was done entirely with pen or brush: the few uncolored lines in the
initials of the _Mentz Psalter_ may be regarded as blemishes occasioned
by an accidental overlapping of the mask on the frisket. Savage’s
statement that the blocks were printed with ink is too positive to be
disputed. Nor is it necessary to accept the hypothesis of Bernard that
the blocks were engraved in two pieces and mortised, that they might
be printed by one impression. We may rightfully suppose [p458] that
Schœffer tried to imitate the work of the illuminator by the imitation
of his method. To engrave the initial and the ornament around it on one
block, to paint the letter in one color and the ornament in another,
and to print both colors by one impression, seemed the surest way to do
the work. That this was the intention of the designer of the letters is
evident from the manner in which the colors are divided. Contrary to
the usage of the illuminators, who were fond of interweaving colors,
each color was kept apart in a mass, that it might be inked with
greater facility. And this inking was probably done with a brush. Blue
ink was painted on the letter, and red ink on the ornament, at a great
sacrifice of time, but with neatness and without any interference of
the colors.[303] It should not surprise us that exact register was
secured, but it was more a feat of painting than of printing.[304]
Setting aside the colors, the workmanship of the _Psalter_ is not
neater than that of the _Bible of 42 lines_. The right side of every
page is much more ragged[305] through bad spacing; typographical
errors[306] are more frequent; the lines are often bowed or bent in
the centre from careless locking up. The presswork is not good; the
pages are dark and light from uneven inking, and the types have a grimy
appearance, as if [p459] they had been inked with foul balls and
printed on over-wet vellum. The colophon or imprint attached to this
book says:
This book of Psalms, decorated with antique initials, and sufficiently
emphasized with rubricated letters, has been thus made by the masterly
invention of printing and also of type-making, without the writing of
a pen, and is consummated to the service of God, through the industry
of Johan Fust, citizen of Mentz, and Peter Schœffer of Gernszheim, in
the year of our Lord 1457, on the eve of the Assumption [August 14].
This imprint is ingeniously worded. Fust and Schœffer do not say, in
plain words, that they were the inventors of printing; they invite
attention to the red ink and the two-colored initials which were here
used in printing, with fine effect. They speak of rubricated printing
and of the invention of printing as if they were inseparable. They
suppress the name of Gutenberg, and induce the reader to believe that
Fust and Schœffer were not only the first to print with letters in red
ink, but the first to discover and use the masterly invention. This
insinuated pretense had the effect which was, no doubt, intended. By
many readers of that century, Peter Schœffer was regarded as the man
who planned and printed the _Psalter_, the man who made the types,
not only of this book, but of the _Bible of 42 lines_. Made bold by
the silence of Gutenberg, Schœffer allowed, if he did not positively
authorize, the statement to be made by his friends, that he was the
true inventor of printing; that he took up the art where Gutenberg left
it incomplete, and perfected it.
Before this assertion can be examined, it will be proper to consider
the date of 1457 in the imprint of the _Psalter_. If Schœffer planned
and printed the book, he did all the work in the twenty-one months
following Gutenberg’s expulsion from the partnership. This is an
unreasonable proposition, for the book should have been in press or in
preparation as long as the _Bible of 42 lines_. It is quite probable
that the _Psalter_ was planned and left incomplete by Gutenberg. The
types, which are like those of Gutenberg’s _Bible_, are unlike any
types [p460] subsequently made by Schœffer. The great initials in
colors are of the same design as the initials of the _Donatuses_ shown
by Fischer, and by him attributed to Gutenberg. The careful manner in
which they were engraved indicates experience as well as skill on the
part of the engraver; but it is not possible that the engraver was
Schœffer, or any workmen attached to his office, for Schœffer never
after printed any engravings on wood of equal merit.[307] The sumptuous
style of the _Psalter_ is unlike that of any book afterward made by
Schœffer; it is in a style which he did not originate, and could not
sustain. He reprinted it in 1459, in 1490, and in 1502, but the later
editions were not printed so well as the first.[308] The inferiority of
the later workmanship is evidence that the master mind who planned the
work was not at the head of the printing office.
On the sixth day of October, 1459, Fust published the _Rationale
Durandi_, or the exposition, by Durandus, of the services of the
church. It is a folio of 160 leaves, 2 columns to the page, in types on
English body, 63 lines to the column. It has many rubricated letters
and lines, and ends with a colophon, in red ink, worded like the
_Psalter of 1457_, but with the addition of the words, “clerk of the
diocese of Mentz,” after the name of Peter Schœffer. The statement in
the colophon, that it was made without the writing of a pen, is not
entirely true. There are two kinds of copies: one has printed capitals
like those of the _Psalter_, the other has illuminated initials. To
provide suitable spaces for these written initials, which are of large
size, the types were overrun and re-arranged.
If Schœffer had been an able calligrapher, he would have [p461]
demonstrated his ability by the production of types of finer
proportions than those of Gutenberg. If he was an expert type-founder,
and the inventor of the type-mould, he should have proved his skill
by casting types of neater finish. The first types made by him or by
his order after his separation from Gutenberg are exhibited in the
_Rationale Durandi_, but they do not warrant the opinion that he was a
very skillful designer or an ingenious type-founder. The combination
of Gothic and Roman which he there exhibited is evidently an imitation
of the Round Gothic face used by Gutenberg in the _Letters of
Indulgence_ and the _Catholicon_. Schœffer’s types present no features
of superiority: they show mannerisms of engraving so like those of
Gutenberg’s types as to lead to the opinion that both were made by the
same punch-cutter.
[Illustration: Fac-simile of the Text Types of the Rationale Durandi.
[From Bernard.]]
In the following year (1460), Schœffer and Fust finished a stout
folio, which was printed in a Round Gothic face on the larger body of
Great-primer. This book, the _Constitutions_ (or Body of Divinity) _of
Pope Clement V, with the Commentaries of Bishop John Andrew_, has been
much admired by bibliographers for its composition. The fac-simile on
a following page shows the text of the pope nested in the commentaries
of the bishop—truly “a rivulet of text in a meadow of notes.” In
some pages the text occupies about one-third, in other pages about
one-sixth, of the space assigned to the print. [p462] The composition
of pages so unevenly balanced must have taxed the ingenuity of the
compositor, but he was materially aided by the licence permitting
frequent use of abbreviations.
[Illustration: Fac-simile of the Types of the Bible of 1462.
[From Bernard.]]
These types are cast in evener line than the types of the _Rationale_,
but the face is not of neater cut. The presswork is not good. The
colophon, which is like that of the _Psalter_, states that the red
letters have been printed by the masterly invention of type-making;
but the red letters are the ones interspersed in the text. The great
initials were not printed; the blank space left for them was filled up
by the illuminator. This book was even more popular than the _Psalter_;
it was reprinted four times, but always in the same form.
[Illustration: The Mark of Fust and Schœffer.]
[Illustration: Fac-simile of a part of a Page of the Constitutions of
Pope Clement V.
The paragraph marks were written in red ink.
[From Humphreys.]]
In 1462 Schœffer printed a new edition of the _Latin Bible_, in the
Great-primer types of the _Constitutions_, in folio form, two columns
to the page, and 48 lines to the column. It is the first Bible with
printed date. According to modern taste, Schœffer’s change from Pointed
Gothic to Round Gothic was not happy, for the new face is inferior in
design and execution. But the Round Gothic permitted the compression
of the book within fewer pages, and was a more economical letter for
the printer. The second volume has, in some copies, a colophon worded
like that of the [p464] _Psalter of 1457_, setting forth that “this
little book was made by the masterly invention of printing and of
type-making, without any writing of a pen;” in other copies, obviously
of the same edition, this clause does not appear. This is but one of
many variations in this book which can be satisfactorily explained only
by Madden’s theory of a double composition.
The war between Diether and Adolph for the possession of the electorate
of Mentz was the occasion of some curious proclamations which were
printed in the types of Schœffer.[309] Two editions, one in Latin, one
in German, of a _Bull of Pope Pius II against the Turks_, dated October
22, 1463, have also been attributed to Schœffer.
The capture and sack of Mentz brought great misfortune to Fust and
Schœffer. We are told that the house and materials of Fust were burned;
but it is plain that he saved his punches and matrices, for we see
that the old faces of type were used in all the later books of Fust
and Schœffer. The printed proclamations of Adolph show that Fust soon
refurnished his office, and began to print. With his fellow-citizens,
he suffered from the paralysis to industry inflicted by the war.
There was no encouragement for enterprise. There is no book bearing
the imprint of Fust and Schœffer between the years 1462 and 1464. The
unemployed workmen of Fust and [p465] Schœffer were obliged to leave
the city. In leaving it, they carried with them the knowledge of the
new art, which, in a few years, they established in all the larger
cities of Europe.
The _Bible of 1462_ found few purchasers in Mentz. The demand in the
city had already been supplied with the _Bibles of 36 lines_ and of
_42 lines_, and buyers from abroad shunned a city subject to siege
and to civil war. Leaving Schœffer to take care of the business of
the printing office, Fust took the unsold _Bibles_ to Paris, where he
believed they would find a more generous appreciation. For it seems
that, in 1458, the king of France had sent Nicholas Jenson to Mentz to
get a knowledge of the practice of typography, the fame of which had
then reached France, and it is supposed that Jenson gave to Fust the
information that there was a demand for printing in Paris. This is the
official record of the proposed mission.[310]
On the third day of October, 1458, the king [Charles VII], having
learned that Messire Guthemburg, chevalier, a resident of Mentz in
Germany, a man dexterous in engraving and in types and punches, had
perfected the invention of printing with types and punches, curious
concerning this mystery, the king ordered the chiefs of the mint to
nominate some persons of proper experience in engraving of a similar
nature, so that he could secretly send them to the said place, to
obtain information about the said form [type-mould] and invention,
there to hear, to consider, and to learn the art. This mandate of
the king was obeyed, and it was directed that Nicholas Jenson should
make the journey, by means of which the knowledge of the art and its
establishment should be achieved in this realm, and it should be
his (Jenson’s) duty to first give the art of printing to the said
realm.[311] [p466]
The description of printing here given is singularly exact. It is
not surprising that the existence of the new art was then known in
Paris, for the colophon to the _Psalter of 1457_ had announced the
masterly invention; but it is strange that this document specified its
characteristic features—the _formen_, or the matrices and type-mould,
the types, punches and engraving. We see that the secret was revealed;
that Frenchmen in 1458 had a correct idea of the vital principle
of printing, and that all they required was a knowledge of its
manipulations.
Eager to prevent the threatened rivalry of Jenson, Fust appeared in
Paris, in 1462, with copies of the _Bible_,[312] while Jenson was
ineffectually soliciting the new king to aid him. So far from being
persecuted in Paris, Fust was received with high consideration, not
only by the king, but by the leading men of the city. He was encouraged
to establish in Paris a store for the sale of his books, and to repeat
his visit.
In 1465, Schœffer printed the _Decretals of Boniface VIII_, a folio
of 141 leaves, each page containing a text in large types, surrounded
by notes in small types. Red letters and lines are introduced, but
there are no engravings, and the presswork is in no point better than
that of the _Bible of 1462_. The colophon exhibits an unscrupulous
appropriation of the [p467] words of the colophon of the _Catholicon
of 1460_;[313] but, unlike the printer of that book, Fust and Schœffer
here advertise themselves as the men most intimately connected with the
great invention. We can plainly see their strong desire to be regarded
as the first printers, but there is as yet no clear statement that
Schœffer was the real inventor of printing.
In the same year was printed by Fust and Schœffer an edition of _The
Offices of Cicero_, a small quarto of 88 leaves, in their smaller
size of Round Gothic types. To make the book of proper thickness,
and perhaps to improve the appearance of the types, which show
signs of wear, Schœffer put thick leads, about one-tenth of an inch
thick, between the lines. As it is the first book in which leads of
perceptible thickness were used, this real improvement in printing
may be attributed to Schœffer. This edition of _Cicero_ is also
distinguished as the first book in which Greek letters were printed;
but these letters were not types—they were engraved on wood in a rude
manner.[314] This edition of _Cicero_ has the following colophon:
This very celebrated work of Marcus Tullius, I, John Fust, a citizen
of Mentz, have happily completed, through the hands of Peter, my son,
not with writing ink, nor with pen, nor yet in brass,[315] but with a
certain art exceedingly beautiful. Dated 1465.[316]
The _Cicero_ was reprinted on February 4, 1466. Soon after its
publication, Fust made another Journey to Paris.[317] Before he
could perfect his arrangements for the sale of his books, Paris was
depopulated by the plague, and it is the common [p468] belief that
Fust was one of its victims. This is not certainly known, but he was
dead on the thirtieth day of October, 1466, the date of the first mass
instituted for him at the Church of Saint Victor at Paris, where his
body was buried.[318]
After Fust’s death, Peter Schœffer took his place at the head of the
printing house. It seems, however, that he had a partner, one Conrad
Fust, or Conrad Hanequis, who was, no doubt, the Henlif mentioned in
the record of the Church of Saint Victor.[319] A book belonging to the
Church of Saint Peter of Mentz contains the following record of their
application for the manuscript of a book to which they wished to refer:
On Tuesday evening, January 14, 1468, the dean and the canons of
the chapter being assembled in the court of Rhingrave, the discreet
man, Conrad Fust, citizen of Mentz, respectfully requested of their
reverences that they would be pleased to lend to him, and also to
Peter, the husband of his daughter, a book from the library of our
church, to be used as a copy, namely: the _Saint Thomas_ [of Aquinas],
entitled _Liber super quarto sententiarum_, and of which they wish to
make many copies. The canons, considering that this request was just
and pious, and that it would be productive of good, consented to the
request, on condition, however, that he should replace this book,
together with the _Decretals of Boniface_, and further, that he should
give proper security to the canons. It was so done.[320] [p469]
Soon after Gutenberg’s death, Schœffer put forth this artful claim for
recognition as one of the inventors of the new art:
[Illustration: Portrait of Peter Schœffer.
[From Dahl.]]
Moses, in the plan of the tabernacle, and Solomon, in the plan of the
temple, did nothing more than imagine a meritorious work. The merit of
constructing the temple was greater than Solomon’s thought. Hiram and
Beselehel, greater than Solomon, improved on the plans of Solomon and
Moses. He who is pleased to endow mighty men with knowledge has given
us two distinguished masters in the art of engraving, both bearing the
name of John, both living in the city of Mentz, and both illustrious
as the first printers of books. In company with these masters, Peter
hastened toward the same end.[321] The last to leave, he was the first
to arrive; for he excelled in the science of engraving, through the
grace of Him only who can give genius and inspiration. Hereafter every
nation may procure proper types of its own characters, for he excels
in the engraving of all kinds of types. It would be almost incredible
were I to specify the great sums which he pays to the wise men who
correct his editions. He has in his employ, the professor Francis, the
grammarian, whose methodical science is admired all over the world. I,
also, am attached to him, not by any greed of filthy lucre, but by my
love for the general good, and for the honor of my country. Oh that
they who set the types and they who read the proofs would free their
texts from errors! The lovers of literature would certainly reward
them with crowns of honor when with their books, they come to aid the
students in thousands of schools.[322] [p470]
[Illustration: Fac-simile of the Types of the Latin Grammar of 1468.
A bold-faced Round Gothic on English Body.
[From Bernard.]]
In this colophon, Schœffer claims superior skill as a letter-cutter.
This pretension must be tested by his works. His first types, on
English body, appeared in 1459, at least four years after Gutenberg’s
expulsion from the partnership; his next types, on Great-primer body,
appeared in 1462; his last types, a very bold-faced Round Gothic on
English body, were first shown in 1462, and this new face is but a font
of small letters fitted to the capitals of the English of 1459.[323]
These are the only types made by Schœffer. If we compare them with
the types of Gutenberg, it will be perceived that they are fewer in
number and of inferior design and execution. It is absurd for Schœffer
to claim even equal merit with Gutenberg either as letter-cutter or
type-founder. Schœffer’s real merit is to be found in his eminence as
a man of business. He was, no doubt, chosen as Gutenberg’s successor,
for his presumed ability as a manager and a sharp financier. This
presumption was warrantable. His subsequent management of the printing
office shows that he was a thorough man of business—a born trader. He
has not shown that he was a mechanic or an inventor. Like John Fust,
he practised printing, not because he loved it for its own sake, but
because he loved its excitement and its promised rewards. [p471]
Schœffer established agencies for the sale of his books in Lubec[324]
and Frankfort,[325] and probably in other cities. He sold not only his
own books, but those of other printers.[326] We have many evidences
that he was unwearied in the prosecution of his business, which seems
to have been attended with much risk of loss.[327] His prosperity was
at its highest point in 1476, in which year he printed four large
books. After 1480, his interest in the printing office began to
decline. Between 1490 and 1502, but six books were issued from his
office. It is worthy of note that his last book was the fourth edition
of the _Psalter_, the book with which he began his typographical career.
During his later years, Schœffer was made a judge. His official duties
prevented him from giving close attention to his printing office;
but printing was neglected by him because it had almost ceased to be
profitable. He had competitors, not only in Rome, Paris and Venice,
but in all the larger cities of Germany, and even in Mentz and
Strasburg—competitors who were more skillful as printers and more
shrewd as publishers. They had perceived that the art of printing would
be of little advantage to them, and of little service to the world, if
its practice was confined to the servile imitation of manuscript books,
or if it expected to derive a generous support exclusively from the
rich, or from men of taste and men of letters. The younger printers saw
that it was necessary that books [p472] should be made more cheaply,
and in more convenient forms. With this end in view, they introduced
the cheaper size of octavo, which was much handier than the unwieldy
folio or quarto. The rubricated letters and lines were supplanted by
initials and borders engraved on wood and printed with the types in
black ink. The fashion of surrounding a text with notes, and of making
notes and text in measures of different width and length on every page,
was abandoned: the text was put at the top and the notes at the bottom.
Signatures, catch-words, paging-figures, blank spaces between chapters,
and the division of matter in paragraphs, were introduced. But the
greatest innovation was in the letters themselves. When Nicholas Jenson
introduced Roman types, and proved the superior legibility of light and
simple lines, the popularity of the sombre Gothic in Southern Europe
came to an end. The new fashions were adopted by many printers in
Germany, but they were not approved by Schœffer, who resisted them till
his death. In his judgment, the only model for a printed book was the
Gothic manuscript copy, and he copied it as closely as he could, with
all its imperfections.[328]
This curt review of the works and workmanship of Peter Schœffer should
be enough to show that his reputation as the father of letter-founders,
and the inventor of matrices and the type-mould, is entirely
undeserved. His types show that he had no skill as a letter-cutter
or mechanic. It is not possible that a man who has shown such feeble
evidences of mechanical ability could have been the first inventor of
the matrices and the type-mould. While Gutenberg and Fust were living,
Schœffer never made the claim that he was the inventor, or even a
co-inventor, of printing. But when they were buried, he claimed that
he was superior to both, and that he was really the first to enter the
sanctuary of the art. In 1468, he [p473] falsely said that although
Gutenberg was the first inventor, he was the man who perfected the
art. It seems that he must have told his friends many things about
his pretended services which he was unwilling to print. In 1503,
John Schœffer said in his first book that he was a descendant of the
inventor of the almost divine art of printing. In 1509, he says in
another book that his grandfather was the first inventor of printing.
In 1515,[329] he printed this extraordinary statement:
The printing of this chronicle was completed in the year of our Lord
1515, in the vigil of the Virgin Margaret, in the noble and famous
city of Mentz, where the art of printing was first developed, by
John Schœffer, descendant of the honest man, John Fust, citizen of
Mentz, and inventor of the before-mentioned art. It was in the year
1450, in the 13th indiction, under the reign of the very illustrious
Roman Emperor Frederic III, the very reverend father in Christ, Lord
Theodoric, grand cup-bearer of Erpach, prince elector, occupying the
archiepiscopal chair in Mentz, that this John Fust began to devise,
and finally invented, solely through his own genius, the art of
printing. Aided by divine favor, in the year 1452, he had so far
improved and developed his art, that he was able to print; in which
work, however, he was indebted for many improvements to the ingenuity
of Peter Schœffer of Gernszheim, his workman and his adopted son, to
whom, in acknowledgment of his many services and his skill, he gave
the hand of his daughter, Christina Fust. These two men, John Fust and
Peter Schœffer, carefully retained to their own advantage the secrets
of the art; and for this purpose, they demanded from their workmen and
servants an oath that they should not in any way divulge the process.
Notwithstanding this precaution, in the year 1462 the knowledge of the
art was carried by their workmen to distant countries, and printing
thereby secured a wide development. [p474]