According to the testimony of a fellow printer, de Lignamine, in the
"Chronica summorum Pontificum," Rome, 1474, Mentelin as early as 1458
was printing at Strassburg 300 sheets a day. The third Latin Bible
(1460-1461) and the first German Bible came from his press, but the
first work to which he affixed his name and a date was the _Speculum
historiale_ of Vincent of Beauvais in 1473. He died in 1478.
The Wodhull copy, bought at "Hayes's sale" in 1794 for £5.5s., and bound
in russia gilt, with Wodhull arms on side, by Mrs. Weir for £1.2s. Leaf
15-3/4 × 11 in.
4. GESTA ROMANORUM. [Cologne, Ulrich Zell, c. 1473.]
_Fol. 1, blank._ _Fol. 2^a_: Ex gestis romanor_um_ hystorie no_ta_biles:
de vitijs v_ir_tutibusq_ue_ tracta_n_tes: cu_m_ applicac_i_onib_us_
moralizatis et misticis: Incipiunt feliciter. _Fol. 160^b, col. 1_,
COLOPHON: Ex gestis ro_ma_no_rum_ cu_m_ plurib_u_s applicatis historijs:
de v_ir_tutib_us_ et vitijs mistice ad intellectum tra_n_ssum_p_tis
Recollectorij finis est feliciter. LAVS. DEO. _Fol. 160^b, col. 2_:
Incipiu_n_t tituli numerorum om_n_i_u_m capitulo_rum_ et exemplo_rum_.
_Fol. 163^a_: Tabula o_mn_i_u_m exe_m_plo_rum_ _et_ capitulo_rum_
op_er_is præcedentis. sec_un_d_u_m ordine_m_ alphabeti. _Fol. 170^a_:
Explicit tabula. _Fol. 170^b, blank._
Folio. 170 leaves in seventeen quires of ten leaves each, 2
columns, 36 lines to the column, gothic letter, without signatures,
catchwords, pagination, place, printer's name or date. Two- to
five-line spaces left for capitals. One pinhole in side margin,
others possibly cut away in binding. Hain 7734, Pellechet 5247.
Brit. Mus. 15th cent., I, p. 196 (IB. 2994).
On fol. 2^a and 163^a five-line initials in blue with graceful pen
decoration in red. Initials of chapters and morals supplied in alternate
red and blue. Paragraph-marks and initial-strokes in red; headings
underlined in red. Blank first leaf wanting.
This edition of the Gesta contains 181 chapters and appears to have been
preceded only by another undated edition printed at Utrecht by Ketelaer
and Leempt, in long lines, with 152 chapters and no index.
Ulrich Zell was the first printer of Cologne. His first dated book was
issued in 1466 and he continued to print quite up to the close of the
fifteenth century. Nearly all his books are, like the present, without
place, date or printer's name. Of the 177 books which he is known to
have printed, the British Museum possesses 123.
The Wodhull copy, bound in russia, gilt edges. Leaf 10-3/4 × 7-1/2 in.
Mem. on fly-leaf: "Pateson's Auction. £5.5s; washing, cleaning, mending
and binding by Roger Payne £1.2s.6d. M. Wodhull, May 25th, 1786."
5. GREGORIUS I. Homiliæ XL super Evangeliis. [Augsburg, Günther Zainer.]
28 August, 1473.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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