_1775._ _Pope Clement XIV_ issues an edict in which are cited the Bulls of Innocent IV, Julius III, and Clement VIII, and their prohibitions are confirmed. Rabbis and Jews generally were forbidden to possess copies of the Talmudic and Cabbalistic books and of any others which contained heresies or utterances against the Christian faith. No Hebrew books were to be bought or sold until they had been examined and approved by the _Magister Palatii_ in Rome, or, outside of Rome, by the bishop or inquisitor. The penalty was a fine of one hundred scudi and seven years’ imprisonment.[37] CHAPTER IV REGULATIONS AFFECTING BOOKS, FROM THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING TO THE DATE OF THE EARLIEST INDEXES 1450–1555 1. General 1450–1560. 2. England 1526–1555. 3. Netherlands 1521–1550. 4. France 1521–1551. 5. Spain 1521–1551. 6. Germany 1521–1555. =1. General.=--The great impetus given to the distribution of books by the work of the printing-press had as one result a fresh effort at supervision and control on the part of the Church of literary production. The first measures that were put into shape for the enforcement of such control provided for what has been called preventive censorship, that is a requirement, before the printed book could be put into circulation, of an examination and approval by ecclesiastical authorities. It was, however, not until half a century after Gutenberg had printed his first book, that official cognisance was taken of the new art in a papal Bull. _1479._ _Sixtus V_ authorised the Rector and Dean of the University of Cologne to impose the penalties of the Church upon those printing, selling, or reading heretical works. This authorisation was confirmed by Alexander VI. In 1501, the printers of Cologne sent a representative to Rome to protest against the censorship of the university authorities, which was driving their business out of the city.[38] _1480._ There was published in Venice a _Nosce te ipsum_ in which are printed four “approvals,”[39] and in the same year, a volume was printed at Heidelberg with a privilege from the Patriarch of Venice.[40] _1486._ _Berthold, Archbishop of Mayence_, issues an edict prohibiting the printing in his diocese of any translation from Latin or Greek, or of any books in the vernacular, until the same had been approved by the heads of the four faculties in the University of Erfurt.[41] The ground for this prohibition was that a “number of works had recently been disseminated which contained heresies and errors,” or which were printed under false titles, or which presented translations of the liturgies and Mass-books such as “were not fitting for the people.”