World Book Heritage. W-20. The printing revolution : Exeter's oldest book in context. Compares the printing and digital revolutions. Gutenberg and the invention of printing. The spread of printing to 1480. Exeter Library's incunable as an example of early printing. Examples of early 16th century printing from the library.

1. The printing revolution
Exeter Library’s oldest book in context
World book
Heritage, W-20

2. Two revolutions compared
Printing Revolution
1430s Early experiments
Mainz, Avignon etc
1456 Gutenberg’s 42-line Bible
1460s Spread of printing
1480 Exeter’s incunable
1500 Aldine pocket editions
1517 Luther’s 95 theses
Digital Revolution
1940s Early experiments
Bletchley Park etc
1950s mainframe computers
1964 MEDLARS large mainframe
database
1971 MEDLINE dial-up database
1970s Library OPACs
1983 JANET – academic network
1990 World-wide web – Tim
Berners-Lee
1997 PUBMED internet database
1998 Google
2004 Facebook – social networks

3. The invention:
Johann Gutenberg
1394/9 Born in Mainz
1428 Settled in Strassburg
1436 Experiments with printing
1439 Lawsuit
1448 Returned to Mainz
1449 Borrows from Johann Fust
1454 Earliest dated printed items
1455 Lawsuit – Fust forecloses
1456 42-line Bible completed
1458/61 36-line Bible
1462 exiled to Eltville
1468 Died, buried in Mainz

4. Mainz – the first printing centre
The 1454 indulgence – the first definitely dated piece of printing

5. Mainz : Johann Gutenberg, 1455
The 42-line Bible.
Illuminated copy in the British
Library.

6. Mainz : Fust and Schoeffer, 1457
Psalter
Detail of initial printed in two
colours.

7. Printing: the nature of the invention.
Prerequisites: paper, moveable type, printing press , ink
Frankfurt/Main, Georg I Rab, Sigmund Feyerabend, 1568.
Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden, by Jost Amman & Hans Sachs.

8. The printing press
as depicted by Thomas
Williamson in The sword
and the spirit, 1613

9. The
common
press.
The form of the
wooden printing
press used in
England for
letterpress
printing until the
19th century.

10. Matrices,
punch
cutting
and
type
founding

11. Printing : the spread to 1480
Germany 1454 Mainz
Italy 1464/5 Subiaco
Switzerland 1468 Basel*
France 1470 Paris
Spain 1473 Barcelona
Hungary 1473 Buda
Netherlands 1473/4 Bruges
Poland 1474 Krakow
Bohemia 1476 Pilsen
England 1476 Westminster
* In 1468 part of Holy Roman Empire

12. The spread of printing to 1480
Year Titles Main centres where printing introduced
1452 1 Mainz
1453 1 (1454: 7 1455: 16 1456: 12 1457: 3 1458: 4 1459: 5)
1460 3 Strasbourg
1461 17 Bamberg
1462 16 -
1463 6 -
1464 3 -
1465 15 Köln, Subiaco
1466 16 -
1467 31 Eltville, Rome
1468 23 Augsburg, Basel, Venice
1469 46 Nürnberg
1470 208 Beromünster, Bologna, Foligno, Napoli, Paris, Trevi
1471 251 Ferrara, Firenze, Milan, Padova, Speyer
1472 416 Esslingen, Lauingen, Ulm
1473 622 Barcelona, Brescia, Bruges, Buda, Erfurt, Konstanz, Merseburg, Lyon, Utrecht
1474 482 Lübeck, Marienthal, Cracow
1475 789 Albi, Alost, Blaubeuren, Breslau, Brussels, Cagli, Caselle
1476 536 Angers, Rostock, Pilsen, Westminster
1477 606 Ascoli, Delft, Deventer
1478 606 Oxford, Reutlingen, Schussenried
1479 541 Magdeburg, Urach, Würzburg
1480 889 Caen, Cividale, London, Memmingen, Passsau, Saint Albans

13. Venice : Nicolaus Jenson, 1475
Virgil.
Early use of Roman type.

14. Paris : Freiberger, Gering & Krantz, 1470.
Gasparinus Barzizius. Epistolarum libri.
The first book printed in France.

15. Westminster: William Caxton, 1478.
Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus.
De consolacione philosophie.
[188]p ; 2o ; signatures: A-L8, M6.
ESTC S106508 ; GW 04576 ; ISTC
ib00813000 ; USTC 500026.
Edited by Stephanus Surigonus ;
translated by Geoffrey Chaucer.

16. Exeter Library’s incunable
The author: Nicolaus Panormitanus de
Tudeschis (1386-1445)
The title: Lectura super v. libri decretalium
The date: 1480-81
The place: Basel
The printer: Johann Besicken

17. Decretals (epistolae decretales) are letters of a pope that formulate decisions in ecclesiastical law of the Catholic Church. They
form part of the Corpus Juris Canonici, Corpus of Canon Law, a set of six compilations of law in the Roman Catholic Church
that provided the chief source of ecclesiastical legislation from the Middle Ages until superseded in 1917 by the Codex Juris
Canonici (Code of Canon Law). They are made up of:
1. Decretum Gratiani (Decree of Gratian), written between 1141 and 1150.
2. The decretals of Gregory IX. Gregory IX, in 1230, ordered his chaplain and confessor, St. Raymond of Peñaforte to form a
new canonical collection destined to replace all former collections. Gregory IX sent this new collection to the Universities of
Bologna and Paris, and, as already stated, declared, by the Bull "Rex pacificus" of 5 September, 1234, that this compilation was
the official code of the canon law. It was this version for which Panormitanus provided the commentary. It incorporates
the Quinque compilationes antiquæ decretalium:
2. 1. Breviarium extravagantium. Coverage: 1150-1191. Compiler: Bernard of Pavia and was compiled 1187-1191.
2. 2. Compilatio secunda or Decretales intermediæ. Coverage: 1191-1198 The work of a private individual, the Englishman
John of Wales.
2. 3. Compilatio tertia. Coverage: 1198-1210. Composed by Cardinal Petrus Collivacinus of Benevento by order of Innocent III
(1198-1216), by whom it was approved in the Bull "Devotioni vestræ" of 28 December, 1210.
2. 4: Compilatio quarta. Coverage: 1210-1216. By an unknown writer, containing the decretals of the pontificate of Innocent III
of a later date than 7 January, 1210, and the canons of the Fourth Lateran Council held in 1215.
2. 5. Compilatio quinta. Coverage: 1216-1227 Compiled for Honorius III (1216-1227) and approved by this pope in the Bull
"Novæ causarumn" (1226 or 1227).
3. Sextus Liber Decretalium. Promuglated by Boniface VIII in 1298. it has a value similar to that of the Decretals of Gregory
IX.
4. Liber septimus Decretalium or Constitutiones Clementis V. Promulgated after his death by John XXII on 25 October, 1317
5. Extravagantes Joannis XXII, (1325) compiled about 1505 by Jean Chappuis, a canonist at the University of Paris.
6. Extravagantes communes, or replies of the pope to particular questions of church discipline, from Pope Boniface VIII to
Pope Sixtus IV completing coverage from 1281 to 1482.
The title Corpus Juris Canonici was first applied to the six collections by Pope Gregory XIII in the document Cum pro munere
(1580),

18. The nature of early printed books:
form and content
1. Form
Ornamentation
Pagination
Title-page - colophon
Notes – shoulder notes
Type design
Binding

19. The nature of early printed books: format
Ornamentation: initials added by hand
Pagination: none, each leaf signed at foot to aid binder
Title-page: none, colophon give information on title and printing.
Notes: none, but headline to aid reader. Shoulder or marginal notes
Type design: rotunda gothic font in imitation of manuscript hands

20. Gothic type: textura
Gothic type: rotunda
Gothic type: bastarda
Roman type: Jenson
Italic type: Aldus
Type designs 1450-1550

21. The nature of early printed
books: format
Binding.
Folio sheets sewn onto four
double cords, normally in
gatherings of five.
Cords pegged through
wooden boards.
Boards covered with leather.
Leather blind stamped in
diagonal pattern (indentations
on wood)
Clasps fitted to hold volume
closed.

22. Cambridge University Library.
Binding on: Johannes
Marchesinus, Mammotrectus
super Bibliam. – Venice: Nicolaus
Jenson, 23 September 1479, now
Inc.5.B.3.2[1363].
University of South Carolina.
Binding on: Venetian edition of the
of the Oxford theologian Duns
Scotus. Around 1500, it was in the
library of Brasenose College,
Oxford.

23. The nature of early printed books
2. Content
Recovery of old knowledge rather than new
Latin versus vernacular texts
Religious works – Bible, Decretals
Educational – Donatus
Ephemera – indulgences, popular literature
Classical writers
Modern literature - Caxton

24. The spread of printing after 1480
Decade Per ann.Latin Main centres
1452-1460 5 85% Mainz, Bamberg
1461-1470 20 90% Rome, Cologne, Mainz, Strasbourg
1471-1480 550 80% Venice, Rome, Cologne, Strasbourg
1481-1490 900 72% Venice, Rome, Paris, Lyon, Cologne
1491-1500 1400 67% Paris, Venice, Leipzig, Lyon, Rome
1501-1510 1400 68% Paris, Venice, Leipzig, Lyon, Cologne
1511-1520 1900 65% Paris, Venice, Leipzig, Lyon, Strasbourg
1521-1530 2400 43% Paris, Augsburg, Venice, Strasbourg
Century
1452-1500 30,000 75% Venice, Paris, Rome, Cologne, Lyon
1501-1600 330,000 45% Paris, Venice, Lyon, Antwerp, London

25. Printing and the mind of man
Scholar printers
Establishment of authoritative texts
Work of correctors - Erasmus
Smaller format items, personal use
Reference works -

26. Catullus. Tibullus. Propetius [sic]. - Venetiis : in aedibus Aldi, 1502. - Bruni
and Evans A 8.

27. Perotti, Niccolò 1430-1480. In hoc volumine
habentur haec cornucopiae sive linguae
latinae commentarii … - Venetijs : In aedibus
Aldi, et Andreae soceri M. D. XIII. mense
Nouembri 1513. - Bruni and Evans A19. -
Shelf: x1513

28. Grapaldi, Francisco Mario, 1460-1515.
Francisci Marii Grapaldi: poetae
Laureati: De partibus aedium: Addita
modo: Verborum explicatione: Quæ in
eodem libro: continentur: Opus Sane
elegans: & eruditum: tum propter
Multiugam: Variarum rerum:
Lectionem: cū; propter M. Vitruuii &
Cornelii Celsi: emaculatas dictiones:
Quæ apud ipsos: Vel Medēsae: Vel
obscurae: Videbātur.
Impressum Parmæ : per
accuratissimos Impressores
Octauianū Saladū & Franciscū;
Vgoletū; ... 1516.
[20], 265 leaves ; 23 cm ; 4to.
Bruni and Evans A15.
Shelf: o1516/GRA.

29. Rastell, William. A collection of all
the statutes, from the beginning of
Magna Charta unto this present
year of our Lord God 1568.
London : In aedibus Ricardi Totelli,
1568.
STC 9309.
Provenance: Exeter Muniment
Room. Lacks titlepage. - Shelf:
d1568/RAS.
Another copy, Provenance: W. A.
Gay. Lacks titlepage. Identified by
British Museum Library 1938.Shelf:
o1568/RAS

30. Machiavelli, Niccolo. Tutte le opere di Nicolo Machiavelli
... divisi in cinque parti. - [Geneva] : [Pietro Aubert], 1550
[i. e. 1640?]. Shelf: o1550/MAC.
Index librorum prohibitorum. –
Rome : Blado, 1559.

31. Estienne, Robert, 1503?-1559. Dictionarium seu latinae linguae thesaurus. - Parisiis : ex
officina Roberti Stephani, 1536. -

32. Turner, William. The first and second partes of the herball ... with the thirde ..Collen : Arnold
Birkman, 1568. - 824p ; 2°. - STC 24367. - Provenance: Lady Rosalind Northcote 1951.
Script to print exhibition 1999. Sickness in the archive exhibition 2016. - Shelf: x1568

33. Basel and its link to Devon
Basel : Johann Amerbach, 1489
Saint Augustine. De civitate dei.
Amerbach was a leading
humanist printer and the first in
Basel to use roman type. He
produced scholarly editions of
the church fathers. This
woodcut title shows Augustine
writing above the opposed cities
of Babylon and Zion.

34. Basel : Bergmann, 1494.
Brant, Sebastian. Das Narrenschyff.
The first edition of the work by the
humanist poet holding fools to
ridicule. Illustrated by 114 large
woodcuts, probably the first
intentionally comic book illustrations.

35. London : Cawood, 1570. Brant, Sebastian. Stultifera navis. English
translation by Alexander Barclay of Ottery St Mary. Second edition.

36. The value of Exeter’s collection
• A museum of ideas
• Type specimens
• The medium is the message

37. Egrotat Demon tunc Monachus esse volebat
Convaluit Demon Demon ut ante fuit
The demon grew (Literally: grows) ill , then wanted to be a monk.
The demon recovered and was a demon as before.

38. Exeter working papers
in book history
This talk is one of a series produced
during Lockdown 2020 to celebrate the
designation of Exeter as UNESCO city
of literature in 2019.
Most of them are also accessible
through the
Exeter working papers,
Devon bibliography and
Etched on Devon’s Memory
websites as part of the
World Book Heritage
initiative.
The book fool from Alexander Barclays’ translation of
The ship of fools (1509)