Chapter 4

(1) Ad Lectorem. Florentiae. vii Idus Nouembres. MccccLxxi. Bernardus Cennius [sic], aurifex omnium iudicio prestantissimus, et Dominicus eius F[ilius] egregiae indolis adolescens, expressis ante calibe caracteribus, ac deinde fusis literis, volumen hoc primum impresserunt. Petrus Cenninus, Bernardi eiusdem F[ilius], quanta potuit cura et diligentia emendauit ut cernis. Florentinis ingeniis nil ardui est.(2) Ad Lectorem. Bernardinus Cenninus, aurifex omnium iudicio praestantissimus, et Dominicus eius F[ilius], optimae indolis adolescens, impresserunt. Petrus eiusdem Bernardi F[ilius] emendauit, cum antiquissimis autem multis exemplaribus contulit. In primisque illi cura fuit, ne quid alienum Seruio adscriberetur, ne quid recideretur aut deesset, quod Honorati esse peruetusta exemplaria demonstrarent. Quoniam uero plerosque iuuat manu propria suoque more Graeca interponere,eaque in antiquis codicibus perpauca sunt, et accentus quidem difficillimi imprimendo notari sunt, relinquendum ad id spatia duxit. Sed cum apud homines perfectum nihil sit, satis uideri cuique debebit, si hi libri (quod vehementer optamus) prae aliis emendati reperientur. Absolutum opus Nonis Octobribus. M. cccc Lxxii. Florentiae.(1) To the Reader. At Florence, on November 7, 1471, Bernardo Cennini, by universal allowance a most excellent goldsmith, and Domenico his son, a youth of remarkable ability, having first modelled the stamps with compasses, and afterward moulded the letters, printed this first volume. Pietro Cennini, son of the aforesaid Bernardo, has corrected it, as you see, with all the care and diligence he could. To Florentine wits nothing is difficult.(2) To the Reader. Bernardino Cennini, by universal allowance a most excellent goldsmith, and Domenico his son, a youth of very good ability, have been the printers. Pietro, son of the aforesaid Bernardo, has acted as corrector and has made a collation with many very ancient copies. His first anxiety was that nothing by another hand should be ascribed to Servius, that nothing which very old copies showed to be the work of Honoratus should be cut down or omitted. Since it pleases many readers to insert Greek words with their own hand and in their own fashion, and these in ancient codices are very few, and the accents are very difficult to mark in printing, he determined that spaces should be left for the purpose. But since nothing of man’s making is perfect, it must needs be accounted enough if these books (as we earnestly hope) are found exceptionally correct. The work was finished at Florence on October 5, 1472.

(2) Ad Lectorem. Bernardinus Cenninus, aurifex omnium iudicio praestantissimus, et Dominicus eius F[ilius], optimae indolis adolescens, impresserunt. Petrus eiusdem Bernardi F[ilius] emendauit, cum antiquissimis autem multis exemplaribus contulit. In primisque illi cura fuit, ne quid alienum Seruio adscriberetur, ne quid recideretur aut deesset, quod Honorati esse peruetusta exemplaria demonstrarent. Quoniam uero plerosque iuuat manu propria suoque more Graeca interponere,eaque in antiquis codicibus perpauca sunt, et accentus quidem difficillimi imprimendo notari sunt, relinquendum ad id spatia duxit. Sed cum apud homines perfectum nihil sit, satis uideri cuique debebit, si hi libri (quod vehementer optamus) prae aliis emendati reperientur. Absolutum opus Nonis Octobribus. M. cccc Lxxii. Florentiae.

(1) To the Reader. At Florence, on November 7, 1471, Bernardo Cennini, by universal allowance a most excellent goldsmith, and Domenico his son, a youth of remarkable ability, having first modelled the stamps with compasses, and afterward moulded the letters, printed this first volume. Pietro Cennini, son of the aforesaid Bernardo, has corrected it, as you see, with all the care and diligence he could. To Florentine wits nothing is difficult.

(2) To the Reader. Bernardino Cennini, by universal allowance a most excellent goldsmith, and Domenico his son, a youth of very good ability, have been the printers. Pietro, son of the aforesaid Bernardo, has acted as corrector and has made a collation with many very ancient copies. His first anxiety was that nothing by another hand should be ascribed to Servius, that nothing which very old copies showed to be the work of Honoratus should be cut down or omitted. Since it pleases many readers to insert Greek words with their own hand and in their own fashion, and these in ancient codices are very few, and the accents are very difficult to mark in printing, he determined that spaces should be left for the purpose. But since nothing of man’s making is perfect, it must needs be accounted enough if these books (as we earnestly hope) are found exceptionally correct. The work was finished at Florence on October 5, 1472.

The references to the leaving of blank spaces for the Greek quotations (a common practice of the earliest printers in Italy) and to the trouble caused by the accents are particularly interesting, and by ill luck were not noticedby Mr. Proctor, who would have been delighted to quote them in his admirable monograph on “The Printing of Greek.”

Difficulties were natural in the early days of the art, and must often have beset the path of the wandering printers who passed from town to town, or from monastery to monastery, printing one or two books at each. As late as 1493 one such printer, not yet identified, who started his press at Acqui, though he was engaged on only a humble school-book, the “Doctrinale” of Alexander Gallus, found himself in sore straits owing to the plague raging in the neighboring towns.

Alexandri de villa Dei Doctrinale (Deo laudes) feliciter explicit. Impressum sat incommode, cum aliquarum rerum, quae ad hanc artem pertinent, impressori copia fieri non potuerit in huius artis initio: peste Genuae, Ast, alibique militante. Emendauit autem hoc ipsum opus Venturinus prior, Grammaticus eximius, ita diligenter, ut cum antea Doctrinale parum emendatum in plerisque locis librariorum vitio esse videretur, nunc illius cura et diligentia adhibita in manus hominum quam emendatissimum veniat. Imprimentur autem posthac libri alterius generis litteris, et eleganter arbitror. Nam et fabri et aliarum rerum, quarum hactenus promptor indigus fuit, illi nunc Dei munere copia est, qui cuncta disponit pro sue voluntatis arbitrio. Amen.The Doctrinale of Alexander of Villedieu (God be praised!) comes to a happy end. It has been printed amid enough inconveniences, since of several things which belong to this art the printer, in making a beginning with it, could obtain no proper supply, owing to the plague raging at Genoa, Asti, and elsewhere. Now this same work has been corrected by the prior Venturinus, a distinguished grammarian, and that so diligently that whereas previously the Doctrinale in many places seemed by the fault of booksellers too little corrected, now by the application of his care and diligence it will reach men’s hands in the most correct form possible. After this date books will be printed in type of another kind, and elegantly, I think; for both artificers and a sufficiency of other things of which hitherto the putter forth has been in need he now possesses by the gift of God, who disposes all things according to the judgment of his will. Amen.

The Doctrinale of Alexander of Villedieu (God be praised!) comes to a happy end. It has been printed amid enough inconveniences, since of several things which belong to this art the printer, in making a beginning with it, could obtain no proper supply, owing to the plague raging at Genoa, Asti, and elsewhere. Now this same work has been corrected by the prior Venturinus, a distinguished grammarian, and that so diligently that whereas previously the Doctrinale in many places seemed by the fault of booksellers too little corrected, now by the application of his care and diligence it will reach men’s hands in the most correct form possible. After this date books will be printed in type of another kind, and elegantly, I think; for both artificers and a sufficiency of other things of which hitherto the putter forth has been in need he now possesses by the gift of God, who disposes all things according to the judgment of his will. Amen.

All these promises may have been carried out, but we know of no other book from this press, and it is more than likely that no other was issued. Nor was this the only press which was inconvenienced by the plague, since two years later the disease interrupted Conrad Kachelofen in the pious task of printing a missal at Leipzig, and caused him to become the first exponent of the art at Freiberg, as we duly learn from the colophon:

Meissen Missal. Freiberg: Conrad Kachelofen, 1495. (Reduced.)Quanquam alias codices librorum missalium iuxta rubricam ecclesie Misnensis per Reuerendissimum in christo patrem et dominum dominum Iohannem f[elicis] r[ecordationis] olim episcopum Misnensem imprimi satis exacta diligentia procurati sunt: tamen quia predicti codices multa necessaria que presentes in lucem dedere omiserunt et eorum numerus Misnensis diocesis latitudini ac personarum inibi deo famulantium & pro libris huiusmodi sepenumero auide inquirentium multitudini non satisfacit Ideo Reuerendissimus in cristo pater et dominus dominus Iohannes de Salhusen modernus misnensis ecclesie episcopus, his aliisque penuriis et defectibus succurrere uolens, presens missalium opus iuxta rubricam iam dicte sue Misnensis diocesis diligenti opera castigatum atque distinctum per industrium Conradum Kachelofen huius impressorie artis magistrum oppidique lipsensis conciuem in oppido eodem inchoari: atque grassante pestifero morbo in oppido Freiberg perfici et foeliciter finiri procurauit. Quod quidem opus ad nouarum etiam festiuitatum, pro diuini cultus augmento, institutiones aptissimum erit: quarum historie in prioribus codicibus minime habentur et in presentibus cum multis aliis specialibus uotiuis missis suo ordine annotantur ita ut hec noua uolumina cum precedentibusconferentes necessaria potius quam superuacanea fuisse animaduertant. Anno salutis quinto et nonagesimo supra quadringentesimum et millesimum, Die uero lune mensis nouembris nona.IOANNIS CUBITENSIS EPIGRAMMAGallicus hoc nostro Conradus muneris euoAttulit: ingenio dedalicaque manu.Antistes Misne, plenus bonitate fideque,Dux erat. Auctorem lector opusque tenes.Although copies of the missal-books according to the rubric of the diocese of Meissen have been caused by the most reverend Father in Christ and lord, the lord John of happy memory, formerly Bishop of Meissen, to be printed elsewhere with sufficiently exact diligence, yet inasmuch as the aforesaid copies omitted many necessary things which the present ones have published, and the number of them does not suffice for so wide a diocese as Meissen and for the multitude of persons of the household of God in it who ofttimes eagerly seek for books of this kind, Therefore, the most reverend Father in Christ and lord, the lord Johann von Salhusen, the Bishop, that now is, of the Church of Meissen, wishing to come to the aid of these and other wants and defects, caused the present missal-book, according to the rubric of his aforesaid diocese of Meissen, diligently corrected and arranged, to be begun by the industrious Conrad Kachelofen, a master of this art of printing and citizen of the town of Leipzig, in that same town, and on the approach of the plague to be accomplished and happily finished in the town of Freiberg. The which missal-book will be found most suitable for the institutions also of new festivals for the increase of the divine worship, the lessons for these being very defective in the former copies, while in the present ones they are noted with many other special votive masses in their proper order, so that those who compare these volumes with the preceding ones will count them as necessary rather than superfluous. In the year of salvation 1495, on Monday, November 9th.EPIGRAM OF JOHANNES CUBITENSISThis gift French Conrad brought unto our age;His wit and skilful hand achieved the task.Meissen’s good, faithful bishop blessed the page:Of book or author need none further ask.

Meissen Missal. Freiberg: Conrad Kachelofen, 1495. (Reduced.)

Quanquam alias codices librorum missalium iuxta rubricam ecclesie Misnensis per Reuerendissimum in christo patrem et dominum dominum Iohannem f[elicis] r[ecordationis] olim episcopum Misnensem imprimi satis exacta diligentia procurati sunt: tamen quia predicti codices multa necessaria que presentes in lucem dedere omiserunt et eorum numerus Misnensis diocesis latitudini ac personarum inibi deo famulantium & pro libris huiusmodi sepenumero auide inquirentium multitudini non satisfacit Ideo Reuerendissimus in cristo pater et dominus dominus Iohannes de Salhusen modernus misnensis ecclesie episcopus, his aliisque penuriis et defectibus succurrere uolens, presens missalium opus iuxta rubricam iam dicte sue Misnensis diocesis diligenti opera castigatum atque distinctum per industrium Conradum Kachelofen huius impressorie artis magistrum oppidique lipsensis conciuem in oppido eodem inchoari: atque grassante pestifero morbo in oppido Freiberg perfici et foeliciter finiri procurauit. Quod quidem opus ad nouarum etiam festiuitatum, pro diuini cultus augmento, institutiones aptissimum erit: quarum historie in prioribus codicibus minime habentur et in presentibus cum multis aliis specialibus uotiuis missis suo ordine annotantur ita ut hec noua uolumina cum precedentibusconferentes necessaria potius quam superuacanea fuisse animaduertant. Anno salutis quinto et nonagesimo supra quadringentesimum et millesimum, Die uero lune mensis nouembris nona.

IOANNIS CUBITENSIS EPIGRAMMAGallicus hoc nostro Conradus muneris euoAttulit: ingenio dedalicaque manu.Antistes Misne, plenus bonitate fideque,Dux erat. Auctorem lector opusque tenes.

IOANNIS CUBITENSIS EPIGRAMMA

Gallicus hoc nostro Conradus muneris euoAttulit: ingenio dedalicaque manu.Antistes Misne, plenus bonitate fideque,Dux erat. Auctorem lector opusque tenes.

Gallicus hoc nostro Conradus muneris euo

Attulit: ingenio dedalicaque manu.

Antistes Misne, plenus bonitate fideque,

Dux erat. Auctorem lector opusque tenes.

Although copies of the missal-books according to the rubric of the diocese of Meissen have been caused by the most reverend Father in Christ and lord, the lord John of happy memory, formerly Bishop of Meissen, to be printed elsewhere with sufficiently exact diligence, yet inasmuch as the aforesaid copies omitted many necessary things which the present ones have published, and the number of them does not suffice for so wide a diocese as Meissen and for the multitude of persons of the household of God in it who ofttimes eagerly seek for books of this kind, Therefore, the most reverend Father in Christ and lord, the lord Johann von Salhusen, the Bishop, that now is, of the Church of Meissen, wishing to come to the aid of these and other wants and defects, caused the present missal-book, according to the rubric of his aforesaid diocese of Meissen, diligently corrected and arranged, to be begun by the industrious Conrad Kachelofen, a master of this art of printing and citizen of the town of Leipzig, in that same town, and on the approach of the plague to be accomplished and happily finished in the town of Freiberg. The which missal-book will be found most suitable for the institutions also of new festivals for the increase of the divine worship, the lessons for these being very defective in the former copies, while in the present ones they are noted with many other special votive masses in their proper order, so that those who compare these volumes with the preceding ones will count them as necessary rather than superfluous. In the year of salvation 1495, on Monday, November 9th.

EPIGRAM OF JOHANNES CUBITENSISThis gift French Conrad brought unto our age;His wit and skilful hand achieved the task.Meissen’s good, faithful bishop blessed the page:Of book or author need none further ask.

EPIGRAM OF JOHANNES CUBITENSIS

This gift French Conrad brought unto our age;His wit and skilful hand achieved the task.Meissen’s good, faithful bishop blessed the page:Of book or author need none further ask.

This gift French Conrad brought unto our age;

His wit and skilful hand achieved the task.

Meissen’s good, faithful bishop blessed the page:

Of book or author need none further ask.

From Hain 10425 we learn that a Machasor, or Compendium of Prayers, for the use of the Italian synagogues was begun at Soncino in September, 1485, and finished at Casal Maggiore in August, 1486; but to what this change of scene was due the colophon does not say. One would have thought that in the fifteenth century war as well as pestilence must often have interrupted the printer at his work; and indeed the sack of Mainz in 1462 was a very notable event in the history of printing. Yet the only two references to war I can remember in contemporary colophons hardly view it as an interruption—the first Paris printers (Gering, Krantz, and Friburger), indeed, tried to use it as an advertisement for their Sallust, where the verses at the end run:

Nunc parat arma uirosque simul rex maximus orbis,Hostibus antiquis exitium minitans.Nunc igitur bello studeas gens Pariseorum,Cui Martis quondam gloria magna fuit.Exemplo tibi sint nunc fortia facta uirorum,Quae digne memorat Crispus in hoc opere.Armigerisque tuis alemannos adnumeres, quiHos pressere libros, arma futura tibi.The King of France his armaments and men is mustering,Upon his ancient enemies destruction threatening.Now therefore, men of Paris, show your ardor for the wars,Who erst won mighty glory in the service of great Mars.Set before you as examples each brave, heroic deedOf which in Sallust’s pages due record you may read;And count us German printers as adding to your storeOf fighters, since this history will stir up many more.

Nunc parat arma uirosque simul rex maximus orbis,

Hostibus antiquis exitium minitans.

Nunc igitur bello studeas gens Pariseorum,

Cui Martis quondam gloria magna fuit.

Exemplo tibi sint nunc fortia facta uirorum,

Quae digne memorat Crispus in hoc opere.

Armigerisque tuis alemannos adnumeres, qui

Hos pressere libros, arma futura tibi.

The King of France his armaments and men is mustering,Upon his ancient enemies destruction threatening.Now therefore, men of Paris, show your ardor for the wars,Who erst won mighty glory in the service of great Mars.Set before you as examples each brave, heroic deedOf which in Sallust’s pages due record you may read;And count us German printers as adding to your storeOf fighters, since this history will stir up many more.

The King of France his armaments and men is mustering,

Upon his ancient enemies destruction threatening.

Now therefore, men of Paris, show your ardor for the wars,

Who erst won mighty glory in the service of great Mars.

Set before you as examples each brave, heroic deed

Of which in Sallust’s pages due record you may read;

And count us German printers as adding to your store

Of fighters, since this history will stir up many more.

The other allusion takes the form of sympathy with the sufferers from Turkish oppression and invasion, and comes at the end of an edition of the story of Attila, in a colophon which leads up to the statement that the book was printed at Venice by showing how it was the fear caused by Attila which brought about the foundation of the island city.

Atila persecutore de la Christiana fede. Primamente vene verso aquilegia nel tempo de papa Leone e de odopio imperatore de li christiani. Laqual cita insembre con molte altre cita castelli e forteze nela fertile e bella Italia destrusse. Li habitatori de li dicti luoghi fugiendo la sua canina rabia ad modo che nel presente tempo, cioe del summo pontifice papa Innocentio, e di Federico imperatore e del Inclyto duce Augustino Barbadico in Venetia imperante neli anni del signore del M.cccc lxxxxi se fuge la crudele ed abhominabile persecutione del perfido cane turcho il qual come e ditto de sopra abandonando le lor dolce patrie perueneno a le prenominate isole: nelequale fu edificata la potentissima famosa e nobile cita de Venetia laqual Idio per la sua pieta mantenga felice e prospera e victoriosa per mare e per terra longo tempo.Finis.Impressum Venetiis.Attila, the persecutor of the Christian faith, first came to Aquilegia in the time of Pope Leo and of Odopius, Emperor of the Christians. The which city, together with many other cities, castles, and strong places in fertile and beautiful Italy, he destroyed. The inhabitants of the said places fled from his dog-like rage just as in the present time (that is, the time of the most high pontiff Pope Innocent, and of the Emperor Frederick,and of the renowned doge Agostino Barbadico, holding rule in Venice, in the year of our Lord 1491) people are flying the cruel and abominable persecution of the treacherous dog of a Turk. Abandoning their sweet fatherlands, as was said above, they came to the afore-named islands, in the which was built the most potent, famous, and noble city of Venice, the which for its piety may God long preserve in happiness and prosperity, victorious by sea and land. Finis. Printed at Venice.

Finis.Impressum Venetiis.

Attila, the persecutor of the Christian faith, first came to Aquilegia in the time of Pope Leo and of Odopius, Emperor of the Christians. The which city, together with many other cities, castles, and strong places in fertile and beautiful Italy, he destroyed. The inhabitants of the said places fled from his dog-like rage just as in the present time (that is, the time of the most high pontiff Pope Innocent, and of the Emperor Frederick,and of the renowned doge Agostino Barbadico, holding rule in Venice, in the year of our Lord 1491) people are flying the cruel and abominable persecution of the treacherous dog of a Turk. Abandoning their sweet fatherlands, as was said above, they came to the afore-named islands, in the which was built the most potent, famous, and noble city of Venice, the which for its piety may God long preserve in happiness and prosperity, victorious by sea and land. Finis. Printed at Venice.

Printers—though Pynson’s head was broken in a street riot, and Pierre le Dru took part in a Paris brawl during his prentice days—have usually been men of peace; but despite this and any care they may have taken in avoiding the plague, they died like other men, and several colophons record the death of the master craftsman while engaged on the work. We have already seen the rather businesslike lamentation of Wendelin of Speier for his brother John. In the edition of Boccaccio’s “Genealogiae Deorum gentilium” printed at Reggio in 1481, Bartholomeus Bruschus (or Bottonus) mourns rather more effusively for Laurentius:

Dum tua, Boccacci, propriis Laurentius augetSumptibus et reddit nomina clara magis,Hoc opus aere notans, tunc stirps bottona uirentemEt quem flet Regium mors inopina rapit.Post lachrymas tandem frater uirtutis amoreTam pulchrum exegit Bartholomeus opus.Impressum Regii anno salutis M.cccc.Lxxxi. pridie Nonas Octobris.Boccaccio, while at his proper costLorenzo toiled your honor to increase,Printing this book, the Bruschian clan him lost;And Reggio, in his prime, mourns his decease.Tears dried, Bartolommeo undertook,With emulous love, to end his brother’s book.Printed at Reggio in the year of salvation 1481. October 4th.

Dum tua, Boccacci, propriis Laurentius auget

Sumptibus et reddit nomina clara magis,

Hoc opus aere notans, tunc stirps bottona uirentem

Et quem flet Regium mors inopina rapit.

Post lachrymas tandem frater uirtutis amore

Tam pulchrum exegit Bartholomeus opus.

Impressum Regii anno salutis M.cccc.Lxxxi. pridie Nonas Octobris.

Boccaccio, while at his proper costLorenzo toiled your honor to increase,Printing this book, the Bruschian clan him lost;And Reggio, in his prime, mourns his decease.Tears dried, Bartolommeo undertook,With emulous love, to end his brother’s book.

Boccaccio, while at his proper cost

Lorenzo toiled your honor to increase,

Printing this book, the Bruschian clan him lost;

And Reggio, in his prime, mourns his decease.

Tears dried, Bartolommeo undertook,

With emulous love, to end his brother’s book.

Printed at Reggio in the year of salvation 1481. October 4th.

But neither do these verses come anywhere near the simple pathos of the colophon to the “Cronycles of the londe of England,” printed at Antwerp in 1493, which records the death of the famous printer Gerard Leeu.

Here ben endyd the Cronycles of the Reame of Englond, with their apperteignaunces. Enprentyd In the Duchye of Braband in the towne of Andewarpe In the yere of our Lord M.cccc.xciij. By maistir Gerard de leew a man of grete wysedom in all maner of kunnyng: whych nowe is come from lyfe unto the deth, which is grete harme for many of poure man. On whos sowle God almyghty for hys hygh grace haue mercy. Amen.

A man whose death is great harm for many a poor man must needs have been a good master, and a king need want no finer epitaph, though the phrase is full of the one thought which makes the prospect of death terrible.[5]One rather wonders what the workmen of Plato de Benedictis had to say abouthimwhen he died; for, if the colophon to his edition of “Bononia illustrata” (Bologna, 1494) was worded with his consent, he had a nasty readiness to take all the credit to himself and leave all the blame for his workmen.

Bononia illustrata. Bologna: Plato de Benedictis, 1494.Ad lectorem.Bononiae: anno salutis .M.cccc.lxxxx.iiii. Ex officina Platonis de Benedictis huiusce artis exactoris probatissimi Libellus quam pulcherrimis caractheribus impressus. In quo Origo, situsque Bononiae. Hinc uiri illustres: qui ingenio claruerint tam domestici quam externi. Templa quoque ac corpora sanctorum ibidem consepulta. Postmodum oppida, uicus, factiones: quae quondam hic uiguere. Gestaque Bononiensium sub breuitate contenta: una cum illustri Bentiuolorum genologia [sic] connumerantur. Si quid tamen in eo mendae et erroris insertum fuerit: non impressoris negligentia sed potius famulorum incuria pretermissum putes. Nam ille ingenio litteraturaque non mediocri dotatus: et tali exercitio inter caeteros excultissimus est.To the Reader. At Bologna: in the year of salvation 1494, from the workshop of Plato de Benedictis, a most skilled master of this art, a book printed with very beautiful types, in which the origin and position of Bologna, its illustrious men, both native and foreign, who have become famous for their ability, its temples also and the bodies of the saints there buried, moreover the towns, villages, and parties which formerly flourished here, and the exploits of the Bolognese, briefly set forth, together with the illustrious descent of the Bentivogli, are all enumerated. Should anything faulty or erroneous have been inserted in it, you must think it was overlooked, not by any neglect of the printer, but rather by the carelessness of his workmen. For he himself is endowed with exceptional ability and literary gifts, and in such practices is preëminent among the rest.

Bononia illustrata. Bologna: Plato de Benedictis, 1494.

Ad lectorem.

Bononiae: anno salutis .M.cccc.lxxxx.iiii. Ex officina Platonis de Benedictis huiusce artis exactoris probatissimi Libellus quam pulcherrimis caractheribus impressus. In quo Origo, situsque Bononiae. Hinc uiri illustres: qui ingenio claruerint tam domestici quam externi. Templa quoque ac corpora sanctorum ibidem consepulta. Postmodum oppida, uicus, factiones: quae quondam hic uiguere. Gestaque Bononiensium sub breuitate contenta: una cum illustri Bentiuolorum genologia [sic] connumerantur. Si quid tamen in eo mendae et erroris insertum fuerit: non impressoris negligentia sed potius famulorum incuria pretermissum putes. Nam ille ingenio litteraturaque non mediocri dotatus: et tali exercitio inter caeteros excultissimus est.

To the Reader. At Bologna: in the year of salvation 1494, from the workshop of Plato de Benedictis, a most skilled master of this art, a book printed with very beautiful types, in which the origin and position of Bologna, its illustrious men, both native and foreign, who have become famous for their ability, its temples also and the bodies of the saints there buried, moreover the towns, villages, and parties which formerly flourished here, and the exploits of the Bolognese, briefly set forth, together with the illustrious descent of the Bentivogli, are all enumerated. Should anything faulty or erroneous have been inserted in it, you must think it was overlooked, not by any neglect of the printer, but rather by the carelessness of his workmen. For he himself is endowed with exceptional ability and literary gifts, and in such practices is preëminent among the rest.

Better than this is the frank plea that misprints in a learned book are very hard to avoid, put forward by Anima Mia at the end of a book by Raphael Regius containing discussions on a letter of Pliny’s and on passages in Persius and Quintilian:

Si quid forte litterarum immutatione: transpositione: inuersione omissione offenderis studiose lector: id non ulli negligentiaesed correctionis difficultati ascribas: quoniam nihil verborum praetermissum esse depraehendis: rogat Gulielmus Tridinensis cognomento Anima Mia: cuius opera hoc opusculum Venetiis fuit descriptum. Principe Augustino Barbadico decimo Calendas Iunias. M.cccc.lxxxx.Studious reader, if by chance you find a stumbling-block in any alteration, transposal, inversion, or omission of letters, ascribe it not to any carelessness, but to the difficulty of correction, since you find that none of the words have been omitted. This is the prayer of Guglielmo of Tridino, called Anima Mia, by whose exertion this little work has been set forth at Venice, when Agostino Barbadico was doge, on May 23, 1490.

Studious reader, if by chance you find a stumbling-block in any alteration, transposal, inversion, or omission of letters, ascribe it not to any carelessness, but to the difficulty of correction, since you find that none of the words have been omitted. This is the prayer of Guglielmo of Tridino, called Anima Mia, by whose exertion this little work has been set forth at Venice, when Agostino Barbadico was doge, on May 23, 1490.

From the colophon of the Lecture of Antonius de Alexandro “super secundo codicis Iustiniani,” printed at Naples by Sixtus Riessinger in 1473-74, we learn, though only by mysterious hints, that at least some printers had other enemies besides war and pestilence to contend against. This colophon appears to have been written by the literary partner in the firm, Francesco Tuppo, since no one but himself would have used the Chinese humility of the phrase “inter trecentos studentes minimus.” From the books which he took up, Tuppo must have been a man of some culture; but his Latin, if we may judge by this colophon, was not his strong point.

Finis huius utilissime lecture ordinarie codicis Iustiniani Almani In florenti studio Neapolitano impresse per expertissimum ac clarum Sixtum Riessinger Almanum, qui inter sua aduersa floret uiret atque claret Nec perfidos maliuolos ac uersutos existimat maiora perficiet [sic] ad gloriam eterni Dei et felicitatem Ferdinandi Regis patrie. Et licet non miniis apparet ornata Attamen claret decisionibus et singularibus iurium ciuilis et poli ut lector studendo doctissimus perfici poterit mendisque caret. Nam summis uigiliis et laboribus fideliter correcta est per Franciscum Tuppi Partenopensem tanti clarissimi utriusque iuris interpretisAntonii de Alexandro legum perule [sic][6]inter trecentos studentes minimus [sic]. Qui una cum fido sodali Sixto hanc preclaram et lucidam lecturam de propriis sumptibus sumpserunt [sic] Finieruntque xxi. die mensis Februarii Anni .M.cccc.lxxiiii. Feliciter. Amen.The end of this very useful ordinary exposition of the Codex of Justinian the German, printed in the flourishing University of Naples by the most expert and renowned Sixtus Riessinger, a German, who, amid his obstacles, flourishes, thrives, and wins renown, nor thinks that traitors, malignants, and shifty rogues will accomplish more for the glory of Eternal God and the welfare of the country of King Ferdinand. And although it appears unadorned by red printing, yet it is clearly set forth with decisions and single points of the civil and heavenly laws, so that a reader by studying it may be able to become very learned. Moreover, it is free from errors, for it has been faithfully corrected with the utmost watchfulness and toil by Francesco Tuppo of Naples, the least among the three hundred students of that so renowned interpreter of both codes, Antonius de Alexandro. He and his trusty partner, Sixtus, at their own cost have taken up this noble and lucid exposition and have brought it successfully to an end on the twenty-first day of February, 1474.

The end of this very useful ordinary exposition of the Codex of Justinian the German, printed in the flourishing University of Naples by the most expert and renowned Sixtus Riessinger, a German, who, amid his obstacles, flourishes, thrives, and wins renown, nor thinks that traitors, malignants, and shifty rogues will accomplish more for the glory of Eternal God and the welfare of the country of King Ferdinand. And although it appears unadorned by red printing, yet it is clearly set forth with decisions and single points of the civil and heavenly laws, so that a reader by studying it may be able to become very learned. Moreover, it is free from errors, for it has been faithfully corrected with the utmost watchfulness and toil by Francesco Tuppo of Naples, the least among the three hundred students of that so renowned interpreter of both codes, Antonius de Alexandro. He and his trusty partner, Sixtus, at their own cost have taken up this noble and lucid exposition and have brought it successfully to an end on the twenty-first day of February, 1474.

One would like to hear something more about the traitors, malignants, and shifty rogues (perfidos, maliuolos ac versutos) against whom the colophon declaims; but I have failed to discover any other references to them. The phrase “cum fido sodali,” used of Tuppo’s relations to Riessinger, raises the question as to whether any real partnership existed between them. In the colophons to three other books their names appear conjointly; three more of later date (1480-89), of which Riessinger appears to have been the actual printer, are stated to have been printed by Tuppo. The point is of some little interestas possibly throwing some light on the vext question of who were the “fidelissimi Germani” who printed Tuppo’s Aesop in 1485, and also in the same year the account of the process of King Ferdinand against his rebellious nobles. As to this Mr. Proctor wavered between the claims of Johann Tresser and Martin of Amsterdam on the one hand, and “Matthias of Olmutz and his German workmen” on the other. (See his Index, p. 450, and “CCC Notable Books,” pp. 107sq.) But Riessinger also was a German, and from his relations both to Tuppo and to the king (of whom he calls himself, in the “Super feudis” of Andreas de Ysernia in 1477, the “devotus atque fidelis servus”) seems to have some claim to consideration. The phrase “fidelissimi Germani” is in itself a very curious one, as it leaves us wondering whether they were “fidelissimi” in the abstract, or to one another, or to the king. If to one another, we may find a parallel in the frequency with which John of Cologne and Manthen of Gerretzem proclaim their loyalty to each other. Thus in their first dated book, the Sallust of 23d March, 1474, we find them writing:

Haec Crispi Sallustii opera quam optime emendata Venetiis fuere impressa, ductu et impensa Iohannis Colonie Agripinensis, necnon Iohannis Manthen de Gherretsem, qui una fideliter uiuunt. Anno a natali Christi M.cccc.lxxiiii. die xxiii Martii.These works of Crispus Sallustius, most excellently corrected, were printed at Venice under the guidance and at the expense of Johann of Köln and also of Johann Manthen of Gherretsem, who loyally live together. In the year from the birth of Christ 1474, on the twenty-third day of March.

These works of Crispus Sallustius, most excellently corrected, were printed at Venice under the guidance and at the expense of Johann of Köln and also of Johann Manthen of Gherretsem, who loyally live together. In the year from the birth of Christ 1474, on the twenty-third day of March.

As another example we may take their Bartolus of 1476, where a phrase of the same kind is followed by another of some interest:

Finis partis prime Bartholi super ff. nouum que peroptime emendata Venetiis impressionem habuit impensis Iohannis de Colonia sociique eius Iohannis manthen de Gerretzem: qui vna fideliter degentes ipsius laboratores conduxerunt. Anno M.CCCC.LXXVI.The end of the first part of Bartolus on the New Digest, which has been very excellently corrected and printed at Venice at the expense of John of Cologne and of his partner Johann Manthen of Gerretzheim, who, loyally living together, have hired the workmen engaged on it. In the year 1476.

The end of the first part of Bartolus on the New Digest, which has been very excellently corrected and printed at Venice at the expense of John of Cologne and of his partner Johann Manthen of Gerretzheim, who, loyally living together, have hired the workmen engaged on it. In the year 1476.

While many publishers pure and simple took to themselves the credit of being their own printers, these careful statements on the part of the loyal partners, that their function has been that of superintendence and finance (ductu et impensa), and as to the hiring of the workmen (laboratores conduxerunt), are rather notable. When John of Cologne joined with Jenson and others as publishers in employing Johann Herbort of Seligenstadt to print for them, he still carried with him one of his old phrases—witness this typical colophon from the “Super Decretis” of Guido de Baysio, 1481:

Guido de Baysio. Super Decretis. Venice: John of Cologne and Nicolas Jenson, 1481.Exactum insigne hoc atque preclarum opus ductu auspitiis optimorum Iohannis de Colonia, Nicolai ienson sociorumue. Qui non tantum summam curam adhibuere ut sint hec et sua queque sine uicio et menda, verumetiam ut bene sint elaborata atque iucundissimo litterarum caractere confecta, ut unicuique prodesse possint et oblectare, more poetico, et prodesse uolunt et delectare poete. Huiusce autem operis artifex extitit summus in hac arte magister Ioannes de Selgenstat alemanus, qui sua solertia ac uigiliis diuoque imprimendi caractere facile supereminet omnes. Olympiadibus dominicis Anno uero millesimo.cccc.lxxxi. tertias nonas Apriles.This noble and distinguished work was finished under the guidance and auspices of the most excellent John of Cologne, Nicolas Jenson, and their partners, who have applied the greatest care not only that this and all their works might be free from fault and stain, but also that they might be well finished and set up in a most pleasant style of letter, for general profit and delight, according to the fashion of the poets, who desire both to profit and please. And of this work the craftsman is the distinguished master in this art, John of Seligenstadt, a German, who in his skill and watchfulness and in the divine character of his printing easily surpasses all. In the Olympiads of the Lord and the year 1481, on April 3d.

Guido de Baysio. Super Decretis. Venice: John of Cologne and Nicolas Jenson, 1481.

Exactum insigne hoc atque preclarum opus ductu auspitiis optimorum Iohannis de Colonia, Nicolai ienson sociorumue. Qui non tantum summam curam adhibuere ut sint hec et sua queque sine uicio et menda, verumetiam ut bene sint elaborata atque iucundissimo litterarum caractere confecta, ut unicuique prodesse possint et oblectare, more poetico, et prodesse uolunt et delectare poete. Huiusce autem operis artifex extitit summus in hac arte magister Ioannes de Selgenstat alemanus, qui sua solertia ac uigiliis diuoque imprimendi caractere facile supereminet omnes. Olympiadibus dominicis Anno uero millesimo.cccc.lxxxi. tertias nonas Apriles.

This noble and distinguished work was finished under the guidance and auspices of the most excellent John of Cologne, Nicolas Jenson, and their partners, who have applied the greatest care not only that this and all their works might be free from fault and stain, but also that they might be well finished and set up in a most pleasant style of letter, for general profit and delight, according to the fashion of the poets, who desire both to profit and please. And of this work the craftsman is the distinguished master in this art, John of Seligenstadt, a German, who in his skill and watchfulness and in the divine character of his printing easily surpasses all. In the Olympiads of the Lord and the year 1481, on April 3d.

Herbort was fond both of the phrase about the Olympiads (which might be more idiomatically translated by “in the Christian era”) and also of his eulogy on himself, and several others of his colophons run on the same lines. The pride which many of the early printers took in their work was indeed immense. Of some of its manifestations we have already had more than enough; but we may stop to note two colophons which show that they sometimes expected their customers to recognize the origin of a book by its types, though they can certainly never have anticipated the scientific investigations of Mr.Proctor in this field. The first of these is from Hain *10614, a Mandeville, of which I have never seen a copy.

Explicit Itinerarius a terra Anglie in partes Ierosolimitanas et in ulteriores transmarinas, editus primo in lingua gallicana a domino Iohanne de Mandeuille milite, suo auctore, Anno incarnacionis domini Mccclv. in ciuitate Leodiensi et paulo post in eadem ciuitate translatus in dictam formam latinam. Quod opus ubi inceptum simul et completum sit ipsa elementa, seu singularum seorsum caracteres litterarum quibus impressum, vides venetica, monstrant manifeste.Here ends the Itinerary from the land of England to the parts of Jerusalem and to those further off beyond the sea, published first in French by Sir John de Mandeville, Knight, its author, in the year of the incarnation of the Lord 1355, in the city of Liège, and shortly after in the same city translated into the said Latin form. And as to where this work has been both begun and completed, its very elements, the characters of the single letters with which it has been printed,—Venetian, as you see,—plainly tell its tale.

Here ends the Itinerary from the land of England to the parts of Jerusalem and to those further off beyond the sea, published first in French by Sir John de Mandeville, Knight, its author, in the year of the incarnation of the Lord 1355, in the city of Liège, and shortly after in the same city translated into the said Latin form. And as to where this work has been both begun and completed, its very elements, the characters of the single letters with which it has been printed,—Venetian, as you see,—plainly tell its tale.

A good many literary mistakes, and the investigations needed to correct them, would have been spared if this quite accurate statement of the supremacy of the French Mandeville as compared with the Latin (and also the English) had been generally accepted. What we are here concerned with is the attention called to the fact that it is printed in the Venetian letter. Of course, even before the invention of printing a school of handwriting would have grown up at Venice sufficiently distinct for experts to distinguish it; but this expectation that any buyer of the book would recognize at once where it was printed is interesting, and would be made much more so if a copy of the edition could be found and the press identified. In our next colophon the printer expects his capital letters to serve his readers instead of his name. This is from thefirst Augsburg edition of the “Catholicon” of Joannes Balbus, about the Mainz edition of which we have already had to speak. The Augsburg colophon runs:

Grammatice partes et vocum proprietatesVerius inuenies hoc codice: si quoque queresNomen qui libro scripturam impressit in illo,Tunc cito comperies per litterulas capitales:Hinc poteris certe cognomen noscere aperte.Ex Reutling Zainer hic dicitur esse magister,Recte presentis artis doctissimus ipsus.Vt pateat nomen libri qui dicitur esse,Sumptus de varijs autoribus atque poetisKatholicon, fertur quem collegisse Iohannes,Cui nomen patrium dat ianua, iuncta sit ensis.Hoc compleuit opus lux vltima mensis aprilis,Dum currunt anni nati factoris in orbem,Mille quadringenti, quis sexaginta nouemqueAdijce. Vindelica finitur in vrbe serena,Quam schowenberg tenuit qui libro preludia deditTitulo cardineus praeses vbique coruscus.Terminat sed diuus presul ex Werdemberg altus.Cum paulo secundo papa, imperante fridrico.Deo Gratias.The parts of grammar and the proper meanings of vocables you will truly find in this codex. If you also ask his name who printed the text in the book, you will quickly discover it by the capital letters. Hence you will be able for certain to know openly his surname. He is called Zainer of Reutling, in truth a most learned master of the present art. To reveal the name of the book, as it is taken from various authors and poets it is called Catholicon, and it is said to have been compiled by the John whose place-name is given byJanuawithEnsisjoined to it. The last day of April completed the work, while fourteen hundred, to which you must add sixty-nine, years are running since the Creator was born into the world. It is finished in the town of the Wendels (Augusta Vindelicorum=Augsburg),where resided he who gave the book its prologue, Schowenberg, called Cardineus, a distinguished moderator; and it is finished by a divine president who comes from Werdenberg, Paul II being pope and Frederick emperor. Thanks be to God.

Grammatice partes et vocum proprietates

Verius inuenies hoc codice: si quoque queres

Nomen qui libro scripturam impressit in illo,

Tunc cito comperies per litterulas capitales:

Hinc poteris certe cognomen noscere aperte.

Ex Reutling Zainer hic dicitur esse magister,

Recte presentis artis doctissimus ipsus.

Vt pateat nomen libri qui dicitur esse,

Sumptus de varijs autoribus atque poetis

Katholicon, fertur quem collegisse Iohannes,

Cui nomen patrium dat ianua, iuncta sit ensis.

Hoc compleuit opus lux vltima mensis aprilis,

Dum currunt anni nati factoris in orbem,

Mille quadringenti, quis sexaginta nouemque

Adijce. Vindelica finitur in vrbe serena,

Quam schowenberg tenuit qui libro preludia dedit

Titulo cardineus praeses vbique coruscus.

Terminat sed diuus presul ex Werdemberg altus.

Cum paulo secundo papa, imperante fridrico.

Deo Gratias.

The parts of grammar and the proper meanings of vocables you will truly find in this codex. If you also ask his name who printed the text in the book, you will quickly discover it by the capital letters. Hence you will be able for certain to know openly his surname. He is called Zainer of Reutling, in truth a most learned master of the present art. To reveal the name of the book, as it is taken from various authors and poets it is called Catholicon, and it is said to have been compiled by the John whose place-name is given byJanuawithEnsisjoined to it. The last day of April completed the work, while fourteen hundred, to which you must add sixty-nine, years are running since the Creator was born into the world. It is finished in the town of the Wendels (Augusta Vindelicorum=Augsburg),where resided he who gave the book its prologue, Schowenberg, called Cardineus, a distinguished moderator; and it is finished by a divine president who comes from Werdenberg, Paul II being pope and Frederick emperor. Thanks be to God.

Not every one could be expected, even at a time when interest in the new art must have been very keen, to identify the printer of a book from the type or initials used in it; and, as has already been noted, the whole reason for the existence of printers’ colophons was to identify the master-craftsman with any book of which he was proud, and so to advertise his firm. To make this advertisement more conspicuous many printers add their device at the end of the colophon, and five or six of them call special attention to this in their colophons, Peter Schoeffer leading the way in this, as already noted.Suis consignando scutisandcujus arma signanturare the phrases Schoeffer used (see Hain, 7885, 7999, 8006), and Wenssler of Basel, who was often on the lookout to follow Schoeffer’s leads, followed him also in this. The elaborate praise of his own work, which we find in his 1477 edition of the Sixth Book of the Decretals by Boniface VIII, is of a piece with this desire to hall-mark it as his own by affixing his device:

Boniface VIII. Decretals. Basel: M. Wenssler, 1477.Pressos sepe vides lector studiose libellosQuos etiam gaudes connumerare tuis.Si fuerint nitidi, tersi, si dogmata dignaContineant et sit litera vera bona.Dispeream nisi inuenias hec omnia in istisQuos pressit Wenszlers ingeniosa manus.Nam quecunque fuit hoc toto codice pressaLitera solicito lecta labore fuit.Insigne et celebratissimum opus Bonifacii octaui quod sextum decretalium appellant In preclarissima vrbe Basiliensi ingenio et arte Michaelis Wenszlers Impressum, glorioso fauente deo suis consignando scutis, feliciter est finitum Anno domini septuagesimo septimo post millesimum et quadringentesimum quarto ydus Decembris.Student, you oft must see a printed bookAnd think how well upon your shelves ’twould look:The print of shining black, the page pulled clean,A worthy text, and misprints nowhere seen!Where Wenssler’s skilful hand the work has printedI’ll die for it if of these charms you’re stinted;For throughout all this book no single letterHas ’scaped his reader’s care to make it better.The notable and most celebrated work of Boniface VIII, which is called the Sixth of the Decretals, printed in the renowned city of Basel by the skill and art of Michael Wenssler, by the favor of the glorious God, marked with the printer’s shields, has come happily to an end, in the year of the Lord 1477, on December 12.

Boniface VIII. Decretals. Basel: M. Wenssler, 1477.

Pressos sepe vides lector studiose libellosQuos etiam gaudes connumerare tuis.Si fuerint nitidi, tersi, si dogmata dignaContineant et sit litera vera bona.Dispeream nisi inuenias hec omnia in istisQuos pressit Wenszlers ingeniosa manus.Nam quecunque fuit hoc toto codice pressaLitera solicito lecta labore fuit.

Pressos sepe vides lector studiose libellos

Quos etiam gaudes connumerare tuis.

Si fuerint nitidi, tersi, si dogmata digna

Contineant et sit litera vera bona.

Dispeream nisi inuenias hec omnia in istis

Quos pressit Wenszlers ingeniosa manus.

Nam quecunque fuit hoc toto codice pressa

Litera solicito lecta labore fuit.

Insigne et celebratissimum opus Bonifacii octaui quod sextum decretalium appellant In preclarissima vrbe Basiliensi ingenio et arte Michaelis Wenszlers Impressum, glorioso fauente deo suis consignando scutis, feliciter est finitum Anno domini septuagesimo septimo post millesimum et quadringentesimum quarto ydus Decembris.

Student, you oft must see a printed bookAnd think how well upon your shelves ’twould look:The print of shining black, the page pulled clean,A worthy text, and misprints nowhere seen!Where Wenssler’s skilful hand the work has printedI’ll die for it if of these charms you’re stinted;For throughout all this book no single letterHas ’scaped his reader’s care to make it better.

Student, you oft must see a printed book

And think how well upon your shelves ’twould look:

The print of shining black, the page pulled clean,

A worthy text, and misprints nowhere seen!

Where Wenssler’s skilful hand the work has printed

I’ll die for it if of these charms you’re stinted;

For throughout all this book no single letter

Has ’scaped his reader’s care to make it better.

The notable and most celebrated work of Boniface VIII, which is called the Sixth of the Decretals, printed in the renowned city of Basel by the skill and art of Michael Wenssler, by the favor of the glorious God, marked with the printer’s shields, has come happily to an end, in the year of the Lord 1477, on December 12.

Fasciculus Temporum. Louvain: Veldener, 1476.

Ioh. Faber. Breuiarium super codice. Louvain: John of Westphalia, c. 1475.

So, in 1475, Sensenschmidt and Frisner at Nuremberg issued their Latin Bible “suis signis annotatis”; and at Cologne, in 1476, Conrad Winters ends an edition of the “Fasciculus Temporum”: “Impressum per me Conradum de Hoemberch meoque signeto signatum” (printed by me, Conrad de Hoemberch, and signed with my signet); and in the same year we find Veldener at Louvain using nearly the same phrase (proprio signeto signata) in his edition of the “Fasciculus Temporum.”[7]As an amusing variation on this we have the custom adopted by Johnand Conrad of Westphalia, in some of the books they printed at Louvain, of placing their own portraits after their colophons and referring to them as their “solitum signum.” Thus in an edition of Laet’s “Pronosticationes euentuum futurorum anni lxxvi” John of Westphalia writes in this very interesting fashion:

Hec ego Ioannes de Paderborne in Westfalia, florentissima in uniuersitate Louaniensi residens, ut in manus uenerunt imprimere curaui: nonnullorum egregiorum uirorum desideriis obsecutus, qui prenominatum pronosticantem futura uere, inculto quamuis stilo, compluribus annis prenunciasse ferunt. Non reuera quo utilitatem magnam ipse consequerer (utilius enim opus eam ob rem suspendi) sed quo simul plurimorum comodis ac uoluptati pariter inseruiens, stilum meum nouum, quo posthac maiori et minori in uolumine uti propono, signi mei testimonio curiosis ac bonarum rerum studiosis palam facerem.These things have I, John of Paderborn in Westphalia, residing in the most flourishing University of Louvain, caused to be printed as they came to hand, following the desires of some noble gentlemen who say that the aforesaid prognosticator has in many years truly foretold future things, though in an uncultivated style. Of a truth my object was not to obtain any great advantage for myself (for I held over, on account of this, a more profitable work), but that, while at the same time serving alike the convenience and pleasure of many, I might make publicly known to the curious and connoisseurs my new style which hereafter, both in greater and smaller size, I propose to use as a witness of my sign.

These things have I, John of Paderborn in Westphalia, residing in the most flourishing University of Louvain, caused to be printed as they came to hand, following the desires of some noble gentlemen who say that the aforesaid prognosticator has in many years truly foretold future things, though in an uncultivated style. Of a truth my object was not to obtain any great advantage for myself (for I held over, on account of this, a more profitable work), but that, while at the same time serving alike the convenience and pleasure of many, I might make publicly known to the curious and connoisseurs my new style which hereafter, both in greater and smaller size, I propose to use as a witness of my sign.

Laet’s Prognostications were the Moore’s Almanacs of the fifteenth century, and by putting his new device (which he used again about the same time in the “Breviarium super codice” of Iohannes Faber) on such a publication John of Westphalia secured a wide advertisement.

The arts of advertisement must assuredly have been needed by the early printers when they came as strangers and aliens to a new town and began issuing books at their own risk. Even with the help of Latin as a universal language, and with the guidance of native patrons and scholars, pushing their wares must have been a difficult matter. Sweynheym and Pannartz at Rome tried to make their names known, and to express at the same time their obligations to their patron, by a set of verses which recur frequently in their books:

S. Cyprian. Epistulae. Rome: Sweynheym and Pannartz, 1471 (and in many other of their books).Aspicis illustris lector quicunque libellosSi cupis artificum nomina nosse lege.Aspera ridebis cognomina Teutona: forsanMitiget ars musis inscia uerba uirum.Conradus Suueynheym Arnoldus pannartzque magistriRome impresserunt talia multa simul.Petrus cum fratre Francisco Maximus amboHuic operi aptatam contribuere domum..M.CCCC.LXXI.Illustrious reader, whoever you are, who see these books, if you would know the names of their craftsmen, read on. You will smile at the rough Teutonic surnames: perhaps this art the Muses knew not will soften them. Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz have printed many such books together at Rome. Pietro da Massimi and his brother Francis have lent a house fitted[8]for the work.1471.

S. Cyprian. Epistulae. Rome: Sweynheym and Pannartz, 1471 (and in many other of their books).

Aspicis illustris lector quicunque libellosSi cupis artificum nomina nosse lege.Aspera ridebis cognomina Teutona: forsanMitiget ars musis inscia uerba uirum.Conradus Suueynheym Arnoldus pannartzque magistriRome impresserunt talia multa simul.Petrus cum fratre Francisco Maximus amboHuic operi aptatam contribuere domum..M.CCCC.LXXI.

Aspicis illustris lector quicunque libellos

Si cupis artificum nomina nosse lege.

Aspera ridebis cognomina Teutona: forsan

Mitiget ars musis inscia uerba uirum.

Conradus Suueynheym Arnoldus pannartzque magistri

Rome impresserunt talia multa simul.

Petrus cum fratre Francisco Maximus ambo

Huic operi aptatam contribuere domum.

.M.CCCC.LXXI.

Illustrious reader, whoever you are, who see these books, if you would know the names of their craftsmen, read on. You will smile at the rough Teutonic surnames: perhaps this art the Muses knew not will soften them. Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz have printed many such books together at Rome. Pietro da Massimi and his brother Francis have lent a house fitted[8]for the work.

1471.

Ulrich Han, another German printer at Rome, advertised himself in many of his books in another set of verses, perhaps the only instance of a colophon deliberately intended to raise a laugh, which recall the part played by the Sacred Geese in defending the Capitol against the Gauls (Galli), Gallus being also the Latinized form of Han’s name (Cock).

Cicero. Orationes Philippicae. Rome: Ulrich Han [1470] (and in several other of Han’s books).Anser Tarpeii custos Iouis: unde quod alisConstreperes: Gallus decidit: ultor adest.Udalricus Gallus, ne quem poscantur in usumEdocuit pennis nil opus esse tuis.Imprimit ille die quantum non scribitur annoIngenio: haud noceas: omnia vincit homo.Bird of Tarpeian Jove, though died the Gaul’Gainst whom thou flap’dst thy wings, see vengeance fall.Another Gallus comes and thy pen-featherGoes out of fashion, beaten altogether.For what a quill can write the whole year through,This in a day, and more, his press will do.So, Goose, give over: there’s no other plan;Own yourself beaten by all-conquering man.

Cicero. Orationes Philippicae. Rome: Ulrich Han [1470] (and in several other of Han’s books).

Anser Tarpeii custos Iouis: unde quod alisConstreperes: Gallus decidit: ultor adest.Udalricus Gallus, ne quem poscantur in usumEdocuit pennis nil opus esse tuis.Imprimit ille die quantum non scribitur annoIngenio: haud noceas: omnia vincit homo.

Anser Tarpeii custos Iouis: unde quod alis

Constreperes: Gallus decidit: ultor adest.

Udalricus Gallus, ne quem poscantur in usum

Edocuit pennis nil opus esse tuis.

Imprimit ille die quantum non scribitur anno

Ingenio: haud noceas: omnia vincit homo.

Bird of Tarpeian Jove, though died the Gaul’Gainst whom thou flap’dst thy wings, see vengeance fall.Another Gallus comes and thy pen-featherGoes out of fashion, beaten altogether.For what a quill can write the whole year through,This in a day, and more, his press will do.So, Goose, give over: there’s no other plan;Own yourself beaten by all-conquering man.

Bird of Tarpeian Jove, though died the Gaul

’Gainst whom thou flap’dst thy wings, see vengeance fall.

Another Gallus comes and thy pen-feather

Goes out of fashion, beaten altogether.

For what a quill can write the whole year through,

This in a day, and more, his press will do.

So, Goose, give over: there’s no other plan;

Own yourself beaten by all-conquering man.

In addition to their colophons, the printers, at least in Germany, used many modern forms of advertisement. When he returned to Augsburg from Venice, Ratdolt issued a splendid type-sheet with specimens of all his different founts. Schoeffer, the Brothers of the Common Life, Koberger, and other firms printed lists of their new books as broadsides, and gave their travellers similar sheets in which purchasers were promised “bonum venditorem” (a kindly seller), and a space was left for the name of the inn at which he displayed his wares, to be filled in by hand. We have all heard of Caxton’s advertisement of his Sarum Directory (most indigestible of “Pies”) and its final prayer, “Please don’t tear down the bill.” In 1474 Johann Müller of Königsberg (Iohannes Regiomontanus), the mathematician-printer, issued what I take to be the first fully developed publisher’s announcement, with a list of books “now ready” (haec duo explicita sunt), “shortly” (haec duo opera iam prope absoluta sunt), and those he hoped to undertake. Its last sentence is not strictly a colophon, but I am sure that I shall be forgiven for quoting it. “Postremo omnium,” it runs, “artem illam mirificam litterarum formatricem monimentis stabilibus mandare decretum est (deus bone faueas) qua re explicita si mox obdormierit opifex mors acerba non erit, quom tantum munus posteris in haereditate reliquerit, quo ipsi se ab inopia librorum perpetuo poterunt vindicare.”—“Lastly it has been determinedto commit to abiding monuments that wondrous art of putting letters together (God of thy goodness be favorable!), and when this is done if the craftsman presently fall asleep death will not be bitter, in the assurance that he has left as a legacy to posterity this great gift by which they will forever be able to free themselves from lack of books.” Shortly after writing these words Müller was called to Rome by Sixtus IV to give his help in reforming the calendar, but his foreboding was not unfulfilled, for death came to him in 1476, only two years after this announcement was written.

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