John of Spire celebrates his arrival on the shores of the Adriatic in the following lines, which are to be found at the end of his first production in that town, _The Letters of Cicero_:-- ‘Primus in Adriaca formis impressit aenis Urbe libros Spira genitus de stirpe Johannes. In reliquis sit quanta vides spes, lector, habenda, Quom labor hic primus calami superaverit artem. MCCCCLXVIII.’ John of Spire was succeeded by his brother Vindelin. It was in 1470 that the first book appeared with the name of Nicolas Jenson--the _Preparatio Evangelica_ of Eusebius--and this was followed soon by other works which are justly considered as _chefs-d’œuvre_ of typographical art. According to a story which has passed current for a century and a half, though its authority is now questioned, Jenson had been formerly an engraver at the Mint of Tours, and had been sent to Germany by the French king to investigate the truth about the discovery of Gutenberg. On his return, Charles VII. having died, Jenson met with no encouragement from his successor, Louis XI., and decided to go to Venice. Here he published books by himself for ten years, taking as a partner in 1480, the year before his death, John of Cologne, who had come to Venice about the same time as himself. Even in his own days Jenson was justly celebrated, Andrea Torresano stating with pride in the colophon of the _Lectura in I. et II. Decretalium_ that he had printed it ‘_inclytis famosisque characteribus optime_ (sic) _quondam in hac parte magistri Nicolai Jenson gallici quo nihil prestantius, nihil melius, nihil dignius_.’ This Andrea Torresano was the head of the new firm ‘J. de Colonia, N. Jenson, sociorumque,’ and he afterwards married his daughter to Aldus Manutius. So great was the success of printing in Venice at this period, that more than one hundred and fifty presses were established during the last thirty years of the fifteenth century, and upwards of fifty were in full work in the year 1500. Aldus had come to Venice with the intention of publishing works in Greek, but this did not prevent him printing in Latin and Italian. His most famous book in the latter language was the _Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_, which besides the most beautiful woodcuts that have ever been printed contains also some ornamental initials generally considered to be in the best taste. An edition of Aristophanes from the same press also contains large interlaced letters, which are given by Ongania. With reference to these initials it is to be remarked that, although in the best taste and admirably suitable to the work they embellish, they are less interesting when seen by themselves, that is to say independently of the text, than many others.