In 1449 Schoeffer was a young illuminator of manuscripts residing in Paris.
Mentelin was enrolled as an illuminator in the Painters' Guild at Strasburg in 1447; and Colard Mansion, Caxton's master in the art of typography, belonged, as a scribe and illuminator, to the Guild of St John and St Luke at Bruges. In 1471 he was elected Warden or Doyen of his Guild.
In some cases goldsmiths and engravers of coin-dies became printers owing to their knowledge of the technical process necessary for cutting the punches for type. The great French printer Nicolas Jenson, who produced the most magnificent printed books in Venice, was, until the year 1462, Master of the Mint at Tours. And Bernardo Neri, the printer of the Florentine Editio Princeps of Homer, was originally a goldsmith, and had assisted Ghiberti in his work on the famous bronze doors of the Florentine Baptistery.
The glorious copy on vellum of the Mazarine Bible in the British Museum has illuminated borders and initial miniatures of the finest style and execution. This earliest of printed books is commonly called after the copy in the library of Cardinal Mazarin which contains the illuminator's note that his work was finished in 1456. Sir John Thorold's copy on paper was sold in 1884 for £3900.
Italian books frequently had clasps at the top and bottom as well as two at the side.