SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
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After the death of Gutenberg and Faust, S<^oeffer continued the establishment by him- self for thirty years; and as Lipsius said after- wards of Moretus, the son-in-law and successor of Plantin the typographical wonder of Antwerp, he was the heir of nis skill and constancy, his merit and his fame.
Whether Conrad Henlif was a printer in nartneiship with Schoeffer, is reiy doubtful; as he is only mentioned, as presenting, in conjunc- tion with Schoeffer, a ccpy of the edition of the Spittla of St. Jerome, of .the date of 1470, upon rdlum, to the abbey of St Victor at Paris, pi Older, on the annirersary of the gift, " that the souls of John Faust, ■ 01 themselTCS, and of their lespectire families, might be prayed for." This is noticed by Palmer and Bowyer. Dibdin says that he had never seen the name of Conrad Henlif introduced into any colophon which be bad examined.
We have already shewn what honours were conferred upon the early professors of typogra- phy by kings and supreme pontiffs, and to those must be a^ed the name of Peter Schoeffer, who had both honours and privileges conferred upon him by Louis XI. king of France.
Duniig the time that Schoeffer conducted the business alone, he published an edition of the Latin Biblt, and two editions of the Latin Ptmlter. The Bible was printed in 1471, 2 vols, folio, and the Pttdter in 1490 and 1502, folio. Many editions of the Latin Bible were, about this period, executed br other printers in diffe- rent places, most or all of whom had learnt the art of printing from the original inventors; and so inde&tigable were these early typographeis, that nearly one hundred editions of the Latin Bible were printed before the end of the fifteenth century, sixteen of which were accompanied with the poitilla, or eotmnentary, of De Lyra. Besides tnese, there were upwards of thirtv editions of the Latin Ptalter, many of them with eammentaries; three editions of the Latin New Testament, with Lyra's notes; and several edi- tions of the Prophets, the Gotpelt, ur other parts of the sacred volume. — Home.
The typographical fiune of the tAtj of Mentz, seems to have been entirely confined to Faust's family; and that no farther than his grandson, John Schoeffer, who was likewise an excellent printer. This individual was the source of all the disputes upon the origin of typog^phy. His £uher and grandfather bad never arrogated to themselves the glory of absolute inventors, but only that of promoters, in union with Guten- berg, whom tbey even acknowledged to be the orinioal author of printing. However, Jolin Schoeffer, in the colophons to his first editions, asserted tiie contrary, and among others, in his edition of Lim/, folio, 1505. But in the Miual, printed at the Mayence press in 1509, and after- wards in other books, he began to say : " cHJtu Avut" (Jo. Faustus) "pritmu Artis impressorue fifot imeitior et mtctor." In the colophon of the work Tritkemii Breviarivm Hittorite rrancorum, 1615, he completed the imposture, by giving all
the fflorv of the invention to ius father and grandfatner; asserting, that the art was kept in- violably secret in his house till the year 1462, after which time only, it began to be divulged out of Mentz. This relation he pnblish^ in all the successive editions; but nnally in Ltey, 1518, he discovered to every one who considered the subject, what the object of his artifice was; viz. to procure by this imposture the honourable and lucrative privilege from the emperor Maxi- milian, in which may be read the motive for granting it, expressed in the same terms as the fabrication of Schoeffer. This solemn imperial privilege, authenticating Schoeffer's relation, imposed so far upon the learned world, tiiat afterwards the imposture was received as an incontrovertible truth; and hence arose num- berless typographical controversies.
1502. MimJe ad Utum, fe. Helfordm$i$. Folio. This very rare book, printed by William Faques, is perhaps the earliest impression of the Hereford Miual. It contains the following cu- rious form of matrimony, printed parUy in the Saxon character.
/. N. tmderfygne the N. for nty wedded wgf, for beter, for vorte, for richer, for purer, yn teknes, and yn helthe, tj/l deth <u departe, at holy church hath ordeyned, and thereto y plyght the my trovtthe. Et iterum aceipiat cam per montitit daetrmn tn numu sua dextra, et ipta dicat sacer- dote docente.
I. N. vnderfyyne the N. for my wedded hotu- bunde,for beter, for morte, for richer, for porer, yn tekenee, and yn helthe, to be boxum to the tyl deth tu depart, at holy churche hath ordeyned, and therto y plyglU the my tromthe. Vel dicat in matema lingua hoc modo tacerdote docente. Wyth thyt ryny y the veede, and thyt gold and teluer yeh the geue, and myth myne body yeh the honoure.
1503. In the early stages of the art, great complaints were made of uie frequent falsifica- tion, pirating, and forgeries of literary works. This evil gave occasion U^ those privueges of impression which were granted by kings, princes, and supreme pontiffs, u order to g^rantee to the industrious printer, the due reward of his labour and enterprise. But these diplomata were often found a very inadequate remedy for the injury. Frequently whole works were clan- destinely reprinted in cities or countries remote firom the place of their first appearance; and the author and original publisher were very often defrauded of their just advantages. Sometimes books were reprinted in aft abridged and muti- lated form; and often with littie attention to accuracy, or to the credit and feelings of those authors or annotators whose names they bore. Sometimes the price of obscure and worthless publications were enhanced by a false date, place, or subscription; for as the art was culti- vated with supenor accuracy in some cities of Italy, and at Venice more especially, the names of such places appearing in the tiUe, were often ■ found to give superior sale and currency to the impression. Whatever might be the original
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