Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/142

 FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

183

that aooonot actually acquiied additional fiivour, and a preference witti the public. It is not sur- pridng that Gering should at length, on some occasions, be induced to sacrifice taste to interest, and- comply with the perreise inclinations and prejudices of the age.*

It is said that more than six thousand persons M Paris subsisted by copying and illuminating manuscripts, at the time when printing was first intioducM into that city; they neld their privi- lege under the university.

w^'ith regard to the regulation of the prices of books, from a very remote period the univeisity of Paris claimed such a right of estimation, that the " Ljbraire" might hare a reasonable profit, and that the purchaser might not pay too dear. For this purpose, before the introauction of

Srinting, uey had their " Taxtores Librorum." tut whoi tlus noble art was newl^ established, their interference was for a time, judged to be no longer necessanr, on account of the unlimited multiiMieation of literary works, and the compa- rative cheapness of their prices.

In process of time, however, when the book- sellers began to overcharge their commodities, the university thought properto resume its power of taxation. Four " Ubraires Juies" were em- ployed to determine the price of every printed volume : and the list or catalogue of bcraks on sale, with their authorized prices, was ordered to be printed, or l^bly written, and hung up to public view in some conspicuous situation, by every individual ." libraire." Many of the cata- logues of early Parisian printers and booksellers are still extant; and several of them may be seen in the Antitill of Maittaire, whidi evince the very moderate rates at which books of great merit and utility were offered to the public.

From these facts it appears, that the early printers were justified in uib insertion of those nequent epigrams which bespoke their own mo- deration, and the cheapness of their impressions. Sometimes editors, or scholarsof known. eminence, address the public in the printer's behalf. In further proof of the deference and submission which early printers and booksellers of Paris, paid to the university, it may be mentioned, that a great part of them affectea to add to their own names some other epithets or designations, which night more especially attest their close union and conne»on' with that literary establishment In token of the connexion, many of them exhibited the arms of the university in the title pages of their impressions. Others prefixed to their im- pressions both the royal arms and those of the university. Others again j)refixed to their im- presnons the arms of Fiance in the middle of the title, accompanied by those of the university and of the city of Paris. The custom of ceruying the place of their residence, common to the early

aaacfa indebted to the AntuUt a/ Parigian Typography, ^e. bj the Rev. William Parr Qmwell, a work aboundinc wtth much intereatinK and valoable information, and whidi everr lover of typography ahoold endeaTonr to
 * For the account of the carlv Patistan frinten, I am

printers of Paris, was a further indication of their subordination to the jurisdiction of the university.

At this oeriod manuscripts were so highi^ rated, as to be conveyed or pledged like an estate for a very valuable consideration, by formal deeds and instruments. The Speetdum Hutoriale m CoruuetudinaParuieiuei was thus formally trans- ferred, by Jeoffery de S. Liges, to Gerrard de Montagu, king's advocate, ^r a sum equal to more tnan two hundred irancs of the present date. Even at the period when Gering commen- ced printing at Pans, a manuscript concordance to the bible was estimated at a hundred crowns.

A French historian and poet of this period, sneered at the invention of printing, and the dis- covery of the New World by Columbus. In speaking of the press, this author says,

rve ieen a mlchty throne

Of printed boMia and long,

To draw to stndloas way*

ne poor men of onr days;

By which new-fanrled prutioe.

We ioon shall ne the fact ii,

Onr «treel> wHl awarm with icholui

Without dean ahlrti or eoUan,

With bibles, books, and codices.

As cheap as tape for bodices.

1470. In this year, a curionswork was printed bv Schoeffer, at Mentz, and by Helyas Uelye, aliat de Louffen, at Berahm, in foUo, entiUed Mammotrectut. It contains, 1. An exposition of the phrases of the bible, and of the prologues of St Jerome. 2. Two little treatises of ortho- grraohy and of accents. 3. A short declaration of the months, festivals, &c. and of the Jewish priests. 4. An explanation of ancient words and terms, in responses, hymns, homilies, &o. 6. A declaration of the rules of the minor friars. The author of the work is supposed to be John Mar- chesinus, a priest of the order of minor friars, of St. Francies, and a native of Reggio; who composed it in 1366, for the use of uie less in- structed in his own profession. This work was reprinted more than twenty times during this century.

1470. Almanacks first published by Martin Ilkus, at Buda, in Poland.

1471. Strasburg maybe justly esteemed one of the first cities that practised the art of printing after Mentz, though there is no book printed with a certain date before this year, by Henry E^elstein, who printed two volumes, the last of which is perhaps the largest book that ever was printed, tiie paper of it exceeding that which is commonly called eharta magna; and the begin- ning and end of it were printed in red. It is the first book printed in this manner. John Mentil, or Mentilius has claimed the honour of introdu- cing the art into Strasbnrg; but as there is not one book printed in his name before 1473, and that without any mention of Strasbnrg, common justice must award the palm to Eggeutein. Mr. Dibdin, in his Bibliographical Decameron, says that Mentil, was upon good authority, well ac- quainted with Gutenberg at Strasburg, and was not only probably instructed by him m his art, but on Gutenberg's final departure to Menic, he established himself as a printer at Strasburg.

VjOOQ IC