ISO
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
be admitted, all the difficulties that seem insuperable and inconsistent with the supposed era of printing there, will vanish at once. For, allowing ue book to have been printed ten years later, anno 1478, then the use of signa- tures can be no objection; a foreign printer might introduce them ; Caxton follow his ex- ample ; and the course of printing and sequel of books published from Oxford will proceed regularly: —
Bxpodelo Skoctl Jetonlmi In SlmbOlum Apostolo.
rum Orm. U7»
LeoDardt Arettnl in AlUt. Ethic. Comment ... lb. 147S iBgldioa de Ronu, ftc, de Peccato Originall. . lb. U79 OuldodeColamnadeHistorlaTtc4ana,perT.R.lb. I4M Alexandrl ab Hilei, &c., expoaitio aupier 3 Ub. de
Anima per me Theod. Rood lb. 1481
Franc. Aietinl OratorU Fhalarldla Eplat. e Oneco In Latin. Venio.— Hoc opnaculnm in Alma Unlvend- tate OxonlB, a natali CbiUtiano dacentedma and nonagialma teptima Ol^mplade felidter Imprea- mmeat. [Tbat It] USt
Hoc Ttaeodoricns Rood, qoem CoUonia miaflt
Sanguine Oermano*, nobile (iteaalt opus j Atqae dbi mcios Thomaa fait AngUcnk Honta :
IMi dent nt Venetos exnperare qneant I Qoam Jenaon Venetos docoit vii GalUciu aitem,
Incanio dididt terra Britannia mut. Cdatos Venetl nobis ttanamittere llbroa
Cedite, not allls vendlmnt, O Venetl. Out fnerat vobit art prlmnm nota, Latiol*
Kit eadem noUt Ipta reperta iwemens. QnamTlt Mjanctos toto canit orbe Britannoa
VlriUiiu, placet bit lingoa Latina tamen.t
These are all the books printed at Oxford, before 1500, that have hitherto made their ap- pmnnce and we have any certain notice of. We have inserted the colophon and verses of the last, because they have something curious and historical in them. tVe know of but ano- ther instance of the date of a book computed by Olympiads — Autonii Epigrammatim Ithri, ir<^. printM at Venice, 1472, wiUi this designation of the year at the end — "A Nativitate Ckritti
- In the ' Additional Remarlu ' at the end of Bowyer and
Nlcbola't Origin of PrinUng, It it suggested that the reading of the vrord Latini might be the vocative case plnnU. Bommu.
t Tnmttettim.— This little work was anspidoutly Im- printed in the pious unlrersity of Oxford, in the two hun- dred and ninety-seTenthOljrmpiadfhim the birth ofChrist.
[Reckoning each Olympic term to condst of »ye yean, instead of four, the date of this book will accord with the year HSS.]
Ilieodorlc Rood, a Oemian bora,
O' the city of Cologne, Hut be this coriona book did print,
To all men maketh known i And hit good partner, Thomas Hunte,
An Englithman he wat ; Now aid them Heaven t that so they may
Venetian tkill surpass.
A man of France, named Jenion, taught
The Venetians this fair art. Which Britain, by her industry.
Did to herself Impart Xngraved books to send to us.
Which in deep lore excel. Cease, O Venetians I yield to nt—
We to all others tell.
The language, Romans, which by yon
So long before was known Is now at length by us attained
And used mth our own. The Britons severed from the world
Though Virgil truly sung. They now can well his works peruse
In his own Latin tongtie.
dvcetiterimie nonagerima quinta Obfmpiadu ten- no 2," where the printer, as in the present case, follows the common mistake, both of the an- cients and moderns, of taking the Olympiad for a term of five years complete ; whereas it really included but four, and was celebrated the fifth; as the Lustrum likewise of the Romans. In our Oxford book the ^ear of the Oljrmpiad is not distinguished, as m that of Venice, so that it might possibly be printed somewhat earlier, and nearer to the rest, in order of time : but as the 7th verse seems to refer to the statute of the 1st of Richard III. prohibitiDg the Italians from importing and selling their wares in Eng- land by retail, &c., excepting books written or C' ited, which act passed 1483 ; so that this k of Rood's could not be printed before 4hat year. The third verse rescues from oblivion the name of an English printer, Thomas Hunte, not mentioned before by any of our Engli^ writers, nor discovered in any other book. Bat what is the most remarkable, and worthy the greatest stress, is, that in the sixth verse,* the art and use of printing is affirmed Xa have been the first set on foot, and practised in this island by our own countrymen ; which must consequently have a reference to Caxton, who has no rival of this country to dispute the honour with him. And so we are furnished at last from Oxford itself, with a testimony that overthrows the date of their own book.
Theodoric Rood, we see, came from Cologne, where Caxton had resided many years and in- structed himself in the art of printing, 1471 ; and being so well acquainted with the place, and particularly tbe pnnters of it, might proba- bly be the instrument of bringing over this or any other printer, a year or two before (if there really was any such) to be employed at Oxford; and the obscure tradition of wis fact gave rise to the fiction of the record. But, however this may
- The opinions of Dr. M. and Oxonides are again at Ta.
riance: the latter expresses himself as follows : —
"Dr. BfiddletoD's translation of the sixth verse la a sente, I believe. Rood never thought of. Bis verses aeon rather designed to extol hit ownprat than that of Caxton; and the meaning I take to be no more than this, that the Art of Printing, tat which the Venetians, and paxticulaily Jenson, had been so famous, was now practised with eqtu^ success in England. Our Dissertator's quotatiOD fttMn Caxton will prove but little, unless he can shew, that no printer, at any place, ever talked of the nswliy of bia art, without being the first importer of it. As to his citationa firom other later writers, who mention Caxton as oui first Iirinter, it may be Hofllcient to answer in his own worda, that * it is very unsafe to trust to common history, aDd necessary to recur to original testimonies, if we would know the state of facts with exactness.' Our ingenioos »';»tlKW has himself detected several mistakes, which our writeca have oniTcrsally fallen into, and taken up from eaidk other. If we consider that our Oxford Printer met with very small encouragement, printed probably but <<ew books, and did not put his name to those. It Is no wondo* that his name and memory should \x soon lost ; nor will it be surprizing that Caxton should run away with tiie credit of being the first printer here, who lived many years in great repute, printed a very considerable num- ber of books, and flourished in the sunshine of the court. "
That Rood should extol Oaxton's press is mt improba- ble ) could he do less than compliment the man wlu> in- vited him to England ) Had the Oxford press been aet oj* at the expense of the crown, would not the printer bavv basked in the royal sunshine, in preference to one who had no claim to court favour i—Johmon.
VjOOQ IC
