde became possessed of some of these letters after Faques’ death, which occurred in 1511.