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HISTORY]

Printers after 1500.—Though the Cologne Chronicle of 1499 denies to Mainz the honour of the invention of the art of printing, it was right in asserting that, after it had been brought there from Holland, it became more masterly and exact, and more and more artistic. During the first half-century of printing a good many printers distinguished themselves by the beauty, excellence and literary value of their productions. We may mention as such: Johan Fust and Peter Schoeffer at Mainz; Johan Mentelin and Heinrich Eggestein at Strassburg; Ulrich Zell at Cologne; Sweynheyrn and Pannarts at Subiaco and at Rome; Nicolas Jenson at Venice; Anton Koberger at Nuremberg; Ketelaer and De Leempt at Utrecht; Johan Veldener at Louvain, Utrecht and Kuilenburg; Gerard Leeu at Gouda; Johan of Westphalia at Louvain; and (q.v.) at Westminster.

Very soon the demand for books increased, and with it came a reduction in their prices. This caused a decline in the execution of printing, which begins to be appreciable about 1480 in some localities, and may be said to have become general towards the end of the 15th century. At all times, however, we find some printers raise their art to a great height by the beauty of their types and the literary excellence of their productions. Among the later printers we may mention the Aldi of Venice (1490 to 1597); G. B. Bodoni of Parma (1768–1813); John Amerbach at Basel (1492–1516); John Froben at Basel (1496–1527); John Baskerville at Birmingham (1750–1775); the house of Weichel, first at Paris (c. 1530–1572), afterwards at Frankfort; Christopher Plantin at Antwerp (1554–1589); the Elzevirs, first at Leiden, afterwards at Amsterdam (1580–1680); Antoine Verard at Paris (1485–1513); Josse Bade or Badius at Paris (1495–1535); and the Estiennes at Paris (1502–1598).

The Italic type is said to be an imitation of the handwriting of Petrarch, and was introduced by Aldus Manutius of Venice for the purpose of printing his projected small editions of the classics. The cutting of it was entrusted to Francesco da Bologna, an artist who is presumed to be identical with

the painter Francesco Francia or Raibolini. The fount is a “lower case” only, the capitals being Roman in form. It contains a large number of tied letters, to imitate handwriting, but is quite free from contractions and ligatures. It was first used in the Virgil of 1500. Aldus produced six different sizes between 1501 and 1558. It was counterfeited almost immediately in Italy, at Lyons and elsewhere. Originally it was called Venetian or Aldine, but subsequently Italic type, except in Germany and Holland, where it is called “cursive.” The Italians also adopted the Latin name “characteres cursivi seu cancellarii.” In England it was first used by Wynkyn de Worde in Wakefield’s Oratio in 1524. The character was at first intended and used for the entire text of classical works. When it became more general, it was employed to distinguish portions of a book not properly belonging to the work, such as introductions, prefaces, indexes, notes, the text itself being in Roman. Later it was used in the text for quotations, and finally served the double part of emphasizing certain words in some works, and in others, chiefly translations of the Bible, of marking words not rightly forming a part of the text.

Greek type (minuscules) first occurs in Cicero, De officiis printed at Mainz in 1465 by Fust and Schoeffer. The fount used is rude and imperfect, many of the letters being ordinary Latin. In the same year Sweynheym and Pannarts used a good Greek Greek letter for some of the quotations in their edition of Lactantius

(see, for instance, leaves 11a, 19a, 36a, 139, 140); but the supply was evidently short at first, as some of the larger quotations in the first part of the book were left blank to be filled in by hand. The first book wholly printed in Greek minuscules was the Grammar of Lascaris, by Paravisinus, at Milan in 1476, in types stated to have been cut and cast by Demetrius of Crete. The fount contains breathings, accents and some ligatures. The headings to the