XXVThe Spread of Printing.

XXVThe Spread of Printing.First Printers of Germany . . . Mentel at Strasburg . . . Zell at Cologne . . . Keffer and Koburger at Nuremberg . . . Fac-simile of a part of Koburger’s Map . . . Zainer at Augsburg . . . Fac-simile of Zainer’s Birth of Eve . . . John of Westphalia and Martens at Louvain . . . Mansion at Bruges . . . Gerard Leeu at Antwerp . . . First Printers of Italy . . . Sweinheym and Pannartz at Rome . . . De Spira at Venice . . . Jenson’s Types . . . Venice famous for Printing . . . Cennini at Florence . . . The Ripoli Press . . . Zarot at Milan . . . Appearance of Publishers . . . First Printers of France . . . Gering, Crantz and Friburger at Paris . . . The Printers of Elegant Books . . . First Printers in Spain and Portugal . . . In England . . . Caxton at Westminster . . . Printing did not find a general Welcome . . . Made Popular by the Cheapness of Books . . . Injudicious Selection of Books for Publication . . . Demand for Books in the Vernacular . . . First Check on the Liberty of the Press.About this time, the crafte of Enpryntyng was fyrste founde in magounce in Almayne, which crafte is multiplyed through the world in many places, and bookes ben had grete chepe and in grete nombre by cause of the same crafte. Caxton, 1482.IN CENTRAL AND NORTHERN EUROPE.WHENtwo rival printing offices had been established at Mentz it was no longer possible to keep secret the processes. Every printer who handled the types and every goldsmith who helped to make the tools must have felt a weakening of the obligation of secrecy. The sack of Mentz was a greater misfortune, for it dissolved all obligations and sent the printers to other cities to found new offices. Not one of these printers has told us when and how he began to print on his own account. All we know about the introduction of printing in many of the large cities has been gathered from the dates of books and the chance allusions of early chroniclers. It is from these imperfect evidencesp493that the following tables of the spread of printing have been made up. They are based on the chronological arrangement of Santander’sDictionary, but the names and dates have been collated with those of Cotton’sTypographical Gazetteer, and other works of authority, and some alterations have been made.Place.Printer.Date.MentzJohn Gutenberg1450BambergAlbert Pfister—StrasburgMentel and Eggestein1458CologneUlric Zell1462AugsburgGunther Zainer1468NurembergHenry Keffer1469Munster in ArgauHelyas Helye1470SpirePeter Drach1471UlmJohn Zainer1473Buda (Hungary)Andrew Hess1473MersburgLucas Brandis1473Laugingen—1473EsslingenConrad Fyner1473MarienthalBros. of Life-in-Com1474LubecLucas Brandis1475Burgdorf—1475BlaubeurenConrad Mancz1475Pilsen—1475RostockBros. of Life-in-Com.1476GenevaAd. Steynschauer1478Prague—1478EichstadtM. and G. Reyser1478WurtzburgDold, Ryser,et al.1479LeipsicMarcus Brand1481AurachConrad Fyner1481ErfurtWider de Hornbach1482MemmingenAlbert de Duderstadt.1482PassauStahl, Mayer,et al.1482ReutlingenJohn Ottmar1482ViennaJohn Winterburg1482MagdeburgRauensteinet al.1483StockholmJohn Snell1483WinterbergJohn Alacraw1484HeidelbergFred. Misch1485RatisbonJohn Sensenschmidt1485BrinnStahl & Preinlein1486MunsterJohn Limburg1486SleswickStephen Arndes1486Frisia—1488KuttenbergVon Tischniowa1489IngolstadtJohn Kachelofen1490HamburgJ. and T. Borchard1491Wadstein—1491CzernigovTzernoevic1492Zinna—1492FribourgKilianus Piscator1493LuneburgJohn Luce1493CopenhagenGothof. de Ghemen1493Oppenheim—1494FreisingenJohn Schæffler1495Offenburg—1496TubingenJohn Ottmar1498CracowJohn Haller1500MunichJohn Schobser1500OlmutzDe Baumgarten1500PfortzheimThomas Anselmus1500This is but a brief list for the vast and populous country north of Italy and east of France and the Netherlands.344Not less remarkable is the fact that some cities now deservedly famous for their printing were among the last to acquire a knowledge of the art, and those that gave it feeble support.The master printers at Mentz before 1500, not previously named, were: Erhardus Reuwich, whose first book was dated 1486; Frederic Misch, who began after 1490; Jacob Meydenbach (a witness at the trial of 1455), between 1491 and 1496; and Peter Friedburg, between 1494 and 1497. There mayp494have been others, whose names are lost, but the printers are few; they cannot be compared, either in number or in influence, with those of many smaller cities during the same period. Long before Schœffer died,345Mentz had ceased to be a great school and centre of printing.STRASBURG.The statement of Lignamine, that Mentel printed at Strasburg after 1458, has been corroborated by the recent discovery in the Freiburg library of a LatinBiblein two volumes folio, which is known to have been printed by Mentel, and which contains the subscriptions of the illuminator and the written dates, in one volume of 1460, in the other of 1461.346As this book should have been in press at least two years, it may be regarded as evidence that printing was practised here as early as in Bamberg. Strasburg gave greater encouragement to printers than Mentz, for sixteen master printers were working there before 1500.COLOGNE.The first printer at Cologne was Ulric Zell. He was an industrious printer for more than forty years, but he never printed a book in German, nor did he adopt any of the improvements of the printers of Italy. He adhered rigidly to the severe style of his master, Schœffer, printing all his books from three sizes of a rude face of Round Gothic types. He was not a skillful nor even a correct printer, but he was a shrewd publisher, and accumulated a large property. Madden supposes that he went to Cologne in 1462, andp495was engaged by the Brotherhood of the Life-in-Common at Weidenbach, near that city, to assist them with his new art of printing in their pious task of making books.347His name appears for the first time in a book dated 1466, which date may be accepted as indicative of the time when he left the monastery and began to print on his own account in the city.At the close of the fifteenth century, twenty-two printing offices had been established at Cologne. Among them was that of Arnold Ter Hoorne, who, despite his occasional bad presswork, deserves special notice as one of the first printers who made use of Arabic figures.♠Fac-simile, reduced, of part of Koburger’s Map of Europe.[Photographed from Mr. Bruce’s copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle.]see largerNUREMBERG.Henry Keffer, who appeared as a witness for Gutenberg in the suit at law in 1455, is supposed to have established himself as a printer at Nuremberg about 1469. His name appears, for the first time, in the imprint of a book dated 1473, from which it seems that he was hired by John Sensenschmidt, a wealthy man of that city,348who aspired to be a publisher. In 1473, Anthony Koburger began to print at Nuremberg. In a few years he acquired great reputation as printer and publisher: he had twenty-four presses at Nuremberg and offices at Basle and at Lyons. Lichtenberger says that he printed twelve editions of theBiblein Latin and one in German. That he merited his honors is implied by the testimony of Jodocus Badius, his rival at Paris, who frankly said he was an honest merchant and the prince of printers. The success of Koburger did not materially interfere with thep496prosperity of his rivals, for there were seventeen master type-printers and many block-printers at Nuremberg before 1500. Koburger’s most curious book is theNuremberg Chronicleof 1493, a large and thick folio, edited or compiled by Hartmann Schedel, as a summary of the history, geography and wonders of the world. It contains more than two thousandp497impressions349of wood-cuts, “made by Wolgemuth and Pleydenwurff, mathematical men, and cunning as designers.”

First Printers of Germany . . . Mentel at Strasburg . . . Zell at Cologne . . . Keffer and Koburger at Nuremberg . . . Fac-simile of a part of Koburger’s Map . . . Zainer at Augsburg . . . Fac-simile of Zainer’s Birth of Eve . . . John of Westphalia and Martens at Louvain . . . Mansion at Bruges . . . Gerard Leeu at Antwerp . . . First Printers of Italy . . . Sweinheym and Pannartz at Rome . . . De Spira at Venice . . . Jenson’s Types . . . Venice famous for Printing . . . Cennini at Florence . . . The Ripoli Press . . . Zarot at Milan . . . Appearance of Publishers . . . First Printers of France . . . Gering, Crantz and Friburger at Paris . . . The Printers of Elegant Books . . . First Printers in Spain and Portugal . . . In England . . . Caxton at Westminster . . . Printing did not find a general Welcome . . . Made Popular by the Cheapness of Books . . . Injudicious Selection of Books for Publication . . . Demand for Books in the Vernacular . . . First Check on the Liberty of the Press.

About this time, the crafte of Enpryntyng was fyrste founde in magounce in Almayne, which crafte is multiplyed through the world in many places, and bookes ben had grete chepe and in grete nombre by cause of the same crafte. Caxton, 1482.

WHENtwo rival printing offices had been established at Mentz it was no longer possible to keep secret the processes. Every printer who handled the types and every goldsmith who helped to make the tools must have felt a weakening of the obligation of secrecy. The sack of Mentz was a greater misfortune, for it dissolved all obligations and sent the printers to other cities to found new offices. Not one of these printers has told us when and how he began to print on his own account. All we know about the introduction of printing in many of the large cities has been gathered from the dates of books and the chance allusions of early chroniclers. It is from these imperfect evidencesp493that the following tables of the spread of printing have been made up. They are based on the chronological arrangement of Santander’sDictionary, but the names and dates have been collated with those of Cotton’sTypographical Gazetteer, and other works of authority, and some alterations have been made.

Place.Printer.Date.MentzJohn Gutenberg1450BambergAlbert Pfister—StrasburgMentel and Eggestein1458CologneUlric Zell1462AugsburgGunther Zainer1468NurembergHenry Keffer1469Munster in ArgauHelyas Helye1470SpirePeter Drach1471UlmJohn Zainer1473Buda (Hungary)Andrew Hess1473MersburgLucas Brandis1473Laugingen—1473EsslingenConrad Fyner1473MarienthalBros. of Life-in-Com1474LubecLucas Brandis1475Burgdorf—1475BlaubeurenConrad Mancz1475Pilsen—1475RostockBros. of Life-in-Com.1476GenevaAd. Steynschauer1478Prague—1478EichstadtM. and G. Reyser1478WurtzburgDold, Ryser,et al.1479LeipsicMarcus Brand1481AurachConrad Fyner1481ErfurtWider de Hornbach1482MemmingenAlbert de Duderstadt.1482PassauStahl, Mayer,et al.1482ReutlingenJohn Ottmar1482ViennaJohn Winterburg1482MagdeburgRauensteinet al.1483StockholmJohn Snell1483WinterbergJohn Alacraw1484HeidelbergFred. Misch1485RatisbonJohn Sensenschmidt1485BrinnStahl & Preinlein1486MunsterJohn Limburg1486SleswickStephen Arndes1486Frisia—1488KuttenbergVon Tischniowa1489IngolstadtJohn Kachelofen1490HamburgJ. and T. Borchard1491Wadstein—1491CzernigovTzernoevic1492Zinna—1492FribourgKilianus Piscator1493LuneburgJohn Luce1493CopenhagenGothof. de Ghemen1493Oppenheim—1494FreisingenJohn Schæffler1495Offenburg—1496TubingenJohn Ottmar1498CracowJohn Haller1500MunichJohn Schobser1500OlmutzDe Baumgarten1500PfortzheimThomas Anselmus1500

This is but a brief list for the vast and populous country north of Italy and east of France and the Netherlands.344Not less remarkable is the fact that some cities now deservedly famous for their printing were among the last to acquire a knowledge of the art, and those that gave it feeble support.

The master printers at Mentz before 1500, not previously named, were: Erhardus Reuwich, whose first book was dated 1486; Frederic Misch, who began after 1490; Jacob Meydenbach (a witness at the trial of 1455), between 1491 and 1496; and Peter Friedburg, between 1494 and 1497. There mayp494have been others, whose names are lost, but the printers are few; they cannot be compared, either in number or in influence, with those of many smaller cities during the same period. Long before Schœffer died,345Mentz had ceased to be a great school and centre of printing.

STRASBURG.The statement of Lignamine, that Mentel printed at Strasburg after 1458, has been corroborated by the recent discovery in the Freiburg library of a LatinBiblein two volumes folio, which is known to have been printed by Mentel, and which contains the subscriptions of the illuminator and the written dates, in one volume of 1460, in the other of 1461.346As this book should have been in press at least two years, it may be regarded as evidence that printing was practised here as early as in Bamberg. Strasburg gave greater encouragement to printers than Mentz, for sixteen master printers were working there before 1500.

COLOGNE.The first printer at Cologne was Ulric Zell. He was an industrious printer for more than forty years, but he never printed a book in German, nor did he adopt any of the improvements of the printers of Italy. He adhered rigidly to the severe style of his master, Schœffer, printing all his books from three sizes of a rude face of Round Gothic types. He was not a skillful nor even a correct printer, but he was a shrewd publisher, and accumulated a large property. Madden supposes that he went to Cologne in 1462, andp495was engaged by the Brotherhood of the Life-in-Common at Weidenbach, near that city, to assist them with his new art of printing in their pious task of making books.347His name appears for the first time in a book dated 1466, which date may be accepted as indicative of the time when he left the monastery and began to print on his own account in the city.

At the close of the fifteenth century, twenty-two printing offices had been established at Cologne. Among them was that of Arnold Ter Hoorne, who, despite his occasional bad presswork, deserves special notice as one of the first printers who made use of Arabic figures.

♠Fac-simile, reduced, of part of Koburger’s Map of Europe.[Photographed from Mr. Bruce’s copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle.]see larger

[Photographed from Mr. Bruce’s copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle.]see larger

see larger

NUREMBERG.Henry Keffer, who appeared as a witness for Gutenberg in the suit at law in 1455, is supposed to have established himself as a printer at Nuremberg about 1469. His name appears, for the first time, in the imprint of a book dated 1473, from which it seems that he was hired by John Sensenschmidt, a wealthy man of that city,348who aspired to be a publisher. In 1473, Anthony Koburger began to print at Nuremberg. In a few years he acquired great reputation as printer and publisher: he had twenty-four presses at Nuremberg and offices at Basle and at Lyons. Lichtenberger says that he printed twelve editions of theBiblein Latin and one in German. That he merited his honors is implied by the testimony of Jodocus Badius, his rival at Paris, who frankly said he was an honest merchant and the prince of printers. The success of Koburger did not materially interfere with thep496prosperity of his rivals, for there were seventeen master type-printers and many block-printers at Nuremberg before 1500. Koburger’s most curious book is theNuremberg Chronicleof 1493, a large and thick folio, edited or compiled by Hartmann Schedel, as a summary of the history, geography and wonders of the world. It contains more than two thousandp497impressions349of wood-cuts, “made by Wolgemuth and Pleydenwurff, mathematical men, and cunning as designers.”

♠The Birth of Eve, from Zainer’s Edition of the Speculum Salutis.[From Heineken.]

[From Heineken.]

AUGSBURG.The practice of typography was brought to Augsburg in 1468 by Gunther Zainer of Reutlingen, who is supposed to have been taught at Strasburg. He was the first printer in Germany who printed a book in Roman characters.p498He and his rivals, Bamler, Schüssler and Sorg,350illustrated their books so freely with wood-cuts as to provoke the remonstrance of the fraternity of block-printers of Augsburg.351This opposition may have caused Zainer’s retirement from business in 1475, but it did not check the business of the others.352There were twenty master printers at Augsburg before 1500.IN THE NETHERLANDS.UTRECHT.It is probable that the unknown printer of the four notable editions of theSpeculumwas at Utrecht before the arrival of Ketelaer and De Leempt in 1473.353LOUVAIN.[anc498]John of Westphalia came to Louvain in 1472, with some matrices of Round Gothic and Roman types which he had acquired in Venice, and began to fit up a printing office. In 1473, he published his first book. During the twenty-two years he was in business, he printed 120 works. Many were editions of the classics, and all were selected with reference to the requirements of the University, from which he received the honorary title of Master of Printing. John Veldener, who began to print at Louvain in 1473, received a similar title. He boasted that he was expert in all branches of the graphic arts, but his skill was that of a mechanic. Asp499a publisher, he could not compete with John of Westphalia.354Thierry Martens, of Alost, was employed by John of Westphalia, probably as editor, soon after he arrived at Louvain. After receiving suitable instruction, Martens was allowed to print some little books at Alost in 1473. He began to print at Alost in his own name in 1487. Necessity or the love of change compelled him to move his printing office many times between Louvain and Antwerp. In 1529, he forsook printing and retired to Alost, where he died in 1534, at the age of eighty-eight years. In his business life of almost sixty years he printed, beside many other works, about 150 books in Greek, Hebrew and Latin. He had a critical knowledge of six languages, and his ability as an editor was acknowledged by many scholars who were his friends and correspondents. Erasmus wrote his epitaph, and the town of Alost has put up a statue to commemorate his worth.BRUGES.The name of Colard Mansion, a calligrapher of high merit and afterward the first typographer at Bruges, is found in the records of a corporation of book-makers, between the years 1454 and 1473. As his name does not re-appear before 1482,355it is supposed that he abandoned the guild and learned printing. In 1476, he printed a little book in a new face of type in the French style. He was a skillful but not a prosperous printer, for he was obliged to eke out his scant income as a printer by occasional jobs of illumination. Soon after 1484, he left Bruges. It is not known where he went or when he died. John Brito, who succeeded Mansion, was for many years the only typographic printer at Bruges. This neglect of printing in a city renowned for the elegance of its manuscripts and the skill of its calligraphers shows that the professional book-makers regarded printing as an inartistic and mechanical method of making books.p500GOUDAandANTWERP.Gerard Leeu, the most industrious356printer of his time, began to print at Gouda in 1477, but he went to Antwerp in 1484, where he continued to print until his death in 1493. Imitating Verard of Paris, he gave his later years to the translation and printing of romances and popular books. In 1493, he began to print Caxton’sChronicle of England, in English and obviously for sale in England, but he died before the work was finished.357IN ITALY.This is the order in which printing was established in Italy:Place.Printer.Date.SubiacoSweinheym & Pannartz1465RomeSweinheym & Pannartz1467VeniceJohn de Spira1469MilanAnthony Zarot1470FolignoJohn Nummeister1470TreviJohn Reynard1470VeronaJohn of Verona1470TrevisoGerard de Lisa1471BolognaBalthazar Azzoguidi1471FerraraAndrew Belfort1471NaplesSixtus Riessinger1471PaviaAntonio de Carcano1471FlorenceBernard Cennini1471FivizanoJacobus and others1472PaduaBalt. de Valdezochio1472MantuaPietro Adam de Michael1472MondoviAntonio Mathiae,et al.1472JesiFrederic Veronensis1472CremonaParavisinus,et al.1472ParmaAndrew Portiglia1473BresciaThomas Ferrandus1473MessinaHenry Alding1473VicenzaJohn de Reno1473ComoDe Orcho,et al.1474TurinFabri and John de Petro1474GenoaMatthew Moravus,et al.1474ModenaJohn Vurster1475TrentHermann Schindeleyp1476PalermoAndrew de Wormatia1477AscoliWilliam de Linis1477LuccaBart. de Civitali1477CasalWilliam de Canepa1481Cotton, in hisTypographical Gazetteer, specifies thirty-seven other places in Italy in which printing was done before 1500.p501SUBIACOandROME.Conrad Sweinheym and Arnold Pannartz, two printers from Germany, set up a press in the monastery of Subiaco, near Rome, and there produced in 1465 the books first printed from types in Italy. To please the tastes of their Roman readers they made a new font of Roman types. It was not a successful effort, for the traces of Gothic mannerisms are noticeable in almost every letter. Not meeting with the encouragement they desired, the two printers removed to Rome in 1467. They began to print on a grand scale, making new fonts of Roman, Greek and Round Gothic types, enlisting the services of Bishop John Andrew as reader and corrector, and undertaking the publication of many large classical works. They did not prosper. In the year 1472, they petitioned the pope for relief, setting forth that they had printed 11,475 copies of twenty-eight works, a very large portion of which had not been sold, and that they were in great distress. In 1473, Sweinheym withdrew from the partnership, and began to engrave on copper maps for an edition ofPtolemy’s Geography. He died before the book was published, in 1478. Pannartz died in 1476.Ulrich Hahn, a printer of Bavaria, went to Rome in 1465, and began to print there in 1467. His first book was in Round Gothic types, but his Italian readers induced him to make for his second book a rude form of Roman types. He employed Campanus, an eminent scholar, as reader and corrector, and associated himself with Simon Nicholas de Lucca, who acted as editor and publisher of his books. At this time there were in Rome many printing offices, and the number increased, notwithstanding the complaints of Sweinheym and Pannartz, and also of Philip de Lignamine, that more books were printed than could be sold. Before the year 1500, there were or had been thirty-seven master printers at Rome.VENICE.John de Spira, so called from Spire, the city in which he was born, was the first typographer at Venice. He began in 1469, by the publication of theLetters of Ciceroin types of Roman form. Soon after, he published an edition inp502folio of theNational History of Pliny, which is regarded as one of the finest specimens of the printing of the fifteenth century. Proud of his fine work, but fearing competition, De Spira solicited and obtained from the senate, September 18th, 1469, exclusive rights as a printer in Venice for five years. The privileges seem to have been forfeited by his death in 1470; but his printing office was managed with ability by his brother Vindelin, who succeeded to the business.Nicholas Jenson, the “man skilled in engraving,” who had been sent to Mentz in 1458, and who, according to Madden, had thoroughly qualified himself in the monastery of Weidenbach, seems to have been the first of several printers who hastened to Venice to profit by the forfeiture of De Spira’s privilege. In 1471, he published his first book,358theDecor Puellarum, in neat light-faced Roman types on Great-primer body. His experience at the mint of Tours as an engraver gave him a decided advantage over all his rivals. Roman types had been made before by Sweinheym, De Spira and Hahn, but never before had punches been so scientifically engraved, nor types so truly aligned. It is not surprising that the efforts of his predecessors should pass for naught, and that Jenson has ever since been regarded as the introducer of Roman types. But Jenson discovered, as Hahn and De Spira had done, that, to secure buyers in Germany, it was necessary to print books in Gothic characters. With this object in view, he cut several fonts of Round Gothic, one on Bourgeois and one on Brevier body, the smallest sizes of types made in the fifteenth century.As a printer, Jenson is entitled to high praise. None of his competitors showed so much taste and skill in the details of book-making. It is noticeable in every feature—in the tint and texture of his paper, in the glossy blackness of his ink, in the clearness and solidity of his impressions, in thep503uniformity of register and of color on every page. Jenson’s merits were recognized by Pope SixtusIV,who, in addition to other marks of favor, bestowed upon him the title of count palatine. He died in 1481. His printing office passed into the hands of an association of which Andrew Torresani of Asola was the manager. In time, Aldus Manutius, a partner in this association, married a daughter of Torresani, and got control of the office, the reputation of which he increased by his scholarship, by his numerous editions of the classics, and by his introduction of Italic types, but not by superior skill as a typographer. As a type-founder, printer and ink-maker, Jenson had no rival and left no proper successor.At the close of the fifteenth century, Venice took the lead of all cities, not only in the number of its printing offices, but in the beauty of its types and printing. Printers in other countries knew that they would secure for their types the highest commendation by announcing them as the true Venetian characters. Santander specifies 201 master printers who had been in business at Venice before 1500. Bernard estimates the number of books then and there printed at two million volumes.FLORENCE.Bernard Cennini, an eminent goldsmith of Florence, began to print with types at that city in the year 1471. He said that he and his sons Peter and Dominic made the tools and types and did all the work without instruction, but the exact manner in which Cennini describes the cutting of punches and the founding of types makes this statement doubtful. Cennini never earned any reputation as a typographer, for it does not appear that he printed any book after 1471. Santander names twenty-two master printers at Florence before 1500. The most noticeable of the number is Dominic de Pistoia, an ecclesiastic who founded a printing office in 1474, which is known in history as the Ripoli Press. Dominic was the abbot of a monastery, but he proved an active and intelligent publisher. He deserves notice chiefly for his care in keeping his accounts, which give us our mostp504trustworthy information concerning the materials and usages of the early printers.359MILAN.Anthony Zarot began to print at Milan in 1470 or 1471, having been hired by Philip de Lavagna, who seems to have been a capitalist and a publisher. In 1472, Zarot persuaded four citizens of Milan to unite with him in a new association for the printing and publishing of books. The articles of agreement are curious, and deserve preservation.360The association seems to have been remarkably prosperous, for in 1472 it had seven presses at work. In 1473, thep505publisher Philip de Lavagna and his new partner Montanus made an agreement with Christopher Valdarfer, another printer at Milan, for the exclusive use of two presses.361There was no part of Europe in which so great an enthusiasm was shown for printing as in Italy.362The only open opposition which the new art encountered was made in 1472, by the copyists of Genoa, who complained that the typographers were greedy, and that they deprived the copyists of their livelihood by undertaking to print little books.IN FRANCE.Place.Printer.Date.ParisUlrich Gering,et al1469LyonsBuyer and Le Roy1476AngersDe Turre and Morelli1477ChablisPierre le Rouge1478PoitiersJ. Boyer and G. Bouchet1479Toulouse—1479CaenFerrandus and Quijone1480ViennePierre Schenck1481PromentourLoys Guerbin1482TroyesGuillaume le Rouge1483ChamberyAntonius Neyret1484Bréand-LoudéhacR. Foucquet1484RennesPierre Belleesculée1484AbbevilleDupré and Gerard1486RouenGuillaume le Talleur1487Besançon—1487HagenauHenry Grau1489DolPeter Metlinger1490Grenoble—1490OrleansMatthieu Vivian1490DijonPeter Metlinger1491Angoulême—1491ClunyMichael Wenssler1493NantesEtienne Larcher1493LimogesJohn Berton1495ProvinsG. Tavernier1496ToursMatthieu Lateron1496AvignonNicol Lepe1497Treguier—1499Guienne—1500PerpignanJ. Rosembach1500PARIS.About the close of the year 1469, Ulrich Gering, Michael Friburger and Martin Crantz began to print at Paris. To please the classic tastes of the doctors of the university who had invited them, their first book appeared in types of Roman form. They were not skillful printers, for Chevillier says that letters half formed and half printed are noticeablep506in their earlier works, but they were industrious publishers. Like Jenson, they found it expedient to cut and cast types of the Round Gothic fashion, for the Roman character was most admired by scholars. In 1477, Crantz and Friburger abandoned printing, but Gering continued to print until his death in 1510.[anc506]He willed a large property to the university.In 1473, Peter Keyser and John Stol, after a three years’ service with Gering, set up a rival printing office, the result of which was a reduction in the price of books.363This competition did not prevent other printers from founding offices in Paris, but it did compel some to improve the quality of their work, and to seek a new class of readers. Antoine Verard in 1480, and Phillipe Pigouchet in 1484, founded a new school of printing, when they undertook to make prayer-books and romances in imitation of the style of the miniaturists.364Thielmann Kerver, who commenced to print in 1497, was almost as famous as a printer of ornamental books. The growing taste for fine books did not prevent the publication of solid literature. In 1495, Jodocus Badius, a printer of great learning, who had been proof-reader for his father-in-law, Trechsel of Lyons, established an office at Paris, and began to print for men of education. In the following year came the famous Henry Stephens, first of a long line of printers eminent for their scholarship and diligence as editors and publishers of classical and critical text books. Before the year 1500, there were, or had been, sixty-nine master printers in Paris.LYONS.Lyons must have offered unusual inducements to master printers, for there were forty printing offices in that city before the year 1500. The printers of Lyons were busyp507publishers, and their competitors in Italy complained with reason of their piratical editions. They made liberal use of engravings on wood and copper-plate illustrations. They were also the first printers to sell cheap books in showy bindings.IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.Place.Printer.Date.BarcelonaN. Spindeler1473 or 1478ValenciaCordova and Palomar1474SaragossaMatthew Flandrus1475SevilleA. Martinez,et al.1476Segorbe—1479TolosaHenry Mayer1480BurgosDe Basilea1485Salamanca—1485SoriaEliezar ben Alanta1485Xerica—1485ToledoJohn Vasquez1486MurciaJuan de Roca1487TarragonaJohn Rosembach1488Lerida—1488San Cucufute des Valles—1489LisbonR. Samuel Zorba1489Pampeluna—1489Zamora—1490LeiriaAbraham Dortas1492GrenadaMeynard Ungut1496Madrid—1499MontserratJohn Luchner1499IN GREAT BRITAIN.The first book printed in English, theRecuyell of the Historyes of Troye, a stout folio of 351 leaves, does not contain the date of printing, nor the name and place of the printer, but it appears from the introduction that it was translated from the French by William Caxton between the years 1469 and 1471. When and where it was printed is a vexed question.365The monogram which was exhibited by Caxton in his laterbooks—s W.74.C. c—isinterpreted by Madden asWilliam Caxton, 1474, Sancta Colonia. It is an indication that a notable event in his life was represented by the year 1474 and the city of Cologne, and it seems to authorize the conjecture that at this time and place he published his first book. In 1475, Caxton printed, in the office of Mansion atp508Bruges,The Game and Playe of the Chesse. In 1477, he was “in the abbey of Westminster, by London,” and then and there publishedThe Dictes and Sayings of Philosophers. He was then a very old man, but he did good service as a printer before his death in 1491. Blades estimates the entire product of his press at 18,000 pages, nearly all of which were of folio size. Compared with his great rivals on the Continent, Caxton cannot be accorded high rank as editor or publisher, but there was no printer of his time who labored more diligently.In 1480, Lettou and Machlinia began to print at London. Wynken de Worde, Richard Pynson, Julian Notary and William Faques were also printers of that city before 1500.In 1480, Theodoric Rood, of Cologne, printed at Oxford. In the same year, an unnamed printer, known to bibliographers asThe School-master of St. Albans, was at Saint Albans.The first printing press in Scotland was put up at Edinburgh in 1507; the first in Ireland at Dublin in 1551.Printing was first practised in the New World in the city of Mexico, by Juan Cromberger, or his agent Pablos, between 1536 and 1540.366The second printing press in North America was put up by Stephen Daye at Cambridge, in 1638, and the first work printed on it, theFreeman’s Oath, was dated 1639.

UTRECHT.It is probable that the unknown printer of the four notable editions of theSpeculumwas at Utrecht before the arrival of Ketelaer and De Leempt in 1473.353

LOUVAIN.[anc498]John of Westphalia came to Louvain in 1472, with some matrices of Round Gothic and Roman types which he had acquired in Venice, and began to fit up a printing office. In 1473, he published his first book. During the twenty-two years he was in business, he printed 120 works. Many were editions of the classics, and all were selected with reference to the requirements of the University, from which he received the honorary title of Master of Printing. John Veldener, who began to print at Louvain in 1473, received a similar title. He boasted that he was expert in all branches of the graphic arts, but his skill was that of a mechanic. Asp499a publisher, he could not compete with John of Westphalia.354Thierry Martens, of Alost, was employed by John of Westphalia, probably as editor, soon after he arrived at Louvain. After receiving suitable instruction, Martens was allowed to print some little books at Alost in 1473. He began to print at Alost in his own name in 1487. Necessity or the love of change compelled him to move his printing office many times between Louvain and Antwerp. In 1529, he forsook printing and retired to Alost, where he died in 1534, at the age of eighty-eight years. In his business life of almost sixty years he printed, beside many other works, about 150 books in Greek, Hebrew and Latin. He had a critical knowledge of six languages, and his ability as an editor was acknowledged by many scholars who were his friends and correspondents. Erasmus wrote his epitaph, and the town of Alost has put up a statue to commemorate his worth.

BRUGES.The name of Colard Mansion, a calligrapher of high merit and afterward the first typographer at Bruges, is found in the records of a corporation of book-makers, between the years 1454 and 1473. As his name does not re-appear before 1482,355it is supposed that he abandoned the guild and learned printing. In 1476, he printed a little book in a new face of type in the French style. He was a skillful but not a prosperous printer, for he was obliged to eke out his scant income as a printer by occasional jobs of illumination. Soon after 1484, he left Bruges. It is not known where he went or when he died. John Brito, who succeeded Mansion, was for many years the only typographic printer at Bruges. This neglect of printing in a city renowned for the elegance of its manuscripts and the skill of its calligraphers shows that the professional book-makers regarded printing as an inartistic and mechanical method of making books.p500

GOUDAandANTWERP.Gerard Leeu, the most industrious356printer of his time, began to print at Gouda in 1477, but he went to Antwerp in 1484, where he continued to print until his death in 1493. Imitating Verard of Paris, he gave his later years to the translation and printing of romances and popular books. In 1493, he began to print Caxton’sChronicle of England, in English and obviously for sale in England, but he died before the work was finished.357

This is the order in which printing was established in Italy:

Place.Printer.Date.SubiacoSweinheym & Pannartz1465RomeSweinheym & Pannartz1467VeniceJohn de Spira1469MilanAnthony Zarot1470FolignoJohn Nummeister1470TreviJohn Reynard1470VeronaJohn of Verona1470TrevisoGerard de Lisa1471BolognaBalthazar Azzoguidi1471FerraraAndrew Belfort1471NaplesSixtus Riessinger1471PaviaAntonio de Carcano1471FlorenceBernard Cennini1471FivizanoJacobus and others1472PaduaBalt. de Valdezochio1472MantuaPietro Adam de Michael1472MondoviAntonio Mathiae,et al.1472JesiFrederic Veronensis1472CremonaParavisinus,et al.1472ParmaAndrew Portiglia1473BresciaThomas Ferrandus1473MessinaHenry Alding1473VicenzaJohn de Reno1473ComoDe Orcho,et al.1474TurinFabri and John de Petro1474GenoaMatthew Moravus,et al.1474ModenaJohn Vurster1475TrentHermann Schindeleyp1476PalermoAndrew de Wormatia1477AscoliWilliam de Linis1477LuccaBart. de Civitali1477CasalWilliam de Canepa1481

Cotton, in hisTypographical Gazetteer, specifies thirty-seven other places in Italy in which printing was done before 1500.p501

SUBIACOandROME.Conrad Sweinheym and Arnold Pannartz, two printers from Germany, set up a press in the monastery of Subiaco, near Rome, and there produced in 1465 the books first printed from types in Italy. To please the tastes of their Roman readers they made a new font of Roman types. It was not a successful effort, for the traces of Gothic mannerisms are noticeable in almost every letter. Not meeting with the encouragement they desired, the two printers removed to Rome in 1467. They began to print on a grand scale, making new fonts of Roman, Greek and Round Gothic types, enlisting the services of Bishop John Andrew as reader and corrector, and undertaking the publication of many large classical works. They did not prosper. In the year 1472, they petitioned the pope for relief, setting forth that they had printed 11,475 copies of twenty-eight works, a very large portion of which had not been sold, and that they were in great distress. In 1473, Sweinheym withdrew from the partnership, and began to engrave on copper maps for an edition ofPtolemy’s Geography. He died before the book was published, in 1478. Pannartz died in 1476.

Ulrich Hahn, a printer of Bavaria, went to Rome in 1465, and began to print there in 1467. His first book was in Round Gothic types, but his Italian readers induced him to make for his second book a rude form of Roman types. He employed Campanus, an eminent scholar, as reader and corrector, and associated himself with Simon Nicholas de Lucca, who acted as editor and publisher of his books. At this time there were in Rome many printing offices, and the number increased, notwithstanding the complaints of Sweinheym and Pannartz, and also of Philip de Lignamine, that more books were printed than could be sold. Before the year 1500, there were or had been thirty-seven master printers at Rome.

VENICE.John de Spira, so called from Spire, the city in which he was born, was the first typographer at Venice. He began in 1469, by the publication of theLetters of Ciceroin types of Roman form. Soon after, he published an edition inp502folio of theNational History of Pliny, which is regarded as one of the finest specimens of the printing of the fifteenth century. Proud of his fine work, but fearing competition, De Spira solicited and obtained from the senate, September 18th, 1469, exclusive rights as a printer in Venice for five years. The privileges seem to have been forfeited by his death in 1470; but his printing office was managed with ability by his brother Vindelin, who succeeded to the business.

Nicholas Jenson, the “man skilled in engraving,” who had been sent to Mentz in 1458, and who, according to Madden, had thoroughly qualified himself in the monastery of Weidenbach, seems to have been the first of several printers who hastened to Venice to profit by the forfeiture of De Spira’s privilege. In 1471, he published his first book,358theDecor Puellarum, in neat light-faced Roman types on Great-primer body. His experience at the mint of Tours as an engraver gave him a decided advantage over all his rivals. Roman types had been made before by Sweinheym, De Spira and Hahn, but never before had punches been so scientifically engraved, nor types so truly aligned. It is not surprising that the efforts of his predecessors should pass for naught, and that Jenson has ever since been regarded as the introducer of Roman types. But Jenson discovered, as Hahn and De Spira had done, that, to secure buyers in Germany, it was necessary to print books in Gothic characters. With this object in view, he cut several fonts of Round Gothic, one on Bourgeois and one on Brevier body, the smallest sizes of types made in the fifteenth century.

As a printer, Jenson is entitled to high praise. None of his competitors showed so much taste and skill in the details of book-making. It is noticeable in every feature—in the tint and texture of his paper, in the glossy blackness of his ink, in the clearness and solidity of his impressions, in thep503uniformity of register and of color on every page. Jenson’s merits were recognized by Pope SixtusIV,who, in addition to other marks of favor, bestowed upon him the title of count palatine. He died in 1481. His printing office passed into the hands of an association of which Andrew Torresani of Asola was the manager. In time, Aldus Manutius, a partner in this association, married a daughter of Torresani, and got control of the office, the reputation of which he increased by his scholarship, by his numerous editions of the classics, and by his introduction of Italic types, but not by superior skill as a typographer. As a type-founder, printer and ink-maker, Jenson had no rival and left no proper successor.

At the close of the fifteenth century, Venice took the lead of all cities, not only in the number of its printing offices, but in the beauty of its types and printing. Printers in other countries knew that they would secure for their types the highest commendation by announcing them as the true Venetian characters. Santander specifies 201 master printers who had been in business at Venice before 1500. Bernard estimates the number of books then and there printed at two million volumes.

FLORENCE.Bernard Cennini, an eminent goldsmith of Florence, began to print with types at that city in the year 1471. He said that he and his sons Peter and Dominic made the tools and types and did all the work without instruction, but the exact manner in which Cennini describes the cutting of punches and the founding of types makes this statement doubtful. Cennini never earned any reputation as a typographer, for it does not appear that he printed any book after 1471. Santander names twenty-two master printers at Florence before 1500. The most noticeable of the number is Dominic de Pistoia, an ecclesiastic who founded a printing office in 1474, which is known in history as the Ripoli Press. Dominic was the abbot of a monastery, but he proved an active and intelligent publisher. He deserves notice chiefly for his care in keeping his accounts, which give us our mostp504trustworthy information concerning the materials and usages of the early printers.359

MILAN.Anthony Zarot began to print at Milan in 1470 or 1471, having been hired by Philip de Lavagna, who seems to have been a capitalist and a publisher. In 1472, Zarot persuaded four citizens of Milan to unite with him in a new association for the printing and publishing of books. The articles of agreement are curious, and deserve preservation.360The association seems to have been remarkably prosperous, for in 1472 it had seven presses at work. In 1473, thep505publisher Philip de Lavagna and his new partner Montanus made an agreement with Christopher Valdarfer, another printer at Milan, for the exclusive use of two presses.361

There was no part of Europe in which so great an enthusiasm was shown for printing as in Italy.362The only open opposition which the new art encountered was made in 1472, by the copyists of Genoa, who complained that the typographers were greedy, and that they deprived the copyists of their livelihood by undertaking to print little books.

IN FRANCE.Place.Printer.Date.ParisUlrich Gering,et al1469LyonsBuyer and Le Roy1476AngersDe Turre and Morelli1477ChablisPierre le Rouge1478PoitiersJ. Boyer and G. Bouchet1479Toulouse—1479CaenFerrandus and Quijone1480ViennePierre Schenck1481PromentourLoys Guerbin1482TroyesGuillaume le Rouge1483ChamberyAntonius Neyret1484Bréand-LoudéhacR. Foucquet1484RennesPierre Belleesculée1484AbbevilleDupré and Gerard1486RouenGuillaume le Talleur1487Besançon—1487HagenauHenry Grau1489DolPeter Metlinger1490Grenoble—1490OrleansMatthieu Vivian1490DijonPeter Metlinger1491Angoulême—1491ClunyMichael Wenssler1493NantesEtienne Larcher1493LimogesJohn Berton1495ProvinsG. Tavernier1496ToursMatthieu Lateron1496AvignonNicol Lepe1497Treguier—1499Guienne—1500PerpignanJ. Rosembach1500

PARIS.About the close of the year 1469, Ulrich Gering, Michael Friburger and Martin Crantz began to print at Paris. To please the classic tastes of the doctors of the university who had invited them, their first book appeared in types of Roman form. They were not skillful printers, for Chevillier says that letters half formed and half printed are noticeablep506in their earlier works, but they were industrious publishers. Like Jenson, they found it expedient to cut and cast types of the Round Gothic fashion, for the Roman character was most admired by scholars. In 1477, Crantz and Friburger abandoned printing, but Gering continued to print until his death in 1510.[anc506]He willed a large property to the university.

In 1473, Peter Keyser and John Stol, after a three years’ service with Gering, set up a rival printing office, the result of which was a reduction in the price of books.363This competition did not prevent other printers from founding offices in Paris, but it did compel some to improve the quality of their work, and to seek a new class of readers. Antoine Verard in 1480, and Phillipe Pigouchet in 1484, founded a new school of printing, when they undertook to make prayer-books and romances in imitation of the style of the miniaturists.364Thielmann Kerver, who commenced to print in 1497, was almost as famous as a printer of ornamental books. The growing taste for fine books did not prevent the publication of solid literature. In 1495, Jodocus Badius, a printer of great learning, who had been proof-reader for his father-in-law, Trechsel of Lyons, established an office at Paris, and began to print for men of education. In the following year came the famous Henry Stephens, first of a long line of printers eminent for their scholarship and diligence as editors and publishers of classical and critical text books. Before the year 1500, there were, or had been, sixty-nine master printers in Paris.

LYONS.Lyons must have offered unusual inducements to master printers, for there were forty printing offices in that city before the year 1500. The printers of Lyons were busyp507publishers, and their competitors in Italy complained with reason of their piratical editions. They made liberal use of engravings on wood and copper-plate illustrations. They were also the first printers to sell cheap books in showy bindings.

IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.Place.Printer.Date.BarcelonaN. Spindeler1473 or 1478ValenciaCordova and Palomar1474SaragossaMatthew Flandrus1475SevilleA. Martinez,et al.1476Segorbe—1479TolosaHenry Mayer1480BurgosDe Basilea1485Salamanca—1485SoriaEliezar ben Alanta1485Xerica—1485ToledoJohn Vasquez1486MurciaJuan de Roca1487TarragonaJohn Rosembach1488Lerida—1488San Cucufute des Valles—1489LisbonR. Samuel Zorba1489Pampeluna—1489Zamora—1490LeiriaAbraham Dortas1492GrenadaMeynard Ungut1496Madrid—1499MontserratJohn Luchner1499

The first book printed in English, theRecuyell of the Historyes of Troye, a stout folio of 351 leaves, does not contain the date of printing, nor the name and place of the printer, but it appears from the introduction that it was translated from the French by William Caxton between the years 1469 and 1471. When and where it was printed is a vexed question.365

The monogram which was exhibited by Caxton in his laterbooks—s W.74.C. c—isinterpreted by Madden asWilliam Caxton, 1474, Sancta Colonia. It is an indication that a notable event in his life was represented by the year 1474 and the city of Cologne, and it seems to authorize the conjecture that at this time and place he published his first book. In 1475, Caxton printed, in the office of Mansion atp508Bruges,The Game and Playe of the Chesse. In 1477, he was “in the abbey of Westminster, by London,” and then and there publishedThe Dictes and Sayings of Philosophers. He was then a very old man, but he did good service as a printer before his death in 1491. Blades estimates the entire product of his press at 18,000 pages, nearly all of which were of folio size. Compared with his great rivals on the Continent, Caxton cannot be accorded high rank as editor or publisher, but there was no printer of his time who labored more diligently.

In 1480, Lettou and Machlinia began to print at London. Wynken de Worde, Richard Pynson, Julian Notary and William Faques were also printers of that city before 1500.

In 1480, Theodoric Rood, of Cologne, printed at Oxford. In the same year, an unnamed printer, known to bibliographers asThe School-master of St. Albans, was at Saint Albans.

The first printing press in Scotland was put up at Edinburgh in 1507; the first in Ireland at Dublin in 1551.

Printing was first practised in the New World in the city of Mexico, by Juan Cromberger, or his agent Pablos, between 1536 and 1540.366The second printing press in North America was put up by Stephen Daye at Cambridge, in 1638, and the first work printed on it, theFreeman’s Oath, was dated 1639.

♠Statue of Gutenberg at Strasburg.[From St. Nicholas.]

[From St. Nicholas.]

The German origin of printing is fairly shown by the names, unquestionably German, of nearly all the men who introduced printing in Southern Europe. The workmanship of these men leads to the same conclusion, for the expert will see in their books evidences of the use of the punch,p510mould, press, and frisket. Whether done well or ill, printing was done with the tools and by the methods of Gutenberg.Printing did not meet with general welcome, but the neglect or opposition it encountered did not come largely from the copyists. The business of the copyist of cheap books was injured, but the only complaint that I have met came from the copyists of Genoa. The calligrapher was indifferent to the growth of the new art, for his skill was never in higher request nor more handsomely rewarded than at the close of the fifteenth century. So far from injuring the business of the calligrapher, printing really improved it, for it largely increased the production of books intended for illumination. The neglect of literary men to note theBible of 42 linesand theCatholiconof Gutenberg, the delayed establishment of a printing office at Paris, the indifference shown to printing in the great book-making town of Bruges, and the insufficient patronage bestowed on the early printers at Rome, are evidences that there was, in the beginning, a prejudice against printed books much more powerful than that of the copyists. The bibliophiles of the time looked on printed books as the productions of an inartistic trade. The admiration which has been recently invoked for theBible of 42 linesas a book of nearly perfect workmanship was not expressed by any early book-buyer. It does not appear that any book-lover of that period regarded this work, or the art by which it was made, as of high merit. The error seems pardonable, for the printed book was not as attractive as the manuscript, and no one foresaw the future of printing. Gutenberg may have had a clearer idea than any man living of its capabilities, but it is not probable that he foresaw the wheels within wheels which his types would put in motion, or heard the clash and roar of the innumerable presses for which there should be no night and scarcely a Sunday of rest, or dreamed that books, schools, libraries, newspapers and readers were yet to appear in a world then undiscovered, in numbers so great that they could not be counted.p511The activity of the early printers is remarkable. The task of preserving the literature of the world was fairly done at a very early date. There were not many books that promised to be salable and profitable, and some of them were scarce, and copies were obtained with difficulty—but nearly every valuable book was found and printed. Naudé, the librarian of Cardinal Mazarin, said that, before the year 1474, all the good books, however bulky, had been printed two or three times, to say nothing of many worthless works which should have been burned. The same work was often printed in the same year, by four or five rival printers in as many different cities. The catalogue of Hain very minutely describes 16,290 editions, which, at the low estimate of 300 copies for each edition, represents a total production of 4,887,000 books.367The attention of the literary world was first arrested, not by the possibilities of future usefulness in printing, but by the growing cheapness of books. The early printers offered their books at less than the market prices of manuscripts, but in a few years they were obliged to reduce the prices still lower. The market was soon glutted, and the prices fell rapidly and irretrievably. Chevillier says that, at the close of the century, the price of many books had been reduced by four-fifths. In the preface to a book printed at Rome in 1470, John Andrew, the bishop of Aleria, addressing Pope PiusII,says:“It reflects no small glory on the reign of your holiness that a tolerably correct copy of such a work as formerly cost more than a hundred crowns may now be purchased for twenty; those that were worth twenty, for four at most. It is a great thing, holy father, to say, that in your time the most estimable authors are attainable at a price little exceeding that of blank parchment or paper.”p512The failure of many early printers to make their business profitable was largely caused by their injudicious selection for publication of bulky theological writings which cost a great deal of money to print, and were salable only to a small class. It was unwisely supposed that printing would receive its great support from the ecclesiastics. With this object in view, the first printers printed almost exclusively in Latin, and generally in the expensive shape of folio, the books which could be read only by the learned, and bought only by the wealthy.368The printers’ hopes of profit were rarely ever realized. Only a few like Zell, Mentel and Schœffer became successful merchants of books on dogmatic theology. It was soon discovered that printing could not be supported by ecclesiastics. The printers who had been induced to set up presses in monasteries did not long remain there, nor did the printing and publishing offices which they left prosper for many years. Books of devotion were never in greater request, but books published by the church did not fully meet the popular want.Nearly all the books printed by Gutenberg and Schœffer were in the Latin language. Whether they overlooked the fact that there was an actual need for books in German, or whether they were restrained in an attempt to print in German, cannot be decided. Other publishers saw the need, and disregarded the restraint, if there was any, to the great inquietude of ecclesiastics, who seem to have had forewarning of the mischief that would be made by types. On the fourthp513day of January, 1486, Berthold, the archbishop of Mentz, issued a mandate in which he forbade all persons from printing, publishing, buying or selling books translated from the Greek or Latin, or any other language, before the written translation had been approved by a committee which should be appointed for the purpose from the faculty of the University of Mentz. The penalties were excommunication, confiscation of the books, and a fine of 100 florins of gold.369In Italy the revival of classical literature opened a new field for the publisher, but the demand for Latin authors was limited. In this country, and in others, eagerness for books in the native language was manifested; for books that plain people could read; for books that represented the life and thoughts of the living and not of the dead. The world was getting ready for new teachers and for a new literature—for Luther and Bacon, for Galileo and Shakespeare.

Printing did not meet with general welcome, but the neglect or opposition it encountered did not come largely from the copyists. The business of the copyist of cheap books was injured, but the only complaint that I have met came from the copyists of Genoa. The calligrapher was indifferent to the growth of the new art, for his skill was never in higher request nor more handsomely rewarded than at the close of the fifteenth century. So far from injuring the business of the calligrapher, printing really improved it, for it largely increased the production of books intended for illumination. The neglect of literary men to note theBible of 42 linesand theCatholiconof Gutenberg, the delayed establishment of a printing office at Paris, the indifference shown to printing in the great book-making town of Bruges, and the insufficient patronage bestowed on the early printers at Rome, are evidences that there was, in the beginning, a prejudice against printed books much more powerful than that of the copyists. The bibliophiles of the time looked on printed books as the productions of an inartistic trade. The admiration which has been recently invoked for theBible of 42 linesas a book of nearly perfect workmanship was not expressed by any early book-buyer. It does not appear that any book-lover of that period regarded this work, or the art by which it was made, as of high merit. The error seems pardonable, for the printed book was not as attractive as the manuscript, and no one foresaw the future of printing. Gutenberg may have had a clearer idea than any man living of its capabilities, but it is not probable that he foresaw the wheels within wheels which his types would put in motion, or heard the clash and roar of the innumerable presses for which there should be no night and scarcely a Sunday of rest, or dreamed that books, schools, libraries, newspapers and readers were yet to appear in a world then undiscovered, in numbers so great that they could not be counted.p511

The activity of the early printers is remarkable. The task of preserving the literature of the world was fairly done at a very early date. There were not many books that promised to be salable and profitable, and some of them were scarce, and copies were obtained with difficulty—but nearly every valuable book was found and printed. Naudé, the librarian of Cardinal Mazarin, said that, before the year 1474, all the good books, however bulky, had been printed two or three times, to say nothing of many worthless works which should have been burned. The same work was often printed in the same year, by four or five rival printers in as many different cities. The catalogue of Hain very minutely describes 16,290 editions, which, at the low estimate of 300 copies for each edition, represents a total production of 4,887,000 books.367

The attention of the literary world was first arrested, not by the possibilities of future usefulness in printing, but by the growing cheapness of books. The early printers offered their books at less than the market prices of manuscripts, but in a few years they were obliged to reduce the prices still lower. The market was soon glutted, and the prices fell rapidly and irretrievably. Chevillier says that, at the close of the century, the price of many books had been reduced by four-fifths. In the preface to a book printed at Rome in 1470, John Andrew, the bishop of Aleria, addressing Pope PiusII,says:

“It reflects no small glory on the reign of your holiness that a tolerably correct copy of such a work as formerly cost more than a hundred crowns may now be purchased for twenty; those that were worth twenty, for four at most. It is a great thing, holy father, to say, that in your time the most estimable authors are attainable at a price little exceeding that of blank parchment or paper.”p512

The failure of many early printers to make their business profitable was largely caused by their injudicious selection for publication of bulky theological writings which cost a great deal of money to print, and were salable only to a small class. It was unwisely supposed that printing would receive its great support from the ecclesiastics. With this object in view, the first printers printed almost exclusively in Latin, and generally in the expensive shape of folio, the books which could be read only by the learned, and bought only by the wealthy.368The printers’ hopes of profit were rarely ever realized. Only a few like Zell, Mentel and Schœffer became successful merchants of books on dogmatic theology. It was soon discovered that printing could not be supported by ecclesiastics. The printers who had been induced to set up presses in monasteries did not long remain there, nor did the printing and publishing offices which they left prosper for many years. Books of devotion were never in greater request, but books published by the church did not fully meet the popular want.

Nearly all the books printed by Gutenberg and Schœffer were in the Latin language. Whether they overlooked the fact that there was an actual need for books in German, or whether they were restrained in an attempt to print in German, cannot be decided. Other publishers saw the need, and disregarded the restraint, if there was any, to the great inquietude of ecclesiastics, who seem to have had forewarning of the mischief that would be made by types. On the fourthp513day of January, 1486, Berthold, the archbishop of Mentz, issued a mandate in which he forbade all persons from printing, publishing, buying or selling books translated from the Greek or Latin, or any other language, before the written translation had been approved by a committee which should be appointed for the purpose from the faculty of the University of Mentz. The penalties were excommunication, confiscation of the books, and a fine of 100 florins of gold.369

In Italy the revival of classical literature opened a new field for the publisher, but the demand for Latin authors was limited. In this country, and in others, eagerness for books in the native language was manifested; for books that plain people could read; for books that represented the life and thoughts of the living and not of the dead. The world was getting ready for new teachers and for a new literature—for Luther and Bacon, for Galileo and Shakespeare.

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