THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 13 
EARLY PRINTING, PRINTERS AND BOOKS. 
Read before the Hamilton Association, December 2rst, 1893. 
BY H. B. WITTON, SR. 
Who invented the art of printing with movable cast metallic types, 
and the kindred enquiry where that art was first carried into actual 
use, have long been and still are, attractive subjects of investigation. 
Few questions have been debated more zealously, for so long a time, 
or by more disputants. For nearly four hundred years, quest of the 
truth as to where, when, and by whom this great art of the fifteenth 
century was' introduced ; and what beyond cavil are the particulars 
of its parentage and infancy, has been persistently made: and in all 
parts of the civilized world searchers have joined in pursuit of 
evidence. Of books written on this subject, the titles alone fill a 
volume. The works themselves constitute a library. At various 
times, chief honors have been claimed for different cities where 
early printing was done, and on behalf of several of the early print- 
ers, Recent controversy on this subject has'scarcely gone beyond 
the claims of Coster and Haarlem on one side, and those of Guten- 
berg, with his associates Fust and Schoeffer, and Mainz on the 
other. Former competitors have been withdrawn from the contest, 
and discussion is narrowed to the merits of these claimants. The 
dispute is also further condensed, as both sides now ignore, as rub- 
bish worthless to serve the cause of honest criticism, documents of 
questionable authenticity that formerly obtained credence. 
Von der Linde, Madden, Blades, Hessels and DeVinne are but 
a few of the authors who, of late years, have written on the subject 
of early printing. These writers are specialists of acknowledged 
merit, whose opinions are the outcome of diversified technical 
knowledge of typography, and of prolonged study of original) 
fifteenth century documents upon which the principal evidence con~ 
cerning the invention of printing rests. On this subject all these 
authors have written at considerable length. As each has pursued 
his studies in his own way, their books are marked by strong national 
