A History of the Art of Printing from Its Invention to Its Wide-Spread Development in the Middle of the Sixteenth Century (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1868 Excerpt: ... leader and founder, the author. And doubtless the early printers, notwithstanding all the pride and pomp of their subscriptions, thought so too; as we find them always approaching with reverence the works of the great writers of antiquity, and calling to their aid the best available learning of their time to examine and correct the manuscripts which they printed from. Shortly after the appearance of the "Letters of Cicero," John of Spires produced another and still more important work--the "Natural History of Pliny." The fine Italian type and the regularity of the composition and printing of this work are very remarkable. Indeed, no specimen of the works of the early printers is more greedily sought than this edition of "Pliny," a copy of which sold in Paris, in 1781, for 3,000 livres, which may be estimated at 200; and a good copy of the same work would now realize a still higher price. Among his other productions may be specially noticed his "Tacitus," a fac-simile of a portion of a page of which will be found in Plate 30, No. 1. It should be mentioned here that the "Tacitus," which has generally been attributed to John of Spires, and by others to his brother Vindelin, is now considered, perhaps more correctly, to be the work of one of the children of John, especially as it exhibits the use of catch-words, which had not been adopted in John's time. It is, however, by the Librarian of the British Museum attributed to John of Spires, with the proximate date of 1469 attached to it; being further described as presenting the earliest known example of the use of catch-words: this, if the above date could be substantiated, would probably be true. The success of John of Spires as a printer was at once recognized ...