SPREAD OF PRINTING IN GERMANY.
Before 1462, when the sacking of Mainz by Adolf von Nassau is popularly
supposed to have disseminated the art of printing, presses were at work
in at least two other German towns, Strasburg and Bamberg.
The first of these places is mentioned by Trithemius, who records
that after the secret of printing was discovered, it spread first to
Strasburg. Judging merely from authentic dates, this is evidently
correct, for we have the date 1460 for Strasburg, and 1461-62 for
Bamberg. There are, however, strong reasons for supposing that this
order is hardly the correct one, and that Bamberg should come first.
Since, however, the statement and the dates exist, it will be safer for
us provisionally to consider Strasburg as the first, and state later on
the arguments in favour of Bamberg.
Though no dated book is known printed at Strasburg before 1471, in
which year Eggestein printed the _Decretum Gratiani_, and though
Mentelin’s first dated book is of the year 1473, yet we know from the
rubrications of a copy of the _Latin Bible_ in the library at Freiburg,
that that book was finished, the first volume before 1460, and the
second before 1461. Concerning the printer, John Mentelin, a good deal
is known. Born at Schelestadt, he became a scribe and illuminator;
but, like many others, abandoned the original business to become a
printer. P. de Lignamine in his Chronicle says that by 1458, Mentelin
had a press at Strasburg, and was printing, like Gutenberg, three
hundred sheets a day. By 1461 he had finished printing the forty-nine
line edition of the _Latin Bible_. He died on the 12th December 1478,
leaving two daughters, one married to Adolf Rusch d’Ingwiller, his
successor; the other, to Martin Schott, another Strasburg printer.
Very few of his books are dated; and as his types have not yet been
systematically studied, the books cannot be ranged in any accurate
order.
Taking the information in Lignamine’s Chronicle as exact, and we have
no reason to doubt its accuracy, we may take certain books in the type
of the Bible as the earliest of Mentelin’s books.[11] Round 1466 we can
group some other books, the _Augustinus de arte predicandi_ and the
_Homily on St. Matthew_ by St. Chrysostom. A copy of the former book
in the British Museum is rubricated 1466; and of the latter a copy in
the Spencer Collection has the same year added in manuscript. In Sir
M. M. Sykes’ sale was a volume containing copies of these two books
bound together in contemporary binding. About 1470, Mentelin issued a
catalogue containing the titles of nine books, including a _Virgil_, a
_Terence_, and a _Valerius Maximus_. Mentelin also printed the first
edition of the Bible in German, a folio of 406 leaves. Several copies
are known with the rubricated date of 1466; and the same date is also
found in a copy of the _Secunda secundæ_ of Aquinas. Many other of his
books contain manuscript dates, and show that they are considerably
earlier than is usually supposed.
[11] In the University Library, Cambridge, is a very interesting copy
of the first volume of this Bible, bought at the Culemann sale. It
consists for the most part of proof-sheets, and variations from the
ordinary copies occur on almost every page. It is printed on small
sheets of paper in the manner of a broadside, the sheets being pasted
together at the inner margin.
Henry Eggestein, whose first dated book was issued in 1471, was living
in Strasburg as early as 1442, and probably began to print almost as
soon as Mentelin. The earliest date attributable to any of his books
is 1466, the date written by Bamler, at that time an illuminator, in
the copy of one of his forty-five line editions of the Bible now in the
library at Wolfenbüttel. In 1471, Eggestein himself tells us that he
had printed a large number of books. A little time before this he had
issued a most glowing advertisement of his Bible. He appeals to the
good man to come and see his wonderful edition, produced, as the early
printers were so fond of saying, not by the pen, but by the wonderful
art of printing. The proofs had been read by the best scholars, and the
book printed in the best style. This Bible, which has forty-five lines
to the column, was finished by 1466, for the copy now in the library at
Munich was rubricated in that year. The only printed dates that occur
in Eggestein’s books are 1471 and 1472. Hain gives three books of the
years 1474, 1475, and 1478 as printed in his type, but these contain no
printer’s name.
The most mysterious printer connected with the history of the Strasburg
press, is the printer who used a peculiarly shaped capital R, and is
therefore known as the R printer. He seems to have been very generally
confounded with Mentelin till 1825, when the sale catalogue of Dr.
Kloss’ books appeared. In this sale there happened to be two copies
of the _Speculum_ of Vincent de Beauvais, one the undoubted Mentelin
edition, the other by the R printer. The writer of the note in the
catalogue stated that, on comparison, the types of the two editions,
though very like each other, were not the same. Since the type is
different, and the peculiar R has never yet been found in any authentic
book printed by Mentelin, we may safely say that Mentelin was not the
printer. To whom, then, are the books to be ascribed? Many consider
them the work of Adolf Rusch d’Ingwiller. M. Madden attributes them
all to the Monastery of Weidenbach at Cologne, in common with most
of the other books by unknown printers, and dates them about 1470.
Bradshaw, writing to Mr. Winter Jones in 1870, says: ‘In turning over
a volume of fragments yesterday, I found a Bull of Sixtus IV., dated
1478, in the type of the famous “R” printer so often confounded with
Mentelin. His books are commonly put down to 1470 or earlier, and I
believe no one ever thought of putting his books so late as 1478.[12]
Yet this little piece is almost the only certain date which is known
in connection with this whole series of books.’ Complete sets of the
_Speculum_ of Vincent de Beauvais are very often made up, partly from
Mentelin’s and partly from the R printer’s editions, which points to
their having been probably printed at the same place and about the same
time. The earliest MS. date found in any of the books by the R printer
is 1464; for a note in the copy of the _Duranti Rationale divinorum
Officiorum_ in the library at Basle, states that the book was bought
in that year for the University. If this date is authentic, it follows
that Strasburg was the first place where Roman type was used.
[12] This indulgence had been noticed by Bernard, _De l’Origine de
l’Imprimerie_, vol. ii. pp. 108, 109.
The next important printer at Strasburg is George Husner, who began
in 1476 and printed up till 1498. His types may be recognised by the
capital H, which is Roman, and has a boss on the lower side of the
cross-bar. John Gruninger, who began in 1483, issued some beautifully
illustrated books, the most celebrated being the _Horace_, _Terence_,
and _Boethius_, and Brandt’s _Ship of Fools_. He and another later
Strasburg printer, Knoblochzer, share with Conrad Zeninger of Nuremberg
the doubtful honour of being the most careless printers in the
fifteenth century.
Albrecht Pfister was printing at Bamberg as early as 1461, and his
first dated book, Boner’s _Edelstein_, was issued on 4th February of
that year. He used but one type, a discarded fount from Mainz which
had been used in printing the thirty-six line Bible and the other
books of that group. By many he is credited with being the printer of
the thirty-six line Bible,—a theory which a short examination of the
workmanship of his signed books would go far to upset. Pfister seems
to have been more of a wood engraver than a printer, relying rather
on the attractive nature of his illustrations than on the elegance
of his printing. We can attribute to him with certainty nine books,
with one exception all written in German, and with two exceptions all
illustrated with woodcuts. Mr. Hessels is of opinion that certain
of these books ought to be placed, on account of their workmanship,
before the _Boner_ of 1461; as, for instance, the _Quarrel of a Widower
with Death_, in which the lines are very uneven. There are certain
peculiarities noticeable in Pfister’s method of work which occur also
in the _Manung widder die Durke_, a prognostication for 1455, preserved
in the Royal Library, Munich, and in the _Cisianus zu dutsche_ at
Cambridge, the most marked being the filling up of blank spaces with
an ornament of stops. The curious rhyming form of these calendars, and
the dialect of German in which they are written, resemble exactly the
rhyming colophon put by Pfister to the Boner’s _Edelstein_. In all
three cases the ends of the lines are not marked, but the works are
printed as prose.
Paulus Paulirinus of Prague, in his description of a ‘ciripagus’
wrote: ‘Et tempore mei Pambergæ quidam sculpsit integram Bibliam super
lamellas, et in quatuor septimanis totam Bibliam super pargameno
subtili presignavit scriptura.’ Some writers have suggested that
these words refer to the thirty-six line Bible; but a ‘Bible cut on
thin plates’ can only be a block-book, and probably an edition of the
_Biblia Pauperum_. Paul of Prague composed a large part of his book
before 1463, when no other printer besides Pfister was at work at
Bamberg, and these words probably apply to either the Latin or German
edition of the _Biblia Pauperum_ which Pfister issued.
We have no information as to when or where Pfister began to print, and
the extraordinary rarity of his books prevents much connected work
upon them. There is no doubt that he came into possession of the type
of the thirty-six line Bible, and in this type a number of books were
printed. The earliest of these books is probably the _Manung Widder die
Durke_, which, since it was a prognostication for 1455, was presumably
printed in 1454. This book, as far as it is possible to judge, was
manifestly printed after the thirty-six line Bible, and by a different
printer. In it we first find the peculiar lozenge-shaped ornament of
stops which continues through the series of books in this type. The
calendar of 1457 in the Bibliothèque Nationale, probably printed in
1456, is the next piece in the series to which an approximate date can
be given. Of this calendar, originally printed on a single sheet,
only the upper half remains, found in 1804 at Mainz, where it had been
used as a cover for some ecclesiastical papers. It bears the following
inscription: ‘Prebendarum. Registrum capituli ecclesie Sancti Gengolffi
intra muros Moguntiæ receptorum et distributorum anno LVII., per Johan:
Kess, vicarium ecclesie predicte.’ Thus, at the end of the year 1457
or beginning of 1458, it was treated at Mainz as waste-paper. With
this calendar may be classed the _Cisianus zu dutsche_ at Cambridge, a
rhyming calendar in German.
There are, then, the series of nine or ten books, usually all given to
Pfister, though only two bear his name; and of these some are after
and some can be placed before 1461. The typographical peculiarities of
Pfister’s signed books are the same as those of the early calendars,
and point to his having also produced them. This brings us at once
into the obvious difficulties, for we should have Pfister printing as
early as 1454, while Gutenberg was still in partnership with Fust. The
knowledge about Pfister’s press is too meagre to allow any of these
difficulties to be cleared up, though something may yet result from a
more careful examination of the books themselves. The only examples
in England of books printed by Pfister (with the exception of the
_Cisianus_) are in the Spencer Library. There are there four books and
a fragment of a fifth.
The conjecture put forward by M. Dziatako, that Gutenberg may have
printed the thirty-six line Bible in partnership with some other
printer, as, for example, Pfister, would certainly, if any proof in
its favour could be adduced, simplify matters very much. We should
then have all the books in a natural sequence, from the Bible to the
latest books of Pfister, and we could account for the printing of
the _Manung_ in 1454, while Gutenberg was still in partnership with
Fust and Schœffer for the production of the forty-two line Bible. The
workmanship of the thirty-six line Bible is in some points different
from the later books, all of which were probably the work of Pfister,
who, according to this theory, must have been at work at Mainz as early
as 1454. The contract between Gutenberg and Fust did not necessarily
bind the former to print only with Fust, so that he may also have
worked with Pfister, and taught him the art.
Pfister’s last dated book, _The Histories of Joseph, Daniel, Judith,
and Esther_, was printed in 1462, not long after the day of St.
Walburga (May 1).
After this time we hear of no book printed at Bamberg till 1481, when
John Sensenschmidt printed the _Missale Ordinis S. Benedicti_, commonly
known as the Bamberg Missal.
Cologne, from its situation on the Rhine, was in a favourable position
for receiving information and materials from Mainz, and we find that by
1466, Ulric Zel of Hanau, a clerk of the diocese of Mainz, was settled
there as a printer. His first dated book was the Chrysostom _Super
psalmo quinquagesimo_; but some other books were certainly issued
before it. The Cicero _De Officiis_, a quarto with thirty-four lines to
the page, is earlier, and is perhaps the first book he issued. It has
many signs of being a very early production, and may possibly have been
issued before Schœffer’s edition of 1465.
M. Madden, in his _Lettres d’un Bibliographe_, has argued that a very
early school of typography existed at Cologne, in the Monastery of
Weidenbach. Though his researches have thrown a great deal of light
on various points connected with early printing, and are in some ways
of real value, much that he has theorised about Weidenbach requires
confirmation. We can hardly be expected to believe, as he would try to
persuade us, that Caxton, and Zel, and Jenson, and many other printers
whose types belong to different families, could all learn printing
at this one place. It would be impossible for men who had learnt to
print in the same school to produce such radically different kinds of
type, and work in such different methods. The early tentative essays
of Zel’s press can be clearly identified, and their order more or less
accurately determined, from their typographical characteristics. His
earliest books were quartos; and of these the first few have four point
holes to the page. These point holes are small holes about an inch
from the top and bottom lines, and nearly parallel with the sides of
the type, made by the four pins which went through the paper when one
side of the page was printed, and served as a guide to place the paper
straight when the other side was printed.[13]
[13] The use of four points to obtain a correct register is generally a
sure sign of the infancy of a press. Blades says they are to be found
in all the books printed in Caxton’s Type 1.
Then, before he settled down to printing his quartos with twenty-seven
lines to the page, he experimented with various numbers of lines. We
can safely start with the following books in the following order:—
_A._ Cicero, _De officiis_, 34 lines to the page.
Chrysostom, _Super psalmo quinquagesimo_, 1466, 33 lines to the
page.
Gerson, _Super materia celebrationis missæ_, 31 lines to the page.
Gerson, _Alphabetum divini amoris_, 31 lines to the page.
These form an early group by themselves, and commence on the first
leaf; the second group begins with
_B._ Augustinus, _De vita christiana_ and _De singularitate
clericorum_, 1467, 28 and 27 lines to the page.
Then follows a number of tracts by Gerson and Chrysostom, all having
four point holes, and all probably printed before 1470. Zel continued
to print throughout the whole of the fifteenth century.
At a very early date there were a number of other printers settled at
Cologne, all using types which, though easily distinguishable, are
similar in appearance and of the same family; and their books have
generally been ascribed to Zel. To many of them it is impossible to put
a printer’s name; and certain of them have been divided into groups
known by the title of the commonest book in that group which has no
edition in another group. For instance, we have a certain number of
books printed by the printer of the _Historia Sancti Albani_; another
printer is known as the printer of _Dictys_ (perhaps Arnold ther
Hoernen); another as the printer of _Augustinus de Fide_ (perhaps
Goiswin Gops), and so on. No doubt, in time, when the Cologne press has
been more carefully studied, the identity of some of these printers
will be discovered; but at present there are a great many difficulties
waiting to be cleared away.
Arnold ther Hoernen, who began to print in or before 1470, was the
pioneer of several improvements. The _Sermo ad populum_, printed in
1470, has a title-page, and the leaves numbered in the centre of the
right-hand margin; very soon after he printed a book with headlines. He
printed ‘infra sedecim domos,’ and used a small neat device, of which
there are two varieties, always confused. John Koelhoff, a native of
Lubeck, printed at Cologne from 1472 (?) to 1493, when he died. If the
date of 1472 in his _Expositio Decalogi_ of Nider be correct, he was
the first printer who used ordinary printed signatures; but the date of
the book is questioned. The shapes of the capital letters in Koelhoff’s
types are very distinctive; and it is curious to notice that a fount
unmistakably copied from them was used by a Venetian printer named John
de Colonia. Nicholas Gotz of Sletzstat, who began printing about 1470,
though we find no dated book of his before 1474, and who finished in
1480, used a device engraved upon copper in the ‘manière criblée,’ or
dotted style. It consists of a coat-of-arms surmounted by a helmet and
crest, with his motto, ‘Sola spes mea inte virginis gratia.’ In some
books we find the motto printed in a different form—‘Spes mea sola
in virginis gratia.’ In 1475 was issued the _Sermo de presentacione
beatissime virginis Marie_, the only book known containing the name
of Goiswinus Gops de Euskyrchen. In 1476, Peter Bergman de Olpe and
Conrad Winters de Homborch began to print, and were followed in 1477
by Guldenschaff, and in 1479 by Henry Quentell, the last named being
the most important printer at Cologne during the latter years of the
fifteenth century.
Gunther Zainer was the first printer at Augsburg; and in March 1468
issued his first dated book, the _Meditationes vite domini nostri Jesu
Christi_, by Bonaventure. Some of his undated books show signs from
their workmanship of having been printed at a still earlier date.
At first he used a small Gothic type, but in 1472 he published the
_Etymologiæ S. Isidori_ in a beautiful Roman letter, the first, with a
date, used in Germany. His later books are printed in a large, thick,
black letter, and have in many cases ornamental capitals and borders.
He was connected in some way with the Monastery of the Chartreuse at
Buxheim, and to their library he gave many of his books; and we learn
from their archives that he died on the 13th April 1478. By 1472 we
find two more printers settled in Augsburg, John Baemler and John
Schussler. The first of these, before becoming a printer, had been a
scribe and rubricator, and as such had sometimes signed his name to
books. This has given rise to the idea that he printed them, and he is
often quoted as the printer of a Bible in 1466. He worked from 1472 to
1495, printing a very large number of books. Schussler printed only for
three years, from 1470 to 1473, issuing about eight books, printed in
a curious small type, half-Gothic, half-Roman, and very like that used
at Subiaco. About 1472-73, Melchior de Stanheim, head of the Monastery
of SS. Ulric and Afra, purchased some presses and began to print with
types, which seem to have been borrowed from other Augsburg printers,
such as Zainer, Schussler, and Anthony Sorg. The latter started on his
own account in 1475, and issued a very large number of books between
that year and 1493.
The early Augsburg books are especially noted for their woodcuts,
which, though not perhaps of much artistic merit, are very numerous and
curious. Some very beautifully printed books were also produced about
the end of the century by John Schœnsperger, who is celebrated as the
printer of the _Theurdanck_ of 1517.
In 1470, John Sensenschmidt and Henry Keppfer of Mainz, whom we
have before spoken of as a servant of Gutenberg, began to print
at Nuremberg. Their first book was the _Codex egregius comestorii
viciorum_, and in the colophon the printer says: ‘Nuremburge anno,
etc., LXXº patronarum formarumque concordia et proporcione impressus.’
These words are exactly copied from the colophon of the _Catholicon_,
which is considered to have been printed by Gutenberg.
In 1472, Frederick Creusner and Anthony Koburger, the two most famous
Nuremberg printers, both began to print. They seem to have been
closely connected in business, and we sometimes find Creusner using
Koburger’s type; for instance, the _Poggius_ of 1475 by Creusner, and
the _Boethius_ of 1473 by Koburger, are in the same type. Most of the
early Nuremberg types are readily distinguished by the capital N, in
which the cross stroke slants the wrong way. Koburger was perhaps the
most important printer and publisher of the fifteenth century. He is
said to have employed twenty-four presses at Nuremberg, besides having
books printed for him in other towns. About 1480 he issued a most
interesting catalogue, of which there is a copy in the British Museum,
containing the titles of twenty-two books, not all, however, printed
by himself. In 1495 he printed also an advertisement of the _Nuremberg
Chronicles_.[14]
[14] These early book catalogues supply a very great deal of curious
information, and are very well worth careful study. An extremely good
article by Wilhelm Meyer, containing reprints of twenty-two, was issued
some years ago in the _Centralblatt für Bibliothekswesen_; and since
that time reprints of a few others have appeared in the same magazine.
Though Spire was not an important town in the history of printing, a
book was printed there as early as 1471. This was the _Postilla super
Apocalypsin_ [Hain, 13,310]. It is a quarto, printed in a rude Roman
type, but with a Gothic V. Two other works of Augustine and one of Huss
(_Gesta Christi_) are known, printed in a larger type, but without
date, place, or name of printer. It has usually been assumed, on what
grounds is not stated, that these books were printed by Peter Drach;
but as at present no book is known in this type with his name, it is
perhaps wiser to assign them to an unknown printer. Peter Drach’s first
dated book was issued in 1477, and the history of his press at this
time is particularly interesting. The type in which his _Vocabularius
utriusque Juris_ of May 1477 is printed, is absolutely the same as that
used in December of the same year for printing the _Vocabularius ex
quo_, printed, according to its colophon, by Nicholas Bechtermuntze at
Eltvil. On this subject it is best to quote Mr. Hessels’ own words, for
to him this discovery is due:[15]—
[15] _Gutenberg; Was he the Inventor of Printing?_ By J. H. Hessels.
London, 1882. 8vo. P. 181.
‘I may here observe that Type 3 [that of Bechtermuntze in 1477] is
exactly the same as that used by Peter Drach at Spire. When I received
this _Vocabulary_ [_ex quo_ of 1477] from Munich, the only book I had
seen of Drach was the _Leonardi de Utino Sermones_, published in 1479;
and it occurred to me that Bechtermuncze had probably ceased to print
about this time, and might have transferred his type to Drach. But this
appears not to have been the case, as Drach published already, on the
18th May 1477, the _Vocabularius Juris utriusque_, printed with the
very same type, and must therefore have been in possession of his type
simultaneously with Bechtermuncze. The question therefore arises, Did
Drach perhaps print the 1477 _Vocabulary_ for Nicolaus Bechtermuncze?’
This question must, unfortunately, be left for the present where Mr.
Hessels has left it, but it offers a most interesting point for further
research.
From 1477, Peter Drach continued to print at any rate to the end of
the fifteenth century; but it is perhaps possible that there were a
father and son of the same name, whose various books have not been
separated. The _Omeliarum opus_ of 1482 [Hain, 8789] is spoken of as
‘factore Petro Drach juniore in inclita Spirensium urbe impressum.’ The
only other interesting printers at Spire were the brothers John and
Conrad Hijst, whose names are found in the preface to an edition of the
_Philobiblon_ of Richard de Bury, which they, printed about 1483. They
used an ornamental Gothic type, generally confused with that belonging
to Reyser of Eichstadt, and their unsigned books are almost always
described by Hain and others as printed ‘typis Reyserianis.’
Only one printer is known to have been at Esslingen in the fifteenth
century. This was Conrad Fyner, who began to print in 1472, and
continued in the town till 1480. Though the first dated book is 1472,
it is most probable that several of the undated books should be placed
earlier. Fyner’s first small type is extremely like one used at
Strasburg by Eggestein, if indeed it is not identical, and their books
are constantly confused. In 1473, Fyner printed Gerson’s _Collectorium
super Magnificat_, the first book containing printed musical notes; and
in 1475, _P. Niger contra perfidos Judeos_, which contains the first
specimen of Hebrew type. One book in Fyner’s type [Hain, *9335] is said
to be printed by Johannes Hug de Goppingen. In 1481, Fyner moved to
Urach, where he printed one book, and after that date he disappears.
At Lavingen only one book is known to have been printed in the
fifteenth century. It is the _Augustinus de consensu evangelistarum_
[Hain, *1981], issued on April 12, 1473. Madden conjectures from the
appearance of the type and the capital letters that the book was
printed by John Zainer of Ulm. Both type and capitals, however, are
different, but their resemblance is quite natural considering the short
distance between Ulm and Lavingen.
At an early period Ulm was very important as a centre for wood
engraving, and several block-books are known to have been produced
there. An edition of the _Ars Moriendi_ is signed Ludwig ze Ulm, whom
Dr. Hassler conjectures to have been Ludwig Hohenwang. The earliest
printer that we find mentioned in a dated book is John Zainer of
Reutlingen, no doubt a relation of Gunther Zainer the printer at
Augsburg. He issued in 1473 a work by Boccaccio, _De præclaris
mulieribus_, illustrated with a number of woodcuts, and having also
woodcut initials and borders. He printed from this time to the end of
the century, many of his books being ornamented. Another printer at Ulm
to be noticed is Conrad Dinckmut, who printed from 1482 to 1496. He was
probably a wood engraver, for he illustrated many of his books with
woodcuts, and also produced a xylographic _Donatus_, of which there is
an imperfect copy in the Bodleian.
In 1473, printing was introduced into Merseburg by Luke Brandis, who
moved in 1475 to Lubeck. In 1475, also, Conrad Elyas began to print
at Breslau, and by 1480 no fewer than twenty-three towns had printing
presses. Between 1480 and 1490 the art was introduced into fifteen more
towns, and between 1490 and 1501 into twelve. So that the total number
of plates in Germany where printing was practised in the fifteenth
century is fifty.
Basle was the first city of Switzerland into which printing was
introduced, but it is hard to determine when this took place. The
earliest printer was Berthold Rodt, or Ruppel of Hanau, who is supposed
to be the same man as the Bertholdus of Hanau who figures in the
lawsuit of 1455 as a servant of Gutenberg. It is not till 1473, in the
colophon of the _Repertorium Vocabulorum_ of Conrad de Mure, that we
find either his name or a date; but many books are known printed in
the same type. One of these, the _Moralia in Job_ of St. Gregory, was
printed in or before 1468, for one copy contains a manuscript note
showing that it was bought in that year by Joseph de Vergers, an
ecclesiastic of Mainz. About 1474, Berthold began to print a Bible,
but finished only the first volume, dying, it is supposed, about that
time. The second volume was printed by Bernard Richel, and is dated
1475. The most important printers of Basle were Wenssler, Amorbach,
and Froben. About 1469, Helyas de Louffen, a canon of the Abbey of
Beromunster, began to print, and in 1470 issued the _Mammotrectus_ of
Marchesinus, finished on the Vigil of St. Martin, the exact day and
year in which Schœffer finished his edition of the same book. Bernard
says that the two editions are certainly different, and could not have
been copied one from the other, so that the similarity of date must be
looked upon as a curious coincidence. This _Mammotrectus_ is the first
dated book issued in Switzerland, and is printed in the most remarkable
Gothic type used anywhere in the fifteenth century. Many of the capital
letters if found by themselves could not be read, and it is a type
which once seen can never be forgotten. At the foot of each column in
the book is a letter which looks like a signature, but which is put
there for the purpose of a number to the column. Helyas de Louffen died
in 1475, having printed about eight books, some in Gothic and some in
Roman type.
Before the end of the fifteenth century printing presses were at work
in five other towns of Switzerland: Geneva (1478), Promentour (1482),
Lausanne (1493), Trogen (1497), and Sursee (1500).