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HISTORY OF PRINTING.

His name was " Janzoon," son of John : " Kostor," if he ever bore it, which is, I think justly, doubted by Meerman, was a sobriquet, £rom his occupation, which appears to have been, at one period of his life, " Keeper" of the Church, an officer who, in Holland, generally resides in a house adjoining the sacred edifice, with a door of communication within the dwelling of the Keeper.

I shall forbear to touch the controversy, which has been exhausted by Messrs. Ottley and Singer; but only observe, says a recent traveller,* that the printed books or fragments, which were placed under my view, being all without date or colophon, I saw nothing to connect them with the printing press of Janzoon. The exhibitor, in his zeal for the cause of his country, was anxious to direct my attention to the Cologne Chronicle, from a passage in which (p. .312) it is inferred that editions of theDonatut had been printed in Holland previously to the use of types at Mentz. He also showed me an original ^eed, whereby Laurens Jans Zoen and another, being " Schepen " or Sheriffs of Haerlem, confirmed, in 1431, the gift of certain houses to the poor of the city. This, however, would only tend to prove the existence of a person of that name, and his municipal rank, at a particular date; facts which I believe are susceptible of proof from other sources, but which leave the question so interesting to the historians of the typographical art, exactW where it stood."

1441, Oct. 11. A decree of the government of Venice of this date, refers to playing cards, making a prohibition against foreigners printing or vending the same. If we require further proof to establish the early practice of the art of en- graving on wood, it will be found in thefoUowing Decree of the Government of Venice, which Lanzi asserts was discovered by Zanetti; but it evidently appears that it first caught the eye of Temanza, an architect of that city, while search- ing over the archives of the old company of Venetian painters,t of which the followmg is a translation :

" HccccxLi. Oelober the 11th. Whereas the art and mystery of making cards and printed figures, which is used at Venice, has fallen to total decay; and this in consequence of the great quantity of playing cards, and coloured figures printed, which are made out of Venice; to which evil it is necessary to apply some remedy; in order that the said artists, who are a great many in family, may find encouragement rather

• A Tour on tb» continent, inaeited in the aemUeman'$ tiagazine, for November, 1833.

t The first notice of this drcnmstance was made by Temanza, in a letter addressed to Count Algarotti, in which he informs }iim that the discovery was the first fruit of his labour after reading a portion of the ancient laws of Uie old company of Venetian painters, from which he ha^made a selection; having produced this decree, as a proof that engraving; was practised in Venice before the time of Finlguerra, he omits to make adisUnction between that of wood and copper eograving. Had it not been for this discovery, we might to this day have remained in ignorance of the practice of the art prior to the year 1467; this being the date of the Mcditalions of I. de Turrec- remata,* tlis first liooli printed in Italy with wood cuts.

than foreigners. Let it be ordered ' and esta- blished, according to that which the said masters have supplicated, that, from this time in future, no work of the said art, that is printed or painted on cloth, or paper, that is to say, altar pieces (or images) and playingcards, and whatever other work of the said art is done with a brush and printed, shall be allowed to be brought or im- ported into this city, under pain of forfeiting the works so imported, and xxx livres and xxii soldi; of which fine, one third shall go to the state, one third to the Signori Giustizrieii Vecchi, to whom the affair is committed, and one third to the accuser. With this condition, however, that ^e artists, who make the said works in this ci^, may expose the said works to sale in any other place but their own shops, under the pain afore- said, except on the day of Wednesday at S. Paolo, and on Saturday at S. Marco, under the pain aforesaid." Then follows the subscriptions of the Pruveditori del Comune, and Signori Giustizieri Vecchi.

This document is justly considered by the Italian writers as a convincing proof that the art was practised at Venice as early as the fifteenth century : as they contend, that twenty or thir^ years may fairly be granted from its first intro- duction to its lull establishment; when it not only afforded subsistence to a numerous body of artisans; but also proved a beneficial article of commerce: a similar time may reasonably be allowed between the last-mentioned period and 144 1, when it is described to have been almost totally abandoned.

Temanza informs us, that he possessed frag- ments of rude engravings on wood : these repre- sented parts of Venice in its ancient state; which from his knowledge of the local alterations in that city, could not be later than the commence- ment of the century, (1401.)

Is it not singular, that the earliest Ettropean travellers should omit to mention Chinese printing? Can we suppose that they were un- acquainted with it? An account of the travels of two Arabs, who visited China in the ninth century, are translated into French by the learned Eusebe Renaudot. The writer says nothing about engraving, though he informs us, diat ' All the Chinese, rich and poor, leanied to read and write-,' Can we collect, from this assertion, that their works were confined to manuscripts? The Ara- bian author also mentions several customs prac- tised in Italy; they agree with those exercised in the East : this note is one.*

in his hands, for the distance of nine or twelve paces, a plate of iron, of the weight of three pounds, heated till It was red hot -, or, else, he was to thrust his hand into an iron glove, heated in the same manner, or into a cbcuildnn of IwUing water, fVom the bottom of which he was to take a ring. Immediately upon hi* hand being taicen out Mf the iron glove, or from the chaoldron, it was wrapped in a cloth, which was sealed with the seal of the judge, and that of the accuser; and, at the expiration of three days* the hand was uncovered, in a puUic and formal manner. by breaking the seals; when, if it was found to have sus. tained no visible Nury, the accused person was declared innocent.
 * The trial by lire obliged the accused person to any

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