indulgence in the possession of Earl Spencer, described by Dr. Dibdin in the Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. i. p. 44, the final units (iiij) have not had the word “quinto” overwritten, but have been formed with a pen into the numeral V. In the catalogue of Dr. Kloss’s library, No. 1287, it is stated that a fragment of a “Donatus” there described, consisting of two leaves of parchment, is printed with the same type as the Mazarine Bible; and it is added, on the authority of George Appleyard, Esq., Earl Spencer’s librarian, that the “Littera Indulgentiæ” of Pope Nicholas V, in his lordship’s possession, contains two lines printed with the same type. Breitkopf had some doubts respecting this instrument; but a writer in the Jena Literary Gazette is certainly wrong in supposing that it had been ante-dated ten years. It was only to be in force for three years; and Pope Nicholas V, by whom it was granted, died on the 24th March, 1455.[III-37] Two words, UNIVERSIS and PAULINUS, which are printed in capitals in the first two lines, are said to be of the same type as those of a Bible of which Schelhorn has given a specimen in his “Dissertation on an early Edition of the Bible,” Ulm, 1760. [Footnote III-37: Oberlin, Essai d’Annales de la Vie de Gutenberg.] The next earliest specimen of typography with a date is the tract entitled “_Eyn Manung der Cristenkeit widder die durken_,”--An Appeal to Christendom against the Turks,--which has been alluded to at page 136. A lithographic fac-simile of the whole of this tract, which consists of nine printed pages of a quarto size, is given by Aretin at the end of his “Essay on the earliest historical results of the invention of Printing,” published at Munich in 1808. This “Appeal” is in German rhyme, and it consists of exhortations, arranged under every month in the manner of a calendar, addressed to the pope, the emperor, to kings, princes, bishops, and free states, encouraging them to take up arms and resist the Turks. The exhortation for January is addressed to Pope Nicholas V, who died, as has been observed, in March 1455. Towards the conclusion of the prologue is the date “_Als man zelet noch din’ geburt offenbar m.cccc.lv. iar sieben wochen und iiii do by von nativitatis bis esto michi_.” At the conclusion of the exhortation for December are the following words: “Eyn gut selig nuwe Jar:” A happy new year! From these circumstances Aretin is of opinion that the tract was printed towards the end of 1454. M. Bernhart, however, one of the superintendents of the Royal Library at Munich, of which Aretin was the principal director, has questioned the accuracy of this date; and from certain allusions in the exhortation for December, has endeavoured to show that the correct date ought to be 1472.[III-38] [Footnote III-38: Dr. Dibdin, Bibliog. Tour, vol iii. p. 135, second edition.]