2. About 1450, long before Lutheranism was thought of, the art of printing appeared in Europe. Now some of the first efforts, as well of the wooden types of Gutenberg, as of the more perfect models of Faust and Schoeffer, were directed to disseminate accurate editions of the Bible: "No book", says one of the leading Rationalists of Germany, "was so frequently published, immediately after the first invention of printing, as the Latin Bible, more than one hundred editions of it being struck off before the year 1520".[2] And yet the number of editions thus commemorated is far below the reality. Hain, in his late _Repertorium Bibliographicum_, printed at Tubingen, reckons consecutively _ninety-eight distinct editions_ before the year 1500, independently of _twelve other editions_, which, together with the Latin text, presented the glossa ordinaria or the postillas of Lyranus. Catholic Venice was distinguished above all the other cities of Europe for the zeal with which it laboured in thus disseminating the sacred text. From the year 1475, when the first Venetian edition appeared, to the close of the century, that city yielded no fewer than _twenty-two complete editions_ of the Latin Bible, besides some others with the notes of Lyranus. Many other cities of Italy were alike remarkable for their earnestness in the same good cause, and we find especially commemorated the editions of Rome, Piacenza, Naples, Vicenza, and Brescia. 3. Italy, however, was not only remarkable for the number of its editions; it deserves still greater praise for the solicitude with which it compared the existing text with that of the ancient manuscripts, and endeavoured to present to the public editions as accurate as the then known critical apparatus would allow. One or two editions deserve particular notice, and in our remarks we will take the learned Vercellone for our guide, in his _Dissertazioni Accademiche_ (Roma, 1864, pag. 102, seq. 9). The most famous edition of the fifteenth century was that of Rome in 1471. It was published under the guidance of John Andrew de Bossi, Bishop of Aleria, and was dedicated to Pope Paul II. The printers were Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Paunartz. Their press was in the princely palace of the illustrious Massimi family. Five hundred and fifty copies were struck off in the edition; and on the death of Pope Paul II., his successor, Sixtus IV., was its zealous patron. The Venice edition of 1495 is also of great critical importance. The religious superior of the Camaldolese of Brescia superintended its publication. It consisted of four volumes in folio, and presented, together with the Latin Bible, the gloss and notes of Lyranus. This great work was dedicated to Cardinal Francis Piccolomini, who was soon after raised to the popedom under the name of Pius III. From its preface we learn that not only the best preceding editions, but also _five ancient manuscripts_, were made use of in preparing this edition.