how long the engraving of the letters would take. Assuming that one,
or say two, small founts had been finished at Strasburg, comprising
about 4000 letters, and that 6000 were completed at Mentz before the
contract was made with Faust, what length of time would be required
to complete them? An expert modern punch-cutter can complete, in one
day, two steel types for striking matrices with.[65] Supposing that
with softer metal Gutenberg engraved his blanks at the rate of four
a day; and that deducting Sundays and Saints’ days, he worked three
hundred days a year; _five years_ would be occupied in completing two
founts of 3000 letters each; which, when finished, might weigh about
one hundred pounds. With the additional funds placed at his command by
Faust in 1450, Gutenberg would most probably engage another engraver;
and supposing that the two engraved eight letters a day, 10,000
letters would keep them both fully occupied upwards of _four_ years.
With the making of presses, type-cases, ink, and all the remaining
paraphernalia of a printing office, supposing Gutenberg employed two or
three assistant engravers instead of one, and that the bible was begun
with type for one page only, while the engravers still went on cutting
fresh supplies, his time would be amply taken up; and the amount of
money that would thus be sunk would come in the long run to something
enormous.
No wonder that Faust at last grew impatient, and was ready to foreclose
his mortgage over the plant, as soon as he saw his way clear to
something in the shape of a return for his advances.
It is however not a little singular, that Ottley, who published all the
documents in the case, and avowed his desire to treat the subject with
the impartiality of an umpire,[66] should have allowed his Costerian
proclivities to develope themselves in the following terms:--“On
the whole I confess that after perusing and re-perusing the above
document (the law process) with all the attention I am master of, the
impression it leaves upon my mind, and indeed the only idea I can form
of the transaction it refers to, that seems at all probable, is, that
Fust, after four or five years’ patient trial, found that Gutenberg
was incompetent to perform the task he had undertaken, whatever it
was, or that from indolence he had neglected it; that his money was
going very fast, and there was little to shew for it; and that he had
discovered, as is hinted in the sentence,”[67] [how or where?] “that no
small portion of it had been applied by Gutenberg to his own private
purposes;” especially when he wrote immediately after,--“it is by no
means improbable ... that, some years before the date of the above
agreement, Fust had assisted with his wits and hands, as well as with
his money, in perfecting the art and bringing it into operation.”
Improbable it may not have been, but there is nothing whatever to shew
that, in fact, such was the case; on the contrary, such facts as do
appear lead to an opposite conclusion.
We have now arrived at a point in the narrative where Peter Schœffer
comes to the fore-front in the history of the art. Born in Gernszheim,
after completing his education at the University of Paris,[68] and
adopting, it would seem, the profession of a scribe,--a craft in which
the more expert members combined with the art of writing that of
illuminating the manuscript works they copied,--he betook himself to
Mentz, where he was engaged by Gutenberg to assist in the printing
operations at the Zum Junghen. As the first printed books were
imitations of, and avowedly sold as, manuscripts, three reasons for
this engagement may be seen,--the preparation of the MS. copy; the
designing of the characters for the types; and the illuminating of the
books when printed.
“The afore-mentioned Peter Schœffer,” says the Abbot Trithemius,
“being a person of great ingenuity, discovered an easier method of
casting letters, and perfected the art as we now have it.”[69] This
“easier method” was that of casting metal types complete, instead of
cutting the letters on the ends of cast blanks; and in its success,
he perfected an invention which formed the climax to the Art of
Typography--an invention which has immortalized his name as the last,
though not the least, of the associated Three to whom alone belong the
title of the Fathers of the Typographic Art.
The eloquent author of an article upon Printing in the Encyclopædia
Britannica, writes as follows regarding this invention:--“It is
very likely that the combination of character and qualifications of
the three men, John Gutenberg, John Faust, and Peter Schœffer, may
afford a good clue not only to the wonderful taste and beauty which
distinguished the works issued from their press, but also to the
general improvement of the art during their connection with it. The
ingenuity of Gutenberg (the inventor of the new mode of printing) would
readily suggest a novel and expeditious method of manufacturing types;
the practical skill of Faust as a worker in metals (for the working
of gold and silver had at that time attained a most extraordinary
nicety and cunning), as well as his large pecuniary resources, would
promptly provide the necessary appliances; while the taste of Schœffer,
would give all possible grace and missal-like excellence to the new
forms. For Schœffer, it should be borne in mind, was a scribe,--one
of that ancient and honorable craft whose occupation was destined to
fall before the new art,--a transcriber and perhaps an illuminator of
the manuscript works in use before books; and those who have had the
happiness of viewing the exquisite specimens of skill which beguiled
our ancestors into study and devotion, will readily conceive that
Schœffer’s eye was already schooled for the conception, and his hand
for the execution, of all the beauty which the trammels of a new art
and limited skill would allow. Aided by his own taste, Schœffer, it is
said, proceeded to a new enterprise--viz. the casting of type. The
entire conception and execution of this invention has generally been
attributed and allowed to Schœffer. It seems most probable, however,
that where three ingenious men are bound together by art and interest,
none of them can lay exclusive claim to any invention or undertaking,
executed in the workshops for the benefit of all. Allowing therefore to
Schœffer the honor of having suggested some such plan (as the design of
the types to be used) the other two may fairly put in a claim for their
portion of the approbation attached to the invention, on the score of
their practical suggestions in carrying it out; especially since Faust,
as a worker in metals, would have been the party whose function it was
to engage the workmen necessary to carry out the particular design.”
Mr. Mayhew, in his elaborate work upon the Trades and Manufactories of
Great Britain says,--“The only evidence as to the origin of fusile
types appears to shew that Gutenberg, Faust, and Schœffer, had for
some time practised a method of taking casts of types in moulds of
plaster.... We are told, though we know not what is the proof of the
assertion, that it was Schœffer, who after the failure of casting
types in plaster moulds, suggested the process which still continues
in operation. Schœffer is said, therefore, to have an undoubted claim
to be considered as one of the three inventors of printing; for it
is asserted (but upon what evidence we have yet to discover) that he
first suggested the cutting of punches, whereby not only could the
most beautiful form of letter which the taste and skill of the artist
could suggest, be truthfully transferred to the matrix, but a degree of
sharpness and finish be given to the face which was quite unattainable
in type cut in wood; whilst to the shank of the type the mould would
serve to give the nicety of angle requisite to enable any number of
such separate letters to be locked up into one solid mass. Add to
this, that the punch, being once approved of, could be kept ready to
stamp a new matrix with precisely the same form, and with the very same
nicety as the first, whenever another might be wanted, and we have a
full sense of the benefits which the first inventors of the means of
casting fusile types from matrices stamped with punches, conferred upon
humanity.”
The writer in the Encyclopædia Britannica seems to have been unaware of
all the known facts of the case, and to have allowed his imagination
full play when writing upon what he considered its possibilities.
Mr. Mayhew,--misunderstanding the statement of Trithemius about the
shapes of the letters being stamped into moulds so as to form matrices,
in which similar shapes were then cast in metal, to be afterwards
engraved or cut into letters,--is inclined to be sceptical in regard to
Schœffer’s claims, although he does not venture to deny them. Neither
of these writers, nor any other with whose works I am acquainted, has
succeeded in tracing, in a satisfactory manner, the steps by which
Schœffer attained to the realization of his idea. It is no doubt
difficult to do so in the absence of positive statements by Schœffer
or his contemporaries; but the following considerations, fairly and
reasonably deducible from well established facts, may help to a better
understanding of the subject than has hitherto been arrived at.
That attempts would be repeatedly made to take complete casts of type,
and that such attempts led the way to the goal ultimately reached, is
extremely probable. The labour of continually cutting separate letters
as they were required, must have seemed to Schœffer, a most irksome and
unprofitable toil. Faust was undoubtedly of the same opinion. It would
appear from various authorities that Schœffer looked upon him as his
master. Faust certainly was the paymaster to the establishment at the
Zum Junghen, and very probably placed Schœffer there, not merely as an
acquisition on account of his abilities, but as a man whom he could
trust to look after his interests.
Well aware of the position in which Gutenberg and Faust stood toward
each other, in respect to the advances made for completing the costly
work they had in hand; and knowing what heavy expenses were incurred,
and how much delay[70] was occasioned by their method of proceeding,
Schœffer’s mind would be constantly brooding over the possibility of
obviating, by some simple process, the difficulties which perpetually
beset them. Every thing he saw which seemed likely to lead to the
attainment of the desired end would be eagerly scrutinised and applied
to what might at this time be considered the set purpose of his life.
Wealth and fame awaited success; and a desire to rival Gutenberg as an
inventor, and the hope of contracting a family alliance with Faust,
the influential money-lender, may have acted as spurs to quicken his
ambition and animate the resolution that determined his course.
It is to be remembered that Faust was a member of a family of
goldsmiths, and that in their business, punches, dies, and moulds,
would be in frequent use. And although the goldsmith’s art, as all
other arts then were, would be conducted as a mystery, to which none
but the regularly initiated had access, Schœffer, in the opportunities
for intimacy with Faust which his position afforded him, could
hardly fail, sooner or later, to observe such appliances. These once
observed,--and opportunities for observation, in his capacity of
illuminator (an art in which gold and silver were sometimes largely
used) would not be wanting, especially when eagerly watched and waited
for,--he would not rest until he had ascertained the uses to which they
were put; and that information gained, the practical application would
quickly follow. The punches he needed were ready to his hand. Each
letter then in use, made of hard cut metal,[71] was, in fact, a punch.
To strike a matrix in a softer metal, or in clay or plaster, which
could be subsequently hardened, and to adapt a mould to cast a type
with a shank or body of uniform height and accurately squared, were the
two steps that were required. The mould would be his chief difficulty.
This he had to devise so that it could be adjusted to the varying
widths of the different letters and characters required for a complete
fount[72] of types; and this could scarcely be effected otherwise than
by making it in corresponding halves, with a provision for leaving in
their centre, when closed together, a small quadrangular channel or
chamber, made of hard metal, the width of which could be regulated by
a slide and screw. The stamped part of the matrix placed at the end of
this channel, would form the bottom of the mould; and when this was
fixed, it would be ready for the pouring in of the fused metal, which
setting almost instantly, a quick and slight opening of the halves
of the mould, enabled the operator to shake out the cast type. The
type-founder could thus rapidly repeat the process until he had cast
as many letters as he required. A little careful trimming and dressing
was all that was further needed on his part before he handed them over
to the printer ready for use. No doubt it required much thought, and
many experiments, before the mould was finished to the satisfaction of
its inventor. But as soon as it was completed, the Type-founder’s art
commenced.
From the foregoing considerations it becomes apparent that as Faust
found money to enable Gutenberg fully to realise his ideas as to
Letter-press printing, so in all likelihood did the business which
was the source of Faust’s wealth, furnish to Schœffer the clue which
enabled him to complete the invention, without which Typography
could never have achieved the results that were effected by it with
such marvellous rapidity within the lifetime of those by whom it was
invented.
That Schœffer really originated the Type-founder’s art is further
proved by the account given of him by John Frederick Faust of
Aschaffenberg,[73] who after attributing the origin of printing to his
relative, Faust of Mentz, and describing the difficulties experienced
with the ink in the earlier attempts; as well as the trouble and delay
occasioned by the want of a suitable press to obtain impressions from
the separable letters, proceeds as follows:--“He [Faust] had however,
some people who actively assisted him in printing, composing, making
ink, and so forth. Amongst these was a certain Peter Schœffer of
Gernszheim, who entering into his master’s views, and being himself
ardently desirous to improve the art, found out, by the good providence
of God, the method of cutting (_incidendi_) the characters in a
_matrix_, that the letters might easily be singly _cast_ instead of
being _cut_. He _privately cut matrices_ for the whole alphabet; and
when he showed his master the letters cast from those matrices, Faust
was so pleased with the contrivance, that he promised Peter to give him
his only daughter [grand-daughter] Christina in marriage, a promise
which was in due time fulfilled. _But there were as many difficulties
at first with these letters, as there had been before with those of
wood_; the metal being too soft to support the force of the impression;
but this defect was soon remedied, by mixing the metal with a substance
which sufficiently hardened it.”[74]
This sets the matter at rest, and shews that neither to Gutenberg
nor to Faust was Schœffer indebted for suggestions which in their
estimation were likely to lead to so important an invention--the
fourth grand step in the newly-discovered Art,--the method of rapidly
_casting_ fac-simile types in fusile metal.[75]
Giving then to Schœffer all the honor to which he is entitled, it may
still be asked, Why did he reveal the secret to Faust alone, and not to
Gutenberg as well?--and the answer to this question may possibly throw
some light upon the motives which actuated Faust in prosecuting the
lawsuit against Gutenberg. Schœffer was at the time in a subordinate
position in the printing office, and hardly likely to be able to
command, from his own resources, sufficient funds to establish himself
as a printer on his own account. He would consequently look rather to
Faust than to Gutenberg for his reward. In the next place, if, as it
is but reasonable to suppose, he had made use of Gutenberg’s letters
as his punches, (for it is by no means clear that he cut punches for
himself, and he was not, like either Gutenberg or Faust, a worker in
metals), he might well expect that Gutenberg would object to the terms
he was resolved upon demanding; and moreover, resent the use of his
letters for the purpose to which, without his permission, they had been
applied. Such an unauthorised use of his original invention either
was, or might be deemed to be, injurious to Gutenberg; and it is not
exactly in accordance with the average standard of human nature for one
man who has injured another,[76]--especially in stealing a march upon
him in the matter of an important invention,--to reveal to the party
injured what he has been doing detrimental to his interests. Schœffer
at any rate was determined that Gutenberg should be kept in ignorance
of his secret. The proceedings of the lawsuit shew, that at the time
it was pending, Schœffer was not in any way concerned in the profits or
losses attending the business;--in fact, his name does not appear in
connection with it, except as a witness on behalf of Faust. What more
likely then, than that knowing the heavy advances made by Faust, for
which no returns had as yet been received,--knowing, too, how changed
the aspect of affairs would be by the application of his invention,--he
insisted upon Faust ousting Gutenberg, as one of the stipulations
for the revelation of his secret. Whether it was so or not, it is
certain, that after Gutenberg was got rid of, Faust took Schœffer
into partnership, placed him in charge of the printing establishment,
betrothed him to his grand-daughter, and conjointly with him, imposed
an oath of secresy upon all to whom a knowledge of the new invention
was entrusted.
This view of the case completely meets an objection which has been
raised by Mr. Ottley. “If,” says he, “Faust had been brought up as a
goldsmith, he may reasonably be supposed to have possessed acquirements
applicable to the art [printing] which now engaged his attention,
and among others, the arts of carving, chiselling, and casting. If
we suppose Faust not to have busied himself at all with the various
details and processes of the new art, during the above five years’
partnership, but that he left the entire direction and management to
Gutenberg (as these writers would have us to believe), he must, one
would think, have been but ill able to do without him, when in 1455,
he brought the above action for the recovery of the monies he had
advanced; and this objection to their system, appears to me to be
worthy of consideration, nay to be almost decisive.”
The objection thus raised so far from being decisive, is not only not
so, but it has no solid foundation in fact. Nothing in the law-process
shews that Faust had anything whatever to do with the management and
working of the printing establishment. It was entirely in Gutenberg’s
hands; Faust merely contracting with him to find the money to carry it
on, (_pay wages, &c._), for which he was to receive usury at the rate
of 6 per cent, _and, in addition_, a share of the profits, whatever
they might ultimately be. As a partner, he would have had to bear his
share of the _losses_, as well as to be a participator in the gains of
the undertaking; but against the contingency of loss he took good care
to guard himself. It is evident therefore, that to have foreclosed his
mortgage over the materials before he was in a position to entrust them
to some one who could work them to his advantage, would have been an
act of folly which he was far too shrewd a man of business to commit.
But as soon as Schœffer revealed his invention, and stipulated his
terms, all objections to a foreclosure were removed. The money was
demanded; the action brought; and we have seen with what results.
But whatever were the motives which actuated either Faust or Schœffer
in their treatment of Gutenberg, the immediate effect of Schœffer’s
invention would be, to cheapen and facilitate the production of types,
as much as, if not more than, the effect of the original invention by
Gutenberg in cheapening and facilitating the multiplication of copies
of works previously only attainable in manuscript. Printing was thus
rendered at once, what it was scarcely possible to have been before, a
profitable, if not a highly remunerative pursuit. But with the success
which resulted from Schœffer’s invention, came the downfall of the
venerable Guild of Writers; and the ancient copyists laid down their
pens in despair, intuitively feeling that thenceforth the occupation of
the scribe was gone.
Disastrous as was the lawsuit with Faust, it was not so utterly ruinous
in its results to Gutenberg as most writers have supposed. In the
first place, Faust had, at the outset, security for his advances.
Gutenberg had exhausted his own means in perfecting the art before he
sought assistance, and Faust was not the man to lend him money without
having money’s worth to guard against loss; secondly, the advances were
for a specific object,--for the joint advantage of both,--but that
object was likewise pledged to Faust as a collateral security; and
had been partially, if not wholly accomplished, before Faust made his
demand.
In the lawsuit, it was to Faust’s claim for interest that Gutenberg
principally demurred, his plea being, that although the letter of the
agreement between them might justify the claim, Faust had verbally
promised not to press it. The magistrates however decided according to
the terms of the agreement, and their judgment was not inequitable.
They ordered an account to be rendered of all moneys spent and
received in connection with the work which was undertaken for the joint
advantage of the litigants; Gutenberg to be credited with what was
fairly his due, and Faust to be repaid the principal and interest to
which he was entitled.
Now it by no means follows that the whole of the types, presses, and
plant of the printing establishment at the Zum Junghen was absorbed in
the discharge of Faust’s claim. Doubtless it was no small share that
went for that purpose, including as it did all that was printed of
the folio Bible of 637 leaves,--sufficient of itself, supposing the
edition did not exceed two hundred copies, to meet a large proportion
of the debt. The rupture, although it broke up the establishment, left
Gutenberg with men and materials still at command. Faust, as we have
seen, removed the stock that had been made over to him to his premises
in the Schuster Gasse; and Gutenberg went with the remainder to his
dwelling at the Zum Gutenberg, where he opened a ‘printing house’ on
his own account.[77]
Gutenberg’s position in Mentz was certainly one of influence, if not of
wealth. It is highly probable that at this time Dr. Conrad Homery,[78]
the syndic of the city, advanced him funds for the replenishment of
his stock of materials, since they were claimed by, and made over to
him, on Gutenberg’s death. With or without such aid he was speedily
at work again, and palæotypographists have recognised the products of
his press in the “Tractatus de celebratione Missarum;” the “Hermani
de Saldis Speculum Sacerdoti;” a treatise in the German language on
Councils; the “Dyalogus inter Hugonem Cathonem et Oliverium super
Libertate Ecclesiastica,” and a Kalendar or Almanack for the year 1460,
consisting of a few leaves in 4to. printed in characters resembling
those used in the first of the above-named works. A sheet Almanack for
1457, the first printed with a date, has also been attributed to him.
Independently of the special value of this document as a relic of early
printing, it proves that in the neighbourhood of Mentz the year then
commenced with the month of January, according to the Roman system,
and not at Easter as was the case in France and other countries, or at
Christmas as in some other places.
Strange to say Gutenberg attached his name to none of his works. It has
been suggested that this was owing to his patrician pride. Whether so
or not he was well known to his contemporaries both as a printer, and
the inventor of Printing.
The Typographer Philip de Lignamines, in his “History of the Pontiffs”
printed at Rome in 1474, writing of the events of the year 1458--three
years after the lawsuit, says--“Jean Gutenberg of Strasburg, and
another, named Fust, skilful in the art of printing with characters
of metal, on parchment, each print three hundred sheets per day at
Mentz.” And in a document preserved in the Library of the Arsenal at
Paris, it is stated, that on “the 3rd October, 1458, the King (Charles
V), having learnt that Messire Gutenberg, chevalier, residing at
Mentz, in Germany, a man dexterous in the engraving of letters and
punches, had brought to light the invention of printing by means of
such characters; and being curious concerning such valuable knowledge,
the King ordered the masters of his Mint to name to him persons well
skilled in such kind of engraving, that he might despatch them to
the aforesaid place, in order secretly to inform themselves of the
said invention, and to understand, conceive, and learn the art, &c.”
Whereupon, it was directed that Nicholas Jenson, an expert engraver,
should be forthwith despatched to Mentz, to learn the art in question,
for the purpose of introducing it to Paris.
It is believed by some writers, that Gutenberg continued to the end
of his career as a Typographer to print with cut metal types. Oaths
of secresy were imposed by Faust and Schœffer upon all whom they
employed, by which means they hoped to secure the knowledge of the
art of type-founding to themselves. But in the year 1462, when Mentz
was sacked by the troops of the Elector-Archbishop, Count Adolphus of
Nassau, their workmen were dispersed, and the arts of printing and
type-founding were generally made known all over Europe. Gutenberg
however must have seen at once, upon an examination of the works that
were issued from Faust and Schœffer’s establishment, that they were
producing types in some extraordinarily rapid manner; and acute as he
was, it is not likely that he would remain long in ignorance of the
method adopted. There were no doubt intimacies among the workmen of
the rival establishments, who had at first worked all together; and
among whom the secret would sooner or later ooze out. The _science_ of
Johann Nummeister, (whose name occurs in a document associated with
that of Gutenberg), may also have been especially called in to assist
in a competing method of type-founding. Certain it is, that two or
three years before 1462, Albrecht Pfister, and the brothers Henry and
Nicholas Bechtermuntze, with Wyngardum Spyes de Otherberg, printed
works with types so evidently the same as those cut by Gutenberg,
that they have not unfrequently been attributed to his press. Various
suppositions have been made, to account for this, but no one appears
to have thought of that which seems to be the most obvious; namely,
that sets of matrices or types were sold by Gutenberg to these early
printers, who with Keffer and Sensenschmidt and others, were taught
the art at his establishment. Where suppositions must be resorted to
in order to account for facts, those which are the most natural ought
surely to be chosen in preference to others which are less or least so.
About the year 1800, some interesting documents relating to Gutenberg
and his family were said to have been discovered by M. Bodman the
archivist of Mentz. The following,--the seals to which were copied
by Fischer in his “Essai sur le Monumens Typographiques de Jean
Gutenberg,” is entitled:--
“Agreement between Gutenberg and his brothers, &c., and the Nuns of the
Convent of St. Clair, at Mentz, A.D. 1459.
“We, Henne (John) Genszfleisch of Sulgeloch, called Gudinberg, and
Friele Genszfleisch, brothers, affirm and publicly declare by these
presents, and make known to all, that with the counsel and consent
of our dear cousins Johann and Friele and Pedirmann Genszfleisch,
brothers in Mentz, we have renounced and do renounce by these presents,
for us and our heirs, singly, together and at once, without fraud or
reserve, all the property that has passed by our sister Hebele to the
Convent of St. Clair at Mentz, in which she has become a nun; whether
the said property has been received by her on the part of our father
Henne Genszfleisch, or been given by himself, or in whatsoever other
manner, whether in grain, money, furniture, jewelry, or of whatever
kind it may be, which the respectable nuns, the Abbess and sisters
of the said convent have received, whether as a body or individually,
or which other persons of the convent may have received from the said
Hebele, be it great or small; and we have promised and do promise by
these presents, in good faith for us and our heirs, that neither we
nor any person on our part, nor our above named cousins nor their
heirs, nor any person on their part, shall demand back or reclaim
from the said convent, or from the Abbess, or from the convent as a
body, or from any persons who reside there individually, the said
property, be it what it may, either in whole or in part, and that we
will never demand it back, whether by the ecclesiastical or civil
judge, or without the assistance of the judge, and that neither we nor
our heirs, will ever molest the said convent by word or deed, either
secretly or publicly, in any matter whatever. And, with respect to the
books which I, the above named Henne, have given to the library of
the convent, they are to remain there always, and in perpetuity, and
I the above-named Henne, purpose to give also, and without fraud, to
the said convent for its library, for the use of the nuns present and
future, for their religious services, whether in reading or singing,
or in whatever manner they may please to make use of them, according
to the rules of their order, the books which I, the above-named Henne,
have already printed up to the present hour, or that I may print in
future, so far as they shall be pleased to make use of them; and in
consideration of this, the above-mentioned Abbess and the nuns of the
said convent of St. Clair, have for themselves and their successors,
declared and promised, that they will absolve me and my heirs from the
claim which my sister Hebele had to 60 florins, which I and my brother
Friele had promised to pay and deliver to the said Hebele as her dower,
and as the share, coming from the estate of Henne our father, which
he assigned to her as her portion, in virtue of a certain instrument
drawn up for that purpose, without fraud or deceit. And in order that
this (agreement) may be held firmly and fully binding by us and by our
heirs, we have given to the said nuns, and to their convent and order,
the present letters sealed with our seals. Signed and delivered, the
year of the birth of J. C. 1459, on the day of St. Margaret.” (July 20).
To this document four seals were attached inscribed--
_S: hans genszfleisch vo Sorgeloch
S: friele genszfleisch vo......loch
S: hen............sch vo Sulgeloch
frile genszfleisch._
Contradicting, as this agreement does, the views held by Mr. Ottley, he
says, “I confess I have great doubts of its genuineness, though perhaps
they are ill-founded.” M. Ph. Berjeau,[79] in his introduction to Mr.
Ottley’s work asserts that it is a forgery; and on the authority of
M. de Laborde says, “that Bodman, the Archivist of Mentz, bothered by
Oberlin, Fischer, and all the bibliographers of his time, who wanted
him to discover some new information about Gutenberg, thought it worth
his while to forge two documents, which just helped them to fill the
two gaps which occur in his history, one from 1420 to 1430, the other
from 1455 to 1460.” The other document referred to by M. de Laborde is
that already given in the note on pages 71 and 72.
But it has already been shewn from contemporary authorities in Italy
and France, that Gutenberg was known in those countries to be still
printing at Mentz in 1458. The motive imputed to M. Bodman as an
inducement to the criminal act charged against him by MM. Laborde
and Berjeau, cannot therefore be correct. Writers on both sides, in
their eagerness to confute their opponents, are much too apt to cry
out “forgery!” when documents are quoted which are fatal to their
pre-conceived views. There is however one point in this agreement which
needs explanation.
A certain Henne (John) Gensefleisch is referred to as the father of the
brothers John and Friele. But it is well known that their father’s name
was Frielo, and not Henne. How then is this discrepancy to be accounted
for? Even supposing that M. Bodman was tempted to forge a document
like the one in question, he would surely not have so worded it that
it should bear upon its face the proof of its falsity. The property to
which Hebele the nun was entitled, and the reclamation of which the two
brothers and the three cousins renounced, must have been a portion of
the ancestral patrimony, to a share of which each member of the family
had a well defined claim. Now their common ancestor was a certain Henne
Gensefleisch, whose son Frielo was _Rathsherr_ or councillor of Mentz
in the year 1332, and played a very prominent part when the great
rising of the guilds against the patricians took place in that year.
The preservation of the patrimony of a family being an object in which
all its members were interested, no portion could be alienated without
the consent of all concerned. This frequently led to the female members
of a family being placed in convents, for which provision might be made
in the original entailment of the property. It also limited marriages
among the males; since forfeiture of his share of the patrimony was
one of the penalties inflicted upon any who married without the family
consent. There does not therefore appear to be any solid reason
for rejecting the document as spurious. Moreover, in a copy of the
“Tractatus de celebratione Missarum,” originally in the library of the
Chartreux of Mentz, and afterwards in the city library, M. Fischer the
curator discovered the following memorandum in Latin:--“The Chartreux
of Mentz possesses this book through the liberality of Johann called
Gutenberg, the production of his art, and the science of Johann
Nummeister, completed (_confecta_) on the 19th of the kalendar of July
in the year 1463.” So that it is plain that Gutenberg was printing in
that year; and this memorandum further proves, that he made presents
of his works to the ecclesiastical establishments of the city; a fact
which confirms, in that respect at least, the authenticity of the
previously cited agreement.
In 1465, the Elector Adolph appointed Gutenberg a gentleman of his
Court; and by a public decree, dated the 18th January, bestowed upon
him an annual grant of twenty “malters” of corn, two barrels of wine
for his household; and an official court suit; the honor was thus
by no means an empty one. He did not however long enjoy it. After an
active and eventful life, he died in the year 1468.[80] The exact date
of his decease is not recorded, nor are there any particulars known of
the circumstances attending his death. But that he was in possession of
a printing office up to the very last, is proved beyond doubt by the
following acknowledgment of the receipt of the materials by the Syndic
Homery.
“I, Conrad Homery, doctor, make known by this letter that his Highness
my gracious and well-beloved Prince Adolph, Archbishop of Mayence, has
graciously caused to be delivered to me the ‘forms,’ characters, tools,
and other objects relating to printing, which Johann Gutenberg left at
his death, and which belonged to me, and belong to me still; but for
the honor and for the pleasure of his Highness, I have bound myself,
and am so bound by this letter, never to use them in any other place
than in Mayence; and moreover, only to sell them, in preference, to a
citizen of this place, who shall offer an equal price with any other.
In faith of which declaration, I have appended my seal to this present.
Given in the year 1468, the Friday after the festival of St. Matthew
(26th February.)”
Thus ended the life of JOHN GUTENBERG; the first maker of separable
metal TYPES; the inventor of the LETTER PRESS; the Founder of the
TYPOGRAPHIC ART.
His remains were interred at the church in the convent of the
Franciscans near the house Zum Junghen, where, not long after, one
of his kinsmen erected a tablet, the inscription on which ran as
follows:--
D. O. M. S.
IOANNI GENSZFLEISCH
ARTIS IMPRESSORIE REPERTORI
DE OMNI NATIONE ET LINGUA OPTIME MERITO
IN NOMINIS SUI MEMORIAM IMMORTALEM
ADAM GELTHUS POSUIT.
OSSA EJUS IN ECCLESIA D. FRANCISCI
MOGUNTINA FELICITER CUBANT.
About forty years later, another tablet was set up at the house Zum
Gutenberg, in the inner court of the College of Lawyers, by Ives of
Witigen or Venza, doctor of laws, and professor of that University, on
which was the following inscription:--
JO. GUTENBERGENSI MOGUNTINO
QUI PRIMUS OMNIUM LITERAS AERE
IMPRIMENDAS INVENIT,
HAC ARTE DE ORBE TOTO BENE MERENTI
IVO WITIGISIS HOC SAXUM
PRO MONUMENTO POSUIT M.D.VIII.
The learned Wimpheling, his contemporary, also commemorated his memory
in the following eloquent epigram:--
“Fœlix _Ansicare_, per te Germania fœlix,
Omnibus in terris prœmia laudis habet.
Urbe Moguntina, divino fulte Joannes
Ingenio, primus imprimis aere notas.
Multum relligio, multum tibi Græca Sophia
Et multum debet lingua Latina tibi.”[81]
* * * * *
The study of the life of such a man, who in his own person embodied,
in a pre-eminent degree, the leading characteristics of the Teutonic
race--Sense of Duty, Courage, Diligence, and Perseverance,--so ably
portrayed by Professor Max Müller in his oration at the German Festival
on the 1st of May 1871; is one of deep and abiding interest. His sense
of duty to his convictions was manifested in his boundless faith in
the ultimate success of his inventions; his courage was dauntless,--no
difficulties could deter him from following the path he was resolved
upon pursuing; his diligence was unwearied; his perseverance
indomitable. In spite of numerous failures, or what seemed such to men
less hopeful than himself, he constantly attracted new friends and
supporters, as old ones fell away. Losses, lawsuits and ingratitude
dogged each step of his career; but he triumphed over every difficulty;
saw the Art he had invented become the means of bringing fortunes to
men who had at different times been his associates and opponents; and
died esteemed and honored by the sovereign of his native city. Well
did he realize the truth of the inspired proverb of the Royal Hebrew
sage,--“Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand
before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.”
Great and noble by nature, his fame as an original inventor has always
stood deservedly high; but should the hypothesis of Mr. Holt be
established as a fact by the production of further evidence, his fame
henceforth will stand much higher than it has hitherto done. The genius
with which he was gifted will, in such case, prove to be of the same
order as that which first led to the representation in visible symbols
of the sound of spoken thoughts; and the pinnacle of glory on which
the memory of his name is raised for the admiration of posterity must
be elevated to the same level as that of the yet unknown but divinely
inspired originator of the immortal art of writing.
Not less interesting than the study of the life of Gutenberg, is
the contemplation of the effects which the Art he invented almost
immediately produced. These can scarcely be more eloquently or
succinctly stated, than in the words of the distinguished historian
Sir EDWARD S. CREASY, Chief Justice of Ceylon. After speaking of the
excitement occasioned throughout Europe by the maritime discoveries
of the Portuguese, and other causes of intellectual movements in the
Fifteenth century, he adds:--“Still more strongly was the advancement
of intellectual activity aided during the last half of the fifteenth
century, by the discovery and rapid progress of the art of printing.
The power of swiftly and cheaply multiplying copies of a book, in a
more conveniently transmissible, and a more easily legible form, than
that of the best manuscript, gave now to an author an increase of
mental and moral authority over his fellow men, somewhat resembling
the increase in importance, and the extension of operations, which
the steam engine has in our age given to invention in mechanics and
manufactures. The circulation of printed books created hosts of
readers, who otherwise would have remained ignorant of any kind of
literature, ancient or modern. It gave an immeasurable increase to
the weight of public opinion. It stimulated discovery. It promoted
discussion. It made the suppression of opinion difficult, and
generally impossible. It shook to the very base every institution that
was founded on fraud, or upheld by unjust force. It gave also weapons
to those who seek violent changes merely from the love of innovation
and violence. Among the numerous causes which co-operated in giving
European history the altered character which we discover in it during
and after the close of the fifteenth century, none have been more
operative than the invention of moveable types.”[82] [combined, we take
the liberty of adding, with the invention of the printing press.]
FOOTNOTES:
[32] Variously named in contemporary documents, Johannes Gutenberg;
Johannes de Moguntia, dictus Gutenberg; Johannes dictus Gensefleisch,
junior, dictus Gutenberg; Johannes Gansefleisch, dictus Sulgeloch vel
Sorgenloch; Henne Gensfleisch, genant Sulgeloch; Hans Genzefleisch von
Mentz, genant Gutenberg. In English _Gansefleisch_ would be written
_Gooseflesh_; in Latin, _Ansicarus_.
[33] MEERMAN, and a few other writers, make mention of two John
Gutenbergs, brothers, both of whom are spoken of as inventors of
Typography; the elder, known as John Gansfleisch, dying, so it is
stated, in 1462. The reason of this seems to be, that some one was
wanted to fill the position of the thief, who, according to the tale of
Junius, stole from Janssoen, the Coster of Haarlem, the moveable types
he had recently invented. As John Gutenberg, junior, could not be fixed
upon, and there was no other method of bringing discredit upon his
claim, and as the alleged thief was a John somebody, John Gansfleisch,
senior, assumed to be _elder brother_ to John junior, was thought
of; and from him, it is asserted, the younger brother obtained his
knowledge of the art of printing. The authority on which Meerman relied
appears to be a document first published by Köhler (_Ehrenrettung
Guttenberg’s_), in which it is stated, that in 1443 John Gansfleisch
the elder hired a house at Mentz, his birthplace. Santander says, the
phrase was used because John Gutenberg’s _uncle_ having died about this
time, he had in reality become the elder. Later writers agree with
Santander that the elder Gansfleisch here referred to was an uncle
to Gutenberg junior, but they do not admit his death at this time.
Being named after him, he was probably his _godfather_, and may have
been living with him in Strasburg in 1443. It was to his house that
Gutenberg junior went, on his return to Mentz.
[34] “To the worthy nun Bertha, in the Convent of St. Clair, at Mentz,
health and fraternal good wishes. My dear sister, with respect to what
you say of the rents and money which were left to you by our brother
Conrad, whom God bless, by his last will; that often and for a long
time past, they have not been paid to you, and that they are still
owing to you, and amount as you say to a considerable sum; I have to
inform you, that, upon giving a receipt, you may receive the sum of
twenty florins (of gold) out of my rents and revenues, coming as you
know, from Mentz, and other places; by applying to Joh. Dringelter,
the wax chandler; Veronica Mystersen, at Seilhoven; or at Mentz,
and various other places, of which Pedirman can inform you; as at
Lorzwiller, Bodenheim, and Murminheym. I purpose, if it please God, to
have the pleasure of seeing you before long, and to arrange the matter
with Pedirman, so that your property may be promptly delivered to you,
according to the terms and intention of the will. I await your answer
upon this subject. Given at Strasburg; feriâ quintâ post dominicam (the
24th March) M.CCCC.XX.IIII.”
(Signed) “HENNE GENSFLEISCH, called Sulgeloch.”
--_Santander_, from Oberlin’s “Essai d’Annales de la Vie de J.
Gutenberg,” pp. 3, 4.
[35] Linseed oil, rosins, shellac, pitch, mundick, varnishes, nutgalls,
turpentine, and vitriol, were made use of by the early printers in
manufacturing their ink. In applying it, a small quantity was first
taken up on a pair of balls or dabbers made of sheepskins padded with
wool; these were then well beaten together until finely and evenly
covered, after which they were beaten on the types until the pages were
considered sufficiently inked.
[36] _Typographia_: An Historical sketch of the Origin and Progress of
the Art of Printing. By T. C. HANSARD, 1825. 8vo. 1000 pp.
[37] _The Press_: a Poem; by JOHN M‘CREERY. The original edition,
printed by the author, was beautifully illustrated with wood engravings
by Mr. Hole, a pupil of the Bewicks. Mr. M‘Creery’s establishment was
celebrated for the excellence of its printing.
[38] “Life and Typography of William Caxton.” vol. ii. p. xlv.
[39] “Inquiry concerning the Invention of Printing.” p. 254.
[40] These occur in what is known as the fourth edition, of which only
three copies exist, two in Haarlem, and one in Lille. It is in the
copy at Lille that a leaf is printed on both sides. Mr. Humphreys,
in his noble work,--the greatest boon ever conferred in any age or
country on students of early Typography,--says, (p. 63) this leaf has
“an appearance of being printed on both sides, from the existence of
a strong set off.” But if the lines of the supposed ‘set-off’ read
in the usual way, they must have been set-off from a set-off, or
the impression would appear reversed. Most probably the back of the
original impression was printed on by an accidental oversight.
[41] “The Old Printer and the Modern Press.” p. 102. _London_, 1854.
[42] Other witnesses also deposed to purchases, and in the judgment
given on the suit, some of these are referred to as having been of
_lead_.
[43] The documents containing an account of the trial, and the sentence
of the magistrates of Strasburg, are dated December 1439. They were
originally published with a Latin version, by Schöpflin, in his
_Vindiciæ Typographicæ_, 1760, and have since been repeatedly printed
with French, English and Dutch translations.
[44] In his “Dissertation sur l’Origine, l’Invention, et le
Perfectionnement de l’Imprimerie,” printed at Amsterdam in 1819.
This work was the one which obtained the prize offered by the Dutch
Society of Arts and Sciences at Haarlem, about the year 1814, for the
best Dissertation in support of the ancient tradition that the Art of
Printing was invented in that city.
[45] In certain parts of the north of Scotland augers and high-pitched
screws are to this day called ‘wommels’ or ‘wombels,’ by old folk. The
word is no doubt the same as the antiquated German ‘wurbel.’
[46]
“Quid, si nunc justos, aeris ratione reducta,
Tentarem libros cudere mille modis?
Robora prospexit dehinc _torcularia_ Bacchi,
Et dixit, preli forma sit ista novi.”
_Encomion Chalcographiæ_, v.v. 65-69.
[47] KŒNIG’S cylinder machine, erected for Mr. BENSLEY the eminent
printer, and first set in operation in April 1811, at the manufactory
in Whitecross-street, London; when it printed 3000 sheets of the
_Annual Register_, to the admiration of all who saw it at work.
[48] “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and
that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no
new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said,
See, this is new? it hath been already of old time which was before
us.”--_Ecclesiastes_, i. 9, 10. Some days subsequent to that on which
I had printed the description of the process, which, after a careful
examination of Mr. Humphreys’ fac-simile, I felt convinced was the one
which had been adopted for taking impressions of the moveable types
used in the _Speculum Humanæ Salvationis_, I received an illustrated
advertisement sheet of Francis Donnison and Son, Printers’ Engineers
of Newcastle-on-Tyne, in which is an engraving of an “Improved Galley
Proof Press,” which exactly realises the idea I attempted to convey to
my readers on pages 83 and 84.
[49] “The Pilgrims of the Rhine,” by BULWER, (Lord LYTTON), p. 313.
[50] “Wimpheling, one of the most learned men of his time, who narrowly
escaped persecution for the Protestant tendency of his writings, and
who among other things which proved him to have been a thinker in
advance of his time, founded a literary society at Strasburg, which
soon became celebrated, and the tendencies of which were afterwards
praised even by the critical Erasmus.”--HUMPHREYS, p. 82.
[51] “De l’Origine de l’Imprimerie.” _Paris_, 1853.
[52] “Kritische Geschichte der Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst durch
Johann Gutenberg zu Mainz.” von J. WETTER. _Mainz_, 1836. 8vo. pp. xvi.
808, with 13 Tables of fac-similes.
[53] “Characteres enim a primus illis inventoribus non ita eleganter
et expedite, ut a nostris fieri solet, sed _filo in litterarum foramen
immisso_, connectebantur, sicut Venetiis id genus typos me vidisse
memini.”
[54] The family of the Fusts was one of great respectability. It
consisted at this time of three brothers; John the banker and
money-lender; James, the city architect, and subsequently a goldsmith
as well; and Nicholas, a judge in one of the Courts of law. John
married his wife Margaret about the year 1420; one son, Conrad, was the
only issue of the marriage. Conrad married in 1445, and his daughter,
Christina, was, in 1465, bestowed in marriage upon Peter Schœffer of
Gernszheim. It appears from some accounts that John Faust was also a
goldsmith; a business with which banking and money-lending were usually
combined.
[55] There is another version of the circumstances attending the
connection of Gutenberg with Faust. Gutenberg senior, say the claimants
of the honor of the invention for the first printer at Strasburg,
returned to Mentz in 1440, having stolen the knowledge of the art from
Mentelin, their countryman, who they assert was the original inventor.
Dutch authorities however say, that Gutenberg’s return to Mentz, in
1440, was after he stole the types, &c., from Coster, the original
inventor at Haarlem. Like Sir Boyle Roche’s bird, he was thus in two
places at one and the same time. After his return he printed, in 1442,
the two school-books ‘Alexandri Galli Doctrinale,’ and ‘Petri Hispani
Tractatus,’ and then, in 1443, took the house ‘Zum Jungen,’ when he was
joined in partnership by Faust, J. Meidenbachius, J. Petersheimius, and
others, whose names have not been recorded, and in 1444 by Gutenberg
junior, who then quitted Strasburg for that express purpose. That in
1450 this partnership was dissolved, when Faust and Gutenberg junior
entered into a new partnership, the senior being no longer heard of.
These statements are at best but conjectural, and have been made with
the view of affording support to the systems of writers who deny to
Gutenberg the honor of having invented the Typographic Art.
The quotations in the text are from the record of legal proceedings
taken by Faust against Gutenberg in 1455. This record was printed in
German by SECKENBURG in “Selectis Juris et Historiarum,” tom. i. pp.
269-277; by WOLFIUS, in his “Monumenta Typographica,” tom. i. p. 472
_et seq._, and by WETTER, pp. 284-290.
[56] Trithemius derived his information direct from Schœffer the
[grand] son-in-law of Faust; but did not write his chronicle until
thirty years after. The work usually referred to as the Catholicon, is
one of some magnitude. It was written by the monk John Balbi, or John
of Genoa, and consists of a Latin Grammar followed by a Vocabulary.
Gutenberg probably printed only the latter portion, and perhaps but an
abridgment of that. As the earliest production of his press, after his
connection with Faust, a copy would now be of immense value; but as is
the case with the _Tracts_ of Peter of Spain, no bibliographer has yet
had the good fortune to identify it, and possibly it may have passed
out of existence. There is no reason however to doubt the correctness
of the Abbot’s statement on that account. There can be no question
but that multitudes of works, issued from the presses of the early
printers, have been utterly destroyed. It is marvellous that so many
single, unique copies, have been preserved to the present time.
[57] These have been fully described by Fischer, Van Praet, Wetter,
Leon de Laborde, and other writers.
[58] See _post_ for Zell’s account in full.
[59] The entry at the end of the first volume is--“Et sic est finis
prime partis biblia Scz. veteris testamenti, Illuminata seu rubricata
& ligata per Henricum Albch alias cremer. Anno dni M^oCCCC^oLVI festo
Bartholomei apli--Deo gratias--Alleluja.” That on the end of the second
volume:--“Iste liber illuminatus, ligatus & completus est per Henricum
cremer vicariū ecclesie collegiate sancti Stephani maguntini sub anno
dni Millesimo quatringentisimo quinquagesimo sexto, festo Assumptionis
gloriose virginis Marie, Deo gracias. Alleluja, &c.”
[60] With the exception of the first ten or eleven pages, which contain
but forty or forty-one lines in each column.
[61] The doubt was not only natural, but there is an almost absolute
certainty that the letters could not have been cast at the time.
Schœffer’s invention of cast fusile types did not take place,--or
at any rate was not made use of,--until after the lawsuit between
Gutenberg and Faust.
[62] HUMPHREYS, p. 84.
[63] “Post hæc inventis successerunt subtiliora, inveneruntque modum
fundendi formas omnium latini alphabeti litterarum, quas ipsi matrices
nominabant ex quibus rursum aeneos sive stanneos caracteres fundebant,
ad omnem pressuram sufficientes, quas prius manibus sculpebant.
Et revera sicuti ante XXX. ferme annos ex ore Petri Opilionis de
Gernsheim, civis moguntini qui gener erat primi artis inventoris,
audivi, magnam a primo inventionis suæ hæc ars impressoria habuit
difficultatem. Impressuri namque Bibliam, priusquam tertium complessent
in opere quaternionem, plusquam 4000 florenorum exposuerunt.”
[64] This statement no doubt included Gutenberg’s personal outlay, in
addition to the moneys advanced by Faust.
[65] “Most of the punch-cutters at present belonging to the
type-founding trade are English, and their earnings depend in a great
measure upon the abilities they display in the work. A first-rate
cutter will earn from £5. to £6. weekly, and even more. ‘When I first
came to the trade,’ said a man to Mr. Mayhew, ‘the punch-maker who
worked for my old master, had £5. a week for producing two punches a
day. This was all he was expected to do for his wages; but for every
punch he turned out over and above that number he had his regular
premiums.’”--MAYHEW’S _Trades and Manufactories of Great Britain_, p.
250.
[66] “I shall use my best endeavours to detect and expose false or
exaggerated statements and deceitful arguments, come from whom they
may; leaving such good proofs and reasonable grounds of belief, on the
one side or the other as may then remain, to be incorporated afterwards
with such further proofs as have resulted from my own researches.
Lastly ... I shall strive to merit the praise of not overstating the
evidence one way or the other, and of not pressing an argument further
than it will fairly go; it being my sole object to come if possible, at
the truth, in this long disputed question.”--_Inquiry concerning the
Invention of Printing_, p. 5.
[67] _Inquiry_, pp. 49-51.
[68] In a book of notes, left with one Gerlach, and afterwards
purchased by Johan Rot, the brother in all probability of Berthold Rot,
the first printer at Basle, there occurs the following memorandum,
in Schœffer’s own handwriting:--“Hic est finis omnium librorum tam
veteris quam nove logice, completi per me Petrum de Gernszheim,
alias Moguncia, anno M.CCCC.XLIX, in gloriosissima Universitate
Parisiensi.”--(HUMPHREYS, p. 84.) His name, variously spelt as
Schöffer, Schœffer, Schoiffer, and Schoiffher, and signifying in
English, _Shepherd_, is sometimes printed in its Latin form, _Opilio_.
[69] “Petrus autem memoratus Opilio ... homo ingeniosus et prudens,
faciliorem modum fundendi caracteres excogitavit, et artem ut nunc est
complevit.”
[70] “John Schœffer says, at the conclusion of the _Historia
Francorum_, printed in 1515, that the inventor did indeed commence the
art of printing in 1450; but did not perfect and bring it to the stage
when the use of the press was required until 1452.”--_vide_ WETTER, p.
350. Referring the date 1450 to the original contract with Faust, this
statement shews that at least two years, possibly nearly three, were
spent in the preparatory arrangements, casting and cutting the letters,
&c. before a single page of the Latin Bible was printed.
[71] Letters made of copper or tin alone would scarcely be hard enough
to use as punches, except for plaster moulds; but a mixture of metals
forming brass, of which several writers say the first cut metal types
were made, would answer the purpose, and could be struck into blocks
of soft copper or tin without the slightest difficulty. At a pinch,
however, Benjamin Franklin has shewn that even with ordinary types,
matrices of lead can be made and used with success: “Our printing
house,” he writes, “often wanted sorts, and there was no letter-foundry
in America; I had seen types cast at James’s in London, but without
much of attention to the manner; however, I contrived a mould, and made
use of the letters we had as puncheons, struck the matrices in lead,
and thus supplied in a pretty tolerable way the deficiencies.”
[72] The word _fount_, here used to indicate a complete set of types,
was originally _fund_, and signified a casting or founding of type.
Hence also the terms founder and foundry, derived, like the former,
from the Latin _fundo_.
[73] This Faust, whose ancestors came from Mentz, was a son of the
councillor and judge of the imperial tribunal at Frankfort, who died
in 1619. Writing from family papers and traditions, J. F. Faust
(inheriting the jealousy against Gutenberg which was engendered by
the lawsuit, his opposite politics, and the honours bestowed upon
him by the Elector-Archbishop) attributes the origin of Typography
to Faust of Mentz, but admits that Gutenberg was his assistant. With
the exception of this change of persons, the account he gives of the
origin of the art accords in its main facts with the statements made by
Trithemius, Zell, Wimpheling, Arnold de Bergel, and other early writers
on the subject. He mentions the block Alphabet and Donatus, and the
separate wooden types made by cutting the engraved tablets into single
letters,--which were all for a long time preserved in Faust’s house at
Mentz; where his grandfather Dr. Johan Faust, had seen them. This Dr.
Faust also left with the family a written description of these first
beginnings of the art. J. F. Faust’s account, taken from WETTER, with
some remarks by that author, will be found in the Appendix.
[74] Various metals were used in the manufacture of types. Mr. BLADES,
at pages xx. and xxiv. of his second volume of the _Life and Typography
of Caxton_, gives extracts from the “Cost Book” of the Directors of
the Ripoli Press at Florence, 1474-1483, a document still extant in
the Magliabechi library at Florence, and printed in the “Notizie
Storiche sopra la Stamperia di Ripoli, la quali possono servire
all’ illustrazione della Storia Tipografica Fiorentina. Raccolta e
pubblicate dal P. Vincezio Fineschi. 8vo. In Firenze MDCCLXXXI.” From
this it seems that for the steel required (probably for punches) the
price paid per lb. was equivalent to 9_s._ of present current money;
for metal (not otherwise described) 2_s._ 0¾_d._; brass, 2_s._
3_d._; copper, 1_s._ 3_d._; tin, 1_s._ 6_d._; lead, 5¼_d._; and iron
wire, 1_s._ 6_d._
[75] Eight great inventions may be enumerated in the history of
Typography. These are, first, the block books; second, the separable
types; third, the printing-press; fourth, type-founding; fifth,
stereotyping, (taking plaster moulds of whole pages of type, and
from them castings in solid metal plates); sixth, composition inking
rollers; seventh, cylindrical printing machines, to be worked by
steam-power; and eighth, steam type-setting machines. As the four last
are of modern date, they do not come within the scope of the present
work.
[76] That Gutenberg considered himself an injured man is clear from
statements which occur in both J. F. FAUST’S and ARNOLD DE BERGEL’S
accounts. The former states that Gutenberg was greatly angered by
the lawsuit, and not only refused to be present at the close of
the proceedings, but afterwards left Mentz for Strasburg, where he
established a printing office of his own. This is not exactly correct;
but as it shews the belief that existed in the Faust family, it is
probable that he may have supplied Mentelin, the first printer there,
with types and material to commence with. Bergel states, that when the
originator of the contract (Faust) began to see some hopes of gain, he
raised a discord which led to a rupture: that Gutenberg protested the
strife was unjust, but the upshot was a separation, each one trusting
to himself and his own press. The following lines shew this, and hint
also at the belief that the tribunal before which the lawsuit was
tried, was under influences adverse to Gutenberg; the old grudge of
Burgher _versus_ Noble, still making itself manifest.
“Hic dum cernebant raras procedere merces,
Sanxerunt dextris foedera pacta suis:
Quæ Deus, aut fortuna dabit, communia sunto,
Æqualis nostrum sitque laboris onus.
Foedera sed lucri raro concordia nutrit,
Indiga sunt pacis dissidioque patent.
Sit postquam autores quæstus spes cepit habendi,
Ad lites vertunt pectora capta leves.
In partes abeunt, sinceraque pacta resolvunt,
Et promissa cadunt, irrita fitque fides;
Cuilibet ut propriis serviret pergula prelis,
Et sibi multijugas quisque pararet opes.
Non tulit injustas mens Gutenbergica rixas,
Testatur Superos foedera rupta Deos.
Caussa fori tandem pavidi defertur ad ora;
Scribitur ac illis dica nefanda fori.
Tempore sed longo res est tractata dicaci
Lite, hodie pendet judicis inque sinu.”
_Encomion Chalcographiæ_, v.v. 245-263.
[77] The division of the plant seems to have been made with judicial
fairness. A portion of the original implements or utensils were
assigned to Faust, and according to the testimony of J. F. Faust of
Aschaffenberg, they remained for a length of time in the possession of
the family (see note, p. 167). Bergel, or Bergellanus, who published
his _Encomion Chalcographiæ_ in 1541, and was for fifteen years a
corrector of the press in a printing establishment at Mentz, states,
in the Dedication of his work to the Archbishop Albert of Brandenberg,
that “several very old instruments were seen by him at Mentz, which
the citizens informed him had been used by Gutenberg in the art;” from
which it may be inferred, that they were either preserved among the
muniments of the city, or by some of Gutenberg’s family connections.
[78] Also spelt Hombracht, and Hoemborch.
[79] Author of “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis. Le plus ancien Monument de
la Xylographie et de la Typographie réunis reproduits en fac-simile,
avec Introduction Historique et Bibliographique.” Londres, 1861. fol.
[80] Authorities differ in respect to Gutenberg’s age, the year of
his birth not having been precisely ascertained. It is broadly stated
by WETTER, that he was born between the years 1393 and 1400. He must
therefore have been at least 68 years of age, and he may have been 75,
at the time of his death.
[81] Published at Heidelberg in 1499.
[82] _History of England_, vol. ii. pp. 526-7.
Early Typography.