The piratical reprinters took prompt advantage of the popular interest in the work. The “enterprising” Petri of Basel was the earliest in the field, getting his first reprint into the market before the close of the year (1522) in which the original had appeared. During the succeeding three years, Petri printed in all seven editions, four in octavo and three in folio. His neighbour and rival, Wolf, printed during the same time five editions, and Schönsperger of Augsburg followed with three. I do not find record of the number of copies comprised in these several editions, but they must have aggregated a good many thousands. In estimating the cost of their production, it is to be borne in mind that the process of taking casts or _clichés_ of the type was an invention of a much later period, and it was, therefore, necessary with each fresh impression to reset the type. In 1520, a Bull of Leo X. excommunicated Luther, condemned his works individually and collectively, ordered existing copies to be burnt, and prohibited, under severe penalties, the printing, sale, distribution, or even possession of any of his writings. The immediate effect of this Bull was to cause a largely increased sale throughout nearly all parts of Germany for everything that Luther had written, and to bring about also a very considerable demand for them from other countries. Köstlin estimates that by 1520, more than one hundred editions had been printed of the German versions of Luther’s sermons and tracts. This estimate includes, of course, all the unauthorised issues, as well as the editions printed at Luther’s Wittenberg Press. The distribution of these pamphlets was effected only in part through the regular book-trade. Thousands of copies were sold in the market-places by dealers of all kinds, many of whom had never before handled books; and large supplies were distributed among readers out of reach of the book-shops and the market-places, by travelling pedlars and by colporteurs. Many of the latter were travelling students, who were working not for gain, but in the cause of the Reform. These popular tracts of the excommunicated heretic appear to have met the needs of all classes, educated and uneducated, and secured a wider circulation than had heretofore been achieved by any religious works, or, for that matter, by any writings whatever.