“The earliest date (he says) we can assign for the present to the Costeriana is 1471–74. Mr. Holtrop tells us on p. 31 of his Monuments, that the Hague copy of the Saliceto (No. 25 of his list) contains two MS. annotations: 1st, ‘Hunc librum emit dominus Conrardus abbas hujus loci XXXIII., qui obiit anno MCCCCLXXIIII, in profesto exaltationis sanctae crucis, postquam profuisset annis fere tribus.’ Another inscription indicates that this copy had belonged to the convent of St. James, at Lille. Now, the abbat Conrad, who bought this book for his convent, was Conrad du Moulin, who was abbat only from 1471 to 1474.
“This is the only date we can use at present. It is, as Mr. Bradshaw observes in his ‘List,’ mentioned above, ‘a singular circumstance that this one fact should compel us to place the printer of the Speculum at the head of the Dutch printers, though it only just allows him to take precedence of Ketelaer and De Leempt,’ from whom we have the date 1473, found in Peter Comestor, Scholastica hystoria.”—pp. xvii.-xviii.
The above considerations go far towards supporting the suggestions I have thrown out (see pages 323–348) in regard to the dates when, and the parties by whom, the Speculum, Donatuses, &c., were printed. And these suggestions are further confirmed by the extracts cited by Dr. Van Der Linde from the archives of Utrecht, in a note on p. 85 of Hessels’ Translation, where it is stated that in the year 1466, the name of Peter Dircxsz, described as a “beeldedrucker”—a prenter,—appears. “Perhaps,” adds Dr. Van Der Linde, “the printer of the plates of the Speculum.”
FOOTNOTES:
[147] The name of Lourens Janszoon, the sheriff of Haarlem who died in 1439, is mentioned seventy-six times in the archives of the city, but never with the name of Coster. The name of the tallow-chandler Lourens Janszoon Coster, appears much later, (as late as 1483); but his name was never brought before the public, in connection with the origin of printing, until the year 1867.—See Haarlem Legend, pp. 124, 125.
IV.—Cut Wooden, versus Cast Metal Types.
However much my views may be found to coincide with those of Dr. Van Der Linde, Mr. Hessels, and Mr. Bradshaw, upon the Origin of Printing, and the date of the production of the so-called Costeriana, there may be wide differences of opinion on the question, whether the types made use of in the production of those works were made of wood or of metal. Dr. Van Der Linde writes upon this point in very dogmatic strains. In his eleventh chapter,—“A Beech in ‘Den Hout,’”—the object of which is to shew the impossibility of Junius’s statement about Coster having printed with wooden types, he quotes the following from Enschedé, written about the year 1770.
“‘I have exercised printing for about fifty years, and wood engraving for about forty-five years, and I have cut letters and figures for my father’s and my own printing office in wood of palm, pear, and medlar trees; I have now been a type-founder for upwards of thirty years; but to do such things as those learned gentlemen (Junius and Meerman) pretend that Laurens Coster and his heirs have done, neither I nor Papillon, (the most clever wood engraver of France) are able to understand, nor the artists Albrecht Durer, De Bray, and Iz. Van Der Vinne either; but such learned men, who dream about wooden, moveable letters, make Laurens Janszoon Coster use witchcraft, for the hands of men are not able to do it. To print a book with capitals of the size of a thumb, as on placards “House and Ground,” which are cut in wood, and which I have cut myself by hundreds, would be ridiculous; to do it with wooden letters of the size of a pin’s head is impossible. I have made experiments with a few of a somewhat larger size. I made a wooden slip of Text Corpus, and figured the letters on the wood or slip; thereupon I cut the letters; I had left a space of about the size of a saw between each letter on purpose, and I had no want of fine and good tools; the only question now was to saw the letters mathematically square off the slip. I used a very fine little saw, made of a very thin spring of English steel, so cleverly made, that I doubt whether our Laurens Janszoon had a saw half as good; I did all I could to saw the letters straight and parallel, but it was impossible: there was not a single letter which could stand the test of being mathematically square. What now to do? it was impossible to polish or file them; I tried it, but it could not be done by our type-founder’s whetstones, as it would have injured the letters. In short, I saw no chance, and I feel sure that no engraver is able to cut separate letters in wood, in such a manner that they retain their quadrature (for that is the main thing of the line in type-casting.) If, however, I wished to give my trouble and time to it, I should be able to execute the three words ‘Spiegel onzer Behoudenis,’ better than the Rotterdam artist has done in the Latin work of M. Meerman; but it is impossible, ridiculous, and merely chimerical, to print books in this manner.’”
The above quotation, in the opinion of Dr. Van Der Linde, settles the matter once for all; and certainly such a statement, from such a man, is enough to deter any one from attempting a similar experiment. Dr. Van Der Linde clinches Enschedé’s statement, with the following remarks:—