Fust and Schœffer, who are supposed to have had many workmen in their
service. It is not known for certain that Gutenberg, who a little later
was printing at Eltville, had at that time a press in the same city:
probably he had. Pfister at the same time was printing in Bamberg, and
Mentelin and Eggestein at Strasbourg. Besides these we know no other
presses then existing, and not much had yet been issued from these four
put together. Bernard, indeed, says that several neighbouring towns
had established printing-presses, although of this there is really no
proof. But the captivity of the young giant was soon to end, for, in
the month and year just stated, the famous city of Mayence, which had
become the battlefield for two opposing archbishops, was captured by
Adolphus of Nassau and given up to pillage. From a nourishing city it
became a half-burnt, forsaken ruin, and all who could, deserted it.
Schaab gives a fearful account of the devastation and fire which befel
this once populous city. Fust and Schœffer’s printing-office was burnt
down, masters and workmen were driven away. This Exodus of practical
Printers formed an epoch in the history of the Art. Presses were soon
established by the fugitives in Cologne, Rome, Augsburg, Nuremberg,
and other places. In Cologne, especially, typography took deep root
and flourished. Here Ulric Zell, who had learnt the art under Peter
Schœffer, established a press, which proved very prolific. It was one
of Zell’s workmen who, in 1499, penned the remarkable statement about
Germany having taken the first idea of printing from the Donatuses of
Holland. Zell’s first dated book bears the year 1466; but as nearly
all his books were issued without any date, it is more than probable
he began two or three years earlier. His types are bold and easily
recognised; they are of three sizes, and all of the same style. A few
years later several other printers were at work in the same city,
which, by the end of the century, boasted of a considerable number of
presses, that of Arnold Therhoernen being the best known.
In 1469 printing found its way to Nuremberg, where Henri Keffer,
one of the original Mentz printers, joined in partnership with Jean
Sensenschmidt, and published many books. Friedrich Creussner was
another Nuremberg printer of whose works many have survived; but the
most celebrated was Anton Koburger, one of the greatest and most
artistic printers of the fifteenth century, who kept twenty-four
presses going in this city, besides branch establishments at Basle
and Lyons. In this town, too, was produced, in 1517, a piece of work,
the technical peculiarities of which it has puzzled even printers and
typefounders to understand. This was the celebrated “Theurdanck,” a
beautifully illustrated book printed for the Emperor Maximilian, by
Melchior Pfinzig, in which the flourishes and ornamentation rise or
fall from one line to another in a manner apparently irreconcilable
with types which must be cast in a mould. The typographical curiosities
of this book are indeed most interesting, and afford evidence of
skill in typefounding, which could only have been developed where
Imperial funds were used for the education of both punch-cutters and
typefounders. From that time until lately, no such work has issued
from any printing-office. In Germany, however, and in America, the
modern typefounders have in the last few years shown capabilities
of combination in well devised types, which prove that were the
“Theurdanck” to be placed in their hands today for reproduction, they
could not only equal, but even excel that wonderful effort of the
sixteenth century.
Berthold Rot, of Hanau, one of Gutenberg’s workmen, carried the art to
Basle, and set up his press before 1468; and six years later there were
three printing-houses at work in that city.
A press was established in Augsburg, about 1469, by Gunther Zainer, who
came from Strasbourg, and had the credit of being among the first to
introduce the Roman character into Germany.
The City of Spire received printing in 1471, and speedily became
famous, sending out in her turn several pioneer printers.
* * * * *
In ITALY the first press was erected in the monastery of Subiaco, a
few miles from Rome, by two workmen, Sweynheym and Pannartz, whose
earliest work bears the date 1465. In 1467 the same printers moved to
Rome, where they soon became famous for their editions of the classics,
which were published with remarkable speed one after another. Here, of
course, the types used were Roman; that shape being as natural to Italy
as the Gothic types to other countries. Had the sale of their books
been at all commensurate with the rapidity of their production, all
would have been well, but at the end of five years the two printers
found themselves burdened with heavy stocks of unsold books, and with
empty purses, while several rival printers had erected presses in the
same city. They appealed to the Pope for assistance, but with what
success is unknown. Neither of them battled much longer with the ills
of this life, Death claiming both printers in 1477, just as our Caxton
was starting in his typographical career.
After Rome, the Printing-press travelled to Venice, where Jean de
Spire introduced the new art in 1469. His name, however, was soon
overshadowed by the renown of two celebrated typographers, Nicholas
Jenson and Christopher Valdarfer, whose beautiful Roman types were much
admired. Vendelin of Spire, brother of Jean, also was a famous printer
in the same city.
Lucca, Foligno, Milan, and Florence received printing early, but there
is no space to add particulars.
* * * * *
Considering the pre-eminent position held by Paris and its celebrated
University in the fifteenth century, it is somewhat remarkable that
printing did not take root in FRANCE until the year 1471. Printed books
from other cities, however, were not uncommon, having been sold there
continuously for nine years from the time that Fust brought the first
printed Bible to Paris in 1462, and when Schœffer in 1468 sold there an
edition of Cicero.
At last Guillaume Fichet, who was Rector of the Sorbonne, and, although
by birth a German, was anxious to see some of his own writings printed
by the new method, joining with Jean Heynlin, a Swiss, and professor
at the same University, sent to Switzerland for workmen to start a
printing-office in Paris. Three men, Ulric Gering, Michael Friburger,
and Martin Cranz, all of Basle, answered to the call, and after
occupying a year in preparation, completed the first book ever printed
on French soil, in the precincts of the famous Sorbonne. It was
entitled “Gasparini Pergamensis Epistolæ,” a work celebrated for the
classical beauty of its style, to which Fichet added an introductory
chapter. After an edition of “Sallust” and the “Orationes Bessarionis”
came Fichet’s own work, “Rhetoricæ Ficheti.” Of this he appears to have
been very proud. He took great pains to have several copies carefully
printed on vellum for presents, which were splendidly illuminated,
and to each he added a specially printed preface written by himself,
and suited to some particular recipient, so that in this respect each
copy was unique. These copies were presented to the French King, to
the Pope, to Edward IV of England, and a few other distinguished
personages, whose names are all detailed in the interesting history of
Parisian printing lately issued by M. J. Philippe.
[Illustration: Portrait of Ulric Gering. (From _Philippe_.)]
After nearly three years’ work, and when thirty books had been
published, half in quarto and half in folio, with an average of
seventy-two pages to each, the expense was found too heavy, and in
December, 1472, the Sorbonne Press was relinquished.
It is curious to notice with reference to the earliest press of France,
that the first Printers there were not Frenchmen, and that they printed
their earliest books in Roman type; that the first twelve books printed
in France were not in the French tongue; and the very first book issued
in the French tongue was not printed in France. The first book, indeed,
printed in English, and the first book printed in French, issued from
the same press, that of Colard Mansion of Bruges. The English book was
“The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye” and the French, “Le Recueil
des Histoires de Troye.” Both are undated, but were probably printed in
1474.
The Sorbonne Press having ceased work in 1472, Gering with his
associates, started a fresh printing-house on their own account, two
of their workmen doing the same. These men, by adapting themselves to
the times, and printing, not classics in Roman type for a few scholars,
but works popular with all who could read, succeeded well. These books
were printed in a picturesque Gothic type made in imitation of the
manuscript books to which French readers were accustomed. About 1477
Gering’s associates retired, and he was joined by a printer named
Maynyal. To Englishmen this is a fact of some interest, as it was to
this same Maynyal that William Caxton applied when he wanted help
to print a Sarum Missal in 1484. In this missal Caxton’s trade mark
appeared for the first time.
* * * * *
The NETHERLANDS did not receive the new art until 1473; and, as if to
make up for lost time, presses were erected at Alost, Utrecht, and
Louvain, all in the same year. There is a beautiful statue in the city
of Alost to Thierry Martens, who first printed there. In Louvain the
well-known typefounder and printer, John Veldener, began work in 1473,
and in consequence of the great similarity of his types to those of
Caxton he is supposed by some bibliographers to have supplied England
with the first printing materials used there. Veldener left Louvain in
1478 to print at Utrecht.
In Brussels the press was erected in a monastery, where “The Brothers
of Common Life” printed from 1476 to 1487. The city of Bruges has a
special interest for English bibliographers, as it was there that for
thirty years William Caxton resided. Here Colard Mansion started a
press about 1473, although the earliest date in any of his books is
1475. More particulars of this printer and his connection with the
first English press will be given when narrating the story of Caxton’s
life. In Gouda, Gerard Leeu, also a friend of William Caxton, began to
print in 1477. Antwerp did not see a printing-press until 1482, while
Leyden and Ghent waited until 1483. Haarlem itself cannot show a book
with a printed date earlier than 1483, but, as shown in the previous
chapter, the probability is that printing was practised there much
earlier.
In forming opinions upon debatable points in early printed books, much
caution is necessary, and the more one studies the earliest specimens
the greater becomes the conviction that all dogmatic assertion not
founded on positive dates should be avoided. Yet, before leaving the
Netherlands, it may be well to draw attention to some points which
ought to receive consideration with reference to the source from which
the Netherland printers obtained their typographical knowledge. In a
book intended for popular reading, technical peculiarities would be
tedious; but to anyone practically acquainted with type-printing it
is very difficult to believe that the early Netherland books, say the
Colard Mansions and the Veldeners, could have been produced by men who
had learnt to print from disciples of the Gutenberg School.
The books of Ulric Zell of Cologne show, typographically speaking,
ways of working superior to and differing from the books of Caxton
and Mansion; and it is against all probability that the Netherland
printers, after learning their art in such a school would, upon
returning to their own country, have adopted customs and habits of
printing belonging to an early and imperfect state of the art, which
they could never have seen in the workshops of their instructors.
That the early specimens of Dutch printing shown with such wonderful
accuracy in Holtrop’s “Monuments Typographiques” could have been
true descendants of the Mayence Psalter and Gutenberg Bible, is
more difficult to believe than the origination of a Dutch school of
typography which was improved by and merged into the German school.
* * * * *
The Exodus of the Press and its journeyings through the principal
cities of Europe having been thus recorded, we have now especially to
narrate the circumstances in which it took root and flourished in GREAT
BRITAIN.
Although some of the older writers throw doubt upon the priority of
William Caxton’s press in England, there is now a general consensus of
opinion that the claims of Oxford to have had a Press in 1468 cannot
be sustained. To state and refute these claims, which are founded
entirely on a typographical blunder in the printing of a date, would
occupy too much space. It will therefore be better at once to trace the
career of the Westminster Press.
[Illustration: MANUSCRIPT, WRITTEN AT BRUGES, CIRC. 1472.]
William Caxton was not born in 1412, as nearly all his biographers
assert, but about ten or twelve years later, as we learn from the
records preserved at Mercers’ Hall, Cheapside. His name is there
inscribed as having been apprenticed in the year 1438. His birthplace
was somewhere in the Weald of Kent, perhaps at a place called
Caustons, near Hadlow. His father sent him to school--by no means a
usual experience for lads in the fifteenth century--for which in his
after-age he was deeply grateful. He was apprenticed at the age of
twelve or fourteen to a wealthy mercer, a fact which, at a time when
class prejudices were very strong, shows that his family were connected
with the merchant princes of London. After a few years his master,
Robert Large, died, and as Caxton’s name, when he issued from his
apprenticeship, does not appear in the Mercers’ books, there is little
doubt that he went abroad. In 1446 we find his name mentioned in the
town records preserved at Bruges, where he was considered sufficient
security for a sum equal to £110. In 1453 he paid a visit to London,
and took up his livery in the Mercers’ Company. Ten years later he
had raised himself to the highest honour an English merchant could
attain abroad--that of Governor of the Merchant Adventurers in the
Low Countries. Here he had great responsibilities, and was consulted
and employed by the English Government in various matters connected
with trade in those parts. In 1468 the Princess Margaret, sister of
our Edward IV, was married to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, at
Bruges. Here Caxton would be brought into friendly intercourse with
the nobles of the English Court, many of whom took refuge there when
King Edward, in 1470, was driven from his kingdom. Several treaties
about trade between England and the Burgundian dominions were ratified
about this time, in which Caxton took a leading part. In Bruges
at this period there were magnificent libraries, consisting almost
entirely of illuminated manuscripts; and no doubt a few books from the
German presses, which we know were selling at Paris, were to be had at
Bruges also. In these literary treasure-houses Caxton would be able
to indulge that taste for books which was a prominent feature in his
character. He became known to the Duchess, and from some cause which
at present has not been discovered, resigned his post of Governor, and
entered into her service. Whatever were the duties he undertook for
the Duchess, his position was one of honour and trust, requiring his
personal attendance upon her. Two causes may have influenced Caxton in
retiring from his post of Governor. Reckoning from a lawsuit in which
his married daughter was engaged in 1496, she would then have been
twenty-six years of age, had her father married in 1469. As a married
man he could not be a merchant in a foreign city, foreigners abroad as
well as in England living a monastic life. Thus marriage may have been
the moving cause. Added to this, the duties of Governor compelled him
to make frequent journeys to other cities, and the occupation of so
arduous a post for many years would naturally make him wish for relief
and quietude.
[Illustration: SUPPOSED PORTRAIT OF CAXTON. (From _Lewis_.)]
Whatever the cause, his retirement gave him leisure to indulge his
literary tastes, and he set to work to translate into English a French
novel, which was then (1469) much admired in the Burgundian Court.
It was a medley of Roman mythology mixed with Gothic knight-errantry
and love adventures. Its title was “The Recuyell (collection) of the
Histories of Troy,” and the fact that it held its place in the popular
esteem for at least two centuries later, shows us that it stood high
in public opinion. After translating a few sheets, Caxton put it on
one side, but “on a time,” when conversing with the Duchess, he showed
his attempt to her. This was in 1469. She commanded him at once to
finish the translation, which he appears to have taken two years to
accomplish, continuing it, as he himself tells us, in Ghent, and
finishing it at Cologne. And here it is important to notice that in
both those cities there is no question of his learning printing. All he
mentions about himself refers to the translation alone. This brings us
to 1472-3. The new book, patronised by the Duchess and the Court, was
soon in greater demand among the courtiers than Caxton could possibly
supply by manuscript. He was tired of so much writing, and naturally
his mind turned to the new Art of Printing, specimens of which he had
probably examined. Just at this time Colard Mansion, a citizen of
Bruges, had erected a printing-press in a large room over the church
porch of St. Donatus, and to him went Caxton. Colard Mansion set to
work, Caxton helping him with money, and learning at the same time the
new art and mystery. So it was that about 1474-5 the book was completed
and a copy presented to the Duchess.
[Illustration: FROM “THE RECUYELL OF THE HISTORIES OF TROYE,” 1474.
(_Caxton’s Type. No. 1._)]
This was the turning point in Caxton’s career; for although he did not
immediately leave his Royal mistress’s service, he spent some time
in mastering the new art, and then, with a quantity of newly-cast
types, made his way to England. There seems to have been no special
reason why Caxton should choose Westminster as the locality of his
printing-office. There was no Scriptorium in the Abbey, and the Abbot
does not seem to have held towards him any other relationship than that
of landlord, leasing to him a tenement in the Almonry, just where the
Guards’ Memorial now stands. Here Caxton settled down and worked for at
least fifteen years. His first book which bears a date is “The Dictes
and Sayinges of the Philosophers,” finished in November, 1477. Upon the
strength of this date the Caxton Quarcentenary Festival was held in
1877; but there can be no doubt that he printed many books of which no
copies remain, some of which were doubtless earlier than the “Dictes.”
Unlike some of the French and Italian printers who ruined themselves by
printing classical books, Caxton began with small pamphlets, and short
pieces of poetry by Lydgate and Chaucer. These were soon followed by
books of greater pretence, historical, poetical, and religious. The
most imposing book from Caxton’s press was “The Golden Legend,” a thick
and large folio volume, full of rude woodcuts, and narrating the lives
of all the Saints in the English calendar. In translating, editing, and
printing, Caxton spent the remaining years of his life, and at a ripe
old age was buried in St. Margaret’s, Westminster, in the year 1491.
His character was that of a pious, diligent, and educated man, who,
without aiming very high, led the life of an honest and useful
merchant. He never foresaw, any more than his contemporaries, the
wonderful capabilities and future strength of that printing-press which
was to bring so many blessings to his native country. His successor
was Wynken de Worde, one of the founders of the Stationers’ Company,
a workman who, while quite young, came over with Caxton, and was a
prolific printer for years after his master’s death. The well-known
printers, Pynson and Machlinia, had also worked under Caxton.
[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF FROM THE ENTABLATURE, JERUSALEM CHAMBER,
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.]
The city of Oxford was the next after Westminster in which the
printing-press was erected in England. The first book printed there,
the “Exposicio sancti Hieronymi,” is, indeed, dated 1468, but it
is not worth while producing the reasons which have led all modern
bibliographers to agree that an “x” has been omitted in the date, and
that the real year was 1478. Rood and Hunte, who were the first Oxford
printers, were Germans, and their books are very different from those
of the Bruges and Westminster presses.
Cambridge, the sister University, had no press until 1521, when John
Siberch printed there.
The only other press in England to be noticed in the fifteenth century
is that of St. Albans, where a schoolmaster turned typographer in 1480,
and printed for a few years. His most noted work was “The Boke of
Hawking and Huntyng, and Cote armor.”
Considering the close connection of Scotland with France, it is rather
surprising that printing did not reach that country earlier than 1504.
In that year Androw Millar began to print some ballads.
Ireland did not receive printing until the year 1551, when Humphrey
Powell printed a prayer book.
* * * * *
In the New World the first City to receive a Printing-press was Mexico,
where Cromberger worked in 1540. In the North, Stephen Daye erected a
Press at Cambridge, Mass., in 1638.
* * * * *
The Latin names of towns are frequently seen on the title-pages
of early books; and as these are extremely puzzling to young
bibliographers, the following short list of those most likely to be met
with may be found useful:--
Alta Villa Eltville
Amstelædamum Amsterdam
Antverpia Antwerp
Argentina } Strasbourg
Argentoratum }
Athenæ Rauracæ Basle
Augusta Vindelicorum Augsburg
Bononia Bologna
Brixia Breschia
Bruxellæ Brussels
Cantabrigia Cambridge
Colonia Agrippina Cologne
Daventria Deventer
Delphi Delft
Duacum Douay
Eblana Dublin
Erfordia Erfuhrt
Florentia } Florence
Firenze }
Francofurtum Frankfort
Gandavum } Ghent
Gand }
Hafnia Copenhagen
Haga Comitum The Hague
Hispalis Seville
Holmia Stockholm
Leida Leyden
Lipsia Leipzig
Lovanium Louvain
Lugdunum Lyons
Lugdunum Batavorum Leyden
Lutetia Paris
Mediolanum Milan
Moguntia Mayence
Moscua Moscow
Nannetes Nantes
Neapolis Naples
Norimberga Nuremberg
Oxonia Oxford
Patavium Padua
Rostochium Rostock
Roterodamum Rotterdam
Rothomagum Rouen
Sublacense Monasterium Subiaco
Taurinum Turin
Toletum Toledo
Trajectum ad Rhenum Utrecht
Treviri Treves
Tridentum Trent
Turones Tours
Venetiæ Venice
Vlma Ulm
Vlyssipo Lisbon
Vratislavia Breslau
The cities and towns the names of which are the same, or nearly the
same, in the Latin and native spelling have been omitted purposely.
[Illustration]
LEVITICUS.
“_Here order in variety we see,
And here, though all things differ, all agree._”--
POPE.
[Illustration]
LEVITICUS.
[Illustration]
The Laws of Printing, that is, the rules by which artisans in the
various branches of this Art do their work, are the theme of this
chapter.
In the first place, the laws by which the _Typefounder_ is governed in
making good and true types, are explained. Then, the laws by knowledge
of which the _Compositor_ combines those types ready for printing.
And lastly, the rules by which the _Pressman_ is guided in obtaining
impressions from the types.
From the extensive scope of this chapter it will be seen at once that
it is only possible to describe the bare principles of each section,
without attempting explanatory details.
THE TYPEFOUNDER.
Of the processes by which the first printers made their types very
little is known. In none of the early colophons* is any allusion
made to them; we are therefore confined to the internal evidence of
manufacture discoverable in the types themselves.
* Bibliographers call the final sentence, which in many old
books contains the printer’s name, place, and date, the
“colophon.” It answered to the modern imprint, but was more
full, and frequently contained important information.
The page of any early book shows a number of lines of type, all of them
running from left to right beneath each other in straight lines.