< Page:De Vinne, Invention of Printing (1876).djvu
This page needs to be proofread.

XXII


The Later Works of Gutenberg.


Establishes a New Printing Office … Calendar of 1457 … Not probable that the Bible of 36 lines was printed at this time … Gutenberg Embarrassed by Debts … Letter of Indulgence of 1461, with Fac-simile … Catholicon of 1460, with Fac-simile and Colophon … Indifference of Gutenberg to Fame. Pamphlets attributed to Gutenberg … Celebration of the Mass, with Fac-simile … Mirror of the Clergy, with Fac-simile … The War between the Rival Archbishops … The Siege and Sack of Mentz … Gutenberg's Office removed to Eltvill … Gutenberg made a Gentleman of Adolph's Court … End of Gutenberg's Labors … His Death in 1468 … Disposition of his Types … His Services not fully Appreciated … True Nature of his Invention … His Merit acknowledged by Writers of his Time... Tablets of Gelthus and Wittig …Permanency of Gutenberg's Invention.
Why should we talk about monuments of bronze or marble to commemorate the services of Gutenberg? His is a monument which, more frail than any other, will survive them all: it is the Book.

Madden.


Gutenberg had been legally deprived of his printing office and of the exclusive right to his great invention, but he was not left friendless and utterly impoverished. Nor was his spirit broken by this great calamity. The reflection that Fust was owner of the materials made for printing the Bible of 42 lines, and was about to enjoy all the emoluments of the new art, aroused Gutenberg to rivalry. He was nearly sixty years of age, but he was vigorous in mind, if not in body, and evidently retained all his old power of persuasion. When he determined to found a new printing office, he found helpers: Conrad Humery, a physician, and also clerk of the town of Mentz, provided him with the means, and some of his old workmen came over to join his fortunes.

Gutenberg had some materials toward the equipment of a new office. Fust's mortgage covered only the materials

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.