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2. The letters were at first wooden, and are said to be afterwards exchanged for metal types; from which the wine-pots were formed, remaining in the time of Junius. According to tradition, printing was carried on in the same house long after the time of Laurentius: these pots might therefore be formed from the waste metal of the printing-house, after the use of fusile types became universal. But Laurentius seems to have carried the art no farther than separate wooden types. What is a remarkable confirmation of this, Henry Spiechel, who wrote, in the 16th century, a Dutch poem entitled Hertspiegel, expresses himself thus: "Thou first, Laurentius, to supply the defect of wooden tablets, adaptedst wooden types, and afterwards didst connect them with a thread, to imitate writing. A treacherous servant surreptitiously obtained the honour of the discovery. But truth itself, though destitute of common and wide-spread fame; truth, I say, still remains." No mention in the poem of metal types; a circumstance which, had he been robbed of such, as well as of wooden ones, would scarcely have been passed over in silence.

Printing, fancy of printing (as nothing is complete at its first in- tells us (Ecl. v. 13.) of its being usual to cut words on Printing. vention) the back sides of the pages were pasted togethe bark of a beech; and thence he was easily led to ther, that they might not by their nakedness betray their make a wrong application of it here. deformity. These beechen letters he afterwards changed for leaden ones, and these again for a mixture of tin and lead [stannea] as a less flexible and more solid and durable substance. Of the remains of which types, when they were turned to waste metal, those old wine-pots were cast, that are still preserved in the family-house, which looks into the market-place, inhabited afterwards by his great-grandson Gerard Thomas, a gentleman of reputation; whom I mention for the honour of the family, and who died old a few years since. A new invention never fails to engage curiosity. And when a commodity never before seen excited purchasers, to the advantage of the inventor, the admiration of the art increased, dependents were enlarged, and workmen multiplied; the first calamitous incident! Among these was one John, whether, as we suspect, he had ominously the name of Faustus (B), unfaithful and unlucky to his master, or whether it was really a person of that name, I shall not much inquire; being unwilling to molest the silent shades, who suffer from a consciousness of their past actions in this life. This man, bound by oath to keep the secret of printing, when he thought he had learned the art of joining the letters, the method of casting the types, and other things of that nature, taking the most convenient time that was possible, on Christmas eve, when every one was customarily employed in lustral sacrifices, seizes the collection of types, and all the implements his master had got together, and, with one accomplice, marches off to Amsterdam, thence to Cologne, and at last settled at Mentz, as at an asylum of security, where he might go to work with the tools he had stelen. It is certain, that in a year's time, viz. in 1442, the Doctrinale of Alexander Galius, which was a grammar much used at that time, together with the Tracts of Peter of Spain, came forth there, from the same types as Laurentius had made use of at Haerlem."

Thus far the narrative of Junius, which he had frequently heard from Nicolaus Galius; to whom it was related by Cornelius himself, who lived to a great age, and used to burst into tears upon reflecting on the loss his master had sustained, not only in his substance, but in his honour, by the roguery of his servant, his former associate and bedfellow. Cornelius, as appears by the registers of Haerlem cathedral, died either in 1515, or the beginning of the following year; so that he might very well give this information to Nicolaus Galius, who was schoolmaster to Hadrian Junius.

Though this circumstance is probable as to the main fact, yet we must set aside the evidence of it in some particulars. 1. The first obvious difficulty is noticed by Scriverius; "that the types are said to be made of the rind of beach, which could not be strong enough to bear the impression of the press:" though this is removed, if, instead of the bark, we substitute a bough of the beech. The idea of the bark, when Junius wrote Bower and this, was perhaps strong in his mind, from what Virgil Nichols's Origin of Printing.

When Laurentius first devised his rough specimen of the art, can only be guessed at. He died in 1440, after having published the Speculum Belgicum, and two editions of Donatus, all with different wooden types; which it is probable (considering the difficulties he had to encounter, and the many artists whom he must necessarily have had occasion to consult) cost him some years to execute; so that the first essay might be about 1430, which nearly agrees with Petrus Scriverius, who says, the invention was about 10 or 12 years before 1440. See LAURENTIUS.

3. What was the specimen he first diverted himself with in cutting, at the distance of three centuries, one would think impossible to be discovered. And yet Joh. Enschedius, a printer, thinks he was so happy as to find it, being an old parchment Horarium, printed on both sides, in eight pages, containing the Letters of the Alphabet, the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles Creed and three short prayers. And Mr Meerman having shown this to proper artists who were judges of these matters, they gave it as their opinion that it agreed exactly with the description of Junius. It is conformable to the first editions of the Dutch Speculum Salvationis, and the fragments of both Donatus's of Holland, both which are the works of the same Laurentius, and were preceded by this. In these types, which are certainly moveable, cut, and uneven, there is a rudeness which Mr Meernian has not observed in any other instances. There are no numbers to the pages, no signatures, no direction-words, no divisions at the end of the lines; on the contrary, a syllable divided in the middle is seen, thus, Spi ritu, in p. 8. 1. 2, 3. There are neither distinctions nor points, which are seen in the other works of Laurentius; and the letter í is not marked with an accent, but with a dot at the top. The lines throughZz2

out

(B) John Faust, or Fust, is by many supposed to have derived his name from faustus, "happy ;" and Dr Faustus seems to carry an air of grandeur in the appellation: but very erroneously. John Faust, or Fust, is no more than John Hand, whence our name Fist.

Printing. out are uneven. The shape of the pages not always the same; not (as they should be) rectangular, but sometimes rhomb-like, sometimes an isoscele trapezium: and the performance seems to be left as a specimen both of his piety, and of his ingenuity in this essay of a new invented art. Mr Meerman has given an exact engraving of this singular curiosity.

But, whatever else may appear doubtful in the narrative of Junius, it is very clear, that the first essays of the art are to be attributed to Laurentius, who used only separate wooden types. See the article LAUREN

TIUS.

7

Claim of

Mentz

II. Some of Laurentius's types were stolen from him Printing, by one of his servants (c) John GEINSFLEICH senior ; who fled therewith to MENTZ. Having introduced the art from Haerlem into this his native city, he set with all diligence to carry it on; and published, in 1442, ALEXANDRI GALLI Doctrinale, and PETRI HISPANI Tractatus; two works, which, being small, best suited his circumstances; and for which, being much used in the schools, he might reasonably expect a profitable sale. They were executed with wooden types, cut after the model of those he had stolen.

In 1443 he hired the house Zum Jungen; and was assisted

It is clear from all accounts that his name

(c) Authors differ as to the person who committed this robbery. was John; but what his surname was is the disputed point. Junius, after some hesitation, ascribes it to John Fust; but with injustice: for he was a wealthy man, who assisted the first printers at Mentz with money; and though he afterwards was proprietor of a printing office, yet he never, as far as appears, performed any part of the business with his own hands, and consequently he could never have been a servant to Laurentius. Nor is the conjecture of Scriverius better founded, which fixes it upon John Gutenberg, who (as appears by authentic testimonies) resided at Strasburg from 1436 to 1444, and during all that period employed much fruitless labour and expence in endeavouring to attain this art. Mr Meerman once thought, "it might be either John Meidenbachius, (who, we are told by Seb. Munster and the author of Chronographia Moguntinensis, was an assistant to the first Mentz printers); or John Petersheimius (who was some time a servant to Fust and Schoeffer, and set up a printing-house at Francfort in 1459): or, lastly, some other person, who, being unable through poverty to carry on the business, discovered it to Geinsfleich at Mentz." But more authentic intelligence afterwards convinced him there were two persons of this name; and that John Geinsfleich senior* was the dishonest servant, who was born at Mentz, and who in the papers published by Kohlerus, we find there in the year 1441, and not before: for though he was of a good family, yet he was poor, and seems to have been obliged, as well as his brother, to seek his livelihood in a foreign country; and perhaps was content to be under Laurentius, that, when he had learned the art, he might follow it in his own. But, to leave conjecture, we may produce some certain testimonies.

1. It is what Junius himself says, that the person who stole the types did it with a view to set up elsewhere; nor is it likely that he would either make no use of an art he had seen so profitable to Laurentius, or that he would teach it to another and submit to be again a servant.

The Lambeth Record (which is printed below, from Mr Atkyns) tells us, that "Mentz gained the art by the brother of one of the workmen of Haerlem, who learned it at home of his brother, who after set up for himself at Mentz."-By the strictest examination of the best authorities, it is plain, that by these two brothers the two Geinsfleiches must be meant. But as the younger (Gutenberg) was never a servant to Laurentius, it must be the senior who carried off the types, and instructed his brother in the art; who first applied himself to the business at Strasburg, and afterwards joined his elder brother, who had in the mean time settled at Mentz.

What is still stronger, two chronologers of Strasburg, the one named Dan Speklinus, the other anonymous (in Meerman's Documenta, N° LXXXV. LXXXVI.), tell us expressly, that John Geinsfleich (viz. the senior, whom they distinguished from Gutenberg), having learned the art by being servant to its first inventor, carried it by theft into Mentz his native country. They are right in the fact, though mistaken in the application of it; for they make Strasburg the place of the invention, and Mentelius the inventor, from whom the types were stolen. But this is plainly an error: for Geinefleich lived at Mentz in 1441, as appears from undoubted testimonies; and could not be a servant to Mentelius, to whom the before-mentioned writers ascribe the invention in 1440, though more ancient ones do not attempt to prove that he began to print before 1444 or 1448. Nor will the narrative agree better with Gutenberg, who was an earlier printer than Mentelius; since, among the evidences produced by him in his law-suit, 1439, no Geinsfleich senior appears, nor any other servant but Laurentius Beildek. The narra tion therefore of the theft of Geinsfleich, being spread by various reports through the world, and subsisting in the time of these chronologers, was applied by them (to serve the cause they wrote for) to Strasburg; but serves to confirm the truth, since no writer derives the printing spoils from any other country than Holland or Alsatia. The chronologers have likewise, instead of Fust, called Gutenberg the wealthy man; who, from all circumstances, appears to have been poor, They also call Schoeffer the son-in-law of Mentelius; when it is clear that he married the daughter of Fust.

* He was called Geinsfleich nar' izox"; the other was distinguished by the name of Gutenberg. They were both poor; though of a family distinguished by knighthood. They were both married men; and were most probably brothers, as it was not uncommon in that age for two brothers to have the same Christian name. These both appear in a disreputable light. The eldest robbed his master, with many aggravating circumstances. The youngest was remarkably contentious; and, after entering into a contract of marriage with Anna, a noble girl of The Iron Gate, refused to marry her till compelled by a judicial decree; and afterwards cared not what became of the lady, but left her behind at Strasburg when he removed to Mentz. He had not only frequent quarrels with his wife; but with Andrew Drizehen, Andrew ileilmann, and John Riff, all of whom were associated with him at Strasburg in his different employments of waking of looking glasses, polishing of precious stones, and endeavouring to attain the art of printing; and with these he involved himself in three law-suits. See Meerman, vol. i. p 163, &c. N.

III. The progress of the art has been thus traced.
through its second period, the invention of cut metal typcs.
But the honour of completing the discovery is due to
PETER SCHOFFER (G) de Gernsheim.

8

Printing assisted with money by FUST, a wealthy person, who in beauty, and ascribing the honour of the invention to the Printing. return had a share of the business: and about the same city of Mentz. It was a very handsome book, though time John Meidenbachius was admitted a partner, as were inferior to the Psalter which had been published in 1457 some others whose names are not transmitted to our by Fust and Schoeffer. Both the Psalter and Catholicon times; and in 1444 they were joined by GUTENBERG, were printed on cut metal types (F). It may not be imwho for that purpose quitted Strasburg. Wooden types proper to observe here, that as the Psalter is the earliest being found not sufficiently durable, and not answering book which is known to have a genuine date, it became expectation in other respects, the two brothers first in- a common practice, after that publication, for printers vented cut metal types. But while these were preparing, to claim their own performances, by adding their names which must have been a work of time, several works to them. were printed, both on wooden separate types and on wooden blocks; which were well adapted to small books of frequent use, such as the Tabula Alphabetica, the Catholicon, Donati Grammatica, and the Confessionalia. From the above-mentioned printers in conjunction, after many smaller essays, the Bible was published in 1450, with large cut metal types (D). And it is no wonder, considering the immense labour this work cost, that it should be seven or eight years in completing. In this same year the partnership was dissolved, and a new one entered into, in August, between Fust and Gutenberg; the former supplying the money, the latter skill, for their common benefit. Various difficulties arising, occasioned a law-suit for the money which Fust had advanced; which was determined against Gutenberg. A dissolution of this partnership ensued in 1455; and in 1457 a magnificent edition of the Psalter was published by Fust and Schoeffer, with a remarkable commendation, in which they assumed to themselves the merit of a new invention (viz. of metal types), ad inventionem artifici osam imprimendi ac characterizandi. This book was uncommonly elegant, and in some measure the work of Gutenberg; as it was four years in the press, and came out but 18 months after the partnership was dissolved between him and Fust.

The latter continued in possession of the printing office and Gutenberg, by the pecuniary assistance of Conrad Humery syndic of Mentz (E), and others, opened another office in the same city; whence appeared, in 1460, without the printer's name, the Catholicon Jo. de Janua, with a pompous colophon in praise of its

A very clear account of this final completion of the types is preserved by Trithemius (H). Post hæc inventis Invention successerunt subtiliora, inveneruntque modum fundendi of casting formas omnium Latini alphabeti literarum, quas ipsi1ypes. matrices nominabant: ex quibus rursum ancos sive stanneos characteres fundebant, ad omnem pressuram sufficientes, quos 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 à primo inventionis suæ hæc ars impressoria habuit difficultatem.-Petrus autem memoratus Opilio, tunc famulus postea gener, sicut diximus, inventoris primi Johannis Fust, homo ingeniosus et prudens, faciliorem modum fundendi characteres excogitavit, et artem, ut nunc est, complevit.

Another ample testimony in favour of Schoeffer is given by Jo. Frid. Faustus of Aschaffenburg, from papers preserved in his family: "Peter Schoeffer of Gernsheim, perceiving his master Fust's design, and being himself ardently desirous to improve the art, found out (by the good providence of God) the method of cutting: (incidendi) the characters in a matrix, that the letters might easily be singly cast instead of being cut. He privately cut matrices for the whole alphabet; and when he showed his master the letters cast from these matrices, Fust was so pleased with the contrivance, that he promised Peter to give him his only daughter, Christina, in marriage;

(D) Many writers have supposed that this was the edition of which some copies were sold in France, by Fust, as · manuscripts, for the great price of 500 or 600 crowns, which he afterwards lowered to 60, and at last to less than 40. But it was the second and more expensive edition of 1462, that was thus disposed of, when Fust went to Paris in 1466, and which had cost 4000 florins before the third quaternion (or quire of four sheets) was printed. MEERMAN, vol. i. p. 6. 151, 152.

(E) At the death of Gutenberg, Conrad Humery took possession of all his printing materials; and engaged to › the archbishop Adolphus, that he never would sell them to any one but a citizen of Mentz. They were, however, soon disposed of to Nicholas Bechtermuntze of Altavilla, who, in 1469, published Vocabularium Latino-Teutonicum, which was printed with the same types which had been used in the Catholicon. This very curious and scarce Vocabulary was shown to Mr Meerman, by Mr Bryant, in the duke of Marlborough's valuable library at Blenheim. It is in quarto, 35 lines long, contains many extracts from the Catholicon, and is called Ex quo, from the preface beginning with those words. MEERMAN, vol. ii. p. 96.

(F) Gutenberg never used any other than either wooden or cut metal types till the year 1462. In 1465 he was › admitted inter Aulicos by the elector Adolphus, with an annual pension; and died in February 1468. His elder brother Geinsfleich died in 1462. Their epitaphs are printed by Mr Meerman, vol. ii. p. 154, 295.

(G) In German, Schoeffer; in Latin, Opilio; in English, Shepherd.—He is supposed by Mr Meerman to have been the first engraver on copperplates.

(H) Annales Hirsaugienses, tom. ii. ad ann. 1450.-As this book was finished in 1514, and Trithemius tells us he had the narrative from Schoeffer himself about 30 years before; this will bring us back to 1484, when Schoeffer must have been advanced in years, and Trithemius about 22 years old, who died in 1516. See Voss. Hist. Lat. l. 1. c. 10. Fabr. Med. & Infim. Æt. 1. 9.

Printing riage; a promise which he soon after performed. But there were as many difficulties at first with these letters, as there had been before with wooden oues; the metal being too soft to support the force of the impression: but this defect was soon remedied, by mixing the metal with a substance which sufficiently hardened it (1).”

9

Claim of

Fust and Schoeffer concealed this new improvement, by administering an oath of secrecy to all whom they intrusted, till the year 1462; when, by the dispersion of their servants into different countries, at the sacking of Mentz by the archbishop Adolphus, the invention was publicly divulged.

The first book printed with these improved types was Durandi Rationale, in 1459; at which time, however, they seem to have had only one size of cast letters, all the larger characters which occur being cut types, as appears plainly by an inspection of the book. From this time to 1466, Fust and Schoeffer continued to print a consider able number of books; particularly two famous editions of Tully's Offices. In their earliest books, they printed more copies on vellum than on paper, which was the case both of their Bibles and Tully's Offices. This, however, was soon inverted; and paper introduced for the greatest part of their impressions; a few only being printed on vellum for curiosities, and for the purpose of being illuminated. How long Fust lived, is uncertain; but in 1471 we find Schoeffer was in partnership with Conrad Henlif and a kinsman of his master Fust. He published many books after the death of his father-in-law; the last of which that can be discovered is a third edition of the Psalter in 1490, in which the old cut types of the first edition were used.

IV. With regard to the claim of STRASBURG: Strasburg. It has been already mentioned, that Gutenberg was engaged in that city in different employments; and, among others, in endeavouring to attain the art of printing. That these endeavours were unsuccessful, is plain from an authentic judicial decree of the senate of Strasburg in 1439, after the death of Andrew Drizehen (K).

*Epitome Rerum Germanicarum ed. Argent.

But there are many other proofs that Gutenberg and his partners were never able to bring the art to perfection.

66

1. Wimphelingius *, the oldest writer in favour of Strasburg, tells us, that Gutenberg was the inventor of a new art of writing," ars impressoria, which might also be called a divine benefit, and which he happily completed at Mentz; but does not mention one book Meerman, of his printing: though he adds, that Mentelius printed many volumes correctly and beautifully, and acquired

1505,

vol. i. p. 202. vol. ii.

p. 139.

great wealth; whence we may conclude that he per- Printing. fected what Gutenberg had in vain essayed.

Meermen,

2. Wimphelingius, in another bock †, tells us, the † Catal. art of printing was found out by Gutenberg incomplete; Episc. Arwhich implies, not that he practised the art in an im- gen 1:05. perfect manner (as Laurentius had done at Haerlem), but rather that he had not been able to accomplish what he aimed at.

3. Gutenberg, when he left Strasburg in 1444 or the following year, and entered into partnership with Geinsfleich senior and others, had occasion for his brother's assistance to enable him to complete the art; which shows that his former attempts at Strasburg had been unsuccessful ‡.

ut supra.

+ Meerman ut supra

4. These particulars are remarkably confirmed by Annal Trithemius, who tells us, in two different places §, that Hirfag. Gutenberg spent all his substance in quest of this art ; ut supra, a and met with such insuperable difficulties, that, in de-Chron spair, he had nearly given up all hopes of attaining it, See Meer Sponheim till he was assisted by the liberality of Fust, and by his brother's skill, in the city of Mentz.

ear

man, voi.

ii p. 103

Chronicon Colonia, 1499

5. Ulric Zell says || the art was completed at Mentz; 127. but that some books had been published in Holland lier than in that city. Is it likely that Zell, who was a German, would have omitted to mention Strasburg, if it had preceded Mentz in printing?

There is little doubt, therefore, that all Gutenberg's labours at Strasburg amounted to no more than a fruitless attempt, which he was at last under the necessity of relinquishing: and there is no certain proof of a single book having been printed in that city till after the dispersion of the printers in 1462, when Mentelius and Eggestenius successfully pursued the business.

In fine, the pretensions of Strasburg fall evidently to be set aside. And as to the other two cities, Huerlem and Mentz, the disputes between them seem easily cleared up, from the twofold invention of printing above mentioned the first with separate WOODEN types at Haerlem, by Laurentius, about 1430, and after continued by his family; the other with METAL types, first cut, and afterwards cast, which were invented at Mentz, but not used in Holland till brought thither by Theodoric Martens at Alost about 1472.

From this period printing made a rapid progress in most of the principal towns of Europe. In 1490, it reached Constantinople; and, according to Mr Palmer, p. 281, &c. it was extended, by the middle of the next century, to Africa and America. It was introduced into Russia about 1560: but, from motives either of policy

(1) See Meerman, vol. i. p. 183. who copied this testimony from Wolfius, Monument. Typograph, vol. i. p. 468.

ret seq.

(K) Their first attempts were made about 1436 with wooden types. Mr Meerman is of opinion that Geinsfleich junior (who was of an enterprising genius, and had already engaged in a variety of projects) gained some little insight into the business by visiting his brother who was employed by Laurentius at Haerlem, but not sufficient to enable him to practise it. It is certain that, at the time of the law-suit in 1439, much money had been expended, without any profit having arisen; and the unfortunate Drizehen, in 1438, on his death-bed, lamented to his confessor, that he had been at great expence, without having been reimbursed a single obolus. Nor did Gutenberg (who persisted in his fruitless endeavours) reap any advantage from them; for, when he quitted Strasburg, he was overwhelmed in debt, and under a necessity of selling every thing he was in possession of. [MEERMAN, vol. i. p. 198-202.]. All the depositions in the law-suit abovementioned (with the judicial decree) are printed by Mr Meerman, vol. ii. p. 58.—88. N,

66

Tho. Rycaut, London: Printed by John Streater, for Printing. the Author, 1664." 4to.

Printing. policy or superstition, it was speedily suppressed by the ruling powers; and, even under the present enlightened empress, has scarcely emerged from its obscurity.-That it was early practised in the inhospitable regions of Ice land, we have the respectable authority of Mr Bryant: Arngrim Jonas was born amidst the snows of Iceland; yet as much prejudiced in favour of his country as those who are natives of a happier climate. This is visible in his Crymogea, but more particularly in his Anatome Blefkiniana. I have in my possession this curious little treatise, written in Latin by him in his own country, and printed Typis Holensibus in Islandia Boreali anno 1612. Hola is placed in some maps within the Arctic circle, and is certainly not far removed from it. I believe it is the farthest north of any place where arts and sciences have ever resided." Observations and Inquiries relating to various parts of Ancient History, 1767,

10

Introduo

art into Britain.

P. 277.

It was a constant opinion, delivered down by our histion of the torians, as hath been observed by Dr Middleton, that the Art of Printing was introduced and first practised in England by William Caxton, a mercer and citizen of London; who, by his travels abroad, and a residence of many years in Holland, Flanders, and Germany, in the affairs of trade, had an opportunity of informing himself of the whole method and process of the art; and by the encouragement of the great, and particularly of the abbot of Westminster, first set up a press in that abbey, and began to print books soon after the year 1471.

II

The first

was at Oxford.

This was the tradition of our writers; till a book, which had scarce been observed before the Restoration, was then taken notice of by the curious, with a date of its impression from Oxford, anno 1468, and was considered immediately as a clear proof and monument of the exercise of printing in that university several years before Caxton began to deal in it.

This book, which is in the public library at Cambridge, is a small volume of 41 leaves in 4to, with this title: Expositio Sancti Jeronimi in Simbolum Apostolorum ad Papam Laurentium: and at the end, Explicit expositio, &c. Impressa Oxonie et finita Anno Domini M.CCCC.LXVIII. XVII. die Decembris.

The appearance of this book has robbed Caxton of printing- a glory that he had long possessed, of being the author press set up of printing in this kingdom; and Oxford has ever since in England, carried the honour of the first press. The only difficulty was, to account for the silence of history in an event so memorable, and the want of any memorial in the university itself concerning the establishment of a new art amongst them of such use and benefit to learning. But this likewise has been cleared up by the discovery of a record, which had lain obscure and unknown at Lambeth-palace, in the Register of the See of Canterbury, and gives a narrative of the whole transaction, drawn up at the very time.

An account of this record was first published in a thin quarto volume, in English; with this title: "The Original and Growth of Printing, collected out of History, and the Records of this Kingdome: wherein is also demonstrated, that Printing appertaineth to the Prerogative Royal, and is a Flower of the Crown of England. By Richard Atkyns, esq.-Whitehall, April the 25. 1664. By order and appointment of the right honourable Mr Secretary Morrice, let this be printed.

It sets forth in short, "That as soon as the art of printing made some noise in Europe, Thomas Bourchier, archbishop of Canterbury, moved the then king (Henry VI.) to use all possible means for procuring a printing mould (for so it was then called) to be brought into this kingdom. The king (a good man, and much given to works of this nature) readily hearkened to the motion; and taking private advice how to effect his design, concluded it could not be brought about without great secrecy, and a considerable sum of money given to such person or persons as would draw off some of the workmen of Haerlem in Holland, where John Gutenberg had newly invented it, and was himself personally at work. It was resolved, that less than 1000 merks would not produce the desired effect; towards which sum the said archbishop presented the king 300 merks. The money being now prepared, the management of the design was committed to Mr Robert Turnour, who then was master of the robes to the king, and a person most in favour with him of any of his condition. Mr Turnour took to his assistance Mr Caxton, a citizen of good abilities, who traded much into Holland; which was a creditable pretence, as well for his going, as stay in the Low Countries. Mr Turnour was in disguise (his beard and hair shaven quite off); but Mr Caxton appeared known and public. They, having received the said sum of 1000 merks, went first to Amsterdam, then to Leyden, not daring to enter Haerlem itself; for the town was very jealous, having imprisoned and apprehended divers persons who came from other parts for the same purpose. They staid till they had spent the whole thousand merks in gifts and expences: so as the king was fain to send 500 merks more, Mr Turnour baving written to the king that he had almost done his work; a bargain, as he said, being struck betwixt him and two Hollanders, for bringing off one of the underworkmen, whose name was Frederick Corsells (or rather Corsellis), who late one night stole from his fellows in disguise into a vessel prepared before for that purpose; and so, the wind favouring the design, brought him safe to London. It was not thought so prudent to set him on work at London: but, by the archbishop's means (who had been vice-chancellor and afterwards chancellor of the university of Oxon), Corsellis was carried with a guard to Oxon; which guard constantly watched, to prevent Corsellis from any possible escape, till he had made good his promise in teaching them how to print. So that at Oxford, printing was first set up in England which was before there was any printing-press or printer in France, Spain, Italy, or Germany (except the city of Mentz), which claims seniority, as to printing, even of Haerlem itself, calling her city, Urbem Moguntinam artis typographica inventricem primam; though it is known to be otherwise, that city gaining the art by the brother of one of the workmen of Haerlem, who had learnt it at home of his brother, and after set up for himself at Mentz. This press at Oxon was at least ten years before there was any printing in Europe, except at Haerlem and Mentz, where it was but new-born. This press at Oxford was afterwards found inconvenient to be the sole printing-place of England; as being too far from London and the sea. Wherefore the king set up a

press.

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