XXV
The Spread of Printing.
First Printers of Germany … Mentel at Strasburg … Zell at Cologne … Keffer and Koburger at Nuremberg … Fac-simile of a part of Koburger's Map … Zainer at Augsburg … Fac-simile of Zainer's Birth of Eve … John of Westphalia and Martens at Louvain … Mansion at Bruges. Gerard Leeu at Antwerp … First Printers of Italy … Sweinheym and Pannartz at Rome … De Spira at Venice … Jenson's Types … Venice famous for Printing … Cennini at Florence … The Ripoli Press … Zarot at Milan … Appearance of Publishers … First Printers of France … Gering, Crantz and Friburger at Paris … The Printers of Elegant Books … First Printers in Spain and Portugal … In England … Caxton at Westminster … Printing did not find a general Welcome. Made Popular by the Cheapness of Books … Injudicious Selection of Books for Publication. Demand for Books in the Vernacular … First Check on the Liberty of the Press.
IN CENTRAL AND NORTHERN EUROPE.
When two rival printing offices had been established at Mentz it was no longer possible to keep secret the processes. Every printer who handled the types and every goldsmith who helped to make the tools must have felt a weakening of the obligation of secrecy. The sack of Mentz was a greater misfortune, for it dissolved all obligations and sent the printers to other cities to found new offices. Not one of these printers has told us when and how he began to print on his own account. All we know about the introduction of printing in many of the large cities has been gathered from the dates of books and the chance allusions of early chroniclers. It is from these imperfect evidences
