The term "Colophon" has its origin in the Greek proverb, "to put the colophon to the matter," that is, the "finishing stroke," and contains the place or year (or both), date of publication, printer's name, and other particulars considered necessary at the time for the identification of the volume. It frequently commences somewhat after the following form: _Explicit liber qui dicitur_, &c.[6] The colophon, moreover, is always found on the last page, and sometimes takes the form of an inverted pyramid. In the early days, when the printer was not unfrequently author or translator as well, the completion of a work upon which he had probably been engaged for many months--or, perhaps, in some instances, years--was rightly regarded as matter for much self-congratulation, as well as for thanks to the Divine Power, by whose permission alone he had been enabled to persevere. Hence the _Psalterium_ of Fust and Schoeffer, a folio of 175 lines to the page, and remarkable as being the first book in which large capital letters, printed in colours, were employed, has for its colophon a very characteristic inscription, which may be translated as follows:-- "This book of Psalms, decorated with antique initials and sufficiently emphasised with rubricated letters, has been thus made by the masterly invention of printing and also type-making, without the writing of a pen, and is consummated to the service of God through the industry of Johann Fust, citizen of Mentz, and Peter Schoeffer, of Gernsheim, in the year of our Lord MCCCCLVII., on the eve of the Assumption". This Psalter is also the first known book which bears any date at all, and for that and other reasons is one of the most highly prized of volumes. From what has been said, the reader will no doubt clearly understand that it does not follow that, because an old book is minus a title-page, it is necessarily imperfect. He should turn to the last leaf for the colophon; but should that be wanting also, it is probable that the book is deficient, though even this is not a conclusive test. In cases of doubt the volume must be _collated_, that is, critically compared with some other specimen: each leaf must be examined carefully, and notes made of any differences that may appear during the course of the examination. There is a business-like way and the reverse of tabulating these notes, so much so that an adept can see at a glance whether it has been performed by a competent man. The following is the collation of a copy of the first edition of the famous Genevan version of the Bible printed by Rowland Hall in 1560, 4to: "Four prel. leaves. Text, Genesis to ii. Maccabees, 474 ll. folioed, N. T. 122 leaves, 'A Briefe Table' HH h iii to LLl iii., 13 ll. followed by 1 p. 'The order of the yeres from Paul's conversion,' &c., rev. blank."