New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-04-19

name was Lawrence Coster-fell to think.
ing OF what might be done with such letters
cut IN wood By blackening them with ink
ne made black stamps upon paper. and by
dint of much thinking and much working.
he came, IN time, to the stamping of whole
oroadsides Of letters-which was really
| printing.
But before he succeeded in doing this
well, he had found it necessary to try many
| experiments, and to take into his emplor
several apprentices. He did his work yery
secretly, and enjoned upon his apprentices
to say nothing of the trials he was making.
! But dishonest one among them, after a
time, ran OF from Holland into Germany,
carrying with him great man. Of the old
gentlemans wooden blocks, and entire pages
OF book which he was about to print
| The Dutch writer's credit this story. and
| mint that the runaway apprentice was John
| FAUST, or John Gutenberg; but the Ger
mans Justly say there is no proof of this 1t
| is certain, however that there was Law
| renee (Custos, of the cathedral,) who busted
himself with stamping letters and engrav-
| ing His statue is on the market place in
| Haarlem, and his rough looking books are
| some of them, now in the Estate House" of
HARLEM. They are dingy, and printed with
bad ink, and seem to have been struck from
large engraved blocks, and not from nova
bic types. They are without any date, but
antiquarlans assign them to period some
what earl er than any book of Faust or
Gutenberg. who are commonly called the
discoveries OF printing.
John Gutenberg, at the very time when
this old Dutchman was experimenting with
his blocks IN Holland, was also working in
Dis way, very secretly in house that was
standing not many years ago in the ancient
city OF Strasburg He 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; and
upon this his heirs claimed right to know
the secrets OF Gutenberg. Gutenb berg refused.
and there was trial of the case, some ac-
count OF which was discovered mo.e than
three hundred years afterWard in an OLD
tower OF Strasburt
This trial took place in the year 1889.
Gutenberg was not forced to betray his Sc.
cTet; but 1t did appear, from the testimony
OF the witnesses, that he was occupied with
some way OF making books Tor manuscriptsJ
cheaper than they had ever been made be-
fore.
But Gutenberg was getting on so poorly
at Strasburg, and lost SO much money in
bis experiments, that he went away to
Mayence. which is a German city. farther
down the Rhine. He there formed pars-
nershlp with silversmith named John
Faust, who took an oath of secresv. and
supplied him with money on condition that
after certain time IL should be repaid to
him.
Then Gutenberg set to work in earnest
Some accounts say he had a brother who
assisted him, and the Dutch writers think
this brother may have been the robber 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
Schotfer, scribe or designer, who worked |
Tor Gutenberg, and who finished up his first |
books by drawing lines around the pages !
and making ornamental initial letters and |
filling up gaps in the printing. This Schotfer
was shrewd fellow, and watched Guten-
berg very closely. He used to talk over
what he saw and what he thought with
Faust.
He told Faust that he could contrive bet
ter types than Gutenberg was using, and
acting on his hints, Faust, who was skill
ful worker IN metals, run types in mould.
This promised so well that Faust deter
mined to get rid of Gutenberg, and to carry
on the business with Schofer, to whom he
gave his only daughter, Christine, for a
wife.
Faust called on Gutenberg for his loan.
which Gutenberg couldn't pay, and in CON
he had to give up to Faust all his
tools, his presses and his unfinished work,
among which was Bible, nearly twO-thrds
completed. This Faust and Schoter hur-
cied through and sold as a manuscript.
There are two copies in the national H.
orary at Paris, one copy at the royal library
1t Munich, ami one at Vienna 1t is not
What is commonly known as the Mayence
Bible, but is of earlier date than that.
1t Is without name of printer or publisher
md without date. 1t is in two great volumes
olio of about 600 pages volume.
1t was certainly the first Bible printed
rom movable types, but poor Guten berg
ot no money from it, though he had done
nost of the work upon it. But he did not
row disheartened. He toiled on. though
e was without the help of Sehotf4r and of
aust, and ill few years afterward sue
eeded in making books which were as good
5 those of his rivals. Before he died his
anne was attached to books printed as
early and sharply as books are printed to-
ay.-& Nicholas for april.