Printing: An Account of Its Invention and of William Caxton, the First English Printer by David Marshall

Author:David Marshall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A.Quantin and Co.
Published: 1877-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

prosecuted his experiments for many years and under many sacrifices. His whole patrimony was unsparingly devoted to furthering his project; money advanced by his relatives was sunk to perfect the invention ; and at last he contracted large debts for the same end. His perseverance, even amidst overwhelming difficulties, never flagged for a day. In 1442 he sold to the Collegiate Church of St. Thomas, in Strasburgh, a property in Mentz, to which he had succeeded on the death of his uncle, and applied the proceeds to his great work. Some years afterwards, he returned to his native city; and in 1449 we find him residing there, and connected in business with John Fust.

Fust, a goldsmith, and a man of considerable wealth, found the additional capital necessary to perfect Gutenberg's invention. According to Trithemius, the first volume printed by Gutenberg and Fust was a Vocabulary, called a *^ Catholicon, " which in all probability was an edition of Donatus's Grammar. This was a block-book; but says Trithemius, ^^with these blocks they could print nothing else, because the characters could not be transposed on their tablets, but were engraved thereon, as we have said. To this invention succeeded a more subtle one, for they found out the means of cutting the forms of all the letters of the alphabet, which they called matrices^ from which again they cast characters of copper or tin of sufficient

such as had been expended on the printing material over which Fust held a security. Unable to find the amount required, he was forced to allow the whole business to fall into Fust's hands, but he remained in Mentz, and probably continued to print. In his old age, he found a patron in the Elector-Archbishop of Mentz, who attached him to his Court. He is said to have become blind before his death, which took place in 1467 or 1468. He was buried in the church of the Recollets; and in 1837 ^^^^y honour was done to his memory by the erection in Mentz of the magnificent Gutenberg Monument, designed by Thorwaldsen and subscribed for in all countries of Europe. It is a bronze statue, raised on a pedestal of marble in the principal square of the city, which has now been named Gutenberg Place. The front of the pedestal bears the inscription :

JOMANNBM GsiltPlEIfCK DB GOTENasaOy PATaiCIUM MOOUNTINUM,

JErb pbb totam Eobopam Coiiato

POfUBRUNT ClVBf. MDCCC.XXX.Vll.

On the opposite side of the pedestal is written : —

Arum, qu^ Gracos l^tuity latuitque LatinoSj Germani solers extudit ingeniunij Nunc quidquid veteres sapium^ tapumtque recentetj NQfi sihij Sid populis cmnihus id tapiunt.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.