AND ITS PRINTER. 55 Four hundred copies of the Breviary were struck off, and the price of each was fixed at four guilders. They were put into circulation by the printer himself, according to the usual practice of the time ; Adam's agent in this case was Bartholome Vellner, apparently one of his journeymen, who travelled from parish to parish in the diocese of Chur, offering the books for sale. 1 The great venture, however, like so many of its kind at that time, was far from being a financial success. The books appear to have gone off indifferently ; long credit had to be given, and money was slow in coming in, while probably almost all Adam's available capital had been sunk in the printing. It was clear that he had over- taxed his resources, and his creditors gradually grew uneasy. He found it necessary formally to empower Vellner to act as his representative at law, in case his * ill-wishers ' should attempt to seize his books. Possibly these financial troubles hastened his death, which took place only a few months later, probably in the early part of June, on the fourteenth day of which month his widow was officially required to provide herself with a be carried very far. Pforzheim printed a Dominican Breviary at the expense of Jacob von Kilchen in 1492 with different types, but he was still in possession of the Chur Breviary types in 1501, when he reissued the 'Aesop* 'at his own expense* with the same text type containing an admixture of R from the smaller-faced type.
- These details are taken from the evidence of one Veltin
Hassler, who sued Vellner after Adam's death for moneys due to him according to an agreement. There seems no reason for thinking Hassler's statements anything but correct ('Regesten,' no. 774).
