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HISTORY OF PRINTING.

month of August, Faust and Gutenberg entered into a new agreement, the former supplying mo- ney, the latter skill, for their mutual benefit. Various ^fBculties arising, occasioned a law-suit for the money which Faust had advanced ; the cause was decided against Gutenberg.*

C.G. Schwarz,an eminent bibliographer, says, in his Primaria qvadam Doeumenta de Ong. Typog. Altorfix, 1740, 4to, that " in the year 1728, in a Carthusian monastery, a little beyond the walls of Mentz, he saw a copy of an old Latin bible, which was printed in a large character, similar to what is called the missal type ; and that, however a few of the end leaves were cut out, so that the date, place, and printer's name, could not be ascertained, yet, in an ancient manuscript catalogue of the same library, an entry, or memo- randum, was made, that tnis bible, with some other books, (the names of which he had forgotten) was given to the monastery, by Gutenl^rg."

Copies of this superb work of Gutenberg's, are in his majesty's library, in the Bodleian library, at Oxford, and in those of Earl Spencer, and Sir M. M. Sykes, bart There is also a magnificent copy of this bible in the royal library at Berlin, pruted upon vellum, and enriched with a profu- sion of ancient and eleguit embellishments ; and in the king's library at Paris, there are two other copies of this most valuable edition, one upon vellum, in four volumes, and the other upon paper, in two volumes. The latter copy has a BuDscription in red ink, at the end of each volume. That at the end of the first volume, of which a fac simile is given in the Clattical Joumo/, No. 8, p. 481. — ^translation.

"Here ends the first part of the Bible, or Old T^tament. Illuminated, or rubricated, and bound, by Heniy Albch or Cremer, on St. Bar- tholomew's day, April, A. D. 1456. Thanks be to God. Halleluiah."

At the end of the second volume the following

is a TRANSLATION.

" This book, illuminated and bound by Henry Cremer, vicar of the collegiate church of St. Stephen, at Mentz, was completed on the feast of the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, A. D. 1466. Thanks be to God. Hallelujah.

The earliest work executed between Gu- tenberg and his partners, are supposed to be an alphabet, engraved on a plate for the use of schools, and some doctrinal tracts. Then followed two ^itions of Donatus on the parts of speech : the first from wooden blocks, which are still in the royal library of Paris; the second with move- able types on vellum.

1462, Dec. 3. The expense of printing the bible is not exactly known ; of the money ad- vanced by Faust upon his partnership with Gutenberg, no specific voucher remains but Uie second deposit is proved, and that incidently

which Fanst sold in France as manuscript ; whereas it ttppeais evident that it was the second, and more expensive edition of H63, that was disposed of, which had cost 4000 florins before the third qoaternlon (or quire of foor sheets) was printed.
 * Many writers are of opinion that this was the edition

establishes the first, for it states Faust to be sg^. plying another eight hundred florins. And if tradition is uniform, that Gutenberg had expend, ed 2,200 gold florins more.

1464, May, 29. Constantinople was captured, and the emperor Constantine slain on this di;. On the day of the capture, the sultan, Mohao. med II. entered the city in triumph ; viewed its still remaining monuments ; ana proceeded to the forms of the new government, and the rites of the moslem worship. We are informed, that tiie Turks on entering the city, spared neither rank, nor age, nor sex ; the aged men and women w«e slain, the virgins were violated even in the saitt- tuary itself ; the nobles were degraded into slaves ; the temples of God were polluted, the imagts o( the saints, were treated with contumely, ud dashed to pieces ; and the books belonging to the churches, were torn to pieces, defiled, and bant. The imperial library, amounting to upwards of 120,000 volumes was destroyed ; many were put into perforated vessels, and thrown into the sea.

1456, March 24. Died Pope Nicholas V. the friend of ancient literature, and the protector of the learned exiles from Greece. He was the son of a poor physician of Sarzana, a town of Itah. His mdustry and learning were so extraordinair, that by rapid degrees, he rose from his humble situation to the highest preferments in the eccle- siastical state, and succeeded to the postifiol chair in 1447, when he assumed the name of Ni- cholas V. During the eight years that he enjc^ the supreme dignity in the church, he acquired a high reputation, not by enlarging his territory or enriching his dependents, but by providiajt the most efficacious means for the extirpation of ignorance, and the acquirement of knowledge. He was equally decisive in promoting the genwil difiusion of science. At a period when literature was emerging from under the cloud by whidi it had been obscured for ages, the literary exertions of Nicholas V. and those of his secretary, Janotns Manetto, spared neither labour nor expense to promote its rising interests among their countiy- men. No expense was spared in the purchase of books ; and where the originals could not be pro- cured, copies were directed to be made. His transcribers were every where employed ; and the most learned men were engaged in translating into Latin, the most valuable and useful of the Greek fathers, and ecclesiastical writers, as well as the most elegant and important classical au- thors. He caused the sacred scriptures to be transcribed, and richly ornamented with gold and silver. About the year 1463, he offered for St Matthew's gospel in Hebrew, no less a sum than five thousand ducats. By his intrepid spirit the Vatican library, at Rome, was founded, which he enriched with 6,000 manuscript volumes, pro- cured at immense expense. Whilst this mild and munificent patron of^letters was thus sedulously employed, and marking with satisfaction the pro- gress of his labours, the news which astoanded Europe anived, that the capital of the Grecian empire was in the hands of the Turks! The melancholy event is said to have preyed upon the

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