The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-31

A footnote to the first chapter OF this book,
based on Van der Linde's work on Gutenberg,
puts an end to numerous errors. legends. and
falsifcations which were formerly current with
regard to the invention Of printing. 1t Is now
well known that Johann Gensieisch zu Guten-
berg OF Mentz was not 20 much tho inventor
OF printing rs of typography, that is the forma-
ton of cast movable letters. Centuries before
Gutenberg. the art was known Of transferring
figures, pictures. and texts from one surface to
another by means of pressure. 1t was no new
idea that letters. and hence. also, words, lines,
sentences. and whole pages, could be engraved
and printed. The Chinese block printing
goes back ut least as far as the tenth
century. In Van der Linde's opinion, 1t
was from the Mongolians. who conquered
China in the thirteenth century, and soon after
overran eastern Europe. that the Europeans
acquired the art of block printing. OF typography.
About the year 400 this art spread from Ger
many to Flanders. That the origin of so many
Innovations belonging to the middle ages, wood
printing. printing on cloth. linen paper. and
gunpowder. is shrouded in darkness is attributed
TO the fact that these inventions did not spring
9b independently in Europe. but came thither
through Arabs and Mongolians. The first
known date OF n woodcut Is the year 1A23.
The Germans at that time. however. did not
pTllt WIN WOOuen DlOCkb only, Out engraved
their designs OH metal. An exquisite copper
engraving bears the date of 1451. The
woodcutters and engravers formed, together
with the printers. a guild of their own; in
NOrdliDgen. for instance. as early as 1923,
and in Clm in 144l. The importance of Cute n
berg's invention did not lie In the discovery of
movable type either, for in Roman antiquity
movable letters were used; It lay solely in the
efficient method discovered of manufacturing
$500
the alphabet were, first of all, cut In the form of
embossed dies or punches: then from these
dies or punches were formed matrices or moulds.
from which the types were cast. Besides the
movableness of the single letters and their
combination into words, the production Of let
tiers In great numbers WAS indispensable to the
art of printing. in order to substitute for the
costly process of cutting each letter separately,
the cheapness and uniformity derived from
casting a number of types from a single mould.
When, after the conquest of Mentz by the
Archbishop Adolphus Of Nassau in 1462, the
ho-called "wonderful secret had become
known throughout Europe, the new art of print
ing spread with such astounding rapidtty that
moro than a thousand printers. mostly of Ger
man origin. are known to have fiourished be-
fore the year 1900. In Mentz itself. the cradle
of the art, there were no less than Ave printing
presses; in Ulm, six; in Basle. sixteen: in Augs-
DuTR, twenty. u IOlORne, LWenty-Onb. StraS-
burg was renowned for its many excellent
printers. In Nuremberg. up to the year 1900,
twenty-five master printers were enrolled as
citizens. The most eminent of these after the
year l470 was Anthony Koberger. who had
twenty-four presses Mt work, and em-
pioyed over a hundred men as typesotters.
proof correctors, printers. binders, and illumi-
majors. besides carrying on work outside, chiefly
in Basic, Strasburg, and Lyons. BY diligence
and foresight he accumulated a large fortune.
Enterprise or almost equal dimensions was de-
veloped by Hans Sch0nsberger In Augsburg, as
we'll AS by the Basic publishers Amerbach-
Lachner, and Eroben. The latter, designated
as the prince OF publishers" ranks among the
most accomplished printers whom the world
has known. Numbers OF able men devoted
their energies to the perfecting of the new art.
As early as l47l Schweinheim began printing
aliases from metal plates. In the year 1852
Ratbolt made the first attempt to multiply
mathematical and architectural drawings by
means of the printing press. oeglin inaugurated
the printing OF musical notes with movable
type.
While Germany was thus alive with the new
creative industry, German printers were dinfus-
ing the new art as far as Subiaco. FoliRno,
Sienna, Venice, Modena, Perugia, Urbino,
Ascot, Rome, Naples. MessinA, and Palermo.
ny the end of the fifteenth century Rome alone
counted no FEWER than iOO presses and % Ger
man printers, while in the rest Of Italy there
were over a hundred German printing estAb-
lishments. 1t was to a German printer who had
come from Mentz TO Foligno that Italy owed
the first edition Of the divine Comedy" pub
lished in the year l472. Thanks TO German
printers, this diffusion OF Typography was
almost as rapid in France and Spain as in
Italy. In Spain. by tho year 1900. there were
over thirty German master printers. who. In
Valencia SarAgossa, Seville, Barcelona, To-
losa. Salamanca, Burgos, and other cities were,
according to LoDe de Vega, the Armorers OF civ.
i~lizAtion. Christopher Columbus worked for a
Time At the prinling trade. In GRANADA only