S78 AN^^UAL REGISTER, 1794. 



practised the art of printing five 

 centuries before his time. Count 

 Terre Rezzonieo found at Lyons 

 plates with words and names en- 

 graven bv a Nuremberger, 13 SO. 

 The Chinese way of stamping a 

 whole page with one intire block, 

 Costarused at Harlem, about the 

 year 1480. He used single types 

 of wood beforetheyear 1440; when 

 these characters were spirited away 

 to Mentz either directly or by de- 

 grees ; probably by the elder Gen- 

 Jeisch; who, with his brother John 

 Gutenberg, cut metalline types un- 

 der the patronage of John Faust, 

 whose son-in-law, SchefFer, castthe 

 types. Costar's earliest known im- 

 pressions were, a book of eigiit 

 pages, containing an alphabet, the 

 Lord's priyer, and three other 

 prayers ; a little Catholicon, or vo- 

 cabulary ; confessionals ; Donatus 

 printed before 1440 ; and, proba- 

 bly, the Art of Memory, and a 

 Treatise of Antichrist ; both with 

 figures ; likewise Christ's History, 

 and the speculum Saluiis, kept in a 

 silvci' chcbt al Harlem ; that, in 

 Dutch, has (like theDonatusjcapi- 

 lals ; see Meerraan. The Latin 

 Speculum (at Wiltou) was partly 

 printed with f.xcd types, partly with 

 moveable. John JNaucler and Olric 

 Zcll, who printedat Cologne, 14t)7, 

 thebook DeSingularitateCL rlcorum, 

 now at Blenheim-house; and the 

 Bible, 145S, in L»aly's late collec- 

 tion ; wrote that "printing was in- 

 vented at Mentz, 1440, and im- 

 proved till 1450, when a Latin 

 Eiblc was printed ; yet the Donatus 

 at Harlem led the way.'' The 

 Latm Bible was piinted, with cut 

 inetalline ts'pes, at Mentz, 1450. 

 The Chronicon of Mat. Palmer, of 

 Pisa(boin 1423) asserts, that print- 

 ing was invented 1440, and gene- 



rally propagated 1457. Seis tells 

 us, that •' John Baptist Fulgosius 

 Du.K lanuensium 148T dixit, Lite- 

 rar' imprimendar' Artem lliO in- 

 ventara." That Laurence Costar, 

 1439, cut single letters of lead ; 

 and, 1438, invented a method of 

 casting single types ; and printed 

 the Dutch Speculum, alsoDonatus. 

 Gutenberg printed au alphabet > 

 also Alexandri Galli de Villa Dei 

 Doctrinale sive Grammaticara, and 

 Petri Hispani Logicalia, with 

 wooden tjpes, l4-4'2. Gutenberg 

 and Menicl, 1446, printed Biblia 

 Latina. An edition of the Bible by 

 Faust's Artists appeared 1462, price 

 five marks ; see Fenn's Letters. 

 Peter Scheffer, 1452, Matrices for- 

 mandi Artem excogitavit. The 

 Psalms were printed, by Faust, at 

 Mentz, with the date 1457; btst 

 many of the earliest books were not 

 dated. He printed the OiEciale 

 Dutandi with cast types, 1459- 

 The Qementine constitutions are at 

 NeuEti^t, in Tyrol, 1460. At an 

 eminent London bookseller's in 

 Fleet-strcet,wasonsBle, Dec. 1790, 

 the Latin Lexicon, styled Johannis 

 de Janua Summa, Cathalicon dicta, 

 impressa Moguntiae, 14 60. Peter- 

 sheim printed at Francfort, 1459, 

 when Hen.Bourcher, archbishopot 

 Canterbury, introduced the art in- 

 to England. Mariangel Accursius 

 saw witliAldusaDonatus by Faust, 

 printed with coppertypes (says Fa- 

 bricius) in 1450 j as was the Con- 

 fessional. Accursius wrote thus : 

 Job. Faust et Joh. Schxtrer admo- 

 niti ex Donato HoUandise prius im- 

 presso Donatum et Confessionalia, 

 1450; imprimebant. The Chroni- 

 con of Cologne, printed 1490, in- 

 forms us, *' the art of printing was 

 cultivated at Mentz, on the Rhine, 

 from tjieyear 1440." But although 



the 



