of larger ones, such as are seen in the Block-books was an easy
progression. Most of these were representations of Bible History, and
a considerable variety of opinion is still held concerning their use.
They were called “Biblia Pauperum,” and have therefore been supposed
to be books for _poor people_. This idea is evidently erroneous if we
think for a moment how uncommon in those days was the ability to read,
particularly among the great mass of the people. It is more probable
that these pictorial sermons were used by the _poor friars_, many
of whom could scarcely read, and in preaching trusted to memory and
imagination. To such, the numerous suggestions of these pictures would
be invaluable.
[Illustration: FROM THE BIBLIA PAUPERUM. BLOCK-BOOK. 15TH CENTURY.]
In the later Block-books, engraved sentences and even half-pages of
explanation are seen. The dislike of wood engravers to cut letters is
the same now as it was four centuries and a-half ago, the mechanical
nature of such work being distasteful to any one with artistic feeling.
The idea, therefore, of using a second time sentences, already engraved
and printed, simply by cutting them away from the old block, was very
natural and would easily lead to the attempt to utilise the letters
separately. Thus we float along the stream of gradual development,
until we reach movable types, properly termed Typography. This was
never an invention pure and simple which suddenly enlightened the
mind of Gutenberg (as stated by Van der Linde, and echoed by Theo. De
Vinne), but an end successfully accomplished, after numerous efforts
and gradual advances.*
* The reader who has any real interest in these “firstlings” of
the Printing-press should carefully examine the glass cases in
the Grenville Library at the British Museum, where specimens of
Block Printing, from the earliest to the latest, are displayed
in chronological order.
The full meaning of the discovery of typography will be better
understood if we call to mind the intellectual state of Europe in the
middle of the fifteenth century.
[Illustration: SCRIPTORIUM MONK AT WORK. (From _Lacroix_.)]
[Illustration: BOOKBINDER.--16TH CENTURY.]
With the eclipse of literature during the Middle Ages, the Church
alone, and that in a sluggish manner, kept up the manufacture of
manuscript books, principally for ecclesiastical use. But when,
in the fourteenth century, the brain of Europe began to show
unwonted activity--when the Lollard doctrines set men thinking and
doubting--when in the fifteenth century all Europe became excited over
the discovery of new worlds--when military tactics were revolutionised
through the invention of gunpowder--when education became general, and
colleges and schools were multiplied--then the minds of men everywhere
began to long for books, more books; for Cicero and Boethius, for
Bibles, Psalters and Legends, for Chronicles, Tales of Travel and
Romances, for Donatuses, School books and Absies--at such a time the
need was urgent, the demand imperative, and the Printing-press came.
The change, however, was by no means sudden. The first effect of the
increased demand was to create a great division of labour in the
manufacture of Manuscripts, so that whereas two or three Scribes had,
in former times, been sufficient to complete a Manuscript, as many
as fifteen different trades were now employed in Paris, Bruges and
other centres to produce a single book. Long before the invention
of typography, the book-makers of Holland had their Guilds, which
included a variety of the trades concerned in the production, viz.:
parchment-makers, boss-makers, binders, etc. Amongst them we now and
then find enumerated “prenters,” that is, the printers from engraved
blocks, who had already discovered the use of the press and a thick
ink. The most numerous craft, however, was that of the Scribes, who
wrote only the running text; and in this portion of the work it was,
where speed and accuracy were most wanted, that the Printing-press was
destined to make its earliest triumphs.
[Illustration: COVER OF A BOOK. 15TH CENTURY.]
The foundation of many colleges and schools in the fifteenth century
led to an extensive demand for school books and grammars, the most
popular of which were the “Donatus,” a grammar so called from the name
of its author, and “Catho,” a kind of delectus in Latin. These were
sold at a cheap price, and, to lessen the cost of their production,
were often engraved on blocks of wood, from which the pages were
printed. These and the Block-books already described were contemporary,
and the immediate forerunners of separate types.
Think of the numerous editions of the Eton and Valpy Latin Grammar,
which, two generations ago, were used throughout the kingdom, and you
may well wonder how it is that there is extreme difficulty in getting a
single copy now. They have nearly all perished. It is the same with the
school books of all ages; and we can, therefore, hardly wonder that the
fifteenth century school books, manuscript, or printed from engraved
blocks, are now amongst the most scarce of bibliographical rarities.
[Illustration: FRAGMENT OF A XYLOGRAPHIC DONATUS.
(From _Holtrop_.)]
The process of cutting letters and sentences on wood is much more
trying work than engraving figures; the Block-books generally show some
approach to artistic feeling in the pose and drapery of the figures,
but the engraver was very careless over the letters. Doubtless the
tedium of the operation would suggest the idea of separating the
letters, so as to use them again in a different combination for other
sentences. We have indeed direct evidence of such attempts having
been made; for (as noticed by Mr. Bradshaw in his “Memoranda No. 3,”
pp. 5 and 6) a Block-book edition of the “Biblia Pauperum,” printed
at Zwolle, was cut up, and the pieces used afterwards in a different
combination. The same operation took place with the blocks of the
“Speculum nostræ Salvationis,” which were cut up, and the pieces
used again for an edition printed at Utrecht in 1481. This could not
be successfully accomplished with separate letters, on account of
their small size, but the attempt would be most natural. There is no
known instance of separate wooden types having been used by any early
printers, but in certain editions of the “Speculum” we distinctly find
metal movable types, with the woodcuts printed in one coloured ink, and
the text in another. The types bear plain evidence that they were cast,
but in an extremely rude way, showing a much more imperfect method of
casting than appears in the German Indulgence of 1454 (which is the
earliest known date of any printed piece), or the first books of the
Mayence printers. There are also numerous fragments of the Donatus, of
the Doctrinale, and of Catho, in various editions, and in cast types.
The language of some, as well as the shape of the letters in all, show
that these were, without doubt, produced in the Low Countries, although
they are all, as was natural for such unimportant books, without any
printer’s name and without the year of production, thus rendering it
difficult to assign to them an unimpeachable date.
[Illustration: “IMAGE OF PITY.” (WOOD BLOCK AND TYPE.)]
After much study I cannot help thinking that Holland was not only the
birthplace of these Donatuses, etc., but that they gave the starting
idea to the Mayence school of printers. The notice of the invention
of Printing written at Cologne from the mouth of the earliest printer
in that city, one who had learnt his art from the first printers at
Mayence, seems decisive. The Chronicler, who wrote in 1499, states that
Ulric Zell told him as follows:--
(1) “_Item_: This most revered Art was discovered first of all
at Mentz in Germany, and it is a great honour to the German
nation that men so ingenious were there found. This was in the
year of our Lord 1440. From that time until the year 1450 the
Art and the things pertaining to it were greatly improved, and
in this year men began to print, and the first book so printed
was the Bible in Latin, the character of which was larger than
that now in use for mass-books.
(2) “_Item_: Although this Art was discovered at Mentz in the
manner now commonly used, yet its first prefiguration was found
in Holland, in the Donatuses which had been already printed
there. From these Donatuses was derived the origin of this Art,
which is now more masterly and clever than before, and far more
ingenious.... The first inventor of Printing was a citizen of
Mentz, born in Strasbourg, and called John Gutenberg.
(3) “_Item_: From Mentz the Art was first taken to Cologne,
thence to Strasbourg, and thence to Venice. This beginning and
progress of the Art was told me by that worthy man, Master
Ulric Zell, of Hainault, Printer, of Cologne, in this present
year, 1499, by whom indeed the Art was first brought into that
city.”
Similar evidence is given by Mariangelus Accursius, an Italian writer
of the fifteenth century, who, while attributing the invention of types
as then used to Fust and Schœffer at Mayence, says that the idea was
certainly taken originally from the Donatuses printed in Holland.
Now these “Items” are quite distinct in idea. The first tells us that
Printing was invented at Mayence, and goes on to particularise what
the writer means by Printing, viz.: a Latin Bible in large type. The
second qualifies the first by saying that “_this_ Art,” which, of
course, means the same art as was used for the Bible, was prefigured by
Donatuses printed in Holland, but that John Gutenberg’s invention was
more masterly and skilful than the Dutch method. The third tells us
how the Art spread, and the writer’s authority for his statements. We
are here face to face with a plain statement which, to my mind, settles
the point. The Dutch had already types cast in that rough and ready
manner familiar to all of us who have studied the wonderful fac-simile
plates in Holtrop’s “Monuments Typographiques,” or the “Principia
Typographica” of Sotheby. Gutenberg, according to this account,
commenced his study of typography in 1440, but it was 1450 before he
had so far improved in his method of casting letters that he could
venture to _begin_ upon his great Bible.
How these ten years were spent, and how near to 1450 it was before the
sight of Dutch Donatuses gave the final impulse to his genius, we shall
probably never know.
Dr. Van der Linde and other writers who agree with him maintain that
the Cologne Chronicler must have referred to xylographic, _i.e._,
block-book, Donatuses, and that the sight of such works developed in
the mind of Gutenberg the idea of movable types. Unfortunately for
this argument there is not a single Dutch block-book Donatus known,
while there are nineteen different editions of early type-printed Dutch
Donatuses already catalogued--a number which is being increased every
year. Why, too, if Gutenberg derived his inspiration from the sight of
a Donatus cut in wood, did he ignore those of his own country, which
were before his eyes, in order to gain his impulse from non-existent
Dutch ones?
It is an important bibliographical fact that forty-seven different
books, or fragments of books, exist, printed with eight different
founts of type, all Dutch in origin, all without any name, date, or
place, nearly all discovered in the bindings of fifteenth century
manuscript or printed books, thirty-three of them on vellum, and
four of them printed on one side only. What can we do with this
interesting regiment of incunabula? To make them later than, or
even contemporaneous with, the earliest _dated_ Dutch books seems
impossible: we might as well attribute the language of the Canterbury
Tales to the reign of good Queen Bess; but place them about 1450 and
onwards, and they take rank naturally.
We will here notice one of the chief causes of the many and
contradictory accounts of the origin of printing. It is the natural
tendency of all writers to Hero-worship. The value of a central
figure around which may be grouped the features of a story is fully
appreciated by all authors: it strengthens the weak and adds vigour to
the strong. This bias is recognised in the world’s earliest records.
Honour and glory, often semi-divine, are attributed to the inventor.
For the discovery of letters we must have a Cadmus; Apollo first made
harmony; Moses, according to Vergil, originated trumpets; Vulcan,
iron weapons; Noah, ships--and so on. And so, Dutchmen who claimed
the invention of printing for Holland found the embodiment of it in
Coster; Germans, for a similar reason, revere Gutenberg; and Italians,
their countryman Castaldi. The Hero obtained, definite records and
historical particulars group themselves around him, and thus with a few
personal details an impression of truthfulness is given to the story
which carries conviction to the reader’s mind, while at the same time
artistic requirements are satisfied.
The duty of the historian and critic is to separate judiciously the
kernel of truth from the husk, by which in the course of time it is
sure to be surrounded--to preserve carefully the one and reject the
other.
Although I think we must look to Holland for the earliest specimens of
typography, it does not follow that we must believe all the story as
given by Junius. There is no reason to doubt he gave the account of
Coster as he received and believed it; and his was not an age in which
criticism was expected, or was able to separate husk from kernel.
[Illustration: STATUE OF COSTER. (From _Zeiz_.)]
If we suppose the Cologne Chronicler of 1499 to have misunderstood his
informant as to the Dutch “prefiguration”; or if the Laurens Janszoon
Coster of Junius and the Haarlem Archives was perfectly innocent of
any typographical proclivities, it still leaves the Costeriana to be
accounted for; and it is these silent witnesses, dug out from the
earliest strata of typographical deposits, which by their evidence
should determine the vexed question.
It is, however, necessary to know the story which was current when
Junius wrote, and we therefore give it as the accepted truth in his
time:--
“There lived, about 1440, at Haarlem, in the market-place
opposite the Town Hall, in a respectable house, still in
existence, a man named Laurens Janszoon Coster, _i.e._,
Laurence, son of John Coster. The family name was derived from
the hereditary office of Sacristan or Coster of the Church--a
post both honourable and lucrative. The town archives give
evidence of this, his name appearing therein many times, and
in the Town Hall are preserved his seal and signature to
various documents. To this man belongs the honour of inventing
Printing--an honour of which he was unjustly robbed, and which
afterwards was ascribed to another. The said Laurence Coster,
one day after dinner, took a walk in the wood near Haarlem.
While there, to amuse himself, he began to cut letters out
of some beech-bark. The idea struck him to ink some of these
letters and use them as stamps. This he did to amuse his
grand-children, cutting them in reverse. He thus formed two
or three sentences on paper. The idea germinated, and soon,
with the assistance of his son-in-law, and by using a thick
ink, he began to print whole pages, and to add lines of print
to the Block-books, the text of which was the most difficult
part to engrave. Junius had such a book, called ‘Spieghel
onzer Behoudenisse.’ It should have been said that Coster was
descended from the noble house of Brederode, and that his
son-in-law was also of noble descent. Coster’s first efforts
were of course very rude, and to hide the impressions of the
letters on the back, they pasted the leaves, which had one
side not printed, together. His letters at first were made of
lead, which he afterwards changed for tin. Upon his death these
letters were melted down and made into wine-pots, which at the
time when Junius wrote were still preserved in the house of
Gerrit Thomaszoon, the grandson of Coster. Public curiosity
was greatly excited by Coster’s discovery, and he gained much
profit from his new process. His trade, indeed, so increased
that he was obliged to employ several workmen, one of whom was
named John. Some say this was John Faust, afterwards a partner
with Gutenberg, and others say he was Gutenberg’s brother.
This man when he had learnt the Art in all its branches, took
the opportunity one Christmas eve, when all good people are
accustomed to attend Church, to break into the rooms used for
printing, and to pack up and steal all the tools and appliances
which his master, with so much care and ingenuity, had made.
He went off by Amsterdam and Cologne to Mayence, where he at
once opened a workshop and reaped rich fruit from this theft,
producing several printed books. The accuracy of this story was
attested by a respectable bookbinder, of great age but clear
memory, named Cornelis, who had been a fellow servant with the
culprit in the house of Coster, and indeed had occupied the
same bed for several months, and who could never talk of such
baseness without shedding tears and cursing the thief.”
[Illustration: COSTER COMMEMORATION MEDAL, 1856. (_From a Medal in the
Author’s Collection._)]
While giving Junius all credit for recounting this story as he found
it handed down by tradition, we must be careful not to take it too
literally. Stories of this kind although founded on fact, always grow
by repetition. The central truths illuminated by the Cologne Chronicle
seem to be: (1.) The discovery of movable letters was a growth from
small beginnings. (2.) The country was Holland and the place probably
Haarlem. (3.) Gutenberg derived his ideas of printing from Holland.
Let us now expound the claims of Gutenberg as gathered from undoubted
evidence and facts.
John Gutenberg is a real man in history. He was born at Mentz in 1399,
and some members of his family are known. Several documents testify
to his existence, but the first which by possibility connects him
with printing is an action at law brought against him by a man named
Dritzehen in 1439 to recover a loan of money. The original text of this
document, unfortunately, cannot be verified, having been destroyed at
the siege of Strasbourg.
Numerous witnesses gave evidence which showed Gutenberg as practising
several arts by which he made money, one of which was a great secret
carried on by him in a ruined convent near Strasbourg. Here he was
surprised at his work by his creditors, to whom at last he divulged
his secret, making partners of them. Some curious particulars of tools
and four pieces of wood to form a press are given in the depositions,
and apparently refer to experiments connected with printing. The want
of capital to carry on his experiments is also very evident. Andrew
Dritzehen had helped him for some time, but died before success crowned
their efforts. Gutenberg then tried to obtain possession of all the
materials which Andrew Dritzehen had left, but his partners stepped in
and took them, although they were not sufficiently instructed to make
any use of them. This action went against Gutenberg, who, now much
impoverished, sold the last remaining portion of his paternal estate.
Again and again he had to borrow money, and in 1450 entered into a
five-years’ partnership with John Fust, each to have half the profits
of the business.
As time rolled on and nothing satisfactory resulted, Fust took
advantage of his legal powers, and by a lawsuit to recover his loan
compelled Gutenberg, in November, 1455, to give up all the printing
plant, which he conveyed away, and with the assistance of Peter
Schœffer, who married Fust’s daughter, started a printing-office on his
own account. Gutenberg, deprived of all his material and without money,
but not disheartened, now found a new friend in Conrad Homery, Syndic
of Mentz, with whose help new types and presses were made. Misfortune
and debt still pursued him, and had not the materials been the property
of Homery, he would have been again deprived of them. In 1460 the book
known as the “Catholicon” was printed, and several other small books.
The city of Mentz was sacked in 1462 and its trade entirely destroyed.
The next we hear of Gutenberg is his appointment in 1465 to be one of
the gentlemen of the Court to Adolphus II, in whose service he remained
till his death, about 1468. Gutenberg’s types were removed to Eltville,
where his relatives, Henry and Nicholas Bechtermunze, printed with them
in 1467.
The weak part of Gutenberg’s case is that only in the year 1462 do we
first meet with any mention of him as a printer, and that mention not
in Germany but in Paris. This interesting reference was discovered
by the Librarian of the Basle City Library, who examining a copy
of “Gasparini Pergamensis Orthographia” preserved in the Heynlin
collection found a unique Prologue from the pen of Heynlin the donor.
The book, as is well known, was printed at the Sorbonne Press, Paris,
in 1470, and the portion of the Prologue which is of most interest to
us reads thus:--
“... I imagine that the friends of literature will receive
great benefit from the Art invented by the new sort of
Printers, who in these our days have (like the warriors from
the Trojan Horse) issued from the womb of Germany and scattered
themselves abroad.
“In this country (France) the story is, that a certain John
Gutenberg, not far from Mayence, was the first inventor of the
printing art, by means of which books are made, not with a
reed as of old, nor with a pen, as in our days, but with metal
letters, and that rapidly, evenly, and elegantly.”
Then after noticing the divine honours bestowed upon Bacchus and Ceres
for endowing mankind with the kindly fruits of the earth, he adds:--
“Gutenberg has made a discovery still more fruitful and more
divine for he has discovered a way by which letters may be
engraved and by their means all that can be thought and spoken
is at once reproduced and so passed on to posterity.”
The remainder, though in praise of the new art, adds nothing to this
testimony.
Here then we may leave the vexed problem of the Genesis of Printing.
It requires but a slight examination of the early Donatuses, whether
Dutch or German, to be convinced that whatever the means adopted to
make the types, they were quite dissimilar to those adopted at a later
date. We shall probably never know the slow degrees by which the punch,
matrix and type-mould were brought to perfection. The old types,
apparently 15th century, described later in our chapter on “Leviticus,”
prove that in a most essential particular, viz., the regular height
of each letter, there was great inferiority. But, although the crude
method of casting in the 15th century was undoubtedly perfected
by later generations, one thing is certain that the whole dispute
concerning the invention of Typography as a development of, though
distinct from, Printing, would be settled by a reply to the simple
question: Where and by whom were the first movable types cast?
This question has become very involved, and has evoked so much bad
feeling, been darkened by so many forgeries on all sides, and has
roused such fierce national jealousy, that the necessary labour of
sifting the true from the untrue is a thankless and wearisome task.
[Illustration]
EXODUS.
“_Their sound is gone out into all lands._”
[Illustration]
EXODUS.
In these days of rapid inter-communication every good invention becomes
public property in a very short time. Not so in the fifteenth century.
Typography did not spread rapidly for many years after its birth.
The workmen were probably bound to secrecy, and the Press itself had
to create work for itself by educating a public up to the reading
point. Indeed, so restricted was the sale of books at first, that in a
commercial sense the profits were very poor.