Salmuth, who alludes to the above document in his annotations upon Pancirollus, has most singularly perverted its meaning, by representing Gutemberg as the person who advanced the money, and Faust as the ingenious inventor who was sued by his rich partner. “From this it evidently appears,” says he, after making Gutemberg and Faust exchange characters, “that Gutemberg was not the first who invented and practised typography; but that some years after its invention he was admitted a partner by John Faust, to whom he advanced money.” If for “Gutemberg” we read “Faust,” and _vice versâ_, the account is correct. Whether Faust, who might be an engraver as well as a goldsmith, assisted Gutemberg or not by engraving the types, does not appear. It is stated that Gutemberg’s earliest productions at Mentz were an alphabet cut on wood, and a Donatus executed in the same manner. Trithemius mentions a “_Catholicon_” engraved on blocks of wood as one of the first books printed by Gutemberg and Faust, and this Heineken thinks was the same as the Donatus.[III-34] Whatever may have been the book which Trithemius describes as a “Catholicon,” it certainly was not the “_Catholicon Joannis Januensis_,” a large folio which appeared in 1460 without the name or residence of the printer, but which is supposed to have been printed by Gutemberg after the dissolution of his partnership with Faust. [Footnote III-34: “Je crois, que ces tables [deux planches de bois autrefois chez le Duc de la Valliere] sont du livre que le Chroniqueur de Cologne appelle un _Donat_ et que _Trithem_ nomme un _Catholicon_, (livre universel,) ce qu’on a confondu ensuite avec le grand ouvrage intitulé _Catholicon Januensis_.”--Idée Générale, p. 258.] It has been stated that previous to the introduction of metal types Gutemberg and Faust used moveable types of wood; and Schœpflin speaks confidently of such being used at Strasburg by Mentelin long after Scheffer had introduced the improved method of forming metal types by means of punches and matrices. On this subject, however, Schœpflin’s opinion is of very little weight, for on whatever relates to the practice of typography or wood engraving he was very slightly informed. He fancies that all the books printed at Strasburg previous to the appearance of _Vincentii Bellovacensis Speculum Historiale_ in 1473, were printed with moveable types of wood. It is, however, doubtful if ever a single book was printed in this manner.