Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1874-04-30


WHO PRlNrEDTuE FIRST BIBLE.
94'lFts7ass .asa- esd si
In the year l4aO thsss 1asa living "a
the city Of llaarlen aa oil gentlsssa.
who kept the keys Of the cathedral, ard
who used. after disner. 70 walk Ia the q.
uoas Wood that up 60 this tune d erc~.
iae juas without the city walls. Oss day.
shils, ualkias .thsrs.s As ,5saad very
smooth Bic Of beech bark. on vhich--sa
he Vas handy maa With his knife-hs
cut severed letters % plainly and neatly
that aicr his setuvH hone hs senwpSd
tAem sPss pupsr. and gave tho pspsr 10
his hey - as''saey.s Afaef shis. sselAs
taas The thisg had been neatly done, ebs
old genflemaa-.hcss name vas Law
repee Cosses-hm g tAioking of uass
49, - 1one With such lettets 60 h
49,. ~ Uooee36lo lk4ksm Wtt& 6ok.
he mst:e black stamps upon paper and
by dint Ct u.uch thinking and much work.
ing. he came. in time. to the stamping
Of whole broadsidcs Of lcttcrs-whieh vas
really printing. 81
But before he succeeded in doing this
veil. he had found il necessary to try
many experiments. aud to take into his
employ several apprentices. Hc did his
work very secretly. and cnjo;ucd upon
his apprentices to say nothing Of the trials
he vas making. But dishonest one
among them. after q time. ran OF from
him great many Of the old gentieman's
wooden blocks. and entire pages Of book
which he was about to print.
The Dutch writer's credit this story.
and HAT that the runaway apprentice wss
John Faust. or John Gutenberg; but tho
Germans justly say there is no proof Of
this. II is certain, however, that theee
vas a Lawrence (Cusics, Of the cathodraD
who busted himself yi,h stamping letters
aud engraving. Ills statue is on tho
Market place in Haarlcm. and bis rough
looking books arc. some Of them. nov IN
tho State House. Of HARLEM. They
are dingy, and printed with bad ink.
seem to have been struck from large cn-
gravcd blocks, aud rot from movable
types They are without any date. bat
autieuarians assign them to n period some
waat earlier than any book Of Faust. or
Of Gutenberg. who are commonly called
the discovcrcrs Of printing.
John Gutenberg. at the very time when
this old Du,chman was experimenting
with his blocks in Holland. was also
working in his way. very secretly. in n
house that was standing not many years
ago in the ancient city Of Strasburg. Ho
had two working partners. who were
bound by oath not to reveal the secret
Of the arts he was engaged upon.
But one OF these partners died; aud upon
this. his heirs claimed to know the secrets
Of Gutenberg. Gutenberg refused. and
there was trial Of the case. some account
hundred years afterwards in an old tower
Of Strasburg.
This trial took place in the year 1889.
/ Gutenberg was not forced to bc,ray his
secret bu. it did appear. from the testi-
mony Of the witnesses. that he was occu-
pied with some way Of making books Cor
n.anuscripts) cheaper than they had every
been made before.
But Gutenberg was getting on SO poor.
iy at Strasburg. aud los, so much money
in his experiments. that he went away d
Mayence, which is a German city. farther
down the Rhine. He there formed .
partnership with rich silversmith.
named John Faust. who took an oath Of
secrecy. aud supplied him with money.
on condition that after certain time it
should be repaid to him.
Then Gutenberg set to work in earnest.
Some accounts say he had brother who
assisted him; aud the Dutch writer's
thiuk tais brother may have been the rob-
Der of poor Lawrence Coster. But there
is no proof Of it; and it is too late to
find any proof now. There was certainly
a Peter Schofer. scribe or designer,
who worked for Gutenberg. and WHO hn-
ished up his hrst books by drawing lines
around The pages aud making ornamcn-
tai initial letters. ahI u'lhg up gaps III
the printing. ms Ccnoner was sn,e""
fellow. and wa'enea ou'enoe'g se,y ces''
w., lie used 70 'a'k over @nat NC sa1
and what he Thought WIN faaN. ne
told Faust ne could eoh,flve oc,'er types
'han " "a'enoerg was using a"u' :"sg scuag
on nis n'n's' faa'. .no vas sA',s' ,s
yorker 10 metals run ,Spe' !" "ou.o
in's PROMISED 50 Se. 'na' faass 90 s.m. u
lnea 10 gc' r'a o. uu'e.1e,e '". " sny 10y
on 'he business WIN Se"oHer "vm a
ne gave n's oa'y oa"s"'e'' |H''A''"e w
w"c. -
faus' cahro on oa'e"os 'o' ""
loan w1'ch ua'e"oe,g 'oasu pay a..
N conss9uenee S DC ~: .aa 20 give 'p :; -