Page:De Vinne, Invention of Printing (1876).djvu/415

Rh a demonstration of his ability to print and to sell printed work. It is probable that he had to postpone his grand plans, and that his necessities compelled him to begin the practice of his new art with the printing of trivial work. There is evidence that the branch of typography which is now known as job printing is as old as, if not older than, book printing. This evidence is furnished in the Letters of Indulgence, which have distinction as the first works with type-printed dates.

Three distinct editions of the Letters of Indulgence are known. The copies are dated 1454 or 1455, but are more clearly defined by the number of the lines in each edition, as Letters of 30, or 31, or 32 lines. Each Letter is printed from movable types, in black ink, upon one side of a stout piece of parchment, about nine inches high and thirteen inches wide. The form of words is substantially the same in all editions, and all copies present the same general typographical features, as if they were the work of the same printing office. In all copies, the presswork is good; they seem to have been printed by a properly constructed press on damp vellum with ink mixed in oil. The types