The quotations in the text are from the record of legal proceedings taken by Faust against Gutenberg in 1455. This record was printed in German by Seckenburg in “Selectis Juris et Historiarum,” tom. i. pp. 269–277; by Wolfius, in his “Monumenta Typographica,” tom. i. p. 472 et seq., and by Wetter, pp. 284–290.
[56] Trithemius derived his information direct from Schœffer the [grand] son-in-law of Faust; but did not write his chronicle until thirty years after. The work usually referred to as the Catholicon, is one of some magnitude. It was written by the monk John Balbi, or John of Genoa, and consists of a Latin Grammar followed by a Vocabulary. Gutenberg probably printed only the latter portion, and perhaps but an abridgment of that. As the earliest production of his press, after his connection with Faust, a copy would now be of immense value; but as is the case with the Tracts of Peter of Spain, no bibliographer has yet had the good fortune to identify it, and possibly it may have passed out of existence. There is no reason however to doubt the correctness of the Abbot’s statement on that account. There can be no question but that multitudes of works, issued from the presses of the early printers, have been utterly destroyed. It is marvellous that so many single, unique copies, have been preserved to the present time.
[57] These have been fully described by Fischer, Van Praet, Wetter, Leon de Laborde, and other writers.
[58] See post for Zell’s account in full.
[59] The entry at the end of the first volume is—“Et sic est finis prime partis biblia Scz. veteris testamenti, Illuminata seu rubricata & ligata per Henricum Albch alias cremer. Anno dni Moccccolvi festo Bartholomei apli—Deo gratias—Alleluja.” That on the end of the second volume:—“Iste liber illuminatus, ligatus & completus est per Henricum cremer vicariū ecclesie collegiate sancti Stephani maguntini sub anno dni Millesimo quatringentisimo quinquagesimo sexto, festo Assumptionis gloriose virginis Marie, Deo gracias. Alleluja, &c.”
[60] With the exception of the first ten or eleven pages, which contain but forty or forty-one lines in each column.
[61] The doubt was not only natural, but there is an almost absolute certainty that the letters could not have been cast at the time. Schœffer’s invention of cast fusile types did not take place,—or at any rate was not made use of,—until after the lawsuit between Gutenberg and Faust.
[62] Humphreys, p. 84.
[63] “Post hæc inventis successerunt subtiliora, inveneruntque modum fundendi formas omnium latini alphabeti litterarum, quas ipsi matrices nominabant ex quibus rursum aeneos sive stanneos caracteres fundebant, ad omnem pressuram sufficientes, quas prius manibus sculpebant. Et revera sicuti ante XXX. ferme annos ex ore Petri Opilionis de Gernsheim, civis moguntini qui gener erat primi artis inventoris, audivi, magnam a primo inventionis suæ hæc ars impressoria habuit difficultatem. Impressuri namque Bibliam, priusquam tertium complessent in opere quaternionem, plusquam 4000 florenorum exposuerunt.”
[64] This statement no doubt included Gutenberg’s personal outlay, in addition to the moneys advanced by Faust.