The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-31
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MontehekIV' thotV ~
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n.
Tho notion TINT the reading of the bible nrs
hecar. common altar the reformation ia show
he .Jans.en 10 have no foundation. Durini
tho nftsontb century the bible well-niCh mo
nopolized most OF the print,ne presses of IN,
West. lin 20 1900 tho Latin version. known a
the yu,p,te. had gone through nearly ono hun
drcd editiona. The frat piece Of really artist,
vors in the wa, of book binding from Kober
0er,s nress vns the exquisite German Bible Of
14s3. uluatrated with over one hundred wood.
cuts. This remarkable yernncular version oil
the Holy Scriptures. Tho clearsst and most cor
rect which had yet appeared In German, OBJ.
taIned a wider circulation and had greater In.
nuence than any OF the other ante Lutheran
Bibles. In addition to this version, how
ever. fifteen other translatIons of the
bible were i,sued BIZ the same house before
the close OF the century. and nine by the house
of Amerbach Of Basic between 1870 and 1850.
Next to tho Bible, the leading German pub
fishers OF tho day, who themselves were. as a
rule. hiQhly educated men, turned their atten-
tion to bringing out worthy editions Of the
Fathers of tho Church and tho old scholastics,
as also OF the works of contemporary philoso-
pbers and tbeoloplans. The now invention was
also used in the service Of the ancient classics.
FINALLY. publications for the people. chiefly the
work OF the clergy. appeared in large numbers,
such rs PRAYER books. catechisms, manuals OF
confession. books of homilies, collections Of
sacred and secular songs. wall calendars, and
nIeo n nuuber Of popular works on natural
scienoe and medicine. The books, naturally,
which had the largest sale and widest circula-
t,on ware oftenest produced. and IL Ia a fact
full of slRnincapce that the Bible reached moro
than one humid. editions. while of the "Imita-
ton vf Christ, translated into different Ian
euaees. there were no fewer than ffty-nine
printed editions before the year 1900. From the
evidence before him Jansen concludes that
! 900 was the usual number of copies issued in a
single edition. though larger editions would be
nut forth of devotional books. or of the writings
OF distinguished men. or 1.-The Praise OF
Folly " nv Ernsmus. for instance. An edition of
1 300 comics was issned in 151b An immense
proportion of the books printed in Germany In
the hfteenth century were destroyed in the re-
lipious and civil wars. or have since been lost
N rough neolect Tho number nreserved how
ever. IA computed nj over 40. 600. many of them
works of three mr. more thick folio volumes.
The be,ief that .lementarv education WAS
.ue tn the reformers has M foundation in fact.
Jansen pofnt, out that in the district of the
Rhine in tbe YEAR 1900 there were
whole RtretChea of country where n family
school was IN bs found within a oircuit of everv
At, mi,s. small narisbes NJ only five bpndred
,r al. bundred sonl, we're mot without their viii
Iao. scboo,s Tbror,bo,t Tho emnire indeed
.xc.nt In N. NorL ~, prardorh,ro tha ,
b.r ~ scbooIs vo. consid.,,h,s In manv
,laces a,so tba,a were ,,roe,v attsndod oir,s,
soho,,s ono n, ,h..o torndod a, yon,an q,
l4o7 had eiobtv.fonr scbolars from both Tho
,ohi,itv and tbo c,,i,on classes Tha c,ti.
,ans ., InhscL ,onndad Oh. C,o,.ts- n,
,, Avn. In ,rdar ,h., ,ho .aro..,on
=, thar d.u,b,.r. miaht h. oarr,od ~
- iii. .un a,,u c,.,i.i 49,, - IN.
r,.a sroo,od Tow tba ohiIdran ~ tha no,,i,v
,ya NAV Iudao bow hinh,1 81. ,rno,Ion ~
,cbooI tssner v.. rssnec,od NV ~. biah sai,rv
middle ages, no complaints are heard from
eachers of insufficient pay. At a time when n
lorin would buy from 80 to 100 pounds of beef.
from 100 to 125 pounds of pork. the school,
master OF a small hamlet near GOch received