The Venetian printing press. An historical study based upon documents for the most part hitherto unpublished

Front matter

THE VENETIAN PRINTING PRESS.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE.

Two hundred and sixty-five Copies of this Work printed for England, and Two hundred and fifty-five Copies for G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. Each Copy numbered, and the Type distributed.

Preface

HIS book consists of two parts. First, an historical study of the Venetian Printing Press from its origin down to the fall of the Republic, based, in a large degree, upon the documents which form the second part of the book.

In this study I trace the history of the Venetian press from its introduction, through the sixteenth century — noting especially how press legislation grew up, preceded by custom and practice, and then formulated in law ; how the government dealt with such questions as copyright, protection, and censorship ; how the Guild of Printers and Booksellers was founded and governed ; how the book trade came under the influence of the Index and the Inquisitorial censorship, and how the Republic endeavoured to protect the trade, thereby involving itself in a long struggle with the Church of Rome — till we reach the slow decline of the Venetian press through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in spite of the legislation which was designed to preserve it.

I have called the work a study, rather than a history of the Venetian press, because I feel that a true history of that press would require far more bibliographical knowledge than I possess. This book will have fulfilled its purpose if it serves as a pioneer along a line of research which has never been adequately explored, except at its beginning, and then almost entirely from a bibliographical, not from an historical or legal point of view.

The second part of the book contains the documents which served as a basis for the study. By far the larger part are published now for the first time. In some cases I have reprinted documents which have already seen the light, because 1 know that they are difficult of access to English students. These documents fall into several groups.

i . The laws of the Republic on the subject of the printing press and the book trade. Though many of these laws were printed on loose sheets at the time of their issue, for use among the officials and the book trade, and viii

Preface.

still exist here and there as curiosities, yet I believe they are now collected and published together for the first time.

2. A table showing the number of monopolies, copyrights, imprimaturs, and patents granted by the College, the Senate, or the Council of Ten, from the year 1469 to 1596. The late Professor Rinaldo Fulin published in the Archivio Veneto (torn, xxiii. parte 1) an abstract of these documents down to the year 1526. From that year onwards I transcribed the originals in full, and have referred to them in the course of my Introduction. But in the process of printing the present volume it was found impossible to include them, owing to their bulk. I hope to offer them as a supplement, should the reception of this book justify the belief that the public desires to possess them.

3. The Mariegok, or matriculation book of the Guild of Printers and Booksellers, containing the first bye-laws of the corporation, is transcribed from the unpublished original now at the Museo Civico di Venezia.

4. A selection of documents from the unpublished minute-book of the Guild of Printers and Booksellers, bound up with the Mariegole.

5. Documents illustrating the relations between the Curia and the Republic on the question of the book trade. They are all of the nature of Consulte, or official memorials presented, on the invitation of the government, by its own officers or experts.

6. The list of Venetian printers and booksellers is based on Emmanuele Cicogna's unpublished MS. list, now at the Museo Civico. But I have been able to add a considerable number of names from other sources, though the list is, no doubt, incomplete.

7. The analysis of press prosecutions before the Holy Office in Venice has been compiled directly from the documents of the Venetian Inquisition now at the Frari.

8. The entries in the Bookseller's Journal of 1484 have been transcribed from the MS. at the Marciana Library in Venice (CI. xi. Cod. xlv.). Sig. B. Calore, of the State Archives, has called my attention to a similar day-book now at the Frari, but as yet uncatalogued. It is marked on the outside c< 1596, Baratti, A." The first entry is dated 1596, and the last 1603.

Mr. T. W. Allen has given me most valuable help and advice while reading the proofs of the earlier chapters. My thanks are due to Sig. Giovanni Saccardo for his constant helpfulness, especially in indicating such useful sources of information as Morelli's Zibaldoni and the Valuation Rolls (Estimo) of the Republic; also to Com. Castellani, the Prefect of the Marciana, for his courtesy in allowing me to make facsimiles of several specimens of early Venetian printing. Sig. Castellani's interesting work,

Preface.

ix

La Stampa in Venezia, appeared when these sheets had already gone to the printers; but I have been able to avail myself of the information it contained, acknowledging my debts in their proper place. Mr. Blades' valuable monograph on Signatures appeared after the sheets were passed for press ; so, too, did Sig. Bernoni's Dei "Torresani, Blado e Ragazoni, Milano, Hcepli. I further wish to express my gratitude to Sig. Camillo nobile Soranzo of the Marciana, to the Abbate Nicoletti of the Museo Civico, and to Sig. Giomo of the Archivio di Stato for their unfailing help and courtesy. The late Director of the Archivio, Com. Cecchetti, is now beyond the reach of thanks. His death is an irreparable loss, and to him above all I feel myself indebted.

Horatio F. Brown.

Contents

THE FIRST BOOKS AND THEIR PRINTERS.

PAGE

The Decor Puellarum and the date 1461 — The date attacked — Arguments in favour of the date, (1) the date itself, (2) contemporary evidence, Italian and foreign, (3) popular tradition, (4) official tradition — Arguments against the date, (1) decree of the Cabinet, (2) colophon of the Epistolee Familiares, (3) Jenson's silence from 1 46 1 to 1470, (4) identity of the Decor Puellarum with the editions of 147 1 . 1

Chapter II. 1469 — 148 1

JOHN OF SPEYER AND NICOLAS JENSON.

Death of John of Speyer — His works — Number of copies he printed — Nicolas Jenson, his birthplace and early life — He settles in Venice — His first books — Amount of work he produced — His fame — Made Count Palatine — His wealth — His home and family —Reported sale of his characler — His partnerships — His death — The firm of John of Cologne, Nicolas Jenson, and associates.

HE material available for the early lives of John of Speyer and of Nicolas Jenson is extremely scanty. Very little is known about either of them before they came to Venice. About John and Windelin, his brother, we have no information beyond the fadl that they were natives of Speyer,1 in Rhenish Bavaria. It is not known where they learned their art, nor from whom ; nor yet how long they had been settled in Venice before they began to print. The order of the College granting a monopoly of printing to John, shows that they were well received, and that a prosperous career was opened to them. But John's life in Venice was a very brief one. He died in 1470, the year after the appearance of the Epistol<e Familiares, and while he was engaged upon his edition of Saint Augustine's De Civitate Dei." The edition was completed by Windelin, who records the event in the colophon to the work :

subita sed morte peremptus Non potuit coeptum V enetis finire volumen.

Vindelinus adest ejusdem frater et arte Non minor : Adriacaque morabitur urbe.

1 Windelin calls himself e spira natus in the colophon to the Somnium Scipionis, 1470. Hain, 5,257. And Raphael Zovenzoni addresses the city of Speyer thus : Spyra tuum nomen toto celebrabitur or be j £>ue Vindellini diceris esse parens. Ciceronis, De Divinatione, 1 47 r.

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The Venetian Printing Press.

And, in confirmation of the fact, the famous monopoly of 1469 bears on its margin these words : nullius est vigoris quia obiit magister et autlor.

But in the short space of time between 1469, when the Epistola Familiar es appeared, and 1470, when he died, John produced the following works :

Plinii, Be Naturali Historia} Livii, Historiarum Romanarum Decades. Vol. I.2 Ciceronis, Epistolte ad Familiares. Second Edition.3 S. Aurelii Augustini, De Civitate Dei.*

John was engaged upon this work when he died. From the colophons of these works we are able to gather the number of copies in each edition (except the one volume of Livy and the unfinished St. Augustine), and the time he took to print them.

Of the first edition of the Epistol<e Familiares John printed one hundred copies ; and of the De Naturali Historia the same number. He took nearly three months over the work :

The colophon to the second edition of the Epistolx Familiares contains this statement :

quarto nam mense peregit bloc tercentenun bis Ciceronis opus.

From which it seems that the second edition of the Epistol<e consisted of six hundred copies, published in two issues of three hundred each ; and that the whole six hundred took four months to print. So that in seven months John of Speyer had printed eight hundred volumes at least, besides the

2 Two other volumes were completed by Windelin, and published under his name in 1470. Hain, 10,1 30.

3 Hain, 5,165. The following differences between the first and second editions are noticeable. 1 st edition : height of comp., 226 mm. ; width, 148 mm. ; leaves, 125 ; fin. verso ; lines, 41 to full page. 2nd edition : height of comp., 226 mm. ; width, I 36 mm. ; leaves, 137; fin. redo ; stitched in gathers of 6, 6, 2, 6, 4, 6, 4, 6, 4, 6, 4, 6, 4, 5, minus last leaf. These differences seem to show that, after printing off his first edition, John probably distributed the type ; otherwise he would not have been at the labour of recomposing it. Possibly he did not expeft such a large sale. He profited by his experiences, and kept up the type of his second edition, making a second issue of three hundred copies when the first issue was exhausted. 4 Hain, *2,048.

6 Colophon to the St. Augustine. Windelin is referring to the first edition of Cicero's Letters.

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'John of Speyer and Nicolas Jenson.

edition of the first volume of the Livy, whose number is not stated, and a certain portion of the edition of St. Augustine.

About Nicolas Jenson our information is considerably fuller. He was a Frenchman, son of Jacob Jenson of Sommevoire,1 near Bar-sur-Aube, in the department of Aube, in the diocese of Troyes, and the district of Champagne. He had a brother, named Albert, whom he left his heir general. Jenson does not state how old he was when he made his Will, and we are not able to fix the date of his birth ; but his biographer Sardini 2 places it somewhere about 1420. Jenson served his apprenticeship in the Paris mint, and was promoted to be master of the mint at Tours. When the rumoured discovery of the new art of printing reached France, Jenson was sent to Mainz, in 1458, by Charles VII. to learn the secrets of the invention, and to bring them back to France with a view to opening a printing press in that country.3 Jenson fulfilled his commission, and reached France again in the year 1461, when Louis XI. had just ascended the throne. We do not know why he did not remain in France, nor whether he printed in that country ; but the next certain information we possess about him is the publication of his books in Venice.

There were many reasons to influence Jenson in his choice of Venice as the scene of his operations. In the first place, the tide of printers was flowing steadily towards Italy. Apprentices who had acquired the new art in Germany 1 set out to seek their fortunes by the exercise of their skill. It was natural that they should turn to Italy, where the nobles were rich, where learning had its home, where manuscripts were stored in abundance for printing to reproduce, where there was a public, both lay and ecclesiastic, ready to pay for these reproductions. The Republic offered special attractions in the security afforded by its government, and in the protection and liberty she promised to all who settled in her dominions. Venice was, moreover, the best mart for the distribution of goods ; and the trade in paper was facilitated by the ease and cheapness of sea carnage.

Jenson settled in Venice, and began issuing books — if we abandon the date of the Decor Puellarum — in 1470; that is, nine years after we last

' Archivio Veneto, torn. 33, p. 457. Jenson's Will, dated 7 Sept., 1480. Among the Atti Notarili of Girolamo Bonicardi, Jenson signs himself, ego Nicolaus Jenson quondam Ser Jacobi de Sommavera, trecen. dioceseos. Jenson's Will has been published in extenso by Sig. Castellani, La Starnpa in Venezia, p. 85.

a Sardini, Esame sui principii della Franc ese ed Italiana tipografia ; ovvero storia critica di Nicolao Jenson. Lucca, 1796-98.

3 This information is based upon a MS. note in the Library of the Arsenal, Paris. See Castellani, L'origine tedesca e Porigine Olandese delV invenzione della Starnpa, p. 30.

4 By far the larger number of early Italian printers are German : Sweynheym and Pannartz, of Subiaco and Rome ; Ulrich Han, of Rome ; Gensberg, of Rome ; John of Speyer and Christofer Valdarfer, of Venice ; Numeister, of Foligno, &c.

The Venetian Printing Press.

heard of him just returned to France from Mainz. Whether Jenson brought his type with him to Venice, or whether he cut 1 it there, is not known. When he did begin work he produced continuously every year, from 1470 till his death in 1480. His activity was very great. During these ten years Sardini counts one hundred and fifty-five editions, known to be by him or attributed to him as issuing from his press. And this number must be augmented by several works unknown to Sardini, but catalogued by Holtrop.2

There is some uncertainty as to which was the first book published by Jenson in the year 1470. There is no precise date, no indication of the day or month, in any of the four undoubted issues from his press in this year ; it is difficult, therefore, to determine the priority among them. Panzer,3 and Hain following him, however, claims another book for Jenson — Guarini, Regul<£ Grammatical — and on the strength of its colophon, which runs thus :

FINIS

he assigns it to the year 1470. If Panzer were right in ascribing this edition to Jenson, and assigning it to the year 1470, we should probably have here the first book printed in Venice by that master. But both the ascription and the assignation are very doubtful. In the first place, the Venetian printers dated their work more Veneto ; 5 and in that case the book can only belong to the year 147 1 6 of our reckoning, In the second place, an examination of the type of the Guarini raises doubts as to whether the book be printed by Jenson at all.7 And if we rejecl: the Guarini, that leaves us with the four undoubted Jensons of 1470 : the Eusebius, De Evangelica Praparatione ; Justinus, Epitomata ; 8 Cicero, Epistola ad Atticum ; y and Cicero, Rhetorica and De Inventione.10 General opinion places the De Evangelica Prxparatione at the head of the list.

' Many of these early printers were either die-sinkers or goldsmiths. See Panizzi, Chi era Francesco da Bologna? Londra, Pickering, 1873, P- '6. " Catalogue B. R. H., p. 392 et seq.

3 Panzer, iii. 20, vidctur primum Nicolai Jenson tcntamen Vcnetiis. 1 Hain, 8,108.

5 Didot, Aide Manuce, Paris, 1875, P- 62, notc 1 5 Fulin, op. cit., No. 4; Archivio Veneto, I, 161 ; e.g., see Hain, '9,924, where the two parts of Lascaris' Erotemata are dated respectively 1494 ultimo Februarii and 1495 oftavo Martii. Sec Castcllani, La Stampa in Venezia, p. 40.

6 The Venetian year began on March 1.

7 There are certain notes of Jenson's type which do not appear in the Guarini, e.g., the i's arc dotted straight above the letter instead of to the right hand ; the contractions are not those used by Jenson ; the h's are more Gothic in form than those used by Jenson.

Jenson. Cicero, Epistolcc ad Atlicum. 1470.

yohn of Speyer and Nicolas Jenson.

"3

In estimating the amount of work executed by Jenson, much depends upon being able to state the size of the editions issued by him. But, unlike the brothers John and Windelin, Jenson never, so far as we are aware, mentions the number of copies of any book printed by him. There is one consideration, however, which would point to the belief that Jenson's editions were large ones. Second editions of Jenson's issues, if not unknown, are certainly very rare.1 When we remember the extent of his reputation and the vogue he had, this can only be explained by supposing that his original editions were large.

To Jenson's fame as a printer there is abundant testimony to be found among his contemporaries. We have already quoted the witness of Sabellico, Polydorus Vergilius, and Marino Sanuto. One of Jenson's own publications, the Gregorii Papa IX., Decretales, of 1475,2 furnishes a yet more eloquent demonstration of the extent to which his fame had spread beyond Venice, and of the esteem in which he was held. Jenson had been summoned to Rome, where the Pope, Sixtus IV., had conferred on him the title of Count Palatine, and other rewards and honours. This we gather from a letter written by Pietro Treci to Francesco Colucia, one of Jenson's readers, and printed at the end of this volume of the Decretals. The passage runs : Quod Nicolaum ipsum ex urbe roma istuc salvum adventasse scribis gratulor, et eo magis quod et comitem palatinum a summo pontifice fatlum et aliis quam pluribus privilegiis in sue virtutis prerogativam eum donatum decoratumque audio . . . quis enim pro meritis digna ipsi premia conferre possit cum tarn brevi temporis curricula non modo gentilium scriptorum preclara opera jam pene extinbla sua prudentia, impendio ac liberalitate elegantissime instauraverit, verum et sacrorum impressione seu potius reparatione librorum divino ingenio ac mirifica arte totam ecclesiam illustraverit, et decoraverit adeo ut deo propitio in omnem t err am exiverit nomen ejus et in fines or bis terre opera ejus. In the phrase verum et sacrorum impressione we probably see the reason why he was thus honoured by the Papal Court — to reward him for the publication of the devotional and canonical works which issued from his press in the years 1473 and 1474, and to encourage other printers to follow the same lines.

Not fame alone but wealth also had come to Jenson during these five years of active work in Venice. The words impendio ac liberalitate, in the passage already quoted, seem to show that he had the means to spend, and was willing to spend on his editions. But beyond this conjecture we have the explicit statement of Sanuto that vadagno assaissimi denari sicche vene richissimo ; and if Sanuto calls him richissimo in Venice of the fifteenth century,

1 A second edition of the De Evangelica Praparatione is quoted by Hain, 6,701, in the year 1476. Sardini records it as doubtful. Panzer, iii. *22$.

The Venetian Printing Press.

that must have meant a really large fortune. The terms of Jenson's Will furnish considerable information as to the amount of his fortune. We know that he devised about four thousand golden ducats, bequeathing the sum of 465 ducats in legacies, besides providing a dower of 600 ducats for each of his three daughters' marriage portions, and 400 ducats for his son Nicolo when he reached the age of twenty-five years. The rest of his fortune he left to his brother Albert ; but we do not know what proportion the legacies bore to the residue. On the whole, these legacies do not seem to be very large, if we compare them with the dowries of one hundred thousand ducats apiece bestowed by another Venetian printer, Thomaso Giunta, upon his two daughters.1

At the time when his Will was drawn up, Jenson was living in the parish of San Canciano.2 His place of business appears to have been at San Salvador; in the Matriculation roll of the Confraternity of San Gerolamo3 he is entered as Nicolo Xanson di San Salvador. There is no evidence that he was ever married, but in his Will he makes provision for Zanetta, the mother of his three daughters, Giovanna, Caterina, and Barbara, and of his son Nicolo, who, at the time of his father's death, was in London.

In the year 1479, Jenson is said to have sold his type to Andrea de' Torresani de Asola, the father-in-law of Aldus Manutius. It is possible that he may have sold a set of matrices punched by his punches. Such a practice was not unknown among printers,4 and Andrea de' Torresani, in 148 2-3, published the Letlura super primo Decretalium? which he declares to have been printed inclytis famosisque charatleribus optimi quondam in hac arte magistri Nicolai Jenson Gallici, quo nihil praestantius nihil melius. But that was two years after Jenson's death, and the type may have come into Andrea de' Torresani's hands by other means. It is certain, from the terms of his Will, that Jenson was in possession of his punches at the time of his death in 1480; and he opened the work of his press that year with a series of devotional publications, the Nosce te* the Corona senum,1 the De immensa charitate Dei,s the De humilitate interiora? and the Flos vit<e,w all printed in his familiar Roman type.

1 Castcllani, / privilegi di Stampa, p. 16.

" In his Will he is described as, habitator Venctiarum in confinio stincli Cancicini. 3 Cicogna, Inscrizioni Veneziane, vi. 954, 955.

1 Guillaume Le Be, in 1 546, says, Je vendis une frappe a Florence a M. Lorenso Turenrin, impritneur du Due. H. Omont, Specimens de Caratlhes Hcbreux, etc. Paris, m.dccc.lxxxix, p. 1 4. 5 Hain, * 1 2,3 1 3. 6 Hain, 9,388. 7 Hain, 9,390.

9 Not in Hain. Brit. Mus. C, 11. a. 14. n Not in Hain. Brit. Mus. C, II. a. 14.

10 Not in Hain. Brit. Mus. C, II. a. 14. Sardini ascribes all three to John the Carthusian.

yohn of Speyer and Nicolas yens on.

l5

This series of devotional works is very inferior in careful workmanship to the similar series published in 1471 ; but it is interesting as being the last work produced by Jenson alone. This year Jenson entered into partnership with John of Cologne, who had been printing in Venice from the year 1471, partly alone, but partly also, after 1473, in partnership with John Manthen. John was a member of the Confraternity of S. Gerolamo, along with Jenson ; his name appears on the Matriculation roll as Zuan da Cologna stampador de S. Paternian,1 in which parish he and many other printers lived. The terms of the contract between Jenson and John of Cologne are not known ; but Jenson supplied the type.2 Whether John of Cologne supplied the money to work the partnership we are unable to state positively ; but we may notice that his name always precedes that of Jenson in the signature of the firm, seeming to indicate that he was chief partner in the business.

Jenson's personal participation in the business was very soon terminated. On Sept. 7, 1480, he was seriously ill, and caused his Will to be drawn up. He desired to be buried at the Church of S. Maria delle Grazie,3 and that his executors shall there erect to his memory unum monument um simplex et absque pompa. His brother Albert, his executor and residuary legatee, is to pay for the masses to be said for the testator's soul, when he has realized Jenson's share in the firm Zuan da Cologna et Nicolo Jenson. His share in the plant of this firm is to be valued, and offered to the firm. His brother shall keep 500 ducats of the proceeds, and the remainder is to be placed against his debit account with the firm of Nicolas Jenson and Co. He leaves the following legacies: to his compare Jacotinode Rubeis, 100 ducats ; to his comare Jacotino's wife, 200 ducats, both of gold; 50 ducats to the Church of S. Pietro dt Sommavera, in partibus suis gallie ubi sepultus est quondam Ser Jacobus ipsius testatoris pater ; 50 ducats to the Rainaldo, husband and wife ; 50 ducats to his cousin Giovanna ; 1 5 ducats to Pietro Benzon, the shopman in the warehouse of the company, and other bequests. From the sale of the plant he excepts his punches, which he bequeaths to his compare Peter Ugelleymer — non intelligantur nec comprehendantur ponzoni cum quibus stampantur matres cum quibus matribus Hunt litter a et projiciuntur, sed omnino ipse testator ipsos ponzones exceptuavit et exceptuat ac eos voluit et vult dominum Petrum Ugelleymer compatrem suum

1 Cicogna, Inscr. Ven., vi. 954, 955.

2 Jenson at the time of his death was a member of two firms, as appears from various passages in his Will ; one was styled Nicolas Jenson and Co., societate Nicolai Jenson et sociorum, the other, formed later, John of Cologne and Nicolas Jenson, sui bercdes habuerint denarios ab ipsius testatoris societate nuncupata zan da Cologna et Nicolaus Jenson, aut a prima societate, Nicolaus Jenson et socii intitulata.

3 A small island of the Lagoon, between S. Giorgio Maggiore and S. Clemente ; church destroyed.

i6

The Venetian Printing Press.

diletlissimum habere debere et ipsos eidem domino Petro legavit et dimisit. Nicold, his son, on reaching the age of twenty-five, is to receive the sum of 400 ducats, and Albert, his brother, is to supply Zanetta, the mother of Jenson's children, with food, clothes, and 12 ducats a year.

From this illness Jenson never recovered. He died in the same month of September, though we do not know the exadt day. A contemporary, Felino Sandei, records his death in a note written in Sandei's own copy of Leonardo Aretino ; it runs thus: Venetiis obiit Nicolaus Jenson anno 1480. mense septembris, cum toto pene orbem libros sua arte atque suo ingenio impressos seminasset}

The firm of John of Cologne and Nicolas Jenson continued to work after Jenson's death, and a considerable number of books appear with Jenson's name still recorded as a partner in the firm. None of these, however, was issued during Jenson's life. The first of these publications with the imprint of the firm is Baldus, Letlura super sexto Codicis, dated pridie Kalendas Decembris, 1480,2 rather more than two months after Jenson's death. The next year, 1481, gives us a continuation of this edition of Baldus in six volumes; also Thorns de Aquino, opus super quarto libro Sententiarum.'3 But by the month of April, 148 1, it appears that the provisions of Jenson's Will as regards his punches had been executed, and that the firm no longer possessed them. The Apparatus Decretalium, Innocentii Papa IV. ,4 is dated Olympiadibus dominicis Anno vero millesimo. cccclxxxi. tertias nonas Apriles ; at the end we find this statement : exatlum insigne hoc atque prxclarum opus dutlu auspitiis optimorum Joannis de Colonia Nicolai Jenson sociorumve Qui non tamen summam curam adhibuere ut sint hec et sua queque sine vicio et menda verum etiam ut bene sint elaborata atque jucundissimo litterarum car a tl ere confetla ut unicuique prodesse possint et obletlare .... Huiusce autem operis artifex extitit summus in hac arte magister Joannes de Selgenstat alemanus qui sua solertia ac vigiliis divoque imprimendi caraclere facile supereminet. The Jenson type, his punches, had been withdrawn from the firm, and John of Cologne called upon Master John of Selgenstat to cut a new set. The Gothic type produced by John of Selgenstat is far inferior to the type employed by Jenson.

Jenson's name continued to appear in the imprint of the firm down to the end of the year 148 1. His heirs had, under his Will, a pecuniary interest in the works which bear his name. After the year 148 1 the name of Nicolas Jenson disappears from the annals of the Venetian Press.

1 Sardini, op. cit., lib. ii. p. 117.

2 Hain, *2,zgy.

Chapter III. 1469 — 1481

HOW THEY PRINTED.

Roman, Gothic, and Greek character — Double columns — Signatures — Catchwords — Registers — Numeration — Imprints — Format — Capitals and initials — Colophons and prefaces— Paper — Ink — Cost of an edition — Partnerships.