Opening the text

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His AssociatesDe Vinne, Theodore Low

History

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

Name: The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates
Author: De Vinne, Theodore Low

De Vinne, Theodore Low

Incunabula -- Bibliography; Printing -- History -- Origin and antecedents

It will be seen that the statement of the Cologne chronicler is so
ambiguous that it can be wrested to the benefit of either side of the
question. It can be used to support the hypothesis that there were two
inventions of typography—one Dutch, one German—one of little and the
other of great merit—both alike in theory, but unlike in process and
in result. But it is not worth while to consider the probability of a
very early invention of typography in Holland until we can find the
evidences which will compensate for the deficiencies of Zell.

This evidence is wanting. The statement attributed to Ulrich Zell is
the only acknowledgment made by any writer, Dutch or German, during the
fifteenth century. In view of the pretensions subsequently made, the
silence of the earliest Dutch writers and printers seems unaccountable.
Many of the printers were learned and patriotic men, proud of their art
and of their country, but in none of their books do we find any claim
for Holland as the birthplace of typography. Nor was this claim made by
any of the great men of Holland. Erasmus, the scholar, the guest and
corrector of the press for John Froben, the friend and correspondent
of Thierry Martens, first scholarly printer in the Netherlands, should
have known something of the introduction of typography in his native
country; but the only mention that he made of the origin of the art
was to attribute its invention to Germany. Before the year 1480, three
chronicles of the events of the century had been [p319] printed in
Holland, but in none of them is any notice made of early printing in
Holland. The printers of Holland who followed their business in other
cities never claimed Haarlem as the birthplace of typography. Before
the year 1500, there were Dutch printers who put on record, in imprints
attached to their books,[177] their belief in the statement that
printing had been invented in Germany. It does not appear that there
was then any knowledge of the legend of Haarlem.

[Illustration: Fac-simile of the types of Jacob Bellaert.

[From Holtrop.]]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

De Vinne, Theodore Low

Incunabula -- Bibliography; Printing -- History -- Origin and antecedents

It will be seen that the statement of the Cologne chronicler is so
ambiguous that it can be wrested to the benefit of either side of the
question. It can be used to support the hypothesis that there were two
inventions of typography—one Dutch, one German—one of little and the
other of great merit—both alike in theory, but unlike in process and
in result. But it is not worth while to consider the probability of a
very early invention of typography in Holland until we can find the
evidences which will compensate for the deficiencies of Zell.

This evidence is wanting. The statement attributed to Ulrich Zell is
the only acknowledgment made by any writer, Dutch or German, during the
fifteenth century. In view of the pretensions subsequently made, the
silence of the earliest Dutch writers and printers seems unaccountable.
Many of the printers were learned and patriotic men, proud of their art
and of their country, but in none of their books do we find any claim
for Holland as the birthplace of typography. Nor was this claim made by
any of the great men of Holland. Erasmus, the scholar, the guest and
corrector of the press for John Froben, the friend and correspondent
of Thierry Martens, first scholarly printer in the Netherlands, should
have known something of the introduction of typography in his native
country; but the only mention that he made of the origin of the art
was to attribute its invention to Germany. Before the year 1480, three
chronicles of the events of the century had been [p319] printed in
Holland, but in none of them is any notice made of early printing in
Holland. The printers of Holland who followed their business in other
cities never claimed Haarlem as the birthplace of typography. Before
the year 1500, there were Dutch printers who put on record, in imprints
attached to their books,[177] their belief in the statement that
printing had been invented in Germany. It does not appear that there
was then any knowledge of the legend of Haarlem.

[Illustration: Fac-simile of the types of Jacob Bellaert.

[From Holtrop.]]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

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