THE first reference in the annals of France to the new art of printing occurs in a record bearing date October 3, 1458, the original document of which is still preserved in the Library of the Arsenal.[1] In this document it is stated that the King, having learned that Messiro Gutenberg, Chevalier, residing in Mayence, in Germany, a man dexterous in the engraving of stamps and of letters, had brought to light, by means of such characters, the invention of _printing_, and, curious concerning such valuable knowledge (_bel trésor_), the King had ordered the masters of the mint to select persons skilled in the engraver’s art and to dispatch them to Mayence that they may inform themselves of the said invention. Under this mandate, Nicholas Jenson, an expert engraver, was sent to Mayence, where he did acquire the art as he had been instructed to do. But before his return to Paris, the King had died, and Jenson, understanding that the new monarch was not likely to be interested in the undertaking, carried his knowledge to Venice, and was the means (as we have seen in a previous chapter) of securing for this city an early prestige for artistic typography and for scholarly publishing. The King who had planned to bring the printing-press to Paris was Charles VII., whose reign had begun with a full measure of disaster and misfortune, but who had succeeded, in his later years, in the task of consolidating his kingdom and in securing for his subjects, long harassed by wars and invasions, some years of peace and prosperity. During his stormy reign, Charles could not have enjoyed much leisure for the cultivation of literature, but he is described by his biographers as an appreciative patron of learning and as possessing an intelligent interest in scholarship. It is probable, therefore, that if it had not been for his unexpected death in 1461, the beginning of printing in Paris would have been advanced by a decade, and that, with the aid of royal favour and influence, Paris would have taken a much more important place than it did among the earlier publishing centres of Europe. Louis XI., the son of Charles, during his reign of twenty-two years, busied as he was with the work of securing a firm foundation for the authority of the Crown, was not able to devote much thought to the interests of literature. He found time, however, to reorganise the Library of the Louvre, which had been founded in 1369, by Charles V. (the Wise), and the continuation of which is represented to-day by the _Bibliothèque Nationale_. Louis, while characterised as miserly, was also known as a collector of choice books, and was an important patron of certain scribes and illuminators, among others, of Jean Fouquet of Tours.