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diff --git a/old/51358-0.txt b/old/51358-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 404c28c..0000000 --- a/old/51358-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7319 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Gutenberg, and the Art of Printing, by -Emily Clemens Pearson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Gutenberg, and the Art of Printing - -Author: Emily Clemens Pearson - -Release Date: March 5, 2016 [EBook #51358] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GUTENBERG, AND THE ART OF PRINTING *** - - - - -Produced by Brian Coe, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by the Library of Congress) - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note - -Text originally printed in Old English or Black Letter is indicated -here by =equals signs=. Superscripts are indicated with a circumflex: -“y^e”, and italics text by _underscores_. Other notes will be found at -the end of this ebook. - - - - -[Illustration: FIRST PRINTED SHEET.] - - - - -[Illustration] - - GUTENBERG, - - AND - - THE ART OF PRINTING. - - - BY - EMILY C. PEARSON, - - AUTHOR OF “RUTH’S SACRIFICE,” “THE POOR WHITE,” “PRINCE - PAUL,” “OUR PARISH,” ETC. - - - [Illustration] - - - BOSTON: - NOYES, HOLMES AND COMPANY, - 117 WASHINGTON STREET. - 1871. - - - - - Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by - EMILY C. PEARSON, - in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. - - - RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: - STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY - H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. - - - - - TO THE GIFTED INTELLECTS, - WILLING HEARTS, - AND DEXTEROUS FINGERS - ENGAGED IN MAKING THE GREAT ART - A BLESSING TO THE WORLD. - - - - -PREFATORY. - - -Printing has been styled “The telescope of the soul.” As the optical -instrument brings near and magnifies objects remote and invisible, so -printing puts us in communication with minds of the past and present, -and preserves the thoughts of this age for future generations. - -But no one of the good and great of the past was permitted to lead the -way in embodying thought on the printed page, save the wonderful man -sketched in this volume. Out of a full heart of reverence, then, it is -most fitting to embalm the memory of Gutenberg. - -While musing on certain old archives touching the history of printing, -it was suggested by literary friends, that we weave a memorial -narrative of the chevalier and artisan honored in bringing the art -to light. Accordingly we engaged in the work, having culled the most -authentic warp and woof within reach. - -Devised in the quiet of old libraries, and in the hush of peace, -our little history finds itself heralded by the march of armies, -and the clash of empires. War, ever to be deplored as the author -of almost unmingled evil, has turned attention to the cradles of -printing,--Strasbourg and Mentz. Directly we recognize them, shake -hands, and are at home with those glorious old Rhenish cities, made -famous for all time. - -It is an interesting fact that the final completion of the world-famed -Minster or Cathedral of Strasbourg, closely preludes the time when the -art of printing had its rise. Earth’s loftiest spire may well mark the -place where Heaven gave the greatest treasure-art to man. - -Pains have been taken to harmonize the accounts of early printing -by various credible authors, and when in doubt from conflicting -statements, for safety and defense, we have taken shelter under the -wings of the encyclopædias. - -Led on by the romance of the broken betrothal, and afterwards most -happy marriage, we love to linger over the art devised and cherished in -the sanctity of the inventor’s home. Nobly did the Lady Anna exercise -her “right” and to her, almost equally with her husband, are we -indebted, since she cheered his way, inspiring courage in his work. - -In a cell of St. Arbogast, our hero found a quiet retreat for some of -his secret experiments; never was an old ruin turned to better account. -The Library and Scriptorium of the great Cathedral also paid tribute to -this man’s genius. But magnificent things were accomplished in Mentz, -after his unparalleled overthrow in Strasbourg. “Organizing victory -out of defeat,” he took into partnership the two men of the time best -fitted for the purpose, and engaged anew in his chosen vocation. One is -startled at the sequel of this fraternal alliance in the estrangement -of those so knit together in pursuit and interest; but the stupendous -enterprise of the firm, and the stricken man mysteriously “betrayed in -the house of his friends,” were alike upheld by an Unseen Hand. - -His persistence and noble purpose in inventing--how infinitely more -worthy of a place on immortal records than are the deeds of the warrior! - -The design of our work allows only a brief sketch of the progress of -the art subsequent to the days of Gutenberg. - -It is gratifying to note that certain ladies early engaged in the -ennobling employment, and for many years won golden opinions. - -We gratefully acknowledge obligations to Messrs. Rand, Avery, and -Frye, 3 Cornhill, Boston; and also to Messrs. H. O. Houghton and Co., -Riverside, Cambridge, for their courtesy in explaining the various -processes of their model establishments, to assist the writer in -forming a correct idea of the present state of the art. - - ANDOVER, _December, 1870_. - - - - -[Illustration] - -CONTENTS. - - - I. PAGE - - Strasbourg and its Cathedral.--Gutenberg’s Early Life.--Civil - Strife.--Romantic Lawsuit 7 - - - II. - - Gutenberg in Exile.--His Trade as Lapidary.--Curious Law.-- - Ancient Cuts.--A Picture of a Saint.--Legend.--The Bible - for the Poor.--A Secret discovered.--Gutenberg’s Experiment 14 - - - III. - - Ancient Books and their Materials.--Sculptures.--Printing in - China.--Use of Metals.--Seal.--Stencils.--Waxen Tablets. - --Bark, Leaves, Shells.--Papyrus.--Parchments.--Paper. - --Palimpsests.--Books written by Hand.--The Scriptorium. - --Copyists and their Habits.--Illuminations.--Character of - Ancient Books.--Scarcity and Costliness of Books.--Richard - de Bury and Library.--Statutes of St. Mary’s College.--Books - chained.--Abundance of Books in Modern Times 29 - - - IV. - - An Important Step.--Engraving a Name.--Engraving Pictures.-- - Superstitions.--Difficulties overcome.--An Improvement.-- - Experiment and Progress.--A New Book.--Cheerful Thoughts 45 - - - V. - - Pecuniary Troubles.--An Expedient.--Disappointment.--The - Jewels.--A Sale.--Apprentices.--Visit to the Cathedral.-- - A New Enterprise 52 - - - VI. - - Unwelcome Visitors.--Unjust Demand.--A Compromise.--Secret - Firm.--A Removal.--Teaching the Workmen.--Block Printing. - --Success 61 - - - VII. - - Small Receipts.--Printing the “Donatus.”--“Ars Memorandi.”-- - “Ars Moriendi.”--An Interesting Fact.--Extract from “Ars - Moriendi” 71 - - - VIII. - - Effect of Gutenberg’s Books.--His Times and Ours.--His Books at - the Cathedral.--Curiosity of the Monks.--Proposition of the - Abbot.--The “Bible for the Poor.”--A Great Work well done.-- - A Good Sale.--The Canticles issued.--A Difficult Undertaking. - --Discontent.--An Accident.--Discovery of Separate Types.-- - The First Font of Movable Type.--Difficulties mastered.--The - Great Helper 75 - - - IX. - - Anna’s Disappointment.--Dritzhn’s Regrets.--Comfort for Anna. - --Gutenberg’s Progress described.--The Great Enlightener.-- - Advantages of Movable Type.--Another Book.--Obstacles.-- - Criticisms.--Invention.--A Press contrived.--New Cause of - Disquiet 92 - - - X. - - A Partner at the Confessional.--His Death.--Consequences.--A - Lawsuit.--Thieves.--Dangerous Curiosity.--Destruction of - Gutenberg’s Type.--Curious Testimonies.--Value of the Legal - Document.--Proof that Gutenberg was the Real Inventor.--The - Magistrate’s Just Judgment.--Public Excitement 107 - - - XI. - - Benighted.--Minstrel of the Hearth.--The Black Art.--A - Barefoot Friar.--Popular Prejudice.--Hopes and Fears. - --Gutenberg returns to his Trade.--Dissolution of the - Copartnership 118 - - - XII. - - Congenial Quiet.--Making Type again.--Gutenberg issues - “Absies.”--Peter Schoeffer.--Decides to remove to Mentz.-- - Emotions of Gutenberg.--Fraternal Sympathy.--The Meeting - with Faust.--Gutenberg reveals his Art.--A Rich Partner 127 - - - XIII. - - The Zum Jungen.--The Old Valet.--A Happy Change.--Going over - the Process anew.--Good Progress.--Peter Schoeffer 140 - - - XIV. - - Working of the Press.--The Medallion.--An Acquisition.-- - Experiments.--A Failure.--Schoeffer’s Invention.--Discovery - of Cast Metal Type 148 - - - XV. - - Schoeffer admitted to the Firm.--A Grand Project.--How a Bible - was borrowed.--The Early Press.--Processes in Bookmaking.-- - Ingenuity of Peter Schoeffer.--Industry of the Firm.--Ink.-- - Cast Type.--Three Ingenious Men.--Letter-founding.--Faust - compliments Peter.--The first Printed Page of the Bible.--A - Memorable Year 155 - - - XVI. - - Faust’s Discontent.--Conspiracy against Gutenberg.--A Secret - kept.--The Lawsuit.--Gutenberg supplanted.--A New Firm.-- - Gutenberg’s Sorrow 168 - - - XVII. - - The Story of Faust’s Visit to Paris.--Was it Witchcraft?-- - Popular Excitement.--Scene in a Court Room.--Issue of the - Psalter 182 - - - XVIII. - - New Friends.--The Nun.--Gutenberg at Work again.--Printing of - the “Balbus de Janua.”--Other Works.--A Curious Record.-- - Death of the Great Inventor.--Fadeless Laurels 192 - - - XIX. - - Faust and Schoeffer’s Success.--More Books issued.--An Eventful - Year.--Greek Type.--Struck by the Plague.--The Parisians - and Faust’s Descendants.--Schoeffer’s Death.--Testimony - to Gutenberg.--Extension of the Art.--Piety and Chess.-- - Education in the Olden Time.--Unveiling the Statue 206 - - - XX. - - Peculiarities of the First Printed Books.--Early Printers.-- - Piety and Chess.--Education in the Olden Time.--A Great - Enterprise.--Unveiling Gutenberg’s Statue 217 - - - XXI. - - Modes of making Type.--Varieties of Type.--Cylindrical - Ink-distributor.--A Modern Printing Establishment.-- - Composition Room.--Cases.--Proof-reading 225 - - - XXII. - - Type-setting by Machinery.--Its Practicability.--Various - Machines devised.--The Brown Type-setter and Distributer - described.--Simplicity.--Reliability.--Speed 235 - - - XXIII. - - Stereotyping.--Plaster Moulds.--Planing and Beveling.-- - Correcting Stereotype Plates.--Process of Electrotyping.--The - “Guillotine.”--Ornamenting 247 - - - XXIV. - - The Hand-press.--Earl Stanhope’s Press.--Improvements.-- - Cylinder Presses.--Press-room.--Drying Room.--Sewing Room. - --Elevator.--Books for the Blind.--Type, Press, and Paper - invented.--Catalogue of Great Exhibition.--Estimate of Rapid - Labor by Machinery 263 - - - XXV. - - Time of the Great Invention.--A First Gift.--Discovery of the - Alphabet.--A New Era.--Royal Printers.--Knights of Type - and Pen.--A Mighty Engine.--Gutenberg’s Dream.--The Press - mighty 281 - - - - -[Illustration] - - GUTENBERG, - - AND - - THE ART OF PRINTING. - - - - -I. - - Strasbourg and its Cathedral.--Gutenberg’s Early Life.--Civil - Strife.--Romantic Lawsuit. - - -Who has not heard of the noble Rhine, which winds many hundred miles -through Central Europe? Castles, vineyards, farms, and forests, with -now and then a village or a city, diversify its banks. - -Prominent among its cities is Strasbourg; a strongly fortified border -town, founded ages ago by the Romans, but held recently by France. It -was an imperial city of the German empire in 1681, when Louis XIV. got -possession of it, by an unwarrantable attack in a time of peace. It is -in shape a triangle, with walls six miles in circuit, entered by seven -gates. The fortifications extend to the Rhine, although the main city, -of 85,000 inhabitants, is situated a mile and a half back on the Ill, -a branch of the Rhine. The tourist, while still far distant, sees the -spire of the famous Cathedral, Nôtre Dame. It is the highest spire in -the world, a masterpiece of airy open-work, of elaborate tracery and -delicate workmanship, towering aloft four hundred and sixty-six feet, -twenty-four feet higher than the great Pyramid of Egypt, and more than -twice as high as Bunker Hill Monument. The great Minster of which -it is a part, was nine hundred years in building, and was finished -shortly before our story begins. When the late war came, the Rhine, -Strasbourg, and its Cathedral, were not wholly unlike what they were -at that time,--four hundred and thirty-five years ago. It is true, -railroad trains would shriek on either side of the river, and gaudy -steamers bustle up and down, and occasionally a “water-cure” or a -“juvenile reformatory” meet the eye, signs of modern progress; but in -strange contrast with these the Roman and mediæval remains. Rhineland -is at once ancient and modern. Here are “ruins of the Middle Ages, and -marks of the French Revolution; the bones of great feudal giants, and -scars of modern disturbance.” The old homes of the warlike barons still -stand, and the incense-flavored churches, whose corner-stones were laid -in the dim past. - -It is in the year 1436; and the visitor, if he approaches the city -from the French side, before entering the west gate will be sure -to seek out John Gutenberg, a noted man who lives in the suburbs in -yonder pretty cottage, half hidden in ivy and honeysuckle, and the -ancient turrets of St. Arbogast Monastery, not a stone’s throw distant, -frowning upon it. There is a woman of taste within; the well-trained -vines speak of her, as do the tulips and wall-flowers. And the eye -glances admiringly from these to the apple-trees, with their wealth of -blossoms, and the lilacs, jubilant with plumes. - -Gutenberg was born at Mentz, a free and rich city on the Rhine, -about the year 1400, and, when yet a young man, fled, on account of -political dissensions, to Strasbourg, sixty miles distant. Of his -childhood little is known; yet some German and other writers draw -pleasing pictures of his youth. They represent him as high-spirited, -thoughtful, and devout; influenced by a desire that good books might -be made common, and as having “a foreseeing consciousness” of the -part he was to act in bringing it about. “He said to himself, from -his earliest years,” says one of his biographers, “God suffers in the -great multitudes whom his sacred word cannot reach. Religious truth is -captive in a small number of manuscript books, which guard the common -treasure, instead of diffusing it. Let us break the seal which holds -the holy things; give wings to the truth, that by means of speech, no -longer written at great expense by the hand that wearies itself, but -multiplied as the air by an unwearied machine, it may fly to seek every -soul born into the world!” - -If this was true of Gutenberg while young, no wonder that his manhood -was crowned so gloriously. He placed before himself at the outset -a great and worthy object; he felt through life the thrill of an -inspiring purpose, which stimulated and ennobled his nature, and tended -naturally to success. Had he, like thousands, been contented to drift -through the world with the current wherever it chanced to bear him, -living for himself and the fleeting present, never should we have heard -of John Gutenberg. - -But there is a fact in Gutenberg’s early history which does not seem -to present him in an amiable light, as he figures in a lawsuit, -having been sued by the father of his betrothed, to compel him to -fulfill his promise of marriage. There is, however, no evidence that -Gutenberg intended any wrong in this affair, as he sincerely loved -Anna von Isernen Thür,[1] the young lady to whom he was engaged. She -was of noble family, of the city of Strasbourg. His property had been -confiscated in Mentz in the struggle between the plebeians and the -nobility, and his failure in keeping his troth is attributed to his -sensitiveness to his misfortunes. - - [1] Family name, it is said, from the possession of a feudal - castle on the heights of the Rhine. - -It has been remarked, that if Mentz, Gutenberg’s native place, had -not been a free city, he might not have conceived or executed his -invention; for despotism, like superstition, imposes silence. “It was -fitting that printing and liberty should be born of the same sun and -the same air.” Mentz, Strasbourg, Worms, and other municipal cities of -the Rhine, were small federative republics; as Florence, Genoa, Venice, -and the republics of Italy. The youth of our country find freedom -favorable to thought and invention; thus young Gutenberg found it. Yet -civil strife marked the history of those cities. “In them were the -warlike nobility, the aspiring burghers, and the laboring people, who -floated between these two contending classes, alternately caressed and -oppressed by them, yet at times themselves striving for the supremacy. -In these commotions, victory rested sometimes with the patrician, -sometimes with the plebeian, and numbers on either side were from -time to time outlawed. But these had not the sea to cross to fly the -country; they traversed the Rhine. Those banished from Strasbourg, went -to Mentz; those from Mentz, to Strasbourg, to await a turn of events, -or the recall of the exiles.” - -In these intestine quarrels, young Gutenberg, himself of the nobility, -“and naturally combating for the cause most holy in the eyes of a son, -that of a father,” was twice vanquished and expelled by the burghers, -with all the chevaliers of the family,--his mother and sisters being -permitted to remain in possession of their property. Later, the -free city of Frankfort offering to mediate between the nobles and -plebeians, it obtained the return of those who had been banished, on -condition of the equality of the two classes in the administration -of the government. Meanwhile Gutenberg, having become absorbed in -his inventive studies, did not return; and his mother petitioned the -Republic to give him as a pension a portion of the revenue of his -confiscated property. Answer was given, that the refusing to return -to his own country, by the young patrician, was a declaration of -hostility; and he must therefore be treated as one of its enemies. So -his mother continued to send him secret supplies from her own resources. - -But the faithful Lady Anna did not seek to free herself from her -plighted faith, because of the adversities of her lover. If he -shrank from receiving her to the humble circumstances in which he -had been thrown, she was still true to her vows. And as his humility -and thoughtful scruples could not be overcome in any other way, she -vanquished them by a legal summons; her father citing him before a -magistrate of Strasbourg, to cause him to fulfill his promise of -marriage. This summons of the Lady Anna to Gutenberg remains to-day -as an authentic memorial of his marriage. For the faltering artisan -yielded to “this generous violence of affection,” and consummated his -happiness by marrying the fair plaintiff in the suit. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -II. - - Gutenberg in Exile.--His Trade as Lapidary.--Curious Law.--Ancient - Cuts.--Picture of a Saint.--Legend.--The Bible for the Poor.--A - Secret discovered.--Gutenberg’s Experiment. - - -After his banishment, Gutenberg was not an idler. During his exile, we -are told that he devoted time to travelling from city to city, studying -monuments, and visiting men celebrated in art, science, or handicraft. -For not only was he educated, but he cultivated a literary taste, and -had chosen a trade, that of the lapidary, or polisher of precious -stones. Then, in Germany, the artisan, or one trained to a trade, and -the artist, held nearly the same rank; since the trades, scarcely -discovered, were confounded with the arts. Indeed, when the humbler -professions brought forth their first _chefs-d’œuvre_, they were -admired as prodigies, because new. The mechanic arts held an honorable -place, only people of property being permitted to learn them; this -matter being regulated by the statutes. Thus in England at that period -it was decreed concerning persons whose income was less than twenty -shillings by the year, “They shall be put to other labors, upon pain of -one year’s imprisonment.” - -Hence artisans were a wealthy and influential class in society, and, in -some cases, with their daily occupation cultivated a love of knowledge. -And Gutenberg, by learning the lapidary’s trade, did not descend to the -lowest social level, while at the same time he acquired that mechanical -skill which was afterwards to turn to the benefit of the whole human -race. - -He is pictured as occupying the front room of his dwelling as a -work-shop, where he plied his trade during the day, and men of standing -sought the society of the cultivated artisan, “so high a popularity did -he enjoy in Strasbourg for his character and scholarship.” - -At this time, he seemed scarcely thirty, although six years older; a -health-tinted face, high fair forehead, large blue expressive eyes, -gave him a youthful look. The precise turn of his chin was hidden in a -thick tawny beard. There was an air of grave thoughtfulness about him, -as if he was influenced by some earnest purpose. - -One evening, just after supper, the serving woman Elsie having cleared -the table and swept the hearth, Gutenberg, always busy even in the cozy -comfort of his fireside, became absorbed in examining a playing-card. -The Lady Anna was seated beside him, and after a little time looked up -from her work, and said in her own pleasant way,-- - -“Prithee, John, what marvel dost thou find in that card? One would -think it the face of a saint, so closely thou dost regard it.” - -“Nay, little wife; but didst thou ever consider in what way this is -made?” - -“I suppose that it was drawn in outline, and then painted, like other -pictures.” - -“But there is a more excellent way,” said Gutenberg. “These lines, I -find, were first marked on a wooden block, and then the wood was cut -away, so that they were left raised; this portion was then smeared with -ink and pressed on the paper. And this, my Anna, is shorter than by -drawing and painting, because when once a block is engraved, it can be -used to impress any number of cards.” - -Playing-cards were at this period in common use. Of their origin, there -is some doubt. Some have supposed they were invented to amuse Charles -VI., King of France, as early as 1393. They are mentioned at nearly the -same date in the laws of both England and Spain. - -The first cards made were doubtless painted with a stencil; that -is, a piece of pasteboard or thin metal plate perforated with holes -in the shape of the figures desired. The stencil being placed over -paper, the color is applied with a brush, leaving the shape of the -figures underneath. As they were so common and so cheap, it has been -thought that the outline must have been made by some rude form of -wood-engraving. There is proof that cards were _printed_ before the -middle of the fifteenth century; for there is a petition extant from -the Venetian painters to their magistracy, dated 1441, setting forth -that the art and mystery of card-making and of printing figures, -which was practiced in Venice, had fallen into decay, because of the -large quantity of playing-cards and colored printed figures which -were brought into the city. What foreigners brought them to Venice? -Evidently the Germans; for they were the chief card-makers of the time. -A wood-engraver is still called, in Germany, _Formschneider_, meaning -figure-cutter; and this name is found in the town-books of Nuremburg as -early as 1441. - -As a specimen of the early cards,--which were very rude,--we have here -the Knave of Bells. - -Perhaps some may think Knave a good name for the article, in view of -the characters who sometimes “play cards.” But this word had not always -the same meaning. Originally, it signified a boy or young man, then a -servant, and lastly a rogue. - -“An unsightly figure,” said Anna, as she examined the one -in her husband’s hand, “and not to be compared to our St. -Christopher,”--glancing at the wall opposite, where hung a picture of -the saint,--“which was made with a pen!” - -“Nay, it was made from an engraved block, like the card,” said -Gutenberg. - -[Illustration: The Knave of Bells.] - -“Was our picture made in that manner?” eagerly asked the wife. “What -an excellent art, since it keepeth before us the memory of the saints! -The good St. Christopher!” she exclaimed, and with clasped hands -for a moment gazed devoutly at the picture,--a curious wood-cut, -representing the legendary saint in the act of carrying the infant -Jesus across the sea; beneath, was the date, 1423. The art of engraving -had doubtless existed long before, but this is the only positive proof -that wood-engraving was used in devotional pictures at that early -period. Some years after, the art made an onward and most important -step,--an inscription being added to this picture; and the famous block -books, complete with cuts and written explanations, appeared. - -The picture Anna so earnestly regarded, was one of the later-date -impressions, accompanied with a Latin legend. It was of folio size, and -colored, like playing-cards. Beneath was the inscription, or legend:-- - -[Illustration: - - Christofori faciem die qua cumque tueris - Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris. - Millesimo cccc^o xx^o terno. -] - -“We almost worshipped that picture in my father’s house,” said Anna; -“but prithee tell me the meaning of the inscription; there was none -upon ours.” - -“It saith,” explained Gutenberg, “that one cannot be overtaken by evil, -or die, on the day that he looks upon the face of this saint.” - -“Since that is true, we do well to gaze upon the picture early and -late,” remarked the wife. - -“I revere the saint,” returned Gutenberg, smiling, “but am free to -confess that I do not see how there can be any power to shield one from -harm in simply looking at his picture. The good saint himself had not -so easy a path to prosperity.” - -“Pray tell me of him,” said she; “I do not remember to have heard the -story since, when a little child, I sat upon my father’s knee.” - -“I will even tell it to thee,” answered Gutenberg, “as I heard it in my -childhood. - -“Offerus, as he was called, was a giant soldier; a heathen, who lived -in the land of Canaan. He had a body twelve ells long. He did not -like to obey, but to command. He did not care what harm he did to -others, but lived a wild life, attacking and plundering all who came -in his way. He only wished for one thing: to sell his services to the -mightiest. And he first engaged in the service of the Emperor,--having -heard in those days that he was the head of Christendom,--yet was not -bound by any promise. Thereupon he went with the Emperor through all -the land, and the Emperor was delighted with him. All the soldiers in -the combat were miserable, helpless creatures compared with Offerus, -with his Samson strength, giant chest, and mighty fists. Once, at -even-tide, they pitched the tents near a forest, when the Emperor, in -the midst of his eating and drinking and the singing of the minstrel, -bade Offerus and his comrades beware of the wicked fiend who was said -often to haunt the forest with great rage and fury, adding, ‘Let alone -the chase in this forest; for in filling thy larder, thou mightest harm -thy soul.’ Then Offerus said, ‘I will enter the service of this lord, -who is mightier than you,’ and thereupon took his departure, and strode -off cheerily into the thickest depths of the forest. There on a coal -black horse he saw a pitch-black rider, who rode at him furiously, and -sought to bind him with solemn promises. But Offerus said, ‘We shall -see!’ However, one day, as they went together through the kingdoms of -the world, along the high road three tall crosses stood before them. -The middle cross so appalled Satan that he shrunk away, saying, ‘The -Son of Mary, the Lord Christ, now exercises great power.’ Said Offerus, -‘Now will I seek further for the mightiest, whom only I will serve,’ -and asking every traveller he met where he dwelt. But alas! few have -Him in their hearts, and no one could tell, until he was sent by a -pious old hermit to a good priest, who showed him plainly the path of -faith, and told him he must fast and pray, as John the Baptist did of -old in the wilderness. But that advice was not to the giant’s liking; -wherefore the prior said, ‘Give yourself up heartily to achieve some -good work. See, there flows a mighty river, which hinders pilgrims on -their way to Rome; it has neither ford nor bridge: carry the faithful -over on thy back.’ ‘Ah, I have strength for that!’ said Offerus. ‘If -I can please the Saviour in that way, willingly will I carry the -travellers to and fro.’ And thereupon he built a hut of reeds, and -dwelt among the water-rats and beavers on the river’s brink, carrying -pilgrims over the river cheerfully, like a camel or an elephant. But if -any one offered him ferry-money, he said, ‘I labor for eternal life!’ -And when now, after many years, Offerus’s hair had grown white, one -stormy night a plaintive little voice called to him, ‘Dear, good, tall -Offerus, carry me across.’ Offerus was tired and sleepy; but he thought -faithfully of Jesus Christ, and with weary arms seizing the pine-trunk -which was his staff when the floods swelled high, he waded through -the water, but saw no pilgrim there; so he thought, ‘I was dreaming,’ -and went back and lay down to sleep. Again came the little voice, -plaintive and touching, ‘Offerus, good, dear, great, tall Offerus, -carry me across.’ Patiently the old giant crossed the river again; but -neither man nor mouse was to be seen; and he went back again, and fell -asleep, when once more came the little voice, clear, and plaintive, and -imploring, “Good, dear, giant Offerus, carry me across.” The third time -he seized his pine-stem, and went through the cold river. This time -he found a tender, fair little boy, with golden hair. In his left hand -was the standard of the Lamb; in his right, the globe. He looked at the -giant with eyes full of love and trust, and Offerus lifted him up with -two fingers; but when he entered the river, the little child weighed -on him like a ton. Heavier and heavier grew the weight, until the -water almost reached his chin; great drops of sweat stood on his brow, -and he had nearly sunk in the stream with the little one. However, he -struggled through, and, tottering to the other side, set the child -gently down on the bank, and said, ‘My little Lord, prithee, come not -this way again, for scarcely have I escaped this time with life.’ But -the fair child baptized Offerus on the spot, and said to him, ‘Know, -all thy sins are forgiven; and, although thy limbs tottered, fear not, -nor marvel, but rejoice; thou hast carried the Saviour of the world! -For a token, plant thy pine-trunk, so long dead and leafless, in the -earth; to-morrow it shall shoot out green twigs. And henceforth thou -shalt not be called Offerus, but Christopher.’ Then Christopher folded -his arms, and prayed, and said, ‘I feel my end draws nigh. My limbs -tremble; my strength fails; and God has forgiven me all my sins.’ -Thereupon the child vanished in light; and Christopher set his staff -in the earth. And so, on the morrow, it shot out green leaves and red -blossoms, like an almond. And three days afterwards the angels carried -Christopher to Paradise.” - -Anna’s eyes swam in tears as Gutenberg finished his graphic and -touching rehearsal, and she said, “A most hopeful history. May you, my -husband, worthily achieve some good work, like St. Christopher!” - -“Aye, dear; and, God helping me I will do something: the world is full -of useful labor, which calleth for willing hearts and hands. And the -Lord Christ meeteth with his blessing the patient laborers who faint -not.” - -“I can never think,” said the wife, “of equaling St. Christopher or -thee in good works, since I am neither strong nor wise; but I will even -do what I can, and help thee bear thy burdens. But it may be the gentle -Christ will freely _give_ me eternal life, since I have no means to -purchase it.” - -“Aye, Anna, that would be so like Him: and to me also, for I am no -saint, and dare not hope to be.” - -“But I value the picture the more since your recital,” said Anna. “Even -if it cannot, as you think, preserve us from evil, it can incite us to -persevere in doing well.” - -“Aye, dear,” rejoined Gutenberg, “and devotional pictures like this are -much to be prized; they in some sort fill the place of books, which -are so rare and costly. But valuable as this picture is, I found it -surpassed in the Cathedral. Dost remember I carried thither the jewels -which the Abbot employed me to polish? He took me into the library, -and showed me books of engraved pictures, each far more excellent -than our ‘St. Christopher.’ These books were the ‘Ars Memorandi,’ -‘Ars Moriendi,’ and ‘Biblia Pauperum,’ which last consists of forty -pictures, with written explanations.” - -“Truly a marvel,--a book of pictures! And what do they signify?” - -“The ‘Biblia Pauperum,’ or ‘Bible for the Poor,’ is a history or series -of sketches from the Old and New Testaments; it is sometimes so called -instead of the name I first mentioned.” - -“Aye, I remember to have heard of it, but would fain learn more about -it.” - -“Its forty pictures were made by impressing paper with engraved blocks, -as in the ‘St. Christopher.’ The color is brown, the pictures are -placed opposite each other, and the blank backs are pasted together -into one strong leaf.” - -“Pray, how large are the pictures?” and her interest growing with her -husband’s recital, she quite forgot the work on which she was engaged, -as he went on to say,-- - -“They are each ten inches high and seven or eight inches wide, and -consist of three pictures which are separated by lines; and, moreover, -there are four half-length figures of prophets, two above and two below -the larger pictures. Latin inscriptions are on each side of the upper -figures, also verses in rhyme on each side of the lower, and other -sentences on labels at the bottom of the whole.” - -“Wonderful truly! and what more?” - -“The middle pictures are from the New Testament, the others from the -Old; and the latter in some way allude to or explain the former.” - -“But what interests me most in this book,” added Gutenberg, “is the -fact that it is printed from blocks, like the ‘St. Christopher.’” - -“Dost thou truly think so? Art thou well advised that it is not the -handicraft of a skillful scribe?” - -“Assuredly I am; it was not made with a pen, but with the engraved -blocks, which are to be chosen rather than the slower mode of copying, -since being once for all engraved, a number of books can be imprinted -as easily as one.” - -“Aye,” returned Anna, “and they will be cheaper than the works written -out by the scribes, and still be so dear that whoever maketh them must -become enriched by their sale. If thou art taken with this tide, it -will lead thee on to fortune. Thou art ingenious; and canst thou not -make a ‘Biblia Pauperum?’” - -“A ‘Biblia Pauperum!’ Little wife, thou must be dreaming.” And -Gutenberg saw that she had penetrated his secret. - -“But couldst thou not?” she persisted archly; “thou art so wise at -devising things difficult to be accomplished.” - -Gutenberg laughed, saying, “I will even bethink me of it when nothing -of more service can be done.” - -But although the suggestion of Anna had been treated as a new and -impracticable idea, it was one, as she had divined, that Gutenberg was -revolving; and seizing the first leisure hour, he commenced engraving a -block, choosing for his subject as simplest and nearest at hand, one of -the images of the playing cards. - -Anna’s estimate of Gutenberg was just. He had a passion for mechanical -studies; and history tells us that “he invented many wonderful arts,” -some of which were connected with his occupation. Not content with -following the beaten track, his mind was fertile in expedients for -saving labor and perfecting his work. He devised ways to improve -the process of polishing stones and mirrors; and these new methods -were ranked by the observing among his “arts.” These “arts” were -stepping-stones to something better and higher--to the crowning -discovery of his life. The great art could only be reached by -patiently ascending to it through many lower steps of toil and -invention. “It seems,” says one, “that every advancement of humanity is -purchased with tears, and that suffering is the fatal law of all great -beginnings.” - -But how eventful the path he trod, we shall see as we progress. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: ARMED KNIGHT. - -(Specimen of early engraving.)] - - - - -[Illustration] - -III. - - Ancient Books and their Materials.--Sculptures.--Printing - in China.--Use of Metals.--Seal.--Stencils.--Waxen Tablets.-- - Bark, Leaves, Shells.--Papyrus.--Parchments.--Paper.--Palimpsests. - --Books written by Hand.--The Scriptorium.--Copyists and their - Habits.--Illuminations.--Character of Ancient Books.--Scarcity - and Costliness of Books.--Richard de Bury and Library.--Statutes - of St. Mary’s College.--Books Chained.--Abundance of Books in - Modern Times. - - -Leaving Gutenberg occupied with his experiment, let us glance briefly -at the books of that day, and the modes in which they were made and -given to the world. - -The most ancient materials used for recording events were bricks, -tiles, shells, and tables of stone. The modes of writing on these -different substances were various. The tiles and brick were impressed -with a stamp when in a soft state; the shells and tablets of stone were -etched or graven, the figures or characters being cut in their surface, -and in some cases also stained with various colors. It was by the -ancient art of stamping that the walls, palaces, and towers of Babylon -were covered with hieroglyphics, which have but recently been brought -to light from under the immense mounds of Mesopotamia by Layard and -other explorers. - -[Illustration: Babylonian Brick.] - -The patriarch Job, who is supposed to have lived about 2,300 years -after the creation, exclaimed, “O that my words were now written! O -that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron -pen, and hid in the rock forever!” Stung with the unjust accusation -of his friends, he desires to record his words that the generations -following might see the justice of his cause. The English translation -has given the allusion to printing to the text, the original word -signifying rather to ingrave on a plate, which was doubtless the only -printing known to Job. - -Montfauçon purchased at Rome in 1699 an ancient book entirely composed -of lead. It was about four inches long and three inches wide; and not -only were the two pieces that formed the cover, and the leaves, six -in number, of lead, but also the stick inserted through the rings to -hold the leaves together, as well as the hinges and nails. It contained -figures of Egyptian idols, and unintelligible writing. - -China, our ancestor in invention, from remote ages had a kind of -stereotyping or printing. It was not, however, as some have supposed, -like our printing, phonetic, or the expression of sound, but, like the -Egyptian, hieroglyphical; being purely of an artificial structure, -denoting every idea by its appropriate sign without any relation to -the utterance, and speaking to the eye like the numerical ciphers of -the Europeans, which every one understands and utters in his own way. -And like most other nations of antiquity, the Chinese were content to -remain without alphabetical writing. It is, however, due to the Chinese -to add, that they led the way in making good printing-paper. When they -invented making it, does not appear, some affirming that they had the -use of it from time immemorial; others that they first discovered it in -the second century of the Christian era. - -Brass, as more durable, was used for inscriptions designed to last the -longest, such as treaties, laws, and alliances. Seals, also, were used -by the ancients for impressing soft substances. In the British Museum -there is a stamp of metal with raised letters. On the back of it is a -ring, enabling the owner to wear it as a signet; his name, Caius Julius -Cæcilius Hermias, being engraved in reversed letters upon it. - - +-------------+ - | CICAECILI | - | HERMIAE.SN. | - +-------------+ - -Expanded according to the modern practice, the signet reads:-- - - C. I. CÆCILII HERMIÆ SIGNUM. - _Caii Julii Cæcilii Hermiæ Signum._ - -This seal of Hermias was intended for stamping parchment with ink, -as is shown by the fact that the roughness of the surface below the -letters unfits it for stamping any soft substance into which it would -sink, as into wax. If rubbed with printer’s ink and pressed upon paper, -it prints very well. Thus the seed of this noble art was among the -Romans. With a block of wood covered with raised letters, they might -have printed a page, as well as a single name. But they were suffered -to grope their way from age to age blindfolded to the art of which they -had the clew. They almost grasped the great discovery, unconscious of -the prize. - -Quintilian, speaking of the education of youth, says, “When the boy has -begun to trace the forms of the letters, it will be useful for him to -have the letters of the tablet engraved, that through them, as through -furrows, he may draw his style. For thus he will neither make mistakes, -being prevented by the edges on both sides, nor will he be able to go -beyond the proper bound; and by tracing quickly and frequently certain -forms, he will strengthen his joints, and will not need the assistance -of some one to put his hand above his own, and guide it.” Here we find -that the old Romans knew something of the art of stenciling. - -The Emperor Justin, who lived in the sixth century, could not write, -and, to avoid the shame of making only a mark for his name, caused -holes to be bored through a tablet in the shape of the first four -letters of his name. Through these holes he traced the letters in red -ink. Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, it is said, wrote his name -through a gold plate, in the same manner. - -Tablets, or little tables of wood, as well as of metal, came at -length to take the place of stone tables. The thin wooden tables were -sometimes covered with wax, which was written upon with a style, or -ivory pencil. These were so much like tracing in the sand, as soon to -be laid aside, and the smooth, inner bark of trees, called _liber_ in -the Latin, was used instead; also the leaves of the palm-tree, cloths -of cotton and linen, the intestines and skins of animals, and the backs -of tortoises. We derive our name _book_ from the Danish _bog_, the -beech-tree, since that was used to engrave on in Denmark, because of -its abundance. - -The Egyptians very early employed a broad-leafed rush growing on the -banks of the Nile, as a material upon which to write. This was the -_papyrus_, a word which has given its name to our modern paper. Large -bundles of papyrus manuscripts, covered with hieroglyphics, have been -found in the ancient tombs and temples of that country, some of which -are capable of being deciphered at the present day. - -Parchment, which is the prepared skins of animals, came into use B. C. -250. It was so called from Pergamus (_membrana pergamea_), whose king, -Eumenes, seeking to collect a library which should vie with that of -Alexandria, and being debarred a supply of papyrus by the jealousy -of the Ptolemies, had recourse to this substitute. After the eighth -century, parchment generally took the place of papyrus. - -Ancient books were not commonly disposed in a square form, as with us, -but were _rolled_ up. Hence the word _volume_, signifying a roll. - -Paper from cotton and linen rags began, it is thought, to be made -as early as the ninth century. For several centuries, however, the -manufacture was so scanty as to increase very little the facilities for -copying. Gradually, it became more plentiful, and writing material of -small cost laid the foundation for that cheap and expeditious mode of -copying which we call printing. - -In the age when parchment was used, it was often difficult to be -obtained; and it became common to erase the original writing from a -manuscript and trace another upon it. A parchment thus used was called -_palimpsest_, which means “twice prepared for writing.” Thus, many -valuable works were destroyed to make way for newer, and, in some -cases, less important ones. Happily we live in a time when we have no -occasion to destroy one library to produce another. - -It seems strange, too, that a transcriber familiar with the labor of -copying would not be deterred by his love of learning from putting even -one book out of existence. But necessity knew no law; and the writer, -deeming his own work to possess greater utility, sacrificed another to -make room for it,--to such straits were the scribes sometimes brought -for the lack of writing material. Struggling to express thought, -there was no room to put it down. Written language, scarcely second -to spoken language, had almost perished; and had the art of printing -been invented before paper was known, it would have been comparatively -useless. - -The writing and rewriting on parchment, as it was often done two -or three times, has recently led learned men to make these ancient -parchments a study; and they have thus deciphered or read the last -writing, then, effacing that, have deciphered the second, and, effacing -that, have read the first,--often the most valuable,--and in this way -have brought to light lost works, and found out many important facts of -history. - -The books of those early days were written out by hand, _manuscripta_; -and the profession of the copyist was one of the most numerous, -honorable, and lucrative. Some booksellers employed great numbers of -copyists, paying them salaries, and made their own livelihood on the -profits of selling the works thus copied. There were in Rome, and in -some of the great cities of Greece and of Asia, particular places where -such works were sold. The rich also sometimes had slaves, prized more -highly and treated more familiarly than other slaves, who were devoted -by them to copying the works of antiquity and of their time, for their -libraries. Government, too, employed a great many copyists for its -edicts, and orators employed them in transcribing their discourses. -Later, the eunuchs copied at Byzantium the chief works of Greek, -Latin, and Hebrew antiquity. Finally, there were the monks, who, in -the retirement of the monasteries, gave their time very much to the -multiplication of books by the slow process of writing. - -In every great religious house, or abbey, there was an apartment -called the scriptorium, or writing-room, where boys and young men were -employed from morning till night in copying the singing-books of the -choir, and the less valuable books of the library. Only a few of the -monks copied in this large apartment, enough to give directions, and -keep order among the boys and novices. Most of the “Holy Fathers,” as -they chose to be styled, spent their time in the cells, transcribing -Bibles and other valuable works. - -[Illustration] - -A monk copying. He has a cowl on his head, and wears the priest’s long -gown with flowing sleeves. His waist is girt with a belt; and he sits -bolt upright, or slightly leans forward in the most perpendicular of -arm-chairs, which seems to be joined to the desk of his cell. How -curiously he holds his quill and pointed ferule! His prior is cautious -and methodical; for he has chained the manuscript from which the monk -is copying to the wall, as if experience had taught him that he cannot -overmuch trust the brothers. - -An author of those times would make a similar appearance, save that -there would be no book before him, unless for reference. - -Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, in his “Philobiblion,” a treatise -on the love of books, written by him in Latin in 1344, gives a good -picture of the transcriber, or copyist of the monastery. He says: “As -it is necessary for a State to provide military arms, and prepare -plentiful stores of provisions for soldiers who are about to fight, so -it is evidently worth the labor of the Church to fortify itself against -the attacks of pagans and heretics with a multitude of sound books. -But, because everything that is of use to mortals decays through lapse -of time, it is necessary for volumes corroded by age to be restored -by new successors, that books may not cease to exist. Hence it is -that Ecclesiastes truly says, in the 12th chapter, ‘There is no end -of making many books.’ For, as the bodies of books decay, so a remedy -is found out by the prudence of clerks, by which a holy book paying -the debt of nature [_i. e._, dying] may have one succeed it, and a -seed may be raised up like to the most holy deceased, and that saying -of Ecclesiastes, chapter thirtieth, be verified: ‘The father is dead, -and as it were not dead, for he hath left behind him a son like unto -himself.’” - -Then he goes on to upbraid the priests for soiling books, giving us -rather an unfavorable impression concerning the habits of the monks. -One would suppose that they could command the leisure to keep clean. -The Bishop just quoted deplores “the unwashed hands, the dirty nails, -the greasy elbows leaning upon the volume, the munching of fruit and -cheese over the open leaves, which were the marks of careless and idle -readers,” and suggestive also, some would say, of lack of culture and -refinement, and even that their religion was of a low type; else would -it not, at least, have produced the virtue which is next to godliness? - -Then follow sound and sensible directions how to use books. “Let there -be a mature decorum in opening and closing of volumes, that they may -neither be unclasped with precipitous haste, nor thrown aside after use -without being duly closed.” - -Says an English writer: “When a volume was at last produced in fair -parchment, or vellum, after the arduous labor of years, it was covered -with immensely thick lids of wood and leather, studded with large -nails, and curiously clasped, and was studiously preserved from the -common gaze on the shelves of the monastic library. - -“The splendid volumes thus made, bore evidence, however, not only -of persevering industry, but of great ingenuity; the letters at the -beginning of each chapter or section being adorned with curious -devices. Frequently, too, a painting called an illumination was -introduced radiant with gold, crimson, and azure. But no vulgar or -unpriestly eyes looked on their contents, unless, indeed, we except -kings and princes; they were only unclasped on days of solemnity, by -the abbot or the prior, and then restored, like the jewels of the -priesthood, to their dusty cases.” - -Montgomery says, “The readers of those days were rather gluttons than -epicures in their taste for literature,” canonizing all books because -they were books, as children eulogize their toys without noticing the -quality. “To say all that could be said on any theme, whether in verse -or prose, was the fashion of the times; and as few read but those who -were devoted to reading by an irresistible passion or professional -necessity, and few wrote but those who were equally impelled by an -inveterate instinct, great books were the natural produce of the -latter, who knew not how to make little ones; and great books only -could appease the voracity of the former. Great books, therefore, -were both the fruits and the proofs of the ignorance of the age. They -were mostly composed in the gloom and torpor of the cloister, and it -almost required a human life to read the works of an author of this -description, because it was nearly as easy to compound as to digest -such crudities.” These labors of the learned could not of course -interest the common people, as they could neither understand nor buy -them. These were books without meaning,--with so little logic and -connection that the more one read, the deeper he got into the maze or -tangled mass of words. “And the lucubrations through a thousand years, -of many a noble, many a lovely mind, which only wanted better direction -how to unfold its energies or display its graces to benefit or delight -mankind, were but passing meteors, that made visible the darkness out -of which they rose, and into which they sank again to be hid forever.” - -Nevertheless, we owe it to the monks to say that there were many -good and learned men among them, and for much that is valuable in -our libraries we can not thank them enough. We can never consult a -concordance of the Bible without calling to mind that they first -conceived the idea of such a work, and numbers of them, jointly -laboring long and incessantly, nobly laid its foundations, on which -others who came after raised the structure and reaped the glory. - -It will be readily inferred from what has been said that books in -those times were scarce and costly. Only the rich could afford to have -them, and they had but very few. The monasteries and universities -had libraries, and occasionally one was found in the castles of the -nobility. The Cathedral of Nôtre Dame, in Strasbourg, was famed for -its splendid collection of five hundred volumes. The Countess of Anjou -bought a book of Homilies, paying for it two hundred sheep, five -quarters of wheat, and the same quantity of rye and millet. Henry V., -King of England, borrowed a book from the Countess of Westmoreland; and -not having returned it at his death, the Countess petitioned the Privy -Council that it might be restored to her by an order under the privy -seal, which was done with all formality. - -Richard de Bury, whom we have already mentioned, had gathered in his -life-time, by copying with his own hand and by purchase, a valuable -library. In his will he bestowed a portion of it upon “a company -of scholars residing in a hall at Oxford,” and one of his chapters -is headed “A Provident Arrangement by which Books may be lent to -Strangers,” meaning, by strangers, students of Oxford not belonging to -that hall. - -This library, from which a book could not be borrowed without giving -ample security, was finally given to Durham, now Trinity College, and -contained more books than all the bishops of England had then in their -possession. For many years after they were received they were kept in -chests, under the custody of several scholars chosen for that purpose. -It was not till the reign of Henry IV. that a library was built in -that college; and then the books were taken out of the old sepulchral -chests, and “were put into pews or studies and chained to them.” In -1300, the library of Oxford consisted of a few tracts kept in a chest. - -[Illustration: Chained Bible.] - -The statutes of St. Mary’s College, Oxford, in the reign of Henry VI., -furnish striking proof of the obstacles to study caused by a scarcity -of books. “Let no scholar occupy a book in the library above one hour, -or two hours at most, so that others shall be hindered from the use of -the same.” This reveals quite a famine of books, but not so great as -at a still earlier period of the Church, when one book was given out -by the librarian to each of a religious fraternity at the beginning of -Lent, to be read diligently during the year, and to be returned the -following Lent. - -The old way of shutting up books in chests shows that they could not -be often changed, for whenever one was wanted the whole pile must be -disturbed. The next plan was to allow the books the privilege of light -and air, but to chain them to desks and in cages, as if their keepers -looked upon them literally as riches with wings ready to fly away. - -The following passage, malediction of some grim friar perhaps, was -often written on the first leaf of a book: “Cursed be he who shall -steal or tear out the leaves, or in any way injure this book.” - -A milder and more modern couplet, is-- - - “Steal not this book for fear of shame, - For here you see the owner’s name.” - -Thus various were the devices from time to time to secure the -possession of treasures more precious than gold. - -How different the state of things at this day! Instead of being rare -and expensive luxuries, books are abundant both in the homes of the -rich and the poor. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -IV. - - An Important Step.--Engraving a Name.--Engraving Pictures.-- - Superstitions.--Difficulties overcome.--An Improvement.-- - Experiment and Progress.--A New Book.--Cheerful Thoughts. - - -One day, a few weeks after the events in our second chapter, Gutenberg -surprised his wife as she sat sewing by the window, saying,-- - -“Behold some of my handicraft!” showing her a number of cards. - -“Ah, and so you did not give up the project? and you have succeeded so -well! One could not distinguish between these and the old ones, save -that these are newer and fresher.” - -“Nevertheless, this is but a step; it availeth me little till I can -frame letters, and impress them on vellum in like manner. It remains -that I try thy name, my Anna. I cannot fail to engrave that name on -wood, which hath been so long traced on my heart!” And to his loving -glance there beamed a happy light in her eyes, and her cheeks were -aglow, as he betook him to writing her name on a small wooden tablet. -Cutting away the wood, except the writing lines, he left the letters -raised, or in relief, and thus formed a stamp of his wife’s name. -Moistening it with ink, he placed a piece of paper over it, and, gently -pressing it upon the letters, beheld, on lifting it, the word imprinted -upon the paper. - -[Illustration: Anna] - -We of this age of books and papers cannot enter into his emotions. But -Anna could, and so the good man did not miss our sympathy. - -“Famously done!” she exclaimed; “it is the likeness of writing.” - -Does this seem to us a curious commendation of printing, that it -resembled writing? But the manuscript letter was the only one known as -yet, and it was natural to judge the result of the new experiment by -its agreement with that letter. - -“Aye, I think myself it is not a failure,” said Gutenberg; “and I fancy -it would not be difficult for me to produce a copy of that picture of -‘St. Christopher,’ I mean by suitable patience and perseverance.” - -“But was not that done with a pen?” - -“Nay: it appears so, but on examination I find that it was made with -an engraved block;” and taking the rude print from the wall, he showed -upon the back of it the marks of the stylus, or burnisher by which it -was rubbed upon the letters. “Rest assured from this that they were -never produced by a pen, as in common writing.” - -“Well,” returned the good wife, “it would truly be a pious act to -multiply the picture of ‘St. Christopher,’ since a blessing will follow -him who looketh upon it. I would fain have one in our sleeping-room, -that my eyes may light upon it when I awake.” - -Poor Anna! she had already forgotten Gutenberg’s sensible remark on a -former occasion. Educated to attach a superstitious value to sacred -pictures, she still relied on them. This perverted trust, however, -shows that she felt her need of the protection and favor of a higher -than human power. - -Encouraged by the approbation of his wife, and nerved by that passion -which urges the inventor onward in the pathway of discovery, Gutenberg -undertook the task with alacrity. First he met the difficulty of -finding wood suitable for engraving. Some kinds were too soft and -porous, others liable to split. After many trials, he selected the -wood of the apple-tree. This has a fine grain, is dense and compact, -and sufficiently firm to bear the process of engraving. In modern -times box-wood is almost exclusively used in this art, as superior to -all other species in the qualities required. It is sawed in blocks -crosswise of the grain, and these polished and whitened, present a -surface almost as smooth as ivory, and capable of receiving the finest -touches of the pencil and the graving tool. - -Another difficulty in his course was the want of tools; his unfailing -genius came to the rescue, and tool after tool was contrived, until -his tool-box showed an array of knives, saws, chisels, and gravers of -various patterns, each one in its turn having been duly admired by the -pair of bright eyes that followed his progress. - -At first Gutenberg drew the portrait of the saint and the inscriptions -accompanying it on the same block; but in later experiments he hit upon -the idea of having them on separate pieces, the different blocks being -nicely fitted together in printing. This was an onward step, which he -viewed with satisfaction. - -“These movable blocks will be of service,” said he to Anna; “for I can -complete the picture as well as the letters better in this way, and, -when desirable, can embellish the writing with ink of another color.” - -At length, when the “St. Christopher” appeared, printed from the -improved block, Anna exclaimed that it was far better than the old one. - -“Yes,” replied Gutenberg, “but I perceive that it is not perfect. No -picture can be properly executed without thicker ink. This flows too -readily, and with all my care I can scarcely avoid blotting.” - -It required many experiments and much patience to surmount this -difficulty of the ink. He found finally that a preparation of oil would -best serve his purpose. The color might be varied according to the -ingredients used. In the earliest works which have come down to us, it -is of a darkish brown, and appears to have been made of umber. This -was chosen probably in imitation of the old drawings which served as -copies. A mixture of lamp-black with oil gives a black ink; and this is -substantially the composition of printer’s ink at the present day. - -As Gutenberg experimented, Anna watched his progress with excited -interest. When he had succeeded in preparing an ink of suitable -quality, she saw that he needed some means of spreading it evenly upon -the block. - -“Now indeed thou canst aid me,” said he; “stuff and sew this piece -of sheep-skin, while I prepare the paper for the impressions.” The -nimbly flying fingers soon completed the task; and when Gutenberg had -added a handle to the ball, the first printer’s dabber was ready. -“One more servant of my art,” Gutenberg pleasantly said as he dipped -it in the ink which he had ground upon a slab, and applied it to a -block. He then laid the paper upon it, and, with the polished handle of -one of his graving tools, carefully smoothed and pressed it upon the -raised portions of the block,--both picture and its letters. He then -cautiously removed it, and both viewed the result with joyful emotions. - -“The new ink works marvelously!” said the inventor. - -“And this print even surpasses your first attempt!” - -“Yes, and I value it the more for the labor and contrivance it has cost -me.” - -“Now I shall want a ‘St. Christopher’ in every room,” said Anna; “it -will be like having more good people in the house, and our lives will -be inspired by the memory of what they have done.” - -“But what am I to do?” rejoined Gutenberg. “I cannot afford the time -and money to occupy myself in making pictures, unless it can also be -turned to some pecuniary advantage.” - -“And is there no way of acquiring money from them?” - -“Not at present. I have, however, made an improvement on the pictures; -they will grace our humble home, and it may be that I can make them -useful to others.” - -“Yes, for whoever seeth them will want one.” - -“And be willing to pay for it?” - -“Aye, why not?” - -“We shall see. Thou hast confidence in my experiments.” - -“Ah, indeed have I; since I perceive that thou hast the power of -devising wonderful arts!” - -Thus cheerily did the lapidary’s wife encourage him, admiring his work, -suggesting the bright side of affairs, then tripping out into the yard -to console the pigeons with seeds, to water her flowers, and train the -wild-growing climbers within bounds, her heart the meanwhile full of -her husband’s enterprise; and she murmured to herself,-- - -“John will succeed, and we shall be delivered from our trouble.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -V. - - Pecuniary Troubles.--An Expedient.--Disappointment.--The Jewels.--A - Sale.--Apprentices.--Visit to the Cathedral.--A New Enterprise. - - -Gutenberg’s gratifying success was not devoid of trial, as has been -hinted. In his hasty flight from Mentz, he had little money with him, -and years of embarrassment followed, despite his diligence in business -and economy. His mother’s remittances had been carefully husbanded; but -since engaging in block-printing, this store had wasted away. - -How could he retrieve his losses, and gain means to bring out other -discoveries? He revolved the matter while Anna slept, and, rising with -early dawn, took impressions of the “St. Christopher.” At breakfast he -told his wife of his purpose to sell them to his neighbors. She warmly -approved, and offered to arrange them in the shop, greatly to the -relief of Gutenberg, who answered with emotion, - -“So thoughtful of thee, my Anna; and our necessity urgeth speedy sales.” - -“Aye, they shall beautify the shop,” said the little lady as she -arranged the cuts, placing one here, another there, and viewing the -effect of the light, and hied her to the adjoining room, just when Mrs. -Anna Schultheiss stepped into the shop on her way home from market. Her -dowry jewels were being reset, and she was anxious to get them. - -“My jewels not done yet!” she exclaimed, “All, indeed, master, and how -can I go to the marriage-feast, wanting them?” - -“Be content, mistress,” replied Gutenberg; “thou shall have them at -sunset.” - -“Thanks, good master; but what pictures are these?” glancing around -the room as she spoke. As he passed one for her inspection, she cried: -“Mirabile! the good saint! See him bearing the infant Jesus over the -water. How could the child have forded the stream without him? Wrap -the picture nicely, and I will take it home with me. My husband is a -formschneider, and thou mayst need his aid.” Gutenberg crimsoned, but -gave her the cut on her own terms, and she bore it away with delight. - -When next a neighbor called, and after admiring the prints, purchased -one, the inventor breathed more freely; and the lively sound of his -graving tools soon indicated how greatly encouragement lightened his -toil. - -Others, however, calling to purchase gems, chose the pictures. At the -evening meal Anna was radiant, and congratulated her husband that the -pictures found a ready sale. - -“Nevertheless, I have lost money to-day,” replied he, a little -depressed. - -“Ah! and how did it happen?” - -“Those who purchased prints had purposed to buy gems, and a fair -estimation makes me the loser. The pictures draw attention from my -jewels and mirrors, and do not return an equivalent. I fear the two -pursuits will so conflict as to prevent success with either!” - -Anna was illy prepared for this intelligence, and urged, “But thou wilt -do better when used to both labors. Moreover, I can aid thee. Did I not -arrange the cuts? And when the wood-carrier admired my print, did I not -sell him one, and allow him to bring wood in payment?” - -“Thou hast well earned a benediction,” returned the husband, smiling. - -“When dost thou go to Nôtre Dame Cathedral?” asked Anna. - -“When I shall have finished the Father’s jewels. I must confess to -thee, dear, as before, that in engraving blocks I have lost ground in -my trade.” - -“Nevertheless,” replied Anna, bent on dispelling his despondency, “it -is a favorable omen that thy handicraft of pictures is of the saint -that shieldeth from evil.” - -By dint of close application, Gutenberg, having completed the -Superior’s jewels by noon of the next day, returned to his engraved -blocks, and before evening of the second day had given the finishing -touch to several prints. Laden with jewels and pictures, he left the -house, Anna wishing him Godspeed, and watching him till the mass of -vines, shrubbery, and apple-trees hid him from sight. The cloistered -Cathedral was not far distant, yet the winding way which led there was -quickly lost in the luxuriant foliage. - -On his arrival he was ushered into the library, which might be termed a -scriptorium, or monks’ writing-room, so many copyists there plied the -pen. Having delivered the jewels, he showed his pictures. - -“Whose handicraft may this be?” quoth a gray-headed friar. - -“The name of the artisan doth not appear,” was the reply. - -“Where didst thou obtain them?” asked another. - -“Suffer me to keep a little secret,” replied Gutenberg, “which would -not benefit thee if told.” - -“I will purchase the entire lot,” said the Abbot, after examining them. -“They will grace the walls of the library, and tend to preserve us from -evil.” - -Anna came running to meet Gutenberg as he returned, and was well -pleased to learn of the sale. - -“And now,” said she, “thou art in a fair way to get rich!” But -Gutenberg said, gravely,-- - -“We must not forget that the steady gains of a regular business are -more to be relied on than occasional successes in other pursuits.” Yet -Gutenberg was himself loath to take this view, and turned reluctantly -to his trade. - -Not long after, he was surprised one morning by the entrance of Andrew -Dritzhn, an intelligent citizen of Strasbourg, stout and hale-looking, -and about thirty-five years of age. Taking a seat, he wound through a -long talk, and at last made known his errand, which was to ask that -Gutenberg would allow him to come and learn his trade. The latter loved -the quiet of his own thoughts too well to choose the presence of a -workman in his shop. - -But when he considered that if he once had a good artisan in his -employ, the jewel and mirror business could go on, and himself have -more time for his printing researches, he decided to engage Dritzhn. -But no sooner was Dritzhn in favor with his new employer than he -introduced his friends Hielman, whose brother was the first paper-maker -in Strasbourg, and Riffe, who craved a like favor of being admitted -to learn Gutenberg’s trade. The shop now presented a busy scene with -three apprentices,--Dritzhn, careful, plodding, ingenious, and eager -to learn; Riffe, mostly engaged on mirrors, complacently catching -glimpses of his own round visage as his work waxed bright; and Hielman, -polishing jewels and making himself generally useful. But what with the -din of the wheel, saw, chisel, and polisher, the inventor had little -time for thought. It was, “How shall I do this, Master Gutenberg?” -“What next, master?” from morning till night; and he could not command -time to pursue his engraved blocks, as he had hoped. Yet it was -necessary, for the purpose of disguising from his associates for a -longer time the real object of his secret enterprise, to devote himself -with them to many curious and secondary industries. There was “the -cutting and fashioning of precious stones; the polishing of Venetian -glass to make mirrors; cutting the mirrors into facettes or diamonds; -the encasing them in copper frames, which he enriched with figures of -wood representing personages of fable and of the Bible.” These mirrors -were sold at the fair of Aix-la-Chapelle, and helped the funds of the -association, as well as Gutenberg in the secret expenses destined to -accomplish and perfect his invention. To secure the needed seclusion, -he fitted up a room, and spent his evenings on the hidden art in the -presence of Anna, after the workmen had left the front shop. - -For the purpose of selling “St. Christophers,” he again visited Nôtre -Dame; and on his return, Anna’s glance at his face assured her that he -brought good news. - -“Ah,” said he, “but it is not because I have returned with much money, -although I may have done as well.” And undoing a wrapper he produced -the “Historia Sancti Johannis Evangelistæ,” or “History of St. John the -Evangelist,” which he had obtained in exchange for cuts. “What think -you of this?” said he. “See, it is written on vellum with illuminated -initials,[2] and has sixty-three pages. And observe, it is copied with -a pen: some patient monk has toiled over this many a weary day in his -cell. But I have a plan which I think will be an improvement, which is -to engrave it as I did the picture.” - - [2] _Vellum._ A finer kind of parchment or skin, rendered clear - and white for writing. _Illuminated initials._ Capital - letters, commencing a chapter or paragraph were said to be - illuminated when made large and painted in colors; often - being ornamented with delicate devices of flowers, birds or - animals. The monks were skilled in this adornment of books. - -“Engrave a book! It would be delightful to have one made by thine own -skill!” - -“Yes, and when once the blocks are engraved for the book,--a block for -a page, sixty-three blocks, I can impress a score of books as well as -one copy.” - -“And thou canst sell books as well as the monks!” cried Anna joyfully. -“Neither wilt thou be shut up in a cloister a year to copy one small -book; but I wouldn’t wonder when the blocks are prepared, if thou -couldst make a book in a day, even saving time and earning money!” - -“A likely matter truly! but we must not build air-castles!” Sage -advice for him to give who was himself a castle-builder, as are all -enthusiastic people,--may they never be less; for what would be done in -this work-a-day world without the healthful stimulus of the illusions -of hope? - -A small table in the sitting-room was at evening a work-bench. It was -neatly covered in the daytime, and Anna’s work-box was on it. But -the inventor found it necessary to seek entire seclusion for some of -his processes, and secured, it is said, a fitting place in the ruins -of the St. Arbogast Monastery, abandoned to the moles and the bats -save the part which was inhabited by the poor people of the suburbs -of Strasbourg; and there, in a forsaken cloister, he established his -secret study and work-shop, whither he withdrew whenever his presence -could be spared from the front shop. Not even to Anna did he divulge -his hidden work. She was content, knowing that in good time she would -know the result. - -Evening came, and in the quiet home-room the inventor commenced -engraving the first page of the “History of St. John,” carefully -tracing the letters on the smooth surface of the block, and imitating -the most approved copyist’s hand. As Anna watched him, she thought them -perfect, and with good reason. - -Toil on, busy worker! Glorious things will follow thy labor! - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -VI. - - Unwelcome Visitors.--Unjust Demand.--A Compromise.--Secret Firm.--A - Removal.--Teaching the Workmen.--Block Printing.--Success. - - -Day after day Gutenberg busied himself with his associates in various -labors, except at intervals, when he engraved blocks, enlivened by the -sprightly presence of Anna, or pursued his experiments in the recesses -of the monastery. - -“How famously you get on!” said Anna, one evening, as she counted his -pile of finished blocks while he wrought at his engraving. - -There was a knock; and, in an instant, to the consternation of both, -Dritzhn and Hielman opened the door, and, without ceremony, entered. -Gutenberg was surprised with block and graving tools in hand, and the -“Historia” open before him. - -“Ah! what have we here?” asked Dritzhn, stepping up to him; “something -new in mystery?” - -“Excuse me,” replied the inventor, coloring, “if I waive an explanation -for the present.” - -“But,” said Hielman, drawing nearer and speaking in excited tones,--for -he was a close man in money matters,--“thou didst engage to teach us -thy arts, if we would pay thee.” - -“It is true,” answered Gutenberg, “that I did covenant to show thee my -arts of the lapidary and mirror business, but that agreement did not -cover other arts which are only partly known to myself.” - -“Be persuaded to do the fair thing, good master,” said Dritzhn. - -“In paying thee,” added Hielman, “we understood that thou wouldst teach -us all thy arts. We want our money’s worth.” - -“I have found it necessary,” observed Gutenberg, not appearing to -notice the remark, “to be favored with quiet and seclusion in pursuing -any new branch of business, and I cannot succeed in this unless it be -kept a profound secret. Still money is needed to carry it on.” - -This only made Dritzhn more eager to learn the nature of the -enterprise; and he answered, “If that be all, we can keep thy secret, -furnish funds, and perhaps help thee in the work.” - -Gutenberg, with many misgivings, finally decided to trust them, first -obtaining from each a formal pledge of secrecy. Then producing his -cards and cuts, he explained, step by step, the process of making them. -His callers expressed great interest and admiration. - -“I can be of service in executing the figures,” said Dritzhn, “as I am -a draughtsman.” - -“You could assist me in that direction,” said the inventor; “but I am -now mostly engaged in engraving tablets for books.” - -“Making books by engraving!” exclaimed Dritzhn. “When will the marvels -cease?” - -“I have invented a way of imprinting books by a process unknown to any -others. Only block picture-books with inscriptions have approached the -idea.” Gutenberg then showed the “Historia” on which he was working. - -“Master,” cried Dritzhn in amazement, “a man of such genius will surely -realize a fortune! Why, it would take the wages of a common artisan two -years to buy such a work; and you have a large part of it done in a few -weeks.” But Hielman, afraid of new projects, was less sanguine. - -“This will succeed,” urged Dritzhn aside to him, “and we shall want a -share in it. Since also we know the secret, and have bound ourselves by -an oath, we cannot honorably turn back. It only remains to aid Master -Gutenberg to the extent of our power.” Then turning to Gutenberg, he -said,-- - -“But will not this art do away with copying?” - -“Not at once,” replied Gutenberg. “But if the copyists should get a -hint of what this invention can do, they might seek to crush it. -Moreover, the art is only begun; I learn something new day by day; and -I have confided my secret to you, that as a firm we may bring it to -perfection.” - -The sequel of the interview was that a written contract was drawn up by -Gutenberg, who was a ready writer, and signed by them all, binding the -parties for the term of five years on two conditions:-- - -First, that they pay Gutenberg the sum of two hundred and fifty -florins; one hundred immediately, and the remainder at a certain fixed -period. Second, that if any one of the partners should die during the -time of the copartnership, the survivors should pay to his heirs the -sum of one hundred florins, in consideration of which the effects -should become the property of the surviving partners. - -Other items followed; and, above all, the profoundest secrecy was -enjoined. - -Business, however, went on as usual through the day; and a customer -chancing in Gutenberg’s work-shop would not have dreamed of the -existence of the secret firm to prosecute the new art. Dritzhn wrought -as if in deep thought; but if at times he seemed to loiter, he made out -his quota of work ere the day’s decline. Hielman polished as usual on -mirrors; and Riffe, although burdened with the secret, kept at work -with his old cheerful whistle. - -When evening came, a second conference was held at the home-room of -Gutenberg’s house, when Riffe also took the oath of secrecy, and signed -the contract. But Gutenberg was oppressed with foreboding. Since his -hidden occupation of the engraved blocks had been discovered by Dritzhn -and Hielman, he saw that others also might find it out. On mentioning -his anxiety to the firm, Dritzhn at once replied that the business -ought to be removed to a more retired place, and made offer of his own -upper room. After examination, Gutenberg decided to make the change, -and a part of the engraving apparatus was forthwith carried to that -place. In order, however, to cover appearances, and also meet expenses, -it was judged best for Hielman and Riffe to continue the lapidary and -mirror department, as usual, in the front shop, while Gutenberg and -Dritzhn were to spend a portion of their time in engraving blocks in -the upper room of the latter, although some of the work was still done, -as before, at the inventor’s cottage. This arrangement seemed necessary -to make the twofold occupations thrive. Hielman and Riffe still needed -much instruction in gem and mirror polishing, and they had also the -advantage of regular lessons in engraving, to which they were entitled -by the articles of agreement. - -Gutenberg’s “Historia” was necessarily somewhat hindered, as his -attention was much occupied with teaching Dritzhn in engraving blocks. -As, however, the latter had skill in drafting, he very readily caught -the ideas indispensable to the art,--accuracy in drawing the figure, -and a careful management of the graver’s tool in cutting away the -block so as to leave the lines raised. Dritzhn made good progress in -figure-cutting on card-engraving, which was the first lesson Gutenberg -gave him; but in attempting to engrave letters, he was not so skillful. - -“That department of the art can only be acquired by patience and -labor,” said Gutenberg to his pupil. “I therefore advise that you -continue on the figures.” - -Thus pleasantly they wrought together, Dritzhn on figures, and -Gutenberg on letters, for he still pursued the “History of St. John.” -Hielman and Riffe were quite awkward as pupils in the art. In the first -place, neither had any idea of drawing, and Gutenberg was under the -necessity of teaching them the elements of that science; then they -could not read, and he must needs initiate them into the mysteries of -the alphabet. Anna came to the rescue, or poor Gutenberg would have -despaired of making them engravers. She taught one his letters, while -her husband instructed the other in drawing straight and curved lines. -Anna, after a time, hit upon a short route to accomplish both together, -and required her pupil to draw a letter as soon as he had learned it. -In this way, what with the efforts of Gutenberg, and the suggestions -of Anna, they soon made perceptible progress, and in due time were -familiar with the alphabet, and could draw it passably well. While -occupying most of their time with the lapidary and mirror business, -they still gave several hours each day and evening to the new art. - -When Gutenberg advanced Riffe and Hielman to engraving the letters -which he had drawn, they sadly blundered. - -“What a world of patience you had, master, when you worked through all -this alone!” said Hielman, showing his block, on which, after much -painstaking, he had cut a Y in the shape of a well-sweep. - -“It is a wonder to me, master, how thou didst discover this art, when -it is such a labor for us to learn it!” exclaimed Riffe; and he held up -a B which looked more like a camel. - -“There’s nothing like trying,” said Gutenberg pleasantly, as he went -through the process of drawing another letter for each. It was, -however, a source of great annoyance to him to have so many blocks -ruined by his workmen; and he bethought him of a way to prevent this -waste, which was to give them small strips of wood of little value, on -which to make their experiments in cutting letters, which may have led -to the idea of movable type. Meanwhile, as he had time, he progressed -with his book. By dint of patient plodding, Dritzhn finished the -figures of the work, when Gutenberg had accomplished the more toilsome -labor of graving letters, page by page. - -The blocks of the “Historia” were completed, and great was the joy of -all parties,--none being more enthusiastic than Anna, who thought doing -the work so quickly, scarcely less than a miracle. - -“Now is my time to help,” said she; “I can take the impressions!” Her -husband smiled, and Dritzhn looked incredulous, which made her more -eager to be of use in expediting the issue of the famous “History.” -Gutenberg gladly accepted her proffer of aid, saying,-- - -“We welcome thy assistance, my dear, and we shall all be very busy. -To-night we must fold and cut the paper into the right size for pages, -and also grind the umber and make the ink, and to-morrow we will -commence impressing the leaves.” - -Thus they wrought as busy as bees, and it proved to be rare honey that -they stored in those days of patient toil,--honey for the world, which -will never be exhausted for all time, as our sequel will show. - -Gutenberg and Dritzhn impressed the pages from the engraved blocks -through the early part of the next day, while Riffe and Hielman, as -usual, wrought in the front shop at the old trades. In the afternoon -Dritzhn relieved the two workmen, while they with Anna assisted -Gutenberg. After a little practice, she could take impressions as well -as her husband; and when she wearied of this, she made a strong paste, -and under his direction commenced pasting the blank sides of the leaves -together, for they were printed only on one side. In a few days they -had a number of “Histories” bound and ready for sale. There was great -rejoicing among those early workers over the beautiful books which were -the result of their toil! - -Now came the question how to dispose of them. The firm finally -concluded to exhibit them two or three at a time in the front shop, and -try the effect on customers. - -Gutenberg, remembering the experiment with pictures, said little. He -was, however, hopeful that they could in some way make a market for the -edition in the course of a few weeks. If so, he felt that it would be a -triumph of block-printing over copying. - -But he was doubtful of the project of exhibiting them in the way -proposed, as the more books sold, the less jewelry and mirrors. At -length Peter Schoeffer, a young man studying in Father Melchoir’s -school in an ante-room of the Cathedral, was engaged to offer them for -sale to the few learned people in the place; for few, comparatively, -knew how to read. - -As the books were valuable, and only small sales could be expected, -he was permitted to take only one at a time. The first week he sold -two copies; and as one also was sold from the shop, the firm took -courage--it was a success! At this rate the edition would speedily be -disposed of. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -VII. - - Small Receipts.--Printing the “Donatus.”--“Ars Memorandi.”--“Ars - Moriendi.”--An Interesting Fact.--Extract from “Ars Moriendi.” - - -As time passed, the firm occasionally sold a copy of the “History,” -but receipts were smaller than had been anticipated. Few of the common -people could read,--its circulation was therefore mostly confined to -the priests and nobility. The former rarely needed to purchase it, -as each one could, if he desired, secure one of the kind by copying; -and trouble, expense, and time were involved in gaining access to the -higher classes. - -Gutenberg consoled himself by reasoning that his books would be called -for gradually, and that he must as soon as possible issue another work -suitable for a more accessible class. These were the youth in the -Cathedral, studying for the priesthood, who were under the necessity -of copying their “Donatuses,” or manuals of grammar. Why should he not -prepare an edition for their use? He would be sure of some customers, -and there would be no risk in trying his hand at a “Donatus.” The -firm at once went to work upon the manual, which was one of the first -school-books adapted to beginners. The children and youth of four -hundred years ago had few aids in study, and few were educated. The -voice of the living teacher, usually a priest, served to make passable -the otherwise inaccessible paths of learning. - -As the busy company wrought on the “Donatus,” the curiosity of -certain neighbors was excited respecting the nature of their evening -employment, and it was deemed advisable more fully to remove the hidden -art to Dritzhn’s shop, from which printing-office the new manuals -of grammar in due time were issued. They sold more readily than the -“History,” and the edition of fifty copies was soon exhausted. Many -of the scholars in the Cathedral school bought them; and for a time -Gutenberg and his firm were busy in issuing and Peter Schoeffer in -circulating the work. The lapidary and mirror arts were still pursued -by turns, although very naturally the firm felt more interest in the -fascinating occupation of imprinting. After a few weeks the demand for -the “Donatus” almost ceased, the pupils in Strasbourg and vicinity -having been supplied, and the means of communication with other places -being infrequent. There were no newspapers, and none of the methods -of advertising now in vogue with publishers. Still the company was not -discouraged; the sale of one book was a greater event then than is now -the sale of many thousands. - -The call for the “Donatus” declining, the inventor turned his attention -to a work of quite a different description, which was a great favorite -with the more devout monks. This was the “Ars Memorandi,” or “Art of -Remembering.” We have no means of ascertaining the size of this book; -but it could not have been large, as almost in immediate connection -with it were engraved the blocks of a religious and devotional work -called “Ars Moriendi,” or the “Art of knowing how to Die.” The numerous -engravings illustrating these books, Gutenberg seems to have omitted. - -These were comparatively new works, the first book having only been -written in 1420, followed by other copies in 1430. Gutenberg’s block -edition was a great improvement on these, and soon became popular, -being suited to the religious wants of the people. - -It is an interesting fact that the second book, “Ars Moriendi,” -continued to engage attention for many years. It is also probable that -it was the identical work on which Caxton, the first English printer, -was engaged the last day of his life, the 15th of June, 1490, when he -was about eighty years of age. The work at that time bore the title -“The Art and Craft to know well to Die.” - -If so, we have the inventor of printing himself, when comparatively -a young man, issuing this important work, and the first English -printer crowning his life-labors in bringing it before the world. The -thoughtful and religious tone of this book may be gathered from the -following passage from the preface:-- - -“When it is so that what a man maketh or doeth, it is made to come to -some end, and if the thing be good or well made, it must needs come to -good end; then by better and greater reason every man ought to intend -in such wise to live in this world, in keeping the commandments of -God, that he may come to a good end. Then out of this world, full of -wretchedness and tribulations, he may go to heaven unto God and his -saints, unto joy ever durable.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -VIII. - - Effect of Gutenberg’s Books.--His Times and Ours.--His Books - at the Cathedral.--Curiosity of the Monks.--Proposition of - the Abbot.--The “Bible for the Poor.”--A Great Work well - done.--A Good Sale.--The Canticles issued.--A Difficult - Undertaking.--Discontent.--An Accident.--Discovery of Separate - Types.--The First Font of Movable Type.--Difficulties - mastered.--The Great Helper. - - -It is an interesting fact in the history of printing that its -discoverer was led to issue works of an excellent and devotional -character. As time passed, numbers were disposed of to the nobility, -and occasionally one to some favored tradesman who had conquered his -alphabet. Those who had purchased the “History of St. John,” wished a -copy; and families enriched with a “Donatus,” cast about them to devise -ways and means to buy the newer works of Gutenberg. - -But what changes these books effected in the households blessed with -their presence! “A man is known by the company he keeps;” and books -are most influential associates. People who had not dreamed of being -able to buy a book, by the skill of Gutenberg suddenly found themselves -enriched with the treasure. How the reader of the family dwelt on the -magic page! for seldom it was that more than one member could read. How -the little circle gathered round the fireside of an evening, listening -to catch each word of the wonderful volume, which was read and re-read, -discussed, approved, and mostly committed to memory. This eagerness of -the more enlightened classes to own and read a book, may seem strange -to us who all our lives long have been surrounded with books of all -sizes, from the abstruse tome we pore over to understand, to the -charming literary favorite that we read once and again with delight. - -But our wonder will cease when we remember what a different state of -things then existed. Books were so scarce,--and this very scarcity -increased their value,--then they were made with pen and ink alone, -except by Gutenberg, who kept the secret of his block process. People -took it for granted that the books he sold them were manuscripts, -slowly written by hand; and marveled much at their exactness and -similarity. - -Still, with all the interest excited by his books, an edition of some -fifty copies, sufficed to answer the demand. The mass of the people -were too ignorant to aspire to the possession of a book. They could -not read, and reasoned--if the subject came up--that books would be -useless. To buy them, would be like purchasing a carriage when horses -could not be had to draw it, or spectacles for a blind man, or shoes -for one without feet. - -As was his custom, whenever a new book was issued, the inventor visited -the Cathedral with the “Ars Moriendi” to make sales. The visit was -an event of moment to the firm, far more than a trade sale is to a -publishing house of this day. - -He first sought the Abbot in the library, whom he found sitting a -little apart by a table, busily examining the work of the copyists. - -“Good-morning, holy Father!” said Gutenberg. - -“Good-morrow, my son: hast thou brought more of thy wonderful books?” - -“That I have, Father,” replied Gutenberg; and as he began to remove the -coverings, several monks gathered around him. - -“What hast thou here?” asked Father Gottlieb, a gray-headed friar; -“more of thy magical books?” - -“I claim no powers of magic, Father; it is simply patience that has -done it!” and opening an “Ars Memorandi,” he passed it to the critical -monk. Then taking a copy of “Ars Moriendi” he courteously presented it -to the Superior. - -“Thank you, my son!” rejoined his Reverence graciously. “It is a -pleasure to examine thy manuscript.” - -“Curious book!” exclaimed Father Melchoir, a middle-aged monk, who had -himself just finished a copy of the same work, by the slow process of -the pen, with incredible pains and much time. “How came you to make so -many books all alike? How did you do it? You have a great company of -scribes, eh?” - -Gutenberg did not explain. Meanwhile the monks continued to gather; for -having seen some of the former issues of the lapidary, they were the -more eager to examine the new one. - -“Very good! wonderful!” said one, as he turned over the pages of a book. - -“It is not like the work of our hands,” added another. - -“But you have not answered my questions!” persisted Father Melchoir, -piqued that Gutenberg made such a show of industry and careful -penmanship. - -“I can even tell thee that I have accomplished it by patience,” was the -inventor’s reply. - -“Why, we claim not to be wanting in that virtue,” said Father Melchoir, -“but none of us can compete with your speed in writing. Every few weeks -you bring us in twelve or more books, all carefully written out in half -the time it takes our readiest scribe to make one copy!” - -“Moreover,” added another, as he compared two copies, “the letters are -so exact and regular; why, these two copies have just as many letters -and words on a page, made precisely alike!” - -“But, the books are unadorned!” broke in Father Melchoir. “And very -plain and poverty-stricken they look to me after gazing on our -illuminated books, with their beautiful pictures, rich bindings, silk -embroidered with gold and silver thread, and their backs of ivory -exquisitely carved, or embellished with filigree-work and pearls and -precious stones. One would suppose that a lapidary might at least use -ornaments that are in his line!” - -“I am not ambitious of adornment,” answered Gutenberg. “I would greatly -prefer to circulate twelve books in a neat plain dress than one in rich -pictures and binding. My twelve books are made to be read; while an -embellished copy is only fit to be locked up with clasps, and kept in a -chest or cage, to be taken out on great occasions.” - -The Superior meanwhile had been absorbed in the copy Gutenberg had -presented him, and appeared not to notice the conversation. He now -motioned the monks to withdraw; then, turning to Gutenberg, said,-- - -“I have a word to thee, my son!” - -“I am ready to hear, holy Father!” - -“Are these books made with the pen of the copyist?” and his keen eye -fell on the lapidary with a searching glance. - -Gutenberg was embarrassed for an answer. - -“It is as I supposed,” continued the Superior. “They are made by -engraved blocks, like the ‘St. Christopher’ and the ‘Biblia Pauperum.’” - -Gutenberg saw that his secret was out; but his consternation was -allayed when the Father added, “It may be that we can furnish you with -a work to engrave and imprint. How would you like to undertake with -the ‘Biblia Pauperum?’ The copy which belongs to our library is rudely -executed, and I doubt not you would greatly improve upon it. It is so -rough and uncouth that I sometimes think the original manuscript copy -made by Ausgarius in the ninth century must have been a better specimen -of art. Think the matter over, my son, and let me know your decision at -an early day.” - -Gutenberg took leave, and on reaching home consulted the rest of the -company about imprinting a new issue of the “Biblia Pauperum.” It -chanced that not one of the firm had seen the book, with the exception -of Andreas Dritzhn, who once examined the copy in the Cathedral. He was -in favor of engaging in the work, if the monks would take copies enough -to pay them well for their labor. This was a point which Gutenberg was -deputed to ascertain, that there might be no risk in devoting the -requisite time to perfect the engraving,--an undertaking of no small -magnitude. - -Accordingly, shortly after, Gutenberg made another visit to the -Cathedral to confer with the Superior. He met with a cordial greeting, -and almost abruptly the Father began:-- - -“And what is thy decision, son Gutenberg; wilt thou prepare for us new -copies of the ‘Biblia Pauperum?’” - -“I shall rejoice to engage in the enterprise,” was the reply, “if I -can do so without too much risk, but it will be a slow and toilsome -undertaking, involving much expense”-- - -“Which you will be paid for when it is finished.” - -“But who will buy the book?” - -“A goodly number of priests will need copies,” replied the Father. “The -forty curious pictures of which the book is composed, were designed -to illustrate a series of skeleton sermons. They are of great use -in stirring the preacher’s imagination, and storing his memory with -excellent texts. The book, therefore, is mainly suited to the different -religious orders, and will have sale chiefly among them. Still, as it -is taken from the Bible, and called the ‘Bible for the Poor,’ others -will buy it besides the priests, and it may have a wide circulation. -Numbers will be needed to give the monks each a chance to examine it -as often as is desirable, although the different copies will be chained -in cages, or on tablets, that no person may appropriate one solely to -his own use.” - -This was an era in the affairs of Gutenberg. His art was acknowledged -and patronized by the Superior, and he himself really promoted above -the monks, who were prominent not only among the book-makers or -book-sellers, but the literati of their day. Still Gutenberg, as he -called to mind the jealousy of Father Melchoir, feared fully to rely on -patronage from the friars; and it was only the assurance of the worthy -Superior that induced him to engage in the expensive enterprise of -bringing out a new “Biblia Pauperum.” - -“Tarry a little,” said the Abbot, as the lapidary was leaving; “I will -lend thee our ‘Biblia,’ for a copy.” Then going to the side of the room -where the light streamed in from a lofty painted window, he unlocked -a cage, and taking the valued book from a gilded bracket, unfastened -the chain which confined it to the wall, and, carefully wrapping it -in paper, gave it to Gutenberg, who hastened away, intent on the new -project before him. - -[Illustration: BLOCK-PRINTING FROM THE BIBLIA PAUPERUM.] - -Dritzhn had become a skillful engraver, but it was necessary to secure -the services of two other wood-engravers, residing in Strasbourg, to -whom the subjects were carried,--cuts being taken from the “Biblia” -and given to them, one by one, as they could execute them. In this way -the pictures were finished in the course of a few months. Gutenberg, -Riffe, and Hielman engraved the inscriptions explaining the cuts, of -which those at the top and bottom of the page consisted of Scripture -and Leonine verses, so called from Leo, the inventor, the end of each -line rhyming with the middle, as for example:-- - - “Gloria _factorum_ temere conceditur _horum_.” - -The engraving of this “Poor Man’s Bible” was a great work; and only -the invincible energy, enthusiasm, and perseverance of those early -artisans enabled them to accomplish it in so short a time. To form some -idea of its magnitude, we must keep in mind that each page contained -four busts, or figures of persons; the two upper ones represented -the prophets, or others whose names were beneath them; the two lower -figures are unknown, or can only be conjectured. In the middle of the -pages, which are all marked by letters from the alphabet, were three -historical pictures, one of which was from the New Testament. - -A fac-simile of this curious and ancient work can be seen in the Public -Library, Boston, and will richly repay the trouble of examination. This -has, however, forty-eight engravings, which may indicate that the work, -as first issued by Ausgarius in the ninth century, was comparatively -meagre, and grew to its present proportions by successive issues and by -the hand of different artists. - -In due time the firm was busy in imprinting and binding the choice -volume, delighted with the good prospect of remuneration for it; and -as soon as one copy was completed, Gutenberg again betook him to the -Cathedral to exhibit it to the Abbot, who was warm in his praise of the -work. - -“This is as I would have it,” said he, with a beaming face, “it is -elegantly executed, and more in keeping with the themes which it -illustrates. Our priests will now have no excuse for stupid sermons -when they officiate in the chapel or cathedral. Thou hast done nobly, -and thy labors will subserve the interests of the Church.” - -He then bestowed on him a generous sum, as an earnest of the full -amount, when the copies he had engaged, were delivered; and Gutenberg, -with a happy heart, despite the glance he had of Father Melchoir’s -frowning visage, returned to his cottage to rejoice with Anna. - -“It is just as I anticipated,” she exclaimed. “I knew thou wouldst -triumph. Only to think, a real ‘Biblia Pauperum’ made by my John -Gutenberg! I am proud and happy; we shall yet see good days. Then it -will so enliven us to have a copy in the house, for I have thy promise -of one of each book thou mayst make.” - -“Aye, my Anna, that is as little as I can do; when I get rich, I hope -to add to thy wardrobe, as well as to our library;” and he glanced -painfully at her plain russet gown, for through all his experiments she -had practiced a rigid economy in dress. - -“When thou art rich,” replied Anna, “I will not refuse the gifts thy -kind heart inclines thee to give; but for the present, I am content.” - -The “Biblia” sold better than any previous work, and Gutenberg and -partners were much gratified. They did not, however, realize as much -money as if they had kept to the lapidary and mirror business. The -demand for books was so small, a market had to be created; and this -required time and the slow progress of events. - -But so much pleased were they with their endeavors, that, sanguine of -still better success, they soon issued one of the books of the Bible -entire. This was the Canticles, or Solomon’s Song, and, like the -“Biblia Pauperum,” printed only on one side of the page from engraved -wooden blocks. A copy of this work is carefully treasured among -antiquities in the British Museum. - -Such was the estimation in which it was held as a work of art, and such -its sale, that Gutenberg was led to attempt greater things; he even -conceived the idea of printing the entire Bible. Anna was greatly in -favor of the undertaking. - -“All thou wouldst have to do,” said she, vivaciously, “would be to make -more blocks,--a block for a page; and it would be so much better than -copying. For a monk, if he lives to a good old age, and is diligent -with his pen, can only write out two Bibles; and printing from blocks -is much greater speed than that.” - -“True, Anna,” was the reply; “but hast thou an idea how long it would -take to engrave the blocks for the entire Bible?” - -“Nay; but thou art so expert that assuredly it would not take thee -long,--a few months, I suppose, at farthest. I do hope that thou wilt -commence on this work at once. It is so desirable to have the Bible -issued by thy art.” - -“But let us calculate a little, my dear Anna. There are seven hundred -pages in the Bible. By close application, I cannot engrave carefully -and suitably more than two pages a month; and I must be full three -hundred and fifty months, or nearly thirty years, in engraving blocks -enough for the Holy Book!” - -“Why, that would be dreadful!” cried Anna in dismay. “Thou wouldst be -an old man long before it was done; it would even take thy life-time!” - -“Yes, Anna, and this process of engraving fine letters on blocks, when -pursued closely, is dimming to the eyes; I should be blind before my -work was half done.” - -“But thou couldst divide thy labors with thy workmen, couldst thou not?” - -“Aye, if I can persuade them to undertake so formidable an enterprise. -But the men are getting weary of large works, and beg me to choose -smaller ones; they assert that the new process is no better for a -large book than copying. Perhaps, however, we can issue the Gospels -gradually, by taking one book at a time.” - -“Perhaps thou canst,” echoed Anna sadly. - -Although Gutenberg was depressed when he thought of the immense labor -involved in imprinting so large a work as the Bible, yet he was not -wholly disheartened. This was the secret of his success; he would not -give up; was not frightened by difficulties; what the faint-hearted -would deem impossible, he feared not to attempt. The art of printing -would have remained undiscovered until this day without this courageous -perseverance. - -Gutenberg said nothing to his associates about attempting the execution -of the whole Bible; indeed, he dared not entertain the idea himself; -but he proposed that they publish the Gospels. They thought this too -large a work. He replied that they could imprint the Gospel of St. -Matthew, and do as seemed best about the remainder; this was complete -in itself, and would find a ready sale. - -Accordingly they were soon hard at the task of engraving blocks for the -Gospel of Matthew. Dritzhn demurred, as he mechanically toiled away, -saying, “Unless prospects brighten, we shall never get back our money.” - -Fault-finding is contagious; and Hielman and Riffe soon manifested -a similar spirit. Those were gloomy days. Gutenberg meanwhile said -little, but wrought at his block with renewed vigor. It was nearly -completed; a few turns and gashes of the keen-pointed instrument, and -it would be done; when by a slip of the hand the wood was split asunder! - -Dritzhn looked up aghast, as much as to say, “How can we afford this -great waste of time and labor?” Gutenberg’s quick eye interpreted the -glance, and his ingenuity was put to the test of repairing the loss. He -commenced fitting the block together in order to save some of the work -at least. While thus engaged, the thought occurred to him, What if the -carved block were broken up into separate letters, so that they might -be put together in any words desired? - -He seized his knife and split the wood into the letters carved on its -surface. Thus he had wooden type, which he arranged in various words. -The light of a great invention had dawned. Absorbed in thoughts of its -advantages, he heeds not the curious eyes of his comrades, as they -intently regard him, wondering at his apparently aimless performance. - -He was a philosopher, and in his search after the natural and practical -came to reason thus:-- - -“I want a system of impressing characters suited to the language. In -Latin there are twenty-four letters, and the same letters are used -over and over to spell many thousands of words. In a page of words I -employ portions of the alphabet a number of times; and after I have -done printing with the block, the carved letters are lost. If I could -contrive a way of separating them, I could rearrange them without -cutting new ones, and apply them to another page of different matter. - -“I must, then, have my letters for printing, separate, like the letters -of the alphabet, so that I can handle them as readily as I use letters -to form words. I must carve the letters in wood with little handles to -them, that I may take them up, and place them together as if I were -spelling!” - -Thus did the patient hero seize upon the idea of movable type,--the -key-stone of the art of printing. He soon tried another experiment; -splitting a block into strips, and working it down to the right size, -he carved a letter on the end of it. This cost him care and labor, for -it was more difficult than engraving on the solid block. Many bits of -wood were carved before he succeeded in getting a letter to suit him. -But after many trials he made one, then another, and another, taking -pains to form the sticks of the right thickness, so that when they were -placed together, the letters would not be too far apart. - -When he had the alphabet carved, each letter on the end of a little -wooden peg, he had twenty-four type letters,--quite a little -pile,--which he regarded with pride and satisfaction, and called them -_stucke_, or type. Like a child in his first efforts in reading, so he -carefully spelt his way onward. - -_Bonus homo_, “a good man,” were the words he first tried with his -type. Taking the bits of wood with the letters _bonus_, he placed them -one after the other as he spelt the word, and fastened them together -with a string. But when he came to the next word, as he had only one -_o_, he stopped and made two more before the word could be set up. -As he tried other words, he found that he needed more letters; so, -taking time, he cut out a large number of types for each letter in the -alphabet. These he placed separately in little boxes to prevent them -from being mixed. There was the box of A’s, the box of B’s, the box of -C’s, and so on for all the letters. This was a font of movable type, -the first ever made, and the great step of progress in his invention. - -If you will try the experiment of cutting type out of wood, you will -more readily perceive the difficulties attending it. It was the work of -months to accomplish this, which we have noted in two or three pages. - -As Gutenberg went on setting up _bonus_ in type, he found an obstacle -in keeping the letters together, so that he could rub ink on them and -print. Evening came, and he took them home to remedy the difficulty, -and notched the edges of the two outside letters, the _b_, and the _s_, -that he might tie them firmly with the linen thread he had provided. -This fastening them together, that they might bear the impression of -the solid block, was also a study; but he was not to be turned aside -by obstacles. He had energy, courage, perseverance, and ingenuity; for -Providence was inspiring him for his work. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -IX. - - Anna’s Disappointment.--Dritzhn’s Regrets.--Comfort for Anna.-- - Gutenberg’s Progress described.--The Great Enlightener.-- - Advantages of Movable Type.--Another Book.--Obstacles.-- - Criticisms.--Invention.--A Press contrived.--New Cause of - Disquiet. - - -As for Anna, usually so hopeful, she was much disquieted when her -husband told her that block-printing was only suited to small books, -and that some other method must be sought out, or he could not issue -large works. She had her heart on retrieving their affairs by the sale -of books, and was bitterly disappointed that the new art could not at -once, if ever, bring the hoped for prosperity. - -Dritzhn’s life was embittered with vain regrets; each hour of the day -was vocal with his murmurs and forebodings. Under these circumstances, -Gutenberg did not feel free to take his rightful share of the small -profits, and, in consequence, the allowance for family expenses was -not sufficient to furnish his home with comforts and keep Want, the -gaunt wolf, away. And so it came about that one day Anna sat sewing in -her dwelling, the picture of grief, and bitterly reproaching herself -for the advice she had given her husband to turn aside from the sure -returns of the artisan to the uncertainties of invention. The garment -she was making fell from her hands, and she exclaimed,-- - -“Alas! I am the foolish woman that plucketh her house down with her -hands! I had not the wisdom to give my husband good counsel!” Thus she -bewailed herself with bitter tears and reproaches till evening, when, -hearing Gutenberg’s step as he returned from St. Arbogast, she quickly -wiped away her tears, and strove to meet him with composure. - -“Why, Anna!” he cried, as he beheld her woe-begone face, “art thou ill? -Are our friends dead? Speak, and tell me!” And as she revealed the -source of her disquiet, he said cheerily,-- - -“My Anna, thou must take a juster view of things. Brighter days are in -store for us. Thou dost not know what I have discovered!” - -“But I know too well what _I_ have discovered,” she rejoined; “it is -that we are beggars. There is no food in the house, and I can go no -more to the provision merchants until they are paid. It is dreadful to -think how we have spent our money!” To such an extremity of speech was -poor Anna brought in her trial. - -“O Anna! Anna!” exclaimed Gutenberg, distressed for her, “dost thou see -these bits of wood? I have cut a letter on the end of each. I fasten -them together thus;” and he held up the type of the word _bonus_. -“I ink them, and press them on paper thus. See how beautifully they -print;” and he showed the word impressed in clear characters. - -“But is it not presumption to trust longer to uncertainties?” cried -Anna; “they cannot bring food into the house. We are poor.” - -“My Anna,” soothingly said the kind husband, “dost thou forget that I -have conceived a great invention, and that thou art really as rich as a -queen?” - -“O, the wild dream!” returned Anna, smiling through her tears, -comforted by his sympathy, “I shall trust it when it pays our debts, -and feeds and clothes us. We are verily poor, and I see not how vain -imaginings can help us.” - -“But, dear, my patrimony is not all gone. I have land still unsold at -Mentz; and as I cannot realize money from these immediately, I promise -thee that if this invention does not help our affairs in a month, I -will relinquish it for the present, and return to polishing gems for a -livelihood.” - -It was a rough and thorny way that the inventor trod, reaching after -that great gift which God held out to man, and no wonder that Anna, in -this time of trial, pleaded with him to turn back, watering his path -with her tears. - -Gutenberg slept little the night of the revelation of movable type. He -deemed the invention most important; and before his mind, stimulated to -unusual action, some of the great changes which would ensue from his -discovery, were dimly portrayed. Like the prophets who understood not -the full import of their own utterances, but inquired diligently to -know what the spirit which was in them did signify, so the discoverer -of the wonderful art could only hope that it was the introduction of -something glorious; and that hope was thenceforth his guiding star -amid the darkness of his earthly lot. With the first ray of morning he -was at his work, to test more fully the new types. Setting them up, he -fastened them together, and printed the same words as before. _Bonus -homo_ shone with the halo of _eureka_ to Gutenberg’s eye. “I have found -it!” he exclaimed, and, starting off to market, brought home food for -the day. - -Gustav Nieritz, a German writer, thus describes Gutenberg’s progress:-- - -“He set to work with the utmost eagerness. Out of a piece of hard wood -he sawed some thousand tiny blocks, a few inches long, and very narrow. -At one end he cut a letter in relief, and bored a hole through the -other. After having thus furnished himself with a considerable number -of the letters of the alphabet, he placed whole words together, and -arranged them in lines on a string, until they formed a page, when he -bound them together with wire, and so prevented their falling asunder. -He then blackened his wooden type with ink, and taking up the whole -together, pressed upon it a sheet of paper. And now let us place -ourselves in his position, and enter into his feelings as he beheld the -first fruits of his long, unwearied labors. - -“With a trembling hand he caught up the printed paper. It had succeeded -beyond his expectation. Tears ran down his cheeks as he gazed on it -with ecstacy. It was the Lord’s Prayer, with which he had made almost -his first attempt at printing with types. - -“Often had his lips uttered the words of prayer, whilst he was thinking -only of his invention; now, however, their meaning came clearly upon -his mind, and his grateful soul turned fervently to the Father of all -light, from whom this light also had come, which would enlighten men as -no other human invention could do. He fell upon his knees, holding the -sheet of paper in both hands, and repeated the prayer it contained with -his whole heart. O! it was not for the sake of worldly gain that he -rejoiced in his discovery. It was that it freed him from the debt that -he had long ago incurred. He might be called a dreamer and an idler: he -neither heard nor regarded. - -“‘Anna!’ he cried, throwing his arms round her, ‘here is the gold -brocade cap, and all the rest besides which I promised you. I -have succeeded, and our fortune is made.’ His wife shook her head -incredulously, and said with a sigh:-- - -“‘I wish you would give up these fancies, and return to your work.’ -Gutenberg smiled, but persevered.” - -“My Anna!” said the inventor, some little time later, as he showed -her other specimens of his work, “I trust that our poverty will soon -be over. You shall yet ride in a coach, and dine like a queen. My -invention is a certainty.” - -“I only wish comforts and a competence,” returned Anna tearfully. - -“We are sure of both,” replied he, “Let me tell thee, wife, nothing -yet invented by man, ever made such inroads on ignorance as this will -effect. Almost everything we know, we have acquired through the medium -of either spoken or written language. The mass of the people are -only acquainted with the former. Everybody will, by and by, learn to -read and understand written language, and the knowledge locked up in -cloisters will be freely poured out to the thirsty multitudes. It is -through language that we become wiser and better; and if my discovery -succeeds, as it must, the knowledge of the arts, sciences, and religion -will be sooner or later spread abroad. Then, no more hoarding of -libraries that kings, prelates, and priests alone may read; but the -common people, too, will have their books.” Anna listened with pleased -interest, and he went on: “God has bestowed great honor on books, as -some of the devout authors say, in communicating with us through them; -and if holy men of old who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost -had not written down what God taught them, where to-day would be our -knowledge of our sacred things? And if it was important for God to -record his will, may we not suppose that He will give wisdom so that a -way may be devised to publish his Word with facility?” - -“I must think so, my Anna,” he added, “and I cannot doubt that He has -given me skill in what I have undertaken. It grieves me to think what -you must have suffered through it, but I trust our days of mourning are -ended;” and his happy smile lightened her heart like a sunbeam. - -It was still quite early in the day when Gutenberg repaired to -Dritzhn’s shop, to exhibit to his associates his invention of separate -types. As he entered, he was struck with the settled gloom that rested -on Dritzhn’s face. “My improvement has occurred in good time,” thought -the inventor; “my partners are getting discouraged.” - -“I have something new to show you,” said he to Dritzhn, who was busy -engraving the first verses of the third chapter of Matthew. - -“New things have nearly ruined us!” retorted Dritzhn, looking up -moodily from his work. - -“But this is a new method of imprinting, which will save much of our -labor,” said Gutenberg, showing the specimens of _bonus homo_ and the -“Lord’s Prayer.” - -“How does this mode differ from ours?” asked Dritzhn. “You impress with -the block, do you not?” - -“Nay; I first make letters on bits of wood, tie them together to -impress with, and, after using them, take them apart, and set them up -for new words.” - -“And this tying together and taking apart would consume time,” objected -Dritzhn. “I see no advantage in this mode; in my opinion, it would -involve us more deeply.” - -“But let us try it,” interposed Hielman; “if it will save labor, it is -a good thing.” - -“Leave well enough alone! I think we shall do better to keep on as we -have begun,” said Riffe, with the air of one who had settled the matter. - -“Block-printing is by no means to be despised,” answered Gutenberg, “in -books of a few pages; but in a large book of many pages, we waste time -in cutting letters, as they are only of use for that book, and cannot -be taken apart and used for another.” - -“I am opposed to any change,” Dritzhn reiterated; “we are sufficiently -involved without any new experiments. We cannot do better than keep on -with the block books.” - -Gutenberg had failed in convincing these men, but he was confident that -the practical working of his separate types would yet be an argument -they could not resist. He persevered in his experiments, and, in place -of engraving on the block, busied himself in adjusting and readjusting -his type for the “Lord’s Prayer,” as he found a difficulty in keeping -them in place, when he took a second impression. - -Dritzhn and Riffe, having little fellowship for this new way of -“spending time,” were ready to criticise when the types slipped out -of place, as Gutenberg tied them with thread or twine. But before the -day was over, he had managed to take several good impressions of the -“Lord’s Prayer.” This was well enough, Dritzhn said, but still insisted -that he did not see how it was better than if taken with an engraved -block, and was in no mood to investigate the matter with candor. - -The partners had previously decided to publish the “Speculum Humanæ -Salutis,” and they now commenced upon it. The “Speculum” suited both -parties, as there were plenty of subjects requiring wood-engravings, -and the movable type could also be used in the written portion of the -book. - -As Gutenberg wrought at his types, he had still to combat the -difficulty of making them hold together with sufficient firmness. At -first he used strings, then wires. These were easily displaced, and -cost him many a hard job of repairing damages, which confirmed Dritzhn -and Riffe in the opinion that it was useless to attempt to make them -work. It was not reasonable, the former said, that such bits of wood -could be made serviceable in book-making. There was some sense in -a solid block, and his advice was to keep on in the old way, with -which, however, he was often finding fault, for he had enlisted in the -enterprise not so much for the love of the art as the love of money. -Months of toil and large expenditures had brought comparatively small -returns. Some of the firm even began to talk of returning to the old -occupation of polishing stones. Riffe continued to echo Dritzhn’s -criticisms and complaints. - -“Why not keep on with block-printing?” asked the latter, as Gutenberg -was busy cutting out his type, or _stucke_ as it was called. “I’ve just -got my hand in, and do not wish to give up the trade for whittling -sticks, of which I do not see the use.” - -“Let me try once more to explain the use,” pleasantly replied -Gutenberg. “Suppose the letters of the alphabet were tied together -so that you could not separate them, how could you spell words? The -letters on a block cannot be taken apart to form other words; but with -the separate types it is very different;” and to illustrate his meaning -he set up a word in type, printed with it, took the letters apart, or -“distributed” them, and framed another word. - -Although slow to be convinced, his associates finally acknowledged the -necessity of movable type and began to acquire some degree of skill in -making them. - -An advance on the method by cords and wire, was Gutenberg’s invention -of a frame with wedges to keep the types in place. This had the -approbation of his partners. It was a great gain, and there was much -congratulation when he succeeded in firmly adjusting the _stucke_ so -that they had all the advantage of the solid block, with none of its -disadvantages. - -Taking impressions of the type on paper by friction was slow and -unsatisfactory; and Gutenberg, after many experiments, contrived a -press to imprint with, and employed a skillful mechanic to make it. -This saved, besides other labor, the trouble of pasting the blank backs -of the leaves together, as both sides of the paper were imprinted. - -A distinguished writer, who assures us that he has had access to the -archives of Strasbourg, thus vividly describes this discovery; “Months -and years had been consumed--his fortune also and the funds of the -association--in patient experiments, in successes, and in reverses. At -length, having made a small model of a _press_ which appeared to him -to combine all the conditions of printing as he then understood it, he -hid the precious miniature under his cloak, and, entering the city, -went to a skillful turner in wood and in metal, named Conrad Sachspach, -who dwelt at Merchants’ Cross-roads, to ask him to make one of a large -size. He left the secret in the machine, only telling him that it was -a contrivance by which he proposed to accomplish some _chefs d’œuvre_ -of art and mechanics of which a slower process was known. The artisan, -taking, turning, and re-turning the model in his hands, with a smile of -disdain at the rough sketch completed by Gutenberg, said to him, with a -bantering air:-- - -“‘This is only a simple wine-press that you ask me to make, Master -John!’ - -“‘Yes,’ replied Gutenberg in a serious and dignified tone, ‘it is a -wine-press in effect, but it is a press from which shortly shall sprout -forth floods of the most abundant and the most marvelous liquor that -has ever flowed to quench the thirst of man. By it God shall spread -his Word; from it shall flow a fountain-head of pure truth. As a new -star, it shall dissipate the darkness of ignorance, and cause to -shine on men a light hitherto unknown!’ He withdrew. The mechanic, who -understood nothing of these words, executed the machine, and returned -it to Gutenberg at the monastery of Arbogast. This was the first press. - -“In giving it into the hands of Gutenberg, the workman began to suspect -some mystery. ‘I see clearly, Master John,’ said he to Gutenberg, ‘that -you are indeed in communication with celestial spirits; so hereafter I -shall obey you as one of them--as a spirit!’” - -This first press, contrived in the gloomy recesses of the old -monastery, was set up in the printing rooms of Dritzhn’s dwelling, but -was not at first fully appreciated. - -Two years passed, the company cutting a supply of movable type. Some -sales were effected, but financial affairs were not flattering. - -Meanwhile a new cause of disturbance occurred to impede progress, and -waken in Gutenberg’s partners doubts of his uniform infallibility in -invention. - -It was discovered that ink softened the type, and injured the shape of -the letters. - -Riffe, one of the first to notice it, became alarmed. - -“It is my mind,” said he, “that the bubble has burst. We may as well -give up, and engage in our old trade. These uncertainties will never -bring grist to the mill.” - -“The type does not print as well after it becomes softened by the ink?” -said Dritzhn inquiringly to Gutenberg. - -“We must expect difficulties,” was the reply, “and seek to overcome -them. We must make more fresh type until we can contrive a way of -hardening the wood.” - -At this the firm murmured against him afresh; nor were they better -satisfied as time went on, and “John Dunnius’ bill of one hundred -florins was sent in for press-work.” - -“Monstrous!” exclaimed Hielman; “we can never afford it.” - -“It is all pay out in this business,” Dritzhn added, “and almost -nothing coming in to balance the loss.” - -“Wait a little,” was Gutenberg’s reply; “we are now sowing the seed; -by and by we shall reap our harvests.” And he further appeased their -agitation by calling attention to the satisfactory working of the -press, and reminded them of the great service it was to them. - -“Do you not see,” said he, “that our labor of making _stucke_ is nearly -useless without the frame and press? We must either give up the art, -and disband, or make the necessary improvements as they are called -for.” - -While feeling keenly the murmurings of his associates, most indomitable -was the spirit that he cherished, having the indispensable attribute -of the true inventor,--a passion for his calling, and confidence in -ultimate success. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -X. - - A Partner at the Confessional.--His Death.--Consequences.--A - Lawsuit.--Thieves.--Dangerous Curiosity.--Destruction of - Gutenberg’s Type.--Curious Testimonies.--Value of the Legal - Document.--Proof that Gutenberg was the Real Inventor.--The - Magistrate’s Just Judgment.--Public Excitement. - - -Poor Dritzhn! he was sadly lacking in the spirit which upheld -Gutenberg. He was a plain matter-of-fact man, with none of the -originator,--content to plant in the spring and reap in the autumn, -to work in time-worn paths; but dubious things that were years in -maturing, were not suited to his nature. The possibility of failure -poisoned his enjoyment, palsied his hand, and enfeebled his step. And -this, in 1438, after the short space of two years of suspense in the -firm. - -Father Melchoir, his spiritual adviser, noticed the change. - -“My son,” said he, “something troubles thee; confide the matter to me; -perhaps I can help thee.” - -“I am indeed in trouble,” replied he, glad of a confidant, for the -secret and the doubt of success together wore on him. “I fear that I -shall be ruined as to worldly prospects.” - -“I trust not: how is it, my son? From what source is the danger?” - -“Alas, Father, gladly would I tell thee, but I have bound myself with -an oath not to reveal the secret.” - -“But, my son, the Church does not recognize oaths in such a case. They -are null and void for all purposes whatsoever, and thou art free to -tell me all thy heart at the confessional: it is even thy solemn duty -to do so.” - -Dritzhn was only too easily persuaded, and, despite his sacred oath, -told Father Melchoir of his connection with the firm. - -“I have given hundreds of florins,” said he, “to bring out a hidden art -of writing, with the hope long ere this of selling books and getting -profits from my money. A few have been sold, but I have received no -dividend. Besides, I have earned but little by my trade for these two -long years; my time has been thrown away, and I am poorer than ever.” - -“A very sad case!” said Father Melchoir, compassionately. - -“This load is too heavy for me to bear,” lamented Dritzhn; “it will -kill me! To think of throwing away hundreds of florins on a doubtful -art, without in return getting back a single obolus![3] What can I do?” - - [3] The very expression of Dritzhn at confessional. - -“Get free from this secret league as soon as possible, and resume thy -trade.” - -“I wish it could be done, Father, but I fear it cannot. If I leave the -firm, I shall lose all chance of getting back the money I have lent -them. I am in doubt what to do.” - -“Leave it by all means!” cried Father Melchoir; “be sure no good will -come of their arts.” - -“I will see what I can do,” said Dritzhn, and he rose to go. As he -entered the shop, he found Gutenberg, Hielman, and Riffe busy setting -new type for another work. It was a dictionary, called a “Catholicon.” -They were all eager in their toil, and spoke warmly of the ready sale -it would find, and the money it would bring in. Dritzhn, a little -encouraged, resumed his work with them, nor did he breathe a word of -his plan of leaving. It was too great a step to take hastily, although -he wished himself safely out of the partnership. - -There was so much repairing of type to do, and so many unlooked-for -hinderances, that the book was delayed, and 1439 came round before it -was finished, although Gutenberg was meanwhile steadily improving his -art. - -At this point of time, the autumn of 1439, just when they were about -realizing their hopes in issuing the “Catholicon,” an event occurred -which threw everything into confusion. This was the sudden death of -Andreas Dritzhn. If ever the adversary hindered an enterprise, it -was the art of printing; he had doubtless reasons of his own for -multiplying obstacles. - -Accordingly the death of Andreas was the pretext; and directly George -and Nicholas, brothers of the deceased, two sturdy jogging Germans, who -never harmed a fly, on arriving home from Andreas’s funeral, demanded -of Gutenberg, Hielman, and Riffe to be admitted to the partnership! - -“Very good,” said Gutenberg; “if we can find it in the contract, it -shall be done.” Then, producing the document, he read:-- - -“ART. 2. If any one of the partners shall die during the copartnership, -the survivors shall pay to his heirs the sum of one hundred florins, -in consideration of which the effects shall become the property of the -surviving partners.” - -“Nay, gentlemen, you cannot become partners, but we will pay you -what is due as the heirs of Andreas Dritzhn.” Then, looking over the -accounts of the firm, he added, “Your brother is indebted to us in the -sum of eighty-five florins; we will pay you the remaining fifteen, -which will balance accounts.” - -George and Nicholas rejected the offer with disdain, and, hastening -away, conferred with each other as to what they should do. Two strong -principles were at work in their hearts,--avarice and curiosity. From -some few hints which Andreas had dropped while living, George and -Nicholas were as much excited about the hidden arts of Gutenberg as we -covetous moderns are with a chance at a rich vein in a gold mine; and -they determined to try a suit at law, and if possible become members of -the secret league. - -This was in the autumn, and was peculiarly grievous to the inventor. -The lawsuit consumed his time, thwarted his plans, and there was great -danger that the secrets of his art would become public. The protection -of the patent offices was then unknown. No inventor could put in a -_caveat_ to hinder the encroachments of trespassers. The lawsuit had -bruited abroad that Gutenberg & Co. had a secret art, which, like the -philosopher’s stone, turned everything into gold; and curiosity, on -tip-toe, used every device to get a peep at the wonder. Gutenberg’s -work was at an end. It took all his time to attend the courts, and -watch his shop, that no one might steal his art. It required double -diligence to do the last, as the shop was in Andreas’s house. Despite -his cautions to Hielman and Riffe, one day, in his absence, George -and Nicholas managed to take from the shop a part of the printing -apparatus. Gutenberg then gave orders to his servants to convey -secretly to his house a printing-press and a quantity of letters cut -in wood. The theft was a source of great anxiety to him, as he feared -that the secret was out. The careful thieves, however, safely hid their -booty, and lisped not a word. - -At length it became evident to Gutenberg--such was the pitch to which -curiosity had risen--that every vestige of the noble art must be -destroyed. It was not safe even to hide it in his own house. - -“Take the _stucke_ from the forms,” said he to his associates, “and -break them up in my sight, that none of them may remain perfect.” - -“What, all our labor?” cried Hielman; “here we’ve been at work these -three years!” - -“Never mind,” replied Gutenberg; “break them up, or some one will steal -our art, and we shall be ruined!” and with that they set to work with -their hammers and mallets, and the _stucke_ was soon demolished. His -precious type lay in the dust, and still the lawsuit was lacerating his -sensitive mind. - -The following curious testimony was given during this trial:-- - -“Anna, the wife of John Schultheiss, an engraver on wood, deposed, -that on one occasion Nicholas Beildeck came to her house to Nicholas -Dritzhn, her relation, and said to him, ‘My Nicholas Dritzhn, Andreas -Dritzhn, of happy memory, has placed four pages (_stucke_) in a press, -which Gutenberg has desired that you will take away and separate, that -no man may know what they are, for he is unwilling that any one should -see them.’ - -“Also John Schultheiss says that Laurence Beildeck [Gutenberg’s -servant] sometime came to his house to Nicholas Dritzhn, when Andreas -Dritzhn his brother was dead, and that the said Laurence Beildeck thus -spoke to said Nicholas Dritzhn: ‘Andreas Dritzhn, of happy memory, has -placed four pages on a press, which John Gutenberg desires you to take -therefrom, and break them from one another, so that no man may see what -they are.’ - -“Also Conrad Sachspach deposed that sometime Andrew Hielman came to him -upon the Street of Merchants, and said, ‘My Conrad, as Andreas Dritzhn -is dead, and you made that press and know all about the matter, go -hence and take the pieces from the press, and lay them separate from -one another, so that no one may know what it is.’ - -“Laurence Beildeck says that he was sent by John Gutenberg to Nicholas -Dritzhn, after the death of Andreas his brother, to say to him that he -should show to no one the press that he had, and that he should see -to it. He added that Gutenberg had moreover commanded him that he -should go suddenly to the presses, and open that press [frame] which -was furnished with two _screws_ or spindles (_cochleis_) that the pages -should fall into pieces, and place those pieces within or upon the -press, so that no one should see the matter, or understand what it was. - -“The same witness also said that he knew well that Gutenberg, a little -before the Feast of the Nativity [Christmas], had sent his servant to -take away all forms, which were broken up in his sight, that none of -them might be found perfect. Moreover, after the death of Andreas, the -witness was not ignorant that many were desirous of seeing the presses, -and that Gutenberg had commanded that some one should be sent who might -hinder any one from seeing the presses, and that his servants were sent -to break them up. - -“Also John Dunnius, goldsmith, said that three years or thereabouts -previous, he had received from Gutenberg about three hundred florins -for materials relating to printing.” - -All this affected the Strasbourgers, both priests and people, very -differently from what it does ourselves. We prize it as a legal -document, showing the existence of separate types, and also two -presses, one of them made by Conrad Sachspach and the other by John -Dunnius, to whom the firm paid three hundred florins for press-work -done in December, 1436. These presses served very different purposes, -as Gutenberg commanded his servant to “open that press which was -furnished with two _screws_ or spindles.” Plainly one was the “chase” -for type, and the other the upright frame with a screw, which moved -down the platen to impress the paper placed upon the type. We learn -also that the art was a secret at the time when Laurentius Costar lay -at the point of death, and those mistake who give him the honor of -inventing printing. - -We can picture to ourselves the excitement which prevailed, when a man -of Gutenberg’s firm character was led to make such utter destruction of -his property after the disclosures of the lawsuit. He may have feared -that a lawless mob would invade his shop, and scatter the proofs of his -invention, and that some person of ingenuity would get a clew to the -art, and rob him of his sacred rights. What hours, days and nights of -solicitude he suffered! Those only, who in a good cause have met the -scoffs and jeers of the rabble excited by unscrupulous leaders, can -well imagine the inventor’s emotions. - -Happily, Anna was equal to the emergency, and became a very heroine. -She had no idea of being crushed, although for a little while she had -given way to despondency, and her strong-hearted courage inspired her -husband. His home was a little paradise of peace, the resort of flowers -and birds and all beautiful things which she instinctively gathered -around her. God’s gracious smile rested upon it, and in this sanctuary -Gutenberg’s wounded spirit was soothed; here he gained strength, and -girded on his armor anew for the battle of life. The fiercer the strife -without, the more blessed the peace within this retreat. - -The lawsuit dragged its slow length on until December 12th of that -year, when the magistrates gave judgment relieving Gutenberg from “the -unjust demand of George and Nicholas Dritzhn, upon the payment of the -sum of fifteen florins, being the difference of the sum of one hundred -florins due to Gutenberg by Andrew on the original contract.” - -This was just what Gutenberg had proposed at first; and his adversaries -had their trouble for their pains, without, perhaps, the consolation -of knowing how much they had annoyed him. The lawsuit was over, but -it had exposed the state of Gutenberg’s affairs, and people were -curious to learn more. Rumor was busy with her thousand tongues. “He -is not willing that any one should see!” “Something wrong!” and in the -spirit of the superstition of the times, many cried out, “Mystery! -Witchcraft!” The whole community was in a ferment. Time passed, and a -little before the Feast of the Nativity, so faithfully had Gutenberg’s -orders as to the destruction of the press and type been executed, -that nothing remained of the wonderful art, which since the death of -Dritzhn, had so much disturbed the good city of Strasbourg. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XI. - - Benighted.--Minstrel of the Hearth.--The Black Art.--A Barefoot - Friar.--Popular Prejudice.--Hopes and Fears.--Gutenberg returns - to his Trade.--Dissolution of the Copartnership. - - -The country of the Rhine was visited by a wintry tempest from the North -Sea. Benighted, Gutenberg, wrapped in his monk’s cloak, little heeded -the roaring winds and cutting blasts, as, after destroying the work of -years, he bade adieu to Dritzhn’s shop, and hurried homeward. The storm -of life, the contest with his fellow-men, was more pitiless to him than -the fierce raging of the elements. - -It was quite dark when Anna, placing a light in the window, stirred the -fire, and sat down to await his coming. The supper table was invitingly -spread, and the covered dish of food placed by the fire to keep warm. - -“Why does he not come? May God preserve him from unreasonable men;” and -she caught up her work to while away the time. An hour passed, seeming -to Anna much longer, when a cricket, warmed into consciousness by the -genial heat, hopped out of his covert, coated with dust, and blithely -sang. - -“A good omen!” mused Anna; and shortly after, true enough, there was a -stamping on the step, and a shaking of garments; and, springing to the -door, she welcomed her husband. - -“O, it is yourself! come at last. But you look like a huge white bear!” -And she gayly laughed as she drew him in, and brushed off the snow. “I -was in fear lest some evil had overtaken you, until our dear little -cricket piped on the hearth, as if to assure me that you were almost -here.” - -“Yes,” replied Gutenberg, throwing off his cloak, and hanging it on its -peg in the corner, “and my Anna and my home welcome me as cheerily as -ever.” - -“We at least ought to comfort thee when the world without weareth such -dark frowns.” - -“Ave, aye, there is need of comfort. But I divine that some one has -been here in my absence, and given thee cause of anxiety.” - -“O, nothing worth minding,” returned the little wife. “Let us sup, and -speak of the bright side of life.” - -“I am puzzled to find it; but thou canst point it out doubtless.” - -“Shall we forget,” said Anna, “the mercy and the blessing that we are -spared to each other, and that no lawless mob has invaded our peace?” - -“Aye, we do well to remember that it might be worse with us,” was -the reply; and having reverently said grace, for a time supper was -discussed in silence, for Anna’s last question had awakened grave -thoughts. Suddenly the cricket broke out anew with his shrill note. - -“What does the creature mean?” asked Gutenberg. “Does he dream that it -is summer?” - -“Bethink thee; he is the insect prophet of hope. He is saying, ‘Bright -days are coming, never fear!’” - -“I trust the hearth minstrel is right; he will at least be useful in -making me sleep well; his song sounds like a lullaby! But now that -supper is over, what of thy visitor?” - -“It was John Schultheiss’ wife,” replied Anna. - -“That dark-browed woman! Why came she?” - -“To comfort me with evil tidings; to tell me that it had been clearly -proved in court that thy hidden art was no better than witchcraft, -but that such was the inefficiency of the magistrates that they gave -decision in thy favor. Some believe that thou art in league with the -devil, and can enchant them or spoil their goods.” - -“What superstition!” exclaimed Gutenberg; “this comes of ignorance, and -the scarcity of books!” - -“I did not reason with her, or make reply, and she soon left; and soon -after, Simon, the Barefoot Friar, appeared. His religion, as you know, -consists in clothing himself in rags, begging from house to house, -and paying for his welcome in prayers and benedictions. As I opened -the door in answer to his loud knocking, he cried out, ‘God save the -house!’ then, as he came in, added, ‘God save the house, and all that’s -in it! God save it to the north!’ and he made the sign of the cross in -every direction towards which he turned. ‘God save it to the south! + -to the east! + and to the west! + Save it upwards!’ turning his eyes -heavenward, and crossing himself, ‘and save it downwards! + Save it -backwards! + and save it forwards! + Save it right! + and save it left! -+ Save it by night! + and save it by day! + Save it here! + and save it -there! + Save it this way! + and save it that way! + Save it eating! + -+ + and save it drinking! + + + + + + + + Oxis Doxis Glorioxis, Amen.’” - -Gutenberg joined Anna in a merry laugh at this farce, as she went on -rehearsing the idle priest’s performance. - -“‘And how are you, gracious lady, now that I have blessed the place in -the name of Saint Peter and all the Apostles and the nine patriarchs? -Isn’t a merry Christmas coming to you? And isn’t there plenty of good -cheer in the house?’ So I made him welcome, giving him a seat by the -fire, and a dish of the best food the house afforded. - -“‘You don’t say that you’re prospering,’ said he, as I helped him to -the second supply; for he ate like some great animal. - -“‘We are in trouble!’ I answered. - -“‘I know it!’ he exclaimed, with a laugh, munching a mouthful and -clapping his hands. ‘I had it revealed to me! I know all about it; -and I know the prayer for it. Oxis Doxis! + + + If you’d only sent to -me in the first of it, I could have kept your trouble back, and I can -now be a hindering cause to it, and get you safely through, for I know -the prayer for it; Oxis Doxis! + and I’ll go at it directly when I get -refreshed.’” - -“His own comfort first!” said Gutenberg, laughing. - -“Yes,” replied Anna, “and isn’t he a good specimen of that class of -priests, who are really only beggars? All so wise in their own opinion, -and so ready to instruct every one they meet. How different from the -devout and learned priests who minister the services of our holy -church!” - -“But how didst thou get rid of him?” - -“After he had eaten like a glutton, he was ready to give me religious -instruction. ‘Do you know, gracious lady,’ said he, devoutly crossing -himself, ‘that you are the very likeness of the Blessed Virgin? I know -it, for she communicates with me from heaven.’ - -“‘Does she speak to you, Simon?’ I asked. - -“‘The Blessed Virgin herself does so, and no one else,’ he answered. -‘And now let me tell thee, daughter, what she said to me only last -night. I was just composing myself to sleep, after opening my window -a little ways to let her in,--for she is in the habit of appearing -to me,--when a silvery cloud came floating through the air, and the -Blessed Lady alighted, came in, and took her seat upon my bed. I made -haste to say my “Ave Maria,” she the while sweetly smiling; and after -I had said _Ora pro nobis_ exactly nine hundred and ninety-nine times, -our holy Queen of Heaven and Mother of God opened her ruby lips, showed -me her pearly teeth, and revealed to me that the Barefoot Friars are -the dearest to her of all the orders of monks; and she showed me an -easy way to get to heaven, making me a solemn promise that whoever dies -with a Barefoot Friar’s cloak on, shall assuredly go to heaven.’” - -“The impostor!” exclaimed Gutenberg. “Does he teach such doctrines as -these? Of what avail could his cloak be in such a matter? I do not -wonder that John Wickliffe was stirred up to denounce such men almost a -century ago!” - -“When I remember,” said Anna, “that Henry II. found out one hundred -murders committed by priests, I am afraid to refuse the beggar friars -when they ask for food. I know not what they might do when angry. They -would at least curse me, and call down the judgments of Heaven.” - -“Which would harm thee as little as it did Wickliffe,” said Gutenberg. -“It is related of him that when he was very sick, the friars burst into -his room with abusive language and curses, prophesying his death and -torment, which so roused him that he sprang from his bed and drove them -out, saying, ‘I shall not die, but live to declare the evil deeds of -you friars.’” - -“Would there were more like him!” said Anna. - -“We have some pious priests,” replied Gutenberg, “but others are -corrupt and time-serving. Occasionally one studies the Bible, and is -guided by its precepts; but there are so few copies of the sacred Word, -that all cannot have it if they would. If its laws were more generally -known, there would be a reformation in the lives of many of these men. -I had my heart on multiplying copies of this Book of books, but alas! -my plans have been frustrated!” and the tears dimmed his eyes. - -“Never fear, thou wilt yet be prospered,” returned Anna, soothingly. -“Wickliffe did not fail in what he attempted, neither wilt thou fail of -accomplishing something worthy of thy aims and efforts.” - -“But my work is done in Strasbourg. I cannot stem this tide of -prejudice and jealousy.” - -“Strasbourg is not all the world,” rejoined Anna. “We can remove where -people and priests are not against thee.” - -“But unless God interposes,” said Gutenberg, “I have no hope that I -shall ever return to my art.” - -At the close of the lawsuit, Gutenberg found himself overwhelmed with -debt. His presses, type, and all his printing materials were destroyed. -He was a poor man, and must start anew in the world. And such was the -popular prejudice against his beloved art, that he saw it was useless -to attempt it again. Besides, Riffe and Hielman were now wholly averse -to the business; they urged that it had never been profitable, and that -defeat and disaster had attended its prosecution. It only remained for -them to resume the lapidary trade in the little shop of Gutenberg’s -cottage. This served a good purpose in allaying the excitement which -had been stirred up by the revelations of the lawsuit. And the inventor -was thankful that he had something positive to fall back upon in the -hour of his extremity, and often contrasted his condition with what it -would have been otherwise. - -With the weight of a bitter disappointment resting upon him, he wrought -successfully at his trade, despite the efforts of certain evil -disposed persons, who sought to crush him in the hour of his defeat. -Now he had little intercourse with his fellow-citizens and the monks -of the Cathedral, save in the way of business. It was the time of his -reverses, and he had fewer friends than formerly. - -By constant application he managed to get a comfortable support and pay -his most pressing liabilities; for the rest he suppressed his noble -tastes. It was vain to stem the tide of poverty, ill-will, and evil -surmisings which would infallibly meet him, had he the means even to -attempt the prosecution of his favorite aims. Yet in his dreams he was -often cutting type and working his press as of old. How he sighed to -find them only dreams! - -Thus, with alternations of hopes and fears, the latter predominating, -passed the period till the close of 1441, at which time he was glad -to be released from all connection with Riffe and Hielman. There was -little congeniality to make their daily intercourse agreeable, and no -one of the firm proposed another term of contract. - - - - -[Illustration] - -XII. - - Congenial Quiet.--Making Type again.--Gutenberg issues “Absies.” - --Peter Schoeffer.--Decides to remove to Mentz.--Emotions of - Gutenberg.--Fraternal Sympathy.--The Meeting with Faust.--Table - Talk.--Removal. - - -The dissolution of the firm was in some respects a benefit to the -lapidary. He had time for quiet thought, and, as in years gone by, his -shop was his sanctum. Feeling at ease, his work progressed rapidly, -and his day’s task was often accomplished ere the sun declined, when -instinctively his hand followed the bent of his mind, and engaged -in cutting _stucke_. He said nothing of this to Anna, until, by -accumulations of spare hours’ work, he had made a fount of type. He -then surprised her by showing his treasures. - -“That is so much like thee, John!” she exclaimed. “I do believe thou -wilt yet even receive the reward of thy perseverance; but thou canst -not attempt great things now, not having the means of making a press, -and with no one to assist thee.” - -“I have made this type in the leisure after my daily work,” was the -reply; “I can, moreover, devote a portion of my energies to preparing -apparatus for imprinting; it will, however, avail me little in this -place. Nevertheless, I shall work on, hoping that it will at some time -turn to account.” - -Gutenberg’s evenings were henceforth occupied in constructing a frame -to inclose the type, and a printing-press; but it was some two years -from the time of the disbanding of the firm before he was ready to -print. He then issued an alphabetical table, called the “Absies.” This -was a one page book, and had besides the alphabet, an Address to the -Virgin Mary, and the Lord’s Prayer. He had designed it for the use of -the pupils in the Cathedral school, but it was some time before he had -courage to attempt introducing it. - -A little incident decided him. It happened one morning that Peter -Schoeffer, a scholar who had assisted in selling the block books, and -now famed for his skill in penmanship, came into the shop. He had at -one period called often, and a friendship had sprung up between himself -and the inventor. The latter, sure of his sympathy, showed him a copy -of the “Absies.” Schoeffer was highly pleased, and said,-- - -“According to my thinking, this is what we need in our school. The -letters are regular and plain, and it would save great labor in -copying.” He then volunteered to bring the work to the notice of his -teacher; and after inquiry and examination the school was furnished -with the “Absies.” - -Time passed, Gutenberg leading much the same life,--mostly engaged -in the lapidary business, and printing a small page occasionally; in -this last work having little patronage. It was, indeed, useless to -attempt printing at Strasbourg; the old prejudice reviving as soon as -it was known that he had made any new issues. He resolved, therefore, -to abandon the place forever. But where should he go? As was natural, -he decided to return to Mentz, the home of his childhood and youth. In -this decision Anna fully concurred, sensible that her husband could -never succeed in the place of his defeat. - -Gutenberg was deeply moved on approaching his native city, Mentz. -He had left it in the buoyancy of youth, a chevalier; less than a -score of earnest, struggling, eventful years pass, and he returns an -artisan. Humiliation, indigence, and glory had wrestled in his destiny. -The lawsuit had spread his fame through Germany; but poor, ruined, -condemned, he comes back with aching heart and disappointed hopes to -reconstruct, if possible, his fallen fortunes. His parents were no -more; and hesitatingly he drew near the old home, a stately ancestral -dwelling. How would his brother receive him and his in the day of his -adversity? Would he find him estranged by the cruel slanders of the -Strasbourg busybodies? He well knew that he should miss the loving -ministrations of his sister Hebele, as, soon after his departure, she -had joined the St. Claire Convent; and now he realized as never before, -her living burial. Alas! she seemed dead to her friends. Forebodingly -he crossed the threshold of his fathers; but Friele, true brother that -he was, met him joyfully, bidding him welcome again and again. This -sympathy was most grateful to the wanderer in his reverses; still he -was only half-satisfied, he so much longed for help in his beloved -art; but how could he speak of it, and perchance break the spell of -their happy meeting? Friele had, however, learned many passages of his -late history from Gutenberg’s occasional letters to his mother, and -eagerly questioned him for farther particulars. This led the inventor -to dwell on his struggles to bring out an art which would multiply -books, and lessen the labor of making them. Friele listened intently, -yet was doubtful of new things. He promised, however, to aid him in -some feasible way. This might be the work of time, and meanwhile he -begged him to be hopeful and happy, expressing his conviction that all -would yet turn out for the best. This loving reception was balm to -the wounded spirit of the inventor; and feeling that he could safely -confide in his brother, he showed him some of the works he had printed, -and the printing materials which he had brought with him, at the -same time acknowledging more fully his strong wish of commencing the -business in Mentz. - -Friele was increasingly interested, and hoped to be able to assist him; -meanwhile Gutenberg decided to rent a small cottage, and pursue his -business of the lapidary; occupying himself as he might be able, in -fitting up his printing apparatus. - -One day, some time after, as he was passing the Church of St. -Christopher, he met his brother Friele in earnest discourse with a -stranger, whom he introduced as John Faust, saying to Gutenberg, -smilingly,-- - -“We were just speaking of thee, brother John!” - -“I am most happy to meet thee!” said Faust, cordially. “I should know -you from your resemblance to your father. I am well-acquainted with -your cousins and all your kindred; I esteem them highly, and heartily -welcome back a former townsman,--a member of one of our patrician -families.” - -Friele pleasantly bowed and passed on, as Faust continued:-- - -“Your brother has given me some account of your efforts in the arts; -and I am desirous of learning more respecting them.” - -The heart of Gutenberg was touched by the genuine interest in himself -and his endeavors, manifested by the rich goldsmith; and the two new -friends were soon walking the streets absorbed in conversation. - -“I have devised a most important invention,” said Gutenberg, “and it -remains hidden like a buried seed till the rain and sunshine bring it -up to light and fruitage. Would that I had my hoarded patrimony, that -I might render my discovery available! But such is the necessity of -keeping the details of my processes, that I have not ventured to apply -for money to prosecute the art.” - -“If I had a full understanding of what it is, I might perhaps assist -thee,” returned the banker. - -“It concerns book-making,” explained Gutenberg, for Faust was fast -winning his confidence. “You are aware that the great work of the -monasteries in Germany, as elsewhere, is copying books, and that -they receive vast sums for their works. My new process doth entirely -supercede their toil, and fashioneth books without the labor of -copying.” - -“Impossible!” ejaculated Faust. - -“But I can demonstrate it!” - -“Good, if thou canst prove it beyond all question. But what money is -needed to carry out thy wonderful discovery?” - -“Some two or three thousand florins,” answered Gutenberg. - -“If I were convinced,” returned the other, “that it would pay better -than goldsmithing,--but I must see specimens of thy work, before -committing myself to the enterprise.” - -“And I will with pleasure show them you, provided you will pledge -yourself that, if convinced, you will invest in the undertaking. -Meanwhile rest assured that it will yet pay richly. Why, consider what -moneys the monks receive; and my books will be more in demand, since -they are better executed.” - -“As to books,” remarked the goldsmith, “according to my thinking there -are enough in the world already. They serve little purpose save to turn -active men into mopers. Nevertheless, as people will have them, there -can be no harm that we should make a profit by furnishing them. They -may as well have books as jewelry and mirrors, which gratify their -vanity.” - -“I think so,” replied the inventor, smiling; “and when you come to know -my art, you cannot fail to admire it.” - -“Art!” exclaimed Faust jocosely, “hath it aught to do with the black -art? I could not abide that. Much as I value money, I would not league -myself with the Evil One.” - -“By no means,” said Gutenberg, a mirthful expression breaking over his -care-worn face, “and you have no greater abhorrence of such wickedness -than myself.” Then seriously, “I believe in using the wisdom that God -giveth. As saith St. James, ‘If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of -God, who giveth unto all men liberally, and upbraideth not.’” - -“But what if thou art deceived in thy business calculations? What then -will become of my money?” asked Faust. - -“There can be no mistake,” was the answer. “I have put the discovery to -practical use; I have made books by it, and there can be no illusion. -This I will demonstrate before we sign a contract. If it were not a -great discovery, and most beneficent and far-reaching in its results, I -would not be thus earnest to bring it out. But to delay is risking too -much; in case of my death, it would perish with me.” - -“If I can be convinced that it is a certainty,” returned Faust, “I -will furnish capital; but I cannot abide a doubt. As I said, if I am -satisfied, we will draw up and sign an agreement; you, on your part, to -teach me the secrets of the art; I, on my part, to provide money; and -the profits to be shared equally.” - -He then agreed to come and spend the ensuing day at Gutenberg’s house, -examining specimens of his work and investigating the practicability -of his invention. - -It was noon the next day when Gutenberg took Faust home with him, to -the dismay of Anna, who, since her preoccupied husband had forgotten -the marketing, had only the prospect of a dinner of herbs for her -guest. At length, in her anxiety, she heard the sound of a fisherman’s -horn; and, sallying out into the street, she purchased a great -treasure,--a fish. In due time the simple repast was ready; and when -they were seated at the table, Faust, reverting to the subject of their -previous conference, said,-- - -“Your invention has something to do with engraving on wood. How can -that be less laborious than copying?” - -“It is precisely to draw your attention to that point that I spoke of -it,” replied Gutenberg. “With that alone we could not even imprint a -large work in a life-time. But if, instead of engraving a whole page on -a solid block, we use a small movable block for engraving each letter, -you see that we can then use the same letters any number of times, and -so lessen our labors beyond all calculation. This is the first great -step of my invention. Does it not seem simple? Why did no one think of -it before?” - -He then described the process by which he reached his various -improvements, dwelling especially on his invention of the press. - -“You must have a world of perseverance!” observed Faust, admiringly. - -“When one gets on the track of a great idea,” said Gutenberg, a -handsome glow tinging his cheeks, “it is hard to give it up.” - -“But you are an artist in gems,” interrupted Faust. “Who executed the -work in wood for you?” - -“Conrad Sachspach, at Strasbourg, made the frame, following my -directions. But I must show you some of my books;” and, rising, he -produced a number, and among them the “Speculum,” which was made partly -from blocks and partly from movable type. - -“Are these really specimens of books, Master Gutenberg?” asked Faust -with surprise. “Wonderful! wonderful! thou hast wisely devised a most -useful art, that will shortly bring thee both riches and renown!” - -“And thou hast the faculty to quickly comprehend my art,” replied -Gutenberg with a beaming face. - -“That is true,” added Anna, “and it is so blessed to be appreciated. -But while you warm over your theme, dinner gets cold!” and a laugh went -round the table. - -“This is a worthy deed of thine, madam,” replied Faust, “preparing a -good dinner, and making us laugh. Physicians would commend thee.” - -“What would they say to my husband? wouldn’t they counsel him to -descend from the clouds and eat like other people?” - -“No doubt of it, madam, since ideas, however original, have not the -nourishing elements of food. You have been tried by your husband’s -application to his one idea?” - -“At times,” replied Anna, “I have failed to see the service of it.” -Faust laughed heartily, adding,-- - -“Time enough for the utility, madam. The invention must go through a -process to become available; it must creep before it can walk. Have -patience, madam!” - -“I try to have a great store,” she playfully said, “but he is so taken -up with his projects that I can scarcely ever get a word from him. -When he leaves his work-shop for the day, and draws his chair to the -fire, one would think he might have the grace to be sociable; but there -he sits and pokes the fire, reads the fire, studies the fire, half -the night, and I would like to know what is the necessity of so much -meditation?” - -“Ah, madam,” returned Faust, “it is the common experience of inventors -to meet many adversities in the outset. You have reason to be proud of -your husband. As I understand it, he has made a great discovery,--the -beginning of something of vast importance.” - -Then, turning to Gutenberg, he added, “I am ready to advance thy -invention. But how shall we move? Secrecy is indispensable. We must -live in the same house in which we work,--we must consult much -together. Where is there a suitable building?” - -“I had thought of the Zum Jungen,” said Gutenberg. - -“The very place. It is almost a palace in size, and will afford ample -room; is in the city, and yet retired from its bustle. It is now -vacant, and I will go and engage it at once. This evening let us draw -up a written contract, or articles of agreement, and I will advance the -needed funds. When can you remove?” - -“To-morrow, can we not, Anna?” - -“Why,” exclaimed she, “can we get ready so soon? We are scarcely -settled yet.” - -“The easier to remove,” replied Gutenberg; adding, “moreover, the Zum -Jungen is a very beautiful place, and reminds me of the old castle -Thür, where I first met my Anna!” - -“Let us go at once,” immediately returned the wife; “it must be -delightful. Why cannot De Becktoff de Hanau come and help us remove?” -alluding to an old servant and valet of the Gutenberg family, who, like -others of their servants, had been allowed to hire himself out, since -he could not be maintained. - -“A good thought, wife; he shall take charge of our goods, and we -shall avoid some of the fatigue of a second removal. I will bring him -hither;” and Faust having taken leave, Gutenberg hastened to find the -old valet. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XIII. - - The Zum Jungen.--The Old Valet.--A Happy Change.--Going over the - Process anew.--Type of Lead.--Peter Schoeffer. - - -The Zum Jungen, that famous old house on the Rhine, was engaged; -the articles of agreement duly drawn up and signed. Faust advanced -2,020 florins, taking a mortgage of Gutenberg’s printing materials as -security; and the firm, having removed their families to the building, -commenced operations in the printing rooms. Hanau, the valet of the -elder Gutenberg, was especially serviceable in the removal, and was -soon installed as a faithful helper in the office. - -“What think you of this?” said Gutenberg to Anna one morning, soon -after the settlement in their new quarters, as they stood on the -balcony that overlooked the river. - -“O, it is so beautiful!” she replied. “Never will I tire of this -scenery. There; do you see those swallows sitting so still upon their -nests under the roofs? Now one flies off zigzag to the ground, after a -worm; now she bears it back, perches upon her nest, and chippers with -her little ones as they eat their breakfast. Hear them chatter! Then -how fragrant the flowers! How pretty the hills, clad in vineyards! I -feel at home already, and I mean to be happy, and let no foreboding -trouble me. I do not yet ride in a coach, and dine like a queen, but my -home is in a palace. How good it was in Faust to advance money! What a -difference it makes in our circumstances!” - -“Besides, how it affects my art!” returned Gutenberg. “How could I -prosper without it? And, Anna, we do well to remember that there has -been providential interposition in our affairs. We must acknowledge it -if we would be directed. Think of the long trial we have had, and of -our deliverer.” - -“It does seem like a miracle. But how canst thou ever make new types -and presses like those which were destroyed at Strasbourg?” - -“Trust me I shall not be long of doing that,” answered Gutenberg. “I am -encouraged. The prospect was dark until my arrangement with Faust; but -we shall do well enough, now that abundant means are provided.” - -At first the firm was occupied with some of the block books which -had been issued at Strasbourg. Among these were the “Absies,” or -alphabetical tables, the “Doctrinale,” and a manual of grammar, or -“Donatus.” - -The work did indeed go prosperously forward. Gutenberg, Faust, Hanau, -and Martin Duttlinger,--the last named a Cathedral scholar who had -assisted in printing at Dritzhn’s shop,--were occupied from early in -the morning till late at night in cutting type and setting it up. Faust -had also occasionally some of his workmen--a Hamburgher among them--in -the printing hall. They wrought in two well-lighted, convenient rooms -in the second story,--so surrounded by other rooms as not to be -accessible to strangers,--which apartments they kept constantly locked. - -Step by step, the company went through in a few months what caused -Gutenberg years of experimenting, as we in a few hours can read a -book which cost the author the study of a life. Not that they really -mastered everything as did their teacher. That which he himself -elaborated, was indeed a part of his mind, his inventions being his -thoughts embodied. Hence the propriety of giving him so prominent a -place in this volume. The art cannot be fittingly portrayed without -sketching its originator. Like soul and body, they belong together; it -is impossible to picture one without the other. - -To describe the process by which Gutenberg taught his art, would be -to repeat the progress of the Strasbourg firm, save that the Mentz -printers were more hopeful, earnest, and intelligent, and did not so -easily yield to obstacles; and also the difference that they were -immediately advanced to movable type. - -“We are making fine headway,” said Faust to Gutenberg, when the works -referred to had been printed. - -“Yes, but we sadly need a designer for our engravings. How I miss my -Andreas Dritzhn, of happy memory, who did excellent service in this -line at Strasbourg.” - -“Cannot some one be found to fill his place?” - -“I know of only one man that would do,” replied Gutenberg, “and that is -young Peter Schoeffer, a teacher of penmanship, now residing in Paris. -I must send him word to join us.” - -As the printing went on, Gutenberg encountered the old difficulty of -the softening of the type, and, on being questioned by Faust respecting -it, set his ingenious mind to work to remedy it. - -Turning to a drawer of odds and ends, and taking out some bits of -metal, he said, “Suppose we make our type of lead!” Faust took up a -strip, and, commencing a rude letter on the end of it, said, “This -will do, assuredly. It is hard, and yet we can cut it, and it will not -become soft, as does wood, by absorbing ink.” - -“We can at least test it,” said Gutenberg. “If it should not prove to -be just what we need, it may suggest something useful. My progress has -been made by a series of experiments; and because we fail once, is no -reason for discouragement. We have only to try until we succeed.” - -Faust’s letter gave him much satisfaction. “We have discovered the -right thing for our type!” said he, after making an impression with -it. He then strode up and down the room, now looking at this form, now -that, then stopping to dab the leather ink-balls on the type, then -taking up a manuscript, and generally making himself at home in the -printing-office. Since he had become a partner and patron, his manner -had grown pompous and somewhat lordly. Although a mere novice in the -new art, he was fully sensible of the honor he conferred on the firm -in associating himself with it, and very naturally assumed a general -oversight. The inventor saw the infirmities of his friend, but forebore -remark. He was both discerning and patient. - -One afternoon, some weeks later, as a shower was rising, Anna sat by -her window, alternately sewing and watching the clouds as they gathered -in dark columns and overspread the sky. The brown sparrows that -frequented the roof of the Zum Jungen, chattered as the large drops -fell, perching upon the tiles and laughing at the rain. Just then who -should be coming up the street but Gutenberg and Peter Schoeffer, in -earnest discourse, seeming to heed the weather as little as did the -birds. Gutenberg had opened his heart to Schoeffer as to an old friend; -he felt confidence in doing so, for Schoeffer had proved himself -estimable and trusty when in his employ at Strasbourg. As they came -nearer and entered the house, Anna heard Gutenberg say, “Canst thou -tell me, Master Schoeffer, now that we are on my art, what is the most -notable and important book in the world?” - -“I do not consider myself learned enough to answer that question,” -answered Schoeffer, after a pause. “The scribes who spend their lives -in making libraries should know.” - -“That is true,” was the reply. “But, judging from the works which you -have seen, which is the most celebrated and useful?” - -“I recollect,” replied Peter Schoeffer, “when I was in the Cathedral -school, that Father Melchoir showed us the Gothic Gospels, or Silver -Book, and remarked that more art and expense had been spent on the -Bible than on any other book. From this I must infer that in the -opinion of the wise, it is the most useful and important book in -existence.” - -“Right,” replied the inventor; “more time has been spent in copying -the Bible than any other book, and justly; for the Word of God is -before all human productions.” - -“But is not the Breviary made more prominent by our priests?” - -“Although in more common use, you will notice that it is not generally -so highly ornamented and so costly as the Bible. This last is the -foundation of the Prayer-book, as also of the institutions of our -religion. Whatever we enjoy of Christianity and civilization is due -to that sacred Book. Hence it is of all others the most to be prized -and preserved. There are, however, comparatively few copies of it in -the world,--only two or three thousand, it is said, and these mostly -hoarded in monasteries, universities, and royal libraries. Suppose now, -that in the conflict of nations, evil should befall the depositories -of the sacred Book, and, through some devastation or edict, the Bible -be lost to us. Moreover, the Holy Book is sold to kings when they can -afford to pay six hundred crowns for it; if _they_ may have the Bible, -why may not their subjects? My purpose is to print a Bible in the best -style of my art, and multiply copies of it. I shall need in this work a -skillful engraver of letters.” - -“But what an undertaking, to print the entire Bible!” said Schoeffer. - -“Yea, a stupendous work!” was the answer, “and it will take years to -accomplish it; hence I am the more anxious to begin. Can I not depend -on thy aid?” - -Peter Schoeffer had assisted Gutenberg in Strasbourg, and admired him, -and now was only too happy to accede to his request, and take charge of -designing letters for engraving. - -Thus early in the history of his invention did Gutenberg conceive the -project of printing the Bible; consecrating his art to the honor of -God, and the welfare of his fellow-men. Well does Mr. Hallam say, “It -is a very striking circumstance, that the high-minded inventors of -this great art tried at the outset so bold a flight as the printing an -entire Bible.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XIV. - - Working of the Press.--The Medallion.--An Acquisition.--Experiments. - --A Failure.--Schoeffer’s Invention.--Discovery of Cast Metal Type. - - -Entering the printing rooms, Gutenberg introduced Peter Schoeffer to -John Faust, and then called his attention to the new press, which was a -noticeable improvement on those broken up at Strasbourg. - -“Admirable!” exclaimed Schoeffer, as the inventor explained the working -of the machine. “Good progress has been made since I was in your shop, -years ago.” - -As Martin Duttlinger, the workman, dabbed the type with ink, slid under -the platen, and, having pressed it, removed the printed page, Peter was -delighted with the facility with which the press operated. - -“This is truly wonderful,” cried he. “Pray, friend Martin, how many -impressions can be made by this press in a day?” - -“About three hundred, if we work it constantly.” - -“Is it possible!” exclaimed Peter. “Now indeed will books multiply. -What will the plodding copyists say to this?” - -Simple man of the ancient time! What would you say to the speed of our -cylinder presses, which throw off twenty thousand printed sheets an -hour, or more than three hundred a minute! Think of it, shade of Peter -Schoeffer,--it would take one hundred and ninety-two thousand of the -swiftest scribes to furnish by copying the same amount as one of these -presses supplies in one hour! - -Contrast the speed of the snail and the lightning! - -But what was Peter Schoeffer’s personal appearance? some one asks. We -shall let you judge for yourself,--in our opinion he was not handsome. -However, as “handsome is that handsome does,” if we can find in history -that he did to others as he would have others do to him, we will -forgive his plain face, since it was no fault of his. Suppose also we -look at the three together. - -The portraits are taken from a medallion, and are faithful likenesses -of the individuals acknowledged in Germany as the first printers. -The subject from which the picture was copied, is said to have been -engraved by the famous Gubitz of Berlin, from an old German painting. - -We shall become more interested in Schoeffer when we learn what he -achieved; but it is high time he was described. - -His forehead is high, hair scanty and smooth, the perceptive ridge -stands out over the eyes,--which are black and piercing,--nose long and -decided, mouth large and smiling, and the chin entirely hidden by a -flowing beard. He is called the _Improver_ of the art of printing. - -Faust, on the same medallion, is a better-looking man than Schoeffer, -and twenty years his senior. His brow is not so lofty, but it is -care-worn, while his hair is jet-black. He has the hawk’s eye, keen -nose, and pursy mouth of the shrewd and thrifty business man. A scanty -beard discloses a well-turned chin, and altogether he makes a fine -appearance. He is distinguished as the _Promoter_ of the art. - -Gutenberg has been already described in a preceding chapter. - -[Illustration: - - GUTTENBERG - FUST - SCHOEFFER - -(From an old painting.)] - -To return to Schoeffer. - -Opening his travelling bundle, he produced specimens of his own -hand-writing. These were in the most elegant style of the practiced -monks. The letters were clear, legible, and uniform, charming the eye. - -“Your nice taste and delicate execution, my son,” said the inventor, -“will nobly aid the art of printing. Abide with us, devote your -talents to the art, and you shall not be the loser.” - -“You do me too much honor,” replied Peter. “I shall only be too happy -to serve thee in my former capacity. I feel that I have everything to -learn in this invention, which has made such advancement in my absence.” - -Gutenberg was by no means a good penman, neither could he cut very -legible letters in type. - -But what Gutenberg lacked, Peter Schoeffer could supply, and the type -which was made after he joined the firm, showed the benefit of his -coöperation. - -As the wooden type had in a measure failed, from the necessity of -frequent renewal, the company gradually substituted letters of lead. -John Faust and Schoeffer entered with much interest upon the experiment -of using lead, sanguine of its success. They still confined themselves -to printing the elementary books. They found no difficulty in cutting -the letters with precision, and they could put them together as well -as those of wood; they had trouble, however, in printing with them. -The metal was so soft that it required the nicest skill in turning the -screw, as it would scarcely bear sufficient pressure to print. - -See Gutenberg, Faust, and Schoeffer, and the different members of the -firm, around the press in almost breathless suspense at the trial of -the leaden type! - -“This will never do,” exclaimed Faust in dismay, as the proof-sheet was -drawn out, after Gutenberg had turned the screw. Some of the type were -so much bent as to spoil the letters; others did not print at all. The -experiment was a failure. - -“Patience!” cried the inventor, “we shall yet succeed. Turn you to -your type-setting, and let me manage the press;” and thus he spent the -remainder of the day. Working it by himself, he found that if the screw -was turned to a given point, it would, under his hand, print without -injuring the type; but when another took his place, it was sure to be -marred. - -The artisans were much depressed when they separated for the night. -Gutenberg invited Schoeffer home to supper, that he might talk over the -matter. - -“The lead type is plainly too soft,” remarked Gutenberg as they sat by -the cheerful fire in his own room in the Zum Jungen. “What we want is -softness and strength, a mixture of qualities. Another metal should be -added.” - -“Have you tried iron?” asked Peter. - -“Aye, some time since,” was the answer; “but it pierced the paper so -that it could not be used.” - -Each then suggested and discussed different combinations of metals, -and decided to try experiments until the right alloy was found. And -thus the evening wore away. - -One suggestive intellect stirs another. As the flint elicits the spark -from the steel, so two minds may jointly originate a new thought. Under -Gutenberg’s influence the workings of Peter Schoeffer’s active brain -took shape, and all the inventive faculty within him was brought into -exercise. - -Now it so happened, as Nieritz relates, that Peter was accustomed to -experiment in metals, and the very next day, after sweating over the -fire in the back office, brought in an amalgam which he thought might -answer the purpose. It was a mixture of regulus of antimony and lead. -This proved to be of the requisite softness and strength. - -The day of this discovery was an eventful one. It was Schoeffer’s first -invention. Faust called Gutenberg aside when he saw how well the new -material worked, to congratulate him. - -“Good teachers produce apt scholars,” said he, patronizingly patting -Gutenberg’s shoulder. “I must wish thee joy of thy apprentice. He takes -to the art like a kitten to milk. We must make him one of the firm.” - -“He is an ingenious workman,” returned Gutenberg, “and we need all -the ability of this kind that we can command, for difficulties often -occur. I also am in favor of making him a partner.” - -“Moreover, it is so pleasant to have another with us whom we can -trust,” added Faust, “and an old acquaintance of yours. I am suspicious -of strangers. Our success depends mainly on keeping our secret.” - -Happily Schoeffer did not hear all the praise lavished upon him, but he -heard enough to incite him to diligence and perseverance. Gutenberg was -justly proud of him, and grateful to the kind Providence that had sent -him to the Zum Jungen. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XV. - - Schoeffer admitted to the Firm.--A Grand Project.--How a Bible was - borrowed.--The Early Press.--Processes in Bookmaking.--Ingenuity - of Peter Schoeffer.--Industry of the Firm.--Ink.--Cast Type.-- - Three Ingenious Men.--Letter-founding.--Faust compliments - Peter.--The First Printed Page of the Bible.--A Memorable Year. - - -We now view the first printing firm industriously cutting type from -the metal introduced by Peter Schoeffer, who is one of the partners. -Gutenberg, having fully tested it, found with joy that it was the -long-sought composition. It was hard enough to bear the necessary -pressure, and yet did not perforate the paper or vellum in printing. - -“This is most opportune to our need,” said he to Peter; “we can now -begin to set type for the Bible. The lead _stucke_ must be melted into -the new mixture; you shall have charge of it, taking care to reserve -some of the best letters for models. We must keep in mind that the care -with which the letters are carved will determine the appearance of the -book. By lavishing time, ingenuity, and money on the Bible, the monks -have produced some elaborate specimens. I see no reason why we may not -rival them if we try.” - -“Of all books the Bible should be in the highest style of our art,” -remarked Schoeffer. - -“True, it should be,” replied Gutenberg; “and as you have cultivated -yourself in penmanship, I wish you to instruct the firm in -type-cutting. I have thought of a plan by which we can have uniform and -elegant letters. It is that you write them on the ends of the metal -strips, and let others carve the type from your pattern. This will -insure us one style of handwriting throughout the Bible; ever keeping -in mind that it is our aim to produce the most beautiful book the world -has ever seen,--for it is fitting that this book, of all others, should -be issued in the most excellent manner.” - -“But,” observed Peter, “how can we excel the monks, when one man spends -a life-time on writing out and embellishing a Bible, and we can only -devote a few years to it? For instance, how can we ever bring our Bible -to compare with the Silver Book in the care of Father Melchoir, the -letters of which are mostly of silver, and the illustrations of gold? I -had access to the Royal Library of France, in the Louvre. There I saw -a copy of the Evangelists, written in liquid gold! I fear we shall -fail in magnificence, and give as great a contrast compared with these -monks, as our plain printing rooms form with that library, the floor of -which is paved with marble, the walls decorated with glass and ivory, -and the shelves and desks are of the costliest wood.” - -“I shall not attempt to rival the monks in adorning my Bibles with gold -and silver,” said Gutenberg; “if the letters are faultless, and the -printing clear, we shall outvie them, and I am persuaded that we can -effect this. It would be idle for us to print with gold, even if we had -the abundance to warrant it. The monks are wealthy, and only lavish it -on a single copy, once in many years; while if we issue one Bible, we -shall imprint more than a hundred!” - -“Aye, indeed!” exclaimed Peter Schoeffer, “What a magnificent thought! -Truly we live in a wonderful age, when six men can make a hundred -Bibles in six years!” - -(But what would you say, Peter, could you witness the lightning-feats -of the steam-presses of this day, dashing off a thousand copies of the -sacred volume in one day?) - -“And moreover,” replied Gutenberg, “when we have disposed of one -hundred copies, we can issue as many more in a shorter time.” - -“That is most cheering,” returned Schoeffer, “and I will at once -engage in my department of the work.” - -The printing of the Bible was now the great enterprise of the firm, -smaller works being issued by way of preparation. While Peter Schoeffer -superintended type-cutting, and the office work went on as usual, there -were long and earnest consultations as to the best course to pursue -in obtaining a Bible for a copy. If Gutenberg or Faust bargained for -one with the Abbot of a monastery, inquiries would be made which they -wished not to answer. - -“If I had the money to deposit for a Bible,” said Martin Duttlinger, “I -could easily obtain one.” - -“And the money we expect to furnish, of course,” said Faust. “No one -can borrow so valuable a piece of property as a Bible, without the same -as buying it.” - -It was accordingly arranged that Martin Duttlinger, who was the most -trusty of their workmen, should be charged with the mission of buying -a Bible of Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim, who was known to have books -for sale; and Martin was accordingly fitted off. After his departure, -affairs went on with the firm much as usual, save that they felt the -impulse which the resolve of engaging in the noblest enterprise on -earth could not fail to give; and who can doubt that the smile of God’s -countenance rested on them, lightening their toil? - -[Illustration: ANCIENT PRESS.] - -Gutenberg and Faust advised much together respecting the improved -printing machine they were adjusting, and Schoeffer made rapid -improvement in his particular branch of the art. - -Gutenberg’s press was very simple in construction,--a board acted on -by a screw, like a cheese-press. On this board the type was placed -inclosed in a frame, then inked; the paper was then laid over them, -and the screw turned by a lever with the hand. In constructing this -press, he had two upright posts of great strength, seven feet and a -half high, placed four feet apart, and fastened together at the top -and bottom by two stout crosspieces. In this frame an iron screw was -made to work, by means of two parallel additional crosspieces, about -a foot and a half apart, connecting the perpendicular posts. From -about the middle of each of these upright posts, three feet from the -floor, a slide projected, called a rib; these posts were parallel to -each other, and firmly fitted, to bear a great weight. But these two -points of the press,--the _screw_ and the _slide_,--let us see of what -use they were. A table was made to run in under the frame and out, the -slide supporting it in place of legs. The screw worked in a box, called -a hose, by means of a bar or lever inserted in it; the toe, or lower -end of the screw, working in a sort of cup fixed upon a large block -of dense wood, having the face planed smooth, and called the platen. -By turning down the bar, the screw forced down the platen, which was -fastened to it, just as far as it descended; when the screw was raised, -the platen was also raised. - -The frame or chase which contained the type being fixed upon the table, -it was made to slide backwards and forwards as was needed. For example, -when the type was ready to be pressed, having been previously inked, -and the paper laid upon it, the workman slid it under the platen; and -after the screw was turned down, and the platen had pressed it, or the -printing was done, he slid it out. - -The inking balls were constructed of a variety of things, and at length -the printers used those which were made of sheep’s felt. - -A sheet of paper being placed upon the type, the form was slid directly -under the platen; and this being pressed down by a handle turning the -screw, the paper was printed. - -This press served very well then, and even almost to our own day; a -similar one is sometimes to be seen now, where common rough printing is -required. - -The press-work, being very toilsome, was done by turns, one man plying -it a certain number of hours, then another taking his place. The -Alphabet, with the “Lord’s Prayer,” the “Address to the Virgin Mary,” -a “Dictionary,” and a “Donatus,” were the first works printed with the -improved press, and separate types. - -Each of these first printers was eminently practical. Had they been -otherwise, never could so great a work have been executed. It is now -necessary to employ as many as twelve trades to publish a Bible. These -are type-founders, printers’ joiners, iron-founders, paper-makers, -wholesale stationers, letter-press printers, printing-ink makers, -composition-roller makers, engravers on wood, lithographic printers, -hot-pressers, and book-binders. But those three men, of whom Gutenberg -was chief, wrought at most of these branches of business with their own -hands, or by the workmen whom they taught, in the printing rooms of the -Zum Jungen. - -Schoeffer had great skill and facility in getting out the cut type, -as well as in directing others to work after his models. When he had -wrought at it some time and prepared a quantity of type, Gutenberg said -to him,-- - -“Our initial letters must be illuminated, and as you have had much -practice in this department of writing, being an illuminator of -manuscript works, I doubt not you will execute them as they should be.” - -“I will do my best,” replied Schoeffer, pleasantly. The result was -that in a short time he had designed and cut a number of illuminated -letters, to be used at the beginning of chapters. As a specimen of his -handiwork, we give the initial B, taken from a work of the Mentz press, -and described on the following page. - -Let us carefully notice this exquisite letter. On the left hand are -elaborated fern leaves and other foliage; while the centre is dense -with climbing luxuriance. On the right, in the broad curves of the -initial, are delicate flowers suggestive of snow crystals, cerastium, -and mignonnette,--dainty bits of infloresence just fitted to alight -with feathery footfall on the back of the elephantine letter. On the -other side is a bird taking its flight, and a dog pursuing. The letter -itself originally was in pale blue, the ornaments in which it was -placed being red; the figures and flowers were transparent and white, -as well as the vellum on which the book was printed; showing that the -art of engraving was no longer in its infancy, and also that the artist -was well practiced in his profession. - -[Illustration: FROM THE PSALTER, PSALM I.] - -Well done, Peter Schoeffer! we cannot sufficiently admire thy taste, -patience, and perseverance. What an infinite deal of labor and pains -it cost thee to design and engrave hundreds of these illuminated -letters for the Bible! Besides, there was the general superintendence -of type-cutting; for every letter was drafted by the same hand. We -are puzzled to think where you acquired your skill. It is said that -you were famously started under the fostering care of Father Melchoir, -himself a good copyist, and then improved your style by two years’ -application at the University of Paris. And all this that the Bible -may be fittingly printed! Little did you think when a student at the -Cathedral of Strasbourg, for what you were studying. Neither did it -occur to you while your eye was schooled for the conception, and your -hand for the execution of beauty, at Paris, for what you were preparing. - -In due time Martin returned from his mission, bearing a Bible in -manuscript, in a satchel on his back, and great were the rejoicings and -congratulations of the firm and their families. - -Gutenberg, Faust, and Schoeffer now became more and more absorbed in -the various divisions of the art of printing, preparatory to setting -the Bible in type in the best style. - -The simple branch of inventing and making ink, for example, cost time -and patience; many experiments being tried before the right combination -was found. Common writing ink would not answer, being so liquid as -to deface the paper with blots. Finally, a mixture of linseed oil -and lamp-black or soot was tried, and found to possess the right -consistence. They succeeded so well in compounding it that, as one has -said, “their works show a depth and richness of color which excites -the envy of the moderns; nor has it turned brown, or rendered the -surrounding paper in the least degree dingy.” It was applied to the -type by dabbers. These were balls of skin stuffed with wool, precisely -like those used forty years ago. The types were disposed in cases much -as they are now. - -The firm was getting on finely, having prepared several hundred pounds’ -weight of type for the Bible, when Schoeffer, getting weary of this -monotonous cutting, “and being ardently desirous to improve the art,” -bethought him of trying to invent a simpler and speedier method of -preparing type. - -It is interesting to follow this scribe, belonging to an ancient and -honorable craft, as he helped pull it down to build up one infinitely -better. It was like taking down a cottage from a goodly site, to make -room for a Crystal Palace that would last through all time. Not that -Schoeffer was alone in this enterprise; he simply aided others. He may -have suggested the new device of casting type, and indeed some go as -far as to give him the entire credit of the conception and execution of -this process. He had taste, culture, and adaptation to circumstances; -Gutenberg was ingenious, and Faust wealthy; and there was every motive -to arouse Schoeffer’s mind to activity. Says a discriminating English -writer, “It seems most probable that where three ingenious men are -bound together by art and interest, no one of them can lay exclusive -claim to any invention or undertaking executed in the work-shops and for -mutual benefit. Allowing, therefore, to Schoeffer the honor of having -hinted the plan, the other two may fairly put in a claim for their -portion of the credit on the score of their assistance, especially -since Gutenberg and Faust, being mechanics, would have engaged and -directed the workmen.” - -Evidently at the suggestion of Schoeffer, the firm began to take casts -of type in moulds of plaster. This improvement on the old method was -really a great step onward, although the process of casting was slow -and tedious. A new mould was required for each letter; and let the -workman be ever so vigilant, no care could enable him to impress fully -and steadily into a soft substance so small a thing as a type is at the -face, while yet so long in the shank; accordingly, when he succeeded -well in his attempt, after the casting, there was a process of -finishing, to give it the well-defined sharpness absolutely necessary -in type. This improvement therefore was rather unsatisfactory, and led -to much consultation of the printers how they could carry it still -further. And here Peter Schoeffer’s practical talent appeared; for “it -was he who first planned the cutting of punches, whereby not only might -the most beautiful form of type the taste and skill of the artist -could suggest, be fairly stamped upon the matrix, but a degree of -finish quite unattainable in type cut in metal or wood could be given -to the face; whilst to the shank, by the very same process by which the -face was cast, the mould would give perfect sharpness and precision of -angle.” - -History relates that Peter Schoeffer privately cut matrices for the -whole alphabet, and showed the letters cast from them to Gutenberg and -Faust. - -“Are these letters cast in moulds?” asked the latter, in great -astonishment. - -“They are,” replied Schoeffer. - -“Mirabile! this surpasses all!” exclaimed he. “Why, you are showing -yourself a great genius, I must acknowledge. How old are you?” - -“Twenty-eight!” replied Peter. - -“I seldom flatter, but you are a young man of promise; and I predict -that you will make your mark in the world! I suppose you think that is -slight praise, for a practiced scribe ought to be able to write his -name in gold letters,--making his mark is said of those who can only -make a mark for their name;” and Faust laughed at his own wit. “But you -know what I mean. In my opinion, you will yet come to distinction!” - -But how shall we describe the emotions of those first printers, those -cool yet enthusiastic men, as they beheld the first printed page -of the Bible! The press worked admirably; the type was uniform and -elegant; and the expression given on the vellum, unequaled in beauty. -At sight of it a glow of honest pride filled each heart; and how could -the most undevout repress emotions of praise to God? - -We have a glimpse of the little company in the frontispiece, taken from -an old painting. This was in the spring of 1450, a year memorable as -commencing the issue of the famous Mazarine Bible. But with all the -toil and diligence bestowed upon it, it was not completed until five -years after, in 1455. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XVI. - - Faust’s Discontent.--Conspiracy against Gutenberg.--A Secret - kept.--The Lawsuit.--Gutenberg supplanted.--A New Firm.-- - Gutenberg’s Sorrow. - - -It was now in the early part of October, 1455; and of late, Faust, to -whom history gives the title of Doctor, had become dissatisfied with -Gutenberg, on the ground that returns did not come in fast enough for -the money invested. The Bible had been issued, it is true; but as it -had been at great expense, and its sale was small, his enthusiasm in -regard to it declined; and although once so warm a friend and patron -of Gutenberg, he grew cold-hearted and scheming. He was, however, -increasingly cordial to Peter Schoeffer, and one day invited him to -supper. Flattered by the attention, Peter appeared promptly at the -rooms of the Doctor, his toilet made with unusual care. It was in -the early evening, and a fire was being kindled in the large room -into which Peter was ushered. Madam Faust, an invalid, sat in her -arm-chair wrapped in a shawl, to shield her from the chilliness, as -a driving rain was pelting without. Christiane, the daughter, a young -lady of twenty-five,--and Peter thought he never saw her look more -beautiful,--cordially greeted him, and placed a seat for him. - -“Good-evening, master!” said Faust urbanely, rising and shaking his -hand. “Sit nearer the fire, master; the room will be warm soon.” - -In the course of the conversation which followed, Faust said, -“Gutenberg gaineth little in inventing. According to my thinking, he -cannot be named the same day with yourself, Peter. You devised the ink, -the forms for casting type, and the mixture of metals; and these are -nearly all that has been invented. I regret to say it, but it would be -a good thing for the firm if Gutenberg would even retire, so great is -his extravagance. Why, he expended 4,000 florins before the Bible was -half done! How he can ever pay me for the sums I let him have, I do not -comprehend.” - -“Economy is certainly useful,” observed Peter in a general way. - -“A just and sensible remark,” replied Faust. “Your printer’s ink shows -that you mean what you say; it is admirable, it is so cheap.” - -“I am glad you think so, master,” replied Peter, glancing with a proud -flush at Christiane. - -“I often say to my wife and daughter,” continued Faust, “that if -justice were done, you would be the acknowledged inventor, since you -are continually making improvements, while he invents nothing, so to -speak. Moreover, he is extravagant, and the business will be ridden to -death with debt.” - -Peter was more than gratified that his efforts were appreciated by the -Doctor; but he revered Gutenberg, and was shocked at the proposal to -eject him from the business, and he ventured to say,-- - -“I owe much to Master Gutenberg.” - -“True,” replied Faust; “but if you were not dependent, you would -acquire more in one week by your unfailing genius than he could impart -in a year. The faculty to contrive and discover is in you; and if we -were once rid of him, a great revenue would accrue. In due time you -would be rich and renowned.” - -The fire burned briskly, throwing out a genial warmth; the watch-dog -basked on his mat, opening and shutting his eyes in calm content; Madam -Faust’s delicate face became pink in the ruddy glow; Christiane’s -cheeks were abloom; the kettle sang from its long hook on the crane; a -servant glided softly around as she laid the table. Peter fell into a -dreamy abstraction. - -“If I could even do it honorably,” he murmured half unconsciously. - -“Honorably! certainly thou canst,” emphatically returned Faust. “Dost -thou think I would counsel thee to do that which would be otherwise? -Business is business, and one must look out first for one’s self. Thou -mayest have qualms of diffidence in severing the old tie, having served -so faithfully under him; but we will be answerable for the change: we -will see that he retires from the firm, and thou shalt not be blamed. -Agreeing to this, I will insure thee the use of my money to the extent -of my means.” - -“Wife, I hope you have something palatable for Master Schoeffer,” said -Faust, as all were seated by the table, and he helped his guest. Then, -returning to the subject of their conversation,-- - -“Aye, leave me alone in disposing of this matter. I’ve a little case -in law, which, for my brother’s sake, I shall set afoot. Gutenberg -is culpably careless of money. It is shocking to see one thus making -shipwreck of conscience. Of the 2,020 florins which I lent him, he has -not returned one obolus. He has not even paid the interest.” - -“He has not!” exclaimed Peter. “What can he be thinking of?” - -“Of himself,” replied Faust. “As long as he has money, what cares he -who goes without? I can only do business in a business way; and I shall -immediately call him to account; and, Master Schoeffer, our firm shall -be established on a firm basis.” - -Poor Peter was too well pleased with Faust’s flatteries, and, yielding -to the stronger will of his host, had listened to adroit insinuations -against Gutenberg until his heart grew hard. The Doctor was quick at -reading character, and knew how to turn Peter’s interest in Christiane -to account, and, when his guest rose to leave, said,-- - -“But, Master Schoeffer, you are by far too industrious. You are worn -with work, and need relaxation. You ought at least to devote these -magnificent moonlight evenings to recreation. My boat is always at your -service, and here’s Christiane--if you cannot find better company--give -her an airing on our beautiful river.” - -Schoeffer had often raised his eyes from his work to glance at the -lovely vision of Christiane, as she flitted by on her morning rambles; -but, proud and retiring, had felt the pecuniary distance there was -between her father and himself; and though he sometimes fancied she -was not indifferent to his admiration, they had not until that evening -spoken together. It seemed like a dream; for now in her presence her -father had lavished attentions upon him, and predicted for him fame and -fortune. - -The next morning, Gutenberg, in order to urge on the work, early toiled -at the press-work of the Bible; for so slow and laborious was the -process that comparatively few copies were completed. - -“Good-morning, Peter,” said he, unsuspicious of evil, as Schoeffer -entered, and a workman took his place at the press. “You have not told -me by what proportion of metals you have secured the requisite strength -and softness of type.” - -“Excuse me, Master,” replied Peter with half averted face, “let me keep -that little secret. I may have to try again.” Gutenberg was grieved by -the answer as only a noble and sensitive mind can be by the slights of -one who has been nourished like a child. He resumed his work, while -the foreboding of the approaching storm fell on his spirit like a dark -shadow. - -Peter felt ill at ease; and a consciousness of the despicable part he -was playing, at times brought the mantling blush of shame to his cheek; -but he hardened himself against conviction, by magnifying his own -improvements and dreaming of future greatness. Besides, he had really -been prejudiced by Faust against Gutenberg, and his mind was much -occupied with the image of the amiable and charming Christiane; and he -feared to offend the father lest he might not win the daughter. - -“When do you propose to pay me?” abruptly asked John Faust of Gutenberg -some days later. - -“Pay you!” ejaculated the other in great surprise, “I am not aware that -I owe you anything!” - -“Not aware of it!” angrily retorted the Doctor. “Not aware of the 2,020 -florins and other large sums I lent you! I will give you thirty days -in which to pay the debt; and if then you fail to do so, I shall take -measures to collect it!” - -“Hard conditions truly, even supposing I owed you! But the sums you -mention were used for our common benefit, and we are in the midst of -our first edition of the Bible. I have no way of raising money save -from its sale, which it will take months to effect.” - -“That is not to the point,” replied Faust. “I want the money, and the -money I must have. My brother James advanced it.” - -“But how am I to procure it? Would you ruin me?” - -“Am I to devise means for you to pay your debts to me?” was the -heartless rejoinder. “The money I must have; and if you are an honest -man, you will pay it: understand me!” and Faust abruptly left. As he -had entered, Peter was missing, and did not soon return. Gutenberg -had only Martin and Hanau with him, and was too much overcome to -speak. Was it for this that he had climbed almost to the pinnacle of -his hopes? Martin was full of sympathy, and even Hanau’s vacillating -heart was touched. Gutenberg saw that Faust and Schoeffer were leagued -against him. The barbed iron had pierced his roul. Press-work and -proof-reading were not to be thought of. He sought his room in the -lethargy of despair. The prospect that the printing of the glorious -Bible would be arrested, the fear that his beloved art would be torn -from him, appalled him. Days passed, the darkness of affliction -continued unbroken. Anna feared that he would sink under his load. True -wife that she was, she intuitively understood, soothed, and offered -him the comforts of faith and trust, and bore his burdens like a very -heroine. She was his ministering angel, and at length he emerged from -his gloom in a measure and returned to the printing rooms, still -oppressed with the thought that he had been cruelly wounded in the -house of his friends. - -Punctual to the day the Doctor appeared, accompanied by his brother, -James Faust; the former having of late partly resumed goldsmithing, -although still a member of the firm. - -“The month has expired, and I have come for the money!” said Faust. - -“I have not been able to raise it,” replied Gutenberg. - -“But it is high time that it was paid,” said John Faust. “It is nearly -five years since it was borrowed. You promised that we should make our -fortunes long before this.” - -“I did not name the time of paying any sum,” returned the inventor, -“nor did I borrow the money, but it was put into the firm for our -mutual advantage. You were, moreover, to pay me eight hundred florins -for my personal use, in consideration of my teaching you the secrets -of my art. This was not paid me, but was put into the funds of the -association for our joint benefit.” - -“It was borrowed money, every florin!” cried Faust, “and you are holden -for it. If no time was specified for payment, on demand is of course -understood.” - -“As to the other sums,” continued Gutenberg, “I can give you an exact -account of them; but I am not liable for the interest, since you had an -equivalent for my use of the money, and indeed appropriated it equally -with myself.” - -“There is a way of settling that point,” significantly remarked James -Faust, as the two took leave; and shortly he instituted a process of -law, and procured from the notary public the following document:-- - -“To the glory of God, Amen. Be it known to all those who see or read -this instrument, that in the year of our Lord 1455, third indiction, -Thursday, 6th day of November, the first year of the Pontificate of -our very Holy Father the Pope Calixtus III., approved here at Mayence, -in the great parlor of the Barefooted Friars, between 11 o’clock and -midday, before me, the notary, and the undersigned witnesses, the -honorable and discreet person James Faust, citizen of Mayence, who -in the name of his brother, John Faust, also present, has said and -declared clearly that on this said day at the present hour, and in the -same parlor of the Barefooted Friars, John Gutenberg should see and -hear taken by John Faust an oath conformably to a sentence pronounced -between them. And this sentence read in the presence of the Honorable -Henry Gunter, Curé of St. Christopher’s of Mayence, of Henry Keffler, -and De Becktoff de Hanau, servant and valet of the said Gutenberg: -John Faust, placing his hand upon the Holy Evangelists, has sworn -between the hands of me, the notary public, comformable to the sentence -pronounced, and has taken the following oath, word for word: ‘I, John -Faust, have borrowed 1,550 florins, which I have transmitted to John -Gutenberg, which have been employed for our common labor, and of which -I have paid the rent and annual interest, of which I still owe a part. -Reckoning therefore for each hundred florins borrowed, six florins per -annum, I demand of him the repayment, and the interest, conformably to -the sentence pronounced, which I will prove in equity to be legal, in -consequence of my claim upon the said John Gutenberg.’ In presence of -the Honorable H. Gunter, of Henry Keffler, and of Becktoff de Hanau -aforesaid, John Faust has demanded of me an authentic instrument to -serve him as much and as often as he hath need, and in the faith of -which I have signed this instrument, and have set thereto my seal.” - -The law took its course. The inexorable judges made no allowance for -the peculiar circumstances of the case, but gave judgment against -Gutenberg, awarding that he should pay to Faust whatever he had -borrowed, with interest. This decision was made November 1455. As -Gutenberg had no means of paying the sums demanded, Faust took -possession of his presses, type, printing materials, and the copies of -the Bible, finished and unfinished. - -Gutenberg had been sustained, during the sitting of the court in the -parlor of the Barefoot Friars, by the suspense and excitement of the -scene. He had hoped for justice, or at least for a more favorable -decision; but instead of that, everything was taken from him. Reaching -home, he knew not how, after long wandering in unfrequented places, he -threw himself upon his couch, and made no reply to the affectionate -inquiries of Anna. She knew that the cause had gone against him, and -that he was in the extremity of trouble. As he gave way to his trial, -although herself in deep grief, her heart somehow grew stronger. There -had been a marked change in her since residing at the Zum Jungen. As -she realized that good would result from her husband’s inventions, she -strove to encourage him in his devotion to his art. In his despair, -she was buoyed up by hope. For long hours he seemed scarcely to notice -her gentle presence. She did not disturb him with words; but as the -hours stole by, and his grief was heavy on him, she drew the curtains -till the room was in the hush of twilight, hoping that balmy sleep -would overtake him; then, sitting by his side, she prayed earnestly, -silently, for him. When he awoke after a refreshing sleep, he was more -like himself. - -“Dost thou know, my Anna,” he calmly said, “that Faust has laid claim -to everything, including my presses, _stucke_, and the printed pages of -the Holy Bible now ready to be bound?” - -“Can it be possible?” ejaculated Anna in dismay. - -“And I am worse than penniless,” he added. “My noble art is at an -end. That which I most feared has come upon me. Others have stolen my -invention and I have nothing left.” - -“But we are taught by our holy religion,” she quickly responded, -brushing away her tears, “that it is good to trust in the Lord in times -of trouble, and if we have faith in him, he will deliver us.” - -Yet sorely was the inventor tried; and month after month, the weary -time crept on, Gutenberg and Anna in poverty and affliction. - -Meanwhile Faust, having taken possession of everything that could be -called Gutenberg’s, organized a new company by associating Schoeffer -and others with himself, and finished binding the remaining copies of -the Bible as rapidly as possible. As Faust and Schoeffer examined it -anew, they were filled with admiration. - -“This book will bring handsome returns, Peter,” said the former, “if we -manage wisely. My brother is of opinion that I can sell fifty copies in -Paris alone!” - -“A happy suggestion!” was the reply. - -“And I must go at once,” said Faust; and, with characteristic energy, -he commenced making preparations for the journey. As a sufficient -number of Bibles were ready for the present demand, Schoeffer and -the journeymen were to employ themselves in issuing “Litterariæ -Indulgentiæ,” a one page work much prized by the monks. - -Schoeffer had now been married to Faust’s daughter for some months, and -was an honored member of the firm. But although his worldly prospects -were fair, yet he was less happy than he had imagined, and the memory -of his old master’s kindness often brought penitent tears to his eyes. -He longed to see him, as formerly, the ruling spirit in the printing -rooms, but had not moral courage and decision of purpose enough to say -this in the presence of Faust. Besides, he still wished to appropriate -riches and fame to himself. So he persisted in the wrong, salving his -conscience with the promise that he would at some time do right by -Gutenberg. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XVII. - - The Story of Faust’s Visit to Paris.--Was it Witchcraft?--Popular - Excitement.--Scene in a Court Room.--Issue of the Psalter. - - -One balmy morning in the spring of 1456, Faust, with a stock of -beautifully bound Bibles, started for Paris, some four hundred miles -distant. Sailing down the Rhine to Strasbourg, he then travelled by the -public road over mountains and across the country nearly west to the -French metropolis, then a long and toilsome journey. - -On his arrival, he engaged a shop on the Rue St. George, where he could -safely store his treasures. - -Hastening to call upon the King, he made known his errand and offered -him a copy of the Bible for seven hundred and fifty crowns! - -As the King examined it, he was delighted with the regular and -beautiful writing. - -“It is true,” said he, “that the scribes ask only five and six hundred -crowns for a copy of their Bible, but I have never seen anything equal -to this! I will gladly pay thee thy price, and consider it a rare -bargain.” - -Faust next sought out the Archbishop. - -“My lord,” he said, taking the large package from the porter who -accompanied him, and unrolling it from its folds of vellum, “I have -brought thee a Bible executed with great care and finish. Permit me to -call thy attention to it.” - -“It is very finely executed,” observed the Archbishop as he turned its -leaves. “What is your price?” - -“Only three hundred crowns!” answered Faust. - -“I will willingly pay that,” replied the Archbishop. “It is seldom that -we can obtain a work made in this style, and so cheap. I am familiar -with the copyists of monasteries, but have never met the monk that -carried so even a hand!” - -Making no explanations, Faust took the money, and returned to his -lodgings on St. George’s Street, where in a few days he privately sold -some half-dozen more copies. Citizens now began to gather to admire the -wonderful book. - -At first he only exhibited one at a time, and the impression went -abroad that the books were very scarce; hence people were more -anxious to buy, and readily paid the fifty crowns which he asked lay -purchasers. - -For a time each one who bought a Bible thought himself especially -favored, supposing that his was the only copy of the kind to be -found. As a writer has said, “The beauty of the work, the elegance -of the flower-pieces, and the variety of the finest colors which -were intermixed with gold and silver, led many persons to show their -purchases to their friends, each one thinking, as he produced his, that -the whole world could not contain such another.” - -As for the Archbishop, he was so elated with his copy, that he could -not rest until he had carried it to the King, who, greatly surprised, -in return showed his own. On comparing them, they noticed that the -ornaments were not exactly the same. They were not gilded precisely -alike, and the initial letters were painted differently. But in other -respects, the part which they supposed written, the number of pages, -lines, and letters were the same; and they began to surmise that those -Bibles were made in some new way. No man could have copied them both, -and made them so entirely similar. Besides, to write out two such -Bibles would have exceeded the work of a man’s life; and the materials -on which he wrote would wax old with age meanwhile, but these were -new and fresh. The King and the Archbishop were sorely puzzled; and -rumor was not long in bringing to their ears that Faust had sold quite -a number, some at fifty crowns, some at twelve, and others still as -low as six pounds, while the supply continued equal to the demand. All -Paris was agitated. - -“What can this mean?” said the King. - -“What can this mean?” echoed the Archbishop. - -“These books were made by no earthly power!” exclaimed an ecclesiastic. - -“The Evil One had a hand in it!” cried the ever-at-hand courtiers. - -And although the Bibles were beautiful, costly, and desirable, these -good people deemed it necessary to put an immediate stop to their -further sale. Much as they prized them, they could not encourage -collusion with the powers of darkness. In the midst of this excitement -two professors of the University of Paris, as Neiritz informs us, came -in and purchased a Bible. A servant bore it after them as they left the -shop. - -“Antoine,” exclaimed one of them to the other, “it is a wonder to me -how the German Doctor can afford to sell this Bible for six pounds! -Who ever saw such beautiful writing? It is so uniform, I cannot cease -admiring the book. Andre, bring it hither!” and as the servant brought -it forward, and it was again opened, a circle gathered to examine it. - -“How very beautiful!” exclaimed Professor Antoine, “it scarcely could -be done by mortal hands.” - -“The thing is not possible!” said the brother professor. - -“It is done by the famous black art!” affirmed a voice in the crowd. - -“Yes, look at those black pot-hooks and hangers!” exclaimed another. - -“Father Clement says it is the work of magic and witchcraft!” said a -third. - -“The German Doctor has made a bargain with the Evil One, being taught -the black art as an offset for going to perdition.” - -“Well, Antoine,” remarked the first professor, mirthfully, “if magic -and witchcraft can make Bibles in this style, keep them at it early -and late, and get out of them all the good you can. Besides, a house -divided against itself cannot stand.” - -But people generally took the matter more to heart than did the genial -professor, and, as they chatted about it and thought it over, were more -and more satisfied that other than mortal hands had fabricated the -Bibles. - -“Only to think of it, so many copies just alike, and made so rapidly! -And the more you take away from the shop, the more there are for sale! -Parisians are as quick-fingered as any other nation, but not one of our -fleetest scribes can write in this way; neither can any man do it!” - -So the mob searched Faust’s lodgings, or the shop on Rue St. George, -and seized a great number of Bibles. “Behold,” said they when they saw -the red ink with which they were embellished, “this is his blood!” - -The city authorities were at once apprised that he was a magician! -And accordingly orders were given to apprehend Dr. Faust for being in -league with Satan, and for dealing in the black art. - -“What have I done?” asked Dr. Faust, as the police officers appeared in -his shop to take him. - -“Only a small thing truly!” ironically replied one of them; “this -indictment says that you turn off books by witchcraft.” - -“Never!” exclaimed Faust; “I have made them in an honest way!” - -But the officers shrugged their shoulders, and took him along. - -Faust was in trouble. If he confessed the truth, others would seize his -art and profits; and if he did not, his life might be sacrificed. While -he was revolving the matter, he was thrust into prison. - -For once he was at his wit’s end, and almost paralyzed by the turn -affairs had taken. What! he, the man of wealth and the patron of -printing, in prison, classed with felons! It seemed to him like a -horrible nightmare, only the chilliness of the cell and the damp straw -brought on his old rheumatism, reminding him too well that it was all -reality. - -“I shall die here!” he groaned, as he sleeplessly tossed on the straw; -“I must reveal the secret, and save my life!” Never was a more restless -prisoner. Sleep! he would as soon think of it on a plank in the open -sea. In the morning the court set, and Faust was brought to the bar. - -[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF PSALTER, PSALM I.] - -Bibles were produced and compared, witnesses were not wanting, and the -case was strong against him, when he was called on for his defense. -Perfectly calm, and self-possessed he thus addressed the judge:-- - -“May it please your Honor: It is not the black art that I practice, -but the art of printing. This newly discovered art was first devised -by John Gutenberg of Mayence, and afterwards more fully improved by -his journeyman, Peter Schoeffer, and myself. I can in a short time so -describe the process to you that you may yourself set type and print. -We employ young men to help in the work, and there is no more black art -in it than there is in planting a garden. Think you the Evil One would -lend his aid to the work of multiplying copies of a book that describes -him and his wiles, warning men against him and predicting his doom! -Nay, your Honor, the thing is absurd. We Germans lead the way in this -matter of printing books,--begging your Honor’s pardon, while I say -it,--but it will not be long before printing machines will be common in -Paris.” - -Such was Faust’s defence, which so wrought upon the lively crowd that -they were enthusiastic in their cries of “_Vive le Docteur! vive le -Docteur!_” The magistrates eagerly withdrew the charges against him; -and the sequel was that some of the nobility of Paris made him a -magnificent pecuniary reward. - -When Faust returned from Paris, he prosecuted the business of printing -with renewed energy. He could well do this, as his enterprise had been -very remunerative. Besides issuing the “Litterariæ Indulgentiæ,” he -urged on the completion of the Psalter, an elaborate work which had -been in press two years and a half, before the lawsuit overtook the -firm. As it was not published until August, 1457, it was four years -in being brought to perfection. It bore the colophon of Faust and -Schoeffer, and was the first book that had the name of the place where -it was printed, the name of its printers, and the year when it was -printed. - -That this elegant book was partly the work of Gutenberg, is evident -from the fact that it was four years in being published, and was issued -only eighteen months after the partnership was dissolved. - -It was printed in large cut type, with illuminated initials; and as -it is impossible that Gutenberg’s works could have been undone, a new -fount prepared, and so splendid a book printed, in so short a time, -it is plain that this was the identical Psalter on which the labor of -two years and a half had been expended, before Faust sued Gutenberg. -It was the latter who proposed to bring it out, and who superintended -the construction of the type and ornaments. The superb initial letters, -of which the initial B in this volume is a specimen, were projected -and criticised by Gutenberg. It is true that Schoeffer’s practiced -hand executed them, but the original idea was suggested by the leading -spirit of the company. - -Yet this Psalter appeared in 1457 with the colophon or monogram of -Faust and Schoeffer. - -[Illustration] - -This was a device indicating something respecting the authors or -proprietors of a volume, and, in this case, was composed of two _ecus_, -or shields, which were taken from the armorial bearings of their -families. As Gutenberg was of the nobility, some have affirmed that the -monogram alluded to was his device, and adopted by the three partners -before they separated; if otherwise, and it simply referred to Faust -and Schoeffer, these partners did an act of great injustice in omitting -his name from the colophon or conclusion of the Psalter. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XVIII. - - New Friends.--The Nun.--Gutenberg at Work again.--Printing of the - “Balbus de Janua.”--Other Works.--A Curious Record.--Death of the - Great Inventor.--Fadeless Laurels. - - -Was the art for which Gutenberg had toiled all his life, forever to -be torn from him, and his rivals alone garner the fruits? In his -despondency Anna was hopeful. She would often say to him,-- - -“There will be a way of deliverance. Thou has wintered with misfortunes -ere this, and camest forth unharmed; and now, even if everything is -taken, God can change the hearts of those who have wronged thee, and -incline others to enlist in thy behalf.” - -“Those are noble sentiments,” Gutenberg would reply; “and if all things -else are adverse, my Anna is true, and gives me good counsel.” - -Genuine faith is never unrewarded; and as if to encourage Anna, about -this time Friele Gutenberg, having returned from Venice, where he had -spent some years, visited his brother at the Zum Jungen. Gutenberg told -him the story of his art, and how, when he had nearly completed the -Bible, he was overwhelmed by a lawsuit, being unjustly required to pay -money to Faust before he could raise anything from the sales. - -Friele was shocked at the recital; and at his request Gutenberg -conducted him to the printing rooms, and showed him copies of the Bible. - -“Why,” exclaimed Friele, “this is indeed wonderful! It is the most -beautiful book I ever beheld. And is the issuing of it entirely taken -out of thy hands, my brother?” - -“It is even so,” was the reply. “I have been constrained to retire from -the firm, and have no means to prosecute the art which has been the -study of my life.” - -“But yours is a success,” said Friele. “You ought to be encouraged. I -will aid you to the extent of my ability, and influence my friends to -do something for you. There is also something due you from our father’s -estate, which will soon be settled; and this, with other sums, will -establish you in business under favorable auspices.” - -This was so unexpected that Gutenberg, overcome, could only press his -brother’s hand in grateful silence. - -Friele’s sympathies were indeed earnestly enlisted in his brother’s -cause. The injustice and ingratitude of Faust and Schoeffer stirred -his indignation, and he resolved that the true inventor should -again engage in his chosen vocation. He soon sought out his sister -Hebele, who, although a nun in the St. Claire Convent, was not wholly -inaccessible to her brothers. She retained her old affection for her -favorite John, and, on hearing Friele’s rehearsal of his successful -invention and subsequent losses, voluntarily offered to loan him the -sixty florins which was soon to be paid her from the estate of her -father. - -“My noble Hebele!” exclaimed Friele enthusiastically, “that is so like -thyself! How it will encourage John! I will do as much on my part, and -I doubt not we shall soon have the gratification of again seeing him -prosperously printing.” - -Friele was a man of standing and influence in the city, and lost no -time in conferring with his friend, Conrad Humery, Syndic of Mentz. -This good dignitary became so deeply interested in Friele’s accounts -of his brother John’s struggles, triumphs, and wrongs, that he begged -at once to be introduced to him. Friele accordingly accompanied him to -the Zum Jungen, where they found John Gutenberg in a back room, busy -polishing gems, and Anna diligent at her embroidery frame. - -The Syndic was past middle age, affable and easy, the goodness of his -heart beaming in his expressive eye and fine countenance. Gutenberg -felt acquainted with him almost intuitively, and, in answer to his -kind inquiries, briefly related the history of his long experiments and -checkered experiences. - -“That last lawsuit was most scandalous!” said the Syndic; “such a thing -ought not to be tolerated in Mentz! Would that I had known of thy trial -at the time; I doubt not the case might have been adjudged differently. -I will, however, do what I can for thee.” - -He was as good as his word. Fully appreciating Gutenberg’s estimable -qualities, he even offered to lend him money, again to commence in -business, and would, if desired, become a silent partner. - -This was most welcome to Gutenberg, and he cordially accepted his -generous proposals. - -At Friele’s suggestion, he lost no time in removing into the mansion -formerly occupied by his father, where his brother now lived. It was -a fine old edifice, roomy, baronial, and substantial, dating back -hundreds of years. It was in no sense inferior to the Zum Jungen; and -the inventor had a comfortable suite of family apartments, as well as -convenient printing rooms. - -Previous to his removal, as he was making preparations to leave, Dr. -Faust called on him, and, extending his hand, said,-- - -“I owe you many apologies, master, for my unjust treatment in the -matter of the lawsuit. It costs me an effort to admit this; but I feel -that I have injured you, and must seek to make amends. I have been to -Paris, engaged in the sale of Bibles, and have seen your connection -with the art of printing as never before. Success has softened and -removed my prejudices; and I shall have no peace of mind until you -pardon me, and take your place in the firm.” - -Gutenberg was both surprised and indignant. He had been foully wronged -by Faust and Schoeffer, and it seemed like adding insult to injury -for them so late in the day to make amends by bald apologies. He had -been too much hurt by their unkindness to think of resuming his former -position as partner. - -“Moreover,” urged Friele, to whom he confided the matter, “you cannot -think of accepting merely nominal concessions. They do not frankly -confess how cruelly they have wronged you. And were you to join the -firm again without as public a confession as the insult they gave you, -you would be wanting in self-respect. And what guarantee can you have -that they will not treat you ill a second time? I counsel you to remove -to the homestead, where you can have ample facilities for prosecuting -your chosen employment.” - -We can only conjecture the motives which influenced Faust in his -apologies to Gutenberg. Perhaps, now that his pecuniary trial was over, -he felt sincerely to regret the separation from the distinguished man -who he must fain acknowledge was the originator of the art which had -brought fame and money to himself and partner. Or it may be that he -dreaded his influence as a rival. - -Waiving Faust’s proposal, Gutenberg hastened to establish himself in -the mansion of his ancestors. - -In resuming printing, he found much delay from the necessity of -making everything anew. He had irrecoverably lost the labor of years. -He must construct more presses, another set of punches, and new -type. The presses were manufactured in as good style as those he had -relinquished; but sadly he missed the nice execution of Schoeffer in -getting up the punches and type. - -He was, it is true, aided by two of his old office workmen,--Martin -and Hanau; but his _stucke_ was nevertheless inferior in finish to -that which Schoeffer devised. He would not, however, relinquish his -enterprise on that account, but proceeded to print the “Balbus de -Janua.” - -“Why not print more Bibles?” asked Martin Duttlinger in 1457, after -they had issued the “Balbus de Janua.” - -“My Bibles are being printed by others!” replied the inventor, sadly. -“This care is taken from me; but I have the satisfaction of knowing -that it will be done as I planned it. I selected the vellum. How many -journeys I made to the manufacturer to insure a good article! How I -criticised and experimented with it until I succeeded in getting a -smooth, fine texture! The ink, too, what a labor it cost me! And the -regularity of setting up the page,--it was long before we attained it. -The cutting of the type occupied us a long time until we found the -method of casting it; and now, with the help of punches, we can make -the same elegant type. Why should I seek to issue another edition of -the Bible, when my own is publishing? I cannot compete as a salesman -with Faust; and the present Bible which is printing is as really my own -as another could be.” - -“But will you not at least publish a Psalter?” - -“Not at present,” replied Gutenberg; “this which Faust and Schoeffer -are issuing has been in press four years. When they thrust me from -the firm, the type was in readiness, and a portion of it was set up. -Two years and a half we had lavished skill and money upon it. This -also I must consider mainly my own, as I planned to issue it, and -superintended the work. Others reap my harvest; but they cannot destroy -the peace and satisfaction I enjoy in the consciousness of having been -the instrument of doing good.” Thus did the truly great man put by all -selfish considerations. - -However, he continued to print various other works, among which were -the “Donatus,” the “Catholicon,” “Speculum Sacerdotum,” “Celebratio -Missarum,” and others. - -There is on record a curious deed, or grant of property, which gives -quite an inkling of his affairs in 1459, when his brother Friele was -associated with him as a successful publisher. - -This legal instrument is as follows:-- - -“We, Henne (John) Gutenberg and Friele Gutenberg, brothers, do affirm -and publicly declare by these presents, and make known to all, that -with the advice and consent of our dear cousins, John and Friele and -Perdiman Gensfleisch, brothers, of Mentz, we have renounced and do -renounce by these presents, for us and for our heirs, simply, totally, -and at once, without fraud and deceit, all the property which has -passed by means of our sister Hebele to the Convent of St. Claire of -Mentz, in which she has become a nun; whether the said property has -come to it on the part of our father, Henne Gensfliesch, who gave -it himself, or in whatever manner the property may have come to it, -whether in grain, ready money, furniture, jewels, or whatever it may -be, that the respectable nuns, the abbess and sisters of the said -convent, have received in common or individually, or other persons of -the convent, from the said Hebele, be it little or much.... And as to -the books which I, the said Henne (John), have given to the library -of the convent, they are to remain there always and forever; and I, -the said Henne, propose also to give in future to the library of the -said convent, for the use of the present and future nuns, for their -religious worship, either for reading or chanting, or in whatever -manner they may wish to make use of them according to the rules of -their order, _all_ [that is, copies of _all_] _the books which I, the -said Henne, have printed up to this hour, or which I shall hereafter -print, in such quantities as they may wish to make use of_; and for -this the said abbess, the successors, and nuns of the said Convent of -St. Claire have declared and promised to acquit me and my heirs of -the claim which my sister Hebele had to sixty florins which I and my -brother Friele had promised to pay and deliver to the said Hebele as -her portion and share arising from the house which Henne (John) our -father assigned to him for his share, in virtue of the writings which -were drawn up thereupon, without fraud and deceit. And in order that -this may be observed by us, and by our heirs, steadfastly and to its -full extent, we have given the said nuns and their convent and order -these present writings, sealed with our seals. Signed and delivered the -year of the birth of J. C. 1459, on the day of St. Margaret.”[4] - - [4] Lamartine refers to an act of donating, made by Gutenberg - to his sister Hebele, nun in the Convent of St. Claire at - Mentz, by which he put her in possession of the religious - books _which he had printed at Strasbourg_, and made her - the promise of sending her successively all those which - should issue from his press. - -Although it is evident from this deed that Gutenberg was at this time -successfully established in printing again by means of a further -division of his father’s estate, and by the aid of his friends, yet it -also appears that his works were not remunerative. Comparatively few -books were called for,--not only the books, but the market for them, -had to be made; and this, when we consider the competition of such a -firm as Faust and Schoeffer, was no light affair. The worthy Syndic -stood nobly by him, and his friends were kind and appreciative, or -he had accomplished much less after the breaking up of his favorite -projects at the Zum Jungen. - -But a sad and deeply afflictive event overtook him, which again threw -his affairs into confusion. This was the sudden death of his beloved -Anna, who left his side with an angel’s smile and words of triumph for -the endless life. The unexpected blow completely unnerved him for a -long time; and even when the healing hand of time soothed the wound, -he had no heart to go on with an art with which she was so intimately -associated. - -Friele sympathized most deeply in his sorrow, and at length advised a -change of scene and occupation as antidotes to his grief. Accordingly -he sold out his printing materials to the Syndic, Conrad Humery, after -some eight years’ practicing of his art in the new firm. - -But he was not allowed to be forsaken in his old age. From letters -patent, dated January 17, 1465, we learn that he was invited to enter -the service of the Elector Adolphus of Nassau, as one of his band of -gentlemen pensioners, with a handsome salary. Thus did he honorably -retire from the practice of his loved art, secure in the thought -that although it had cost him much tribulation, yet it was firmly -established in doing its beneficent mission to the world. - -This was three years after the city of Mentz was sacked and plundered -by Count Adolphus; and while others were broken up in their avocations -and forced to flee, he was spared from such a fate, and was promoted to -his own appropriate honorable place in his native city. - -Thus peacefully and in useful duties did he go down the vale of life, -until February 24, 1468, when he quitted this earthly scene, let us -trust for the happier employments of the better world. His death seems -like the calm, unclouded setting of the sun, after a tempestuous day. - -Some one has said that genius, in its general sense, is universal; -a possession belonging to all men, in some degree. Its greatest -achievement is not in a great poem or painting, or any other work -of art, but in a great life; and the strong heart and stout hands -are its most miraculous organs. He who, by the majestic dignity of -his daily walk, gives the beauty of truth to common life, is a great -genius,--because he illustrates and sets forth, in its noblest form, -virtue and true worth. - -So Gutenberg, after he had done the will of God, and had been led on -to perfect the most glorious invention under the sun, had need of -patience. The Heavenly Father would not permit so chosen a son to -become perverted by unmingled prosperity. - -Hence he suffered him to be disappointed, and the patient hero was -evidently blessed by his trials. He became, if never before, that which -so few attain, “commander of himself;” and this, according to a wise -author, is no small triumph. “He that ruleth his spirit is better than -he that taketh a city.” - -Several trying lawsuits diversified the eventful life of Gutenberg. -They were grievous and harrowing to his sensitive feelings, but -subserve a good purpose to posterity, giving many well-authenticated -facts respecting him, which otherwise would have been lost. Little did -he think, while passing through these fiery ordeals, that he was by -them really inscribing the deeds of his life on the scroll of fame. We -moderns, seizing upon each item in the law records as a choice morsel -of literary history, are prone to forget that they were made at the -sacrifice of the peace and comfort of the inventor. - -Especially was the writ of the notary public, summoning Gutenberg to -the parlor of the Barefoot Friars, a crushing event. It came when he -was just on the point of realizing his fondest hopes,--when the Bible -was printed, and almost ready to be issued from the press. By this -process of law, he was under the necessity of mortgaging his printing -materials to Faust; this shows that his large private fortune had been -previously expended in experiments, and that thus he had fallen into -the clutches of his more wealthy partner. - -Because the great invention failed to bring in money as soon as the -firm had hoped, Faust must needs take the law on Gutenberg, seizing -his printing materials, wrought out with so much thought and toil. The -presses, the plan of which had been for years ripening in his brain, -and to secure the making of which cost him so much money, were no -longer his; neither was the type which he invented at such an expense -of time, effort, and money, nor yet the illuminated letters designed -under his eye. Yes, the very initial letters used by Gutenberg and his -firm, in works executed between 1450 and 1455, were also used by Faust -and Schoeffer in the Psalter of 1457 and 1459. After so much effort -almost in vain, what wonder if Gutenberg had become disheartened, and -yielded to despair! Far from that. His indefatigable spirit knew no -rest; many floods could not quench the fire of his perseverance; he -started again, laid the foundations, and successfully wrought in new -printing rooms, his Bible and his Psalter meanwhile being printed by -other hands. - -But there were certain considerations which alleviated the poignancy -of Gutenberg’s disappointment. He had the consolation of knowing that -he had designed the enterprise of publishing the Bible, and that -he had carried it successfully to its termination. And now, with -the magnanimity of a great soul, he was willing that others should -circulate it. Besides, he had at times a hope that he should yet -have justice done him. It was as true then as now that a man may be -disappointed in his greatest hopes in life, without, on that account, -becoming unhappy; for, as one has said, “There is no other actual -misfortune except this only, _not to have God for our friend_.” - -And this art of printing, which had been such a trial and triumph, such -a grief and a joy, was destined to embalm his name and the memory of -his life infinitely more than if all the conquests of world-renowned -warriors were his. - - - - -[Illustration] - -XIX. - - Faust and Schoeffer’s Success.--More Books issued.--An Eventful - Year.--Greek Type.--Struck by the Plague.--The Parisians, and - Faust’s Descendants.--Schoeffer’s Death.--Testimony to - Gutenberg.--Extension of the Art.--Piety and Chess.--Education - in the Olden Time.--Unveiling the Statue. - - -To return to Faust and Schoeffer. After the lawsuit, as we have seen, -they mostly ignored the existence and services of Gutenberg. Soon after -the memorable separation, Faust went to Paris as before related, the -sales of Bibles in Germany alone being so limited as to bring in but -small returns for the money invested. It was evidently necessary to -take extraordinary measures to meet the emergency. In Faust’s cool, -business-like view, everything would be lost, unless some speedy and -marked success was attained. His experiments resulted better even -than he had anticipated; and returning flush with money, the printing -rooms soon presented a scene of unwonted activity. The “Litterariæ -Indulgentiæ,” with which Schoeffer and his journeymen had busied -themselves during Faust’s absence, was urged through the press and into -the market. - -“What a difference a little money makes!” said Faust, as he saw how -well the book was selling. “We must hasten to finish the Psalter.” - -This was ready for purchasers by August 1457. It was in the highest -style of the printing art of the age, and could not be excelled. As -Faust and Schoeffer gazed on its beautiful pages, how could they forget -the inventor who designed the publishing of the work, and labored with -them in executing it full thirty long painstaking months! Yet they -uttered few words of acknowledgment. For two years they were occupied -in striking off, binding, embellishing, and selling the Psalter, with -the additional labor of casting a new fount of type. While Schoeffer -and his assistants were engaged in this absorbing toil, Faust again -visited Paris to dispose of the Psalter. By this means he replenished, -once more, the treasury of the firm, and returning about the time the -new fount was finished, they printed the “Durandi.” - -The next year, 1460, the “Constitutiones” appeared, and in 1462 a new -edition of the Latin Bible. This last was the eventful year in which -the city of Mentz was taken, sacked, and plundered by the Elector -Adolphus of Nassau. Such was the confusion and distraction occasioned -by this unlooked-for event, that almost all business was suspended. -The journeyman printers, being suddenly thrown out of employment, fled -panic-stricken to other countries; and considering themselves freed -from their oath, the great secret of thirty years was spread abroad. - -Faust and Schoeffer, left almost alone in their printing rooms, -effected little for some time. At length Schoeffer’s busy brain hit -upon something new in printing; and with his usual patience and -assiduity he fell to casting a fount of Greek type, and in 1465, some -little time after Gutenberg had retired from his art, issued “Cicero de -Officiis,” using the new Greek type. On occasion of printing anything -of special importance, Faust continued to visit Paris, then the chief -seat of learning; and so great a work as this of Cicero in Greek would -of course be welcomed with avidity by the professors and students in -the University. As soon as possible, therefore, he hastened to that -city, furnished with a good supply of the much-coveted volume. This -was early in 1466. He was received with enthusiasm; for such had been -the reputation of the previous works circulated by him in the French -metropolis, that he had a large circle of admiring patrons and friends. -But alas for the uncertainty of earthly things! while yet in the midst -of success and gratulation, he was seized with the plague, and died -after an illness of a few hours! The Parisians were loud in their -expressions of grief, and a large concourse gathered at his funeral. -The learned men and nobility of the city assembled; distinguished -honors were paid him; and the sequel was, that in commemoration of -the signal services he had rendered them, they continued a generous -pecuniary reward to his descendants. - -The dreadful shock occasioned by the death of his father-in-law, deeply -affected Schoeffer. May we not suppose that in his loneliness and -affliction, he sought a reconciliation with his old master, Gutenberg? -There is, indeed, evidence that this was the case; and we are permitted -to infer that the breach was healed, suitable acknowledgments being -made by Schoeffer, as he plainly saw that the mortgage act which made -Faust master of Gutenberg’s property, did not include his genius. -In later years he frankly confessed as much to Trithemius, Abbot of -Spanheim Monastery, a celebrated scholar and author. Says this writer, -after mentioning that he had his information from the mouth of Peter -Schoeffer, the inventor of cast metal types:-- - -“About this time that wonderful and almost incredible art of printing -and characterizing books, was thought of and invented by John -Gutenberg, a citizen of Mentz.” - -Then follows some of the main particulars of the invention on which -we have already dwelt. He also mentions that “Gutenberg spent all -his substance in quest of the art, and met with such insuperable -difficulties, that, in despair, he had nearly given up all hopes of -success, till he was assisted by the liberality of Faust, and by his -brother’s skill in the city of Mentz.” - -Schoeffer, having associated with him Conrad Henliff, nobly presided -over the interests of the great art after Gutenberg’s death, diligently -issuing elegant editions of various books. His last work was a new -impression of his master’s superb Bible in 1502, in which year he -died, after laboring thirty-five or thirty-six years as a printer. His -monogram is connected with Faust’s; and, as we have mentioned, some -suppose this also to have been the device of Gutenberg. - -The name of Schoeffer means shepherd; and well did the thoughtful care, -caution, and ingenuity of this man aid in watching over the young art, -that needed such vigilant cherishing to bring it to maturity. He was -once Gutenberg’s right-hand man, next to him in genius in devising, -and, despite his doubtful course afterwards in leaving him, was an -honor and a blessing to his country. His son John succeeded him in his -office, and later still his grandson John chose the same employment. - -Of Costar, little can be said. Some even suppose that no such person -ever existed; while others incline to confer on him honors which he -never earned. It is certain that he did not reach the idea of movable -types. He died in 1440, when Gutenberg had been familiar with their use -for years. - -The capture of Mentz, in 1462, was the means of carrying the knowledge -of the art of printing to Hamburg, Cologne, Strasbourg, Augsburg, -and other cities; and in a short time books were issued from many -places. Twenty-four different works appeared between 1460 and 1470; in -the latter year two of Faust’s workmen commenced printing in Paris. -Also, in 1470, the art was practiced in Venice. Cennini, a goldsmith, -established printing at Florence; and so industrious were the Italians -that they printed between 1470 and 1480 twelve hundred and ninety-seven -books, two hundred and thirty-four of which were editions of ancient -authors. Presses were also established in the Low Countries, at -Utrecht, Louraine, Basle, and at Buda in Hungary; and, indeed, in the -course of a few years, every town of any importance possessed its -printing-office, so that books were greatly multiplied. - -Several women of France early distinguished themselves in prosecuting -the art of printing. Prominent among them was Charlotte Guillard, -1490-1540, the widow of Berthold Rambolt, who for fifty years kept -several presses at work, and printed a great number of large and -very correct editions, both in Latin and Greek. Her best impressions -were issued after she became a widow the second time,--the Bible, -the Fathers, and the works of St. Gregory in two volumes, which were -so accurate as to contain only three faults. In brief, her fame as -a printer was so extensively known that the learned Lewis Lippeman, -Bishop of Verona, selected her to print his “Catena in Genesim.” With -the accomplishment of this, he was so well satisfied, that, after -assisting at the Council of Trent, he went on purpose to Paris to -return thanks to her, and also gave her his second volume to print, -the “Catena in Exodum,” which she performed with like precision and -elegance. - -Elfield was more especially noted for its productions in printing, -since Henry and Nicholas Becktermange, successors of Gutenberg, there -wrought at his presses and other printing apparatus, which were the -latest efforts in the art. Says Dibdin, “The works of these men are -greatly sought after by the curious, as they afford much proof by -collation of the genuineness of the works attributed to their great -predecessor.” - -The first English printer was William Caxton, mercer, or merchant, who -became acquainted with the art while engaged in mercantile pursuits -in Germany. Returning to England, he established the printing-press -at Westminster Abbey, in 1480. Although somewhat advanced in years -when he commenced, yet such was his industry and perseverance that he -translated and printed, in ten years, no less than twenty-five octavo -volumes. These were mostly useful literary and religious works, but did -not indicate high culture in England. The last work he issued, and on -which he was engaged when overtaken by death, was “The Art and Craft to -know well how to Die.” - -After the death of Caxton, Wynken de Worde, his partner, continued to -print in his office, living in his house at Westminster, and styling -himself “Printer to Margaret, etc., the King’s Grandame.” He printed -the Acts of Parliament with the Royal Arms, also many Latin and English -books; in forty years over four hundred volumes. - -It is not known that he printed any Greek works, yet he made many -improvements in the art of printing. His first care was to cut a new -set of punches; he sunk these into matrices, and cast several sorts -of printing letters, afterwards used in his books. He was the first -English printer who introduced the Roman letter into England, using it -to mark striking thoughts. His type was remarkable for its precision, -and for a long time was not excelled. - -[Illustration: Wynken·de·Worde] - -The art of printing was not long in extending to other places in -England besides London. It was started in Oxford in 1480, also at St. -Albans in the same year, and many other places, among which were York, -Canterbury, Worcester, Ipswich, and Norwich. The “Common Prayer” was -printed in Dublin by Humphrey Powell, in quarto, black letter, in 1551. -Before and after that period the authors of Ireland had their works -printed abroad. - -“Euclid’s Geometry,” the first work in Latin printed with diagrams, was -issued from the press of Randolt, at Venice, 1482. Aldus also printed -the works of Virgil there, in Italic types, in 1501, the first attempt -at producing cheap books. - -Blaeu, who assisted Tycho Brahe in making his mathematical instruments, -effected great improvements in the printing-press. He made nine -presses, and named them after the nine Muses. His fame soon reached -England, where his excellent printing machines were soon after -introduced. - -Aldus Manutius, of Venice, during a career of twenty-six years in the -employment of printing, produced editions of nearly all the Greek and -Roman authors then known to exist. He was also the author of several -works of learning,--grammars and dictionaries of the Greek and Latin -languages, the last forming a folio volume, the first that had ever -been prepared. - -For nearly one hundred and fifty years the Estiennes of France were -famous as printers. Robert Stephens, a member of this family, was -the first inventor of the verses into which the New Testament is now -divided, and introduced them in his edition of it published in 1551. -Harry, the eldest son of Robert Stephens, was one of the most learned -men of his time. “Thesaurus,” a dictionary of the Greek language, was -the fruit of twelve years’ hard application of the elder Stephens, who -also suffered persecution for being a Protestant, and fled from France -to reside at Geneva. The early printers were well educated; but time -and space fail us to note the many learned men who practiced the art -in different countries, who, availing themselves of the new sources of -information, added to the general stock of knowledge as they eagerly -grasped the shining treasures laid open by the discovery of printing. - -It is well known that the first printers were learned; and, being -engaged in printing from ancient and classical manuscripts, were -naturally the associates of the first literary characters of the age. -Indeed, in the infancy of printing, and long afterwards, the occupation -was very honorable, and was only engaged in by well-educated persons. -It was the glory of the learned to be known as correctors of the press -to literary printers; physicians, lawyers, bishops, and even popes -themselves occupied this department; and a distinguished name, as -corrector of the press, being given in a work, it was far more highly -valued. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XX. - - Peculiarities of the First Printed Books.--Early Printers.-- - Piety and Chess.--Education in the Olden Time.--A Great - Enterprise.--Unveiling Gutenberg’s Statue. - - -On inquiring more closely respecting the peculiarities of the first -printed books and the modes of producing them, we find that they were -generally large or small folios or quartos; lesser sizes than these -not being in use. In some cases they had no title, number of pages, or -paragraph divisions. The character employed was designed to imitate -the hand-writing of the time, a rude old Gothic or German, from which -the old English was formed, now known as German text. The words were -printed so closely together as to make reading difficult even by those -accustomed to it, while one unpracticed got on slowly and with many -blunders. - -The orthography used in the first books was of almost every variety, -defying method. Abbreviations were fashionable, and at length became -so numerous and so difficult to be understood that a book or key -was published, explaining them. Instead of a comma an oblique stroke -was employed. Capital letters were not used to begin a sentence, or -for proper names. Blanks were left for the places of titles, initial -letters, and other ornaments, in order to have them supplied by -illuminators, whose curious art, however, soon gave place to the -improvements of the printers. The ornaments made by the old artists -to fill the blanks were formed with singular taste; birds, beasts, -flowers, and foliage often curiously interwoven with the most desirable -colors, and even with gold and silver. Saints were sometimes made -to figure in the border of illuminated letters, whether the subject -treated required it or not. The artist had no regard to the theme of -the author in his adornments. These embellishments were sometimes -costly and elaborate; but a cheaper kind could be had. Bibles and -Breviaries were most elegantly ornamented. - -The name of the printer and his place of residence were either omitted, -or placed at the end of the book with some pious ejaculation or -doxology. There was no date, or it appeared in some odd place, printed -in words perhaps, or by numerical letters, and sometimes partly one -and partly the other, thus: “One thousand CCCC. and LXXIII.,” but in -all cases at the end of a book. The Roman and Italic letters not being -invented, the pages were uniformly Gothic through the book. Only a few -copies were issued at once; two hundred was a large impression. - -The early printer was of necessity also a bookbinder, placing his -leaves literally between _boards_, and making some works so heavy as to -provoke the criticism, “No man can carry them about, much less get them -into his head.” About 1469-70, alphabetical tables of the first words -of each chapter were introduced as a guide to the binder. - -After the great secret of printing was spread abroad, the early -printers, in their own quaint style, took pains to inform the public -that the book they issued was printed. - -Caxton said of his first book, “It is not written with pen and ink as -other books be, to the end that every man may have them at once; for -all the books of this story, thus imprinted as ye here see, were begun -in one day, and also finished in one day;” that is, the edition. - -The Mentz printers, at the end of each of their first works, made it -known that instead of being drawn or written with a pen, they were made -by a new art and invention of printing or stamping them by characters -or types of metal set in forms. - -King Henry VI. was moved by the Archbishop of Canterbury to use all -possible means for procuring a printing mould, as it was then called, -to be brought into England. It is supposed that Caxton, after the -custom in other monasteries, set up his press near one of the aisles -of Westminster Abbey. The first book printed there was “The Game of -Chess,” a work then much used by all classes of people, and “doubtless -desired by the Abbot, and the rest of his friends and masters.” -Caxton translated it from the Latin of a Dominican friar, who wrote -it in the year 1200. It was in the main a good book, else Caxton, -with his decided religious principle, would not have published it; he -recommends it as “full of wholesome wisdom, and requisite unto every -state and degree.” But to us it seems a curious mingling of amusement -and advice. There were instructions for playing the game, side by side -with counsels which, according to Caxton, would enable the people to -understand wisdom and virtue. - -The course of study then comprised in what was thought a good -education, was very limited. Teacher and pupil in most cases attempted -little, and accomplished little. The _trivium_ and the _quadrivium_ -were the two branches of what was then understood as the liberal arts. -The former included grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics; the latter, -music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. It was thought that he -who became master of these studies needed no longer a preceptor or -assistance in solving any questions within the compass of human reason. - -But thorough students in these branches were seldom found, until the -dissemination of books by the art of printing gave a new impetus to the -intellect of that age. - -Interesting it has been to trace step by step the passing on of this -art to perfection. Long were genius and industry engaged in its study, -and never was there so rich and glorious a harvest from human efforts. -The nurse and preserver of the arts and sciences, of religion and -civilization, was not the work of one brain solely, neither did the -gift bring peace at once, but rather strife and opposition. Ignorance -fled before it as darkness from light; the priests and copyists were -disturbed; and the way was made ready for the bringing in of the -Reformation, commencing in 1517 under Martin Luther. For doubtless the -invention of this art did more to unmask the superstitions of the Papal -church than all other causes combined. - -Gutenberg’s conception and execution of printing the Bible was a -magnificent enterprise; through unparalleled difficulties, he produced -an eloquent and superb book, which is even now the admiration of the -learned. We scarcely know which most to admire, the great art, or the -noble purpose to which its incalculable power was lent. His praise -is in every land, but most of all do his countrymen love and revere -his memory. Statues of Gutenberg have been erected in several cities -of Germany, and festival occasions celebrating his achievements are -frequent. A picture of one of these days of grateful rejoicing is the -following account of a - - -CELEBRATION AT MENTZ. - -“The modes in which a large population displays its enthusiasm are -pretty much the same throughout the world. If the sentiment which -collects men together be very heart-stirring, it will be seen in the -outward manifestations. Thus processions, orations, public dinners, and -pageantries, which in themselves are vain and empty, are important when -the persons whom they collect together are moved by one common feeling, -which sways them for the time. - -“We never saw such a popular fervor as prevailed at Mentz, at the -festival of August 1857. The statue was to be uncovered on Monday the -14th; but on Sunday evening the name of Gutenberg was rife through -the streets. In the morning, all Mentz was in motion by six o’clock; -and at eight, a procession was formed to the Cathedral, which, if it -was not much more imposing than some of the processions of trades in -London and other cities, was conducted with a quiet precision which -evinced that the people felt that they were engaged in a solemn act. -The fine old Cathedral was crowded; the Bishop of Mentz performed High -Mass; the first Bible printed by Gutenberg was displayed. What a field -for reflection was here opened! The first Bible in connection with the -imposing pageantries of Roman Catholicism,--the Bible in great part a -sealed book to the body of the people; the service of God in a tongue -unknown to the larger number of worshippers; but that first Bible -the germ of millions of Bibles that have spread the light of Christ -throughout the veritable globe! - -“The mass ended, the procession again advanced to an adjacent -square, where the statue was to be opened. Here was erected a vast -amphitheatre, where, seated under their respective banners, were -deputations from all the great cities of Europe. Amidst salvos of -artillery the veil was removed from the statue, and a hymn sung by a -thousand voices. Then came orations, then dinners, balls, orations, -boat-races, processions by torch light. For three days the population -of Mentz was kept in a state of high excitement, the echo of which went -through Germany, and “Gutenberg! Gutenberg!” was toasted in many a -bumper of Rhenish wine amidst this cordial and enthusiastic people. - -“And, indeed, even in one who could not boast of belonging to the -land in which printing was invented, the universal and mighty -effects of this art, when rightly considered, would produce almost -a corresponding enthusiasm. It is difficult to look upon the great -changes that have been effected during the last four centuries, and -which are still in progress everywhere around us, and not connect -them with printing and its inventor. The castles on the Rhine, under -whose ruins we travelled back from Mentz, perished before the powerful -combinations of the people of the towns. The petty feudal despots fell -when the burghers had acquired wealth and knowledge. But the progress -of despotism on a larger scale could not have been arrested, had the -art of Gutenberg not been discovered. The strongholds of military power -still frown over the same majestic river. The Rhine has seen its petty -fortresses crumble into decay. Ehrenbreitstein is stronger than ever. -But even Ehrenbreitstein will fall before the powers of the mind. -Seeing, then, what, under God, intellect has done and is doing, we may -well venerate the memory of Gutenberg of Mentz.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XXI. - - Modes of making Type.--Varieties of Type.--Cylindrical - Ink-distributor.--A Modern Printing Establishment.--Composition - Room.--Cases.--Proof-reading. - - -Let us now glance at the Art of Printing in modern times. - -In the making of types, formerly each letter was cast, and then -finished one at a time, by hand. Now there is a process of -manufacturing the copper face by machinery, the operation being -effected by the pressure of a sharp die upon copper. And it is said -that a small steam-engine can produce one type a second, or thirty-six -thousand in ten hours. - -By the more ordinary process, types are made by casting type-metal -in a mould, though some of the larger sizes are manufactured from -maple, mahogany, or box-wood. The process of casting type, which is -the business of the type-founders, requires great skill. In the first -place, a punch is cut, of the letter to be formed, except that it is in -reverse. The punch being of hardened steel, and having this letter on -its point, is then struck into a small piece of copper, which is called -the _matrix_, or form of the letter to be cast. The matrix is now -fixed in a curiously contrived instrument, termed the mould, attached -to a compact hand machine, having in the centre a small furnace of -burning coal to keep the vessel of type-metal over it liquid. The -workman turns a wheel, thus forcing melted metal into the mould, which -quickly shapes and drops one after another the types, perfect, save -polishing. In some foundries there are twenty of these machines. In -this way not only every letter, but every figure, hyphen, comma, or -other mark, must have its punch and matrix, as well as its separate -casting. One machine will cast one hundred types a minute. - -[Illustration: Metal Type.] - -In the cut, _a_ is the body; _b_, the face, or part from which the -impression is taken; _c_, the shoulder, or top of the body; _d_, the -nick, designed to assist the compositor in distinguishing the bottom -of the face from the top; and _e_, the groove made in the process of -finishing. - -As soon as a heap of types is cast, a boy takes them away, and breaks -off the superfluous piece at the end of each, when another rubs its -sides on a stone, to render it smooth. The face, or printing part of -the type, is not touched after it leaves the matrix, that giving it all -the distinctness and sharpness of which it is capable. - -Type-metal is a compound of lead and antimony, in the proportion of -three to one, with a small portion of tin, and sometimes a little -copper. - -In Gutenberg’s day types were necessarily an imitation of the -handwriting of the monk-copyists, with little variety and beauty. -Now the types which compose an ordinary book-fount consist of Roman -CAPITALS, SMALL CAPITALS, and lower-case letters, and _Italic -capitals_ and lower-case letters, with accompanying figures, points -and reference-marks,--in all about two hundred characters. Including -the various modern styles of fancy types, some three or four hundred -varieties of face are made. Besides the ordinary Roman and _Italic_, -the most important of the varieties are - -[Illustration: Old English or Black Letter. - -German Text. - -Full-face, Antique, Script. - -Old Style, GOTHIC.] - -The smallest body in common use is _diamond_; then follow, in order of -size as below-- - -[Illustration: - - Diamond. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - Pearl. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - Agate. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - Nonpariel. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - Minion. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - Brevier. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - Bourgeois. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - Long Primer. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - Small Pica. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - Pica. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - English. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - Great Primer. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuv -] - -Until a comparatively recent period, no better method of inking the -type had been devised than Gutenberg’s sheep-skin dabbers, or stamping -balls. Earl Stanhope, who greatly improved the printing-press, sought -by many experiments to supply the ink by means of a revolving cylinder -or roller, instead of by the old process. The first impediment was -the seam which it was necessary to make down the whole length of the -roller; and it could be kept neither soft nor pliable. Providentially -these difficulties were overcome by observing a process in the -Staffordshire potteries, in which the workmen use what are there called -dabbers. These dabbers, composed of glue and treacle, possessed every -requisite to hold and distribute the ink, spreading it evenly over the -form, besides being easily kept clean and pliable. This method was at -once seized upon by ingenious printers, who used it in time in the -cylinder form, as is common now in all printing-offices. - -Formerly, the word _the_ was indicated by the letters _y_ and _e_, -thus--_y^e_; _&_ was used for _and_; with other ungainly abbreviations. -Connected letters were also employed; _c_ and _t_ were joined by a -curve from the top of one to the other; and when two _s’s_ occurred a -long _ſ_ was used. - -[Illustration: COMPOSITION ROOM.] - -Instead of ponderous folios and quartos, untitled, unpaged, and -unparagraphed; without capitals, and with words so huddled together -as to put the reader to his wit’s end to make out the meaning, now we -have the beautiful pocket and library editions, convenient in size, -clear and intelligible within,--“books that you may carry to the fire -and hold readily in your hand,” as Dr. Johnson says. - -We have, in imagination, visited Gutenberg’s Printing Rooms, and can -vividly recall his rude beginnings and slow and toilsome methods; -his printing-press; the wonder of that age,--only turning off a few -hundred impressions per diem. With this in mind, let us step into a -representative printing establishment of our times,--the “Riverside,” -at Cambridge, Mass.; for we wish to get a just idea of the Art of arts. -We will first visit the Composition Room. - -Ranged down the sides of the room we see scores of laborers -industriously at work, each one before a stand or frame, in shape -similar to the music-stand at an orchestra. Each frame is constructed -so as to hold two pairs of cases, one containing the Roman, the other -the Italic letters of the same “fount,” or kind. The upper case has -ninety-eight little divisions for the different kinds of type; the -lower case has fifty-four boxes, arranged as in the diagram on the -opposite page. The “compositor” or “type-setter,” is said to “work at -case;” for all the types are sorted in “cases,” or shallow, open and -divided boxes; the lower case, or the one nearest him, having all the -small letters, points, and spaces to place between the words, and the -upper case containing all capitals, accented letters, figures, and -characters used as references to notes. Each letter has a larger or -smaller box appropriated to it, according as it is seldom or frequently -required, while the letters most needed occupy the position most -convenient for the compositor. - -In the English language, the letter _e_ inhabits the largest box; _a_, -_c_, _d_, _h_, _i_, _m_, _n_, _o_, _r_, _s_, _t_, _u_, live in the -next-sized apartments; _b_, _f_, _g_, _l_, _p_, _v_, _w_, _y_, dwell in -what may be called the bed-rooms; while _j_, _k_, _q_, _x_, _z_, _æ_, -and _œ_, double letters, etc., are more humbly lodged in cupboards, -garrets, and cellars, as we call the various compartments of the case. -The reason of this arrangement is, that the letter _e_ being visited -by the compositor sixty times as often as _z_,--his hand spending an -hour in the former box for every minute in the latter,--it is advisable -that the letters oftenest required should be in the nearest and largest -boxes; everything being systematized so as to secure accuracy and -despatch. - -[Illustration: - - +---+---+---+---+---+---+-------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+ - | & | fl | ff | fi | j | k | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | - +---+---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+ - | ’ | | | | | | | | | 5m | 9 | - | | | | | | | | | |space| | - +---+ b | c | d | e | i | s | f | g +-----+-----+ - | ! | | | | | | | | | 4m | 0 | - | | | | | | | | | |space| | - +---+---+-------+-------+-------+-------+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+ - | ? | | | | | | | | | | n | m | - +---+ l | m | n | h | o | y | p | , | w |quad.|quad.| - | z | | | | | | | | | | ▌ | █ | - +---+---+-------+-------+-------+-------+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+ - | x | | | | 3m | | | ; | : | | - +---+ v | u | t | space | a | r +---+---+ quadrat. | - | q | | | | | | | . | - | | - +---+---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+---+---+-----------+ - -PLAN OF LOWER CASE.] - -Behold the busy company. Eyes, fingers, and arms move almost in every -direction with steadiness and speed. Some are “distributing;” that is, -filling their cases with letters from the type pages of books or papers -which have been printed off. This is done with great celerity; the -compositor grasps and reads several sentences at once; and without -again looking at the letters, his nimbly flying fingers deposit them, -one by one, here, there, everywhere, in the square dens to which they -belong. Four thousand “ems” per hour can thus be distributed by a good -compositor, which is about five times as many as he can “compose,” or -set in type; as it is much easier to spend money than to earn it. - -Having filled the cases, the workman is ready to “compose.” Standing -in front of the cases which contain the Roman letters, and having -placed the “copy,” or manuscript from which he is to set, upon the -least used part of the upper case, he takes in his left hand the -“composing-stick,” made of brass or iron, with a movable side which -can be adapted to any width of line by means of a screw. He then -commences putting the letters of each word of the copy, with the -necessary points and spaces, into the stick, the thumb of his left -hand meanwhile securing each addition, from left to right along the -line. To facilitate the process, a thin slip of brass, called the -“composing-rule,” is placed in the composing-stick at the outset, -and pulled out and put on the front of a line when completed. When -the stick is full of lines, the compositor, with the fingers of both -hands, lifts them out as if they were a mass of solid metal, and -places them in the “galley,”--a flat board or piece of zinc or brass, -having a ledge at the head, and on one or both sides. To do this last -successfully requires practice and skill. And the young printer, -although no adept in pastry-making, learns, to his disgust, that there -is nothing easier than to make “pi,” as the heap of jumbled type, which -has slipped through his untrained fingers, is termed. - -The galley having been filled by the contents of successive sticks, and -the requisite number of pages to form a sheet being completed, they are -arranged upon a bench or “imposing stone,” and surrounded with pieces -of wood, or “furniture,” so as to give a suitable margin for each page. -The whole being then secured in the “chase,” or iron frame, by means of -strips of wood and wedges. This is called “imposing.” - -Next, a “proof” is taken by impressing paper upon the type, that the -compositor may see and correct the mistakes he may have made in putting -the copy into type. - -Referring again to the engraving, “Composition room,” in the open space -are the “imposing stones,” or “tables,” on which matter in type is -placed in order to arrange it for printing; proofs are taken, errors -corrected, and the “form” finally made ready for the press. - -[Illustration: Reading Proof.] - -But in this cozy, well-lighted room, sits one whose attitude is the -picture of careworn and earnest attention. No matter what the din in -the building around him, his faculties are concentrated on the pages of -proof. It is one of the proof-readers,--and an assistant who reads the -copy, whose office it is to see that the work goes forth to the public -correct in literary and mechanical execution. His is a wearisome and -responsible task. His eye, with lynx-like vigilance and microscopic -power, must detect the minutest defects of press or author. Faults in -punctuation, grammar, rhetoric, logic, and data he must point out. All -this at a glance, in an establishment crowded with work. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XXII. - - Type-setting by Machinery.--Its Practicability.--Various - Machines devised.--The Brown Type-setter and Distributer - described.--Simplicity.--Reliability.--Speed. - - -In the last chapter we described type-setting by hand. Let us now for -a few moments look at the method of doing this by machinery. This is -the last achievement of that inventive enterprise which we have seen -to be so efficient in all the history of the art; and it deserves -some mention here, both for what it already is, and for what it so -confidently promises. On witnessing this most interesting and curious -operation, one wonders, first, that such a work, apparently requiring -the constant exercise of mind and intelligence, can be so rapidly and -perfectly done by machinery; and then, observing the simplicity of the -instruments and the certainty of their work, one wonders again that it -has never been done before. - -It is our aim in this history to illustrate the prominence machinery -has held in the several departments of the art, and how much our -literature and books owe to its aid; and it is remarkable that -this work of setting and distributing types is the only branch of -the printer’s art which has not yet received its share of aid from -labor-saving expedients. When we consider the great improvement which -has been made in presses within the past few years, whereby the -number of impressions is multiplied from 250 to nearly 30,000 per -hour, and when, on the other hand, we consider that in the department -of type-setting these four hundred years have brought no advance or -improvement, but that this work is done in precisely the same slow -manner in which the inventor of movable types first ranged them into -line in the fifteenth century, it is strongly suggested that the -contributions of genius have not been altogether impartial and just, -and that here remains a great field of inventive enterprise as yet -uncultivated. And when it is further considered that in the estimate -of our most extensive publishers full half the present cost of our -books and periodicals is in the labor of setting the types, the -question urges itself, How has it happened that this important branch -of human industry has been so overlooked by inventive genius? Is there -any inherent difficulty which makes it impossible to do the work of -type-setting by mechanical appliances? The wonderful adaptation of -machinery to all other forms of human labor and service suggests -antecedently that it must be possible also here. Led by this faith in -the possibility of the thing, and urged by the actual necessity of -doing something to expedite this branch of the work, many inventors -have of late years been studying upon this problem. But the mechanical -type-setter is essentially a modern invention: it is the contribution -of this age to the art. About twenty years cover the whole period of -these efforts. It seems to be a law of human progress that a number of -failures must precede the successful effort, every failure contributing -its quota to the ultimate success, either through its suggestions of a -better way, or by serving as a warning and indication how _not_ to do -it. - -Several type-setting machines have been devised, some of them very -ingenious; but one after another failed to stand the test of actual -work. It is not, however, half so strange that many should fail as -that any should succeed in so great and delicate a work. So vast and -difficult is the problem, that many of the best mechanicians of our -day, whose knowledge of the capabilities of machinery gives their -judgment peculiar weight, have pronounced it an impossibility, and have -classed these efforts with the fascinating but visionary chase after a -method of perpetual motion. But inventors are a peculiar race, as is -seen in the case of Gutenberg, especially endowed with an indomitable -faith in the possible; and they are continually attempting and doing -things with little other apparent motive than the fact that the world -has supposed them impossible. - -The inventor of the machines we have examined, Mr. O. L. Brown, of -Boston, has made a careful study of the subject for years, and seems -finally to have found the secret, both of simplicity and success. -Especially is the device for setting the types so simple that it might -perhaps more properly be called an instrument than a machine. The -Type-distributer strikes one as more curious and wonderful, inasmuch -as it is entirely automatic, and is operated by steam; but it is an -adaptation of one of the most common and familiar mechanical principles. - -The Type-setter comprises a case, a stick, and a justifier. The case -consists of a series of grooves or channels ranged side by side, each -just wide enough to receive a line of type. There is no limit to this -case, either in the number of channels, or their length. In these -channels, the types stand upon their feet, and the case is set at -such an angle that they slide downward by their own gravity, and rest -upon the bar which closes the lower ends. Across the foot a shield is -placed, provided with openings for the types to pass through as they -are set; and an index, showing the letters and sorts which the case -contains. Corresponding openings in the rear allow the tongue, which -forces out the letter, to enter. - -Below and in front of the case, sliding back and forth upon a track -at the will of the operator, is the stick, or mechanical hand, which -takes the letters from the case. The stick consists of a semicircular -groove for receiving the type, and a lever or key for operating it. -The uppermost end of the stick forms an indicator, pointing to the -index upon the shield. The key is provided at one end with a tongue, or -plunger, for lifting the type, and the other forms a handle for working -it. The whole weighing but a few ounces, it is moved with the greatest -ease from letter to letter. The operator, seizing the handle with the -thumb and finger, runs it nearly opposite the letter to be taken. It -is so arranged with an adjusting gauge that no greater accuracy of -stroke is required than in playing a piano. As the handle of the key is -depressed, a type is thrust out into the stick. As the handle is raised -again, a “follower” pushes the type just lifted sufficiently down -the channel to allow the next one to be taken in the same way. This -operation is repeated till the stick is full, when it is run to one -end of the track, and the line slipped into the justifier. The stick -is then ready for another line; and, when several are set, they are -justified by hand. - -In all machines that have heretofore been produced, use has been made -of a set of keys to take the letters from the case; and at first -thought these would seem to have an advantage over this with its -single key. But experience has proved it otherwise; for the object is -not merely to take the letters from the case, but also to form them -into line; and this last has hitherto proved the most difficult and -expensive part of the work. A case capable of holding one hundred and -fifty lines of type the size of this in which this book is printed is -about thirty inches in length; and when one letter is taken from one -end of the case and the next from the other end, the difficult thing -is to bring them together into line quickly, surely, and with perfect -safety. It will readily be seen that in this passage there is likely -to be loss of time, and the types are liable to misplacement, and, in -the case of the more delicate, to breakage. That nothing is gained -by multiplying the keys, will at once be seen when it is considered -that the keys, however many there may be, must be struck singly, and -time allowed for disposing of each letter as it is indicated. The -operation of type-setting is not like that of playing the piano, where -several keys are struck simultaneously; but, on the contrary, care -must be taken not to touch more than one at a time. In short, that -nothing is gained, but much is lost, by this multiplicity of the keys, -becomes apparent when we consider the complication which it involves. -The machine we have seen in operation contains one hundred and fifty -letters, and uses but one key; and this key is of the simplest -construction. The motion of the key which lifts the letter puts it -also in its place in the line. If stationary keys were employed, a -key would be required for each letter, which would increase the first -cost a hundred and fifty times, and the liability to get out of order -in the same ratio, besides making a machine more difficult to learn, -and without increasing the speed. But the advantages of the single key -are found to be many besides its simplicity and cheapness. It allows -the use of any number of different characters, it is not liable to get -out of order, its parts are all in plain sight, and it is limited in -speed only by the skill of the operator. One of its greatest advantages -is that the line of type being set is always before the eye of the -compositor. He is constantly observing the process of its formation; -and there is therefore no occasion for the “outs” and “doublets” that -are so frequently made in the machines that carry the line away from -the operator’s sight. - -This Type-setter was brought to perfection several years ago; but the -necessity of a distributing machine was soon realized. In the setting -of types by machinery, it is needful that they be ranged in lines, -instead of being laid in boxes, as for hand-composition. To do this by -the slow process of hand-distribution would more than counterbalance -the time gained by the setter. It was first attempted to employ cheap -labor for the work; but this was not satisfactory, and was soon -abandoned. For the full utility of the setter, therefore, some method -of distribution is imperative. Consequently Mr. Brown sought among -the distributers already projected by other inventors something that -might be adapted to accompany his setter. But a careful examination of -everything that had as yet been produced found nothing that promised -to be satisfactory; and he turned his attention to the only remaining -expedient, namely, to create a new one. After five years of study and -labor, he produced a distributer which, for simplicity of design and -reliability of action, is a fit complement and companion for the setter. - -The Type-distributer consists of a rotating ring, about ten inches in -diameter. At regular intervals in the edge of the ring are recesses -for holding the types while being carried to their places. Radiating -from this ring are the channels into which the types are distributed; -and which, when full, are transferred to the setter, and constitute a -part of the case. At one side is a galley, which receives the page -to be distributed. From the galley, the machine takes one line at a -time, and lifts it into a channel, in which it is fed towards the -distributing-ring, but a little below. From the inner end of this line -the types are lifted one at a time, and enter the distributing-ring. -This ring has an intermittent motion, and each motion brings one of the -recesses directly over the line. One after another the types are forced -up into these recesses. A recess is large enough to receive the largest -type, and is formed by cutting a larger slot in the ring, and inserting -a set of levers. The levers are simply straight pieces of sheet brass -or steel about two inches long, with a hole near one end, through which -the pin passes on which they turn. These levers, placed one upon the -other in sets of six or more, form one side of the recess. A slide or -ejector, which forces out the letter when it arrives at its proper -place, forms the back of the recess. When a letter is fed into the -ring, it stands in this recess, and any nick that may have been made in -the edge of the type will be opposite one of the levers. As the short -arms of these levers shut against the edge of the type, some of them -entering the nicks, the long arms take a corresponding position. It -will be seen that a slight variation in the position of the short arms -gives a much greater variation in the long arms. The relative position -of these long arms, acting in connection with the keys, determines -where the type shall be ejected. These keys slide out and in, and each -motion of the ring brings each set of the levers successively in front -of each key. The keys all advance a short distance, and try the ends -of the levers; and, wherever the shape of the keys corresponds to the -position of the levers, the key advances farther, and, acting upon the -ejector, forces out the letter. The operation is on the same principle -as the common lever-lock; the levers with the type forming a certain -combination which will move around until it arrives opposite its own -key. The lock will then be unlocked, and the letter forced out. The -keys are the slides, which are placed in the stationary part of the -machine, inside the rotating ring, and radiating from the centre. - -The type are placed in the machine just as they come from the press, -the galley being adjustable to any size of page; and any letters that -the machine cannot distribute are simply transferred to the “pi-line,” -where they stand in regular order, and can be distributed by another -machine or by hand. The type used is the common type cast at our -foundries, as described on page 225. For the setting-machine no change -is made, but for the distributer, this being automatic, it is prepared -by a simple system of nicks in the back of the letter. These nicks -are added very quickly and cheaply; but this necessity will soon be -obviated, as the foundries are already making matrices or moulds for -casting founts of type containing the distributing-nick. - -The question which will doubtless decide the fate of this and all other -machines for the purpose is the question of speed. - -The machines we have described, notwithstanding their newness and -the necessary inexperience of the operators, make an economy of more -than fifty per cent. in the time of doing a given amount of work. The -distributer, being run by steam and tended by a boy, does the work -of several men. This is a great gain; twenty-five per cent. has been -thought an amount very desirable to be reached. It seems, too, that -skill in operating the setter is easily acquired. - -As an illustration of this, may be given the case of a young girl who -had never seen the inside of a printing-office, and who was induced -to try the new machine. She was initiated into the ready use of the -type-setter in five minutes’ instruction. Seizing the mechanical hand, -which takes the letters one by one as rapidly as thought can spell from -the groove-like case, in the first hour, with the rapid click, click, -of the new-found “key,” she set very correctly six hundred ems, and in -the second hour accomplished the task of a thousand ems. - -An office boy was as successful. After a few hours’ acquaintance -with the machine, it is common for mere children, in dispatch and -correctness of execution, to rival workmen who have had long experience -in type-setting by hand. - -The setter has been operated in competition with two superior -compositors of many years’ practice, and has done more work than -both, on fair and equal terms. Such being the results in the present -condition of the machinery, it is only just to conclude that this is -an invention which not only does honor to the art, and is an important -step in its progress, but must contribute materially to the cheapening -of books and the dissemination of literature, and so serve the highest -interests of human life. - -[Illustration: STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XXIII. - - Stereotyping.--Plaster Moulds.--Planing and Beveling.--Correcting - Stereotype Plates.--Process of Electrotyping.--The - “Guillotine.”--Ornamenting. - - -The invention of stereotyping is also a great improvement in printing. -Almost all works, after being put in type, are stereotyped; the -advantage is that a new edition can be struck off as often as called -for, without the labor of resetting the type. - -The process of stereotyping differs from common printing, in that the -letters, after being set up, are cast in plates of entire pages, from -plaster of Paris moulds. - -The workman in the picture is about removing the moulds from the type -beneath. The mould, forming a perfect _fac simile_ of the page intended -to be printed, is placed with others in a great oven, where it is dried -and baked hard. The edge of the oven can be seen at the right of the -picture on the following page, which represents the interior of the -Stereotype Foundery. - -[Illustration: Moulding in Plaster.] - -While the plaster mould is baking in the oven, the foundery man is -getting things in readiness for converting it into lead. Upon the -left, in the picture, is a high pile of bars of lead, looking like an -irregular chimney. When the bars of lead are put into the cauldron -to melt, a certain amount of antimony is put in also, to render it -brittle, and tin is added to give a brightness of surface. When the -lead, antimony, and tin are well melted, and the scum has been removed, -the composition is poured into iron moulds, where it hardens, and -comes out in the shape of the lead that was put into the kettle in the -first place. These bars of composition, lead being by far the largest -material, are put into the boiler over which you see the man working, -and melted again, making a molten mass, which is kept liquid by the -hot fire beneath and the frequent stirring. When the plaster pages, or -moulds, are well baked in the oven, they are ready to be plunged in -their lead bath. An iron pan about two feet long, a foot broad, and two -or three inches deep, is the vessel, in which is laid a false bottom of -iron, called a floater; on this are laid the plaster moulds, face down, -and the whole is covered with an iron slab, which does not, however, -rest on the plaster moulds, but upon the edge of the iron pan. An iron -handle, like that of a basket, is secured to the middle of the pan upon -the wooden stand in front of the picture. A crane overhangs the boiler, -and from it drops a hook surrounded by four legs; the hook takes hold -of the hole in the handle, and the four legs press upon the iron -cover of the pan; the crane swings round, holds the iron pan with its -plaster moulds snugly shut up in it, and suspends the body over molten -lead, lowering it until it is partly sunken in the lead but not wholly -plunged in it. - -The four corners of the pan are not square; and as the iron cover does -not fit into the grooves, there is access to the interior of the pan -by this means. Down them, then, the founder pours the lead, dipping -it from the boiler, until it fills up completely all the little type -openings in the plaster moulds. Then the crane lifts it and swings it -over to the trough by which the boy is standing. It is lowered into -the water to cool, after which a crane swings it over to the wooden -standard, where one is waiting to be opened. The handle is removed, and -then the founder, taking a heavy hammer, knocks off the lead at the -corners and edges, where it has sealed up the iron lid on the pan. The -cover is removed, and the contents of the pan taken out. The plaster is -chipped off and thrown away; but now are seen lead plates of the size -of the plaster moulds, having their surface raised in letters, just as -that of the moulds was sunken in letters. The plates are about double -the thickness of the slates used in schools. - -These plates are cooled, and washed free of plaster in the trough,--the -boy in the picture is now doing this,--when they are ready to go into -the finishing room, to be trimmed, planed, picked out, corrected, and -generally made ready for use in the printing-office. - -In the first place, the plate is trimmed at the edges, and planed in -a planing-machine, which shaves off, from the back, strips of the -rough lead. It is beveled also; that is, the edges are shaved down -in the left hand of the three smaller machines shown in this picture: -the object of the beveling is to secure the plate afterward, when it -comes to be put on the press. It is also picked out: a workman goes -over the lettered surface with a sharp tool, clearing out letters -which have accidentally become filled up with lead, and correcting all -inaccuracies of form which he discovers. - -[Illustration: Planing and Beveling.] - -The man at work in this picture is planing the back of the plate -again, for the purpose of getting the requisite thickness. The knife in -this plane makes one shaving of lead, which rolls up as it leaves the -plate, like any fine shaving. To take off another shaving, a piece of -pasteboard is placed under the plate, by which it is raised a trifle -higher, and so again brought under the knife. - -[Illustration: Correcting Stereotype Plates.] - -A proof is taken on a common hand-press, and with this proof before him -the corrector marks such letters as were overlooked when the plate -was picked out. This proof goes into the proof-reader’s room again, -who now goes once more over the page, to see if everything is right; -and after he has marked it, back it goes to the corrector, who now, -with the printed proof-sheet before him, makes the corrections that -are required. If, for instance, a letter is set up wrong, as _pan_ for -_pen_, and has been overlooked by the proof-reader, and the plate is -cast, what is to be done? - -The corrector takes a sharp tool, and punches a hole through the plate -where the interloper is, just the size of the type, and then restoring -a common type _e_, through the opening, cuts it off even at the back -of the plate, and solders it in its place with lead. In this way a -whole line of type is sometimes introduced for an incorrect line in the -plate. The corrections being made, the plate is ready for the press. -When not in use, the plates, being very valuable, are carefully put -in a box,--a large book requiring several boxes. They are stored in -fire-proof safes, made for this purpose. - -While books are generally stereotyped, woodcuts are always -electrotyped. Instead of being moulded in plaster, the cut or -illustrated page goes into the electrotype room, to be moulded in wax. - -[Illustration: Moulding in Wax.] - -Let us look at the process. - -A brass case, or very shallow, oblong pan is filled with liquid -beeswax, which stands until it has hardened. The form containing the -pages of type, well covered with fine black lead, is placed upon -the bed of the press, shown in the picture; the face of the type -is uppermost. There is an upper bed, which in the picture is swung -half-way back. This is swung all the way back, and upon it is secured -the brass case of wax. When the upper bed is brought back again, the -wax face will of course be downward, and thus will be ready to receive -an impression from the form of type resting on the lower bed; this -lower bed is movable, and is gently raised by a screw until it presses -into the wax, after the press is tightened, and now the soft wax -receives the exact impression of the type; and the upper bed being -swung back, the brass case, with its wax mould, is removed. We have got -just as far, in fact, as when the plaster in stereotyping was ready -to receive the casting. In the battery, a corner of which is seen in -the picture, are hung one, two, three, or more copper plates; and from -rods running parallel are hung the cases containing the wax moulds, one -being hung on either side of the brass plate facing it. The positive -pole is attached to the case, the negative to the copper plate; and the -connection being made, a thin film of copper appears on the surface -of the mould. This coating increases the longer the mould remains in -the battery. After ten or twelve hours it is removed, and the result -is a shell, as it is called, of the thickness of thin pasteboard, the -upper surface a perfect _fac simile_ of the original page of type or -wood-cut, every line, and every imperfection too, being reproduced. The -under surface is exactly parallel; for each projection on the upper -surface there is an indentation in the lower. - -[Illustration: The “Guillotine.”] - -This thin shell of copper can be bent and crumpled up; it could not -be used for printing in its present state, and it passes through a -process called “backing up.” A thin coating of tin is applied to the -back, when it is put face downward in a shallow dish, and kept in place -by a number of small elastic rods. Then it is hung over a flat cauldron -filled with melted type-metal, and lowered to rest in it. When the -plate has acquired the same degree of temperature as the metal, the -latter is ladled and poured over the plate, filling up all the hollows -and indentations, and forming a solid back of lead. The coating of tin -is first applied, as lead will not adhere to copper. - -The plate, being now ready for the planing, beveling, picking, and -correcting of stereotype plates, goes through the same process that we -have before described. - -When a book is to be bound, the pile of sheets which form it is made -even at the back, and a saw, working by steam, cuts shallow grooves -across the back, for the twine over which the sewing is done. Two -girls are pictured sewing at their frames,--passing the needle through -the fold of the sheet and round the upright twine, adding one sheet -at a time to the pile, until the entire book is sewed. In the large -apartment called the forwarding-room, the remaining processes of -finishing are done. The rough and uncut edges of the book are made -smooth by means of a cutting machine called the “guillotine.” - -The edges of a number of books can be cut at a time, by being secured -on a movable bed, which rises so as to bring them under a stationary -knife, which cuts them smoothly as they are pressed against it. - -There is also a backing-machine, for rounding the backs of books. The -book is placed in a vise, and held near the edge of the back; and the -man, working a treadle, moves a heavy roller over the back, thus -drawing up the sheets in the centre; this is that the cover may be made -fast to the book, the sides of the cover fitting tightly; the limp back -is like a hinge. The stiff pasteboard covers are made by themselves; -for instance, if a thousand copies of a book are to be made, while the -folding and sewing of the thousand books is going on in one part of the -building, in another two or three men are at work making cases; and -when each is finished, they are put together. - -[Illustration: Laying on Gold Leaf.] - -[Illustration: FORWARDING ROOM.] - -But the stamped name on the back or ornamental work is done on the -cases, after they are covered with cloth, and before the books are -fastened into them. A brass die, or brand, is made of the title of the -book; then the covers which are to be stamped are taken by the gilders, -who first rub the white of an egg over the surface to be stamped, and -upon that lay thin gold leaf, of gossamer lightness. - -[Illustration: Burnishing Gilt Edges.] - -In the picture three girls are laying on the gold leaf with their -pallet knives. - -The covers are now ready to be stamped by the brass die, and that is -put in place in the embossing press, seen behind the gilders. It is -kept constantly heated, and is attached to the upper part of the press -with its face down; the cases are slipped singly into the press, and -pressed up against the die, the letters of which stamp the gold into -the cloth; the rest of the gold is carefully rubbed off, and collected -and preserved. - -When the edges of the leaves are to be gilded, it is done by holding -the books firmly in a vise, as seen in the cut, the gold leaf being -laid on with a pallet knife; after which the surface is polished. - -The workman is seen polishing the edges with an agate burnisher. The -sheets having been pasted in their cases, and thoroughly subjected to a -powerful press, are packed and put into the trade. - -[Illustration: Marbling.] - -Another very curious process is marbling the edges of leaves. - -In the engraving is a long trough, in which is a thin mixture of water -and gum tragacanth, over which the workman holds two dictionaries in -his hands. The colors which combine in the marbling are water-colors, -and are distributed in the seven jars with brushes. The marbler shakes -one of these brushes over the vat, the color falling is held on the -surface by the glue, and little circles of blue, or whatever was -dropped, are scattered over the water; with another brush he sprinkles -in the same way, and so on for any number of colors, producing effects -as gorgeous as the mingling colors of autumn leaves or of sunset -clouds. If a piece of paper now were dipped into the trough, it -would, when removed, be mottled or marbled. The marbling is elongated -or streaked by slowly passing a coarse rake through the water. The -marbler, taking two books, dips the edges into the trough; the gum -causes the colors to adhere to the paper, and the precise pattern -in the vat is elegantly painted on the book; the next is dipped in -a different place, and when the surface has been taken up, the scum -is skimmed off, and the colors again sprinkled on the water, and the -process repeated as long as required. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XXIV. - - The Hand-press.--Earl Stanhope’s Press.--Improvements.--Cylinder - Presses.--Press-room.--Drying Room.--Sewing Room.--Elevator.-- - Books for the Blind.--Type, Press, and Paper invented.-- - Catalogue of Great Exhibition.--Estimate of Rapid Labor by - Machinery. - - -We have already referred to the earliest modes of taking the impression -from the types by friction, or the rubbing of some hard smooth -substance over the paper when laid upon the face of the types. - -The hand-press invented by Gutenberg is the only machine absolutely -necessary for printers. A specimen of these rude wooden machines is -the press used by Benjamin Franklin, now in the Patent Office at -Washington. A hand-press has been illustrated and sketched in this -volume; it was operated by two men, one attending to the inking, -the other placing the paper, and pulling on the lever to make the -impression. The first improvement on this press was made by Earl -Stanhope in 1815. He built the whole of iron, and, substituting for -the screw an obtuse-angled jointed lever, greatly lessened the labor -of the pressman. He also enlarged the platen to the size of the bed, -so that a full sheet could be printed by one pressure of the platen, -instead of two, as in the old press. A second improvement was soon -made by G. Clymer of Philadelphia, who in his elegant iron press, the -Columbian, used a combination of levers; in some points it is still -unsurpassed. For country papers of limited circulation, the hand-press -is still in use; it is also a favorite in book offices for work of -delicate execution. It is now common to print by hand two hundred and -fifty impressions per hour, or one hundred and twenty-five perfected -sheets. - -Near the end of the eighteenth century, the hand-press proving too slow -for the demands of speed and economy, the ready intellect of inventors -began upon the problem of moving presses by power. William Nicholson -patented in England, in 1790, a plan for a press in which the types -were adjusted upon a revolving cylinder, and were inked by contact -with another cylinder having rotary motion. The ink was distributed by -means of several inking rollers, the last of which was fed by the ink -fountain. A large cylinder covered with felt, revolving in contact with -the first, produced the impression, which was thus made by rolling the -sheets of paper between the cylinders. Nicholson failed in fixing the -types to the cylinder; but had he been able to do this, his plan of -inking would not have been practicable, as the gelatine rollers were -not then invented. Frederick Hoenig, a Saxon, so improved this press of -Nicholson as to make it a mighty engine. Himself and another machinist, -A. F. Bauer, found that the way to make a bed of type work rapidly was -to effect the pressure with a cylinder instead of a flat surface. A -machine was secretly built; and on the morning of November 28, 1814, -the “London Times” informed its readers that they were reading a sheet -printed by steam, in these glowing words:-- - -“Our journal of this day presents to the public the practical result -of the greatest improvement connected with the practice of printing -since the discovery of the art itself. The reader of this paragraph -now holds in his hand one of the many thousand impressions of the -‘Times’ newspaper which were taken off last night by a mechanical -apparatus. A system of machinery almost organic has been devised and -arranged, which, while it relieves the human mind and frame of its -most laborious efforts in printing, far exceeds all human powers in -rapidity and dispatch. That the magnitude of the invention may be -justly estimated by its results, we shall inform the public, that after -the letters are placed by the compositor, and inclosed in what is -called the form, little remains for man to do save to attend upon and -watch this unconscious agent in its operations. The machine is then -merely supplied with paper; itself places the form, inks it, adjusts -the paper to the form newly inked, stamps the sheet, and gives it forth -to the hands of the attendant; at the same time withdrawing the form -for a fresh coat of ink, which itself again distributes, to meet the -ensuing sheet now advancing for impression; and the whole of these -complicated acts is performed with such a velocity and simultaneousness -of movement, that no less than 1,100 sheets are impressed in one hour.” - -The line of success was inaugurated; and ten years later, the same -paper says, “In consequence of successive improvements suggested and -planned by Mr. Hoenig, the inventor, our machines now print 2,000 per -hour with more ease than 1,100 in their original state.” - -By successive improvements made in this machine by Messrs. Applegath -& Cowper, at length, in 1852, it could produce 11,000 impressions per -hour. - -Isaac Adams, of Boston, succeeded in making hand-presses work by -power, and issued patents of different machines in 1830 and in 1836. -The capacity of working slow for fine work, or rapidly for newspaper -printing, characterized these presses, and made them favorites with -printers. - -It was reserved for an American, Richard M. Hoe, of New York, to -make the first successful type-revolving press. After several costly -unsuccessful attempts, in 1847 he produced a perfect machine, on the -cylinder of which the types are held by friction, between beveled -column-rules. This is styled the Lightning Press, and is in use -throughout the world, where rapid printing is required. - -Recently a new press, the Bullock, is spoken of as entering the lists -with the Lightning Press. “It feeds itself from a roll of paper, -cutting it into sheets, which are printed on both sides, and delivered -in an even pile.” Its future success or failure must decide its place -in history. - -It will be kept in mind that there are four things necessary in -printing,--the page of type, or the stereotype or electrotype plate, to -print from; the paper, to receive the impression; the ink, to exhibit -this impression; and lastly the printing-press to press the paper upon -the inked plate. - -In our walk over the printing-house, let us step into the Press-room -where book-work is done. - -On the left, in the foreground, is a large cylinder press used for -printing newspapers; there is another in the distance, and between -can be seen parts of a number of hand-presses. On the right are great -“platen” presses, that are kept in motion by steam-power. They are used -for the nice execution of book-work, and print only from six hundred -to one thousand impressions an hour. - -Let us watch the operation of one of these platen presses on the right. -The paper, having been dampened and pressed, is laid on an inclined -table on the press, from which the “feeder,” as the girl by the second -press in the picture is called, takes one sheet at a time, and places -it upon an opposite inclined table, where it is clutched by the iron -fingers of the press, and carried into the machine. If we stood near -the press, we should see the bed of type adjusted with the face up, and -long rollers brought quickly back and forth, evenly smearing it with -ink. The iron fingers before mentioned as having grasped the edge of -the sheet, lay it on the inked bed of type, where it comes under the -platen, when the bed is raised up against the paper; the bed falling -again, the force of the machine slides out the paper over rollers -upon a light frame, which throws it over upon a board where the pile -of sheets collects. This process prints the paper on one side only; -turning the paper, the sheets are put through the press the second -time, and the printing is completed. - -[Illustration: PRESS ROOM.] - -But this and other departments of the art here pursued, give employment -to hundreds of operatives of both sexes, throwing off annually -many millions of impressions. Here rumbles the thunder of the -modern steam-propelled printing-presses. What a clangor is made -by the simultaneous revolutions of so much complicated machinery! -Broad leather straps, rapidly revolving in every direction, cause -you to start back, fearful lest you be caught in their toils. And -yet how docile, how easily managed, how orderly, how almost human -in intelligence,--and with what lightning swiftness the monster -steam-presses throw off their work, so that the eye can scarcely follow -the successively printed sheets! - -In the adjoining Stock-room, some two days before being printed, -the paper is “wet down,” or dampened with water, and then put under -powerful screw pressure of many tons’ weight, that the sheets in the -process of printing may take a clear impression from the inked type. -The paper, damp from the printing-press, is then taken on trucks and by -an elevator to the Drying-room, and dried, that it may not tear or the -printing be defaced. In the ceiling are immense frames with cross-bars, -and hanging on the latter are the printed sheets drying. There is also -a steam closet to be used during damp weather, and when it is required -to dry the sheets quickly. Steam-pipes circulate in the closet, by -means of which a high temperature is attained, and “no postponement on -account of the weather.” - -Workmen are busy bringing in the printed sheets, and hanging them to -dry, and removing those that are dried. The thorough drying of the -printed sheets is most important. - -[Illustration: Dry-press Room.] - -The three work-people seen in the corner of the Dry-press room, are -engaged in laying the paper in piles, with a piece of stiff, highly -polished pasteboard, of the size of the sheet, placed between them. -The pressure upon this pasteboard flat-iron is to be given by the -hydraulic press. The sheets are placed in piles on trucks, that move -upon a little railroad, by which they are conducted to the hydraulic -presses, some of which are seen at the right of the picture, packed -with sheets. Here they are put under powerful screw pressure of from -one hundred to four hundred tons, and come out not only much dryer, -but ironed smooth of wrinkles, and the indentations made by the type. -Next, the pasteboard is removed, and the piles of sheets sent into the -Folding-room to be folded. - -[Illustration: FOLDING, GATHERING, AND SEWING ROOM.] - -It is interesting to mark some of the avenues of employment that -printing has opened to women. The working force in this room is -composed almost entirely of girls. Standing by the one at the right -hand in the foreground, let us watch her rapid motions! With her simple -paper-folder she skillfully folds each sheet once, and smooths the -fold, then with like expertness folds this doubled sheet again, and -firmly smooths the thicker fold with the ever-in-hand paper-folder; -and once more she folds the compact sheet into one having eight -thicknesses, or sixteen pages. This is book folding, and she is -guided by the numbers at the corners of the pages, or _folios_--if -these numbers meet, the folding is sure to be exact. In an adjacent -room is that ingenious aid of modern printing--a rapid and dexterous -folding-machine, which, had it been discovered at work in Gutenberg’s -office at Strasbourg, would have been proof additional that he dealt in -witchcraft. - -[Illustration: Diagram of Pages.] - -But to return to our lady folders and their work. The sheets, as fast -as they are folded, are arranged in piles upon the table, the girl who -gathers the sheets together into separate books following the order of -the _signatures_, or figures on the first page of each sheet. - -[Illustration: Sewing.] - -At the left of our picture, near the middle of the room, is seen -a gatherer, who is engaged in making up “Webster’s Unabridged -Dictionary.” She is in a narrow isle between two tables, joined at the -foot by a short one. On these three tables one half of the Dictionary -is spread out at a time, in one hundred and fifteen piles of sheets. -She walks down this isle picking a sheet off each pile, and when she -has gone the entire round she has gathered one half of the book. When -these piles are all gathered, the other half of the book is arranged, -and gathered in the same way. - -Next, the sheets of the book are put into the stabbing-machine, that -three holes may be made at the inner edge, when the sheets are stitched -together by hand. - -The backs of magazines are covered with a strong paste, and the covers -are then put on. - -The elevator machinery connecting with each story, of a capacity -for lifting two tons, worthily facilitates the immense work of the -establishment, as with colossal strength it lifts great burdens of -paper, type, machinery, and deposits them on just the floor where they -are needed. - -If the first printers could revisit the earth, with what interest would -they make the tour of a modern printing-office! How would they call to -mind their own narrow quarters, poor facilities, and creeping progress, -contrasting them with the convenience, system, swiftness, finish, and -grand results of to-day, in the now beautifully moulded and polished -metal types, the success seemingly gained in setting type by machinery, -and the comprehensive arrangements, of various perfected departments, -all brought under the easy control of human skill! How unlike their -own embryotic efforts “which gave to themselves fame, their art an -existence, and civilization its motive power!” - -The first introduction of printing into America was in Mexico, by -the Jesuits, who issued a “Manual for Adults,” in 1540. The first -printing-office in America was established in Cambridge, Mass., in -1638; the first book printed was the “Bay Psalm-Book,” in 1640; the -first newspaper was the “Boston News Letter,” published April 24, 1704. - -The first attempt made to print books for the blind was made by the -Abbe Hauy, at Paris, in 1785. The letters were so large, however, the -paper so thick, and the books so bulky and expensive, that they were of -little practical use. No improvement had been made upon this system, -so late as 1830, when the Paris press was still lumbering on in the -old method. A few years later a French author, a teacher of the Paris -school for the blind, writes, “The Americans have effected a revolution -in the art of printing for the blind.” - -It was Mr. S. P. Ruggles, the well-known inventor, who, by his genius -and untiring industry, wrought this great change. He first turned -his attention to the education of the blind in 1835 at the Perkins -Institute, in Boston. For years he closely studied their wants and -capabilities by constant daily observation of the pupils. Books were -the first thing required; the few made being so cumbersome and costly -as scarcely to be available. - -In the emergency which calls for a hero, one is provided; and it is -worthy of record that this man, to supply the famishing intellect of -the blind, clambered up step by step the rugged height which Gutenberg -had scaled, to give light to the seeing world. - -After many experiments, he became convinced that he could produce a -type of less size, and less height of face, which the blind could read -with the greatest facility; providing the raised impression was hard -and sharp, and the angles of the type adapted to the touch of the -fingers. He finally succeeded in reducing the size of the type and -the height of its face so as to place books, of comparatively small -dimensions, in the hands of blind students and pupils. The size of the -type now in use, the height, and peculiar bevel of its face, are his -invention. - -He next devised and built the first press ever made for printing for -the blind. This was a very powerful machine, giving an impression of -about three hundred tons to each sheet impressed, yet so contrived that -the blind could do their own printing. - -After succeeding in the making of the new kind of type, and in the -construction of the ponderous press for printing, he was met by an -unexpected difficulty. There was no paper in the market adapted to -this kind of printing or embossing. That which was hard enough would -crack and break through when printed; and that which was flexible -enough not to crack, would flatten down when pressed upon by the -fingers of the pupils when reading. His reduced type required a new -kind of paper. The peculiar and definite bevel, and height of face of -the type, and the texture of the paper printed on, were most intimately -connected, and it took a long series of trials, in the manufacture of -paper, to get them so harmonized as to work well together. But at last, -after many experiments with gums and gelatine, he produced the article -required. - -His new method of making books being perfected, Mr. Ruggles next -invented an entirely new map for the blind. It was made with a raised -character, similar to his type; but arranged with such combinations -that, at a trifling cost, he could produce a succession of maps of any -size. Maps made in this way were never before known, and the Perkins -Institute immediately issued, from this plan, an “Atlas” of the United -States, and also a “General Atlas.” It would, by most persons, be -thought impossible that separate type could be so contrived as to -admit of their being arranged in such a manner as to produce a map -of any country and then to use the same type to make a map of any -other country. Yet all this was perfectly accomplished by this new -invention--every piece of type matching its neighbor with miraculous -cunning, while following the crooked lines and angles, or graceful -curves of rivers, coasts, and islands, with which such works abound. - -He next produced the plates for a book on geometry, on a plan similar -to his maps. These works proved very valuable and interesting to the -blind--for with them they could pursue their studies without the -assistance from seeing persons, which, before this, was necessary. - -In 1838 this gentleman went to Philadelphia, and established one of -his powerful presses for printing for the blind in the Institution -in that city; and a year or two later placed another press in the -Institution for the Blind in the State of Virginia. The perfect success -of his method for reducing the size and expense of books for the blind, -inaugurated a new era in the history of this kind of work, and the -books were rapidly multiplied throughout this country and Europe. - -On the opposite page is given a specimen of the types referred to, and -which are now used for printing for the blind: the face, or white part -of these letters, being raised in their books about one fortieth part -of an inch above the surface of the paper. - -[Illustration: RAISED TYPE FOR THE BLIND] - -Steel-plate and copper-plate printing, together with the -lithographic process, are modern inventions; but our limits confine us -to glance only at a part of the processes used in the preparation of -books. - -An illustration of the perfection to which the art of printing has -been brought, was given in the printing of the catalogues of the great -Exhibition of 1851. The Exhibition opened on the first of May; yet -with all the speed that could be made, it was not till midnight of the -30th that the catalogue, a closely printed volume, was ready to go to -press. By the next morning, however, a bound copy was presented to -Queen Victoria. Twelve trades were necessary for the production of this -catalogue. And so large an edition was issued that thirty-seven tons of -new type were employed, of which amount twelve tons were manufactured -in the short space of six weeks! Twenty-seven thousand reams of paper -were used, while the ink required for the small catalogue alone -amounted to 4,000 pounds. Specimens of typography were also exhibited -from the imperial printing-house of Vienna at this Exhibition. About -500,000 sheets, or 1,000 reams, of paper per day are required for the -consumption of that establishment. - -A French paper makes a calculation to show how marvelously human labor -is outrivaled by the mechanical arrangements of the steam press. The -paper, “La Patrie,” contains about 4,230 lines: 8,000 copies make -34,560,000 lines. A clerk could write about three lines in a minute; -therefore it would require 11,520,000 minutes, or 192,000 hours, for -a single clerk to supply 8,000 copies of “La Patrie;” in other words, -it would require 192,000 men to supply, by copying, the same amount of -paper which the cylinder printing-press supplies in one hour. - -What great armies of compositors are at work in the printing-houses -of Christendom! What numberless presses by night and by day throw off -multitudinous papers, pamphlets, and books, which are scattered to -every home, business mart, and travelling conveyance in the land. - -At the Great Exhibition one Bible Society alone had specimens of the -Word of God printed in one hundred and twenty different languages. -And a single religious publishing society of London, as early as -1862, had issued five hundred and seventy-six millions of copies of -its publications. But that is only one of many societies of similar -character, and moreover, every enlightened nation abounds in book and -periodical publishers and booksellers. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - -XXV. - - Time of the Great Invention.--A First Gift.--The Use of the - Alphabet.--A New Era.--Royal Printers.--Knights of Type and - Pen.--A Mighty Engine.--Gutenberg’s Dream.--The Press mighty. - - -If the “undevout astronomer is mad,” what shall be thought of the -unbelieving observer of God’s dealings with the human race? If -evidences of infinite design appear in the material bodies that people -space, can we think that God has stamped his creating, ordering hand -less distinctly on the affairs connected with the progress of the -souls for whom all things exist? The needle pointing to the pole -helps on navigation; it is the servant of the seamen: without it, -what would commerce do? But how happened it that the principle of the -mariner’s compass was discovered just when in the turmoil of events -it would be most useful--when it could suitably and most effectively -introduce the old to the new world? How providential, too, the time of -the invention of the art of printing! Had it been much earlier, the -materials for writing were so scarce that it must have come to naught. -Had it been deferred, doubtless many works which we prize as among -the most valuable and excellent would have been lost. In less than a -half-century from the invention of the wonderful art, the continent of -America was discovered by Columbus, in 1492. In less then a century, -Copernicus discovered the true theory of the planetary motions; and, -shortly after, only a few years intervening, he was succeeded by the -three great heralds of Newton,--Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo. - -Man is above nature. The senses only, do not constitute man; for -the brutes have some senses like us, and, not seldom, stronger, -more delicate, more subtile, quicker to act, more infallible. It is -_thought_, then, that gives man the preëminence. But what if thought -could never be expressed? What if the members of the human race could -never discover thought to each other, never reveal what passed within -the mysterious and mighty laboratory of the mind only as the infant -seeks to make its wants known, by gestures and moans and “inarticulate -cries?” But the Creator gave man speech; God’s first grand -interposition for the soul was the gift of speech! “We believe,” says -a brilliant French writer, “that speech was not born of itself on the -lips of primitive man,” as some affirm, “like a stammering of chance, -attaching, from age to age, certain vague significations to certain -inarticulated sounds, and giving to others, by the sound and connection -of these human cries, lessons which he who uttered them had not himself -received. To reach thence from these instinctive cries to speech; from -speech to the unanimous agreement of the meaning of words--of the sense -of certain words to the verb and phrase--of the verb and phrase to -logical syntax--of this syntax to the language of Moses, David, Cicero, -Confucius, Racine, it is necessary to suppose more ages of existence -to the human race on this earthly globe than there are stars, visible -and invisible, in the Milky Way. It is necessary to suppose numberless -ages of stupidity during which the human race, essentially moral and -intellectual, should vainly search, like the brutes, its _instrument_ -of morality and knowledge, without power to find it only after myriads -of generations. Humanity deaf and mute during a hundred thousand years! -I shudder at the blasphemy of believing such a mystery. I love better -to believe in the other; that is to say, in the fatherly mystery of the -Creator himself, inspiring on the lips of his infant creature, speech; -the word, the sentence, the inborn expression, which at sight gave -things names appropriate to their form and nature.” - -And when we consider how necessary the use of language is to the -convenience, comfort, and progress of man, and that man had at once -conferred upon him a body “curiously and wonderfully made,” and a mind -capacious, active, strong, and penetrating, can we harbor the idea that -after his creation, God left him,--a perfect, full-grown being, the -noblest of his works, and the lord of nature,--without speech? Rather -must we not infer, with a distinguished writer, that “the same Divine -Author of the physical organs of speech imparted to man the knowledge -of their use and power”? - -But speech carries thought from the mouth to the ear by sound, and then -perishes like the medium which conveyed it there. There needed to be, -therefore, a process to _preserve_ thought, by reducing it to material -signs on some enduring substance. So writing was given to the world. -And the wonderful discovery of alphabetical writing, how did it come -about? By chance? by human ingenuity? or through the “fatherly mystery -of the Creator inspiring it” in man? Says the learned Shackford, “That -men should immediately fall on such a project, to express sounds by -letters, and expose to sight all that may be said or thought in about -twenty characters variously placed, exceeds the highest notions we can -have of the capacities with which we are endowed.” How difficult to -submit our reason to the theories which have been argued of a _gradual_ -construction of alphabetical letters! Is it reasonable to suppose, for -example, that the old Shemitish letter D was suggested by the word -_door_, or the letter H by the word _fence_, and the V by a _hook_ or -_nail_? Do we not find evidence, that alphabetical writing was divinely -revealed, in the tables of stone written by the finger of God and -given to Moses on the Mount? In those ten commandments so anciently -bestowed, all the Hebrew letters, with one exception, are found--every -guttural, labial, lingual, and dental is disclosed. Some quote the -Chinese as leading the way in imprinting language. But their writing -was hieroglyphical, they did not reach alphabetical writing, and they -use one hundred and twenty thousand characters to express thought. - -But whether writing, which has well been spoken of as “nearly divine,” -is the invention of man, or is truly divine in its origin, its -possession was a great step in human progress. By it speech became -enduring and universal; it could be preserved, it could be diffused. -Poetry, history, science, law, art, religion, thus found expression -for all time. Through it we commune with the thinkers of antiquity. -By its aid “the Book” has come down to us. Nevertheless, this mode of -transmitting knowledge was slow, toilsome, costly, and not available -to the masses. At the beginning of the eleventh century, for example, -books were so scarce in Spain that one and the same copy of the Bible, -St. Jerome’s Epistles, and some volumes of ecclesiastical offices, -served several different monasteries. Books were the privilege of the -wealthy and the powerful; and the common people had them not. “The -head of society was in the light, the feet in the shade,” and “the -progress of truth, science, letters, politics, arts, was slow, and -suspended through long periods.” Some process was needed by which the -written thoughts of the thinkers could be reproduced with greater -rapidity, and thus placed within the reach even of the poor. This, -John Gutenberg, in the good providence of God, gave mankind, in the -discovery of printing. With the new art came a new era for the world. -In a few years after Gutenberg’s death all the capitals of Europe had -their printing-presses. France, England, Holland, Germany, Venice, -Genoa, Rome, Poland, seized the invention, and spread abroad religious -and secular works. In 1500 the Jews published tracts on Rabbinical -literature in Constantinople. And Russia, in 1680, established a press -in Moscow. - -The invention had its enemies, and printing its martyrs; but its glory -could not be dimmed, nor its progress arrested. Kings and queens turned -engravers and compositors, glorying to labor with their own hands in -the wonderful art. The wife of Henry IV. designed and printed cuts for -some royal publications, and engraving with her own hand a figure of -a young girl, presented it to “Philip de Champagne.” Louis XV. in his -youth, printed in his own palace a “Treatise on European Geography.” -The chief printers of the times succeeding that of Gutenberg were often -the artists, the learned men, the writers. They not only reproduced the -buried works of antiquity, but were able to explain and interpret them. - -The Emperor Maximilian ennobled the printers and compositors of the new -art, authorizing them to wear robes braided with gold and silver, such -as the nobility only had the right to wear, and giving them, for a coat -of arms, an eagle with wings extended on the globe, symbol of free and -rapid flight and universal conquest. Deserved honor! fitting symbol! -What marvels has printing wrought. It has given elementary instruction -to the masses,--putting into every hand, however humble or toilworn, -the printed page, multiplying books to teach, amuse, and elevate even -the little child. It has reformed corrupt religions, fashioned and -developed philosophy anew, and permeated laws with their true spirit. -Before its magic touch, the old feudal despotisms of the dark ages -have fallen, and later and no less oppressive systems have wasted -away. By its aid time and space seem annihilated, as “railways open to -it routes, steam lends to it wings, and the electric telegraph gives -it the instantaneousness of powder!” The “preserver of all arts,” it -broods over and perpetuates all useful institutions and discoveries; -and trade and commerce are stimulated, guided, systematized, enlarged, -and furnished with boundless facilities. But this mighty engine can be -used for evil as well as for good, and strike like the thunder-bolt -the best interests of man. The poet-historian from whom we have before -quoted, illustrates this by a dream of Gutenberg’s, which he is said -to have related to his friends, and to have been translated from the -German, at Strasbourg, by Mr. Garaud. - -Gutenberg had succeeded in an important experiment. His success filled -him with such enthusiasm that he scarcely slept the night following. -In his troubled and imperfect rest he had his dream,--a dream so -prophetic, and so near to the truth, that one questions, in reading -it, if it be not the reflecting presentiment of a wakeful sage rather -than the fevered dream of a slumbering artisan. This is the account -or legend of this dream as it is preserved in the library of the -counsellor Aulique Beck:-- - -“In a cell of a cloister of Arbogast sits a man with a wan forehead, a -long beard, and fixed look, before a table, supporting his head with -his hand. Suddenly he passes his fingers through his beard with a quick -joyous movement--the hermit of the cell has discovered a solution of -the problem he sought! He rises and utters a cry; it was as a relief -to a long pent-up thought. He hastily turns to his trunk, opens it, -and takes therefrom a cutting instrument; then, with nervous jerking -movements, he sets himself to carve a small piece of wood. In all -these movements there was joy and anxiety, as if he feared that his -idea would escape,--the diamond he had found, and which he wished to -set and polish for posterity. Gutenberg cut roughly and with feverish -activity, his brow covered with drops of sweat, while his eyes followed -with ardor the progress of his work. He wrought thus a great while, -but the time seemed short. At length, he dipped the wood in a black -liquid, placed it on parchment, and bearing the weight of his body on -his hand in the manner of a press, he printed the first letter which he -had cut, in relief. He contemplated the result, and a second cry, full -of the ecstasy of satisfied genius, burst from his lips; then he closed -his eyes with an air of happiness such as would befit the saints in -paradise, and fell exhausted on a joint-stool; when overcome of sleep, -he murmured, ‘I am immortal!’ - -“Then he had a dream which troubled him. ‘I heard two voices,’ said -he, in relating it; ‘two unknown and of a different sound, which -spoke alternately in my soul. One said to me, “Rejoice, John; thou -art immortal! Henceforth, light shall be spread by thee throughout -the world. People who dwell a thousand leagues from thee, strangers -to the thoughts of our country, shall read and comprehend all the -ideas now mute,--spread and multiplied as the reverberations of the -thunder, by thee, by thy work. Rejoice, thou art immortal! for thou -art the interpreter whom the nations await that they may converse -together. Thou art immortal; for thy discovery comes to give perpetual -life to the genius which would be still-born without thee, and who, -by acknowledgment, shall all make known in their turn the immortality -of him who immortalized them!” The voice ceased, and left me in the -delirium of glory. But I heard another voice. It said to me, “Yes, -John, thou art immortal. But at what a price? Thought not unlike thine, -is it always pure and holy enough to be worthy of being delivered -to the ears and eyes of the human race? Are there not many--the -greater number it may be--which merit rather a thousand times to be -annihilated, and sink to oblivion, than to be repeated and multiplied -in the world? Man is oftener perverse than wise and good; he will -profane the gift that you make him; he will abuse the new faculty that -you create for him. More of the world, in place of blessing, will -curse thee. Some men will be born with souls powerful and seductive, -and hearts proud and corrupt. Without thee, they would rest in the -shade; shut in a narrow circle, they would be known only to their -associates, and during their lives. By thee, they will bear folly, -mischief, and crime to all men and all ages. See thousands corrupted -with the disease of one! See young men depraved by books whose pages -distill soul-poison! See young women become immodest, false, and hard -to the poor, by books which have poisoned their hearts! See mothers -mourning their sons! See fathers blushing for their daughters! Is -not immortality too dear which costs so many tears and such anguish? -Dost thou desire glory at such a price? Art thou not appalled at the -responsibility with which this glory will weigh down thy soul? Listen -to me, John: live as if thou hadst discovered nothing. Regard thy -invention as a seductive but fatal dream, whose execution would be -useful and holy, if only man was good. But man is evil. And in lending -arms to the evil, art thou not a participator in his crimes?” - -“‘I awoke in a horror of doubt! I hesitated an instant; but I -considered that the gifts of God, though they were sometimes very -perilous, were never bad, and that to give an instrument to aid -reason, and advance human liberty, was to give a vaster field to -intelligence and to virtue,--both divine. I pursued the execution of my -discovery.’” - -Thus has the art of printing come down to us consecrated by the martyr -struggles of a heroic soul. He died poor, able only to leave a few -books to his loving sister, yet enriching all mankind by the fruits of -his genius. “I bequeath to my sister,” said he in his will, “all the -books printed by me in Strasbourg.” - -But which of the voices that the legend represents as speaking to -Gutenberg in his dream, shall prove a true prophet of the art? Shall -its resistless power blast the world with error and crime, or bless -the ages with truth and purity? “The first cries of the press,” says a -historian, “were praise and prayer.” Let its utterances be for religion -and learning, God and humanity; then welcome the hour when the earth -shall be covered with its swiftly multiplying issues, “the leaves of -the tree which are for the healing of the nations.” - - -THE END. - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not -changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced -quotation marks retained. - -Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. - -Illustrations without captions at the beginning and end of most chapters -are decorative headpieces or tailpieces. - -Page 52: “He revolved” was printed that way. - -Illustration captions on pages 162 and 188: The Psalm number in -“PSALTER, PSALM I.” appears to have been printed as a Roman numeral, -but may be an Arabic “1”. - -Page 175: “pierced his roul” may be a misprint for “soul”. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Gutenberg, and the Art of Printing, by -Emily Clemens Pearson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GUTENBERG, AND THE ART OF PRINTING *** - -***** This file should be named 51358-0.txt or 51358-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/3/5/51358/ - -Produced by Brian Coe, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by the Library of Congress) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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