It is said that, if we consider the interval between 1468 and 1479, we
shall reasonably expect definite signs of progress. On the contrary, the
first three Oxford books are printed with the same type, with similar
signatures, with the same sized page and the same number of lines in a
column. “In fact,” says Blades in the ©Antiquary©, vol. iii, no. 13,
Jan. 1881, in an article on ©The First Printing Press at Oxford©, “if a
leaf of one was extracted and inserted in another it would,
typographically, excite no remark.” _Natura nihil facit per saltum_, and
we are accustomed to apply the idea of evolution and development to
every art and trade. It is asserted also that there is no other case of
the cessation of a press for over ten years. But cessation of printing
for such a time is not unknown. No book was produced at Bamberg between
1462 and 1480, or at Caen between 1480 and 1500, or at Brussels between
1484 and 1500, or at Haarlem for some years after 1486, or at Saragossa
after 1475 till 1485? Moreover the only early printing known at
Tavistock is two books in 1525 and 1534. The _same type_ and _identical
woodcuts_ are found in the two, with an interval of nine years. And
where there is cessation, it is obvious that we may be content with
fewer signs of advance when work is resumed at the same press with the
same type, than if the activity had been continuous, or if the
instruments were changed.
But this question of progress is a plain issue. Are there no signs of
advance in the two later books compared with the earlier one?
The first book often has an unevenness at the right-hand edge of a
column (in 28 pages out of 84). In the other two it is always perfectly
even[11]. Again, the Jerome starts printing on sign. a 1, whereas the
other two start with a blank leaf, the printing beginning on a 2. Again,
in the Jerome there is a peculiar misuse of the capitals H and Q (see p.
241), not found in the following books. And lastly, to omit smaller
matters, there is the decided and important fact that whereas in the
Jerome each page was printed separately, in the Aegidius and Aretinus
two pages were printed at a time.