Part 1
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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Original small capital letters have been replaced by all capitals.
Text originally printed in boldface is rendered as all capitals in this edition.
The first page of each chapter includes a chapter heading and an epigraph. Both were originally printed in Gothic blackletter scripts, perhaps similar to textura script. Both are rendered as unmarked plain text in this edition. Images of the blackletter are included in the html and epub editions. In other places, as for example in the note on page 133, or in the text body on page 201, text originally printed in blackletter is enclosed by ‹f› and ‹/f› tags (example: ‹f›A Collection of Facts and Opinions‹/f›).
Original page numbers are shown like this: [p023]. Illustrations have been moved from within paragraphs to nearby places between paragraphs. This results in some missing page numbers, since illustration pages and even blank pages were numbered.
THE INVENTION OF PRINTING.
THE INVENTION OF PRINTING.
A Collection of Facts and Opinions
Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates.
Illustrated with Fac-Similes of Early Types and Wood-Cuts.
by
THEO. L. DE VINNE.
* * ‹f›Hereby tongues are knowne, knowledge groweth, judgement encreaseth, books are dispersed, the Scripture is seene, the doctors be read, stories be opened, times compared, truth discerned, falshood detected, and with finger pointed, and all, as I said, through the benefit of Printing.‹/f› _Fox’s Acts and Monuments._
New-York: Francis Hart & Co. 12 & 14 College Place. 1876.
Entered, According to Act of Congress, in the Year 1876, by Theodore L. De Vinne, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
TO DAVID WOLFE BRUCE,
IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT
OF INSTRUCTION ABOUT TYPES, NOT TO BE HAD BY READING, OF ASSISTANCE IN STUDIES, NOT TO BE FOUND IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES, OF COMPANIONSHIP MORE PLEASANT THAN BOOKS,
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED BY HIS FRIEND, THEO. L. DE VINNE.
CONTENTS.
I THE DIFFERENT METHODS OF PRINTING . . . 17
II ANTIQUE METHODS OF IMPRESSION AND THEIR FAILURE . . . 29
III THE KEY TO THE INVENTION OF TYPOGRAPHY . . . 49
IV THE IMAGE PRINTS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY . . . 69
V PRINTED AND STENCILED PLAYING CARDS . . . 88
VI THE CHINESE METHOD OF PRINTING . . . 109
VII THE EARLY PRINTING OF ITALY . . . 122
VIII THE INTRODUCTION OF PAPER IN EUROPE . . . 133
IX THE BOOK-MAKERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES . . . 146
X THE PREPARATIONS FOR PRINTING . . . 171
XI BLOCK-BOOKS OF IMAGES WITHOUT TEXT . . . 193
XII BLOCK-BOOKS OF IMAGES WITH TEXT . . . 230
XIII THE DONATUS, OR BOY’S LATIN GRAMMAR . . . 254
XIV THE SPECULUM SALUTIS, OR MIRROR OF SALVATION . . . 264
XV THE WORKS AND WORKMANSHIP OF AN UNKNOWN PRINTER . . . 282
XVI THE PERIOD IN WHICH THE SPECULUM WAS PRINTED . . . 308
XVII THE LEGEND OF LOURENS JANSZOON COSTER . . . 326
XVIII THE GROWTH OF THE LEGEND . . . 347
XIX THE DOWNFALL OF THE LEGEND . . . 360
XX JOHN GUTENBERG AT STRASBURG . . . 375
XXI GUTENBERG AND HIS EARLIER WORK AT MENTZ . . . 403
XXII THE LATER WORK OF GUTENBERG . . . 431
XXIII THE WORK OF PETER SCHŒFFER AND JOHN FUST . . . 449
XXIV ALLEGED INVENTORS OF PRINTING . . . 480
XXV THE SPREAD OF PRINTING . . . 492
XXVI THE TOOLS AND USAGES OF THE FIRST PRINTERS . . . 514
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED . . . 543
INDEX . . . 547
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Statue of John Gutenberg . . . Frontispiece.
Surface Exposed to Impression by Copper-plate method . . . 21
Surface Inked and Exposed to Impression by Typographic method . . . 21
Surface Exposed to Impression by Lithographic method . . . 21
Face of a large Type, showing how the Letter is placed on the body . . . 24
Side view of Canon body . . . 25
Small Pica, Agate and Diamond body . . . 25
View of body inclined to show the face . . . 25
Stamped Brick from Babylon . . . 30
Fac-simile of Impression on brick . . . 31
Egyptian Stamp for impressing bricks . . . 32
Assyrian Cylinder . . . 34
Old Roman Stamps . . . 37
Roman Stamps . . . 38
Roman Scrinium and rolls of papyrus . . . 43
Types of Irregular Body . . . 52
Punch . . . 55
Matrix . . . 55
Illustrations of Type-bodies . . . 56
Type-Mould, without matrix . . . 57
One-half of the Mould . . . 57
The other half of the Mould . . . 57
Type-casting as practised in 1683 . . . 59
Type-casting as practised in 1564 . . . 62
Print of St. Christopher . . . 70
Print of the Annunciation . . . 72
Print of St. Bridget . . . 74
Flemish Indulgence Print . . . 76
Brussels Print . . . 79
Berlin Print . . . 81
Playing Card of the fifteenth century . . . 93
Print Colorer . . . 94
Engraver on Wood . . . 95
Chinese Playing Cards . . . 99
Early French Playing Cards . . . 103
French and German Playing Cards of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries . . . 105
Fac-simile of part of a Chinese Book . . . 117
Chinese Types made in London . . . 117
Mark of Jacobus Arnoldus, 1345 . . . 123
Mark of Johannes Meynersen, 1435 . . . 123
Mark of Adam de Walsokne, 1349 . . . 125
Mark of Edmund Pepyr, 1483 . . . 125
Mark of an unknown person . . . 125
Japanese Method of Making Paper . . . 135
Paper-Mill of the sixteenth century . . . 140
Scriptorium of the middle ages . . . 149
Penmanship of the ninth century . . . 150
Manuscript of the fifteenth century . . . 152
Medieval Bookbinding . . . 153
Medieval Illuminator . . . 154
Sumptuously Bound Book . . . 156
Medieval Book with covers of oak . . . 157
Book Cover in Ivory, Byzantine style . . . 158
Seal of the University of Paris . . . 161
English Horn-Book . . . 174
English Clog . . . 175
Holbein’s Dance of Death . . . 183
Dance of Death, as shown in the Nuremberg Chronicle . . . 185
Last page of the Bible of the Poor . . . 197
First page of the Bible of the Poor, as made by Walther and Hurning . . . 209
First page of the Apocalypse . . . 213
First page of the Canticles . . . 217
Story of the Blessed Virgin . . . 221
Exercise on the Lord’s Prayer . . . 223
Illustration from the Book of Kings . . . 225
Letter K of Grotesque Alphabet . . . 227
Page from the Apostles’ Creed . . . 228
Page from the Eight Rogueries . . . 229
Page from the Antichrist . . . 232
Page from the Ars Memorandi . . . 234
Page from the Ars Moriendi . . . 237
Chiromancy of Doctor Hartlieb . . . 240
Calendar of John of Gamundia . . . 242
Page from the Wonders of Rome . . . 243
Pomerium Spirituale . . . 244
Temptations of the Devil . . . 245
Life of St. Meinrat . . . 246
Heidelberg Dance of Death . . . 247
German Donatus, from a block in the National Library at Paris . . . 258
Fragment of an early Donatus . . . 259
Early Dutch Horarium . . . 260
Imprint of Conrad Dinckmut . . . 262
First page of Speculum Salutis . . . 266
Last page of Speculum Salutis . . . 268
Types of Speculum Salutis . . . 277
Types in third edition of Speculum . . . 285
Types of Fables of Lorenzo Valla . . . 286
Types of Peculiarities of Criminal Law . . . 287
Types of Epitaphs of Pope Pius II . . . 288
The Enschedé Abecedarium . . . 290
Experimental Letters drawn on wood . . . 294
Types from Experimental Letters . . . 295
Frisket, Tympan and Bed of an early European Printing Press . . . 307
Paper-marks: seven illustrations . . . 309, 310
Types of Jacob Bellaert . . . 319
Types of John Brito . . . 321
Map of the Netherlands . . . 323
Scriverius’ Portrait of Coster . . . 333
Statue of Coster in Doctors’ Garden . . . 351
Medals in honor of Coster . . . 353, 354
Statue of Coster on the monument . . . 359
Autograph of Laurens Janszoon . . . 361
House of Coster . . . 370
Portrait of Laurens Janszoon Coster . . . 371
Spurious Portrait by Van den Berg . . . 372
Portrait attributed to Van Oudewater . . . 372
The Laurens Janszoon of Meerman . . . 373
Medieval Press . . . 395
Type-mould of Claude Garamond . . . 399
Types of the Donatus attributed to Gutenberg at Strasburg . . . 401
Types of Donatus of 1451 . . . 405
De la Borde’s Illustration of Types . . . 406
Holbein’s Satire on the Indulgences . . . 407
Letter of Indulgence dated 1454 . . . 409
Types of Bible of 36 Lines . . . 413
Abbreviations of Bible of 36 Lines . . . 414
Portrait of John Fust . . . 417
Types of Bible of 42 Lines . . . 423
Portrait of John Gutenberg . . . 429
Types of Letter of Indulgence of 1461 . . . 433
Types of Catholicon of 1460 . . . 435
Types of Celebration of the Mass . . . 437
Types of Mirror of the Clergy . . . 438
Colophon written by Peter Schœffer . . . 450
Types of the Psalter of 1457 . . . 453
Colophon of the Psalter of 1457 . . . 455
Types of the Rationale Durandi . . . 461
Types of the Bible of 1462 . . . 462
Trade-mark of Fust and Schœffer . . . 462
Types of Constitutions of Clement V . . . 463
Portrait of Peter Schœffer . . . 469
Types of the Grammar of 1468 . . . 470
Illustration from the Book of Fables . . . 483
Arms of the Typothetæ . . . 489
Part of Koburger’s Map of Europe . . . 496
The Birth of Eve, Zainer’s . . . 497
Statue of Gutenberg at Strasburg . . . 509
Type of the fifteenth century . . . 520
Printing Office of sixteenth century . . . 523
Hand Press of Jodocus Badius . . . 528
Inking Balls of sixteenth century . . . 530
Large wood-cut of fifteenth century . . . 535
The Fall of Lucifer, Zainer’s . . . 537
A Print of 1475 . . . 539
_PREFACE._
_The Invention of Printing has always been recognized by educated men as a subject of importance: there is no mechanical art, nor are there any of the fine arts, about whose early history so many books have been written. The subject is as mysterious as it is inviting. There is an unusual degree of obscurity about the origin of the first printed books and the lives and works of the early printers. There are records and traditions which cannot be reconciled of at least three distinct inventions of printing. Its early history is entangled with a controversy about rival inventors which has lasted for more than three centuries, and is not yet fully determined._
_In the management of this controversy, a subject intrinsically attractive has been made repulsive. The history of the invention of printing has been written to please national pride. German authors assert the claims of Gutenberg, and discredit traditions about Coster. Dutch authors insist on the priority of Coster, and charge Gutenberg with stealing the invention. Partisans on each side say that their opponents have perverted the records and suppressed the truth. The quarrel has spread. English and French authors, who had no national prejudices to gratify, and who should have considered the question without passion, have wrangled over the subject with all the bitterness of Germans or Hollanders. In this, as in other quarrels, there are amusing features, but to the general reader the controversy seems unfortunate and is certainly wearisome._
_It is a greater misfortune that all the early chronicles of printing were written in a dead language. Wolf’s collection [p010] of_ Typographic Monuments, _which includes nearly every paper of value written before 1740, is in Latin; the valuable books of Meerman, Maittaire, and Schoepflin are also in Latin. To the general reader these are sealed books: to the student, who seeks exact knowledge of the methods of the first printers, they are tiresome books. Written for the information of librarians rather than of printers, it is but proper that these books should devote the largest space to a review of the controversy or to a description of early editions; but it is strange that they should so imperfectly describe the construction and appearance of early types and the usages of the early printers. The mechanical features of typography were, apparently, neglected as of little importance, and beneath the dignity of history._
_A failure to present accurate illustrations of early printing is not the fault of modern authorities. Many of them are full of fac-similes bearing the marks of minute and conscientious care; but they are in foreign languages, and are seldom found in our largest American libraries. There are, it is true, a few books in English on early printing which have accurate fac-similes; but high prices and limited editions put them out of the reach of the ordinary book-buyer. They were written by and for librarians only._
_Valuable as all these books are, they disappoint the printer. Some of them, though presenting fac-similes in profusion, are not accompanied with proper explanations in the text: others are devoted to one branch only of early printing, such as block-books, or the printed work of one nation only. Two of them are untrustworthy as authorities. Neither from one book, nor from all the books, can a printer get a clear description of the mechanical development of typography. This incompleteness was frankly acknowledged by Dr. Dibdin, when he said that there was no work in the English language which deserved to be considered as a complete general history of printing. This was an old complaint. Nearly a hundred years before, Prosper Marchand had said that the history of printing, voluminous as it then seemed, was but history in fragments._ [p011]
_The first attempt to supply this great deficiency was made by August Bernard, in the disquisition published at Paris, in the year 1853, under the title,_ De l’origine et des debuts de l’imprimerie en Europe. _His was the first book in which the printed work attributed to Coster and Gutenberg was critically examined from a typographic point of view. To readers who were not content with the vague descriptions of popular books of typography, the explanations of Bernard were of peculiar value. I had reason to think that a translation of the history of this eminent printer would be received by American printers with some measure of the favor which the original had met with in Europe. Impressed with this belief I began the work._
_I found it necessary to consult many of Bernard’s authorities. My admiration of the superior method and forcible style of Bernard, an admiration still unabated, was increased by the reading of the new books; but the esteem in which I hold his valuable work does not prevent the regret that, in his entire neglect of the block-books, he should have overlooked the most significant feature of early printing. The fac-similes of early prints, subsequently shown in_ The Infancy of Book Printing _of Weigel and in_ The Typographic Monuments _of Holtrop, convinced me that the earliest practice of typography had its beginning in a still earlier practice of printing from blocks, and that a description of block-books should precede a description of the invention of types._
_Since these books were written, all the old theories about the origin of typography have been examined with increased interest, and discussed with superior critical ability, by many eminent European scholars. Discoveries of great importance have been made; old facts have been set forth in new lights; traditions accepted as truthful history for three hundred years have been demolished. Of the many able men who have been engaged in this task of separating truth from fiction, no one has done more efficient service than Dr. A. Van der Linde of The Hague, whose papers on the traditions of typography are masterpieces of acute and scholarly criticism. His researches [p012] and reasoning convinced me that it would be unwise to offer a translation of any previously published book as a fair exponent of modern knowledge about early typography. The newly discovered facts were opposed to early teachings; there could be no sewing of the new cloth on the old garment. I was led away from my first purpose of translation, and, almost unconsciously, began to collect the materials for the present volume._
_Until recently, the invention of printing has been regarded as a subject belonging almost entirely to bibliographers. The opinions of type-founders and printers who had examined old books have been set aside as of no value, whenever they were opposed to favorite theories or legends. This partial treatment of the subject is no longer approved: a new school of criticism invites experts to examine the books, and pays respect to their conclusions. It claims that the internal evidences of old books are of higher authority than legends, and that these evidences are conclusive, not to be ignored nor accommodated to the statements of the early chroniclers. European critics do not hesitate to say that the confusing and contradictory descriptions of the origin of printing are largely due to the improper deference heretofore paid to the statements of men who tried to describe processes which they did not understand. They say, also, that too little attention has been paid to the types and mechanics of early printing. Criticisms of this character led me to indulge the hope that I might find gleanings of value in the old field, and that it would be practicable to present them, with the newly discovered facts, in a form which would be acceptable to the printer and the general reader. In this belief, and for this purpose, this book was written._
_I would not have begun this work, if I had not felt assured that a thorough revision of the subject was needed. The books and papers on typography which are most popular, and are still accepted as authoritative by the ordinary reader, repeat legends which have recently been proved untrue; they narrate, as established facts of history, methods of printing which are not only incorrect but impossible. It is time that the results of [p013] the more recent researches should be published in the English language. But I offer them only as the compiler of accredited facts: I have no original discoveries to announce, no speculative theories to uphold. Nor shall I invade the proper field of librarians and bibliographers. I propose to describe old types, prints and books as they are seen by a printer, and with reference to the needs of printers and the general reader, avoiding, as far as I can, all controversies about matters which are of interest to book-collectors only. The historical part of the record will be devoted chiefly to the printed work of the first half of the fifteenth century. It will begin with descriptions of the earliest forms of printing, as shown in image prints, playing cards and block-books; it will end with the establishment of typography in Germany._
_Believing that a verbal description of old books and prints, without pictorial illustrations, would be unsatisfactory, I have provided many fac-similes of early printing. No part of this work will more fully repay examination than its illustrations, which have been carefully selected from approved authorities, or from originals. Reproduced by the new process of photo-engraving, they are accurate copies of the originals, even when of reduced size. As they are printed with the descriptive text by the same method of typographic presswork, it is believed that they will more clearly illustrate the subject than lithographed fac-similes on straggling leaves._
_In trying to make plain whatever may be obscure about the mechanics of printing, I have thought proper to begin the explanation with a description of its different methods. An introduction of this nature is not an unwarrantable digression. It is important that the reader should have an understanding of the radical differences between typography and xylography on the one side, and lithographic and copper-plate printing on the other, as well as some knowledge of the construction and uses of the more common tools of type-founders._
_I do not propose to give any extended quotations in foreign languages. Wherever an approved translation in English has [p014] been found, it has been substituted for the original text; where translations have not been approved, they have been made anew. Writing for the general reader, I have assumed that he would prefer, as I do, in every book to be read and not studied, a version in English rather than the original text. Believing that the frequent citation of authorities, especially in instances where the facts are undisputed, or where the books are inaccessible, is an annoyance, I have refrained from the presentation of foot-notes which refer to books only. I have, in a few cases, deviated from this course where the matters stated were of a character which seemed to require the specification of authority._
_One of the greatest impediments I encountered when about to begin the compilation of this work was the difficulty of access to books of authority. I do not mention this in disparagement of the management of our public libraries, for I know that old books are liable to injury in the hands of the merely curious, and that librarians have little encouragement to collect scarce books on typography. To prove that there is small inquiry for treatises of this character, it is enough to say that I have had to cut open the leaves of valuable books after their rest for many years on the shelves of one of the largest libraries of this city. But if these books were ever so abundant, the proper restrictions placed on their use were a hindrance to one whose chief opportunity for consulting them is at night._
_Here I am pleased to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. David Wolfe Bruce. He has not only accompanied and aided me in repeated examinations of his very valuable collection of fifteenth century books, but has lent me all the books I desired, and has freely given me unlimited time for their study. This collection—replete with all the books of authority I needed, with specimens of types, wood-cuts, and curiosities of type-founding, which illustrate the growth of printing from its infancy—was more admirably adapted to my needs than that of any library on this Continent. Deprived of Mr. Bruce’s generous assistance, my work would have been greatly restricted in its scope, and shorn of its best features of illustration._ [p015]