After securing possession of the establishment, Fust engaged the service of Peter Schœffer, who had been apprentice or assistant to Gutenberg, and who was distinguished for scholarship as well as mechanical skill. His skill and the improvements made by him in the art soon led Fust to take him into partnership, and the Bible, the Psalter, and other important works were produced. Schœffer was further rewarded by the hand of the grand-daughter of Fust. From this rapid summary, we may conclude, 1. That the merit of the invention of printing, however rude it may have been, belongs to Koster of Haarlem; 2. That Gutenberg placed the art on a permanent foundation; and, 3. That its economical application was insured by Peter Schœffer’s invention of cast metal types.[4] It was of course impossible to conceal the knowledge of an art so useful to man, and within ten years after the publication of the great Bible presses were established in several German cities, in Rome and other parts of Italy, and soon thereafter in France and England. William Caxton acquired a knowledge of the art in Germany, and carried it into practice at Westminster in England. The year 1477 is now accepted as the date of the introduction, the first book printed with a date in England being the _Dictes and Sayinges of the Philosophers, emprynted by me, William Caxton, at Westmestre, the yere of our Lord m.cccc.l.xxvij._ He had previously printed, without a date, _The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye_, which was followed by _The Game and Playe of the Chesse, fynysshid the last day of marche the yer of our lord god. a. thousand foure honderd and lxxiiii._ These were, however, printed at Bruges; so, according to Mr. William Blades, “the first indisputable date we have to stand on is the printing of _The Dictes_ in 1477.” Though at that time over sixty years old, Caxton was notable for his industrious habit. He was possessed of good sense and sound judgment; steady, persevering, active, zealous, and liberal in his devices for that important art which he introduced into England, labouring not only as a printer, but as translator and author. The productions of his press amount to sixty-four. In the churchwardens’ books of St. Margaret’s Parish, Westminster, his death is thus recorded: “1491. Item, atte bureyng of William Caxton, for iiii. torches vj_s._ viij_d._ Item, for the belle atte same bureyng, vj_d._” The Bible was printed in Spanish at Valencia in 1479 by Lambert Palmaert, a German; but so completely was it afterward suppressed by the Inquisition that only four leaves now remain in the archives of Valencia. The first Hebrew Bible ever printed came from the press of Abraham Colorito, at Soncino, in 1488—a very remarkable work. Iceland had its printing-office in 1530, at which a Bible was printed in 1584. ANCIENT PECULIARITIES.