Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1851-06-03

IL i'eeAitS iNAhhNs
/ The first 4 printed book upon fecort
| is The Book of Psalms, by JOIN
Faust, of Mentz, and Peter Sch better
in 1857, on the 18th of August
llAwever, after this first essay, THEY ar,
supposed to have printed Dutand'i
Rationale Divinorum, in 1853, and
1.-THE Latin vocabulary, entitled Gath
Holicon, In l460; but what sigma alizet
HFaust, and hi art most, was the frs
IIpri Bible, which he began ii
/ 450, and, fnishq ID in 1460; lwher
Faust, carrying a parcel of prIi Iinted
copies Of it to Paris, and offering
them to sale al 5 ma nuscripts, hail the
mis- fortune to- be imprisoned, Under
suspicion of dealing with the Devil;
bee ause the French could not other-
wise conceive how so many books
could exactly agree in every letter
and point; nor could he obtain his
liberty till he had discovered the
met thod by which they were done.
From Haerlem it passed to Rhine,
in IA 81; and ih l469 it was ca fried
to Venice and Paris. Hitherto, the
proficieh bit in this new art had prodeed-
ed no further than in the commoI al
phabet, suited to the vulgar and lat
in tongues I he Gothic alphabet, as
it most resembIed the manuscripts OF
those times, was the first atteh hnpt;
then some of the italian prineesI in
troduced the Roman alphabet; and,
in a short time, brought it to that
perfection, that, in the beginning of
the year 1475, they cast letter not
much inferior t b the best types OF
the pres sent ages as may be seen in a
Latin Grammar written by Omnlbo-
nus Leonicenus, and printed at Pa
dua, on the 18th of january, IT.;
from whom our grammarian Lily, has
taken the entire scheme of his GRIM
mar, and transcrl bed the greatest part
thereof witho ut paying any regard
to the memory of this autho +, IAt
last, the Italic alphabet came much
in vogue: but there we're no Greek
types till about the year 1476, when
the Italian plinte ers east them UPON
the same principle S a they had done
the other alphahe cts: yet we are hot
able to ascertain, whether this Was
first introduces ID by the Venetia ms,
AIilanese, or Fibre ntines, eaclF of
them claiming the reputation Of that
improvement; though it is universal
ly allowed that two jewish Rabbins,
Joshua and Moses, we're the first
who published the Hebrew character
in separate types at Saceino, a little
city in the duchy of Milan, in the
year 1850.
In what uncertainty the history of
the first use of Printing in England
is, may be seen by the following ina
perfect d etail. Some of our Alma
nae makers tell US that Print ne v as
first used in England A. ID. 1443,
about seven years bcforeit was prac-
ticed, or, about thre ee years before it
was first thought Of: others say, not
till after 1850 The workmen of the
Printing press, at the Theatre in Ok
ford, ina paper pri nted by them All
gust %, A, d. 1929, affirm, that the
noble Art and Mystery Of Printing
was first invented d in the year 1870,
and brought into England in the
year l447; a mistake perhaps, for
1474. The learned Mr., Collier as
sures us, that The mystery of p rinting
appeared ten years sooner at the Uni
versity of Oxfori q, than at any other
place in Europe, IIaerlem and Mentz
excepted; which fixes the mtroduc-
ton Of it there SO ca arly as 145T,
since it is certain, tha I it appeared
at Rome, and el$ew here in Europe,
in 1467; though by the date, put in
the margin, he s GEMS willing to have
had it thought, that it did not ap-
pear at Oxford before 1864. The
diligent collect or of the Annals of
Printing, suppo$es this Art first
brought into E England in 1460; and
Mr.. Baily implicit tly follows Atkyn's
rom2lce of the introduction of it in
King Henry Vlth's reign, or before
1460. But the generality of our En-
glish chronielers, who mention it, tell
US, that Printing was first practiced
by Mr.. Caxton, i'm 147l, at West
minister, under he patronage Of the
Abbot.
The first book known to be printed
=, Enorl;cb or1 hx, ravfon r,as, or