THE WORKS OF FAUST AND SCHŒFFER.--LEGEND OF THE PRINTER’S
DEVIL.--MONUMENTS IN GERMANY TO GUTENBERG, FAUST AND
SCHŒFFER.--SEPARABLE LETTERS FIRST INVENTED IN
CHINA.--CHARACTERISTICS OF ANCIENT PRINTED BOOKS.--THE
“COMPOSING-STICK” AND “SETTING-RULE.”--EARLY BINDINGS.
The first book published by Faust and Schœffer, after their separation
from Gutenberg, was a beautiful folio edition of the Psalter, finished
on the 14th August, 1457. This is the celebrated work, so often alluded
to, the first to which the name of the printer was affixed, as well as
that of the place where, and the date when, it was printed. It is from
this circumstance that the origin of the Art of Typography has been by
certain early writers attributed to Faust rather than to Gutenberg.
The fine large Gothic type with which the book is printed, (22 lines
to a foot,) is exactly double the size of that cut for the ‘Mazarin’
Bible. The initial capital letters, of which there are in all 288,
are from four to six lines in depth, printed in red and blue, with
ornamental flower-work and figures cut in the body of the letter, and
bordered with scroll-work running into the margins. In the case of the
commencing initial, the letter B, this scroll-work extends from the
top to the bottom of the page. The capitals commencing each sentence
in the body of the work, are also in red ink, as well as whole lines
interspersed here and there. The music is on a staff of four lines
instead of five, the notes square-headed and diamond-shaped, the words
beneath being in roman characters. These portions of the work are
engraved on solid blocks. At the end of the Psalter is inserted the
Faust and Schœffer badge, which thenceforth appeared in all their
works.[132] This consisted of two shields (on which were their coats
of arms) suspended from the branch of a tree. Beneath this was the
following imprint or colophon:--
“Presens spalmorum codex venustate capitalium decoratus
Rubricationibus que sufficienter distinctus, Adinventione
artificiosa imprimendi et caracterizandi absque calami ulla
exaratione sic effigiatus. Et ad eusebiam Dei industrie est
consummatus[133] Per Johannem Fust Civem moguntinum Et Petrum
Schöffer de Gernszheim. Anno domini Millesimo CCCCLVII. In
vigilia Assumpcionis.”
The declaration contained in this colophon seems incompatible with the
truth, as well as with the admissions of Schœffer himself, on other
occasions, unless it be understood as applying to the exquisite initial
letters, these being printed wholly in colours, instead of being
sketched in by the hand of the rubricator or coloured by illuminators.
These very letters however, it is believed by some, including Mr.
Humphreys, (see p. 86 of his work,) were the work of Gutenberg; and
M. Fischer in his interesting essay[134] has shewn, that in several
small works[135] which issued from Gutenberg’s press before the
forfeiture of his plant to Faust, the identical letters (the smaller
initials) used in the Psalter, as well as some of those printed in two
colours, and of which he has given fac-similes, appear. But if, as
there is abundant reason to believe was the case, Schœffer was engaged
as an assistant at the Zum Jungen at, or soon after the year 1450,
when Gutenberg first obtained advances from Faust, these capitals,
the beauty of which is undisputed, may have been, and most probably
were, designed by him for the projected works for which the money was
advanced; and, as his ‘inventions,’ and not the work of Gutenberg, they
would be included in the property which was transferred to Faust on
the termination of the law-suit. Looked at from this point of view,
they may be thought to justify the assertion in the colophon of the
Psalter of 1457, although there can be no doubt but that that work was
partly completed while the whole property was still in the possession
of Gutenberg, and that therefore to him must be attributed the honour
of planning, and cutting the fount of types with which it was executed.
“The most perfect copy known of this work, (says Mr. Timperley,) is
that in the Imperial Library of Vienna. It was discovered in the year
1665, near Innspruck in the castle of Ambras, where the Archduke
Francis Sigismund had collected a prodigious quantity of manuscripts
and printed books; taken for the most part from the famous library of
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, from whence it was transported to
Vienna. The book is printed in folio on vellum, and of such extreme
variety, that though not more than six or seven copies are known to
be in existence, all of them differ from each other in some respect.
The Psalter occupies one hundred and thirty-five, and the recto the
hundred and thirty-sixth, and the remaining forty-one leaves are
appropriated to the litany, prayers, responses, vigils, &c. The Psalms
are executed in larger characters than the hymns; the capital letters
are cut in wood, with a degree of delicacy and boldness which are
truly surprising: the largest of them--the initial letters of the
Psalms--which are black, red, and blue, must have passed three times
through the press.”
From 1457 to 1466 the following works were printed by Faust and
Schœffer.
(1) The Psalter, 2d edition.--1459.
(2) Rationale divinorum Officiorum Guillelmi Durandi.--1459.
A folio work consisting of 160 leaves, with the text in two columns
of 63 lines each. For this work two new founts of type were cast, of
smaller sizes than those used for the Psalter of 1457, and Bible of
1455. The first was of the depth of 53 lines to a foot; the smaller 66,
equivalent to the _English_ of type-founders of the present day. The
latter was used for the body of the work.
(3) Constitutiones Clementis V. Papæ cum Apparatu Joannis Andreæ.--1460.
This consisted of 51 leaves of folio, two columns to a page. The text
was in the larger of the above two types, surrounded by a glossary or
commentary, ten times its bulk, in the smaller type. Of this work two
subsequent editions were published in 1467 and 1471.
(4) Manifest des Erzbischofs von Mainz, Diether von Isenburg, gegen
Adolph von Nassau.--1462.
(5) Biblia Sacra Latina Vulgatæ editionis, ex translatione et cum
præfatione S. Hieronymi.--1462.
This is the Bible commonly known as the ‘Mentz,’ in order to
distinguish it from the ‘Mazarin.’ It is the first published with
a date; the colophon being nearly the same as that appended to the
Psalter of 1457. It is, however, believed that it was originally issued
with the intention of selling it as manuscript; that portion of the
colophon containing the words “artificiosa adinventione imprimendi
seu caracterizandi absque calami exaratione,” being omitted from some
of the copies. The subsequent insertion of the above words, it is
supposed, was owing to the compulsion of circumstances, which will be
hereafter alluded to. The book consists of 1001 pages, each in two
columns of 48 lines of the same type as that used for the text of the
‘Constitutiones.’ Copies were printed on both vellum and paper, many of
the larger initials being beautifully illuminated.
(6) Bulla cruciata Sanctissimi Domini nostri Papæ (Pii II.) contra
Turchos.--1464.
The heading is in the Psalter type, the text in that of the ‘Rationale.’
(7) Liber sextus Decretalium Domini Bonifacii Papæ VIII. cum
glossa.--1465.
A work of 141 leaves of large folio, in double columns. The type of the
text is the same as that of the Bible of 1462; the glossary is in that
of the ‘Rationale.’
(8) M. T. Ciceronis De Officiis Libri III Paradoxa et Versus XII
sapientium.--1465.
This work, “the first tribute of the new art to polite literature,”
and the first in which Greek characters (cut in wood) appeared, is a
handsome quarto (or small folio) of 88 leaves[136] with 28 lines to a
page, in the same type as the ‘Rationale.’ The striking peculiarity of
this book is, that it is the first in which ‘leads,’ spacing the lines
apart from one another, are used. Great care seems to have been taken
to print it with the utmost elegance. The fine large initial letters
of the Psalter of 1457 were again used, printed in blue and red inks;
and in some copies the blank spaces left for illuminated letters were
filled up in the highest style of art. The most elaborately finished
specimens are decorated with borders round the pages, in the same style
and evidently by the same hand that was employed for that purpose, on
the superb copies of the Mazarin Bible of 1455. That the printers were
growing proud of their art is evident by the colophons they now used.
That to the Decretals is in the following terms:--
“Presens hujus sexti Decretalium opus alma in urbe Magontia
inclyte nationis Germanice, quam Dei clementia tam alto ingenii
lumine donoque gratuito ceteris terrarum nacionibus preferre
illustrareque dignatus est. Non atramento, plumali canna, neque
ærea, sed artificiosa quadam adinventione imprimendi, etc. etc.
per Joh. Fust civem et Petrum Schoiffer de Gernsheym. Anno. Dom.
MCCCCLXV. die verò 17, mensis decembris.”
The colophon to the ‘Offices’ differs. It is as follows:--
“Presens Marci Tuly clarissimum opus. Johannes Fust Mogintinus
civis non atramento plumali canna neque ærea, sed arte quadam
perpulcra, Petri manu pueri mei feliciter effeci finitum Anno
MCCCCLXV.”
(9) Grammatica vetus rhytmica.--1466.
A work of eleven leaves of small folio, in the type of the ‘Rationale.’
The concluding lines are as follows:--
“Actis ter denis jubilaminis octo bis annis
Moguntia Rheni me condit et imprimit amnis
Hinc Nazareni sonet oda per Ora Johannis
Namque sereni luminis est scaturigo perennis.”
In the same year the book “S. Augustini Liber de Arte Predicande”
appeared. It is attributed to the press of Faust and Schœffer, but I
have no means of further particularising it.
The year 1462 was memorable for the siege and sack of Mentz by the
Elector Archbishop, Count Adolphus of Nassau. After the capture of
the city, Faust proceeded to Paris with a supply of Bibles, amongst
which were no doubt a goodly number of the edition only just then
completed. Tradition has it, that he sold one of these Bibles to the
King for 750 crowns, and another to the Archbishop for 300; and that
gradually lowering his prices he at last disposed of copies for 50 and
40 crowns a-piece.[137] The King and the Archbishop, comparing their
purchases, which they had bargained for as manuscripts, found so exact
a conformity between them, as to be convinced that they were produced
by some other method than that of transcribing; besides which, it was
impossible that two such Bibles could be executed by the same hand in
a lifetime. Upon inquiry, it was found that a considerable number of
similar copies had been sold in the city. Hereupon orders were given
to apprehend Faust, who was accordingly seized, tried for witchcraft,
and condemned to be executed as a wizard in league with the Devil. So
runs the tale; in which fact and fiction have been strangely blended,
the latter greatly predominating,--John Faust the banker, and one of
the three first printers of Mentz, being confounded with Jean Frederic
Faust, a charlatan and almanac maker of the sixteenth century, who to
ensure his almanacs a large sale, advertized them as actually dictated
to him by Beelzebub. It was thus that the legend obtained currency,
that Faust of Mentz invented printing in consequence of a compact
entered into between himself and the Evil One. The diabolical stigma
once attached to the profession, the monks and scribes, the ‘brief-men’
of the day, took care that it should remain. Hence the origin of
the term “Printer’s Devil,” the by no means complimentary honorific
bestowed upon youngsters on their first initiation into the mysteries
of the Divine and Noble Art.
No doubt the sale of his Bibles in Paris, the great book-mart of the
day, excited a considerable cabal against Faust, on the part of the
scribes; who would readily enough assert that such works could only
have been produced by the aid of witchcraft. An assertion of this
nature was, at that time, dangerous in the extreme to the party against
whom it was made. Authors, writing shortly after the time of Faust’s
visit, say that such a charge was made, and that he had to leave the
city in consequence. The most effectual way of rebutting it would be
the avowal of the method adopted in bringing out the work, and this
was done by the insertion, in freshly printed leaves, of the words
mentioned in page 358 as having been omitted from the early copies. It
has been urged, that it was impossible for Faust to have attempted the
imposition of passing these Bibles off as manuscripts, inasmuch as he
had already divulged the fact of his printing such works in the imprint
to the Psalter of 1457. But that imprint applied to that work alone;
and Faust, who was a sharp man of business, would not have purposely
omitted from the imprint to the Bible, that part of the sentence which
notified that the work was done “by a newly invented art of casting
letters, printing,” &c., unless he had intended to derive a profit by
so doing. There does not however, seem to be any foundation for the
assertion that he was brought to trial. His absence from Paris was a
very temporary one. It is certain he was well received by persons of
eminence there, and ultimately succeeded in establishing an agency for
the sale of his books in the city, in spite of the opposition of the
scribes. In 1466, he made another business visit to Paris, where he
was taken ill, and died, as some suppose, of a pestilence which was
raging at the time, to which, as he was then seventy-one years of age,
he would have fallen an easy victim. His remains were interred with
honor, in the Church of St. Victor. “An anniversary mass was afterwards
appointed to be said for the repose of his soul, on the presentation
by Peter Schoiffher and Conrad Fust of a copy of the ‘Epistles of
Jerome,’ printed on parchment, and considered so important a work,
that the Abbé of St. Victor deemed it right to pay back the sum of
twelve gold crowns, the work exceeding by that sum the value of the
fees due for the annual masses. This fact is contained in an entry
in the ‘Necrology of St. Victor,’ which is preserved at Paris, in
the Bibliothèque Nationale, (MSS. fonds St. Victor). The copy of the
‘Epistles of St. Jerome’ here alluded to is now in the library of the
Arsenal.”[138]
After Faust’s death, Schœffer continued the business in partnership
with his father-in-law Conrad Faust, who did not however take an active
share in its management, and who died about the year 1479. Conrad Helif
and Dr. Humery seem also to have been for a time connected with him.
From 1467 to 1503, the date of Schœffer’s death, he printed, according
to Wetter, 49 works,[139] several of which were second, third, fourth,
fifth and sixth editions of those previously issued. The agency which
John Faust the elder had established in Paris for the sale of his
books, became an emporium to which other printers besides Schœffer
sent the productions of their presses. This was managed by one Hermann
de Stathoen, who had been appointed by Schœffer; but he dying in Paris,
in 1474, an unnaturalized foreigner, the whole stock of books in his
charge was confiscated by the King, Louis XI. Schœffer at once made
such representations to the monarch as led to a royal decree, awarding
him the sum of 2425 crowns, by way of compensation for the confiscated
property. Besides the agency at Paris, Schœffer established business
relations at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, where in 1479, he was entered on
the roll of burghers. In 1489 he became one of the secular judges of
Mentz. A wealthy, an honoured, and an influential citizen, he died, it
is supposed, in the year 1503. His last work was a fourth edition of
his celebrated Psalter, published in 1502. The next year, his eldest
son, John, issued the “Mercurius Trismegistus,” which is declared in
the imprint to be his first work, and by him the business was continued
until 1538.[140]
The death of Schœffer brings us to a point in the narrative, where we
may pause a moment, to note the progress of the art, of which, next to
Gutenberg, he was the most eminent founder. Perhaps no art ever rose to
perfection with such rapidity, after its groundwork had been completed,
as that of Typography. Little more than thirty years had elapsed from
the time of printing the _Biblia Pauperum_ from wooden blocks, when
Gutenberg’s separable hand-cut letters were followed and superseded
by Schœffer’s cast fusile metal types. The art, which with Faust’s
assistance, Gutenberg founded and Schœffer perfected, remains to this
day essentially the same that it was in 1455. Steam power and machinery
may to a large extent have superseded the old hand-press invented by
Gutenberg; and the art of stereotyping may also have multiplied the
power of the types in disseminating and cheapening useful knowledge;
but the foundation and principles of Letter-press Printing remain
unaltered and unalterable. Types, ink, and pressure, still produce
books as they were first produced, and the finest productions of the
present day are not superior in Typographic beauty, or aught else that
stamps a work a masterpiece, to the best efforts of the Fathers of the
Art, four hundred years and more ago.
It has been reserved for the Nineteenth century to render due honor to
the “grand Typographical Triumvirate,” as they have been termed, for
the noble Art by which
“New shape and voice the immaterial thought
Takes from the invented speaking page sublime;
The Ark which mind has for it refuge wrought,
Its floating Archive down the floods of Time.”
With this object in view, the Gutenberg Society, to which all the
writers of the Rhenish provinces belong, meet yearly at Mentz, there
to celebrate the fame of Gutenberg, the chief inventor. And in 1837,
a grateful posterity, animated by similar sentiments, erected in the
same city, in commemoration of the Four Hundredth anniversary of the
Origin of the Art, a monumental statue to his memory. On the festival
at the inauguration of the statue (August 14, and following days), the
Provost of Mentz published an address, to the following sentences from
which every reader will doubtless most cordially assent. “If,” says
the ardent Provost, “the mortal who invented that method of fixing
the fugitive sounds of words which we call the Alphabet, has operated
on mankind like a divinity, so also has Gutenberg’s genius brought
together the once isolated inquirers, teachers and learners,--all the
scattered and divided efforts for extending God’s kingdom over the
whole civilized earth,--as though beneath one temple. Gutenberg’s
invention, not a lucky accident, but the golden fruit of a well
considered idea,--an invention made with a perfect consciousness of its
end,--has, above all other causes, for more than four centuries, urged
forward and established the dominion of science; and what is of the
utmost importance, has immeasurably advanced the mental formation and
education of the people. This invention, a true intellectual sun, has
mounted above the horizon, first of the European Christians, and then
of the people of other climes and other faiths, to an ever-enduring
morning. It has made the return of barbarism, the isolation of mankind,
the reign of darkness, impossible for all future times. It has
established a public opinion,--a court of moral judicature common to
all civilized nations, whatever natural divisions may separate them, as
much as for the provinces of one and the same state. In a word, it has
formed fellow-labourers at the never-resting loom of Christian European
civilization in every quarter of the world, in almost every island of
the ocean.”
The example set by the citizens of Mentz was a few years later
followed by those of Strasburg, in which city, as already stated,
Gutenberg’s earliest efforts were made; nor were the inhabitants of
Frankfort-on-the-Maine long behind,--excelling even those of Strasburg
and Mentz, by combining in one grand group the statues of Gutenberg,
Faust and Schœffer. Of these several specimens of the sculptor’s art
Mr. Humphreys gives the following account:--
“It was not till the nineteenth century that worthy memorials of
the great founder of the Printing-Press in Germany were erected.
The first was that at Mayence. As a statue it is not equal to the
one of Coster at Haarlem, although the work of Thorwaldsen. It
was executed at Rome in 1835, and cast in Paris in 1837. The gown
of the period with its fur collar, or rather cape, is effective
enough as a mere matter of costume, and so is the furred cap
closely copied from supposed authentic portraits of Gutenberg.
One hand holds a book, and the other, types; but the general
effect is tame and unimpressive. It is well that the great name
of Thorwaldsen should be thus allied to that of Gutenberg, but
it is not one of the great Dane’s most successful works. The
inscription, stating that it was erected by the citizens of
Mayence, with the concurrence of the whole of Europe, is grandly
simple, as it ought to be.
“The statue at Strasburg, the scene of Gutenberg’s first
typographic efforts, is the work of the celebrated French
sculptor David d’Anger, and the market-place in which it is
erected is now called La Place Gutenberg. The position of the
figure is full of life and spirit; a proof-sheet is held proudly
forward, bearing the inscription, as though in answer to one of
the first fiats of Creation--‘Let there be light.’ It is intended
to express that, through the medium of the Printing Press,
intellectual light came, as expressed in the words, ‘And there
was light.’ On the pedestal are four bassi-relievi, in which
the dissemination of knowledge by means of the Printing Press
is illustrated. In the one on the front, all the great authors
of modern Europe are grouped round a Printing Press; among them
Shakespeare, Corneille, Bacon, Dante, Voltaire, and Goethe, are
conspicuous.
“The Memorial at Frankfort is, on the whole, more impressive
than either of the preceding. It consists of three separate
statues, forming together a single group. The statues are those
of Gutenberg, Faust and Schœffer, who each assisted in the first
great work of founding the Printing Press in Germany, and whose
memorials found a fitting place in the imperial city, which was
still the seat of the Germanic Diet at the time of the Memorial
in 1837. The subsidiary figures which embellish the face of the
structure,--Literature, &c., &c.--are very good and appropriate.
The entire composition is imposingly raised on steps connected
with the secondary pedestals, which support the allegorical
figures. Altogether, the memorial is a fine one. But it has one
defect--there is no name nor description of any kind--so that
travellers unacquainted with the subject, might mistake the group
for that of any other celebrated triumvirate. A statue, even
of Shakespeare, should be accompanied at least by the simple
name.”[141]
Still, although Gutenberg is most justly entitled to the honour
of being considered the inventor of the Art of Typography, as now
practised in Europe, he was not, in fact, the first who printed
books from separate moveable types. In this, as in block printing,
the Chinese again bear away the palm. For, singularly enough, it is
ascertained that although the general mode of printing in China is, and
always has been, from wooden blocks, yet separable letters were known
to the Chinese as early as the Eleventh century. For a time, single
characters made of clay and baked hard were used in that empire, but
were soon abandoned for the mode now almost universally practised,
except for the Imperial Calendar, published once a quarter, and the
Pekin Gazette, issued daily, which are still wretchedly printed from
moveable types made of a plastic gum.
The account of the invention is too interesting to be omitted. In the
period King-li (between 1041 and 1048) one of the people, a blacksmith
named Pi-ching, invented another manner of printing with _ho-pan_,
or tablets formed of moveable types. This name is still retained in
the Imperial Printing Office at Pekin. On a fine and glutinous earth,
formed into plates, Pi-ching engraved the characters most in use.
Each character was a type. These he burnt in the fire to harden them.
When he wished to print he took a frame of iron, divided interiorly
and perpendicularly by strips of the same metal (Chinese being read
vertically); this he laid on a table of sheet iron coated with a
fusible gum composed of resin, wax, and lime; he then inserted the
types, placing them one close against the other. Each frame, when
filled, formed a tablet. This was brought near the fire to make the gum
melt, after which a level piece of wood was pressed forcibly on the
surface of the types, by which means they were pushed down into the
gum and became firm and even as a stone. The tablets were then printed
from in the usual manner. When a new character was wanted it was
immediately prepared on the spot, and the inventor shewed the advantage
of clay over wood; there was neither grain nor porosity, with a greater
facility of separation from the gum when required for distribution.
At Pi-ching’s death, all this apparatus was carefully preserved by his
successors. Printing, however, went on in the old way, the reason being
that the Chinese has not, as other languages, an alphabet made up of
a few characters, with which all sorts of books may be printed, but a
separate type is wanted for every word; and as the language is divided
into classes of 106 sounds, so 106 cases (part of the furniture of a
Printing Office) would be required, each one to contain a prodigious
number of types, thus rendering the mechanical task of composing and
distributing, one of enormous difficulty and labour. It was easier and
cheaper to follow the usual method, and print either from blocks of
wood or plates of stereotyped copper.[142]
All honour to the memory of Pi-ching, the Chinese blacksmith! One might
almost be tempted to suppose, did we but believe in the doctrine of
metempsychosis, that after a lapse of 400 years, disgusted at the
neglect of his invention in the East, his spirit migrated to the West,
and that in Gutenberg he was permitted to be born again. A like spirit
animated them both, and to the end of time their labours will live and
their memories be blest.
The account given in the foregoing description of the method of
composing his types used by Pi-ching, is not very dissimilar to that
said to have been adopted by the first Typographers of the Western
World. Frames, or coffins, were made of planks of wood, in which
rectangular hollows were cut the size of the pages to be printed; and
in these the types, after having been strung together, were placed in
horizontal lines, the ends of the lines and the bottoms of the pages
being tightly wedged in, to prevent slips and damage while on the press.
All works printed during the first few years after the invention of
Typography, were of the size of large or small folio. The latter was
what is now-a-days called quarto, from the sheets being folded into
four;--then, for the smaller size, whole sheets were cut into two, on
each of which two pages were printed, in order to suit the presses,
and the stocks of type the printers possessed. These sheets, or half
sheets, were printed in sections of 3, 4, or 5, called ternions,
quaternions, and quinternions. On the backs of these sections strips
of parchment were sometimes pasted, to guard against tears when the
sheets were stitched together by the book-binder. The first and third
pages so printed were called those on the _recto_ of the sheet, the
second and fourth those on the _verso_. A quaternion consisted of eight
formes; the first, containing pages 1 and 16, and the second 2 and 15,
formed the outer sheet; the next sheet consisted of pages 3 and 14,
4 and 13, the third and fourth formes; the third sheet consisted of
pages 5 and 12, 6 and 11, the fifth and sixth formes; the fourth sheet
consisted of pages 7 and 10, 8 and 9, the seventh and eighth formes;
the next quaternion commenced with pages 17 and 32, and so on. When all
the formes were printed, the sheets of which the quaternion consisted
were folded one inside the other, the pages then reading regularly
on from the first to the sixteenth. So long as books represented
fac-similes of manuscripts,--which was the object originally aimed
at,--to print in this way was a matter easily accomplished. But as
the new art drove out the old, and scribes turned compositors and
pressmen, and manuscripts came to be carelessly written, this could
no longer be done. Larger founts of type then became necessary, to
enable the printer to complete the whole number of pages contained
in the section; and to avoid this necessity as much as possible,
quartos, octavos, and duodecimos would be resorted to, a single sheet
folded and re-folded serving equally as well in binding as a ternion,
quaternion, or quinternion of folio sheets. This, of course, led to
the ‘imposition’ of pages in formes of 4, 8, and 12 pages and upwards,
according to the size of the book printed.
Title-pages, folios, running head-lines, catch-lines, signatures, and
imprints with dates and names, were matters about which the Fathers of
Typography did not at first much concern themselves. Their orthography,
as well as their divisions of words, was arbitrary; their abbreviations
abominable, and their punctuation absurd; the comma and the semicolon
were unknown, the points made use of being an oblique dash (/) the
colon (:) and the full point (.); these were occasionally varied as
follows, ./ /. /˙ ./˙ ˙/. // ∴ .:. ∴:∴ &c. A straight dash | supplied
the place of a hyphen, and a parallel || indicated the end of a
paragraph. The first leaf of a book was generally left a blank, and a
blank space was left at the head of the commencing chapter of a work,
to be filled up with a vignette or an illuminated scroll. Spaces were
also left for initial capitals, and for capitals commencing sentences,
when small letters were not used instead. These were so left in order
to be filled in by the rubricator, who sometimes carelessly inserted a
wrong letter. Names of persons and places were printed indifferently
with or without capitals.[143] But in all these matters the printers
merely followed bad examples--that of the scribes whose downfall they
were effecting. One feature is especially characteristic of the oldest
books, viz. the irregularity of the lines on the right hand margin of
the columns or pages, particularly when the larger kinds of type were
used. This arose from the mode of composing, which interfered with
the spacing out of the words to the ends of the lines. When however
that ingenious implement, the metal composing stick--the printer’s
space-compelling gauge,--was invented, this defect was remedied; and
before the first generation of printers passed away, all the blemishes
above recounted had disappeared from the works of those who deserve
to be distinguished as Masters in their Art. The engraving given
below will explain the nature of this implement better than any
written description. The slide, running parallel with the head, with
its slotted foot into which was inserted the nut for the screw which
passed through and fastened it down to the ledge on which the types
rested, enabled the compositor to ‘set’ his types with accuracy to any
measure required, and to space out the words to the right hand, so as
to make them line in the margin as straight and even as the commencing
letters on the left hand. With the aid of the useful adjunct to the
‘stick,’ the ‘setting-rule,’--(a strip of brass the height and length
of the line, with a projecting neb at the top right hand corner)--he
could compose line after line with ease and speed. The special use
of the ‘rule’ was to prevent the letters as they were lifted into
the ‘stick,’ catching on those of the line below, which, without the
interposition of the polished strip of brass, they were liable to do
from the nicks in their shanks. When the ‘stick’ was full, he could
also with the assistance of the ‘rule’ empt out its number of lines
into his ‘galley,’ where, when a sufficient number was collected,
they would be made into pages, ready for the forme. The inventor of
the composing stick is not known; but as it appears in the hands of
the compositor in the engraving facing page 116, and the original of
that engraving was first printed about 1498, and the ‘stick’ must have
then been in use for some time; and as the principle of the slide is
analogous to that which would be adopted in regulating the width of the
chamber in the moulds for casting types, it is highly probable that
the credit of its invention is due to Schœffer, who had previously
immortalized himself by inventing the art of type-founding.
[Illustration]
Besides the appearance of the insides of early printed books, their
ordinary outside bindings demand attention here. Many of the finer
specimens were cased in sumptuous covers, in which the art of the
goldsmith and jeweller was richly displayed; but for common use a stiff
sheet of parchment generally sufficed, the edges of which were folded
in, a blank leaf being pasted over them. Others, somewhat superior,
had boards of beech or oak for their sides, over which was pasted a
sheep-skin leather, on which figures were stamped or embossed;[144]
while others again had stiff covers made of waste sheets, or remnants
of unsaleable copies, cut down and pasted together. These last
have furnished many unique specimens of the works of the earliest
printers; and whenever any such are suspected to lie beneath an ancient
book-cover, the cover is carefully removed and subjected to a variety
of processes to separate its parts, and compel it to give up to the
ardent gaze of the palæotypographist, its possible treasure of an
invaluable unique specimen of the work of a Gutenberg, a Schœffer, a
Zell, a Jenson, a Martens, a Caxton, or some other worthy of the olden
time.
FOOTNOTES:
[132] “The early printers generally marked their publications by
some monogram or cipher peculiar to themselves, and containing their
initials, their arms, or some curious device. These are all well known
to the initiated bibliopole, and their presence on a title-page is
received as evidence of the genuineness of a scarce copy. The oldest
of them is that of Faust and Schœffer, annexed to their first Psalter,
and consisting of two shields tied together and hanging from a branch.
Raphelengius, of Leyden, adopted the anchor; Sporinus of Basle, chose
the arion; Jansen of Amsterdam, the sphere; the Elzevirs exhibited
the olive tree, and the celebrated Aldus had for a device, the anchor
and dolphin.”--(“History of Printing,” published by the Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge). Gotfridus de Os, of Gouda, had for his
device an elephant and castle, combined with the arms of the city.
[133] In the colophon to the second edition of this Psalter, printed
in 1459, the word ‘spalmorum’ is corrected to ‘psalmorum,’ and instead
of the words “ad eusebiam Dei industrie est consummatus” etc.,
the following occur:--“ad laudem Dei ac honorem sancti Jacobi est
consummatus per Johannem Fust, civem moguntinem et Petrum Schoiffer de
Gernszheim clericum. Anno Domini millesimo CCCCLIX, XXIX die mensis
Augusti.”
[134] “Essai sur les Monumens Typographiques de Jean Gutenberg, à
Mayence, l’an X.” [1801.]
[135] Among the works referred to was a Donatus. Mr. HUMPHREYS,
remarking upon these letters, says:--“If these initials, of which M.
Fischer gives admirable fac-similes, were really executed under the
direction of Gutenberg, they must of necessity greatly enhance the
wonder and admiration felt for the author of the marvellously perfect
workmanship of the first Bible; and also detract, to an equal extent,
from the repute long held by Schoiffher as the Printer of the famous
Psalter, with its fine coloured initials vaunted as the work of the
press alone, and not produced by the illuminator’s pencil; for if M.
Fischer be correct in attributing the work in question to Gutenberg,
then the credit of the initials printed in colours in the Psalter
must also be given to Gutenberg, as all the lesser initials in that
noble specimen of the printer’s art, are the identical letters found
by M. Fischer illustrating the ‘Donatus’ attributed by him without
hesitation to the press of Gutenberg, as being printed with the same
type as the first Bible. The fine free style of these letters, and
their perfect execution, is very remarkable.... That the ‘Donatus’ in
question was printed, not only before Schoiffher’s Psalter, but also
before the Bible, appears incontrovertibly proved by the fact, that the
five leaves in question of this ‘Donatus,’ were found in the cover of
a book of accounts dated 1451. The testimony of M. Fischer is above
suspicion; but it is to be regretted, that this most important and
interesting monument of the labours of Gutenberg is now no longer to
be found. At the time that M. Fischer’s examination and description
were made, it was in the public library of Mayence; but at that time
several national monuments were removed to Paris, and others lost in
the general ransacking that took place, and the interesting ‘Donatus’
described by M. Fischer is among the documents now no longer to be
found either at Paris or Mayence. Although it would thus appear that
the credit of the letters in question is due to Gutenberg, I shall have
some further remarks to make on the subject in describing the famous
Psalter of Schoiffher. The Bibliothèque Nationale possesses two leaves
of a ‘Donatus’ printed with Gutenberg’s Bible type.”--_Hist. of Art of
Printing_, p. 77.
[136] WETTER, p. 527; but HUMPHREYS, p. 88, says “twenty-eight
leaves.” Not being in a position to make a reference to any copy of
the work itself, I am unable to say which of these authorities is
right. One of the finest specimens of this work extant, is that in
the celebrated Astor Library at New York. The paper is as clean and
the ink as fresh as the day on which it was printed. There are also
in this Library several other Typographical treasures. Amongst them
will be found the “Catholicon” of John of Genoa, printed at Augsburg
in 1469; two specimens of Caxton, one of them a few leaves of the
“Recuyell des Histories de Troye,” printed in 1471, and the other,
Higden’s “Polychronicon,” printed in London, 1482. Glanville’s “De
Proprietatibus Rerum,” printed by Wynken de Worde, the successor of
Caxton, in 1494, is also a handsome specimen.
[137] The differences in these prices lead to the conclusion that the
higher prices must have been given for copies of the Bible of 1455, and
the lower for those of 1462; the charge made for each varying according
to the amount of ornamentation in illuminated letters and marginal
decorations.
[138] HUMPHREYS, p. 89.
[139] The following is a brief list of these works:--
1. Thomas de Aquino, secunda secunde, 1467.
2. Clementis V. Constitutiones, 2d edit. 1467.
3. Institutiones Justiniani, 1468.
4. Grammatica vetus rhytmica, 2d edit. 1468.
5. Thomas de Aquino, Expositio quarti libri sententiarum, 1469.
6. Bonifacii VIII. Liber Sextus decretalium, 2d edit. 1470.
7. Hieronymi Epistolæ, 1470.
8. Mammotractus, sive Dictionarium vocabulorum, 1470.
9. Decretalium liber Sextus, 3d edit. 1470.
10. Valerius Maximus, liber factorum, etc. 1471.
11. Clementis V. Constitutiones, 3d edit. 1471.
12. S. Thomas, Prima pars secunde, 1471.
13. Biblia Sacra Latina, 1472.
14. Decretum Gratiani, 1472.
15. Justiniani Institutiones, 2d edit. 1472.
16. Bonifacii VIII. liber Sextus decretalium, 4th edit. 1473.
17. Augustinus, de civitate Dei, 1473.
18. Gregorii IX. nova compilatio decretalium, 1473.
19. Turrecremata, Expositio psalterii, 1474.
20. Henrici Herp Speculum aureum, 1474.
21. Justiniani codex institutionum, 1475.
22. S. Bernardi Sermones, 1475.
23. Bonifacii, &c., 5th edit. 1476.
24. Turrecremata, &c., 2d edit. 1476.
25. Justiniani, &c., 3d edit. 1476.
26. Bonifacii, &c., 6th edit. 1476.
27. Decisiones rote Romane, 1477.
28. Justiniani Novellæ constitutiones, 1477.
29. Pauli Burgensis Scrutinium Scripturarum, 1478.
30. Turrecremata, Expositio super psalterio, 1478.
31. Bartholomæi de Chaymis confessionale, 1478.
32. Gregorii IX. Decretales, 1479.
33. Turrecremata Meditationes, 1479.
34. Joannis de Wesalia Paradoxa, 1479.
35. Agenda Moguntina, 1480.
36. Herbarius, 1482.
37. Missale Moguntinum, 1483.
38. Herbarius cum herbarum figuris, 1484.
39. Ortus sanitatis, 1485.
40. Missale Ecclesie Misniensis, 1485.
41. Breviarium Moguntinum, 1487.
42. Missalium opus ad usum Ecclesie Cracoviensis, 1487.
43. Legenda et miracula S. Goaris, 1488.
44. Psalmorem Codex, 1490.
45. Chronecken der Sassen, 1492.
46. Missale Moguntinum, 2d edit. 1493.
47. Ordnung des kaiserl. Kammergerichts, 1495.
48. Missale Wratislaviense, 1499.
49. Psalterium, 1502.
[140] Another son, or perhaps a grandson, Peter, established himself
as a printer in the city of Worms, not far distant from Mentz. It
was at his press that William Tyndale’s version of the first English
translation of the New Testament was printed (in 1525 or 1526), after
failing to get it done at the press of P. Quentell of Cologne. A press
was established at Friesingen in 1495, by Joann. Schæffler.
[141] _Hist. of Art of Printing_, p. 216.
[142] “One of the most remarkable typographical displays in the great
Exhibition of 1851 was the collection of Chinese types, or at least
types to represent Chinese characters, in the Zollverein department.
They were manufactured by Beyerhaus of Berlin, for the American
Missionary Society. The Chinese vocabulary is made up of a number of
distinct words, which are not built up from component letters, as in
European languages, but have a good deal of the hieroglyphic effect
about them. To imitate these words or characters by moveable types has
always been deemed a difficult matter. M. Beyerhaus has analyzed the
lines and dots of the Chinese language, so as to make 4200 letters
out of them, or elements which will serve the compositor in lieu of
letters. The steel punches of all these 4200 types were shewn; and by
various combinations of them, about 24,000 Chinese words or characters
can be imitated; and it was very interesting to see copies of the
Bible and the New Testament printed in Chinese by the aid of these
types.”--_Curiosities of Industry_--Printing; its Modern Varieties, by
G. DODD, p. 4.
[143] This may sometimes have been owing to a scarcity of capital
letters. An amusing story is told of a jobbing printer, who was seen
printing the label “Lodgings to let,” in gold capital letters on a blue
ground, with the second G left out. Upon the omission being pointed out
to him, he said “Pshaw! I should like to know why a printer should not
spell Lodgings with one G, when he has but that one in his fount!”
[144] Some of these bindings were wonderful specimens of patient
labour. Wooden boards as thick as the panels of a door, studded with
large brass nails with ornamented heads and massive metal corners, for
sides, the backs solid with paste and glue, and the fronts fastened
with heavy clasps, were by no means rare. Sometimes these covers were
so made as to serve as receptacles for relics. Scaliger tells us that
his grandmother had a printed Psalter, the cover of which was two
inches thick, the inside forming a kind of cupboard in which was a
small silver crucifix; and Mr. Hansard relates having seen an ancient
book, in the cover of which was a recess for a relic--a human toe!
APPENDIX.
I.--ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF PRINTING, BY J. F. FAUST OF ASCHAFFENBERG.
Joh. Fried. Faust, ein Sohn des im Jahre 1619 verstorbenen Schöffen
des Reichsgerichtes und Rathes zu Frankfurt, erzhält, aus den
Familienpapieren, welche die Fauste von Aschaffenberg (Abkömmlinge der
Fuste von Mainz) in ihrem Archive aufbewahrten, die Geschichte der
Erfindung in folgender Weise:--
“Diese jetzt erwähnte und andere mehr Scribenten, welche es von
Hörensagen theils genommen, theils von einander entlehnet, seind
nicht allein an dem Ort und der Zeit, sondern auch an der Person vom
ersten Anfenger zweifelhafftig, ja gar ohngewis, und ist uns Teutschen
nicht ein geringer Spott, dass wir solche edle Kunst zu allererst
von Gott empfangen, und so mancherlet frembde Historien und Auctores
lesen und schreiben, den unter anderen vortrefflichen Sachen, nicht
eine Gewissheit des ersten Anfengers, ihme und gantzem Teutschland
zu ewigen unsterblichen Ruhm und Lob, solten auch in getruckten und
also unsterblichen Zeugnüssen beglaubt machen und beweisen, und so
lange Zeyt im Zweiffel haben stecken lassen. Darumb habe ich nicht
unterlassen können, dieser Sachen und Kunst gantzen Verlauf und Anfang,
so viel ich dessen aus glaubhafften alten Zeugnüssen und _Documentis_,
wie auch von meinem Vatter seelig, und der von seinen Eltern und
also fortan, _quasi per aures et manus_ eingenommen, auch zum Theil
aufgazeichnet hinterlassen, der Wahrheit und Kunst ja vielmehr Gott zu
ehren, ettwas umstendlich zu erzehlen und zu beweisen.”
“Und ist anfänglich wahr, dass ein Bürger, eines ehrbarn Geschlechts
und Herkommens zu Mentz gewohnet, so Johann Faust geheissen; dieser
den _Studiis_ sehr ergeben, hat betrachtet, wie manch edles _ingenium_
aus Mangel der Bücher, die sogar eine lange Zeyt und hohen Verlag
abzuschreiben erfordert, und nicht in eines jeden Beutel gestocken,
ohnbillig verliegen, ja gar verderben müssen, und derowegen lang
nachgesonnen, wie doch allerhand nützliche Bücher mit weniger Mühe
gemannigfeltigt, und um geringen und billichen Preys mitgetheilt
werden könten. Solchem seinem wohlmeinenden nutzlichen Wunsch und
Vorhaben hat Gott wohlerspriesliches Mittel und _Modell_ gezeiget,
also dass er eine _Alphabet_ Taffel, erstlich in einem _Format_ mit
erhöheten Buchstaben geschnitten. Es hat ihm aber grosses Nachsinnen
erfordert, bis er besondere Tinten darzu erfunden; dann die gemeine
Tinte ist in den Buchstaben von Holtz und in Holtz geschnitten,
verflossen, und hatt alle Buchstaben zusammengehengt, so haben auch
die Licht-Flammen, daren Rus er sich auch zu gebrauchen unterstanden,
ob sie wohl einen ziemlichen Abdruck geben, dannoch keinen Bestandt
haben wollen, bis endlich eine schwartze zähe Tinten erfunden worden,
die einen Bestandt gehabt. Als solche erfunden und solche Taffeln mit
kleinen Pressen leichtlich zu trucken erst an Tag kommen seynd sie mit
groser Verwunderung umb geringen Preys von jedermänniglich erkaufft
und berühmt, und er darauf weiters fortzufahren verursacht worden,
und den _Donat_ ebenmässig an Tag gegeben. Weil aber derselbige auf
gantze Bretter geschnitten, ohngleich an Buchstaben gefallen, und auch
sonst sich bald abtruchen lassen, hatt Erfinder der sich erinnert,
das es besser were, mit eintzlichen Buchstaben und A. B. C. ein Buch
zu setzen, als mit gantzen _columnis_ oder _paginis_ zu schneiden.
Derowegen hat er die Bretter von einander geschnitten, die gesammten
Buchstaben herausgenommen, und damit die Setzerey angefangen, und die
abgegangene Buchstaben mit newen ersetzet.”[145]
“Weil aber solches mit ohnaufhörlicher Arbeyt geschehen müssen, und
sehr langsam von statten gehen wollen, hatt es abermahl nicht geringe
Hindernuss der angefangenen Kunst, auch der Pressen halben, geben
wollen, darüber der Erfinder nicht in geringe Sorg und Schwermuth
gerathen. Nun hatt er aber bey solcher _Invention_ etliche Diener
gehabt, die ihm solch Truckerei verrichten und in andern nöthigen
Sachen, als Dinten sieden, setzen, und dergleichen fleissige Hand und
Hülfte gebotten. Unter denen ist einer Peter Schöffer von Gernsheimb
genannt, gewesen, welcher als er seines Herrn Vorhaben erlerntt, und
selbst Lust darzu bekommen, hatt ihm Gott das Glück und Gab eingeben,
wie man nemlich die Buchstaben in Buntzen schneiden und nachgiessen,
und also vielmahls mannigfaltigen könne, und nicht jeden Buchstaben
oftmahls einzeling schneiden müsse. Dieser hat in geheim eine Buntzen
von einem gantzen _Alphabet_ geschnitten, und seinem Herrn sampt den
Abgus oder _Matricibus_ gezeyget, welches dam seinem Herrn Johann
Fausten so wohl gefallen, dass er vor Frewden ihme sobald seine Tochter
Christinam zur Ehe zu geben versprochen, und balden nachmalen auch
solches würcklich vollzogen.”
“Es hatt aber mit dem Abdruck oder Nachguss dieser Buchstaben eben so
viel Mühe genommen, also mit den Höltzern, dann man lang gekünstelt,
biss man eine gewisse _Mixtur_ so der Gewalt der Pressen eine gute
Zeyt ausstehen könne, erfunden. Als solches auch glücklich erfolget,
damit solch edle Gab Gottes in geheimb verbleiben möge, haben Schwäher
und Tochtermann ihre Gewerken mit Eydpflichten verbunden, solch
Sachen alle in höchster Geheim und Verschwiegenheit zu halten, haben
auch die Bretter und ersten Anfang, wie auch die höltzern Buchstaben
in Cortel oder Schnur eingefasst, aufgehoben und zu zeyten guten
Freunden gezeiget. Quæ primordia avum meum Doctorem Joh. Faust inque
manibus suis Donati primam partem inter cætera vidisse MSStum posteris
nobis relictum testatur.”[146] (D. h.: Dass mein Grossvater, der
Doctor Johann Faust, diese Anfänge und, unter andern, den ersten
Theil des Donats gesehen und in Händen gehabt habe, bezeugt eine uns
Nachkömmlingen zurückgelassene Handschrift.)
“We hart aber sie ihre Gewerken verknüpfet, und sich diese Kunst in
geheim zu halten unterstanden, hat es doch aus sonderlicher Schickung
Gottes nicht seyn wollen noch sollen. Dann es hat sich begeben, dass
Johann Faustens nechster Nachbawer Johann von Gutenberg (man ist
auch der Meinung, dass Johann Faust und Gutenberg zusammen in einem
Haus genannt zum Jungen in Mentz, gewohnet haben, dahero solch Haus
den Nahmen auch von der Truckerey nachmahlen behalten) innen worden
dass solche edle Kunst nicht allein einen grossen Ruhm bey aller Welt
gemacht, sondern auch einen guten und erlichen Gewin gebracht, darumb
er sich freundlich zu gemelten Fausten gethan, und seine Dienste
mit Darschiessung nothwendiges Verlags anerbotten, welches er Faust
gerne angenommen, bevorab weil das Werk, so er zu trucken vorhatte
uff Pergament zu verfertigen, einen grosen Kosten erforderte darob
sie sich vereiniget und einen aufgeschnittenen Zettel oder _Contract_
nachfolgend beygesetzen Inhalts aufgerichtet, dass was auf solch Werk
gehen würde, zu Verlust und Gewinn ins gemein gehen, und alles was
darzu gehörete, uff gemeinen Sold entlehnet und aufgenommen werden
solte. Weil aber er Faust mehr aufgenommen und der Unkosten höher
geloffen, als Gutenberg vermeinet, hatt er solchen halben Theil nich
zahlen wöllen, darüber sie beyde vor das weltliche Gericht zu Mentz
gerathen, das hatt auf alles Ein- und Vorbringen, auch geschenen
Beweistum erkannt würde Johann Faust mit lieblichen eyd betewren,
dass solch uffgenommen Geld auf das gemeine Werk gegangen, und nicht
ihme allein zu Nutz kommen sey, solte Johann von Gutenberg solches
zu erlegen schuldig seyn. Solchem Rechtsspruch hat Johann Faust im
Refender zu Mentz zun Barfüssern ein Genügen gethan wie aus copeylich
beygesetzten _Instrument_ gründlich und wahrhafftig zu ersehen.
Aber Johann von Gutenberg ist darüber sehr zornig worden, darumb
er nicht allein bei Anhörung des eydt nicht gewesen, sondern auch
bald darauf von Mentz sich hinweg gen Strasburg gethan, vielleicht
daselbst seinen eygenen Verlag gehabt, und sindt ihm dahin etliche
Gefährde nachgefolget, und eine gäntzliche Trennung geschehen, dass
solche herrliche Kunst nicht mehr ist geheimb behalten blieben,
sondern allenthalben von _dato_ angeregten _Instruments_, so _An. 1455
datiret_ ausgebreitet worden. Und Hans von Petersheim, ein Diener
Johannes Fausten und Peter Schöffers, im vierten Jahr hernach Ao. 1459,
zu Frankfurt, andere, sonderlich als Mentz; Ao. 1462 verräthlichen
erobert, und umb ihre Freyheit kommen, folgends anderstwo sich
niedergethan, und solche Kunst ohngescheuet getrieben, offenbahret,
und gemein gemacht haben. Est ist auch diess Unglück mit zugeschlagen,
dass als sie ein vornehm Juristisch Buch gen Paris in Frankreich uff
Pergament gedruckt, geführet und die Wahlen [Wallischen oder Wälschen]
ihnen solche Kunst missgönnet, das Buch in Laugen gestossen, und mit
Kratzbürsten auszuthun, aber vergeblich, unterstanden, sie solche
_Exemplaria_ alle, unter dem Schein als ob der Trucker eine frembde
Waar ohne _Special_ Erlaubnuss des Königs in Frankreich gebracht,
_confiscirt_, darauf er _repressalias_ vom Kayser Fridrichen III.
verlangt, und soviel frantzözische Kaufleute niedergeworfen, dass er
seines Schadens wohl zukommen, und viel Französische Waare in sein
Haus allerhant _Sorten_ bekommen, dass die Sach endlich durch beyde
_Potentaten_ verglichen, uffgehoben, ut er Peter Schöffer befriediget
worden.”
Man sieht, dass in diesem Berichte über den Gang der Erfindung der
objektive Thatbestand, besonders was die Anfänge betrifft ganz
richtig erzählt wird, und dass er nur _quoad personas_ verfälscht
ist; indem Fusten das zugeschrieben wird, was Gutenbergen angehört.
Es erbellt ferner daraus, dass er weder aus Trithems Werken noch aus
dem Lobgedichte des Bergellanus geschöpft ist; da er umständcher als
beide in’s Einzelne der Verfahrungsweisen eingeht. Auch die Angabe,
Fust und Schöffer hätten nach Erfindung der gegossenen Buchstaben ihre
Arbeiter mit Eiden zur Geheimhaltung der Kunst verbunden, die ersten
Holztafeln aufgehoben, die einzelnen hölzernen Buchstaben in Schnüre
gefaszt und nur zu Zeiten guten Freunden gezeigt, deutet, als auf
ihre Quelle, auf handschriftliche oder mündliche Ueberlieferungen,
die sich in der Familie Fust erhalten haben müssen. So haben sich in
dem an die Herren von Glauburg übergegangenen Familienarchive des
mainzischen, nach Frankfurt ausgewanderten Patriziergeschlechtes zum
Jungen viele die Familie Gutenberg betreffenden Urkunden, und darunter
auch das bei dem Prozesse zwischen Gutenberg und Fust errichtete
Notariatsinstrument erhalten. In dem Archive der Familie Faust, welche
von Aschaffenberg nach Frankfurt gekommen, und dort durch Heirath
unter die Patriziergeschlechter aufgenommen worden ist, hatten sich
gewiss ähnliche Urkunden und Nachrichten über die Angelegenheiten
der Familien Fust und Schöffer erhalten, wie auch in dem Berichte,
bei 1 und 2, ausdrücklich gemeldet wird. Joh. Friedrich Faust, durch
Familieneitelkeit verleitet, verfälschte sie nur in Betreff der
Personen, indem er (so wie Johann Schöffer in seinen Schluszschriften
die Erfindung allein seinem Grossvater Fust zuschreib) demselben
Fust, den er mit Recht für seinen Ahnen hielt, alle Ehre zuwendete,
und zu diesem Behufe sogar das Instrument des Notars Helmasperger
verdrehte.--WETTER, pp. 271-277.
FOOTNOTES:
[145] As wooden types were the first with which the original printers
made their earliest essays in the art of Typography in Europe, it
is interesting to learn that in America such types are now being
used to so great an extent, that it requires the aid of the most
finished machinery to supply the demand that has arisen for them. The
following account of their manufacture is condensed from a narrative
in the _Boston Weekly Spectator_ (Oct. 12, 1871).--About 1853 Mr.
William H. Page, originally a printer, entered into the employ of Mr.
J. G. Cooley, a wood type cutter at Greenville. Noticing the many
defects of the process he busied his mind in devising and inventing
methods for its improvement. Succeeding in his efforts, he started
in business on his own account; and in 1869, having bought out Mr.
Cooley, transferred the whole of the works to Norwich, Eastern
Connecticut. Here, with extensive and perfect machinery, and from 35
to 40 workpeople, one-seventh of whom are females, he supplies the
greater part of the wooden types used throughout the United States.
The process of manufacture is as follows:--All ordinary wood type is
made of rock-maple, which grows abundantly in Connecticut. The logs are
first sawed across the grain into blocks an inch and an eighth thick,
then steamed to force out the sap, and when dried, packed away in the
seasoning house for two years. When wanted for type, they are taken to
dressing machines, where horizontal revolving cutters rapidly smoothe
and reduce their size with perfect uniformity; they are then skilfully
planed by hand, next gum-shellaced, and dried for half a day, and sand
papered, which process is again repeated. After this, they are taken to
felt buffing wheels, covered with beeswax and tallow, which, revolving
with exceeding swiftness, thoroughly polish the surfaces on which the
letters are to be cut. The blocks are then sawed into the desired
shapes, and transferred to the letter makers. These place the prepared
blocks in a machine not much unlike in its appearance to an eccentric
lathe, although it is not one. Set in one angle of a horizontal frame
like a pentagraph, is a pencil or tracer, moved by the hand of the
operator exactly in the lines of a stationary pattern or model letter.
In an opposite angle, and directly over the block to be carved, is a
corresponding pencil of fine steel, in reality a small bit, or gouge,
which is belted to the driving power, and makes from 17,000 to 20,000
revolutions a minute, following minutely all the lines and flexions of
the tracer on the pattern. A skilful operator can thus make a letter
in half a minute. This part of the work is chiefly performed by girls.
After leaving the cutter the letters are further dressed by a trimmer
who gives them their finishing touches, when they are thoroughly oiled
with linseed oil, and packed for transport to wherever ordered. The
ordinary size of letters, used for Advertising placards, is 1 ft.
8 in., though occasionally some are ordered 14 ft. long, [made and
printed in sections it is presumed]. These monster letters are made
of a softer white wood, and gouged out on a great machine called a
“router.” The smallest size manufactured is about one-third of an inch.
[_B. W. S._] This is just the size of the types used for the “Appeal
to Christendom against the Turks,” printed at Mentz in 1454 or 1455.
What steam-driven machinery is doing for wooden types it is also doing
in another form for types of cast metal. The greatest number that an
expert workman could cast by the hand-mould process was about 1800 in
an hour. After many years of costly experimentalizing, and frequent but
not wholly fruitless failures, a machine was at last perfected in 1862,
by which as many as 7600 letters an hour are turned out. With type
manufactured at this rate, with steam type-composers that put together
40,000 letters an hour, (the invention of Mr. A. Mackie of Warrington),
and with steam printing machines capable of perfecting 12,000 sheets
(equal to 24,000 impressions) in the same space of time, (the _Times_
“Walter” machine, invented by Mr. J. C. Macdonald); the latter half of
the nineteenth century is truly an era of marvels in all that concerns
Letter-press Printing.
[146] Dr. Van Der Linde treats this writer with but scant ceremony. He
says, (p. 76 of Hessels’ Translation) “The father of this arch-liar had
written frankly and in accordance with truth--‘Joh. Faust (Fust) war
Mitverleger der Buchdruckerei in der Stadt Mentze; etliche wollen wider
seiner Dank ihn zu einem Inventorem haben und macken, so aber nur mit
seinem Vermögen und guten Rath in der That geholfen.’--‘Joh. Faust was
partner in the printing office at Mentz; some persons would make an
inventor of him against his own wish; he really helped only with his
money and good advice.’”
II.--ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF PRINTING, BY HADRIAN JUNIUS.
Dicam igitur quod accepi a senibus et autoritate gravibus et Reipublicæ
administratione claris, quique a majoribus suis ita accepisse
gravissimo testimonio confirmarunt, quorum auctoritas jure pondus
habere debeat ad faciendam fidem. Habitavit ante annos centum duo de
triginta Harlemi, in ædibus satis splendidis (ut documento esse potest
fabrica, quæ in hunc diem perstat integra) foro imminentibus e regione
Palatii Regalis, Laurentius Joannis cognomento Aedituus Custosve (quod
tunc opimum et honorificum munus familia eo nomine clara hæreditario
jure possidebat) is ipse, qui nunc laudem inventæ artis Typographicæ
recidivam justis vindiciis et sacramentis repetit, ab aliis nefarie
possessam et occupatam, summo jure omnium triumphorum laurea majore
donandus. Is forte in suburbano nemore spatiatus (ut solent sumpto
cibo aut festis diebus cives, qui otio abundant), cœpit faginos
cortices principio in litterarum typos conformare, quibus, inversa
ratione sigillatim chartæ impressis, versiculum unum atque alterum
animi gratia ducebat, nepotibus, generi sui liberis exemplum futurum.
Quod ubi feliciter successerat, cœpit animo altiora (ut erat ingenio
magno et subacto) agitare primumque omnium atramenti scriptorii genus
glutinosius tenaciusque, quod vulgare lituras trahere experiretur,
cum genere suo Thoma Petro qui quatuor liberos reliquit, omnes ferme
consulare dignitate functos (quod eo dico, ut artem in familia honesta
et ingenua, haud servili, natam intelligant omnes), excogitavit, inde
etiam pinaces totas figuratas additis caracteribus expressit. Quo in
genere vidi ab ipso excussa adversaria, operarum rudimentum, paginis
solum adversis, haud opistographis. Is liber erat vernaculo sermone
ab auctore conscriptus anonymo, titulum præferens: _Speculum nostræ
salutis_, in quibus id observatum fuerat inter prima artis incunabula
(ut nunquam ulla simul reperta et absoluta est) uti paginæ aversæ
glutine cohærescerent, ne illæ ipsæ vacuæ deformitatem adferrent.
Postea faginas formas plumbeis mutavit, has deinceps stanneas fecit,
quo solidior minusque flexilis esset materia durabiliorque; e quorum
typorum reliquiis, quæ superfuerant, conflata œnophora vetustiora
adhuc hodie visuntur in Laurentianis illis, quas dixi ædibus, in forum
prospectantibus, habitatis postea a suo pronepote Gerardo Thoma, quem
honoris causa nomino, cive claro ante paucos hos annos vita defuncto
sene. Faventibus, ut fit, invento novo studiis hominum, quum nova
merx, nunquam antea visa, emptores undique exciret, cum uberrimo
quæstu creuit simul artis amor, creuit ministerium, additi familiæ
operarum ministri, prima mali labes, quos inter Joannes quidam, sive
is (ut fert suspicio) Faustus fuerit ominoso cognomine, hero suo
infidus et infaustus, sive alius eo nomine, non magnopere laboro, quod
silentum umbras inquietare nolim contagione conscientiæ, quondam dum
viverent, tactas. Is ad operas excusorias sacramento dictus, postquam
artem jungendorum characterum, fusilium typorum peritiam, quæque alia
eam ad rem spectant, percalluisse sibi visus est, captato opportuno
tempore quo non potuit magis idoneum inveniri, ipsa nocte, quæ Christi
natalitiis solennis est, qua cuncti promiscue lustralibus sacri operari
solent, choragium omne typorum involat, instrumentorum herilium, ei
artificio comparatorum, supellectilem convasat, deinde cum fure domo se
proripit, Amstelodamum principio adit, inde Coloniam Agrippinam, donec
Magontiacum perventum est, ceu ad asyliaram, ubi quasi extra telorum
jactum (quod dicitur) positus tuto degeret, suorumque furtorum aperta
officina fructum huberem meteret. Nimirum ex ea intra vertentis anni
spacium, ad annum a nato Christo 1442, iis ipsis typis, quibus Harlemi
Laurentius fuerat usus, prodisse in lucem certum est _Alexandri Galli
Doctrinale_, quæ Grammatica celeberrimo tunc in usu erat, cum _Petri
Hispani tractatibus_, prima fœtura. Ista sunt ferme, quæ a senibus
annosis, fide dignis, et qui tradita de manu in manum, quasi ardentem
tædam in decursu acceperant, olim intellexi, et alios eadem referentes
attestantesque comperi. Memini narasse mihi Nicolaum Galium, pueritiæ
meæ formatorem, hominem ferrea memoria et longa canitie venerabilem,
quod puer non semel audierit, Cornelium quendam bibliopegum ac senio
gravem, nec octogenario minorem (qui in eadem officina subministrum
egerat) tanta animi contentione ac fervore commemorantem rei gestæ
seriem, inventi (ut ab hero acceperat) rationem, rudis artis polituram
et incrementum, aliaque id genus, ut invito quoque præ rei indignitate
lachrymæ erumperent, quoties de plagio inciderat mentio: tum vero
ob ereptam furto gloriam sic ira exardescere solere senem, ut etiam
lictoris exemplum eum fuisse editurum in plagiarium eum fuisse editurum
in plagiarium appareret, si vita illi superfuisset: tum devovere
consuevisse diris ultricibus sacrilegum caput, noctesque illas damnare
atque execrari quas una cum scelere illo communi in cubili per aliquot
menses exegisset. Quæ non dissonant a verbis Quirini Talesii Cos,
eadem fere ex ore librarii ejusdem se olim accepisse mihi confessi,
etc.--_Batavia_ p. 253, _et seq._
III.--THE HAARLEM-COSTER-LEGEND.
[The Haarlem Legend of the Invention of Printing by Lourens
Janszoon Coster, critically examined by Dr. A. VAN DER LINDE.
Translated from the Dutch by J. H. HESSELS, with an Introduction
and a Classified List of the Costerian Incunabula. _London_,
Blades, East, and Blades. 1871. Roy. 8vo. pp. xxvi. and 170.]
A copy of the above work having reached me while the preceding sheet
was being prepared for press, I am singularly gratified to find, that
by means of a wholly independent process of investigation, I have
arrived at a conclusion, almost identical, on the main point, with that
to which other and more direct sources of information have led Dr.
Van Der Linde. Writing for English readers, and dealing chiefly with
the statements and arguments of the leading English Costerians, the
confirmation thus given to my views is as great as it was unexpected.
Dr. Van Der Linde shews, most conclusively, that the whole story of
the Origin of Printing in Haarlem arose from the fabrication of a
pedigree by an innkeeper named Gerrit Thomaszoon, who was sheriff of
Haarlem in the year 1545, and who died about the year 1563 or 1564.
This pedigree, made a few years before his death, traces his descent
from one Thomas Pieterssoen, by Lucye “his second wife, who was the
daughter of Louris Janssoens Coster, who brought the first print into
the world Anno 1446.” Authority for this statement there is absolutely
none; and no proof whatever exists that Lucye the daughter of Louris
Janssoens, ever existed otherwise than by her creation in the fertile
fancy of the pedigree maker. But proof there is in abundance, that
one Lourens Janszoon Coster kept a tallow-chandler’s shop in Haarlem
between the years 1440 and 1450; that about the latter year he
transferred that business to his sister, Ghertruit Jan Costersdochter,
who died in 1454; he himself starting as an innkeeper in 1451, in
which occupation he continued until 1483, when he left Haarlem with
all his goods, and is heard of no more. This Lourens Coster was a
member of a festive body, called the “Holy Christmas Corporation.” It
consisted of 54 brethren and sisters, each one of whom possessed a
chair specially set apart for him or her at their regular meetings.
These chairs passed by inheritance or purchase from one to another; the
corporation apparently having had its origin in a family gathering.
Its transactions were minutely recorded, and particular care was taken
to note the transmission of the chairs from one holder to another.
Lourens Coster’s chair passed in 1484, (the record does not state
how), into the possession of Frans Thomas Thomaszoon, and in 1497
Gerrit Thomaszoon Pieterszoon inherited it from his father. This is the
individual who kept the inn on the market place, and was made sheriff
in 1545. Now Jan Van Zuyren and Coornhert were partners in business,
and “sworn book-printers” to the town in 1561, in which year Van Zuyren
also became Burgomaster. They could not but have been intimate with
the sheriff and innkeeper Gerrit Thomaszoon, who lived to the year
1563 or 1564. He would also be well known to Junius, living as he did
in Haarlem from 1560 to 1572. In one of the rooms of his inn Gerrit
Thomaszoon hung up the pedigree he had had made, and in which was set
forth his descent from “Lucye, second wife of Thomas Pieterszoon,
daughter of Louris Janssoens Coster, who brought the first print into
the world Anno 1446.” Here then, as in a nutshell, lie the whole of the
circumstances which Junius, in 1568, worked up in his _Batavia_ into
an account of the Origin of Printing in Haarlem, by Laurens Janszoon
Coster; but with the date of the pedigree altered from 1446 to 1440.
The cogent reasons for this alteration are fully shewn by Dr. Van Der
Linde.
The statements of Van Zuyren and Coornhert; the story of the family
mansion, and the wine-pot relics; the cursings of the old book-binder
Cornelis; the confirmations of the tale to Junius by Nicholas Galius
and Quiryn Dirksz Talesius, are all now easily understood,--they
were tavern gossip, suggested by the pedigree, which passing through
the alembic of Junius’s brain, issued thence in the shape of a
circumstantial history, which national vanity has been induced to
accept as a record of indubitable facts.
From first to last, the Coster-legend forms a very singular chapter
in the history of national credulity. Scriverius, writing in 1628,
and not knowing the source of Junius’s information, makes one Lourens
Janszoon, sheriff of Haarlem, who died in 1439, the Laurens Janszoon
Coster,--(these names being as common in Haarlem as those of Brown,
Jones and Smith in London,)--to whom was attributed the origin of
printing; and to whose memory a stone statue was erected in 1722. In
1823 and 1824 bronze and silver jubilee medals were struck in honor
of the same supposed first typographer, and two memorial stones put
up; and in 1851, a third tablet was placed in front of the rebuilt
Coster-house. But meanwhile, the pedigree is discovered, and Koning
and others strive hard to identify the Lourens Janssoens Coster it
mentions, with the Lourens Janszoon of Scriverius. Junius’s account
is unscrupulously amended and altered and corrected, in order to
make room for the views of subsequent writers; and another statue in
bronze is resolved upon, which is erected in 1856; but this one, in
the secret knowledge of the Committee engaged in its erection,[147]
is to the memory of the tallow-chandler and innkeeper, and not to that
of the alleged sheriff. Finally, the pedigree is published, all other
documents connected with the persons named in it, and in the history by
Junius, are critically examined; and in 1870 the fallacy of the whole
affair is thoroughly exposed.
The conclusion to which Dr. Van Der Linde arrives in his chapter on
“The Spread of Typography in the Netherlands,” is as follows:--
“The harvest of history on the field of typography concerning
Haarlem may be scanty; it does not yield _anything_, as far
as xylography goes. There existed there already very early a
Lucasguild, like that at Antwerp, and like the Johannesgild
at Bruges; but, however rich in painters, sculptors, and
goldsmiths, the Haarlem Corporation may have been, it produces,
notwithstanding the most patient researches, not a single
_prenter_ (_briefprenter_) or xylographer. The manufacture,
therefore, of a whole series of blockbooks of the 15th century,
ascribed, two, three, and four centuries afterwards, without any
shadow of evidence, to a Haarlem innkeeper, has to be referred to
the empire of fiction.”
Mr. Hessels (a native of Haarlem, as is also Dr. Van Der Linde) says,
in his very able Introduction: (p. vii.)
“Whatever may be said about the discrepancies and absurdities of
the Coster-legend, now that we possess a full knowledge of it,
there is one circumstance which has given, and will give, an
air of probability to the story, even now that it is deprived of
its hero, so long as this circumstance cannot be sufficiently
accounted for. I mean the existence of a comparatively large
number of works--blockbooks and incunabula--which are of an
incontestably early, and Dutch origin, and which cannot, even at
present, be ascribed to any known printer, but of which it is
certain that they belong to the printer who produced the four
editions of the _Speculum Humanæ Salvationis_, the book referred
to by Junius.”
He then gives, on pages xi. to xvi., a classified list of the
Costeriana as far as known, amounting in all to 43 separate works and
editions, distinguishing seven different types used in their production.
“The earliest date (he says) we can assign for the present to
the Costeriana is 1471-74. Mr. Holtrop tells us on p. 31 of
his Monuments, that the Hague copy of the Saliceto (No. 25 of
his list) contains two MS. annotations: 1st, ‘Hunc librum emit
dominus Conrardus abbas hujus loci XXXIII., qui obiit anno
MCCCCLXXIIII, in profesto exaltationis sanctae crucis, postquam
profuisset annis fere tribus.’ Another inscription indicates that
this copy had belonged to the convent of St. James, at Lille.
Now, the abbat Conrad, who bought this book for his convent, was
Conrad du Moulin, who was abbat only from 1471 to 1474.
“This is the only date we can use at present. It is, as Mr.
Bradshaw observes in his ‘List,’ mentioned above, ‘a singular
circumstance that this one fact should compel us to place the
printer of the Speculum at the head of the Dutch printers,
though it only just allows him to take precedence of Ketelaer
and De Leempt,’ from whom we have the date 1473, found in Peter
Comestor, Scholastica hystoria.”--pp. xvii.-xviii.
The above considerations go far towards supporting the suggestions I
have thrown out (see pages 323-348) in regard to the dates when, and
the parties by whom, the _Speculum_, _Donatuses_, &c., were printed.
And these suggestions are further confirmed by the extracts cited
by Dr. Van Der Linde from the archives of Utrecht, in a note on p.
85 of Hessels’ Translation, where it is stated that in the year
1466, the name of Peter Dircxsz, described as a “beeldedrucker”--a
_prenter_,--appears. “Perhaps,” adds Dr. Van Der Linde, “the printer of
the plates of the Speculum.”
FOOTNOTES:
[147] The name of Lourens Janszoon, the sheriff of Haarlem who died
in 1439, is mentioned seventy-six times in the archives of the city,
but _never_ with the name of _Coster_. The name of the tallow-chandler
Lourens Janszoon Coster, appears much later, (as late as 1483); _but
his name was never brought before the public_, in connection with the
origin of printing, until the year 1867.--See _Haarlem Legend_, pp.
124, 125.
IV.--CUT WOODEN, _versus_ CAST METAL TYPES.
However much my views may be found to coincide with those of Dr. Van
Der Linde, Mr. Hessels, and Mr. Bradshaw, upon the Origin of Printing,
and the date of the production of the so-called _Costeriana_, there may
be wide differences of opinion on the question, whether the types made
use of in the production of those works were made of wood or of metal.
Dr. Van Der Linde writes upon this point in very dogmatic strains. In
his eleventh chapter,--“A Beech in ‘Den Hout,’”--the object of which
is to shew the impossibility of Junius’s statement about Coster having
printed with wooden types, he quotes the following from Enschedé,
written about the year 1770.
“‘I have exercised printing for about fifty years, and wood
engraving for about forty-five years, and I have cut letters and
figures for my father’s and my own printing office in wood of
palm, pear, and medlar trees; I have now been a type-founder for
upwards of thirty years; but to do such things as those learned
gentlemen (Junius and Meerman) pretend that Laurens Coster and
his heirs have done, neither I nor Papillon, (the most clever
wood engraver of France) are able to understand, nor the artists
Albrecht Durer, De Bray, and Iz. Van Der Vinne either; but such
learned men, who dream about wooden, moveable letters, make
Laurens Janszoon Coster use witchcraft, for the hands of men
are not able to do it. To print a book with capitals of the
size of a thumb, as on placards “HOUSE AND GROUND,” which are
cut in wood, and which I have cut myself by hundreds, would be
ridiculous; to do it with wooden letters of the size of a pin’s
head is impossible. I have made experiments with a few of a
somewhat larger size. I made a wooden slip of Text Corpus, and
figured the letters on the wood or slip; thereupon I cut the
letters; I had left a space of about the size of a saw between
each letter on purpose, and I had no want of fine and good tools;
the only question now was to saw the letters mathematically
square off the slip. I used a very fine little saw, made of a
very thin spring of English steel, so cleverly made, that I
doubt whether our Laurens Janszoon had a saw half as good; I did
all I could to saw the letters straight and parallel, but it
was impossible: there was not a single letter which could stand
the test of being mathematically square. What now to do? it was
impossible to polish or file them; I tried it, but it could
not be done by our type-founder’s whetstones, as it would have
injured the letters. In short, I saw no chance, and I feel sure
that no engraver is able to cut separate letters in wood, in such
a manner that they retain their quadrature (for that is the main
thing of the line in type-casting.) If, however, I wished to
give my trouble and time to it, I should be able to execute the
three words ‘Spiegel onzer Behoudenis,’ better than the Rotterdam
artist has done in the Latin work of M. Meerman; but it is
impossible, ridiculous, and merely chimerical, to print books in
this manner.’”
The above quotation, in the opinion of Dr. Van Der Linde, settles
the matter once for all; and certainly such a statement, from such a
man, is enough to deter any one from attempting a similar experiment.
Dr. Van Der Linde clinches Enschedé’s statement, with the following
remarks:--
“We cannot wish for a more decisive and competent criticism
of the story of Junius than this, given by a Haarlemer and a
Costerian; for Junius represents Coster as having printed the
Speculum in Dutch with wooden types; he makes him, in other
words, do something impossible, ridiculous, and chimerical. It is
true that the wooden types have been patronized until our times;
that Camus has given a specimen of printing with wooden types of
two lines, Wetter of one column, Schinkel of half a page; that we
are able to do much more with the means of the nineteenth than
with those of the fifteenth century; but none of those specimens
have proved what they should have proved; the practicability
of printing a book with moveable wooden letters, _i. e._ to
distribute the forms, to clean the ink from the letters, to
submit them to frequent strong pressing, and to retain the
usefulness of the letters employed, and without the aid of modern
apparatus. They have only proved what men are willing to do for a
favorite opinion, for a prejudice which they _insist_, for once
and all, ought to be _true_.”... “It is high time for criticism
to make a fire of these imaginary wooden letters.”
Determined that the advocates of wooden letters shall be beaten
completely out of the field, the Dr. adds, in a note upon Schinkel in
the above quotation.
“In a brochure entitled ‘Tweetal Bijdragen,’ Schinkel gives
some ‘experiments’ of his foreman H. le Blansch, namely, seven
lines, printed with types of palm wood. The xylotypographic text
runs:--‘That the first Dutch _Spiegel onzer Behoudenis_ was
printed with cast types, is not to be doubted. Is it possible to
print a book of some extension with _moveable_ letters cut of
wood? YES.--Le Blansch, _sculp._’ This YES is an unproved dictum,
the contrary of which is evident already from the dancing lines
of the experiment. Let a _book_ be produced printed with moveable
wooden letters, instead of all those experiments which signify
nothing.... But apart from all this Costerian talk, the question
may not be put as Schinkel did, but simply: Were ever books
printed with moveable wooden letters? No.”--pp. 72-73.
It may however be retorted upon the Dr. that his No! is also an
improved dictum. But he says again, pages 78 and 79:--
“Those fatal unhistorical wooden types! Wetter spent nearly the
amount of ten shillings on having a number of letters made of
the wood of a pear tree, only to please Trithemius, Bergellanus,
and Faust of Aschaffenburg, the first two, falsifiers of history
in good, the last in bad, faith. His letters, although tied with
string, did not remain in the line, but made naughty caprioles.
The supposition--that by these few dancing lines the possibility
is demonstrated of printing with 40,000 wooden letters, necessary
to the printing of a quaternion, a whole folio book--is
dreadfully silly. The demonstrating fac-simile demonstrates
already the contrary. Wetter’s letters not only declined to
have themselves regularly printed, but they also retained their
pear-tree-wood-like impatience afterwards. He says, ‘I have
deposited the wooden types with their forms in the town-library,
where they may be seen at any time.’ Nothing is more liberal.” “I
not only deny” [with M. Bernard] adds the Dr., “that they [books
printed with moveable wooden characters] exist at present--I deny
that they ever have existed.”
Nothing can be more emphatic. But, in the first place, “40,000 wooden
letters” are not “necessary to the printing of a quaternion, a whole
folio book,”--and if they were, the supposition is not “dreadfully
silly,” for it was quite within the power of letter-snyders to cut
that number if required. But they were not required. I have already
shewn (p. 299), that to print two pages of the _Speculum_ the number
of letters necessary was under 3,000. It has also been shewn, that
the early printers never printed more than one or two pages of their
books at a time; while the impressions taken of such productions as
the _Speculum_ would in their different editions vary from but 20
to 60 copies each;--3,000 letters therefore were ample for bringing
out a whole folio book or quaternion, and the pressure the types were
subjected to in the course of a dozen or twenty editions would not
more than equal the strain brought to bear upon a single edition of
a thousand copies in modern times. It is however “dreadfully silly”
to insist, that wooden types, if capable of being used at all in an
experiment which proves their capability of printing a portion of a
book, ought also to be proved capable of being used for printing a
whole book with. In other words, that a whole book should be printed
with such types, in order to prove, that as a whole book has been,
therefore, a whole book may have been, printed with them. It requires,
moreover, no great profundity of wisdom to profess a disbelief in
the making and use of wooden types by the inventors of Typography,
and to deny the assertions of older and contemporary writers, that
they were so made and used. A whole book could just as easily be
printed with wooden types, when they were once prepared and ready
for use, as half a book, or half a page, or a single word. The real
question at issue is not, Can a single book, or has a single book,
ever been printed with wooden types?--a question answered with an
emphatic, although an unproved No! by Dr. Van Der Linde and other
anti-xylo-typographers;--but, Did the earliest Typographers, in their
first experiments, make use of wooden types or not? Trithemius
says, on information derived from Schœffer senior, that they did.
His statement is borne out by that of Zell, who says Gutenberg got
the _beginning_ of this art from the Donatuses, _i. e._ block-books,
printed in Holland. Bergellanus, an independent inquirer a generation
later, and for fifteen years a corrector of the press at Mentz,
confirms the statement of Trithemius; while Faust of Aschaffenburg
declares that the family papers in his possession bore evidence to the
same effect. What the first German printers did, it was most natural
that the first Dutch printer would also do; and, as I have already
pointed out (p. 346,) there are reasons for believing that wherever
the _Speculum_[148] was printed, (and later information seems to
indicate that Utrecht may have been the place), the types used were the
work of a letter-snyder, and the material of which they were made was
wood. It is quite a different question, Could a continued series of
works, be produced by the use of wooden types, in a manner equal, or
nearly equal, to that by which works are produced with metal types? To
such a question, the advocates of the use, first, of wooden types by
the earliest Typographers, reply, No; wooden types would only answer
for a while; and because of their fragile nature, metal types, cut or
cast, became sooner or later a necessity.[149] It is, besides, if not
“dreadfully silly,” at least unwise, to argue against the possibility
of the original use of wooden types, because the specimens given by
Schinkel and Wetter are crooked and irregular, and do not _line_,
although tied or strung together with string. Schinkel and Wetter
both maintained that the _Speculum_ was printed with metal types; so
did Enschedé. For either of the three, therefore, to have thoroughly
succeeded with his experiment, would have been fatal to his argument
and preconceived opinion. Doubtless, it was scarcely possible for
Enschedé to succeed in making wooden letters of “a size somewhat larger
than a pin’s head.” His mode of stating that part of his experiment
is not at all so straightforward or clear as it might and should have
been. But he says further, “I made a slip of Text Corpus, and figured
the letters on the wood or slip,” &c. Now, what is the size of the
Text Corpus? I am rather at a loss to understand this expression, as I
find that the Dutch type called _Text_, is that which corresponds to
the English Great Primer, which contains 51½ lines to a foot, while
the _Garmond_, corresponding to the German _Corpus_, is equal to
the English Long Primer, which has 89 lines to a foot. Neither does
Enschedé say what particular wood he used in his experiment. But at any
rate he avows, that, using the best and finest tools he could procure,
he failed.
On the opposite side of the question, I have but to place my own
experience; and I may say at the outset, that I have not practised
wood engraving for nearly twenty years, that at best I was but an
amateur, and that the only tools I had, when I ventured upon the
experiment a few months ago, were a common graver, an ordinary tenon
saw, a penknife, and a rasp and file. With these implements then, I
made, precisely in the way I have described the method I supposed the
earliest printers would follow, the letters inserted in page 310. They
are of box wood, Pica-size (71½ lines to a foot) and are squared and
line well, and are perforated and nicked, and are two sizes smaller
than the letters used for the _Speculum_, which are only 54 lines
to the foot. The letter =t= I here insert again. More than 1,500
impressions have been taken from it; and it scarcely yet seems anything
the worse for wear. Calculating by the time the cutting of the three
letters occupied, I could, without difficulty, finish in nine months
3,000 letters equally good, as mathematically square, as true to line,
as capable of being used again and again, and therefore as capable of
printing a book, a whole folio, with. An expert Chinese ‘chop’ cutter
(the modern letter-snyder) would with his simple tools, complete the
same number in less than a third of that time: and I know of no reason
why similar types of the _Corpus_ or Long Primer size could not be
cut on wood. Certainly there is nothing “impossible, ridiculous or
chimerical” in the idea. Where then is the “silliness”--the “dreadful
silliness”--of supposing that a whole book could be printed with such
wooden types, even supposing, further, that 40,000 would be required in
all? The “dreadful silliness” lies in the cry of those who argue on the
opposite side--“Let a _book_ be produced, printed with moveable wooden
letters, instead of all those experiments which signify nothing.” The
answer to that cry is, _Cui bono?_--Why should a book be printed, when
3 letters are as good as 3,000, or 30,000, or 300,000, to demonstrate
the fact, that words are and can be, and that therefore pages and whole
books may be, (and therefore also that they may have been,) printed
from such separable wooden types? As well might the demand be made that
a whole suburb of London should be lighted up with obsolete oil-lamps,
in order to demonstrate to the rising generation the fact, that in that
manner the streets of the city were lighted up in the days of their
forefathers, before the introduction of coal gas. In the one case, as
in the other, a single specimen, one demonstrative example, ought to be
sufficient to carry, to every candid and reasonable mind, a conviction
of the truth of the asserted fact. But perhaps it “signifies nothing”
to a certain class, who are determined not to believe, how great or
how small the demonstrative experiments may be. Of such, the voice of
supreme wisdom has long ago declared,--“neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead.”
FOOTNOTES:
[148] Dr. Van Der Linde infers that the Latin edition of the Speculum,
wholly printed with separable types, was the first, and the one with
the twenty pages of solid blocks, the second. From the fact, that the
curious manuscript of the “_Spiegel der behoudenis_,” (written on
290 8vo. leaves of vellum), which is preserved at Haarlem, has the
following inscription at the end, “Dit boec is gheeyndet int jaer ons
here_n_ MCCCC en_de_ III en_de_ tsestich opte_n_ XVI dach in jul. Een
ave Maria on God voer die scrijver;” and that another inscription in
it states, that it belonged to “Cayman Janszoen of Zierickzee, living
with the Carthusians near Utrecht;” the Dr. comes to the following
conclusion: “Therefore, the Speculum was written, and finished in
the Dutch language at Utrecht in 1464, in the days _before_ the
introduction of the art of printing.”... “Utrecht had an episcopal see,
a gymnasium, a Burgundian prince,--indeed, if hypotheses are allowed,
then is that of an _Utrecht_ origin of the Specula provisionally, the
only reasonable one.”--pp. 34, 38.
[149] Seven different kinds of types of the _Speculum_ school have been
identified, and these are used in 43 different specimens, many of which
are second and subsequent editions. It is not however, material to the
validity of the argument, that the whole of these seven different kinds
of types should be proved to have been made of wood; it is enough, in
the absence of the actual types themselves, that there is reasonable
evidence, from their appearance in print, as well as from the
probabilities of the case, that some of them were so made. To argue,
that because Trithemius, Bergellanus, J. F. Faust, or others, may have
misrepresented, unintentionally or otherwise, some of the leading
facts in connection with the origin, or the inventors, of typography,
therefore, on this one point of the original use of wooden letters,
in which they all agree, they are not to be believed, is unworthy of
one who assumes the functions of, and desires to be looked up to as, a
sound historical critic.
ERRATA.
Page 104 last line, for _Vindicæ_ read _Vindiciæ_
” 153 ” ” Opolio ” Opilio
” 175 line 10, ” have to ” have had to
” 181 ” 8, ” Historv ” History
” 239 ” 8, ” say, ” says
” 331 ” 17, ” follows ” follow
_Dedicated, by Special Permission, to_ HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF
EDINBURGH.
_Foolscap 4to. 412 pages._
ADAM’S PEAK.
LEGENDARY, TRADITIONAL, AND HISTORIC NOTICES of the SAMANALA
and SRI´-PA´DA; with a Descriptive Account of the PILGRIMS’
ROUTE from Colombo to the Sacred Foot-print; to which are added,
copious Notes, Appendices, and an Index. Illustrated by a Map of
the Mountain District, and 10 wood-engravings.
By WILLIAM SKEEN.
EDWARD STANFORD, 6 & 7, Charing Cross, London, S. W. 1871.
* * * * *
_Opinions of the Press._
* * * * *
“Adam’s Peak may be considered the most interesting mountain in the
world; not only from its height, position, and appearance, but as
being sacred to the members of three out of the four great religions
of the world. The origin of this singular agreement to regard the same
place as holy by these three religions is to some extent obscure; but
Mr. Skeen has collected a mass of evidence upon the subject, and has
conveyed the result in a form interesting alike to the student and the
general reader. The lovely scenery surrounding Adam’s Peak, its general
features, and its perilous ascent--so steep that near the summit chains
are fastened into the rock by which pilgrims pull themselves up--are
graphically described by Mr. Skeen, who accomplished the ascent three
times. The book is of great interest, and we can warmly recommend it to
our readers.”--_Standard._
* * * * *
“There is, perhaps, no mountain in the world of which so wide-spread
a knowledge exists, and yet of which so little is generally and
definitely known, as Adam’s Peak, in the Island of Ceylon. A
description of this mountain, held sacred by far the largest portion
of mankind, cannot fail to be of interest to the scholar; while the
pleasing and anecdotal manner in which it is handled by Mr. Skeen,
will attract the attention of even the most superficial reader. All
classes will read the book with interest. It is brimfull of rich
stores of original translations from rare MSS of Indian and Sin̥halese
literature, while the strange legends recorded are singularly romantic,
and full of weird Eastern imagery. The author enters into a full and
searching inquiry into the origin of the sanctity of the mount, and
shows much discrimination and mastery of Oriental literature, in the
progress of his inquiry. Much valuable information is imparted to the
reader, not dry and dull as might be imagined, but invested with an
interest which catches and retains the attention. The legends attached
to this mount of expiation are singularly beautiful, and are related
very felicitously by the author. Much interesting information is given
about the inhabitants of Ceylon, and of the various religious beliefs
which are held by them, from the serpent worship of the aborigines,
to the present time, when Christian churches are scattered throughout
the island. The civil and political history of the Sin̥halese is also
accurately and interestingly traced. The narrative of the pilgrims’
route from Colombo to the shrine-crowned mount is very graphically
described. The work is excellently illustrated with maps, plans, and
views. In every particular it deserves commendation, and the author
much praise for the successful manner in which he has handled his
materials, and presented the public with a book at once interesting and
instructive; profound in the researches contained in it, and giving
much valuable information on a subject on which so little has hitherto
been known.”--_Irish Times._
* * * * *
“We believe this is the first time that a complete work has been
devoted to this subject. The narrative portion of the work is
supplemented by copious notes and appendices referring to the early
history of the religions the members of which regard the Peak as
a hallowed spot. These are of immense value to the historian and
antiquarian, and prove that the author is no idle member of the Royal
Asiatic Society.”--_London and China Express._
* * * * *
“Mr. SKEEN, in his monogram entitled “ADAM’S PEAK,” has shewn that
the subject was by no means exhausted by his predecessors, and has
given us an interesting volume of Eastern lore and travel. Commencing
with history, he fortifies his narrative by extracts from the antient
Mahawanso, and various other native and foreign writers down to the
present day. Having amply treated of its history, he proceeds to
describe his own three visits to it, giving very full particulars of
his route, and of places of interest in the vicinity. The volume does
credit to both author and printer.”--_Trübner’s American and Oriental
Literary Record._
* * * * *
“A very valuable monograph on Adam’s Peak, embodying a vast amount
of interesting information. Mr. Skeen has, in connection with this
work, cleared up a mystery which had baffled all previous writers on
Ceylon.”--_Ceylon Observer._
* * * * *
“It has long been a wonder, and the wonder is a growing one, that so
small an Island as Ceylon should attract so many writers. All the
Books on Ceylon, about Ceylon, and touching Ceylon, if collected into
one group, we are certain, would make a goodly library of itself, but
the subject appears to be inexhaustible. The most recent contribution
to this accretion of works on Ceylon, or rather touching Ceylon, is
Mr. Skeen’s Book on Adam’s Peak, which, without laying ourselves
open to the charge of indiscriminate or extravagant praise, we feel
justified in pronouncing worthy the subject, and worthy the writer.
Mr. Skeen has at last got into his natural groove, the exploration and
elucidation of the romantic traditions, legends, and folk-lore which
cluster round the sacred places of Ceylon. Adam’s Peak is pre-eminently
a land-mark in the history of the Island, and while it serves to
bridge twenty centuries of the past with the present, it has never
lost its own peculiar distinctive character, which as the central
object of a nation’s faith it has for so long occupied. As it is the
most conspicuous and remarkable object in the physical geography of
the Island, so has it stood the everlasting monument of a tradition,
pointing to the mission of that great philosopher who, more than twenty
centuries ago, succeeded in revolutionizing the faith of a whole
continent. It is somewhat remarkable that a religion which aspires
after annihilation and extinction of all corporeal existence, should
yet recognize the imperishable, rock-crowned mountain, as one of the
symbols of its faith. Mr. Skeen does not enter into the metaphysics of
this question. His business has been to trace out the old traditions
and legends, and while refraining from expressing an opinion himself,
he has supplied the reader with abundant material from which to draw
his own conclusions. He carries us throughout the whole range of
ancient Eastern lore; and from the great Hindu epic, the Ramayana,
down to the most recent works on the Island, he has ransacked the dark
recesses of oriental literature, to illustrate his subject. Mr. Skeen
has entered on his task in a spirit of research, and influenced by the
strong poetic vein for which he has hitherto been so well known, he
has embellished his subject--a subject which in the hands of a mere
antiquarian threatened to become dull and prosy--with the life and
spirit of romance.
Mr. Skeen, as we have already observed, has ransacked all the
authorities, ancient and modern, that could throw light on his subject,
and it is no small praise to state, that he has added to a great
power of research an admirable talent for condensation, while his own
narrative of personal investigation and exploration, written in flowing
easy language, often rising to the height of poetry, presents the
gorgeous scenes which he describes in an animated tableau that brings
within one focus, the cloud-capped mountains, the roaring torrents
and the arid plains, through which lies the course of the pilgrims.
It is hardly possible to imagine, looking at the heads of chapters
in the table of contents, how Mr. Skeen could manage to reduce the
heterogeneous mass of subjects indicated into one harmonious whole, but
the reader has only to take up the narrative, and he scarcely perceives
the transition from one to another.
We have great pleasure in recommending the Book to the Public. It is
even worthy to stand by the best that has been written of Ceylon, and
its value as a very readable book is enhanced by the use to which it
may be put as a work of reference, not only with regard to the Peak
itself, but also, to the History of the Island generally. The book
is illustrated with a map of the Peak range, and ten well-executed
woodcuts illustrative of the Peak and its accessories; and, with a
copious and well-arranged Index, it is admirably calculated to serve
as a guide to those whom Mr. Skeen’s Book may inspire with the desire
of exploring the mountain region which has continued to attract to its
sacred pinnacle the Traveller, the Historian, and the Pilgrim, from the
days when Sindbad the Sailor “made a pilgrimage to the place where ADAM
was confined after his banishment from Paradise.”--_Colombo Examiner._
* * * * *
“THE author of ‘ADAM’S PEAK,’ has accomplished a most difficult task
uncommonly well.”
“The book opens with introductory remarks on the origin of Buddhist,
Hindu, and other pilgrimages to Adam’s Peak. With Chapter III. the
author commences an account of a pilgrimage to the holy mountain made
by himself and three companions, and which forms a kind of cabinet made
to contain the curiosities, with an inspection of which the author
indulges us. In a pleasant chatty style the literary pilgrim-author
describes the road to Avissáweḷa, dwelling upon all objects worthy of
remark by the way, and noting all historical facts and curious legends
connected with the towns and villages through which he passed. Leaving
Avissáweḷa, the pilgrimage is continued towards what was for long
considered the loftiest mountain in Ceylon, Adam’s Peak; entertaining
details being given of “Síta’s bath,” the Mániyan̥gama vihára or rock
temple, and the Saman Déwálé, where the author mentions finding a most
curious mural stone. After giving us a description of the curious old
town of Ratnapura, the pilgrims again start onwards. After passing
Palábaddala, where the travellers obtain a view of the Peak, which is
greeted by cries of “Sadhu!” by all true pilgrims, the most enjoyable
portion of the journey appears to begin. We can only pause long
enough to draw the reader’s attention to the interesting passages
about elephants contained in chapter VI., and their supposed habit of
retiring to one spot when about to die, and the curious legend of the
Bẹ́na Samanala, or “False Peak,” in the same chapter. Space will not
allow us to do more than glance at the Kuruwiṭa Falls, and the halt at
Hẹramiṭipána, where the congregation of pilgrims is graphically
described.
There are many men who have determination and curiosity sufficient
to induce them to set out on three different pilgrimages, which in
spite of the pleasant places through which the way lies, plainly
entailed much fatigue and inconvenience, but there are few gifted with
the great powers of observation which the writer of “Adam’s Peak”
evidently possesses, or the ability to express their impressions which
he evinces. Whether toiling over a mountain, rambling amidst the
ruins of an old Buddhist temple, or excavating those curiosities of
fact and tradition of which but for this literary pilgrim we should
have remained in ignorance, the author has in almost every page got
something new to tell us about, which he relates in a remarkably happy
way.
Having attentively perused “Adam’s Peak,” it remains for us to pass
upon it our carefully formed opinion. In a former notice we said
that the author had “accomplished a most difficult task uncommonly
well,” and we reiterate our statement. To have compressed so much
useful knowledge into so small a compass can only be the result of
deep research and hard and persevering study. Mr. Skeen has collected
a number of local traditions, legends, and facts, which he has
elaborately arranged, and by a pleasant account of incidents connected
with his three pilgrimages to the holy mountain, unites the whole in
a pleasing and sightly form. The book abounds in quotations which are
generally apt and appropriate. The foot notes and copious appendix form
by no means the least valuable part of the work.”--_Ceylon Times._
* * * * *
“In a careful perusal of the above production [ADAM’S PEAK] we have
been most favorably impressed with its general character and ability;
the labour that produced it must have been most painstaking, and
involving great research. Nearly a hundred authors are quoted or
referred to for confirmation or illustration of the text, which,
with well executed engravings, a large and interesting Appendix, and
an excellent Index for facility of reference, becomes a most useful
addition to Eastern literature. Besides the direct textual matter of
the book concerning the Peak, its history, and the pilgrimages made to
it, we have a large amount of very interesting particulars respecting
the Geology, Botany, and History of the Island, and the religions,
manners and customs of the people, with much legendary and traditional
lore, which, if not always reliable, is not without either interest or
importance, in the assistance it affords to a fuller knowledge of the
country and its inhabitants. Indeed the book is almost of encyclopedic
utility concerning Ceylon.
For a knowledge of the route, viâ Ratnapura, and of its many interests
and attractions of scenery, &c., and also for the many delights of the
Peak itself, as given by our author, we recommend a careful perusal of
his most interesting and able work.”--_Colombo Friend._
MOUNTAIN LIFE AND COFFEE CULTIVATION IN CEYLON;--A POEM ON THE KNUCKLES
RANGE, with other Poems. By WILLIAM SKEEN. 1870.
_Foolscap 4to. 182 pp._ EDWARD STANFORD, Charing Cross, London.
* * * * *
“Adam’s Peak,” and “Mountain Life and Coffee Cultivation in
Ceylon,”--two companion volumes devoted to one of our most interesting
though least known Eastern possessions ... abound in local colour and
afford life-like glimpses into the industry of the society of an island
which the Anglo-Cingalese not unpardonably regard as the centre of the
earth.”--_Daily Telegraph._
* * * * *
“The poem contains interesting historical records which evince
considerable research and extensive reading; also a very full account
of the processes of planting the Coffee tree, of collecting the
berries, and preparing them for use and exportation. As a picture
of Eastern life and industry this book is not only interesting but
instructive.”--_The Messenger._
* * * * *
“IN the main poem Mr. Skeen records the impressions derived from a
visit to the Knuckles District, and in the text alludes to, while
in the notes he affords, valuable information respecting historical
personages and events. The specimens quoted will give our readers
some idea of a poem in which, clustered round the scenery of the
Knuckles, we have described to us a large portion of the incidents
of coffee planting life, much history, ancient and modern, more or
less connected with the coffee enterprise, with striking references
to Hindu mythology. The notes, which explain the brief allusions in
the poem, embody a fund of interesting and curious information. The
work is probably the most beautifully got up that has ever issued
from the local press, and we trust the venture will be largely
encouraged.”--_Ceylon Observer._
* * * * *
“The main poem treats of a well known Coffee District, its magnificent
scenery, its hospitable planters, and its prosperity. There is abundant
evidence in the poem that Mr. Skeen does not now come before the
public for the first time. He has at least the assurance, gained from
experience, to encourage him in his aspirations; and if he has not
quite succeeded in establishing a poetic reputation of the highest
order, he yet gives ample promise of better results in the future.
With a wonderful facility for versification, and an inexhaustible
resource for rhyme, Mr. Skeen has amplified his subject in a manner
which less practised or more timorous hands would hardly have dared.
We can recommend the book as well worthy perusal, not only for the sake
of its poetic beauties, but also on account of the valuable mass of
information it contains both in the body of the main poem, and the
copious notes at the end.”--_Colombo Examiner._
* * * * *
“One of the most attractive volumes of flowing verse that Ceylon
has ever sent forth. The typography is perfect, the general getting
up of the book all that could be desired, and the verses are highly
descriptive.”--_Ceylon Times._
EARLY TYPOGRAPHY, A LECTURE ON LETTER-PRESS PRINTING IN THE
FIFTEENTH CENTURY. By WILLIAM SKEEN. 1853. Sm. 8vo. 48 pp. (_out
of print_)
“This little work, issued from the [Ceylon] Government Press, does
credit to the author and printer alike.... We can say in all truth
and honesty, that the work of Mr. Skeen would reflect credit on any
Printing Office in the world. He has certainly illustrated what has
been done for the improvement of Printing in Ceylon by _himself_,
for to him it is entirely due. He has issued a pamphlet of sound
historical matter, carefully written, admirably printed, and on
excellent paper. The matter consists of a history of the discovery of
the Art of Printing and its various improvements, down to the close of
the Fifteenth Century; and while it contains much new and interesting
matter, there is but one fault to find with it:--it is too short, and
stops at a very interesting point.... We welcome such works with the
right hand of fellowship; and in conclusion, we will only add, that
we hope Mr. Skeen will have the inclination and leisure to complete
this history of the Art of Printing, in the first part of which,
now published, he has imparted his information in so agreeable a
manner, and illustrated the present state of the Art by so perfect an
example.”--_Colombo Examiner_, [1853.]
Transcriber’s Note:
Equals signs indicate the word or character was printed in an ornate
font, for example, =Ornate font=
The tilde character in ~TYPOGRAPHY~ indicates spaced letters
Some fonts may not render the following characters as expected:
n under ring
--Sin̥halese
--Sy-chong-n̥gén-pon
--Mámyan̥gama
dot under
--e and d in Wẹlikaḍa
--l in Avissáweḷa
--é in Bẹ́na
--t in Kuruwiṭa and Hẹramiṭipána
Items in the Errata listed on page 424 have been changed. Otherwise, no
known changes to spelling or punctuation as appeared in the original
publication have been made except as follows:
Page 22
papier-maché castings _changed to_
papier-mâché castings
Page 243
by the name of the printing house.” _changed to_
by the name of the printing house.’”
Page 316
“NO ONE KNOWS; yet it seems _changed to_
“NO ONE KNOWS;” yet it seems
the assistants of Guttenberg, Faust and Schœffer _changed to_
the assistants of Gutenberg, Faust and Schœffer
Page 383
and eighth formes: the next quaternion _changed to_
and eighth formes; the next quaternion
Page 417
‘experiments of his foreman H. le Blansch _changed to_
‘experiments’ of his foreman H. le Blansch
Page 420
that of Zell, who says Gutenburg _changed to_
that of Zell, who says Gutenberg
Page 421
were the work of a letter-synder _changed to_
were the work of a letter-snyder
Page i
pleasing and anecdotal manner it which _changed to_
pleasing and anecdotal manner in which
Page ii
little has hitherto been known. _changed to_
little has hitherto been known.”
Page iv
only interesting but instructive.--_The Messenger._ _changed to_
only interesting but instructive.”--_The Messenger._
Footnote 11
Monumens Typographiques des Pays Bays _changed to_
Monumens Typographiques des Pays Bas
Sieclé _changed to_
Siècle
Footnote 17
Thomas á Kempis, according to Meiners, _changed to_
Thomas à Kempis, according to Meiners,
Footnote 63
plusquam 4000 florenorem _changed to_
plusquam 4000 florenorum
Footnote 79
Introduction Historique et Bibliographique. _changed to_
Introduction Historique et Bibliographique.”
Footnote 83
Harlem, 1628. 4to. _changed to_
Haarlem, 1628. 4to.
Footnote 98
clarum nomem Mogus _changed to_
clarum nomen Mogus
Footnote 107
The attitude of the statute, nobly draped _changed to_
The attitude of the statue, nobly draped
Footnote 139
Justiniani codex institutionem _changed to_
Justiniani codex institutionum
Footnote 140
that William Tydnale’s version of the _changed to_
that William Tyndale’s version of the
by Joann. Schæffier _changed to_
by Joann. Schæffler