Early Printed BooksDuff, E. Gordon (Edward Gordon)
History
Early Printed Books
Duff, E. Gordon (Edward Gordon)
Incunabula -- Bibliography; Printing -- History -- Origin and antecedents
These two sets are unmistakably the work of two different printers,
one of whom may well have been Peter Schœffer, since we find the
initial letters which are used in the thirty-line editions used again
in an _Indulgence_ of 1489 certainly printed by him. Who, then, was
the printer of the other set? He is generally stated to have been
John Gutenberg; and though we have no proof of this, or indeed of
Gutenberg’s having printed any book at all, there is a strong weight of
circumstantial evidence in his favour.
What do we know about John Gutenberg, the presumed printer of the first
dated specimen of printing? The earliest information comes from the
record of a lawsuit brought against him at Strasburg in 1439 by George
Dritzehn, for money advanced.
There is hardly room for doubt that the business on which Gutenberg
was engaged, and for which money was advanced him, was printing. There
is a certain ambiguity about some of the expressions, but the greater
part of the account is too clear and straightforward to allow of any
doubt.[5] It may safely be said that before 1439 Gutenberg was at work
at Strasburg, experimenting on and perfecting the art of printing.
[5] A very careful literal and unabridged translation will be found
in Hessels’ _Gutenberg_, pp. 34-57. The text used is Laborde’s with
some corrections, and Schœpflin’s readings when they vary are given in
notes. It should be noted that Mr. Hessels implies that the account of
this trial is a forgery, or at any rate unreliable; but his negative
and partial reasoning cannot stand against the evidence brought forward
by many trustworthy authorities.
The next document which relates to him as a printer is the lawsuit of
1455, the original transcript of which was recently found at Göttingen.
This was brought against him by Fust to recover a loan of 800 guilders.
In this lawsuit mention is made of two of Gutenberg’s servants,
Heinrich Keffer, afterwards a printer at Nuremberg, and Bertolf von
Hanau, supposed to be the same as Bertold Ruppel, the first printer at
Basle. Peter Schœffer also appears as a witness. We learn from this
suit that somewhere about August 1450, Fust advanced the amount of
800 guilders, and about December 1452 a like amount; but these loans
were advanced in the first instance by Fust towards assisting a work
of which the method was understood, and we are therefore justified in
considering that by that time Gutenberg had mastered the principles of
the art of printing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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