The leading German publishers of Koberger’s generation were fortunate in having at hand a number of scholars who were ready to render service in the selection and editing of manuscripts, in the collating of texts, and in the supervision of the work of the typesetters. In the beginning of the sixteenth century, a man who was competent to fill the office described in the publishing records as “press-corrector,” required to possess a varied and comprehensive scholarship. A mastery of Latin was an acquirement so usual as not in itself to constitute any claim to scholarly attainment. With this knowledge, it was, however, essential, at a time when so large a proportion of the works printed belonged to the class of theology, for the corrector to be versed in Hebrew and in Greek. As the typesetters were collected from different parts of Europe, it was also convenient, if not necessary, for the man who supervised their work to possess a working knowledge, at least, of German, French, Italian, and Dutch. The selection and collation of manuscripts, with the purpose of securing a fairly correct “copy” for the printed text, called for a certain measure of skill in palæography, and also necessitated such familiarity with the classic writers or Church Fathers as would enable the more evident blunders of the scribes to be corrected by the general sense of the context. It was not unusual, as the records of various of the earlier publishing offices show, to utilise as the basis of the printed text half a dozen, or occasionally as many as a dozen manuscripts, in which case the preparation of the final “copy” for the typesetters rested with the correctors. Among the scholarly associates who did work of this kind for the Press of Koberger, were his friend Amerbach, of Basel; Professor Frissner, of Leipzig; Pirckheimer, of Nuremberg; Von Wyle, Wimpfeling, and Beckenhaub. The last named was an ecclesiastic from Mayence. Among the responsibilities that came upon the correctors was that of visiting the libraries or monasteries where famous manuscripts were preserved, and of arranging, when practicable, for the hire or the loan of such manuscripts. When, as was frequently the case, the custodians were unwilling to permit their parchments to go out of their hands, the transcripts for the use of the typesetters had to be prepared (often with considerable difficulty) in the place where the manuscript was stored--sometimes even on the old _armarium_ (or library chest) to which the parchment was chained. Some of these transcripts were made by the correctors themselves. From time to time, when it did not seem practicable to arrange for the copying, we find the publishers offering for the original manuscripts prices which, under modern calculations, seem to be exorbitant, and which must have constituted a very serious addition indeed to the risk of these earlier publishing undertakings.