CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



together, gave the whole the appearance of a book 

 printed in the modern fashion. 



The next step in the art of typography was 

 that of forming every letter or character of the 

 alphabet separately, so as to be capable of re- 

 arrangement, thereby avoiding the interminable 

 labour of cutting new blocks of types for every 

 page The credit of discovering this simple yet 

 marvellous art is contested by the Dutch in favour 

 of Laurence Coster, between 1420 and 1426 ; and 

 by the Germans, on behalf of Johannes or Henne 

 Gutenberg or Gensfleisch, about 1438. In all prob- 

 ability, the discovery was made almost simultan- 

 eously such a theory being consistent with the 

 general social progress at the period, and the 

 secrecy which both inventors at first maintained 

 respecting their art. Gutenberg was born at Mainz 

 (Mayence) between 1395 and 1400. He was sprung 

 from a patrician family, which took the names 

 of Gutenberg and Gensfleisch, from two estates 

 in its possession. Of his early life no par- 

 ticulars are known, but it seems probable that he 

 devoted himself at an early age to mechanical 

 arts. In the year 1434 he was living in Strasburg, 

 and there, in 1436, made a contract with Andrew 

 Dryzehn or Dritzehn, and others, by which he 

 bound himself to instruct them in all his ' secret 

 and wonderful arts,' and to employ these for their 

 common advantage. This undertaking, which 

 comprehended the first steps in the art of printing, 

 was frustrated by the death of Dryzehn. When 

 and where the first attempts in the art of printing 

 were made, cannot with certainty be ascertained, 

 as the works printed by Gutenberg bear neither 

 name nor date ; this much is, however, certain 

 namely, that movable wooden types were first 

 employed by him about the year 1438. In 1443, 

 he returned from Strasburg to Mainz, where, in 

 1449 or 1450, he entered into partnership with 

 Johannes Faust or Fust, a wealthy goldsmith. 

 Faust furnished the money required to set up a 

 printing-press, in which the Latin Bible was 

 printed for the first time. This partnership was, 

 however, dissolved after the lapse of a few years. 

 Faust had made large advances, which Gutenberg 

 was now to refund, but as he possessed neither 

 the power nor the inclination, the matter was 

 brought before a court of justice. The result was 

 that Faust retained the printing concern, which 

 he carried on and brought to perfection, in con- 

 junction with Peter Schoffer of Gernsheim. By 

 the assistance of Conrad Hummer, a councillor of 

 Mainz, Gutenberg was again enabled to set up a 

 press, from which proceeded the Catholicon (1460), 

 and, in all probability, Hermanni de Saldis Spec- 

 ulum Sacerdotum, printed in quarto, without date 

 or name. According to some, four editions of the 

 Donatus were likewise printed by Gutenberg, 

 while others ascribe them to Faust and Schoffer. 

 Gutenberg's printing establishment existed till 

 1465 in Mainz. He died, as is generally believed, 

 24th February 1468. The evidence in favour of 

 Gutenberg's being the inventor of printing, is 

 considered by his countrymen quite conclusive, 

 though it is not denied that he may have received 

 the first hints of his invention from the Dutch 

 wood-engraving. 



Gutenberg's celebrated Bible, which was the 

 first important specimen of the art of printing, 

 and which, judging from what it has led to, we 

 should certainly esteem as the most extraordinary 



754 



and praiseworthy of human productions, was exe- 

 cuted with cut-metal types on six hundred and 

 thirty-seven leaves ; and, from copies still in exist- 

 ence in the Royal Libraries of Berlin and Paris, 

 some of them appear to have been printed 

 on vellum. Besides those on vellum, there are 

 several copies on paper in Germany, France, and 

 England all of which are justly esteemed as the 

 highest bibliographical treasures. 



Laurens Janszoon Coster, for whom the Dutch 

 claim the honour of the invention, was born at 

 Haarlem about the year 1370. The time of the 

 invention ascribed to him must have fallen between 

 the years 1420 and 1426. Coster at first worked 

 in secret, because, he being a sacristan, his art, if 

 known, would have brought him into unpleasant 

 collision with the manuscript-writing clergy, whose 

 productions he tried to imitate, even to the abbre- 

 viations ; thus his name did not appear on the 

 productions of his press. As custom increased, 

 Coster had to take apprentices ; and one of them, 

 a German, Johann, making use of the confusion 

 occasioned by Coster's death in 1439, is sa id to 

 have purloined the greater part of his master's 

 types and matrices, and to have fled to Mainz, 

 where he brought the hidden art to light. This 

 Johann was probably Johann Gensfleisch, a mem- 

 ber of the Gutenberg family. Such, at least, is 

 the history of the invention of printing as given by 

 the Dutch, and which they support by the testi- 

 mony of Hadrianus Junius, the historian of the 

 States of Holland. 



It is impossible to pronounce either Coster or 

 Gutenberg the exclusive inventor of letter-press 

 printing. It is rather the product of the age than 

 of an individual, and probably during the early 

 part of the I5th century there were many others 

 on the verge, at least, of the discovery. 



It long formed a subject of contention among 

 antiquaries and bibliomaniacs by what means 

 Gutenberg formed his types ; but it is now pretty 

 clearly ascertained that they were at first all in- 

 dividually cut by the hand. The mode of casting 

 types in moulds has been very generally, and 

 seemingly correctly, assigned to Gutenberg's suc- 

 cessor, Schoffer. This individual was an indus- 

 trious young man of inventive genius, an apprentice 

 with Faust, who took him into partnership im- 

 mediately after his rupture with Gutenberg, and 

 who is supposed to have been initiated into the 

 mysteries of the art by the latter. The first joint 

 publication of Faust and Schoffer was a beautiful 

 edition of the Psalms, which came out only about 

 eighteen months after their going into partnership. 

 Along with it appeared a declaration by them, 

 claiming the merit of inventing the cut-metal types 

 with which it was printed ; but this pretension was 

 evidently false ; and, in fact, it afterwards appeared 

 that the book had been four years in the press, 

 and must, consequently, have been chiefly executed 

 by Gutenberg. It is worthy of notice that the 

 above publication was the very first to which the 

 date, printer's name, and place of publication were 

 affixed. The most perfect copy known is that 

 in the Imperial Library of Vienna. 



Early Progress on the Continent. 



Mainz, Strasburg, and Haarlem are indisput- 

 ably the places where the art of printing was first 

 exercised. It was introduced into Italy in 1464 

 by two German printers, and was practised first 



