“The next passage, which is fuller, and for its singularity and decisiveness deserves to be set down at length, is taken out of the second part of Trithemius’s chronicle, entitled _Chronicon Hirsaugiense_:--‘About this time (anno 1450) in the city of Mentz in Germany upon the Rhine, and not in Italy, as some writers falsely affirmed, the wonderful and _till then unknown_ art of printing books by metal types (_characterizandi_) was invented and devised by John Gutenberg, citizen of Mentz, who, having almost exhausted his whole estate in contriving of this new method, and labouring under such insuperable difficulties, in one respect or other, that he began to despair of and to throw up the whole design; was at length assisted with the advice and purse of John Faust, another citizen of Mentz, and happily brought it to perfection. Having therefore, begun with cutting characters of the letters upon wooden planks, in their right order, and completed their forms, they printed the vocabulary called the _Catholicon_; but could make no further use of those forms, because there was no possibility of separating the letters, which were engraven on the planks, as we hinted before. To this succeeded a more ingenious invention, for they found out a way of stamping the shapes of every letter of the Latin alphabet, in what they called matrices, from which they afterwards cast their letters, either in copper or tin, hard enough to be printed upon, which they first cut with their own hands. It is certain that this art met with no small difficulties from the beginning of its invention, as I heard thirty years ago from the mouth of Peter Schœffer de Gernsheim, citizen of Mentz, and son-in-law to the first inventor of the Art. For when they went about printing the Bible, before they had worked off the third quire it had cost them already above 4000 florins. But the afore-mentioned Peter Schœffer, then servant, (_famulus_,) and afterwards son-in-law, to the first inventor John Faust, as we hinted before, being a person of great ingenuity, discovered an easier method of casting letters, and perfected the art as we now have it. These three kept their manner of printing very secret for some time, until it was divulged by their servants, without whose help it was impossible to manage the business, who carried it first to Strasburg, and by degrees all over Europe. Thus much will suffice concerning the discovery of this wonderful art, the first inventors of which were citizens of Mentz. These three first discoverers of printing, viz. John Gutenberg, John Faust, and Peter Schœffer his son-in-law, lived at Mentz, in a house called _Zum-junghen_, but ever since known by the name of the printing house.’”[95]