At the foot of this was printed 'Supplico stet cedula'—Please don't tear down the bill. The 'pyes' of this advertisement (the English form of the Latin Pica) were the guides by which one might learn the proper combinations of collects and prayers for Saints' days, at certain epochs, according to the Salisbury Ritual. The 'reed pale,' or red pale, was the heraldic sign which Caxton adopted for his printing-house.[58]
Other printers soon followed Schoeffer's example; notably Johan Mentelin of Strasbourg. But these were mere lists of books, sometimes eulogies of an individual work, printed for the most part by one particular press and issued by the actual printer. In 1480 Anton Koberger of Nürnberg issued a catalogue of the books which he had for sale, twenty-two in all, though not all of them were printed by himself. Koberger was perhaps the most important printer and publisher of the fifteenth century. He is said to have employed twenty-four presses at Nürnberg, besides having books printed for him in other towns.[59] He it was who introduced the printing-press into Nürnberg in 1470. His enterprise, however, was not limited to the mere printing of books. He is said to have had sixteen shops where his books were sold, and agents in every city in Christendom! Truly he was the father of booksellers.
Another German printer, Erhart Ratdolt, printed at Venice, before 1488, a handsome sheet in red and black in which he enumerates some forty-six books arranged under six headings, which he had for sale. They comprised the productions of several presses, the list being headed 'Libri venales Venetiis impressi.' Some thirty or more of these catalogues of German printers,[60] produced before the end of the fifteenth century, are known.
In 1485 Antoine Verard, one of the most important figures in the annals of French printing, began business at Paris by putting forth an edition of the Decameron. From this date he continued as a publisher, and has been called 'the most important Paris publisher of the fifteenth century.' So far as I am aware no catalogue of the books which he had for sale has yet been discovered; though from the fact that our King Henry vii. purchased a number of his volumes it would seem that his agents or travellers were in possession of lists.
Beckmann, in his 'History of Inventions and Discoveries,' says: 'It appears that the printers themselves first gave up the bookselling part of the business, and retained only that of printing; at least this is said to have been the case with that well-known bookseller John Rainman, who was born at Oehringen and resided at Augsburg'; and goes on to say that he was at first a printer and letter-founder, and supplied Aldus with his types. But this offset of the main business of book-production began still earlier: witness the catalogues of Koberger and Ratdolt already quoted. Many other printers also there were, before 1490, who were acting as agents or 'booksellers' to other firms. This was the case, too, with many of the Parisian houses.
'Printing therefore gave rise[61] to a new and important branch of trade, that of bookselling, which was established in Germany chiefly at Frankfort-on-the-Main, where, at the time of the fairs particularly, there were several large booksellers' shops in that street which still retains the name of "book street."'[62] This ancient custom of having bookstalls in the streets (particularly about the church or cathedral) upon fair-days still survives in more than one old-world town upon the Continent. Indeed it is this very custom that gave rise to the term 'stationer.' The early booksellers were wont to erect their stalls or 'stations' against the very walls of the cathedrals, whence they were known as 'stacyoneres.'
Beckmann mentions two other of these early booksellers at Augsburg—Joseph Burglin and George Diemar. 'Sometimes,' he continues, 'they were rich people of all conditions, particularly eminent merchants, who caused books which they sold to be printed at their own expense.' George Willer, a bookseller who kept a large shop at Augsburg, was the first, says, Beckmann, who hit upon the plan of causing a catalogue of all the new books to be printed, in which the size and printers' names were marked. His catalogues from 1564 to 1592 were printed by Nicholas Bassé at Frankfort. Beckmann relates that a collection of these sixteenth-century German book-catalogues was in the library of Professor Baldinger of Göttingen; possibly it still reposes in the fine library of that university.
'In all these catalogues, which are in quarto and not paged,' continues Beckmann, 'the following order is observed. The Latin books occupy the first place . . . and after these, books of jurisprudence, medicine, philosophy, poetry and music. The second place is assigned to German works, which are arranged in the same manner.'
Bassé's collection is entitled 'Collectio in unum corpus omnium librorum Hebraeorum, Graecorum, Latinorum necnon Germanice, Italice, Gallice, et Hispanice scriptorum, qui in nundinis Francofurtensibus ab anno 1564 usque ad nundinas Autumnales anni 1592 . . . . desumpta ex omnibus Catalogis Willerianis singularum nundinarum, & in tres Tomos distincta . . . . Plerique in aedibus Georgij Willeri ciuis & Bibliopole Augustani, venales habentur.' It was printed in quarto at Frankfort 'ex officina Typographica Nicolai Bassaei, MDXCII.' Part 2 (which has a separate pagination and title) is in German, and contains German books only. Part 3, also a distinct work, has a title-page in both Latin and French, and contains books in Italian, Spanish, and French. This title reads: 'Recueil en un corps des livres Italiens, Espagnols, et François, qui ont este exposez en vente en la boutique des Imprimeurs frequentans les foires de Francfort depuis l'an 1568 jusques à la foire de Septembre 1592. Extraict des Catalogues des dictes foires, et reduict en method conuenable, et tres utile.' An exceedingly interesting work, this last part.
A priced catalogue of the books printed by Christian Wechel is extant. It was printed at Paris in 1543, a duodecimo of twelve leaves, containing about three hundred books. These are classed under the headings Grammatica, Dialectica, Rhetorica, Historica, Poetica, Moralia, Physica, et Mathematica, Theologia, Legalis, and Medica. Under each of these headings the books are divided into 'Graece' and 'Latine,' but 'Grammatica' and 'Theologia' have each the additional subheading 'Hebraice.' The prices are interesting. They vary from twopence (the Ars versificatoria of Ulric von Hutten and a Nicholas Beroald) to 80s.—a Hippiatria in French. There are six at 3d., ten at 4d., forty-five at 6d., none at 5d. or 7d., twenty-two at 8d., four at 9d., seventeen at 10d., and thirty-seven at 1s. There are ten at 1s. 3d., twenty-three at 1s. 6d., and twelve at 1s. 8d.; whilst from 2s. to 6s. the prices rise by 6d. But only one volume is priced at 4s. 6d., and two each at 5s. 6d. and 6s. There are from two to four volumes at 7s., 8s., 12s., 15s., 16s., and 18s.; whilst six are priced at 10s., and five at 20s.
