If a scholar of England were seeking, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, special instruction or special literary and scholarly advantages, his steps were naturally directed towards Paris for theology, Bologna for jurisprudence, and Padua for medicine, and but few of these travelling English scholars appear to have taken themselves to Prague, Vienna, or Heidelberg.
In like manner, if English book collectors were seeking manuscripts, they betook themselves to the dealers in Paris, in Florence, or in Venice, and it was not until after the manuscript-trade had been replaced by the trade in the productions of the printing-press that the German cities can be said to have become centres for the distribution of literature.
Such literary interests as obtained in Germany during the fourteenth century, outside of those of the monasteries already referred to, centred nevertheless about the universities. The oldest of these universities was that of Prague, which was founded in 1347, more than a century later than the foundations of Paris and Bologna. The regulations of the University recognised the existence of scribes, illuminators, correctors, binders, dealers in parchment, etc., all of which trades were placed under the direct control of the university authorities.
Hauslik speaks of the book-trade in the fourteenth century as being associated with the work of the library of the university, and refers to licensed scribes and illuminators, who were authorised to make transcripts, for the use of the members of the university, of the texts contained in the library.[377]
If we may understand from this reference that the university authorities had had prepared for the library authenticated copies of the texts of the works required in the university courses, and that the transcribing of these texts was carried on under the direct supervision of the librarians, Prague appears to have possessed a better system for the preparation of its official texts than we have record of in either Bologna or Paris. Hauslik goes on to say that the entire book-trade of the city was placed under the supervision of the library authorities, which authorities undertook to guarantee the completeness and the correctness of all transcripts made from the texts in the library. Kirchhoff presents in support of this theory examples of one or two manuscripts, which contain, in addition to the inscription of the name of the scribe or dealer by whom it had been prepared, the record of the corrector appointed by the library to certify to the correctness of the text.[378]
The second German university in point of date was that of Vienna, founded in 1365, and, in connection with the work of this university the manuscript-trade in Germany took its most important development. There is record in Vienna of the existence of stationarii who carried on, under the usual university supervision, the trade of hiring out pecias, but this was evidently a much less important function than in Bologna.
The buying and selling of books in Vienna was kept under very close university supervision, and without the authority of the rector or of the bedels appointed by him for the purpose, no book could be purchased from either a magister or a student, or could be accepted on pledge.
The books which had been left by deceased members of the university were considered to be the property of the university authorities, and could be sold only under their express directions. The commission allowed by the authorities for the sale of books was limited to 2½ per cent., and before any books could be transferred at private sale, they must be offered at public sale in the auditorium. The purpose of this regulation was apparently here as in Paris not only to insure securing for the books sold the highest market prices, but also to give some protection against the possibility of books being sold by those to whom they did not belong.
The regulation of the details of the book business appears to have fallen gradually into the hands of the bedels of the Faculty, and the details of the supervision exercised approach more nearly to the Italian than to the Parisian model.
The third German university was that of Heidelberg, founded in 1386. Here the regulations concerning the book-trade were substantially modelled upon those of Paris. The scribes and the dealers in manuscripts belonged to the privileged members of the university. The provisions in the foundation or charter of the university, which provided for the manuscript-trade, make express reference to the precedents of the University of Paris.