Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber’s Note: The following presumed errors have been corrected in the text. Page 107, “1457” changed to “1497” (printed by Geoffroy de Marnef in 1497) Page 154, “precedette” changed to “procedette” (non diligente impressore procedette) Page 162, “rari” changed to “rara” (Cum quondam fuerit copia rara tui.) Footnote 4, “nome” changed to “nomen” (Enee Siluio nomen erat) and “incolaru” changed to “incolam” (de Lubeck Colonie incolam) Index entry for Indictions, page reference “70” changed to “170” The Publication Committee of the Caxton Club certifies that this copy of “An Essay on Colophons” is one of an edition consisting of two hundred and fifty-two copies on French hand-made paper and three copies on imperial Japanese paper, printed from type, and completed in the month of August, nineteen hundred and five. AN ESSAY ON COLOPHONS AN ESSAY ON COLOPHONS WITH SPECIMENS AND TRANSLATIONS BY ALFRED W. POLLARD AND AN INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD GARNETT [Illustration] CHICAGO THE CAXTON CLUB MCMV Copyright, 1905, by THE CAXTON CLUB CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE INTRODUCTION ix I. THE COLOPHON’S REASON FOR EXISTENCE 3 Homer. Florence: [B. Libri,] 1488 5 Breslau Missal. Mainz: P. Schoeffer, 1483 8 II. COLOPHONS AT MAINZ 9 Latin Bible. Mainz: Fust and Schoeffer, 1462 10 Balbus. Catholicon. Mainz: [J. Gutenberg,] 1460 14 Cicero. De Officiis. Mainz: Fust and Schoeffer, 1465 18 S. Jerome’s Epistles. Mainz: P. Schoeffer, 1470 20 Tritheim. Chronicarum opus. Mainz: Joh. Schoeffer, 1515 27 III. COLOPHONS AT VENICE 30 Cicero. Epistolae ad Familiares. Venice: John of Speier, 1469 32 Cicero. Epistolae ad Familiares. Second Edition. Venice: John of Speier, 1469 33 Pliny. Historia Naturalis. Venice: John of Speier, 1469 35